The Suite Life

NYC: Take a Ride Back in Time this Fall

September 6th, 2011

Grand Central Station. Courtesy Skunkworks Photographic on Flickr.

Plastered with images of Nucky Thompson, the corrupt political boss at the center of HBO’s “Boardwalk Empire”, a Prohibition-era New York subway train will be making four September weekend runs along the 2/3 line between 42nd Street and 96th streets with express stops in between. The old IRT model ran from 1917 through the 1960s and is temporarily back in service, courtesy of a unique deal struck between HBO and the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA).

To promote the second season of “Boardwalk Empire”, HBO has paid the MTA to run the vintage train and is giving out free MetroCards, courtesy of Nucky, to lucky passersby on the streets of Manhattan. Even if you aren’t one of the chosen ones who’ll get to ride the rails for free, you can still purchase your ticket the old-fashioned way and enjoy a go on the old IRT train one weekend this September, 2011.

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Tags: boardwalk empire, hbo, Manhattan, mta, nyc, prohibition era, subway, vintage train
Posted in Luxury Travel Blog, New York | No Comments »

Loews Opens Fred Segal Lending Library

August 31st, 2011

Something borrowed: Loews Santa Monica, now with a side of Fred Segal.

Guests of Loews Santa Monica who book any of the hotel’s luxurious oceanfront suites will now enjoy complimentary access to an exclusive Fred Segal lending library – the first of its kind for the Los Angeles institution of fashion. Known for its impeccable service and trend-setting style, Fred Segal’s exclusive Loews Santa Monica lending library will include some 50 stylish accessories for men, women, children, and even pampered pets.

Each item in the collection of scarves, necklaces, sunglasses, jewelry, purses, and more has been carefully chosen by Kirsten Segal, director of marketing and event planning at the store. “When stocking the library, I thought of items I forgot to pack in the past and wished I had the opportunity to borrow from a hotel,” said Segal. “I focused on accessories because I felt guests would forget to bring those little details or would be more inclined to borrow something fun for the weekend that they didn’t already own.”

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Tags: fred segal, fred segal lending library, loews santa monica
Posted in Calfornia Coast, California, Fashion, Hotel, Hotel Events, Loews Hotels, Los Angeles, Luxury Travel Blog | No Comments »

Ladurée Lands in New York

August 30th, 2011

Confectioners' gold from Ladurée. Courtesy The Integer Club on Flickr.

Maven of the macaron, Maison Ladurée, has opened its first shop in the United States. Fittingly, the maiden shop is located in Manhattan on Madison Avenue. While generations of Americans have long enjoyed the incredible treats from France’s most famous pastry shop, New Yorkers (or those visiting Gotham City) will no longer have to trek across the pond or around the world to enjoy one of Ladurée‘s famous macarons. If the opening day lines are any indication, Ladurée is an instant hit with Manhattan residents, despite macarons ringing in just shy of $3 per cookie.

Made from almonds, eggs, sugar, and a touch of secret know-how, Ladurée‘s macarons are the delight of adoring fans everywhere. Each season Ladurée, founded in 1862, pays tribute to its most famous creation by whipping up a new flavor. With delicious choices like chocolate and passion fruit, chocolate and lime, chocolate and cherry, Madagascar chocolate, Granny Smith apple, orange passion, almond morello cherry, Chuao origine pure chocolate, Lily of the Valley, mint and strawberry, and more, there is something sweet to tempt every palate.

And as an added treat, New Yorkers can look forward to a second location in Soho, slated to open with an attached restaurant by April of 2012.

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Tags: laduree, macaron, macaroon, madison avenue, New York, nyc
Posted in Food, Luxury Travel Blog, New York | No Comments »

Los Angeles: Labor Day Eats

August 25th, 2011

Headed to L.A. this Labor Day Weekend? Toast the town at The Taste.

If you’re planning on spending this Labor Day Weekend in Los Angeles, you’ve planned well. For four days – September 2-5, 2011 – the Los Angeles Times and Food & Wine Magazine are teaming up to offer a veritable 4-day culinary spectacular of unlimited food, wine, beer, and spirits. Spread over three locations, The Taste will feature 9 events: Burgers & Beer, Secrets from the Kitchen & Cellar, Fashion Bites Brunch, Desserts after Dark, Picnic in the Hills, Art of Mixing, Taco Tequila Tryst, Street Eats, and Food Noir.

