School isn’t a word that leaps to mind when we think of The Pierre. But six times a year the drinks team in the hotel’s Two E bar/lounge cooks up a specialty cocktail menu. The night the drinks debut, Two E hosts a free mixology class where patrons can stop by, watch the team led by drinks maestro Sachin Hasan in action, and sample the new cocktails. Forget homework, but you can leave with a recipe or two. Read more
The Warwick’s security blocks.
The Queen’s flag – or absence of it – announces whether or not she is in residence at Buckingham Palace. At large hotels flags flown above the entry perform a similar task, hinting that notables are in the house, whether a visiting government or a football team.
The only flags flying in front of the Warwick Hotel this week were the stars and stripes and the red Warwick banner. Read more
A little more to the left . . .
Actually, the Belleclaire is getting an entire new lobby (and not a moment too soon).
But a chandelier this big commands more attention than a throw pillow. And we happened to stop by as it was being positioned into place. Read more
You’re out of luck if you wanted to try the Eggs Benedict at Le Caprice. The Pierre hotel’s gleaming by-the-numbers copy of the popular London brasserie closed earlier this year. (We wonder who got their hands on the gorgeous David Bailey photos of Jean Shrimpton that dressed the walls.) Read more
Celebratory butter cream with chocolate filling.
Not many guests check into hotels long term unless you count inventor Nikola Tesla, who lived for a decade at The New Yorker, or Cole Porter, who stayed for years at the Waldorf (the hotel lent him a grand piano). Read more
Leggy desk.
It takes a certain bravura for a hotel to name its rooms Spectacular, Fantastic and WOW.
W hotels have done this for over a decade, of course. Still, one person’s WOW is another’s meh. And what happens when age sets in, as it inevitably does? Nothing looks as forlorn as a trend-conscious hotel pushing ten without a facelift or, at the very least, fresh clothes and make-up. Read more
Artist Daniel St. George (right) and assistant Max Decker painting the Andaz doors.
Sometimes a door isn’t just a door.
Last week the double doors leading to The Bar Downstairs at the Andaz 5th Avenue were a work in progress (witness the protective plastic, brush-wielding artist, passersby taking pictures).
And this week? Read more
Fashions inside.
Once again New York Fashion Week breezes in, and suddenly Manhattan’s Upper West Side is uncharacteristically chic – at least until September 13. Read more
What was the most watched movie in hotel rooms across the U.S. and Canada and in New York City last month?
Think blockbuster. And comics. Since August was too early for either The Amazing Spider-Man or The Dark Knight Rises to leave the big screen for hotel room flatpanels, that leaves one obvious winner – Marvel’s The Avengers. Read more