Bowery Hotel

Pick up your old-fashioned gold room key with its red tassel in the dark, hushed lobby – filled with antique velvet chairs and faded Persian rugs – then follow the mosaic floors to your room. There you can dock your iPod, use the wi-fi, check out the 42in plasma, watch some DVDs, or raid your bathroom goodies (courtesy of CO Bigelow, the Greenwich Village apothecary). Rooms have huge factory windows with unobstructed views, simple white spreads with red piping, and elegant four-poster beds. The Bowery’s zinc-topped bar, outside garden patio, and rustic Italian eatery, Gemma’s, are always packed.