Ace Hotel Weblog

For February Fashion Week 2012, Ace Hotel New York will partner...

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:51:00 -0800

For February Fashion Week 2012, Ace Hotel New York will partner with Martin Greenfield Clothiers to present a pop-up tailoring studio in The Boardroom of Ace where visitors, guests and friends can be fitted for bespoke suits and garments by tailors from Martin Greenfield, including the master tailor, Mr. Greenfield himself. Martin Greenfield is the standard setter in the fashion world for designers and clients with an appreciation for the classic art of tailoring. The hand-tailored garments, painstakingly measured, cut and stitched by hand at his East Williamsburg, Brooklyn shop, are sought after by designers, pop stars, politicians and film directors who seek sartorial perfection.

Mr. Greenfield has been making fine hand-tailored suits for well over 60 years. Born in Czechoslovakia, his first experience stitching garments was as a young prisoner at Auschwitz. He survived, and with the help of his uncle emigrated to Brooklyn and got a job in the factory of GGG Clothing. Thirty years later, he bought the factory from his employer. He kept the sewing machines humming through the 1977 black-out and riots, and through the lean times and break-ins of the following decades, while many factories shut their doors. Today, over 130 craftspersons work the tables in the loft-style factory of Greenfield Clothiers, still using the time-honored techniques Mr. Greenfield learned as an apprentice. They still use antique machines and irons no longer in production, still hand-sew 50 stitches for every button hole. A finished suit still takes 108 operations by 80 or more artisans and six weeks to complete.

Martin Greenfield’s reputation for attention to detail and outstanding custom made suits has earned him an iconic status in the fashion world — GQ Magazine has called him “America’s greatest living tailor.” His work has been commissioned by designers at Rag & Bone, Freeman’s Sporting Club, Band of Outsiders, Donna Karan and more. Recently, his shop hand-tailored the 1920’s-era garments for the HBO series, Boardwalk Empire. His client list includes the likes of Martin Scorsese, Bill Clinton, Paul Newman, Michael Jackson and Patrick Ewing. We are inspired by Martin Greenfield’s dedication to his craft and honored to bring a true legend from Brooklyn’s heritage of artisanal fashion to Ace.

Exclusively for Fashion Week at Ace Hotel New York, tailors from Greenfield Clothiers, including Martin Greenfield himself, will conduct personal fittings in The Boardroom, February 10-12, by appointment only. Greenfield tailors will have extensive fabric books and a wide range of linings to choose from. Whiskey, beers, coffee and comestibles provided by our friends at The Breslin, Stumptown and Heineken. An RSVP is required to schedule a fitting — please do so at acehotel.com/greenfield, where you can also find information about payment and fittings.

Film by Matt Jay

INTERVIEW : IAN HICKS // SOFT METALS

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:26:34 -0800

Soft Metals are a multi-disciplinary electropop duo from Portland, Oregon, now based in LA. Ian and coconspirator Patricia were brought together through a common love of 1970s and 80s synthesizer music and began writing and recording songs together in the spring of 2009. Their songs are built from moody, improvised sessions together using exclusively electronic instruments — some of the results remain unpolished and improvised to pay homage to authenticity, spontaneity, the joy of sound and experimentation while others are studio-based exercises, fusing new and old production technologies.

Ian just killed a midterm, so they’re dropping down to the desert to play at TVOD, our live music residency in the Amigo Room at Ace Hotel & Swim Club Friday night. We asked Ian about vintage gear and other inspirations.

Using old gear is an adventure, for better or worse. How much of your music is about tweaking your gear vs. making melody —- frustration, inspiration, pain in the ass, revelation?

I would say that using older gear is much more of an inspiration than a pain in the ass, sometimes sequencing can be more difficult than it would be using everything in a computer but it’s through the limitation and work-arounds that you can break through to something that you probably wouldn’t have discovered had you just drawn out all the MIDI info. It can get a little cumbersome when having to translate between CV or DCB to MIDI and DIN sync to MIDI sync but its very engaging and gratifying to be able to hook everything up in a way your not quite sure will work, and then have it come together perfectly.

