1Hotel NYC: Time for a New Thing
January 28, 2023
As you know if you read this blog religiously (you do, right?!), back in the old days NPS favored the Kimpton hotel chain. Once IHG bought Kimpton, the vibe transformed itself over a number of years from design-forward, hipster-esque to corporate hamsters from Kansas. So we’re done with Kimpton.
That puts a small damper on problems like where to stay in NYC. The prosthetic memory is no longer valid in a bunch of towns. So what do we do? We strike out on our own again and try new things. 1Hotel is one of these new things.
What’s the verdict? Well, 1Hotel is certainly trying hard to be cool. Kind of like that kid in high school who would sneakily tag along, hoping to be invited to the keg party.
For one night it will do. And it’s in an interesting place (just south of the Park, near the Moma, and for our purposes this time, very close to the CORE Club.
We’re spoiled. Yeah, we admit it. So when we uber in from EWR to check in at 11, we kind of expect a room to be ready. Like, the hotel has a computer, right? But no. No personal note. Just friendly staff who will text you during your business lunch meeting to inform you that, yes, 90 minutes later your room is ready. Whatever, dude.
So you can wait here in the lobby with the Spaniards. Or you can get an espresso in the restaurant. But freshen up in your room and unpack your set of stuff? Nope.
We were eventually in room 904 (a Park view King on the corner of the building, but nowhere near high enough. Ask explicitly for a high floor.
After lunch at Hatsuhana (great sushi) and some excellent street coffee, we did finally check in around 2:30. There was time for a quick visit to the MoMA.
A corner room is nice, but this one is too low to really see the park.
The actual view.
This window box is a nice, if not a bit chilly, place to delete email.
Interesting but very small bathroom with a glass shower. The shower is NPS approved.
The event, at CORE Club was very nice. This is a great location for a private event. We comfortably hosted about 60 people, though only 40 of them were served dinner. The food was pretty not bad and the cocktail bar downstairs was quite good.
Real plants.
All in all the 1Hotel seems a bit overpriced for what it offers. but it is NY and the room had enough space to actually exist once we got into it.
Four showerheads for 1Hotel by Central Park.
Back in New York, The Muse Hotel (IHG)
May 8, 2022
Our first foray into the city was not that long ago, but was directly impacted by COVID when both stars of Plaza Suite were infected. We went to see Hangman instead, an OK play, but not really all that. And then it was back in Virginia for the advent of the Spring green. Were some of us disappointed? Why yes we were.
So, soon enough we were back in the city to take another crack at Plaza Suite do some business on the side. The original plan was to fly in Saturday evening, so we booked a room at the Muse, one of the Kimptons of yore. Bottom line: the IHG takeover of Kimpton is complete. These days, the lobby of the Muse seems to be filled with aging midwesterners who have accumulated enough IHG points by staying at many Holiday Inns that they are splurging on a trip to Broadway and the big city. Kimpton is hip no more.
The new demographic at the Muse in NY seems to be mostly oldsters from flyover states who accumulated lots of points by staying at Holiday Inns. @Kimpton has been utterly transformed by @IHGhotels.
— noplasticshower (@noplasticshower) May 7, 2022
Times Square remains a Disneyfied tourist attraction and a traffic snarl. That’s nothing new.
The Muse does retain much of its old staff, and that is nice. But its computers are corporate and the wiggle room is gone. So our request of room 1703 was ignominiously ignored due to the fact that we expanded our stay to two nights instead of one (really with plenty of time for the hotel to adjust) and didn’t feel up to switching rooms halfway through our stay. That leaves us surly and disappointed.
Somehow I think we ended up accumulating lots of IHG points due to all of this. But guess what? NPS does not give one shit about IHG points. None. We just want really great rooms for our cash money.
Plus it rained the whole time, so 1506 was not all that it’s cracked up to be what with a soggy balcony.
It was great to see Madou.
The rain made business in Brooklyn interesting too. Traffic was a thing. Our visit to One World Observatory for dinner was hilarious with zero visibility. LOL.
Finally we ditched the tail and ended up at Katana Kitten for some real fun (thanks to Jacques for the pointer). I mean, check out this before and after!
Things were blurry.
Thankfully the canary extracted us before the blurry things got much farther out of hand. They did get far enough though, and Saturday morning was hard.
Returning to 1506 after a night on the town? Nah. The Muse days are over.
At least the shower is NPS approved. A very nice one.
After recovery, we visited the Guggenheim for a Kandinsky fix. Ahhh. That and ramen will do it every time. It was a glorious afternoon.
After a nap that stretched on just a little too long, it was dinner at Junoon. Highly recommended.
Breakfast at Banter (the original one south of Washington Square) is fantastic. The mushrooms are worth talking about.
Now it’s time to see the play and then scoot to EWR for a quick hop home.
Four showerheads and a demotion for the Muse. We miss our Kimpton.
Oh no a Raddison Blu in Oslo (the Plaza one)
November 20, 2021
Sadly when you have to give a keynote talk at a conference there is often a conference hotel. These are great if you like hamster cage rooms, overcrowded breakfast room scrums (during a pandemic), watery espresso from machines with only one button, and that sort of corporate stuff.
At least they let us check in to 2622 early. But for the sake of all gods, don’t stay here unless you must.

