Rima Suqi

I have a friend whose way of dealing with a bad day/week was to check into a hotel for a night to escape his life. This, to me, was genius for two reasons: 1.  I fantasize about living in a hotel and 2. It’s the only way to know, first-hand, what it’s like to stay in a variety of NYC hotels. Friends coming into town always ask me where to stay, and I tend to base my answer on neighborhood and price. Which, considering I am a travel writer, is just plain wrong. Before this week, the only hotel I’d spent the night in was the Pierre, and that was before it was taken over by Taj Hotels.

This week I spent two lovely nights at the Crosby. It’s on Crosby Street between Prince-Spring and I had a room on the 9th floor, facing east, with partial views of two bridges. The room functioned perfectly (except the air conditioning, which was a bit off), the shower was fab, the WIFI was free and the bartender downstairs made a perfect Gibson.

I had ten people for cocktails one night – to enjoy the room, and the view of the hipsters bbq-ing on the roof of the loft building below. We tried unsuccessfully to get noticed by them and get invited – but alas it was not to be.

Here are some room shots:

Lip balms given as gifts to all guests:

And, finally, the view – which is absolutely incredible at night but which I couldn’t properly capture on film. You’ll have to check in to see it yourself. Ask for room 902.

the hipster bbq was taking place on the upper right section of this roof:

I love seeing how things are made. After interviewing Rhett Butler of E.R. Butler I invited myself out to his factory in Brooklyn. It’s an amazing old compound he bought 15 years ago. He tells the story much better than I ever would  – you can read it  here. My take on the factory, in pictures, follows:

This is a crappy shot of the entrance. All those cobblestones are from the 1800s – Rhett collected them. It took years. The guy is a fanatic. I loved the large “B” at the top, with those three dots. Like an umlaut, but not.

I am very into tools, especially old tools and machinery – and he’s got plenty of that (along with a lot of state of the art stuff I didn’t shoot but was pretty fascinating).

Some other random moments:

did you know the Muehling candlesticks come in mixed metals? yes they do. they also come in all-gold versions. This batch was for a Middle Eastern client (not moi).

And finally, a sign Rhett claims came from an abandoned brothel in Chinatown.

My home for the next several days:

Is on 29th and Park and will open in a few weeks. I got a sneak preview:

The lobby -

Bars/hangout areas:

Outdoor spaces. This balcony has plexi cut-outs:

The pool area:

Some room shots: