New York City possesses the same qualities found in the comfort of an old friend and the thrill of a new flame. It enraptures its visitors with an intensity that’s difficult to rival and impossible to forget. It’s not just the cutting-edge fashion, the out-of-this-world cuisine or the overflow of five-star real estate that makes it a hotbed of opulence. Rather, it is a rich combination of these factors.
It’s my fourth visit to New York City. My 2010 inaugural voyage consisted of crossing the Brooklyn Bridge, notching up a Yankees game, visiting Little Italy and – offensive tourist behaviour but a rite of passage – drinking cosmopolitans.
On my latest trip, I was determined to understand how New York City delivers its signature sense of heritage mingled with modernity so flawlessly. The term “old world” isn’t quite applicable, but in The City That Never Sleeps, history is always around the corner, often juxtaposed by cutting-edge architecture.
In the birthplace of modern American luxury, New Yorkers place weighty value on maintaining the city’s iconic history, while consistently embracing the new. Want to see European masterpieces from the 16th century or abstract art created within the last decade? Easy. Want to dine on classic dishes of lobster or rib-eye steak, or sample the latest in fusion cuisine? Done. The same applies to accommodation, which is where my journey begins.
The sun sets on Manhattan
Fit for a queen or a rap king
When it comes to high-end hotels, New York City has an irrefutable reputation for offering an array of classy-cool places to bed down for the night. My first stop is modern boutique property The London NYC, just a hop, skip and a (very crowded) jump from Times Square and Central Park.
Set within a neighbourhood central to the big-city chaos of Midtown Manhattan, The London NYC is an embodiment of what it means to escape from it all, with a dimly lit lobby adorned with strikingly handsome front-desk staff, and even more attractive floral arrangements. The relative (and deliberate) darkness in the lobby means it’s difficult to identify other guests, though a quick Google search reveals the celebrities who’ve passed through the all-suite abode: Rick Ross, Demi Lovato and Kaley Cuoco are just a few who have been snapped exiting the Dave Collins-designed hotspot. This is the club you’ll want to join. This is the back room at the house party where the cool clique finds solace.
A marbled bathrroom at The London NYC is classy cool
From my 34th-floor suite, I swoon over the brilliant green of Central Park peeking between grey towers. Shiny silver lamps and wine-coloured, crushed-velvet sofas highlight walls papered with metallic renaissance print. Throw in the floor-to-ceiling grey marble in the bathroom and the Gordon Ramsay restaurant downstairs, and the term “quintessentially British” springs to mind. It’s as though Austin Powers’s interior designer collaborated with James Bond’s stylist, and they created an aesthetic so “London cool” that it seems the only thing American about this hotel is its physical address. Subtle and luxurious, two nights at The London NYC quenches my thirst for new-age architecture. I feel like a British spy on a New York mission.
Next, I head to the nearby Waldorf Astoria New York, where it takes all of two nights for the definition of glamour to reveal itself to me. Views of the Chrysler Building beckon from my window, almost everything is monogrammed in gold and my hair smells like Salvatore Ferragamo’s latest fragrance after showering with the brand’s custom amenities. It’s obvious the Waldorf Astoria New York has been doing this for a very long time.
Of all the iconic pockets in the hotel, I’m staying in the Towers, adjacent to the Presidential Suite. Next to the double doors of this politician-preferred accommodation is a golden plaque inscribed with the names of royals who have slept over: Queen Elizabeth II, numerous kings of Saudi Arabia and Spain, Emperor and Empress Hirohito of Japan, and general Charles de Gaulle of France, among others. The “King of American Rap”, Rick Ross, however, is nowhere to be found.
The Waldorf Astoria Hotel is an official landmark of New York City
Also appearing on the plaque is a false prophecy. The first line of the guest list reads: “Every President of the United States (Since 1931)”. However, breaking presidential tradition, President Barack Obama is yet to stay in the New York landmark since Hilton Worldwide Holdings sold the hotel for a reported US $1.95 billion to Beijing-based Anbang Insurance Group. Rumour has it the President’s reluctance stems from the fear of Chinese spies bugging the building.
It’s a juicy thought, and one that seems fitting for a hotel where images of icons like Marilyn Monroe and Jacqueline Onassis wearing haute couture hang on the walls. The sense of history sends chills down my spine as I tour the hotel with Waldorf Astoria’s social-media manager, Melissa Howard. She shows me stunning spaces such as the Empire Room – a ballroom where The Rolling Stones, Edith Piaf, Lena Horne and Bette Midler have performed. In the Starlight Room, where jazz-legend Ella Fitzgerald sang, sunlight creeps through the window onto worn carpet and fantastical silver décor. “Sinatra got his start here,” Howard tells me. “He actually used to live here.”
