We never met a Moxy we didn’t like… but they don’t half push themselves. The Moxys in Chelsea and Times Square are great and fit right into those areas but the challenge of opening in the East Village, a notoriously hip part of the city, would have been considerable. Well, for anyone other than the Moxy, that is.
How do you fit into an area known for punk and street life and tattoos and… well, that whole alternative thing and still manage to be a fully-functioning, comfortable hotel? That was the challenge. This being Moxy, they rose to it. Above it, even.
From the outside, well, you wouldn’t really notice it. A nice fresh building in amongst the old-school cool: Webster Hall, known as ‘NYC’s oldest party room’ and a registered landmark is just across the road, meaning you can hear the ghosts of drag queens from the legendary Greenwich Village Balls from 1910 still rustling along the corridors from your room.
Step inside Moxy East Village and you start to get the story. Reception desks made from recovered wood, grafitti-style paintings, a huge sign saying ‘Relax, Don’t Do It’ but with the ‘Don’t’ crossed out… Up the lifts and along the corridors, the same story is being told, even the carpets look like artworks.
As for the rooms, they are masterworks of space management. The entry-level ones are small, it must be said: it’s a New York City trend, what are you going to do? But there is plenty of space for your stuff on the hanging wall, under the bed, on the unit that holds the TV at the end of your bed, which is pushed right up against the window. But there’s everything you need: a chair, a clever folding-out table while the bathroom is dinky but totally workable. Besides, this is New York: you’re not going to be hanging out in your room… unless you decide to call down for a record player and some vinyl and have a quiet night in.
If it is noisy and buzzy you require from a trip to New York City – and let’s face it, you do! – then head to The Ready Rooftop Bar where you’ll find the busiest al fresco space we have hit in the city. On a Friday night, the space – all strung lights and tropical plants and retro-fabric sofas and slaps in the face of colour – is rocking off its hinges. You’ll be hard-pressed to even find somewhere to stand!
It’s equally impressive down in the basement where Cathédrale will literally astonish you with its proportions – you had no idea a restaurant on this scale could fit down here. But there it is. We’ve dined down there – busy, buzzy, fun – and we’ve partied down there – the same only more so – and, with its little outside patio space for gasping a breath of air, it’s a little cracker. Big cracker. Huge cracker!
And yes, there’s a little gym and on the ground floor a welcoming suite of spaces – somewhere to grab breakfast, somewhere to do some co-working, somewhere to sit out and get some sun on your face – that all fit with the extra cool vibe they’ve created here.
It takes a brave hotel to take on a spot as iconically hip as this – Tompkins Park is nearby and the 18 miles of books at the legendary Strand bookshop is not much further – but if anyone could do it, it was always going to be The Moxy, who have made it cool enough to fit right in and fun enough to stand right out. You only have to ask the crowds trying to get in to understand that.