The Bowery Hotel

The Bowery Hotel — the name alone pretty much sums it up. The first and only high-design hotel on this one-time skid row is the younger sister to the Maritime, over in the Meatpacking District, and is thus fueling fears among downtown purists that this little strip, bordering on the East Village and the still-seedy Lower East Side, will be the next to gentrify. Quite arguably, it’s already happening, and the realists among us will learn to sit back and enjoy the ride. After all, we come not to bury CBGB, but to praise the Bowery . . . And praiseworthy it certainly is. Like the Hotel on Rivington, it’s an incongruously tall building in a low-rise neighborhood (for the time being at least), so the views from the open-plan loft-style rooms show a side of the East Village that’s rarely seen. Rooms are swanky, with generous space, fine linens, iPods, and top-shelf bath products. Public spaces, though, are slightly more stripped-down — this place is made for revelry, not pampering, with an emphasis on nightlife at the expense of some other luxe-hotel frills. You’re not going to get babied here, Four Seasons-style; you will, however, mingle with an interesting (and youthful) crowd of hipsters and Bowery early adopters, and you’ll have access to some of New York’s last wild neighborhoods, while familiar old Soho and Tribeca aren’t far beyond.