And whether or not you’ll be in town to attend The Taste, Los Angeles has plenty of incredible restaurants to savor year round. While The Taste celebrates the star-studded side of all things epicurean and what’s hot now, some visitors to the L.A.-area may want to focus their taste buds on the cornerstone centers of culinary excellence that made Los Angeles a world-class destination for all those who love good food. To this tasty end, Meal Ticket from the August 2011 edition of the Los Angeles Times Magazine is a great starter. Bon appétit!

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Tags: Food, l.a., Los Angeles, the taste
Posted in Bars and Restaurants, Food, Los Angeles, Luxury Travel Blog, Theme | No Comments »

New Tech Treats from Google

August 24th, 2011

Photovine: Google's new photo-sharing app.

iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch users can now download and share images via Photovine, Google’s new image-sharing app. Built by Slide Inc., a Google-owned company, the slick new app is essentially without Google’s logo or branding. Similar to ever popular Instagram, users can share photos with friends and followers. But unlike Instagram, Photovine groups images into user-created collections called “vines.”

Also new from Google is a weather layer for Google Maps. In addition to displaying temperatures and weather conditions in your area, the new layer covers weather updates for the entire globe, which might aid in things like trip planning. The data is courtesy of weather.com and is easy to install. Simply hover over the widget in the upper right-hand corner and choose the weather layer from the list. Click on a weather icon for a particular city to show more detailed information from humidity levels and wind conditions to a four-day forecast.

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Tags: Google, google maps, instagram, photovine, weather, weather.com
Posted in Technology | No Comments »

Seeing Gertrude Stein in San Francisco

August 23rd, 2011

Matisse's "Girl with Green Eyes" at SFMOMA. Courtesy rocor on Flickr.

The final weeks to enjoy related exhibits “The Steins Collect” and “Seeing Gertrude: Five Stories” are here. Both close on Tuesday, September 6, 2011. SFMOMA‘s landmark exhibition reunites the Steins’ “unparalleled holdings of modern art, bringing together, for the first time in a generation, dozens of works by Matisse, Picasso, Paul Cézanne, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec, and many others.” The complementary show at the nearby Contemporary Jewish Museum examines Gertrude Stein’s life and influence on 20th-century art and the American artistic imagination.

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Tags: contemporary jewish museum, gertrude stein, San Francisco, sfmoma
Posted in Art, San Francisco | No Comments »

See the Real Moulin Rouge in London

August 18th, 2011

"At the Moulin Rouge" by Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec. Courtesy Anne Petersen.

While the modern world celebrates late 19th-century Montmartre with touristic nostalgia, the reality of this period in Paris’ bohemian hilltop village was darker and more dangerous than some may imagine. One has only to study Henri Toulouse-Lautrec’s Moulin Rouge to get an authentic glimpse into this world “pitched between the brothel and the hospital” as only Lautrec could depict.

Visitors in London this summer have a rare chance to do just that. On now through September 18, 2011 at the Courtauld Gallery is a true study of 1890s Montmartre “Beyond the Moulin Rouge” as experienced and captured by Lautrec in partnership with model and Moulin Rouge dancer, Jane Avril. In this special show, the curtain is pulled back and the viewer is invited to examine both public and private images of Avril, one of Lautrec’s favorite subjects, a close friend, and the daughter of a courtesan.

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Tags: courtauld gallery, henri toulouse-lautrec, jane avril, London, montmartre, moulin rouge, Paris
Posted in Art, London | No Comments »

Stolen Ritz-Carlton Rembrandt Recovered

August 17th, 2011

A 1631 portrait of Rembrandt, by the artist. Courtesy deflam on Flickr.

