The Plaza.

As The Great Gatsby, the most hyped movie since, well, Iron Man 3, steamrolls into theaters, two hotels are proudly trumpeting their Gatsby connections.

Most obvious is The Plaza. When Daisy suggests Gatsby, Tom, Jordan and Nick drive to Manhattan, they beeline for the Plaza, a favorite of F. Scott Fitzgerald and wife Zelda. “They lived at the Biltmore but drank cocktails at the Plaza – orange blossoms spiked with bootleg gin,” writes Sally Cline, author of Zelda: Her Voice in Paradise, in New York magazine. Ernest Hemingway once told Fitzgerald to “leave his liver to Princeton and his heart to the Plaza” – or so the Plaza website tells us.

The Plaza appears as a high-profile supporting player in the movie, even though the interior scenes depicting the hotel were recreated in a studio. That hasn’t stopped the hotel from happily linking its fortunes to the film – and Fitzgerald. (more…)

Step this way to the Bombshell cast party.

The ratings may be tanking, but someone on the production end of Smash, NBC’s Broadway soap, has a wicked sense of humor.

To boil things down if you don’t follow the show, in Episode 12, Bombshell, a musical about the life of Marilyn Monroe, opens at last to thunderous applause and, alas, mixed reviews.

But the evening’s real action unfolds at the cast party, a star-drenched affair set in a palace of a room that looks like a set from The Great Gatsby. Guests with mega-voices (and mega-looks) step through a pair of glass doors labeled C Hotel in swirly letters and find themselves in a forest of soaring balconies, glittering chandeliers, white tablecloths and gilded everything.

Logical candidates might be the Carlton, a good-looking historic hotel that’s appeared frequently on the show. Or the Carlyle, a bonafide glamour pit, albeit a bit far uptown. (more…)

Camera ready: Le Caprice at The Pierre.

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.)

But you can watch Richard Gere and Vanity Fair editor Graydon Carter, cast as a mercurial pair of financial sharks, power breakfast together at Le Caprice in Arbitrage, (more…)

Applause for “Amelie.”

It was billed as Cinema under the Stars. Under the clouds was more like it.

But the clouds didn’t dribble. The wind didn’t blow (too much). And with barely a hitch, The Peninsula New York unveiled its first outdoor movie night on the terrace of its roof bar Salon de Ning on Monday night.

Make that plein air cinema. The movie was Amelie, the feather light, Proust-infected rom com that landed Audrey Tautou’s neo-Lousie Brooks haircut in countless magazines, ca 2001.

It was part one in a four-part invention – a quartet of French movies that will be shown on the last Monday of the month from now through October.  Coming soon to a chic midtown terrace near you (if you happen to be in New York) are Chocolat (August 27), A Very Long Engagement (September 24) and The Artist (October 29). (more…)

Ring in the new!

We love the Olympics regardless of where they occur, but we’re especially jazzed that they’re in London this year. As the capital city of a country steeped in theater – Shakespeare, anyone? — London knows how to put on a show, with royals and rock stars to boot. So bring it on!

Most New York hotels will tune their bar TVs to Olympic events, including the Ritz Carlton New York Battery Park, the Warwick New York and the Marriott New York Downtown (16 screens and counting so you can watch the Mets or Yankees when you’ve OD’d on wrestling).

But a handful are going for the gold with special screens, drinks and meals. Here a sampling of what we found. (more…)

Beats gooey nachos: retro sweets.

We love watching old movies in hotel screening rooms, the ultimate anti-multiplex (the chairs! the sound system! the champagne!).

Last month W New York Downtown initiated “New York in Film,” a smart if brief summer series of old movies curated by savvy New Yorkers. And just like that W joined the (too) small society of New York hotels, including the Crosby Street Hotel and Tribeca Grand, that screen movies to anyone who purchases a ticket, not just red carpeters and opening nighers.

Round one was Sweet Charity, chosen – and chatted up — by fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi. On July 31, the series wraps with Midnight Cowboy (1969), John Schlesinger’s dark drama with Dustin Hoffman as Ratso Rizzo and Jon Voight as John Buck, hand-picked by director Spike Lee who calls the movie “an example of how New York can be so glorious and painful at the same time.” (more…)

Movie night.

We love seeing movies in hotel screening rooms. Big screen, plushy seats, popcorn, perks – you can’t sip champagne in a flute at the multiplex. So why do most hotels restrict their screening rooms to private parties?

This summer W New York Downtown, the gleaming glass pillar across from Freedom Tower, bucks the trend and presents Grand Classics: “New York in Film” Summer Screenings, two curated movie nights for anyone who buys a ticket.

On June 27, fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi dissected his pick Sweet Charity, (more…)

Carlton’s star turn.

Why is Smash, the hit NBC series about the creation of a Broadway musical, our favorite television show this season? We can’t recall a TV show or movie with scenes shot at more New York City hotels.

Over the course of its short season, the actors were shown sipping drinks at the Bryant Park Hotel‘s Cellar Bar, clicking cocktails at the Royalton, downing drinks at W Times Square and ambling past the pink neon marquee of Times Square’s infamous Hotel Carter (you’ll notice they didn’t go inside that one). (more…)

When Hollywood’s luckiest lookers thank their lawyers, agents, stylists and Mom for their screen success this Sunday, where do you want to be? Sure, you can stay home with your TV and Twitter feed, but watching the festivities on a big screen at a hotel can be so much more fun.

We found three hotels in different parts of town that go all out for Oscar night.  The envelope, please! (more…)

In case you missed the Trump International New York Hotel & Tower’s starring role in the action comedy Tower Heist (and regret it), you’ve got another chance. The caper movie Rotten Tomatoes called “fun fluff” goes on sale on Blu-Ray and DVD on February 21^st.

Ben Stiller, Eddie Murphy, Matthew Broderick, Tea Leoni, Casey Affleck and Alan Alda co-star with the hotel,which is cast as a super-luxe condo packed with wealthy New Yorkers. Not much of an acting stretch for the Trump, in other words, but the hotel plays its part convincingly, even if all that’s seen is the gleaming black and gold exterior as well as the loading dock, garage and residential lobby at 1 Central Park West. (Sorry, no guest rooms.) (more…)