Roses at Jumeirah Essex House.

“Florals? For spring? Ground breaking.” We hear you, Miranda Priestly. But strolling through a half dozen or so hotel lobbies, we couldn’t resist whipping out a camera and celebrating spring with flowers.

In the early and mid 20^th century a flower shop was a must at large urban hotels. Besides eye-catching blooms for the lobby, weddings and parties on the premises, the shop sent flowers to guest rooms on behalf of friends and associates (guests checked in for longer than a night or two in the years before air travel).  The shop also stocked the boutonnieres and corsages that were the mark of the well dressed.

Such shops are a rarity today, but the custom of dressing the lobby with fresh blooms lives on. (more…)

dEmo bear.

It’s as if someone filled a room with Gummy Bears, only these are big enough to eat you instead of the other way around.

We’re talking about Bear Forest, the Spanish artist dEmo’s installation of 30 life-size bear sculptures, identical in style though not in size or color, in the LAB Gallery, the corner storefront art gallery at the Roger Smith Hotel near Grand Central Station.

Each month or so the LAB displays a new installation meant to be viewed 24/7 through the windows. Viewers can’t enter the space. But you can see the art from different angles and perspectives depending upon where you stand. (more…)

Hello, spring.

We know – winter wasn’t a big deal this year, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t ready for spring. So bring it on. These big bouquets of lilies and blossoms come courtesy of the Barclay, or to be formal about it the Intercontinental New York Barclay, a hotel that can always be depended upon for fresh flowers in the lobby. The message? Spring’s here – we’re in the pink!

Movie stills at the Gershwin.

We always stop by the Gershwin hotel when we’re in the neighborhood. Besides Birch Coffee, a one-of-a-kind, sustainable-minded coffee shop, and a lively lobby where you can hang out as long as you want, the hotel buzzes with events – art exhibitions, music performances, drama of all kinds.

On a recent evening we strolled into the lobby and found actress Tilda Swindon (more…)

Times Square as seen from R Lounge.

This is what Times Square looks like from a window table at R Lounge, the Renaissance New York’s second-floor restaurant and bar with the flashy address – Two Times Square. Talk about the thick of things.

It’s one of those wow-I’m-in-New York! views, up there with the dining room at Helmsley Park Lane (Central Park), the roof bars at the Kimberly (Chrysler Building), the Bentley (East River), the James (lower Manhattan) and the Gansevoort Meatpacking District (Hudson River) and the revolving roof restaurant at the Marriott Marquis (the entire city).

And miraculously, when we stopped by mid-afternoon this week we had the room all to outselves, save for a woman with a broken leg seated by a window.  “Sit anywhere you like,” said the greeter. (more…)

Summer doesn’t end officially until the Autumn Equinox on September 23, but once this long weekend is over, summer fades. What better way to bid the season farewell than with a big visual bouquet of summer flowers we snapped at hotels around town?

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Le Parker Meridien on display.

For a short time, you can see Le Parker Meridien as it hasn’t been seen in years. Or to put it another way, the south side of West 57^th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenues looks like a wide smile with a tooth missing.

The missing tooth is the sturdy, 12-story brick structure, long home to the Jewish Board of Family and Children’s Services, that occupied the spot next to the hotel’s arcade entrance for more than a century, far longer than the 30-year-old Parker Meridien. But 1903 buildings, even ones with updated street-level facades, tend to be too short for 21^st century tastes, and in 2007 it was sold.

Its demise elicited protests from preservationists, (more…)

Pretty in pink.

We love hotel freebies, the kind you get when you walk through the door. A great looking lobby generously appointed with sofas and chairs? Check. Stylish lobby restrooms you can find without asking? Double check.

Fresh flowers? Pre-recession nearly every better hotel had them. But big, boisterous bouquets aren’t as ubiquitous as they once were, and we understand.  Some hotels dress their lobbies in hearty greens or small trees. Orchids, no fuss, no muss, are popular. And occasionally, exuberant blooms appear. They’re attention-grabbers. We had to stand in line and wait our turn to photograph this table tableau at the Plaza. Gorgeous (but what a shame there’s no place to sit, check your e-mail if you like and admire them).

You know summer’s here when hotels start rolling out outsize outdoor sculptures, the warm-weather equivalent of the holiday tree.  A big dog and a big boy on view all summer offer a taste of art and amusement, not to mention countless photo ops, in midtown and downtown. (more…)

Marilyn at the Washington Square Hotel

June 3^rd would have been Marilyn Monroe’s 85^th birthday. Since film legends never really die, Hollywood photographer Murray Garrett celebrated with a show of seldom seen – and in several cases never before seen – black-and-white images of the 1950’s most celebrated blonde at the Washington Square Hotel.

A salon in the rear of the low-key, Art Deco Greenwich Village hotel is transformed into a time-warp salute to Old Hollywood through September 1. (more…)