I’ve been in New York since the ’90s and recently reflected back to my first few weeks of exploring and rediscovering Manhattan. I travel frequently for work but the idea of a “staycation” has alway been slightly foreign to me.
When the Jumeriah Essex House invited me to enjoy a weekend adventure I quickly became nostalgic and thought back to 1998 when I first moved to Hells Kitchen to attend Fordham University College at Lincoln Center. Madonna was living just around the corner and her Ray of Light album had just come out. The Time Warner Building hadn’t gone up yet, and the building where the Museum of Arts and Design now rests was still a shifty windowless eyes sore. Alan Cumming and Natasha Richardson were singing their hearts out at the Kit Kat Club in the Broadway revival of Cabaret.
Whenever I’d get lost in Central Park I’d try to locate the iconic bright red Essex House sign. As soon as I’d find it I would walk South until I reached Central Park South and pass the lines of horse-drawn carriages and street vendors on my way back to my Lincoln campus. Though I never went inside, it reminded me I was close to home. Checking-in at the Jumeriah Essex House was the perfect opportunity to rediscover the city and experience it for the first time all over again.
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