Sleeping Around NYC

By Shari Hartford The pandemic hit every industry and every employee hard…both financially and personally. The service and hospitality industries were especially hard hit and continue to ride out the repercussions today. In New York City, I am happy to see the slow but steady progress of reopening, rebranding and

By Shari Hartford There are areas in midtown New York City that were once vast wastelands. Street after street of sad nondescript office buildings, with entire floors to rent, interspersed with the occasional coffee shop or bodega–the 30s, from Fifth Avenue to Seventh Avenue is one such cluster.  But a

By Shari Hartford Much has been written about veering off the beaten path. It’s been immortalized in poetry, books and movies. But to veer off the beaten path in a city as vast as New York is to be a true explorer.  Mr. C Seaport is indeed off the beaten

By Shari Hartford When I visit a resort – island, mountain or seaside – I look forward to a large luxurious room with every accoutrement, lots of relaxing space and, best of all, a sumptuous bathroom. However, when I’m in a city, my needs change greatly. I want convenience and

By Shari Hartford Sometimes you find an oasis in the middle of a desert. In this case, the desert is Times Square. Sure there are colorful bright lights and Broadway show marquees, but there are also the hawkers, the crowds, the noise and, lately, the nefarious folk dressed in cartoon

By Shari Hartford I have lived in New York City my entire adult life. In fact, I was born in the city. And, I expect, I will be carried horizontally out of the city at some point many years from now. I remember the Deuce when it wasn’t a television

By Shari Hartford As a veteran of print publishing I enjoy stories about “the good old days.” And since I was in the business for 35 years, those stories had better be long before my time. Enter the Life Hotel, or as it was known in 1895, the headquarters for

By Shari Hartford Sometimes you encounter a perfect fit…it can be a store you visit time and time again, the perfect pair of shoes and then, sometimes, it’s a great hotel. Not one on a spectacular list, not one on the lips of the hip, but one that just gets

By Shari Hartford Just when you think a hotel is a hotel is a hotel, comes the new kid on the block…a micro hotel. While part of the lexicon in Europe and Asia, micros are relatively new to the U.S. market. Some are really glorified youth hostels and some are

By Shari Hartford I’ve crossed the line…actually a bridge. As a lifelong New Yorker, I admit to being almost completely unfamiliar with the other boroughs. Sure I’ve been to Yankee Stadium (The Bronx), visited cousins in Queens, walked the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights and have driven through the picturesque Moravian