Arrive Magazine - May/June, 2010

SPECIAL HOTEL SPOTLIGHT

LUXURY STAYS
The Biggest Little Hotel in New York

When you arrive, Jay may greet you,
Al might check you in and Daniel may
take your bags. You see, here at the
Chelsea Pines Inn has 23 rooms on
five floors, each named and decorated
for an actor or actress. Some 300 posters
hang throughout, all genuine and all
courtesy of the collection of Jay Lesiger,
the hotel’s owner. Jay’s father ran a string
of theaters in Brooklyn back in the day,
ergo, his love of movies and his collec-
tion of 5,000 original posters.

In the breakfast room, the theme is movies with meals, and Audrey Hepburn, naturally, stars in Breakfast at Ti;any’s.

Leading upstairs is the Bette Davis staircase, governed by All About Eve, first in English, then down the hall in Spanish, French, Swedish, German and

TOP CLOCK WISE LEFT:
JAY LESIGER; BREAKFAST
IN THE GARDEN; GREE T;
INGS AT THE FRONT DESK.

BOTTOM: DELUXE ROOM WITH A PAUL NE WMAN THEME

Italian. Judy Garland rules the business center, which is a pleasant and comfortable space.

Rooms come in three sizes, all with flat panel TVs, Gilchrist & Soames toiletries, iPod clock radio, Wi-Fi, refrigerator, triple-glazed windows (for exquisite quiet) and fittingly dramatic décor (no institutional beige here).

The hotel is “European style,” meaning no elevator, but bags are cheerfully carried up, and a nice bonus: the higher you go, the lower the rate.

The hotel sits at the edge of the Meatpacking
District and near the High Line, the new elevated
park and its associated restaurants and bars. The
Eighth Avenue subway is mere steps away, making
uptown-downtown travel easy, and cabs
are plentiful out front on 14th Street.

The premier location sets the stage for discovery, the most sincere hope of Jay, a lifelong New Yorker. Nothing pleases him more than to make new friends and see them fall in love with New York the way he loves New York. And, along the way, they tend to fall in love with the biggest little hotel in the big city.