Month: October 2011

Belleclaire Hotel, Shimmie Horn

The Met Beckons This Fall in New York

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Planning a visit to New York this autumn? The Metropolitan Museum of Art– the “Met” to seasoned New Yorkers- offers some incredible shows over the next coming few months.

Located at 1000 Fifth Avenue, the Met is easy to get to. This quintessentially New York museum is found on the edge of Central Park, between East 81st and 82nd Streets. Shimmie Horn’s Hotel Belleclaire is only a short bus ride across Central Park from the Met, or if the weather is nice, as it is so often at this time of year in New York, take a stroll through the Park until you get to this mighty edifice and bastion of some of the most exquisite art known to man.

Some current exhibitions showing at the Met are:

•    The Art of Dissent in 17th Century China: Masterpieces of Ming Loyalist Art from the Chih Lo Lou Collection – Through January 2, 2012

•    Stieglitz and His Artists: Matisse to O’Keeffe- Through January 2, 2012

•    Wonder of the Age Master Painters of India, 1100–1900- Through January 8, 2012

If you are staying anywhere in New York, at any of Shimmie Horn’s collection of Triumph Hotels, you are not far from the Met. Go visit, you won’t be disappointed.

Shimmie Horn, Washington Jefferson Hotel

Get a Taste of Broadway

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Next time you’re in New York, looking for a bit of culture, why not see what’s playing on Broadway?  Whether you’re in the Big Apple for business or pleasure, you should always try to make time for the classics.  One show currently playing is a remake of ‘Anything Goes,’ which originally debuted in 1934.  This musical comedy is being put on by the Roundabout Theatre Company and ticket prices range from $87-137.  It’s been getting some fabulous reviews since it began in April of this year.  It can be seen at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre, located at 124 W. 43rd Street, conveniently located close to some exquisite hotels in the area, like Shimmie Horn’s Washington Jefferson, the Hilton Manhattan East, or the Westin New York Hotel, then it’s definitely worth taking a stroll down there to enjoy an evening of entertainment or a matinee performance.

Belleclaire Hotel, Shimmie Horn

Tecumseh Park One Block from Shimmie Horn’s Hotel Belleclaire

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Tecumseh Playground

On 77th Street and Amsterdam Avenue, only one block from Shimmie Horn’s Hotel Belleclaire, is a little playground named for one of the Civil War’s most famous generals, William Tecumseh Sherman.

Since 1952 the park has gone through 4 separate incarnations. It was first developed when the City of New York received the land bordered by Amsterdam and Columbus Avenues on the east and west, and between 77th and 78th streets on the north and south. The land was designated for use for recreational purposes together with a school. The old P.S. 87 was torn down, and the new William T. Sherman School was built, and opened its doors in 1954. The playground had basketball courts, a roller-skating ring, play equipment and a garden from the old school.

In 1970 the site was modernized as an “adventure playground” until it was updated again in May 1987. This third renovation was called “Operation Playground” and incorporated the efforts of a 1,500-member neighborhood association of parents and their children. They raised $55,000 in private monies, and the Department of Parks of NY contributed and additional $30,000. The renowned park designer Robert Leathers drew up a plan which included a maze, tire-bridge, swing, fire engine, tree-house, roller coaster obstacle bridge and a suspension bridge with tunnels. Remarkably the park was built by community volunteers themselves working side-by-side with the Parks Department workers, in only seven days.

Today the park has taken on a fourth renaissance. For $760,000 Councilman Ronnie Eldrigde funded the park’s newest theme, an imaginary journey which children can take from New York City to the 1870s Wild Wild West.

The park is named for General Sherman, who, although born in Ohio in 1820, retired to New York where he lived until his death in 1884. He resided at Broadway and West 70th street, where there is now located Sherman Square, just a few short blocks from Tecumseh Park.

If you are staying at the Hotel Belleclaire, and especially if you have some children in tow, a trip to Tecumseh Park would be great fun.

Shimmie Horn, Washington Jefferson Hotel

Washington Jefferson Hotel Short Walk from Central Park

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One of the world’s most famous inner city parks is located just a few short blocks from Shimmie Horn’s Washington Jefferson Hotel. Just exit the hotel, walk east a few steps to 8th Avenue, and then the 8 blocks north from West 51st Street where the Washington Jefferson is located, to Columbus Circle on 59th Street, and you have arrived at the incredible Central Park.

The park first opened to New Yorkers in 1857 and includes 843 acres of fields, trees, gardens, a zoo, a lake, baseball diamonds, brides, paths and lots more. In the following year a competition was held for a design to improve the park. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux won the design competition, and in 1873 the newly designed, expanded and improved Central Park was ready.

Central Park offers an amazing array of things to do and see within its confines, including two ice-skating rinks, a swimming pool, a wildlife sanctuary, Shakespeare in the Park summer festivals at the Delacorte outdoor amphitheater, and Belvedere Castle. With such a wide selection of things to see and do there, it is no wonder that Central Park is the most visited city park in the United States. Join the crowd and go visit, it’s just a ten minute walk from the Washington Jefferson Hotel.