Top 10 Bucket List Hotels to Visit Before You Die

As a kid, and later as a mom, I loved Eloise!  The  little rich girl  lived at the Plaza Hotel, was being raised by her English Nanny, had a pet turtle named Skiperdee and a pug named Weenie.  I wanted to be Eloise!  I mean seriously who wouldn’t love roaming the Plaza, going to weddings uninvited and then going home to your hotel suite where your Nanny made you a delicious dinner?
Eloise had it made in my book, so on my first trip to New York City years ago, I made the trek to the grandaddy of hotels, The Plaza.

The Plaza lorded over all the other very chic hotels in this pricey neighborhood in Manhattan, and  I was not disappointed by this fabled landmark!  

I had a $18.00 martini and then strolled the lobby and hallways in search of Eloise…and I found her!

Hanging on the marble walls is a lovely portrait of the little mischief maker in all her glory!

 

 So, what started as a love of the Plaza, grew into a love of very chic, sometimes pricey, but always amazing hotels.  Some I have visited, some I only dream about.

Here is a list of my favorites.
1. The Algonquin 

New York City, NY

I love this hotel not only because of it’s fabled, famous literary history, the beautiful old school architecture and the rag doll cat Matilda that roams the lobby in search of scraps, scratches on the head  and mice, but because of it’s amazing bar right next door.  Home to the Blue Room and the best martini in town. I like to imagine I’m an heiress with an attitude and my rich father is about to disinherit me if I don’t stop spending money on abstract art…or some such thing.  Anyway, my father will only leave his Long Island estate to visit me in the city, if we meet at the Blue Room.   Okay… I’ll stop and go write my novel another time.

 

 

 

2. Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel

Hollywood, California

Old Hollywood meets new.  Take a meeting with an A-lister and then screen the latest preview copy in this hipster heaven.









3. Hotel Plaza Athenee
Paris, France





Okay, if you’re going to go to Paris, why settle for a room with a view of some random garden or anonymous courtyard. (even it if is as beautiful and mesmerizing as the one above.   If you’re going to go, this should be your view in the morning with croissants and juice.

And this should be your view after a day exploring.  Any discussion?  No, I don’t think so.

4. Corinthia Hotel
London, UK

It’s like Mary Poppins, only with lots of money and more luxury than the Queen herself! 

5. The Royal Hawaiian
Honolulu Hawaii

By now, you can tell I like ‘old’.  The Royal Hawaiian is the oldest luxury hotel on the islands, but it is an aged beauty that never goes out of style.  Step back in time and lay your weary eyes on the pink stucco, the views of Diamond Head and the sounds of the surf at Waikiki.  

6. The Viceroy 
Palm Springs, CA

Being a mid century modern groupie, I absolutely LOVE this hotel in the MCM haven Palm Springs.  I got to visit PS a lot as a kid as it was only a quick two hour jaunt from Los Angeles.  I remember strolling the aisles of the local JC Penny with my parents one day and standing in line with Frank Sinatra!  I kid you not.  The Chairmen of the Board shopped at JCP in PS!  Anyway, lots of cool, fab memories of the springs.  This hotel brings them back in a grand way.

7. Hotel Triton
San Francisco

If you go to San Francisco, you really need to “Go San Francisco”. To me that means, go wild, go unique, go out of the ordinary.  There is no better place in the city by the bay to experience your Inner Hippie, than Hotel Triton.  Go ahead.  I dare you to go an not come back with a tattoo, or blue hair extensions.  It’s just that kind of a place!

8. Burj Al Arab
Abu Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Did you know there was such a thing as 7 Star Hotels?  Me neither.  That is until I searched Dubai.  I’ve heard amazing things about the exotic and very luxury city.  Just looking at the google images made me gasp in wonder.  Underwater hotel suites, helipads, Bentley’s, architectural feats that look like Disney animators designed them.  It was hard to pick one hotel as they all looked brilliant.  Check out this link for more amazing places.  Dubai Information Site.  Anyway, I decided when I become friends with a rich oil Sheik, he should whisk me away to the Burj.  Seriously, that’s the only way I’ll probably ever stay here.  Besides being a 7 star, it’s the most expensive hotel on the planet.  Least expensive room is $1000.00 a night.  Most expensive is a eye popping $15,000.00 a night!  The pictures, I have a feeling,  do not do this place justice.  But here are a few.

