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HISTORY The hotel was constructed in the late 19th century as a private home for the Sam family. The head of a prestigious and influential family in Port-au-Prince, ''. May 7, 2001. United States President Woodrow Wilson , concerned that the Haïtian government might be siezed by Rosalvo Bobo , who was thought to be sympathetic to the Germans , ordered the United States Marine Corps to sieze Port-au-Prince. The occupation would eventually extend to the entire nation of Haïti. The Sam Mansion was used as a US military hospital for the duration of the occupation.Secom (2002). "Links" . Retrieved May 1, 2006. In 1935, when the Occupation ended, the mansion was leased to Oloffson, a Norwegian sea captain, who converted the property into a hotel. In the 1950s, Roger Coster , a French photographer, assumed the lease on the hotel and ran it with his Haïtian wife, Laura. The hotel came to be known as the "Greenwich Village of the Tropics", attracting actors, writers, and artists. Some of the suites in the hotel were named after the artists and writers who frequented the hotel, including Graham Greene , James Jones , Charles Addams , and Sir John Guilgud .Vergane Glorie Erelijst (2003) "Hotels" . Retrieved May 1, 2006. A Connecticut native, Al Seitz , acquired the hotel lease in 1960. During the 1970s and early 1980s, the hotel enjoyed a brief period of fame and good fortune. American celebrities such as Jackie Onassis and Mick Jagger were regular guests, and like Coster before him, Seitz named favorite rooms at the hotel after the celebrity guests. As the grip of Duvalierism closed over the country, however, the foreign tourist trade dried up. The hotel survived by serving as the desired residence for foreign reporters and foreign aid workers who needed secure lodging in the center of town. In 1987, Richard A. Morse , signed a 15 year lease with Jean Max Sam, his half-brother, to manage the Hotel Oloffson, then in near ruins after the final years of Duvalierism. In restoring the hotel business, Morse hired a local folkloric dance troupe and slowly converted it into a band. Richard Morse would become the songwriter and lead male vocalist and the name of band, RAM , comes from his initials. Throughout the political upheaval of Haïti in the 1990s, RAM's regular Thursday evening performance at the hotel became one of the few regular social events in Port-au-Prince in which individuals of various political positions and allegiances could congregate. Regular attendees of the performances included foreign guests at the hotel, members of the military, paramilitary ''attachés'' and former ''ton ton macoutes'', members of the press, diplomats, foreign aid workers, artists, and businessmen. Attendees included both black Haïtians and members of the nation's less populous racial groups. Until September, 1994, when U.S. Military Troops Arrived to oust the Cédras regime, the performances at the Oloffson offered a unique situation for all parties involved and helped sustain the band, despite its confrontations with the junta, in a period when many other artists either fled the country, were persecuted, or killed. POPULAR CULTURE
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