MIAMI BEACH – I have a new favourite hotel. I spent Wednesday night at the Soho Beach House in Miami Beach. Even with lousy, Hurricane Sandy-influenced weather I absolutely loved the place. Soho House began as a private club in London in 1995 and now includes restaurants, hotels, cinemas and more in cities across Europe and North America. The latest is in Toronto, adjacent to the new Shangri-La hotel. Soho Beach House is located on Collins, just north of 43rd, in the heart of Miami Beach and on the site of the Sovereign Hotel. And it’s a stunner; without doubt Read more
U.S.A.
SAN FRANCISCO – For years I’ve been getting nudges from the San Francisco tourism folks to check out the Mission district. It had gone from something akin to derelict to a trendy, fun area and was well worth investigating, I was told. Even our former mayor, David Miller, mentioned it in passing one day when we chatted about his travels. I finally got around it on a recent visit, and had a great time. Mind you, it was one of those postcard-perfect spring days in the city; about 18 or 19 Celsius with hardly a whisper of wind and the Read more
NEW ORLEANS – What a way to start a visit. We pulled up in a taxi and checked into our hotel, the Dauphine Orleans on Dauphine St. in the French Quarter (see photo). After unloading our gear in a nice room across the street in their courtyard building, we checked out the hotel bar, called May Baily’s Place. Like a lot of spots in this town, it was once a “sporting house” with lots of fun things for men to do. In the old days it was one of the better known bordellos in what the hotel brochure calls “the Read more
CHICAGO – Okay, I was a little reluctant. I mean, we’ve all see those people rolling about various cities on those silly-looking Segways. And, let’s face it, they look like mall cops. But, at the same time, they look kinda cool, right? I mean, we might not ever make it to the Jetsons but a Segway is at least in the same area code; all futuristic and such. So, yeah, I had mixed emotions when the folks at Choose Chicago, the city’s tourism board, suggested my wife, Barbara, and I take a two-hour tour through Millenium Park and environs the Read more
NEW YORK – Two girls on a fire escape on a hot summer’s night. A humming corner restaurant with enough noise to rival a 747 at takeoff. Tons of fun bars and a real, edgy feel. I managed a bit of time in this city’s Lower East Side on my recent visit and checked out Schiller’s Liquor Bar on Rivington St. It has the feel of a subway station, with off-white tiles on the walls and floor and a black-and-white floor that had the 70’s music bouncing around like shoes in a washing machine. It was awfully hard to hear Read more