9. Hotel Malleberg
Brugges, Belgium

Bruges is like a fairy-tale village.  It’s mid-evil architecture has remained  largely intact.  Canals, museums and Dutch influence abound.  This little hotel is a microcosm of all that is charming and enchanting of Bruges.

 

10.  Rasananda Resort
Thong Nai Pan Noi Beach,  Baan Tai, Koh Phangan, Surat Thani Thailand

 

 

I finish with this hotel, because at the end of the day, my dream of travel consists of an exotic beach, a beautiful lonely beach, swaying palms….these all exisist in Thailand.  On my bucket list of countries I must visit before I drop, this is number one.  Behold and know why.

 

Well, that’s it for my Top 10.  What do you all think?  I’m sure I missed many amazing places.  Tell me some of your Bucket List hotels to visit before you die.  Happy Travels!

New York in June

I just got home from a week in the Big Apple and it was amazing!  Its was so fun to share the city with someone who had never been. Ralph was a newbie to New York though not big cities and it was absolutely joyful to watch him take in all that is NYC! I got to see this brilliant, crazy and hyper-kinetic city with new eyes. The outcome has been that I love it even more! We had a whirlwind week to say the least.

 

Here are some highlights in no particular order, from Union Square on a Monday afternoonThis building was from the 1860’s and still has a pharmacy.   Pete’s Tavern, Central Park, Broadway and  more.

 

 

Can’t wait for the next trip. Until then, it feels great to be home. I really am an LA Girl.

 

Lounging in Central Park

Washington Square Arch

White horse at White Horse Tavern in the Village

From Chelsea High Line

Not sure which bridge this is.  We did the Circle Line Tour around the island.

Lady Liberty

Beautiful 9-11 Memorial Reflecting Pools

9-11 Memorial with the Freedom Tower in the distance.

Made it to the Bronx to watch the Yankee game.

The view from St. Patricks towards 30 Rock

We saw Jersey Boys AND All the Way with Bryan Cranston as LBJ.  Just wow!

Jesus alter at St. Patricks

We walked the Brooklyn Bridge.  This is the view.

Oceanic shields at the Metropolitan Museum of ARt

Loved this Sumarian column.

A Greek column.

A vintage bar on the upper east side.

Pete’s Tavern in Grammercy

Beautiful old building in the Village

Union Square on a busy day.

The New School (my daughters alumn) was right down the street from us.

Boot camp at Chelsea PIer

Finally, my blurry pic of Times Square.  That place is out of control!

 

 

It’s Never Too Late to Fall in Love With Patti Smith

Okay, I admit I’m about forty years too late.  Wow, forty years just tells you how old I am, but either way, I finally have come to the promised land.  I have seen the light.  I am now a disciple of the Godmother of Punk, Patti Smith.

Seriously, how did I miss this?  I loved everything from the era.  From Robert Mapplethorpe, to  Lou Reed, to The Ramones…I just never ‘got’ Patti Smith.  I think I was a tinge superficial…(who me? ).  Yeah.

Her unkept androgyny kind of freaked me out when I was 17, but when I read the reviews of her book about her life with Mapplethorpe, titled, Just Kids, set in the pre-punk era of New York City, I was really intrigued.

I have not been disappointed.  Besides her obvious talents as a poet, artist and singer, she’s a genuinely nice, cool person.  People just gravitated to her authenticity.  The woman romanced Sam Shepard, Mapplethorpe, (who was gay for godsakes!), Jim Carroll, writer of the Basketball Diaries, among other things, Allan Lanier, a founder of Blue Oyster Cult and Fred Sonic Smith from MC5, whom she married and had two children with.

At the height of her fame, she packed up her stuff and moved to Detroit with her husband and proceeded to raise her kids, create art, write poems and generally live an amazing life.

