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What's On The Block / Crosby Street Hotel / Manhattan Hotels / Firmdale Hotels / → All Tags

What's On The Block at The Crosby Street Hotel?

Where: 79 Crosby Street [map], New York, ny, United States, 10012

With a position right in the heart of SoHo, the question is more like “What’s Not on the Block?” Seriously, if you love shopping you could barely pick a better-positioned place to stay than the Crosby Street Hotel. Just remember that SoHo starts to feel like a mall on weekends, when every tourist and their mom hits Broadway to shop the chain stores and have a coffee from Dean & Deluca.

The actual block the hotel sits on is not the most exciting in the area, but it’s nice that it gets less traffic than both Broadway and Lafayette, the next streets over.

The side of the street opposite the hotel is basically all residential lofts and offices, and the backs of the stores that are on Broadway (including Dean and Deluca).

On the hotel’s side of Crosby—between Prince and Spring—there’s more of a mix: Savoy, a restaurant; Meet, a private-event space; a carpet store; an MZ Wallace handbag shop; a funky stationery store; Sur La Table, which sells kitchen supplies—and the Bjorn Borg store. Yes, really. There’s lots of colorful undies to gape at in the brightly lit window as you stroll past.

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What's On The Block at the Standard Downtown LA?

Where: 550 S. Flower St. [map], Los Angeles, CA, United States, 90071

We continue our What's On The Block: Los Angeles Edition by heading downtown.

So far this week, we’ve taken you to Santa Monica, the Sunset Strip and Beverly Hills, so we thought we’d end our Los Angeles What’s On The Block series with one of our downtown haunts, The Standard.

Sure, there are newer hotels in the area, but we keep coming back to this Andre Balazs property thanks, in no small part, to its central location in the heart of the downtown. At least, the part of downtown that doesn’t get too scary after dark.

Let’s start right behind the hotel at the LA Public Library and Park. The Central Library, which opened in 1926, is a bona fide Los Angeles landmark. Learn more about the architecture and notable art works of the building on a Docent Tour (our favorites are the scary fairy tale sculptures in the children’s court). Try not to get hit by a skateboarder as you cross the little park for a luxe lunch on the patio at Café Pinot.

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What’s On The Block at the Beverly Hills Hotel?

Where: 9641 W. Sunset Blvd. [map], Beverly Hills, CA, United States, 90210

We continue our What's On The Block: Los Angeles Edition with The Beverly Hills Hotel.

All this week, we’ve been telling you What’s On The Block at some famous hotels around Los Angeles, and today we’re going to continue our tour with the city’s great pink dowager empress, the Beverly Hills Hotel.

First the bad news: there’s nothing on the block here. That’s right, the Beverly Hills Hotel perfectly typifies Los Angeles in that you have to drive to get anywhere. Perhaps that is why it is favored by Hollywood royalty and captains of industry. Its secluded location affords unparalleled privacy from prying eyes and paparazzi alike, yet starlets can still dream of being discovered by the pool…and admit it, you’ve always wanted to reenact the sleepover scene from Troop Beverly Hills.

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What’s On The Block at The Beverly Hilton?

Where: 9876 Wilshire Blvd. [map], Beverly Hills, CA, United States, 90210

We continue our What's On The Block: Los Angeles Edition with The Beverly Hilton. This is a view from the hotel looking out on Century City.

Thanks to its prominence as the premier Hollywood awards show venue, not to mention its central location and luxury service, the Beverly Hilton sees its fair share of celebrity guests, but today, we thought we’d take you normal people on a little tour of What’s On The Block to let you see what all us plebes have to enjoy during a stay here.

First, let’s start with the iconic bar, Trader Vic’s, the tiki lounge that has specialized in mai tais and broken dreams for decades, and which has been experiencing a recent renaissance thanks to a revival of South Seas-chic (see Luau below) that has been taking Los Angeles by storm. Wander in for a rum cocktail then…well, let’s be honest, that will probably be the end of you.

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What’s On The Block at the Sunset Tower Hotel?

Where: 8358 W. Sunset Blvd. [map], West Hollywood, CA, United States, 90069

We continue our What's On The Block: Los Angeles Edition with The Sunset Tower Hotel. This is a view from the hotel looking east.

A couple weeks ago, we told you about all the power-plays and deal-making going on at the Sunset Tower Hotel. But this week, we're going to tell you about What's On The Block for you to do after you're done putting together your next movie deal.

Before we begin, we want to preface our little guide by saying that it holds good for all the hotels on this tony strip of Sunset, including The Standard, the Mondrian, and the Andaz West Hollywood. And yes, despite the Los Angeles stereotypes, you can physically walk to all of these spots mentioned below.

So start your jaunt by crossing Sunset and taking a peek around the casual lobby at The Andaz before having a cocktail in the glassed-in bar overlooking the Strip, or a full-on regional French dinner with California twists at the hotel's restaurant, RH. Cross back across Sunset, past the House of Blues to Asia de Cuba inside the Mondrian which is another great spot for a view, but that one is of the whole city spreading out below you while you eat poolside.

