If you’ve seen Sex and The City or flipped through any fashion magazine in the last seven or so years, you would have seen the Hotel Gansevoort in NYC’s Meatpacking District. It’s the one known for its rooftop pool and its all-night parties. Perhaps you’ve even stayed there?
Well, New Yorkers get tired of what’s hot quickly, and now the focus on fun and funky nightlife has shifted away from the ‘MePa’ to the area with no name that some people are calling NoMad (North of Madison Square Park). It all started with the Ace Hotel, an outpost of the music-driven, bearded, hipster, foodie-lovin’ properties that are popular in Palm Springs, Seattle and Portland.
The Ace has simple (but cool) guest rooms, some with bunks and shared bathrooms. But it’s all about the social: it’s meat-centic restaurant The Breslin is jammed at brunch, the sub (sandwich) shop No. 7 has a perpetual line, and there’s a basement club, a coffee shop, and an ultra-cool Opening Ceremony boutique. There are talks for even more shops and bars to hit The Ace but frankly, I have no idea where they’ll put them.
Further up 29th Street, on Park Avenue South, there’s another newbie in NoMad, and it looks kind of familiar. It’s the Gansevoort Park Avenue, which just opened last week. (Katy Perry and Russell Brand were among the first guests).
Like its downtown cousin, it has a rooftop bar and pool called Plunge (only this one is three levels), and is getting an Exhale Spa, a Cutler hair salon, a liquor bar, an Italian trattoria Asellina, and a Lacoste boutique that will do special-edition items with the likes of Catherine Malandrino… Phew!
Both hotels are in this still-evolving NoMad neighborhood but it’s a great location for getting uptown or downtown, and with all those amenities in each you don’t even have to leave 29th Street to find a good time.
If you need help choosing, the Ace is more for rock chicks and scruffy musos, Gansevoort Park is the place to wear your favorite party frock and your platform booties.
Fall is prime tourist season in NYC, though, and even rustic rooms at the Ace start at around US$250. The Gansevoort Park starts at $495 a night, but you don’t have to be a guest to head up to Plunge.