Proof that she is a wise, wonderful woman?  Here she is dispensing advice to young people.

“You don’t do your work and say, ‘I only want the cool people to read it’, you want everyone to be transported and inspired by it.”

This is my current favorite song.  Horses.

I Remember – 911 Thoughts and Images

I read a poll this morning that 97% of adults remember where they were and what they were doing on September 11, 2001.

I know I remember.  I know I will never forget.  I don’t think many of us want to forget, because forgetting means we dishonor the people who lost their lives.  Not embracing life every day, means we dishonor them.  Living a good life, doing your best, being grateful for this beautiful country we live in..is honoring them.  I choose to honor them by living the best life I can and never forgetting.

I was lucky enough to be able to visit Ground Zero last year.  It was sobering and beautiful.    A few pics of what I saw.

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Friday’s With Frank and a Warm Summer Wind

How I loved this song!  I remember watching the opening of the 1984 movie Pope of Greenwich Village starring Mickey Rourke.  This was back when Mr. R was an up and coming actor.  The movie starts with his character getting dressed to the Frank Sinatra classic.  Oh for the days when Mickey was hot and NYC was gritty!  Check out the very 80’s trailer.

So, on this first day of summer I give you Summer Wind.

French Bulldogs, Pugs and Ferragamo Shoes That Don’t Fit

The packing and shipping never ends!  With both of my daughters living in London and Brooklyn respectively, there has been an ongoing onslaught  of packing sorting, packing, shipping.  I would just like to know…. when will they make a decent Scotch Box Sealing Tape! ?  (3M Scotch Premium Packaging Tape w/Dispenser (Google Affiliate Ad)  One that doesn’t constantly need tending to so that it doesn’t stick back on the roll?
Anyway, on to more important topics, both girls left my house with lots of boxes full of thrift shop clothes, Ferragamo shoes, in tiny feet size 7’s so I can’t wear them and best of all their art! It’s like Christmas discovering one of their unseen pieces.  I came across this little diddy today while packing things headed for Brooklyn and daughter #2:

A cubist style painting of a dog walker in NYC!  Well, sorry Calli, this one is staying on the west coast and is getting home up in the kitchen for now!

I think she was inspired by one of my photographs taken in the West Village of New York a few years ago.

What a great scene this was.  The pug in the walker was adorable, alas a dog wheel chair is probably a pain in the neck to paint, so she took artistic license!

Not to be outdone, I also found a portrait Daughter #1 created of Daughter #2 posing with our  Corgi Henry.

This one makes me laugh because Caitlin not only captured her sister, but the worried and concerned look on Henry’s face is pretty much spot on!   Case in point!

I guess the portrait should go to the subject, but since Henry lives with me, it’s staying here too.  for now.  Anyway, enough of this….Back to packing and arguing with the tape dispenser.

New York City Subway Dwellers

Scenes from the MTA…New York City Subway Station People, Places and Things

Being a native of Los Angeles where the only time I ever use public transportion is….well….actually I never use it, but I have always been fascinated by other city’s systems.  In Los Angeles we get inside our little steel cubicles, (cars), turn on our sound system and enclose ourselves off to the rest of the world.  I can drive a hundred miles in one day in Los Angeles and not make eye contact or get near another human being the entire time.  Now, sometimes, I like this fact!  And believe me when sitting in traffic on the 101, there can be a feeling of complete claustrophobia.  But there is nothing like sitting on a subway or waiting at the platform.  You just cannot check out from the human race no matter how hard you try, and since the subway is particularly exotic to me, I don’t even try.

I like looking at the people, the structures and the subway dweller sculptures that pop up in strange places.  There is always  entertainment too!  Some of it very odd and uncomfortable, but some of it is amazing.  I happened upon a mariachi band who sounded so beautiful I wanted to weep!  Their world weary faces touched me.  I wish I had recorded more than the visuals of that moment, but alas, it was very spontaneous.

So many things can happen in a subway station, here are just a few shots I took one random spring day while waiting on the train.  Now, I’m off to get in my Toyota and run errands.