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What's On The Block at the Viceroy Santa Monica?

Where: 1819 Ocean Ave. [map], Santa Monica, CA, United States, 90401

We talk about the Viceroy Santa Monica fairly frequently since, as part of the Kor Hotel Group er...Viceroy Hotel Group, it hosts quite a few swanky events and special packages. But this week, we thought we’d throw in some value-added info by telling you What’s On The Block to give you a better idea of all that’s in store when you stay there. And thanks to its location right at the nexus of several different areas of Santa Monica, there is plenty of action for tourist and native alike.

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What's On The Block at The Surrey Hotel?

Where: 20 East 76th Street [map], New York, ny, United States, 10021

The Surrey Hotel, the oh-so-pretty new addition to the Upper East Side, soft-opened its guestrooms to family and friends yesterday and while we gave you a sneak peek at the rooms the other week, we thought it would be good to tell you What's on the Block. And if you're looking to experience a day in the life of a rich Upper East Sider, then you're in luck.

Stepping out of the hotel and taking a left on 76th Street will lead you right to Fifth Avenue and an entrance to the always magical Central Park. On the way to the Park, you'll notice an exclusive private school, The Hewitt School, where nannies will wait about with strollers waiting to pick up their privileged charges.

Stepping out of the hotel and taking a right will lead you to Madison Avenue with high-end shops like Michael Kors, and our fave, Christian Louboutin, right there on the block. The further down Madison you stroll, the more designer shops you will find. Just don't expect a Starbucks. There is no Starbucks for about 20 blocks on Madison Avenue.

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What's On the Block at the Andaz Liverpool Street?

Where: 40 Liverpool Street, London, United Kingdom, EC2M 7QN

In this regular feature on HotelChatter, we choose a hotel and take a look at what other businesses or buildings are on its block. Because what's close by is nearly just as important as what's inside the hotel.

Today it’s the turn of Andaz Liverpool Street, which was named this summer as the best hotel in the world for “party people”.

The official blurb says that:

Located adjacent to Liverpool Street Station, the hotel provides easy access to areas both in and around London, with good connections to the Eurostar terminal and all major airports, including a direct connection on the Stansted Express to Stansted airport.

The main attractions of Tower Bridge, the Tower of London, St. Paul's Cathedral, Tate Modern and Spitalfields Market are all within walking distance, and the shopping hub of Oxford Street only a 7minute Tube ride away.

So far, so boring.

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What's On the Block at the Jefferson Hotel?

Where: 1200 16TH AND M ST NW [map], Washington, DC, United States, 20036

In this regular feature on HotelChatter, we choose a hotel and take a look at what other businesses or buildings are on its block. Because what's close by is nearly just as important as what's inside the hotel.

Today we look at the newly opened Jefferson Hotel. Here’s what they have to say about their location:

The Jefferson's enviable location – straddling the city's political and social scenes at the corner of 16th and M Streets NW – puts guests in the center of it all.

… D.C.'s liveliest neighborhood, Dupont Circle, beckons to the immediate northwest with a cosmopolitan mix of restaurants, coffeehouses, blue-chip galleries and trend-setting retail shops.

… The Jefferson is also near two of Washington's trendiest "new" neighborhoods: Penn Quarter and the U Street Corridor.

And they’re right on target: The hotel is located in a pretty prime spot for walking both downtown and to lively Dupont and Logan Circles, and a long but definitely doable trek to Penn Quarter and the U Street Corridor. And from its corner, you have a straight shot view of the White House, a nice reminder of where you are.

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What's On the Block at The Strand Hotel?

Where: 33 West 37 Street [map], New York, ny, United States, 10018

In this regular feature on HotelChatter, we choose a hotel and take a look at what other businesses or buildings are on its block. Because what's close by is nearly just as important as what's inside the hotel.

Today we look at one of our 10 Hot New York City Hotel Openings, The Strand Hotel.

This is how they describe their locale:

the 20-floor Strand Hotel is ideally located just around the corner from the Empire State Building, steps from prime NYC shopping, the Theatre District, Madison Square Garden, Bryant Park, Grand Central Station and much more.

And they’re right. This is a fantastic, central location. Lord & Taylor, Macy’s, the New York Public Library, and all those places they mention are all within walking distance. And you will never go hungry or want for touristy tschokes. But here’s the “much more”—what you’ll find on the actual block itself, on W. 37th Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues.

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What's On The Block at The Distrikt Hotel?

Where: 342 W 40th Street [map], New York, ny, United States, 10018

In a new regular feature on HotelChatter, we'll choose a hotel and take a look at what other businesses or buildings are on its block. Because what's close by is nearly just as important as what's inside the hotel.

Today we strolled by one of the hotels listed on our 10 Hot New York City Hotel Openings, The Distrikt Hotel. The hotel describes its location like this: "Located in the heart of Manhattan on West 40th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues in Midtown Manhattan". And "steps away from The New York Times Building and Times Square." Technically, this is true. But there’s a few other things the funky-sounding hotel is not telling you....

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