While glitzy 5-star hotels rise up left and right of Fifth Avenue, we forgot that luxury doesn't always come in tall glass towers.
But this week we got a classic reminder with a visit to the landmark Sherry-Netherland at Central Park. Or simply "the Sherry" as its called by the who's who list of travelers who have stayed there over the years.
Built in 1927, there's no better place to live the life of luxury than in this grand Jazz Era hotel, where you're surrounded with authentic Vanderbilt mansion riezes, hand-loomed French carpets, marble mosaic floors and custom-made chandeliers.
Thanks to major media hype about the new CW show Gossip Girl, we totally tuned in to get the scoop. In truth, we only got about 20 minutes into it because we drank a bottle of wine at dinner. Not unlike many Upper East Siders.
Anyways, props to The O.C. creator Josh Schwartz for once again producing a show mostly full of white people. Also, these teens are doing stuff we didn't do until well into our 20s like drink martinis and buy clothes at Henri Bendel's. Actually we still have not done the latter.
Since we didn't watch the full episode yet we won't give it a critique. But we will say that we cringed at Nate Archibald's line (and name), "Do you ever get the feeling everything is all planned out for us? And we're gonna end up like our parents?" Snore.
What is of note is that the main character Serena van der Woodson and her dysfunctional family live at the Palace Hotel. Serena and her BFF-turned-frenemy Blair Waldorf (yes, the names of these characters suck) grab a drink at the Palace Hotel and reminisce about dancing on tables "at Bungalow" which we assume is nightclub Bungalow 8. Mind you they share these stories over some martinis at the bar. Last time we checked no one made virgin martinis (Virgintinis? Ew, gross.)
Now that our hangover is going away, we'll tune in for the rest of the episode. Or not. However, we fully expect the sales/marketing team at the Palace to put together a "Gossip Girl Package" by the next episode.
TMZ reports that Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie ditched the premiere for his film The Assassination of Jesse James in New York a little early to retreat to their suite at the Waldorf-Astoria.
However, we are guessing this duo is booked up in the fancier Waldorf Towers where regular rooms start at $700 a night and are a gazillion times fancier than the rest of the place.
All guest accommodations at The Waldorf Towers are individually decorated with exquisite antiques and period reproductions, with themes ranging from French Provincial to Old English. Many suites feature pieces transported from the original Waldorf=Astoria, which was razed in 1929 to make way for the Empire State building.
But if Brangelina don't have anywhere to be around 4:20 today, then they should hit up the 16th floor of the main building.
On our way down to the LES yesterday for a meeting, we noticed this upcoming hotel on Houston Street. It's actually called The East Houston Hotel (the cross street is Eldrigde.)
A quick visit to the hotel's website tells us the place is "Coming Soon" but will include a restaurant (no name yet), a rooftop, and state of the art guestrooms (queens and doubles.) The place will be a little high-tech too, boasting a "high security keyless entry system", high-speed internet and free local phone calls. There will also be "obersized" showers although that's not a high-tech gadget, just a typo.
Curbed's been following this place for a while--there was once a mention of a February opening--but judging from the brown paper tacked inside the windows, we give this place a few more months to open at best.
Coincidentally, the East Houston Hotel is just steps away from Jason Pomeranc's monstrous Thompson LES hotel which as you can see after the jump, is still under heavy construction.
Last week, we gave you a peek of the rug in our room at the legendary Waldorf-Astoria which surprised us because it was so...well...ugly and we thought the Waldorf was all swanky and stuff. Lesson learned. Words like legendary and famed often mean "old" and "outdated."
If only video cameras could capture smells because if that were true you would all be getting high watching this video. That's right. Immediately upon stepping out of the elevator on the 16th floor, we smelled some herb.
Our dear old mother thought it was a skunk but we had to explain that when you encounter this type of smell on a highway, then it's most likely a skunk. Indoors, however, that's some weed we are talking about.
Our reports from Manhattan hotels continue with this snapshot from the legendary Waldorf-Astoria Hotel hotel on Park Avenue. Yeah, this rug isn't what we expected from the Waldorf but neither was the room rate of $289 a night.
A full review of the hotel should be coming next week.
USA Today was able to get a peek inside the Ty Warner penthouse inside the Four Seasons New York (Warner owns the hotel) and explore what kind of hotel suite you can build for $50 million.
For starters, to stay in Warner's namesake penthouse, it's gonna cost you $30,000 a night. Right, so this is definitely for rich people with nothing to do with their money. Or Britney Spears whenever she's in town with a new guy and a new weave.
Second, after six years of construction, the I.M. Pei-designed suite now covers the entire 52nd floor with views in all directions and is filled with high quality furniture and materials. For instance:
The walls are made of straw, hand-laid by an artist in Paris at a cost of $1 million.
But despite all this, the place only has one proper bedroom, although we're sure your guests could crash somewhere in the living room or the fitness center.
And you do get your money's worth staying here as the hotel doesn't charge its penthouse guests for any additional services like room service, a Rolls-Royce (with driver) to chaueffer you around town, a personal butler on call 24-7 and a personal masseuse for unlimited massage treatments. Finally, you get what you pay for!
UPDATE: Helpful concierge has returned our call to tell us the exhibit will be showing from July 20-27th in the hotel's courtyard facing Madison Avenue.
French photographer Bettina Rheims will show her "Liquid Gold" exhibit at the hotel featuring her interpretaion of white wine brought to life. WWD reports:
[Rheims'] 11 portraits were commissioned by the French wine region of Chablis, which gave Rheims carte blanche in bringing her interpretations of the white wine to life any way she chose.
"It took long research," Rheims said of her process. "I looked at paintings of wine. I wanted to know how the wine is made, the tools that are used, the instruments, how it's put together."
The 11 portraits show women swathed in gold wreaths, gold vines, and wearing gold bikinis, dresses or just gold paint.
The hotel is listed as the next home for the photo exhibit in the month of July, but when we called over there today, no one really had an idea of this show or when it was to appear. However, a very helpful concierge was determined to track down an answer. We'll keep you posted.
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by mytwocents
