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.

While in L-A I did a drive-by at OK, where I spotted these Pussy Willow bowls, which are so not me but I thought were so cool -

So I asked Larry, the owner, about them and this is what I got back -

“I used to work every summer at a hippy festival outside of Eugene, Oregon.  A lovely lady named Elaine Falbo who has a floral studio in Portland called “Bella Flora” makes baskets, flower garlands etc and these are made from pussywillows.  She can only make them at one time of the year.  When they bud, she has to cut them and weave them immediately since they harden and they last more or less forever.  I gave one away 15 years ago,  it loses those buds but looks pretty much the same as when I got it.”  $75 – $200 for what’s shown, up to $450 for much larger (not sold at OK).

A studio visit with Karen Kimmel:

You’ve probably seen the tabletop version of the Dyson fan; tonite in SoHo James Dyson himself was on hand to introduce the two new floor models. The AM02 Tower and AM03 Pedestal floor standing fans be available exclusively at the Conran Shop and cost $449.99 each.

Here are some pics:

Verbage from the press release:

As the majority of the U.S. heads into the summer months, Dyson has the answer for
sweltering temperatures with the latest iteration of Dyson Air Multiplier™ technology.
The AM02 Tower and AM03 Pedestal floor standing fans are designed to create
uninterrupted breeze of cool air in larger spaces.
Dyson first introduced Air Multiplier™ technology in October 2009 offering the first real
innovation in more than 125 years. Dyson’s patented technology replaces fast spinning
blades and awkward grilles with loop amplifiers. The machines draw air in at the base
through a mixed flow impeller – a combination of the technologies used in turbochargers
and jet engines.
From the base the air is forced into the loop amplifier and accelerated through the
annular aperture, creating a jet of air that hugs the airfoil-shaped ramp. While exiting the
loop amplifier, the jet pulls air from behind the fan into the airflow (inducement). At the
same time, the surrounding air from the front and sides of the machine are forced into the
air stream (entrainment), amplifying the flow to create a constant smooth air stream.
Unlike conventional fans with limited settings, Dyson Air Multiplier™ fans can be infinitely
adjusted up or down. The new tower and pedestal fans offer precise airflow and
oscillation control and can be adjusted remotely. Air Multiplier™ technology is an
easier to clean and safer way to keep cool this summer.
About the Dyson AM02 Tower fan:
The oval shaped tower fan stands less than three feet tall and is barely a foot wide.
Drawing in nearly nine gallons of air per second, the machine amplifies the air
16 times creating a smooth and cooling airflow.

About the Dyson AM03 Pedestal fan:
With an extension of 8.6 inches, AM03 is the largest of all Dyson Air Multiplier™ fans
and takes in nearly nine gallons of air per second, amplifying the air by 18 times
for use in larger areas including living rooms and offices.
Both AM02 and AM03 Air Multiplier™ fans retail for a MSRP of $449.99 and
are available on Dyson.com and select retailers across the U.S.
# # #

Checked out a cool shop in SF today called General Store, in an up and coming area on Judah. They have a yard and this is what’s in it:

Simply perfect for everything it does not have: no doors, no glass or screens on windows, no sidewalks, no fancy chandeliers or furniture that looks like it belongs in a city hotel, no attitude.

To get here, fly into Zanzibar airport, drive one hour on paved roads and a half hour on a dirt road through several villages to the shores of the Indian Ocean. Get in speed boat for the 5-minute ride, while wondering what it might be like to take this all-wood outrigger canoe instead:

The island of our final destination loomed seductively in the distance (2.8 miles away):

Welcome to my room – its down the “path” to the right. Those are my very own private loungers on the left.

As you can see, below, there’s an seating area on the ground level, and the bedroom is two steps up.

This is the view of the ocean from that seating area:

This is a private island resort, with only 10 rooms and LOTS of doves that coo day and night. It’s actually quite a lovely sound, despite the fact that doves are, technically, pigeons (or vice versa).

I absolutely loved mine – the most perfect island room/resort I have stayed in – ever.

This seating area was under a thatched roof but had no walls.

It did, however, have plenty of comfortable places to sit and a selection of board games to amuse oneself with -

This “room” was a great place to hang out and watch the antelopes:

Two steps up into the bedroom:

I would sit and work here:

The mini bar:

Tasty Tusker beer !

Closet and dressing area. They do your laundry for free – love that, means you can pack a lot less. Not that I did.

Open walkway to bathroom:

What the bathroom looks like from the outside – note there’s no glass, it’s all very open/exposed:

And the inside:

There’s no bathtub here, only a shower – that shower “curtain” is made of strings of recycled glass beads.

Really chic.

Coming next – pictures of the lodge itself and shots from my walk around the island.

Had a visit with John from Homenature yesterday. Checked out his house and had a sit in new adirondack chairs he got at  CB2. They’re a great modern take on an age-old design that many have unsuccessfully tried to update. I think this version, the Sawyer chair by Mark Daniel of Slate design, nailed it.

Bonus: made of FSC eucalyptus.$249/each – consider Cost Per Use math if balking on price.