Tuesday, September 17, 2019

Unpacking what there is at the Moxy East Village, now open on 11th Street



The Moxy East Village opened for business last week (Sept. 12) here on 11th Street between Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue...


The 286-room Marriott brand has four eating and drinking venues by TAO Group: Cathédrale, a French-Mediterranean restaurant from Chef Jason Hall, Little Sister, an underground lounge, Alphabet Bar & Café, and a rooftop bar opening in spring 2020.

Cathédrale has already held several events, including the 2019 Us Weekly Most Stylish New Yorkers party on 9/11 that included Lil’ Kim, La La Anthony and various cast members from the Real Housewives.


[Cathédrale]

Here's a description of each via the EVG inbox, and there is a lot to unpack here (condensed for space reasons) ... brace!:

Alphabet Bar & Café, situated in the lobby, serves as the social heart of Moxy East Village, comprising a bar, terrace, co-working lounge, and meeting studios that seamlessly transition from day to night. The seating includes plush sofas and swinging chairs; a Skee-Ball game provides a hit of nostalgia for the arcade era.

An interactive real-time graffiti installation lets guests use a tablet to draw their own tag or sketch a bit of street art, like a latter-day Basquiat or Haring, and see it projected on the wall [Ed note: Will the Peninstrator strike?] . ... Alphabet Café serves an all-day menu of custom artisanal brews by Intelligentsia Coffee, freshly baked goods, composed salads, and seasonal panini and tartines.

The centerpiece of Moxy East Village is Cathédrale, a French-Mediterranean restaurant conceived by Tao Group Hospitality Chef/Partner Ralph Scamardella, in collaboration with Executive Chef Jason Hall. As diners descend from the lobby — via a staircase that resembles a fire escape between two East Village buildings — they'll feel like they're discovering an abandoned architectural treasure.

That's thanks to the show-stopping Rockwell Group-designed main dining room, a triple-height space covered by Italian artist Edoardo Tresoldi's dramatic wire mesh sculpture that looks like the apparition of a grand domed ceiling. His ethereal sculpture for the ceiling of Cathédrale pays homage to the interior of the Fillmore East ...

Located on the lower level, adjacent to Moxy East Village, Little Sister is an intimate, seductive, sophisticated lounge — an update from the underground clubs that defined East Village nightlife in the 1990s.

Its clandestine, cavern-like feel is enriched by jewel-toned velvet sofas and plush banquettes, embossed leather accents, a glowing copper DJ stand, and a mirrored-copper bar illuminated by an overhead bank of backlit whiskey bottles. Wood-clad, barrel-vaulted ceilings evoke a hidden underground chamber where whiskey might have been stored in the bootlegger era. Legendary doorman Wass Stevens, will conspire to create an exclusive, in-the-know vibe at the ropes.

Opening in Spring 2020, the rooftop bar is designed to resemble a coveted New York City backyard garden, with strung garden lights, abundant foliage and colorful patio furniture. A retractable roof allows the bar to be used in all seasons.

Behind the bar, liquor bottles will be displayed in stacked plastic milk crates — not unlike those you'd spot on an East Village sidewalk. On one wall, interlaced with crawling ivy, will be a mural that overlays a map of the area with images from the neighborhood's musical and artistic history.

A few other details...

The hotel has also produced a series of short videos titled "Off the Beaten Path," featuring neighborhood legends and characters who will talk about the East Village's past, present, and future that guests will be able to enjoy on the in-room TVs, online, and on the @MoxyEastVillage Instagram.

In addition, the hotel has forged exclusive partnerships with neighborhood institutions. It will be the preferred hotel partner for Webster Hall, providing VIP concert access to select guests. The prestigious art school Cooper Union will have their student's work shown on a dedicated channel on the in-room TVs and will exhibit select student works and host panels at the hotel while providing guests access to events on campus.

The foundation work got underway here in August 2017. Workers demolished the five residential buildings that stood here in the fall of 2016.

Previously on EV Grieve:
At the rally outside 112-120 E. 11th St.

6-building complex on East 10th Street and East 11th Street sells for $127 million

Preservationists say city ignored pitch to designate part of 11th Street as a historic district

Permits filed to demolish 5 buildings on 11th Street to make way for new hotel

New building permits filed for 13-story Moxy Hotel on East 11th Street across from Webster Hall


[112-120 E. 11th St. photo from May 2016]

13 comments:

Anonymous said...

“Stacked plastic milk crates” — top that!

Anonymous said...

Skeeball in my cowork space. A staircase resembling a fire escape. Uh, ok.

Are we sure this isn't another New York New York casino trucked in from Las Vegas?

Anonymous said...

"Composed salads" left me stunned & mute.

Gojira said...

I can't even.

noble neolani said...

The new "Poxy" hotel is a scab on our neighborhood.

blue glass said...

what did we all do to deserve this?

this is what we can look forward to where 5 occupied buildings once stood.


we are going to be a world-wide playground with the spaces
in between filled with cold, ugly, expensive luxury glass towers and
the only commercial spaces will be bars and restaurants with exotic
drinks - everything else will be delivery

Anonymous said...

It may be new & it may have cost a lot to build, but it's all just TRASH! The pretentiousness level is beyond offensive.

But since it's TRASH replacing landmark-quality walk-up residences, it'll make money from all the idiots who have no taste, and who think 11th St. is 'cool' (or whatever young dumb people say instead of 'cool' these days).

If a meteorite hits, I'm hoping it lands on this hotel.

2nd Ave Silver Panther said...

O my F-ing G!This boondoggle sounds like that loon who tried to bring MAGA to 6th Street got a shtload of money to finance yet another of his fevered wet dreams. This is the end.

Giovanni said...

The EV Poxy will likely turn into a Frat House for Bros, or if business is slow they will start doing Hip Hop Night just like VNYL and The Ainsworth, and then it will really get rowdy. I think it's almost time to move to Rhinebeck.

XTC said...

Not cool that 5 Beaux Arts buildings were destroyed to make way for this Disneyesque version of the EV, but this hustle is as old as the Bowery itself. 150 years ago out- of -towners were given tours of freak shows, saloons, gambling halls, and opium dens complete with fake Chinese dope fiends. They really need to take their fantasy a step further and hire a Gringo lookalike as the doorman, Joey Ramones could man the check-in desks, and bellhops could be dressed like crackheads and drag queens. The designated selfie wall could be a recreation of a CBGBs toilet. They'd make a killing.

Anonymous said...

A friend sent this description to me, and I thought it was a parody. So fake and parasitic. Should be a museum of what's awful and wrong with the world. Definitely needs a Schiti Bank ATM in the lobby.

Anonymous said...

I'm picturing a lot of tourists... like Russians, and misguided Europeans.

Anonymous said...

Their idiotic ad 'East Village Calling' is beyond-beyond-beyond stupid.

Yeah, the REAL East Village is calling: it wants its 5 landmark-worthy buildings and the people who used to LIVE in them back!

Moxy-pox-schlock, let us know how fast you can vacate your useless premises, so we can have our neighborhood back.

May the universe take its revenge on the oh-so-pious mormons who own moxy, namely MARRIOTT. I guess mormons are allowed to get rich promoting all the things THEY are against and that they're not allowed to do: drink booze & coffee, dance, have random sex, use drugs, and generally be a schiti-neighbor.