To address your question, I think our music has some of the track-y elements of gear tweaking that are present in some of our favorite Chicago house and Detroit techno tracks, but we definitely try to identify strong melodic elements when were picking out jams to flesh out so that we can create more of a song-style narrative.

Is it true that Patricia is more the singer-songwriter of your duo, and Ian the gear geek? And how do you balance each other and keep each other moving forward in terms of building the music?

Patricia writes all of the lyrics and vocal melodies but we pretty much collaborate on every other aspect. I am more knowledgeable about our sequencing and audio production side, but we both jam on the gear to create the starts of songs and then work together in most aspects to develop them further.

Tell us about some equipment you’ve built from scratch or scrap.

The only piece that we use that I’ve built from scratch (well, kit). The x0xb0x is an open source clone of the Roland TB-303, you used to have to get on a mailing list and wait for your number to come up before they would send you a kit, but a few friends and I decided we’d just skip the list and go straight to the Bill Of Materials on the x0x site and order the parts direct from Mouser, Digikey etc. The build was done in about two months (hard to coordinate meeting times) and only one worked — you can see pictures of the build below. I ended up having to troubleshoot the filter resonance on my x0x for a while — it was a great learning experience though and gave me a good amount of confidence in reading schematics and soldering. Lately, I’ve been too busy to take on any electronics projects but I’m interested in building some effects or possibly the MIDIbox SID synth next.

Finding vintage analog gear can be quest that goes beyond typical Ebay and Craigslist searches. Can you tell us some stories about your quests for equipment?

I haven’t really gotten too much gear outside of the CL and Ebay routes, I think people now know to look things up on the internet before they donate them to goodwill! I have come across two rather rare pieces of gear in my gear hunting. The first was a Roland SH-7 at a pawn shop in Vancouver, WA and the second was a Soviet synth called the Polivoks which I found on Craigslist in Olympia. The Polivoks was in pretty rough shape when I got it and all of the schematics and info on the internet are in Cyrillic! I was worried that it would just sort of be a museum piece. Luckily, I’ve found a tech here in LA that was excited to take it on as a project, so hopefully in the next couple months I’ll be getting it back, cant wait to play around with it!

Here’s a video of me fooling around with some synths.

Thanks, Ian!

Photograph of Patricia and Ian at the top is by Deneb Catalan

A Valentine’s Day without lingerie is like a fish without...

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:45:00 -0800

A Valentine’s Day without lingerie is like a fish without a bicycle, so we asked Araks to help get you into the spirit. The result is this subtly spartan little number that celebrates your beauty in its natural state of being, made exclusively for Valentine’s Day at Ace Hotel New York. We love her grounded sensibility and nuanced sense of style. The Ace x Araks Teddy is made in New York of sheer, fog-hued cotton crepe, with slate tulle trim, adjustable straps, ruching detail in the front and lower back, and custom Ace x Araks label. This is what we like to wear when we’re smoking a cigarette (don’t try it, bad for you), absorbing the moonglow through an open window, Lou Reed on the record player… opening a letter… lip syncing the lyrics to “Venus in Furs.”

You can pick it up at Ace Hotel New York, at Araks Online, or on our shop — pairs nicely with an Ace x Uslu Airlines manicure, a good cup of coffee and an overhead view of a rain-slicked street. We’re offering a friendly break on all items on our shop through Valentine’s Day with code LOVESHWAG, so take your pick. And, yes, we were being ironic about the fish on a bicycle thing — thanks Gloria!

At Ace NYC, by ViolaLovely.

Wed, 01 Feb 2012 16:14:35 -0800

At Ace NYC, by ViolaLovely.

It’s what’s inside that counts.

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:00:00 -0800

It’s what’s inside that counts.

