When the Lobby is a Gallery: “Artful Bridges” and an In-House Art Curator Check in at Jumeirah Essex House

New York hotels discovered eons ago that empty walls and fine art go together like poached eggs and Hollandaise. Consider the Audubon and Piranesi prints in The Carlyle guest rooms. Or the contemporary art by one-time residents like Larry Rivers and Susan Olmetti blanketing the Chelsea Hotel lobby. Read more

Cool Stuff From Nine Clever Artisans at the Architectural Digest Home Design Show

I love design shows, and this is one of my favorites. (Full disclosure: I moderated the show’s New York Times design seminars, but I’d love it anyway.) Read more

Redirecting Hello Kitty: Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade Gets a New Route for 2012

Hello Kitty above the fray

Thanksgiving 2012 may seem a long way off, but for those who plan ahead, like parade organizers, it might as well be next week.

Last week Macy’s long-term planners dropped a bombshell – due to construction to the pedestrian plazas throughout Times Square, the parade will be rerouted down Sixth Avenue for 2012 and 2013, bypassing a patch of New York as famous as the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty combined. Read more

Snooze News at the Benjamin Hotel, Just in Time for National Sleep Awareness Week

In case you didn’t know, we just wrapped up National Sleep Awareness Week, which culminated at 2 am on March 13th.   That’s the day we “spring forward” and return to Daylight Savings Time, one hour blearier (but oh, those long evenings). Read more

The Five Best Hotel Restrooms in Times Square

Like a glass of ice water on a sweltering day, a hotel restroom can be a welcome sight. And if it’s super-clean, easy to find and flaunts some style, so much the better.  We found five hotel restrooms in Times Square that fit the bill as well as two honorable mentions. Keep these in mind when you’re in the area. You’re welcome.

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A High-Profile Cameo for The Waldorf-Astoria, Co-Starring with Matt Damon in “The Adjustment Bureau”

It isn’t easy to steal a scene from Matt Damon and Emily Blunt. But the Waldorf-Astoria in all its Art Deco glory does precisely that during the early scenes of The Adjustment Bureau, the new sci-fi-tinged thriller that opened this weekend. After all, there’s not a lot, living or inanimate, that can compete with the Waldorf’s vaunted Hall of Mirrors, patterned after the original in Versailles. Read more

Trilby: The Cooper Square Hotel Tries Out (Yet Another) New Resaurant

The Cooper Square, the chilly-chic East Village hotel that looks like it belongs in Dubai, is less than three years old, but already its restaurant is in the try, try again stage. Read more

What’s New and Notable at the 2011 New York Times Travel Show

I  love travel shows. Under one roof you can step into a discord-free United Nations and get a taste (often literally) of dozens of countries without flashing a passport or suffering jetlag. Read more