Her eyes gleam when she speaks of the faint possibility of the new owners restoring the room to its original glory, when the roof opened up and partygoers danced under the stars, revealing the origin of the ballroom’s name. All corridors, vestibules, suites and ceilings possess materials of the finest calibre: gold, silver, bronze and marble; mosaics crafted with painstaking detail and murals created years ago. The art deco style is impervious to time, making the Waldorf Astoria New York more like a museum that happens to double as a hotel.
Having an art attack
Over the course of four action-packed days, I attempt to fill each hour with as much world-class entertainment and art as my CityPASS (www.citypass.com/new-york) can provide. If you don’t happen to be besties with Anthony Bourdain, The Official New York City Guide (www.nycgo.com) is an ideal alternative to planning your trip like a true insider. During my visit I have access to six of the city’s most iconic attractions, including the Empire State Building (350 5th Ave.; +1 212 736 3100; www.esbnyc.com), Top of the Rock (30 Rockefeller Center; +1 212 698 2000; www.topoftherocknyc.com) and the heralded Metropolitan Museum of Art (1000 5th Ave.; +1 212 535 7710; www.metmuseum.org).
The Met is my first stop, where I discover New York’s artistic roots. Built in 1880 with additional wings constructed in later years, each room is profound. I question the probability of being in a waking dream while I wander through a vast collection of Egyptian antiquities. As I float from the European gothic era to a van Gogh exhibit, and on to one of the world’s most comprehensive Islamic art collections, the intense concentration of wondrous objects is intoxicating.
The Whitney Museum on The Hudson River
Only blocks away, the Guggenheim Museum (1071 5th Ave.; +1 212 423 3500; www.guggenheim.org) offers a seamless transition between artistic periods. Approaching the 1943-built façade, you get the impression of boarding a spaceship – a unique sentiment Frank Lloyd Wright, the visionary architect who designed the Guggenheim, set out to achieve. Despite the criticism of the building overpowering the art, he wrote: “On the contrary, it was to make the building and the painting an uninterrupted, beautiful symphony such as never existed in the world of art before.”
For my final dose of must-see art, I visit the Whitney Museum of American Art (99 Gansevoort St.; +1 212 570 3600; www.whitney.org), which recently moved into a new building designed by “starchitect” Renzo Piano. Spanning some 4,645 sqm of indoor galleries and 1,207 sqm of outdoor space, views of the Hudson River and Manhattan neighbourhoods, such as SoHo and Chelsea, are reason enough to have lunch on the Whitney’s terrace – yet important works by Andy Warhol, Ansel Adams, Jeff Koons, William H. Johnson and Marina Abramovic are not to be ignored. Although the Whitney is not part of the CityPASS package, its combination of fresh aesthetics and revolutionary American art makes it a mandatory stop.
Wine, dine, repeat
Crudité at Danté
Culinary achievements are apex in New York City, and for Michelin-star dining experiences, only the best will do. Options include “upscale-American” Eleven Madison Park (11 Madison Ave.; +1 212 889 0905; www.elevenmadisonpark.com), where the inventive haute cuisine is mind-blowing. The Momofuku collective, started by New York chef and local favourite David Chang, offers Asian-tinged new-American fare at Má Pêche (15 W 56th St.; +1 212 757 5878; www.momofuku.com), the collective’s only Midtown eatery, and a standout one at that.
However, the meal I’ll savour for months to come is dinner at Dante NYC (79-81 Macdougal St.; +1 212 982 5275; www.dante-nyc.com). After the 100-year-old Caffe Dante closed its doors earlier this year, the Greenwich Village restaurant, so steeped in history, was bought and revamped by Australian Linden Pride of Figure of 8 Hospitality. Though Pride and co. have been careful to maintain the old-school hangout’s historic elements and culture (past visitors include Whoopi Goldberg, Al Pacino and Bob Dylan), the food and cocktail menu now consists of crudos, curious appetisers and a mouth-watering hanger steak.
Grazing freely and al fresco on my tiramisu, I keep my eyes peeled for celebrity sightings, but something more interesting happens. Two sexagenarian couples sit down within earshot. They order a mix of cocktails, coffee and dessert, and nostalgically recount (in thick New York accents) the details of the endless nights spent at Caffe Dante, where they smoked, drank, dined and joked. Did they ever see Pacino? Do their current negronis hold a candle to ones past consumed? And why did they choose this restaurant, when Macdougal Street is overflowing with options? Of all the restaurants in Manhattan, perhaps their fondness for Dante stems from the palpable sense of history mingled with the now – New York City’s signature.
A renovated Danté NYC is modern, hip, and a neighbourhood staple
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