Hamster cage with bed (you can’t really see the water bottle drip mechanism thingy, but it is there)
This view kind of says it all. Yes there is Fjord out there somewhere. Past the industrial haze.
But it was free! And we got to do the big show.
And the Top Floor bar makes very good cocktails if you stick to the script. The view from up there at night is nice. (Oslo is not Tokyo.)
When in Oslo, try to see some art. If you want to add to your collection, go to purenkel.
Or walk the streets.
We stayed in and had a very nice meal at the hotel on Thursday night (the restaurant seems to be called Gaio). The wait staff is enthusiastic. The cooking is old school but quite good. NPS had some reindeer and a very nice Barolo.
Friday night dinner was excellent. Definitely get to Arakatata. Wow. (Ask for the wine list).
Can’t wait to see you again, Oslo. But we will award the Raddison Blu Plaza a measly three showerheads (up from two since the restaurant and bar are ok). Nopey nope.
The Lorien for Battery Recharge Through Cocktails, Art, and Conversation
December 16, 2019
Ah the Lorien, it has been a while! Since NPS last visited, IHG has done all it can to change the Kimpton chain it acquired into something we don’t recognize. The good news is that many excellent people remain, like Steph Vogel who we count as a friend.
We were assigned little nicely renovated rooms without plastic showers. Just right for this one night extravaganza. NPS was in 414.

arty bed
The shower is OK, not plastic, but who picked out that shower head?!
Thanks for the Negroni Steph!

Negroni with Watershed by Catoctin Creek
Chef prepared us dinner (we didn’t order, just reveled in what arrived). Delicious.
Must say that all of the cocktails are too sweet at the Lorien now.
We called in the usual set of favors to get the booth at the Colimbia Room. Perfect evening for talking, drinking and figuring out life.

Columbia Room menu
Breakfast the next morning was the highlight of the visit! Great to see Steph and catch up.
Then it was off to a day of art at the Hirshhorn, the Phillips, and the Renwick…oh yeah and Richard’;s house too! Just look.

Make sure to go back to the Hirshhorn. It is vastly improved
Lunch at Bistrôt du coin. Always French as all getout.

The Phillips is a favorite most anytime
Dinner with Richard was followed by an evening of conversation. Anytime.
All in all, an incredible visit. Life affirming on all counts.
Four showerheads for the Lorien. This IHG thing. Harumph.
Rydges South Bank Brisbane: Back on Top (part two)
December 2, 2018
Our first taste of Rydges South Bank Brisbane left a bad taste in the mouth. But a meeting with the GM in the morning cleared things up.
While we were off having breakfast, our room was switched to a very nice suite (room 1028).
There is plenty of room in 1028. And two balconies to boot.

Wrap around balconies

Room to exist

Working desk

A separate bedroom
The bathroom is big enough for two, and has a big tub.
Much better shower. Ahhh!

The shower is very nice
Breakfast at the Gunshop Cafe is delicious. Great espresso and juice.

Gunshop cafe Sunday brunch
After which, an excursion to Stradbroke Island (called “straddie”). Ferry ride on a bus, picnic lunch, beer, hiking, gelato, swimming in the ocean. A great day.

Point Lookout
The seas were high, and we got wet, which was a blast!
See more pictures from the Stradbroke trip.
Dinner at Julius Pizzeria was authentically Italian. Great pizza and great people.

Julius Pizzeria
There is a budding cocktail scene in Brisbane. Thanks to Rachel at Wickham we were looped in. We can confirm that Saville Row is top notch. (Look for the orange door.)
Likewise Electric Avenue is a great place for a cocktail. Jess created a drink for us.

