Ace Hotel
Ace Hotel is a chain of hotels originally founded in Seattle, Washington. It operates hotels in Seattle, Portland, New York and Palm Springs. Ace has been called “the country’s most original” hotel [1] by the New York Times, and a “mega-chain waiting to happen” [2] by Wallpaper (magazine).
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[edit] History
The first Ace Hotel opened in 1999. Friends Alex Calderwood, Wade Weigel, and Doug Herrick purchased and transformed a Seattle halfway house into an affordable hotel that would appeal to the creative class. Calderwood and Weigel had previously founded Rudy's, a barbershop concept they started in Seattle that eventually expanded to more than a dozen West Coast locations, and a marketing and advertising company known as "Neverstop".
In 2007, Jack Barron joined the team, and a second hotel was opened in Portland, followed by properties in Palm Springs in 2009 [3] & New York in 2010.[4]
[edit] Locations
According to Calderwood, the style and furnishing of each Ace property is designed to reflect its location, with an eye towards re-imagining properties that are “challenged.” [5]
- Ace Hotel Seattle is a former Salvation Army halfway house located in the Belltown neighborhood.
- Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs, CA is a converted Howard Johnson motel, and King's Highway, the hotel's on-site diner, is a converted Denny's. There are two bars, the Amigo Room, and poolside, the Short Bus. The hotel was originally a Westward Ho prior to being a Howard Johnson. The remodel was a collaboration with L.A.-based design firm, Commune.
- Ace Hotel Portland occupies the former Clyde Hotel in downtown Portland. In its former incarnation, the hotel's lobby served as the setting for a scene from the film Drugstore Cowboy. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.[6]
- Ace Hotel New York worked with Roman and Williams [7] to redesign the former Hotel Breslin, a 1904 building in Midtown Manhattan. This location features a Stumptown Coffee and Chef April Bloomfield's [8] Michelin-starred The Breslin [9] restaurant.
Calderwood has stated his goal is to open a new Ace Hotel every "one to two years." Ace Hotels have confirmed to build a hotel in Los Angeles.
[edit] In popular culture
The 2011 episode "Blunderbuss" of the sketch comedy series Portlandia had a sketch set at the "Deuce Hotel", where the obnoxiously hip staff hand out complimentary turntables and typewriters to all guests;[10] it was a parody specifically of the Portland Ace Hotel.[11]
[edit] References
- ^ "Portland’s Retro Fit Hotel". The New York Times. 25 March 2007. http://travel.nytimes.com/2007/03/25/travel/tmagazine/03well.ace.t.html?scp=1&sq=portland's%20retro%20fit%20hotel%20Ace&st=cse/.
- ^ "Aceventure". www.acehotel.com/press. May June 1999. http://www.acehotel.com/press/all#wallpaper_magazine_may_2001+28/.
- ^ "Sunday CEO: Alex Calderwood, Ace Hotel & Swim Club". The Desert Sun. February 1, 2009. http://www.mydesert.com/article/20090201/BUSINESS01/902010303/-1/newsfront. Retrieved March 4, 2009.[dead link]
- ^ McKeough, Tim (December 31, 2008). "Shopping With Alex Calderwood and Robin Standefer". The New York Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/01/01/garden/01shop.html. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
- ^ Torline, Monica. "Aces high on pop culture", The Desert Sun, Palm Springs, 1 October 2009.
- ^ "Ace's Sense of Place". Portland Tribune. May 29, 2007. http://www.portlandtribune.com/features/story.php?story_id=118022398070110000. Retrieved March 4, 2009.
- ^ "Style & Substance". Metropolis. 22 July 2009. http://www.metropolismag.com/story/20090722/style-substance.
- ^ "The Breslin's Little Britain". Villagevoice.com. January 12, 2010. http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-01-12/restaurants/the-breslin-s-little-britain/.
- ^ "Diet Someplace Else". Nymag.com. January 24, 2010. http://nymag.com/restaurants/reviews/63213/.
- ^ "Blunderbuss" review, The A.V. Club, February 18, 2011
- ^ Portlandia: Over | Flyer Wars | Deuce Hotel, Anne Adams, Portland Monthly Culturephile blog, March 1, 2011
