We finally got around to seeing the year’s top fashion documentary Diana Vreeland: The Eye Has to Travel.  In the spirit of her fabled Why Don’t’ You lists that spiced up an earlier iteration of Harper’s Bazaar, we offer Overnight New York’s Why Don’t You: the NYC Hotel holiday version. Here’s what to see and do at New York hotels while the holidays are still humming.

Take holiday tea at The Peninsula Forget petite fours. The Peninsula New York serves up a special holiday tea that’s as seasonal as Santa (or midnight champagne).  Brightening the pastry plate are bite-size fruit cake, crescent macarons, peppermint chocolate cupcakes and eggnog pecan tarts. A special children’s tea includes snowman marshmallows, peppermint cupcakes and Christmas cookies.

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The library at the Library.

January is the slowest of slow seasons in New York. And small wonder. The weather is dreary, days are still dark, and the holiday fizz has gone flat.

In short, it’s the perfect time to come to New York if you’re looking for deals. Tickets to Broadway’s dearest shows, reservations at the city’s hottest restaurants – a snap. And hotels plush and modest roll out their most agreeable rates. If you’re ever longed for a night at the Greenwich, the Crosby Street or the Carlyle without breaking the bank (too much), this is your moment.

Or choose one of the 24 hotels participating in the second annual Hotel Week NYC.  Last year Hotel Week launched with eight participants and Nancy J. Friedman, a well-connected Public Relations firm, organizing things. This year Nancy Friedman is back along with most of last year’s hotels (we miss you, Andaz Wall Street and Z Hotel) and lots of new ones. (more…)

Books at the Library Hotel

We love hotel libraries, book-lined havens – or at the very least, a cozy room with a couple of well-stocked shelves – where you can climb into a big, squishy sofa or club chair. Sure, you can byo, but half the fun is discovery – that obscure novel you missed, a travel or photography book you’ve never seen or a Dutch design magazine you didn’t know existed.

Paper rules at hotel libraries. Elsie de Wolfe knew nothing warms up a room like books, and generations of decorators absorbed her edict. (more…)

New York isn’t Amsterdam. But since 1993, the addition of 100 miles of greenway paths has changed life for bike lovers. We wouldn’t recommend plowing into midtown traffic unless you’re Tour de France fit  – or a bike messenger. But the city’s growing network of bike lanes offers savvy riders a fun, pollution-free way to get from Point A to Point B and take in the sights that whirl by.

These five properties (plus bonus mentions) lead the growing band of hotels that house bikes to lend or rent to guests. (Condolences to the Hotel Gansevoort Meatpacking District, whose fleet of Puma bikes was stolen and, as of this writing, has not been replaced). (more…)

Deck the halls with boughs of holly . . . . at the Pierre Hotel. (more…)

Day-After-Thanksgiving pizza.

What to do with that leftover turkey, gravy and cranberry sauce sitting in the ‘fridge? If you run an Italian restaurant, there’s an obvious solution: make pizza.

Bart Retolatto, chef at La Bottega, the stylish Italian trattoria at the Maritime Hotel, is rolling out his latest creation — the Day-After-Thanksgiving pizza-for-one. (more…)