Hotel Obits, Part II: Six Notable NYC Hotels Closed Permanently By The Pandemic

By Terry Trucco

It was nearly two years ago that Covid muscled into New York City and shuttered more than 30 percent of the city’s 705 hotels — a significant number of them permanently.

Not every hotel that closed during the pandemic was a gem. But some are too notable to slip away without a few words of appreciation. Our first batch of hotel obituaries posted last fall with six Covid casualties we couldn’t let go without a send off.

Since then we’ve gathered a second batch — six more hotels that didn’t survive the pandemic but deserve one last look.  Read more

Eight NYC Hotels For Watching the 2021 Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade

Pikachu and Eevee, new for 2021

In yet another happy step towards normalcy, Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade returns to the streets of New York on November 25 for the 95th time.

It’s not clear how the city plans to designate this year’s outdoor viewing for those hearty souls hoping to take in the battalion of floats, marching bands and  airborne balloons (look for Pikachu and Eevee, Ada Twist, Scientist and Macy’s fetching reindeer Tiptoe leading this year’s crop of newbie inflatables).

As always, hotel rooms with parade views (and room service breakfasts) offer a serene alternative to a sidewalk teeming with humanity. Macy’s is still mapping out this year’s route, according to their website. But if recent years are any indication, the parade will march from Central Park West to Central Park South and down Sixth Avenue, aka Avenue of the Americas, to the Macy’s Herald Square mother ship.

That means eight hotels are situated directly along the parade route — two fewer than in 2019. Closed permanently due to the pandemic are Courtyard Marriott New York Herald Square, located steps from Macy’s, and the Excelsior, whose rooms overlooked the inflating of the balloons on Thanksgiving Eve.

Booking a parade-view room comes with a unique set of rules. Call the hotel directly (don’t even think about reserving online). Expect holiday pricing (the cheapest start at around $500 a night) and a three-night minimum. Another holiday quirk: the parade is meant to be seen from the street, so rooms on lower levels are most desirable. Just because a hotel faces Sixth Avenue doesn’t mean Astronaut Snoopy and Boss Baby will be visible from every window.

Here’s our 2021 list of hotels outfitted with parade-view rooms.  Read more

How Did NYC Hotel Restaurants Rate In the 2021 Michelin Restaurant Guide?

Better than you might expect given how many prominent hotel restaurants closed for lengthy stretches during the pandemic.

Only one previously starred hotel restaurant is missing from this year’s list — the NoMad at the NoMad Hotel, which achieved one-star status in 2019. Read more

An Under-The-Radar Supporting Role For The Mark Hotel In “Borat Subsequent Moviefilm”

OscarHotels don’t win Academy Awards, but that hasn’t kept New York City hotels from landing in movies that get nominated. 

Consider 2013, when NYC hotels had close-ups in three movies chasing Oscars –Best Picture contenders The Great Gatsby and American Hustle which showcased extravagant, if wildly different, interiors at The Plaza, and Blue Jasmine (Best Actress, Cate Blanchett), which features a contentious argument shot near the big clock in front of the erstwhile Tribeca Grand (now the Roxy Hotel Tribeca).

Only one New York City hotel is in the running for reflected glory when the 93rd Academy Awards air on Sunday, April 25, and it’s on screen for less than five minutes. But the scene filmed in a suite at The Mark won instant notoriety when Borat Subsequent Moviefilm, Sacha Baron Cohen’s cheeky mockumentary, debuted in October. It wasn’t for the interior design. Read more

Good-bye, Omni Berkshire Place NYC — The Hotel Where Rodgers & Hammerstein Hatched “Oklahoma!”

For a brief stretch, it was possible to score a ticket for the darkly sassy 2019 revival of Oklahoma! on Broadway and spend the night in the Rodgers & Hammerstein Suite at the Omni Berkshire Place Hotel, so named because the show’s creators agreed to collaborate on their game-changing musical over lunch at the hotel in 1942. Read more

Covid-19 Closing: So Long to the Maxwell — and the Very First W Hotel

The Maxwell has the distinction of being one of the first major New York City hotels to close permanently during the Coronavirus outbreak.

But to be fair, the hotel was teetering before the pandemic arrived. Read more

Seven Stylish NYC Hotel Bars for Watching the 2019 Oscars with Cocktails and a Crowd

OscarFor the first time in over three decades, the Academy Awards won’t have a host when ABC broadcasts the show this Sunday, February 24 at 8 p.m. Sounds like anything can happen. What better time to drink in the annual display of theatrics, tears and dresses with cocktails and a crowd?

These New York hotel bars are serving up drinks, big screens, a party atmosphere, even prizes. Popcorn, too, if you’re lucky.

 

 

 

 

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So Long John Dory, Hello Milk Bar: April Bloomfield’s Stylish Oyster Bar at the Ace Hotel Will Close February 23

We don’t report every hotel restaurant opening and closing. But this week’s news that the John Dory Oyster Bar at the Ace Hotel would close on February 23 was noteworthy — and not just because we love their kedgeree.

This was our favorite restaurant at the Ace. Though it supposedly was designed as a tribute to New York’s oyster bar history,  it reminded us of something out of London’s East End — or the raw bar at Bibendum. Part of it was the fish tank globes and the building’s original 1904 tile floor. But mostly it was food like the kedgeree, a rich, delicate mass of boiled rice, smoked haddock, parsley and ribbons of scrambled egg that deftly updated a hoary old British cliche. Read more

Three NYC Hotel Bars Where You Can Catch Super Bowl LIII

It’s early February, time for the New England Patriots’ annual trip to the Super Bowl. (All best wishes to the Los Angeles Rams, making their first appearance since losing to the Patriots in 2002).

Super Bowl III unfurls February 3 at Atlanta’s two-year-old Mercedes Benz Stadium. If you love being in a crowd when you watch the big game, critique the ads and listen to Maroon 5, we found three New York City hotel bars standing ready. They’re loaded up with beer, burgers, big screens and wings.

As for us, we can’t wait to hear a Pip-free Gladys Knight, daughter of Atlanta, belt out the Star Spangled Banner. Bring it on!

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Ace it! New York’s Best Hotels If You’re Going to the U.S. Open

This post was updated for the 2019 U.S Open

With Wimbledon 2019 in the books, our tennis thoughts bounce to hard surfaces and the best hotels if you’re going to the U.S. Open.

So long, strawberries. Hello, hot dogs!

The 50th annual U.S. Open unfurls from August 26 through September 8.

In theory, you can stay at any hotel in New York City and get yourself to the sprawling Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens (the easiest, and cheapest, way is to catch the 7 subway train at Grand Central Station for Mets-Willets Point Station). But these hotels, for wildly different reasons, put a special spin on New York’s biggest tennis event. Read more