Lithuanian-born, Portland-based photographer Darius Kuzmickas...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:08:12 -0800

Lithuanian-born, Portland-based photographer Darius Kuzmickas took this shot at Ace Hotel Portland using pinhole photography. See his show, up for only a couple more days, at the Stumptown Coffee Roasters in Downtown Portland.

Introducing the Ace Hotel Letterman Jacket, handcrafted by the...

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 15:47:02 -0800

Introducing the Ace Hotel Letterman Jacket, handcrafted by the craftspeople at Centralia Knitting Mills in Washington, sporting our Ace-designed chenille Ace varsity letter and ruggedly handsome hunter grey pure melton wool from Pendleton’s Oregon mills. The varsity letter has been a symbol of the sporting life since Harvard jocks started rocking letter sweaters back in the late 19th century. By the time Archie sported the big letter “R” for Riverdale High, letter sweaters were giving way to letterman jackets. Family-run Centralia Knitting Mills have been meeting demand making custom varsity jackets since 1939 and they’re still using their original, solid knitting machines to make every jacket.

You’ll pretty much have run of the campus with this one — it’ll serve you well for a row on the Hudson or a stroll through the park with your best girl. Pick it up at Ace NYC or on our shop.

Alexandra Spencer of 4th & Bleeker followed her...

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 16:20:15 -0800

Alexandra Spencer of 4th & Bleeker followed her footsteps around Ace Hotel & Swim Club for Harper’s Bazaar

The Flirtleneck, utilized here to great effect by...

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 12:47:17 -0800

The Flirtleneck, utilized here to great effect by Russian-Lithuanian German-born singer Eva performing her hit single Liebelei in the mid-1960s.

NATIONALE is one of our favorite shops in Portland — tiny...

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 12:16:00 -0800

NATIONALE is one of our favorite shops in Portland — tiny and perfectly curated, abuzz with good creative energy. We’ve gladly smashed ourselves into hushed crowds washed up like surf around the perimeter of their shop to watch dance performances and listen to our friends read from their books, and we’ve happily unwrapped treasures we’ve treated ourselves to from their laden shelves. And now we’re proudly part of their star-studded line-up: they’re currently carrying our limited edition Ace x Impossible instant analog film for Polaroid cameras. To top it all off, today, NATIONALE turns three — they’re having a party at another local favorite, Holocene, with Tunnels, Wooly Mammoth Comes to Dinner and Scout Niblett, as well as DJs, a video installation by Alicia McDaid and a free advice booth from the lovely Jenn Armbrust. Everything’s going down 8:30 til late for a paltry six bucks — see the full schedule here.

Wooly Mammoth pictured here dancing on the tables at Clyde Common.

Video

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 14:17:03 -0800

Weronika Gajda aka By Niki shot these in her stomping grounds,...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 22:01:52 -0800

Weronika Gajda aka By Niki shot these in her stomping grounds, the Seychelles Islands. Her photos are our January selections for the Ace x Impossible online gallery — as a token of our appreciation, we’ve sent her a limited PX Gold Edition from Impossible. The set will make anyone who likes a little flash with their flash very happy, with custom gold frames and a kit for making your own cards with your shots. Maybe Niki will send us one….

We’ll be picking shots out every month and sending flirtatious gifts, so enter your own photos to share the love.

Linda Gerard is a magician — she can turn any frown upside...

Mon, 23 Jan 2012 13:07:22 -0800

Linda Gerard is a magician — she can turn any frown upside down and make the most wonton among us blush like a little girl. She’s a sailor-mouthed, velvet-handed, self-identified O.W.L. (older, wiser lesbian) and she’s one of our heros. Every Monday night at Ace Hotel & Swim Club, you can see Linda in all her glory as the singular hostess of Sissy Bingo (occasionally R-rated) where she serenades and scandalizes a rapt and devoted troupe of players. Prizes include champagne, homemade cookies and flattering attention from Linda (a hot commodity around these parts).

