The Carlton Arms Hotel, is one of New York’s most amazing and under-celebrated bohemian art enclaves. The buildings history befits its interiors. Originally a turn-of-the-century working class hotel turned into a speakeasy during Prohibition and during the 1960’s the hotel became a single room occupancy (SRO) structure that provided longterm shelter to welfare recipients, drug addicts, prostitutes and lost souls of the city, a very dark and volatile period.
In the 1980’s the SRO system was discontinued and The Carlton Arms was turned into a hotel. Unhappy with the hotels dismal interiors the manager at the time invited his downtown artist friends to redesign the rooms thus starting its ongoing residency program, which invites up and coming artists to live in the hotel for several weeks in exchange for redesigning a room. An annual room-opening party takes place every March to celebrate the unveiling of the newly painted rooms.
More than 200 artist have participated in the program and every inch of this four-floor, 54 room hotel is covered with some form of art, paintings, collage, sculpture and lots of graffiti. The residency program has yielded early works from artist who went on to achieve stardom such as Spanish painter Paco Simon, New York Street artist Richard Hambleton and the one and only Banksy.
The tchotchke-strewn lobby, smell of paint, dim lighting, communal bathrooms and resident cats weaving around visitors legs make a stay at this hotel for a very specific client,( this ain’t no Four Seasons.) The current manager John who has been there for the last 30 years and is a bit of New York history himself, said that the majority of visitors are from Europe. When I asked about what kind of reaction he receives from first time guest he said “some have been horrified and left and some have been horrified and stayed, but the majority of guests love the small, quirky hotel environment”. Rates are very affordable ranging from $80 a night to a room for four (with bath) for $180 a night. If you want to see this quirky NY gem, but don’t want to stay the night New York Adventure Club gives tours of The Carlton Arms once a month.
Carlton Arms Hotel, 25th Street and Third Ave.