The Roosevelt Hotel in Manhattan



Passing by uniformed doormen and through the revolving glass doors, stepping into the Roosevelt Hotel feels like walking into the past. 

The Roosevelt Hotel lobby

The vintage posh interior seems to be washed in sepia, or a faded golden aura of the glory days of the Roaring 20s when she was born.

 I booked this hotel through the B.E.A.C.H. (Booking Engine for Air, Cars and Hotels) at CruisePlanners1.com, selecting it based on value for my planned dates in New York City and its proximity to Grand Central Station.  Ideally, I would have found a suitable hotel closer to Washington Heights, but at least we were a short walk from the subway.

The front desk personnel proved to be polite and efficient, but the elevators were inevitably slow to arrive.  Fortunately, there were padded chairs at our third floor landing to wait, because sometimes it took five minutes for an elevator carriage to arrive.  It was an interesting contrast to its Midtown Manhattan location where everyone and everything seems to be frantic with energy.

The room was large by New York standards for the price we paid.  As is often the case, it didn't look as good as the photos, but that was primarily due to the low wattage lighting combined with the fact that we were generally only there from late night until early morning, as we were out and about every day.

The Madison Club Lounge

After spending a wonderful day visiting family and sightseeing, we would have a drink at the Madison Club Lounge, a bar where Mad Men like Don Draper would feel right at home.  At $8 for a Guinness or $11 for Bacardi and Diet Coke, the prices weren't outrageous by Madison Avenue standards, but they were high enough to limit us to one drink each, even if that wasn't all we wanted.

At the two ends of the room, above fireplaces dormant in the summer, were portraits of Theodore Roosevelt, in whose honor the hotel was named, and Guy Lombardo.  Guy Lombardo, heading his orchestra the Royal Canadiens, was a fixture at the Roosevelt Hotel almost from its inception, and in fact it was from the Roosevelt Grill where his rendition of "Auld Lang Syne" became a New Year's Eve tradition.

In the 1940s, Lombardo would summer in cooler Long Island, and Lawrence Welk was a frequent replacement.  In my house growing up, my parents enjoyed watching "The Lawrence Welk Show" together on Saturday evenings, although most times I headed to another room.  In retrospect, I wish I would have stayed for all the shows and cherished that family time even if the music frequently wasn't my favorite.

We tried to visit Mad46, a rooftop bar that looks cool in the photos, but on the one occasion when it wasn't closed, Emma had come out on the town with us, and she didn't meet their minimum height requirement. 

I'd recommend this hotel for New York visitors.  While they charge for internet connection and don't have coffee in the room, there's a Barnes & Noble around the corner that opens at 8 AM and has free internet for those imbibing their delicious coffee.  Hustling past busy Manhattanites on their way to work and then having coffee on the second floor of Barnes & Noble feels like the perfect way to start the day in the city.

The hotel location next to Grand Central Station makes it easy to reach most places in the city by subway.  We could change trains a couple of times and arrive at the foot of Gina's doorstep in Hudson Heights, but I really enjoyed walking a few blocks through Time Square and getting directly on the A Train better. 

Grand Central Station is also a decent place to eat.  We enjoyed our meal at the food court on the evening of our arrival.  The Indian food and deli sandwiches were both good.  One morning, Jay bought a big muffin for $2, but the real highlight was a huge black and white cookie he snagged on the way to the airport.  Without question, Jerry Seinfeld's praise of the inspirational qualities of the black and white on his TV show years earlier influenced Jay's desire to have one.  It tastes like a cross between a thin vanila cake with dark chocolate frosting and a super-fat coated animal cookie.  In short, delicious.

Being next to Grand Central Station also made departure from the city much easier than driving.  We took the train to New Haven, Connecticut, to rent a car for driving to UConn, which saved our sanity from the ironically named "Expressways" of greater New York City.