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Inside Chicago's Hotel Sax: Anne Rice-Meets-Business Traveler
After booking the pleasant surprise that was a $99 name-your-own-price dealy on Priceline for our stay at Chicago's Hotel Sax, we couldn't wait to check the place out, especially since we still remember it as the ugly House of Blues Hotel. We knew it had a dreamy location right on the Chicago River and cuddled up next to the stunning Marina City towers and across the street from the Trump International Hotel & Tower, but is it worthy of such a spot and—even more importantly—is it worth the $99 we paid for the night? Let's break it down...
Check-in:
The entrance of the Hotel Sax is perpetually dark, as it is directly in the shadow of the Marina City buildings. But if you can find the 10Pin bowling lounge entrance or the Bin36 restaurant, then between them you'll see the hotel lobby. Walking into reception, whose walls were white and mirrored and whose furniture and red area rugs heavily leaned towards boudoir-chic, we wondered what Priceline had gotten us into. Over the cut glass cabinet cum reception desk, we were handed our room key (made of recycled PVC) and invited to grab a small vial of Moroccan spices sitting out in a basket near the elevator. What?!
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$99 And Crossed Fingers Got Us This Room At Chicago's Hotel Sax
When we needed a quickie place to crash for a night in Chicago while still attempting to enjoy our evening by avoiding the super cheapie motels, we naturally turned to a name-your-own-price deal. After great success with our hotel in Berlin before, we opted for Priceline and came out of the negotiations with a 4-star hotel in the River North neighborhood for $80 a night, or $99 including taxes and fees. It was the Hotel Sax, formerly the House of Blues Hotel since it's located directly next to the House of Blues club.
All snuggled into room 1433, on the 14th floor facing down onto the Chicago River, the House of Blues, and directly up at the architecturally stunning Marina City towers, we reveled in the free wifi and spacious bathroom, unlike what we're used to back in New York. For a bigger look at what $99 and a little last-minute planning scored us at the Sax, check out our room video above and stay tuned for tomorrow's full gallery and review.
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Inside The Shotgun Houses of The Shack Up Inn
After we loved our stay in the Tallahatchie Flats last week, a friendly Mississippi local told us we should see the Shack Up Inn about five miles outside of Clarksdale (home to Morgan Freeman’s blues club, Ground Zero and restaurant, Madidi).
So we popped along and, sure enough, we thought it was great. The Shack Up is set on what remains of the Hopson Plantation (part of the official Blues Trail). It’s bigger than the Tallahatchie Flats – there are 10 shacks, one house, and 10 “bin” rooms in the old cotton gin. Shacks cost from $60 a night, and the bin rooms from $65.
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Back To Basics, Shotgun Style: Inside The Tallahatchie Flats
Nostalgia is a wonderful thing. Not only can it make you think fondly of the bad times (Wham! reunion, anyone?), it can also make spending the night in a little shotgun house off a cornfield in the Mississippi Delta sound like a good idea. So when we found out about the Tallahatchie Flats - a collection of six original plantation cottages, transported to a field outside Greenwood, Mississippi - we had to go straight there.
Room Reaction:
We asked for the cheapest cottage – which costs $65 – but the manager/all-round man about the flats, Les, upgraded us to the bigger Red House, worth $85, because he’d already turned the air con on in that one. Nice! So we ended up with a choice of four beds (a king in the master bedroom, two singles in the second bedroom, and a sofa-bed in the living room) and a living room, dining room and kitchen as well – plus two porches to sit on and chew tobacco.
It was big, but don’t expect luxury – it’s as you’d expect a shotgun house to be, with plain wooden floors and walls, old pictures of JFK and Martin Luther King on the walls, and a seriously teeny bathroom. But the bed was comfy and we slept like logs – the only noise out here is from the frogs outside (don’t underestimate them, though, they’re loud little buggers).
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Ace Hotels Publishes a Guide To Sonic Youth's Hotspots
Ace Hotels, always excited over collaboration to produce their own goodies, is at it again with a new guidebook to Seattle, Portland, and New York City featuring the favorite spots from members of Sonic Youth.
Only 3,000 of the guides were printed, which are being given for FREE to guests at any of the Ace Hotels — except for Palm Springs, for some reason — as well as at chosen record stores in the same cities. Wondering where to find Kim Gorden in Seattle? You might want to check any of three favorite restaurants: Flying Fish, Wild Ginger and Kingfish Cafe.
Although Sonic Youth recently performed in New York to promote their new album, "The Eternal," they'll be playing over in Seattle on July 25 and Portland on July 28, so it's probably best if you have this guide in hand for them to sign backstage. Because how cool would that be? Way cooler than just another signed album cover, we think.
[Photo: Ace Hotels]
Tags: Bahamas Hotel Reviews / Nassau Hotels / Caribbean Hotels / Music Hotels / → All Tags
Semi-Live Report on Compass Point in the Bahamas
Compass Point Beach Resort in the Bahamas is the antithesis of the vacation factories that make up most of the mass tourism infrastructure around Nassau. With just 18 cabanas and cottages spread around the grounds, it's more like something you would see on a laid-back, unknown island. Painted in bright festival colors, it's a picturesque place where people take their time and converse instead of rushing through buffet meals and shouting over jet-skis.
Part of Chris Blackwell's Island Outpost group, it reopened this past December after a top-to-bottom upgrade where the resort was closed during construction. Each hut or cottage has a deck or porch and despite the rustic look, inside these are some of the best-equipped rooms on the island. We're talking flat-screen TVs with DVD surround sound, kitchenettes, wi-fi (included) and air-conditioning that you can really control. Some are set up as suites, one with two bedrooms. The small beach directly in front of the resort disappears at high tide, but a walkway leads to the larger Love Beach and a dock extends out into the water. Meanwhile there's an attractive pool with cushioned wood lounge chairs and a hot tub for four.
Locals say the restaurant here is the best around, but they mostly keep it to themselves. The restaurant is not advertised in the tourist rags, so most of the dinner guests are those staying at the resort and people who live nearby. We can say from experience that the conch fritters, seafood pot pie, and "guava duff" dessert are heavenly.
Neighboring Compass Point Studios in the Bahamas are legendary and the client list is like a who's who of music history old and new: Rolling Stones, U2, B-52s, Diddy, Bob Marley, James Brown, Al Green, Lenny Kravitz, Snoop Dogg, Missy Elliott, and on and on. And it's where AC/DC's Black in Black was recorded. So you never know who will be hanging at the bar. Last week it was Widespread Panic. Shakira and her crew were in the house New Year's Eve. Plus Sean Connery has a house nearby, so if the timing's right you might hear his booming voice in the bar.
Check back in tomorrow, when we'll have a short video tour of the grounds.
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