So there we were, strolling by a New York City Starbucks we'd passed probably a thousand times...when we noticed a glass door that turned out to be a hotel: Hotel 373 Fifth Avenue.
This 70-room boutique hotel is truly is all about location. More about that momentarily...
Rooms range from Queen Petites to King Contemporaries, and the prices (depending on when you book and when you're traveling) range from US$180 to $400 a night. Amenities include iPod docking stations, free movies on their flat-screen LCDs, free local calls, WiFi, and bathrobes.
373 is blessed with unparalled real estate. You're right on Fifth Avenue, literally in the shadow of the Empire State Building. It's a short amble to The New York Public Library and Bryant Park, among other choice Gotham must-sees.
Word on First Avenue is that Manhattan officials are trying to convince a developer to turn New York City's famous Bellevue psychiatric ward into swanky new hotel digs. Sounds crazy, no?
Not so says the NYC Economic Development Corporation and Health and Hospital Corporation, who report the building would make an ideal hotel and conference center to house the medical and life-science industry folk who travel to the area.
Built by architect Charles B. Myers, the 1931 Italian Renaissance-style asylum is still a beautiful, albeit rundown building with magnificent architectural details, many different wings, and long corridors totaling an insane (ahem) 400,000 square feet of virtual hotel space.And while the rooms are a smallish for new condos or co-ops, their size is just right for guest rooms.
Until the mid-1980s, the (in)famous psych ward hosted countless criminals and kooks, with Mark David Chapman (John Lennon's murderer), author Norman Mailer, Warhol muse Edie Sedgwick and jazz great Charlie Parker among its many one-time guests. Come on, what other hotel in the U.S. can boast that?
But will switching from straight-jackets to bathrobes be a tourist draw? Perhaps. A mental hospital-turned-luxe hotel might just attract all those hoping for a wild and crazy time in the Big Apple. Worst case scenario, it might just get the local crazies off the streets.
Daylight Savings told us to spring ahead and in May that's what Morgans Hotel will be doing. The Manhattan hotel will be closing temporarily on May 18, 2008, for a $9 million modern up-do of its lobby and guest rooms, including the dreamy private penthouse.
The 113-room Madison Avenue hotel is the iconic property that started it all with French designer Andree Putman for Morgans Hotel Group twenty years ago. It was then Putman created the Morgans' famed "home away from home" sensation in the hotel industry, and this year she'll be working her magic again to give the property another fresh new look and feel in keeping with her original concept.
Don't fret for a second if you've booked yourself at the the hotel during the May-August months. All guests will be offered alternative stays at either the midtown Royalton or the Hudson, just blocks from Central Park. And the hotel's wildly popular Asia de Cuba restaurant will remain open throughout the renovations. The hotel plans to re-open in September.
Speaking of the Royalton, the place unveiled its new look last fall to pretty tepid reviews. Let's hope the iconic Morgans property doesn't suffer a similar fate.
Simon Van Kempen, general manager of the Hotel Chandler and star of The Real Housewives of Manhattan, better get his pipes checked. We mean, at the hotel of course.
A 79-woman is suing the hotel for negligence to the tune of $79 million after a too-hot shower caused her to faint. The Houston Chronicle reports:
Ethel Tropez, a Hurricane Katrina refugee from New Orleans who lives in Live Oak, Texas, says in court papers she was badly burned and suffered scarring and disfigurement in the mishap on March 29, 2007, in the Hotel Chandler. The hotel, where deluxe rooms go for up to $510 a night, is on East 31st Street near Fifth Avenue, three blocks south of the Empire State Building.
When the paper interview Van Kempen, he said "no idea about any of this." His response is still being awaited.
So, apparently it's National Sleep Awareness Week. Which means hotels have launched an absurd marketing blitz to hype their bedding options. Contrived? Sure, but we like sleeping just as much as anyone.
The 70 Park Avenue in Manhattan reminds us that they have a complete "pillow library" available for guests. You can even email the pillow librarian before arrival to make sure your favorite headrest is waiting when you check in.
You can also try the "Sweet Dreams" nightcap, a Dreamerz chocolate drink to help you fall asleep. If that doesn't do it for you, try the hotel's evening cocktail hour. Red wine always makes us sleepy.
The last time we stepped inside Country, the restaurant attached to The Carlton, the swank hotel near Madison Square Park in Manhattan, we saw Jane Seymour dining at a table nearby. It made sense she would choose to patron the establishment. Both Jane and The Carlton have been around for ages but manage to remain sleek, classy, and, yes, oddly sexy.
Just like Jane returned from post Dr. Quinn obscurity to shimmer across the stage in Dancing With The Stars, the hotel has reopened its lobby after a facelift and the addition of some extra sparkle, we hear from the The Times.
It greets you with a grand internal balcony at the top of a broad, curving limestone staircase: an ideal vantage point for the sumptuous three-story lobby, decorated in golden tones that shimmer like precious metals.
Maybe now that Jane's off the show, she can provide nightly entertainment showing her Cha Cha moves while guests wait in line for check-in.
Cubicle Dreamin' is a feature in which we ask the hotel mavens to take some time out of their busy work day, surf the Internet, and tell us what hotel they wish they could beam themselves to right that very second--all on the slave driving companies dime, of course. Oh, like these people aren't surfing aimlessly anyway--at least now their purposeless clicking will be cobbled together into useful hotel stories--we hope. Have a destination hotel you are just dying to leave your cube for? Send the story our way.
In this episode, Hotel Maven Amanda K picks out her funky choice for the Big Apple. Enjoy.
I miss the stimulation of New York. Gotta get back there soon. And while my idea of hotel heaven in NY is sleeping among the books of the Library Hotel, my other half would probably be bored to death. As a compromise I think we'd end up somewhere like the Gershwin Hotel on East 27th, mostly because of the attractively colorful exterior (and funky interiors too) and also because it wouldn't break our budget: there's gotta be cash leftover for plenty of shows, meals and fun.
The Gershwin is already a century old, and it's full of all kinds of art and design pieces. I'd be after the room they call the executive den (they also cater for backpackers, so be specific about what you're booking). I also love it that the top floor houses a bunch of artists-in-residence, this year including writers, filmmakers, photographers and multimedia artists. The suite room will put me back a max of $329 a night, but if we run low on funds we can swap to the hostel bunks and pay just $40. Everything's covered.
Where: The silverleaf tavern, adjacent to the hotel.
What:70 Park Avenue Hotel will be hosting the Carnival for Conservation on Thursday, August 16 in the adjacent silverleaf tavern. The free public carnival will benefit The Trust For Public Land (TPL) and all proceeds of the event's $5 organic cocktails and eco-friendly beers will benefit TPL. But that's not all:
Complimentary appetizers and fresh-spun cotton candy will be served while guests can take part in fun and games including Park Pong, readings from a mystical fortune teller, and a chance to try their luck on the prize winner's wheel for eco-friendly prizes and hotel stays at Kimpton properties nationwide.
Kimpton Hotels have been very diligent about their green practices from offering eco-floors in certain hotels to using eco-friendly cleaning products and even giving guests pedi-cab rides in Manhattan. So this party is just one more good thing Kimpton is doing.
We'll definitely check it out ourselves as we are curious as to what eco-friendly beer and organic cocktails taste like.
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by annie0007
