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…)

Ritz Carlton lobby -- closed temporarily by Hurricane Irene.

And a most unwelcome guest she is.

Flooding concerns in low-lying areas of Manhattan prompted several hotels at the island’s southern tip to close this weekend for city-mandated evacuation, including the Ritz Carlton New York Battery Park, the Andaz Wall Street, the New York Marriott Downtown and the tiny Wall Street Inn. And just like that, more than 1,000 hotel rooms dropped off the city’s radar.

Fortunately, no homeless guests have been reported. New York hotels are rarely at 100 per capacity in the waning days of August, particularly business hotels near Wall Street. The Andaz, Ritz Carlton and Marriott are affiliated with hotels uptown (phone calls to the Marriott Downtown were routed to the Marriott Marquis, the Times Square behemoth).

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Tea in the afternoon.

High tea and texting don’t mix. That, at least, is how we felt on a recent weekday afternoon as we sipped Lapsang Souchong and nibbled miniature sandwiches in the Gotham Lounge at The Peninsula hotel.

Afternoon tea at a hotel is something of an anachronism, a last link to a “What is the weekend?” world. It’s the anti-fast food, offering a civilized setting for a business meeting, a cozy chat or a vacation from the 21^st-century for an hour or two.

Its charm depends on getting the mix of old and new just right, a balancing act that’s oddly tricky. Too much tradition and high tea feels fusty.  Not enough and it’s not High Tea. (more…)

Desk and lamp in our room.

Shortly after I spent the night at the Crosby Street Hotel, I came across the April issue of Elle Décor. Inside I spotted the London townhouse of Kit and Tim Kemp, owners of the Crosby. Gazing at their fancifully sophisticated, color-drenched house awash in bold florals and even bolder stripes it seemed I’d never left the hotel. In fact, a shiny lamp base comprised of stacked silver balls looked like the one in my room.

I love hotels that flaunt the owner’s style. To my eyes, Kit Kemp boasts the most singular vision of any British hotelier this side of Anouska Hempel, creator of Blakes, the original boutique hotel.  But what different styles. (more…)

Vincente Wolf's DIFFA table.

We love design shows, and this is one of our favorites. (Full disclosure: we moderated the show’s New York Times design seminars, but we’d love it anyway.)

What’s not to love? Top-flight designers like Ralph Lauren, Rauber + Rauber, David Rockwell and Vincente Wolf fashioned glamorous table settings for DIFFA’s annual Dining by Design exhibition. More than 100 artists showed their work in the new Artist’s Project at the adjoining Pier 92. Restaurants like Eataly, Junoon, Print at Ink48 hotel and Make my Cake sent chefs to demonstrate – and pass around — everything from Italian delicacies to cupcakes. (more…)

As fans of the Crosby Street Hotel’s Sunday Night Film Club (a club in name only) we perked up when we

Crosby Street screening room.

learned the hotel’s stylish basement screening room – orange leather chairs, state of the art equipment – had launched a new series.  Planned for four Mondays sprinkled throughout 2011, “Under the Influence: Writers on Film” pairs celluloid with lit, featuring a movie chosen by a prominent writer followed by a discussion with said writer and screenwriter Michael Maren.  A reception with wine and nibbles wraps things up.

It’s a 92^nd Street Y, Film Forum, private screening mash-up, in other words. And it’s yours for $35 (they also toss in popcorn and Voss water). (more…)

Another day, another top 25 hotel list. This one comes from the readers of Travel & Leisure. And though no New York hotels made the list, nine New York properties are among the 218 US hotels included in the magazine’s top 500 hotels in the world.

Like yesterday’s Trip Advisor listing, Travel & Leisure’s picks come from readers rather than editors.  (more…)

Crosby Bar, home of Mrs. Lilley's Pumpkin Pie

Seasonal drinks make some people squirm, but we love them. Give us a pumpkin martini, and we say Thanks(giving)! Stir in a cool story, and it tastes even better.

Which brings us to Mrs. Lilley’s Pumpkin Pie, available for a limited time, naturally, at the Crosby Street Hotel.

Richard Lilley, head barman at the Crosby Bar, credits his wife, a former bartender in Chicago’s fabled Division Street, with the creation of this spicy/creamy concoction 17 years ago. (more…)

The theater with 100 orange leather seats.

Almost as many New York City hotels have screening rooms as spas. But it’s a lot easier to visit a hotel spa than to settle in with a bag of popcorn for a movie in a hotel screening room. Though chic abodes like the Bryant Park Hotel and the Tribeca Grand have suitably eye-catching movie theaters, as rental spaces they’re the domain of invited guests.

Which is why the Crosby Street Hotel’s 100-seat movie theater is so cool. Every week, the Crosby Sunday Night Film Club screens a movie and a short feature at 8 pm. Admission to the “club” requires neither dues nor hazing: you either book the three-course movie dinner ($50) or the movie bar plate for two ($25 a person). (more…)