NYT Checks In to DC's Donovan House, Decides DC is Lame
We know it’s totally in vogue to talk trash about Washington, D.C. Talk about a bunch of straight-laced drones, right?! Uh, whatever, some of us would beg to disagree (such as, ahem, this writer, who just so happens to like living there).
Reading Danielle Pergament’s review of D.C.’s Donovan House in the New York Times this weekend, you can’t help but get the feeling she’s been wronged by the District before. Sure, the Thompson Group’s new hotel still has some major kinks — like the not-yet-opened bar and much-hyped Todd English restaurant. Call us naive, but that hardly seems like justification to discount the entire city’s hip quotient.
But time and again, the Donovan’s review feels particularly abrasive (though, admittedly, maybe we’re overly sensitive about our own stomping grounds). “The brightest nooks are the elevators, thumping out a steady stream of hip-hop,” Pergament writes. “You get the feeling this is about as much hipness as the political crowd can handle.”
Ouch. Then: “It’s smack in the center of Thomas Circle, which is a heavily trafficked, but very conservative pocket of the city.” Not quite, Ms. Pergament. Thomas Circle itself is fairly boring, but if you walk literally two blocks north you’re in one of the city’s liveliest and trendiest neighborhoods, Logan Circle. Perhaps you were overwhelmed by the hotel’s “Jetson-esque chairs” and the “loop of Washington-themed movies” looping in the lobby, and never quite ventured outside?
And though we totally agree that it’s lame the bar hasn’t opened yet, was it really necessary to put it this way? “It says a lot about a hotel when it finishes its business center before its bar, and here it serves as a reminder of the city you’re in.” (Right. Because over-worked, over-stressed Washingtonians are teetotalers.)
Still, her bottom line is vaguely positive, but still manages to fit in one more swipe at D.C.:
“If you’re in town on business, you’ll be the coolest kid at the convention by staying at the Donovan House.”
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