Monday, June 11, 2007
I am blogging this from the lobby of the infamous Hotel Chelsea in NYC, home to artistic types present (Ethan Hawke) and past (Brendan Behan), and at least one potential rock-star-girlfriend homicide (Sid Vicious's gf Nancy, who died from a stab wound under still-unexplained circumstances). The vibe here's a little difficult to explain, but it's amazing and awe-inspiring and amazingly awesomely convivial ... although definitely not for everyone. (Concepts like, say, room service and concierges don't exist here.) The place is about 60% residential, and given the stories I've heard about it over the years, I expected my room to be grody in the extreme. Quite the contrary: it's large, spotlessly clean, nicely decorated with modern draperies and carpet, whisper quiet (quite a feat on 23rd St., one of the city's busiest), gets lots of sun and costs about the same price as a rathole room at the nearby Days Inn. I gather the permanent residents are a mix of geriatric kooks and starving young artists, including the three very hot guys pecking on their laptops nearby. (There's no wi-fi except in the lobby. Also, literally everyone I've seen thus far has been on a Mac laptop of recent vintage, save for your truly.)
It's been a fun, albeit occasionally bittersweet homecoming -- first time back since moving to Austin last October -- and I'm still stunned at the pace at which this city morphs. (There's a CBGB store on my old block where the Quizno's used to be! The Second Avenue Deli is now a Chase branch!) Been great to see my old friends though, as well as dine on the kinds of foods you don't see in Austin (e.g. sweetbreads at Momofuku Ssam Bar).
Austin hotel-wise, I experienced a significant shocker today. I'd first heard nearly a year ago that Louisville's famed 21c had been sniffing around for a potential expansion site in Austin. The rumors were correct: they're opening a 44-story, $200 million, hotel/condo behemoth in 2010. The prospect of competing with a new Kimpton was bad enough, but an art hotel financed by billionaires is about 100x worse, even to the point of me rethinking the viability of the hotel project entirely. Although I'd already decided to pursue a shorter-term project in the interim while continuing the hunt for a proper (and non-stratospherically priced) hotel site -- more on that very soon -- this latest news might change things. The good news is that I suspect the 21c's rates will be the highest in town, meaning there still might be room for a moderately-priced competitor (three stars to their five).
It's been a fun, albeit occasionally bittersweet homecoming -- first time back since moving to Austin last October -- and I'm still stunned at the pace at which this city morphs. (There's a CBGB store on my old block where the Quizno's used to be! The Second Avenue Deli is now a Chase branch!) Been great to see my old friends though, as well as dine on the kinds of foods you don't see in Austin (e.g. sweetbreads at Momofuku Ssam Bar).
Austin hotel-wise, I experienced a significant shocker today. I'd first heard nearly a year ago that Louisville's famed 21c had been sniffing around for a potential expansion site in Austin. The rumors were correct: they're opening a 44-story, $200 million, hotel/condo behemoth in 2010. The prospect of competing with a new Kimpton was bad enough, but an art hotel financed by billionaires is about 100x worse, even to the point of me rethinking the viability of the hotel project entirely. Although I'd already decided to pursue a shorter-term project in the interim while continuing the hunt for a proper (and non-stratospherically priced) hotel site -- more on that very soon -- this latest news might change things. The good news is that I suspect the 21c's rates will be the highest in town, meaning there still might be room for a moderately-priced competitor (three stars to their five).
Saturday, June 02, 2007
Well, alright: here's one more. This is a pic of the red rock cliffs surrounding Purmamarca, a town rapidly emerging as a popular weekend destination for families in the region. (Click on it to zoom in. Trust me on this one.) It was largely inaccessible until a few years ago, given the lack of a paved road there. My mom said it reminded her of Sedona in Arizona, and while I haven't been there myself, I'll take her word for it.
I'm back from Argentina, but I wanted to share one of the more other-worldly sights we encountered during the trip. No, that's not snow you're seeing; it's salt! We visited a massive salt flat in the northwest Argentinean province of Jujuy. For reasons we're not quite clear on, the natives in the area dug these evenly rectangular-sized shallow pools of water, each only a few inches deep. Salt is such a predominant feature of the area that even its homes are constructed with it, using a modified version of what we'd call adobe.