W(ow)
W Hoboken
225 River St // Hoboken, NJ
(201) 253-2400 // WHOTELS.COM/HOBOKEN
Distance from White Plains: 1 hour
Before Frank was a part of New York, New York, he was lookin’ at it from Hoboken, New Jersey. And a visit to Ol’ Blue Eyes’ hometown—with a stay at the W Hoboken, of course—may well convince you he went the wrong way.
To be sure, some of the joys of the W are its Manhattan-facing rooms, with broad, floor-to-ceiling windows gazing over the Hudson, Midtown, and even the George Washington Bridge. At night, the lights bounce cinematically off the river like a chandelier—and right into your room.
Those are far from the only luxuries, though. The W’s designers, Gwathmey Siegel & Associates Architects, calibrated it to a hip-but-approachable aesthetic, with dark, polished wood and steel. You can watch your flat-screen TV from the comfort of crisp, white, 350-thread-count sheets on pillow-top mattresses. The hotel’s Bliss line of beauty products in a calming lemon-sage scent is ubiquitous, and, while the Triple Oxygen Treatment is the in-house spa’s most popular, in-room massages are also available.
At any time of day, you can order from at least part of the 24-page binder-menu in your room (which includes a pets’ menu with filets for Fido), and your food will arrive carried by a W staff member, who is pretty much guaranteed to be wearing a most disarmingly authentic smile. The slogan of the W Hotels is “Whatever/Whenever,” and, with the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, or USA Today delivered to your door each morning; loaner iPods; and complimentary rides from Acura, it seems like they have a lock on the whole genie thing, with a lot more than three wishes to choose from.
And, BTW: Hoboken has grown to be much more than the factory town it was when Sinatra was growing up. It’s now Brooklyn-meets-San Francisco, with row houses and lots of real 19th-century brick buildings sporting elaborate cornice work. The urbane Mom-and-Pops have an arty or artisanal leaning. For authentic Italian in this Pisano city, go to Washington Street’s Trattoria Saporito—a BYOB with baroque, velvet-cushioned wooden chairs and the requisite paintings of the Riviera in yellow-and-blue pointillism. The hotel’s Chandelier Room nightclub, meanwhile, is a Newer World spot that overlooks the City’s skyline. And, if you absolutely need to get to New York State, you can take the PATH train a few blocks from the hotel to Christopher Street in the West Village. It’s much more fun, though, to step gingerly over the cobblestones and trolley lines outside the 1907 station or breathe in windy river air and marvel at its Art Nouveau–and–neon, Liberty-statue-green façade from the esplanade. If I were you, I’d start spreadin’ the news that you’re leaving today.
The Nitty-gritty: Rates begin at $199 per night, double occupancy.
—BB
