Where to Celebrate ‘The Great Gatsby’ Centennial

By

Veronica Stoddart,

A tale of money, decadence and longing, F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic American novel, The Great Gatsby, is turning 100 on April 10. Embodying the glamour and excesses of 1920s America, it

came to define the Jazz Age through the tragic tale of Jay Gatsby and his elusive American dream.

To mark this seminal anniversary, locations from St. Paul to New York to the French Riviera are going all out to celebrate. You can travel “ceaselessly into the past,” as Fitzgerald wrote in

his landmark work, by stepping into Gatsby’s and Fitzgerald’s worlds in these places.

The Great Gatsby has special resonance for boomers, the first generation to come of age reading this masterpiece after it was added to the high school literary canon in the 1960s.

Today, literary-themed vacations are a hot new trend in travel. Reading surged during COVID-19 lockdowns, and hotels and tourism companies have capitalized on that interest by using books to

lure travelers. 

From elaborate hotel suites to specialized tours and themed exhibits, here are seven places where fans can channel their inner Gatsby.

2013 movie, “The Great Gatsby.” The Plaza, A Fairmont Managed Hotel New York

The Big Apple, where Fitzgerald moved in 1919 to pursue his writing career, played a key role in his Gatsby novel. Re-live the story’s opulence at The Plaza Hotel, which served as the

real-life setting for one of the book’s pivotal scenes, and where Scott and Zelda were frequent guests. Check into the Gatsby Suite, an Art Deco dream inspired by the glamour of the 1920s.

Tour The Plaza and other locations where the 2013 The Great Gatsby movie was filmed via The Great Gatsby tour.

Dive into the Roaring Twenties with a jazzy new musical adaptation of the story — the Tony Award-winning The Great Gatsby at the Broadway Theatre through Sept. 7.  Or catch the show during

its more than 50-city North American tour starting in January 2026. Enhance the musical with The Plaza’s exclusive Gatsby Suite Experience, which includes a minimum two-night stay in the

flower-festooned suite, two tickets to the show and a complimentary drink at the Broadway Theatre.