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Make Yourself at Home at a New York City Bed and Breakfast
Uptown
Innkeeper Lia Raum enjoys the view of her garden from the 12’ x 12’ window of The 1871 House in Manhattan’s Upper East Side. Between Park Avenue and Lexington, a row of trees frames the historic brownstone townhouses and pre-war buildings where doormen wear white gloves. “We picked [this neighborhood] because we really wanted to live here,” Raum says. The neighborhood is close to the Madison Avenue shopping district and the lower part of Museum Mile, where Raum recommends the carefully chosen Frick Collection on 70th Street. The inn has private baths, kitchenettes and down comforters to make guests feel at home. “A lot of our guests go jogging in the morning,” Raum says. “They can just hop over to [Central] Park.”
Keep hopping through Central Park to the Upper West Side for a stay at the Wyman House, where your new “neighbors” will greet you with a basket of food for your first breakfast. This Italianate limestone townhouse is within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History, Central Park and Lincoln Center, where you can pair a night in your European-themed bedroom with a night out at the New York Metropolitan Opera and see New York’s cosmopolitan side through the lenses of your opera glasses. From the penthouse you can also catch a stunning view of Riverside Park.
At the crown of uptown in Harlem, The Sugar Hill Harlem Inn puts you in the same neighborhood where jazz legends like Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington lived and worked. Built in 1906, this Victorian townhouse sits between Harlem and Amsterdam near Columbia University and City University of New York. Original wood floors and crown molding meet colorful tiles in music-themed rooms while innkeepers keep couches and a fireplace ready in the reception room for a party or a poetry reading. Catch a show at nearby St. Nick’s Pub or the Dance Theater of Harlem for a look at Harlem’s arts scene, ever a work in progress.
Midtown
In the heart of Midtown Manhattan near Restaurant Row, Hotel 414 inhabits two historic town homes remodeled in style with modern décor and modern conveniences like flat-screen TVs and wireless Web access. As long as you’re “living” in New York, you might as well live it up—the concierge service can help you make a reservation at a hot restaurant or guide you to the best new Broadway shows. Midtown is central to Times Square, Broadway, Fifth Avenue Shopping, and Rockefeller Center—a perfect place to explore New York City.
Downtown
The Abingdon Guest House in Greenwich Village has exposed brick walls, canopied beds, and access to the neighborhood that inspired artists from e.e.cummings to Bob Dylan. Walk the beaten path of Bleeker Street for boutiques and restaurants with an offbeat flavor. If your favorite flavor is peanut butter, hang a left on Sullivan for a Death by Peanut Butter Sundae at the Peanut Butter & Co. sandwich shop.
Beyond
New York City has many other neighborhoods within its five boroughs. If you haven’t found your favorite yet, keep your compass pointing uptown instead of north and let The B&B Network of New York point you in the right direction. This service has connections throughout the city to find you a room within a house or a separate apartment, with or without a host, in the neighborhood of your choice.
Our innkeepers are there to make you feel at home. In a city with over eight million residents your bed and breakfast is one place where “you don’t have to walk into an elevator with a hundred people,” Lia Raum says. “That’s how New Yorkers do it. They don’t live in hotels.”
About American Historic Inns and iLoveInns.com
American Historic Inns, Inc. (http://www.iloveinns.com/), founded in 1981, is the leading publisher of bed & breakfast guidebooks, with more than 2.5 million bed & breakfast guidebooks sold, and runs iLoveInns.com, a top bed & breakfast and country inns directory.
Note: For photos or interviews, please contact Deborah Sakach at 949-497-2232.
