New York for those who go to New York every year
A New York It doesn't come back because it changes quickly (other cities, like Seoul or Madrid, do it faster), it comes back because with one trip, or with two or with seven, we are still falling short.
There is always a bridge to cross, a new neighborhood with its acronym included to taste, a museum to walk around, a plate of fried chicken in Harlem that we have not eaten, a terrace on a very high floor to which we have not gone up.
This happens in every big city but in New York, more, for that mania that has to be in all the series, movies and magazines. We don't get rid of it, that's why we always want to go.
There is always a rooftop to explore
This is a New York for those who know it, for those who have already passed New York first. And even second. It is a short and intense New York, as are all trips to the city; Y It's personal and questionable as all trips to any place should be.
Every trip must begin and end on a high, with some kind of effect. We will start this up and down some stairs on the Lower East Side. They are those of the ** PUBLIC Hotel ,** one of the last adventures of Ian Schrager (very interesting character always) and one of the most sought after photos in the last year of the city.
It is about escalators that make us feel inside an Anish Kapoor piece. They are inspired by this artist, designed, like all the interior design of the hotel, by John Pawson and located in a building Herzo&deMeuron. To start the trip, this string of names is not bad.
These stairs take us to a hall that is not such, but a sum of spaces that are the heart of the hotel and its reason for existing. This is not a hotel for its guests to sleep in, although they do and at a good price, but for them, locals and visitors like us, live their common areas.
The stairs of the PUBLIC Hotel, one of the most sought after photos in the city
Here there is seven meter long sofas, bars and restaurants full of people dressed in dark and a lot of cling cling of glasses. ** Public Kitchen ** is the most formal (within which nothing is here), Diego reminiscent of a gentlemen's club, louis It is a cross between shop and cafe and the lobby-bar it looks like a well-lit coworking. One will fit us. Or if not, at least we will have already climbed the famous stairs.
Just as there are cities to which you have to go more than once, there are museums that must be repeated without hurry. One of them is the MoMA that, attention, closed for renovations June 15 until October 21. The renewal is carried out by Diller Scofidio + Renfro and will add some 37,700 square meters of exhibition space. We will visit again in the fall.
Yes we can go to the Brant Foundation , which opened its first space in New York in March after spending ten years in Connecticut. Its creators are Allison and Peter Brant, the classic example of American philanthropy that takes shape in support of the art world.
The Foundation's New York headquarters are in the EastVillage, in an old electrical factory which was the study of Walter de María and has been converted by Richard Gluckman into a sensational place.
The first exhibition (sold out) was devoted to Basquiat , adored by New Yorkers. Until May 14 its rooms will be dedicated to Urs Fischer and in 2020 a great Donald Judd exhibition is expected, another well-liked artist in the city.
It is worth visiting the Foundation: the architecture and the care of the assembly are joyful.
Brant Foundation
You don't need to have been to New York much (whoever is reading this may have) to know that It is a city of cocktails. Even the most reluctant to drink these potions get carried away. The cocktail culture is exercised there in many bars and without excessive snobbery.
A good example is the Broken Shaker , the flag bar of the freehand hotels that each city has its personality. Here it is two steps from Grammercy Park, the area where any sensible being wants to live.
This place is in an 18th floor and has a terrace, because if there is something that a New Yorker likes more than a cocktail, it is a terrace with views. The cocktails at this bar are from Gabriel Orta and Elad Zv i and are fresh and fragrant.
The Broken Shaker has deserved the Tales award for the best hotel cocktail bar in America. The decoration is from Roman and Williams, how well they always connect with the public; the vibe is sneaker and flat shoe. It does not accept reservations and has very long hours.
A double tip: go before sunset and ask for a Jake the Snake.
Fresh and fragrant cocktails
We can up the ante and climb a few more floors along the way. Let's go to **The Aviary NYC.** The New York adventure of Grant Achatz it's a cocktail bar overlooking Central Park which is better not to know much before going.
