Come mid-November, a steady line of tourists forms at the foot of Central Park, each waiting their turn for a brush with luxury. One by one, with iPhones ready and clutched to their chests, visitors ascend a set of ruby red steps and surrender to the call of the Plaza Hotel.

After nearly 120 years, the palatial landmark still casts old spells. And the magic peaks every winter, when the womb-like lobby is transformed into a glittering forest of Christmas trees. But the key to the Plaza’s staying power is not bewitched tourists or even its enduring pop-culture mystique. It’s the hotel’s elite clientele — namely, the rich and the famous. And when one-night stays during the holiday season can run as high as $39,000, the stakes are rendered unfathomable.

But there is a force that meets the demand, hidden in plain sight. To find it, you have to trace the roots of the Plaza, which are so deep that they lead you right to the subway platform. There, with a packed lunch in hand, Syed Rahmani, 62, steps off his predawn R train five days a week and enters the bowels of the hotel, through an unmarked door seemingly invisible to everyone but him and other hotel employees. For Mr. Rahmani, who has been an in-room dining server at the Plaza for 27 years, the rest is muscle memory.

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