“The Judgment”, an 11-by-6-inch pen and ink Rembrandt sketch that was lifted last Saturday from a private exhibit at the Ritz-Carlton Marina del Rey, was recovered earlier this week. The artist’s work is a popular target for art thieves, logging some 81 documented heists in the past 100 years. Rembrandt’s work is second only to Picasso’s for high-value art thefts. While the majority of stolen Rembrandts have been found and returned to their rightful owners, three Rembrandts taken in the high-profile 1990 theft of 13 works of art from the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum in Boston remain at large.

For Rembrandt lovers, two special exhibits on now are must-see shows. The first is an extensive collection of drawings by the artist and his circle at the Institut Neerlandais of Paris, on now through October 2, 2011. Visitors can view 20 drawings by Rembrandt himself and nearly 100 by other artists in his 17th-century school of influence. The second show featuring Rembrandt’s work at the Philadelphia Museum of Art examines the artist’s renderings of the face of Jesus. “In posing an ethnographically correct model and using a human face to depict Jesus, Rembrandt overturned the entire history of Christian art, which had previously relied on rigidly copied prototypes for Christ.”

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Tags: institut neerlandais of paris, philadelphia museum of art, rembrandt, ritz-carlton marina del rey
Posted in Art, Paris | No Comments »

Chez Panisse: Celebrating 40 Years

August 16th, 2011

The legendary American restaurant in Berkeley, CA turns 40 this year.

Opened in 1971 by Alice Waters and a group of her friends, Chez Panisse was envisioned as a neighborhood bistro that would feel more like an intimate home-dining experience rather than formal, fine-dining out. Four decades later, the Berkeley restaurant and its upstairs café are going strong, and Alice’s philosophy about food and the way we eat has changed the way many Americans view food as well.

Convinced that “the best-tasting food is organically and locally grown and harvested in ways that are ecologically sound by people who are taking care of the land for future generations,” Alice Waters has practiced what she preaches for 40 years at Chez Panisse and has invited diners to do the same at home. Establishing a local network of suppliers, Alice’s approach to food has inspired a celebration of local, organic food that has swept across the country and continues to grow and flourish in myriad ways.

Check out the Chez Panisse Foundation page to see how you can participate in this true American original’s 40th birthday bash. But moreover, book a great luxury hotel stay in the San Francisco Bay Area and find the time to enjoy a meal at Alice Waters’ landmark restaurant or café. Both the restaurant and café accept reservations up to one month in advance of your desired dining date.

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Tags: 40 years, alice waters, anniversary, berkeley, chez panisse
Posted in Bars and Restaurants, Food, Luxury Travel Blog, Theme | No Comments »

Visitors to Venice to Pay New Tourist Tax

August 12th, 2011

Typical traffic along the Grand Canal. Courtesy Marisa Allegra Williams.

In its latest attempt to fund and fight for its survival, the city of Venice in Italy – an UNESCO World Heritage Site – will implement a new tax on tourists starting on August 24 of this year. Tariffs will vary according to high or low season. The millions of euros raised will go toward efforts to save the sinking city from rising sea levels and increasingly frequent winter storms. Also swamped by tourists, the city struggles with a daily deluge of travelers that matches or outnumbers the current population of just 60,000.

Visitors staying at five-star hotels will incur an additional 4.50 euros per stay, while those crashing at less luxurious accommodations will be taxed on a sliding scale as the city inches closer to a long-advocated idea of an entrance fee. John Kay, a British economist, points out that a visitor tax makes perfect sense for a popular destination like Venice. “If we regard Venice as one of the crown jewels of Western European civilization, the issue is how to accommodate, indeed to promote, such cultural tourism without letting tourists destroy what it is that people go to visit.”

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Tags: Italy, tourist tax, Venice
Posted in Europe, International, Travel, Travel Regulations, Venice | No Comments »

The Suite Life

NYC: Take a Ride Back in Time this Fall

Loews Opens Fred Segal Lending Library

Ladurée Lands in New York

Los Angeles: Labor Day Eats

New Tech Treats from Google

Seeing Gertrude Stein in San Francisco

See the Real Moulin Rouge in London

Stolen Ritz-Carlton Rembrandt Recovered

Chez Panisse: Celebrating 40 Years

Visitors to Venice to Pay New Tourist Tax

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