Jess at Electric Avenue
Rye Surprise
45ml Bulliet Rye
20ml dry vermouth
15ml lemon
20ml kiwi puree
40ml pineapple
8 dashes peychauds
shake. double strain. serve up in a coupette. garnish with dehydrated pineapple.

Rye Surprise
Apparently a Brisbane cocktail called the clockwork orange was a contest winner…which contest we don’t recall. It falls squarely in the tiki category.
Clockwork Orange
20ml aperol
20ml cherry heering
20ml passionfruit syrup
30ml gin (monkey 47)
25ml lemon
2 dashes orange bitters
shake. strain. serve over crushed ice in a tall collins glass.
Bars we were unable to visit but heard tell are good include: Legends Speakeasy (find the passcode on the net) and Tomcat (behind Bill Murray).
Skip the Pancake Manor. Though it is built in an old church the food is awful and the espresso is worse. Greasy spoons should be greasy but not just bad.
QAGOMA is an excellent museum. The modern art collection is far superior to the science museum’s stuff. Just stick with the art. Have a beer in the courtyard.
The botanical gardens are also worth a visit.
Four showerheads and a tip of the hat to Rydges. Thanks for fixing things. Now for some sleep!
The Lorien Alexandria During No Fly July
July 12, 2017
Though NPS does not fly in July or December, there is still stuff to be done. The solution? A working meeting at the Lorien in Old Town Alexandria. We’ve been to the Lorien a couple of times since Steph Vogel took over as GM. Sadly, Steph is in Switzerland this week. We’ll pretend that the ship runs just as well without Steph at the helm (though it’s really not true).

The Spartan balcony off 619
This visit finds us in 619, which is similar to 615 only slightly smaller and on the other side of the building. There is a very large balcony on this side too. Because it’s 100 degrees this week (with an overnight low in the upper ’70s), the balcony will be ignored due to weather. Strikes us that a remake of these balconies as a garden would make them both more inviting.

Look to the left

Look to the right
Our meeting room was cavernous and highly functional. We spent all day working.
A cocktail was in order after all that work. The bar is still very good, though barman and detail freak Phil Clark is no longer around. Phil has moved to Phoenix. You can tell. Damien is doing his damndest to keep things up.
Whey Sour
.75 cachaça (novo fogo)
.75 rye (copper fox)
1.5 whey
.75 honey
1 lemon
pinch of salt
Shake. Serve up.
Snacks at the bar took forever to arrive. That ended up making them free. Timely is better than free.
Dinner at The Warehouse was a massive disappointment. The crayfish were good. Or was that the crawdads? The wine list?
Unusable. Skip it. In other news from the evening, the bar at Restaurant Eve still holds its own, but Jackson 20 has slipped to skip it level as well. So sad that the old Alexandria Monaco is now a Marriott property.
On return from dinner around 11, we were greeted with a nice amenity. Thanks Stephani. The ice cold San Pelegrino is particularly welcome.

Sitting room 619

Sleeping room 619
The huge glass shower will do just fine.

Shower? Perfect.
Once the work was done, there were museums to see. First stop was the National Building Museum to see Hive. Well worth the visit.

Home of hive. At least for a while.
That was followed by another great lunch at Bistrot du Coin.
And a visit to the Phillips Collection. The old building is under renovation, so only half of the paintings as usual were out. But still fantastic. An NPS introduction to the stunning art of German artist Markus Lüpertz.

German artist Markus Lüpertz

The suit

Detail from Spoon

German artist Markus Lüpertz
A fantastic day. Followed almost immediately on its heels by a fantastic evening.
Roses Luxury is just as stellar as its incredible reputation. Just go. We showed up at 5:10pm and walked right in for a 180 minute dinner extravaganza.

Those poor “other people” had to wait in line

Caviar service

Yes, we took pictures of our food. We also had extensive conversations about it.
The best dish of the evening was a soft shelled crab served with Singapore-style chilli sauce (on the sweet side) over steamed buns with pickles. Delicious.
So really. Go to Roses Luxury as soon as you can.
Then there was the Columbia Room in the back booth (our usual NPS haunt), this time with the geek patrol. Excellent as usual, this time less for the drinks presentation than the company.

Columbia Room

Ice

Seaweed?!
Rum from 1857 always seems like a good idea after the tasting menu is complete.
The moral of the story is: get your work done quickly so you can spend some time being spoiled in DC!
Five showerheads and a real wish that Steph were around. We miss you Steph.