That's because before it was redone and became too pricey, the Gramercy Park Hotel was where I would stay, often with the kids who were traveling with me, for my visits to New York for The Nation's editorial board.
When he texted me his location this afternoon, I was flooded with memories -- the time I took a taxi from there with one of his older sisters to a play on Broadway. She was about 14 and was a little unsteady in the high heels she had bought for the occasion to go along with a fancy dress.
I remember I used to always write my oldest daughter a letter on the stationery the hotel provided when she was not there with me. I do not remember what I wrote about, exactly.
A professional memory is hiring a book editor for Salon who later became a big success at The New York Times Book Review.
It was just a very cool old place with a legendary bar and a singer/pianist playing the Blues at night. It still is, just at a higher tax bracket.
I could walk to and from The Nation, which at that time was close by downtown. Its old newsroom was the venue for a Woody Allen movie.
Nowadays the magazine is located at 33 Irving Place, even closer to Gramercy Park, about a three or four block walk. There's a country breakfast style restaurant very nearby and lots of ethnic restaurants for lunch or dinner.
It is a vibrant neighborhood, much more affluent than in the past, but there are still plenty of hot dog and pretzel trucks, newsstands, and vintage shoe shops nearby. Let's just say you are certain you are in New York when you are there.
Enjoy, Dylan!