Tonight is a special edition of Sissy Bingo wherein Linda-devotee Conor Fetting-Smith will film Linda for his documentary about SoCal bingo culture. All bottles of wine are half off from 7-9pm in King’s Highway, but your contribution to bingo history will be priceless.

Linda interpreted by Max Wanger

Some of the fine people playing this week/end at Ace Hotel &...

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 18:15:56 -0800

Some of the fine people playing this week/end at Ace Hotel & Swim Club — Calling All Kids is hosting a showcase with Matthewdavid, Sodapop, Raleigh Moncrief, Low Limit and Butchy Fuego, and Tom Tom Magazine sends Ana Calderon over to install some sounds in the Amigo Room on Sunday night. It’s really nice down here right now, so bring someone you like and come hangout for the weekend.

Miss Peaches, the only woman on earth who could make a cardigan...

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 17:38:30 -0800

Miss Peaches, the only woman on earth who could make a cardigan hot. We’ll miss you a lot.

To celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, we’re...

Fri, 20 Jan 2012 16:00:26 -0800

To celebrate Valentine’s Day this year, we’re collaborating with Jimmyjane to give you and someone you really like a free trip to at Ace Hotel & Swim Club and Ace Hotel New York. You can win two nights, airfare and a whole bevy of hot gifts from Jimmyjane as well as some Ace x Impossible instant analog film to use with your in-room Polaroid camera. While you’re staying with us, we’ll also bring you dessert for two and your pick from the Ace x Jimmyjane VOD channel in your room — everything from vintage kitsch to the contemporary, intelligent erotica. Enter at Jimmyjane by January 31.

You can also book this package in PSP or NYC for February 1 - 29. And stay tuned for more Valentine’s Day news because love is super un-embarrassing and we like celebrating it.

We are graced here by the most well-loved iteration of Julia and Paul Child’s famous Valentine’s Day cards.

“I have been asked to pose for Penthouse on my hundredth...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 11:13:00 -0800

“I have been asked to pose for Penthouse on my hundredth birthday. Everybody is going to be sorry.”

We love you, Dolly. Born this day a few years ago, but we won’t say how many.

We’re excited to debut our first ever photography-based room art...

Thu, 19 Jan 2012 08:00:00 -0800

We’re excited to debut our first ever photography-based room art in room 428 at Ace Hotel New York. The piece is by Sunny Shokrae, who wrestled with her inner village of oohs and aahs to bring us this exclusive, limited-edition, fully customized 2012 In / Out list. Now that you are informed, go forth into a new year.

IN: drug cartel
OUT: tulum resorts

IN: target shooting
OUT: russian baths

IN: rolling
OUT: tumbling

IN: steak n shake
OUT: corner bistro

IN: javeling
OUT: status updates

IN: singley farm
OUT: the hamptons

IN: chips
OUT: pretzels

IN: disappearing
OUT: raging

Time lampse by Sam J. Macon and Mark P. Smith

Photo

Wed, 18 Jan 2012 13:54:00 -0800

It’s been well-established that New York is a state of...

Tue, 17 Jan 2012 11:58:20 -0800

It’s been well-established that New York is a state of mind — one that pretty much demands representation, and gets plenty of it. And nothing says New York like a New York Yankees baseball hat. A universally understood signifier of the team and the city, it’s been done a million ways and worn a million more. Brim forward, angled or back, with casual dress or to the nines, in a city of a thousand languages it’s the constant.

Our limited edition New Era 59FIFTY Yankees Cap in the signature Ace Hotel New York x Pendleton plaid is a worthy contribution to a venerable tradition. Made from pure virgin wool woven in Pendleton’s Oregon mills, they are shaped, stitched and brimmed to fitted perfection by the masters at New Era’s factory in Derby, NY. Available in a limited run to fans of the team and the city online online and at Ace Hotel New York.