Is in the 35th floor of the Mandarin Oriental hotel, in Columbus Circle; this already announces that the views of Central Park are going to be memorable. What is not known before entering (although it is intuited when Achatz is behind) it is the imaginative display of what is eaten and drunk.
The Aviary NYC is powered by cocktail menus (from €65) that are combined with dishes at the same level of theatricality and technical display as the cocktails.
That said, there is no more talk because the element of surprise is key and here they often say “oh” or “wow”, which sounds more Manhattanite.
When we've been to New York several times we've already had several breakfasts with eggs, we've walked while eating donuts, we've had pizza dinner in Nolita and weird soups in Chinatown. Some brunch has fallen , because they always fall and because there is delirium for this custom.
Here the surprise factor is key
Let's get carried away too and abandon our comments from Europeans. Brunch can be had in any corner, but let's choose a pretty one like the clover coffee , in the West Village . Have you seen what neighborhood dance we have?
This coffee it is serene, it is well decorated and the food is delicious, something important if we are going to eat. let's try one of their pizzas or their avocado and cheese sandwich and, if the weather allows us, let's sit on the terrace to watch life and people go by.
The Café Clover team stands behind WELL , a health club opening this summer and that it has a restaurant that everyone can access. It's worth taking a look at this new concept of leisure and health.
Other brunch spots that everyone is recommending lately are **La Mercerie and Le Coucou,** both designed by Roman and Willimas.
They both have that French aftertaste that so fascinates New Yorkers. It is difficult to get a table and that confirms the easily seducible nature of this society, especially when the weapons come from old Europe.
The Clover Café pizzas
And where do we sleep? Somewhere we haven't done it before and from where we can move comfortably.
This time we will choose Soho, where there are not as many hotels as it might seem. The NOMO Soho (Preferred Hotels and Resorts) is in Crosby , one of the streets with the best shops in the area. Have a curious entrance, through a tunnel of plants and views of the entire south of Manhattan that will cause the envy of half Instagram. If you're lucky, you also have those views from a window in the shower and that experience is unforgettable.
The hotel is comfortable (those American beds…) , bright and has details such as the possibility of using a local mobile for free or taking your pet with you.
The restaurant, NOMO Kitchen, is lively at any time and integrated into the city, something that in New York, it is not known how or why (or yes), is much more common than here.
Very close to the NOMO Soho are concentrated some of the most interesting shops in the city.
glossier It's one of the few places we go with a list of assignments. In an age where all brands are spread all over the world, this is found in few cities. Eight out of ten people consulted who go to New York in the last year go to Glossier.
Very close to the hotel, literally right next door, is **BDDW.** This decoration store it is more than that. The scale surprises the Spanish, always crowded in the cities, and the content to everyone.
This decoration store is more than that
All parts are designed by Tyler Hayes Y made in American workshops. We can find from a wooden ping pong table to checkered-puzzles made by MrCrow.
A few meters away, Howard St. is a spin-off of the brand. Ask them to show it to you and they will open it for you. Is about an art gallery where the imagination and level of the mother house continue. There everything continues to stay at home, because they stand out Hays pottery and Jen Wink Hays paintings , his partner.
Nearby, on the same street, there are other shops that may interest us, such as reformation and its sustainable fashion; Sleepy Jones , specializing in products and sleepwear; either Stadium Goods and his sidereal sneakers.
We will finish the trip as we started it, with a powerful image to take with us in our retina. We will look at the city from above, from our own hotel room when we go to collect our bags.
We could have continued writing and stop at the CBD fever sweeping the city , in its 'pop-upization' (due to the crisis of the physical store and high rents) and in the proliferation of independent cosmetics and perfumery stores , but that will be for another trip.
We might as well have crossed over to brooklyn and queens and see their new hotels, or to koreatown , so fashionable. or explore the surroundings of zone 0, which is being revived thanks to leisure, culture and the arrival of hotels such as the Four Seasons Downtown , what's wrong with it one of the best hotel pools in the city. But that will be on another trip and before long. As long as we take, the city misses us.
Be careful not to come back soon: the city misses you