Tag Archives: Aloft Hotel

Aloft Hotel in Harlem wins TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence

Posted on July 18, 2012 | 1 comment

Harlem’s first hotel in a half century has been recognized for its service. Aloft Harlem, located at 2296 Frederick Douglass Blvd. between 123rd and 124th Street, recently announced that it was awarded the TripAdvisor Certificate of Excellence. This accolade is given to establishments that consistently and credibly achieve outstanding traveler reviews on TripAdvisor, which recognizes businesses worldwide and is one of the largest travel sites on the internet.

Aloft Harlem has been open since December 2009 with the  majority of the hotel’s employees from Harlem and already its performance is reaching the top percentile in the industry. The prestigious award only rewards about 10 percent of accommodations listed on TripAdvisor.

Let’s wish our Aloft Harlem a big congratulations and may many more accolades come their way in years to come! Cheers!

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Posted in Aloft Harlem Hotel, business, Community, Frederick Douglass Blvd., Harlem, New York, New York City, NYC

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Aloft Harlem Hotel to feature Karl Karni-Bain in solo exhibition

Posted on June 13, 2012 | Leave a comment

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West Coast mixed media artist Karl Karni-Bain (BAI) will be featured in a solo exhibition for the monthly art exhibition series at the Aloft Harlem Hotel, June 21-July 18. An opening reception for the exhibition will be held on Thursday, June 21, 2012 from 6:00-9:00 p.m. The reception is free and open to the public with a cash bar in the hotel lounge.

The exhibition will feature recent painting by the neo-primitive inspired artist that includes work from his mask series and semi-abstract nudes. The exhibition series at Aloft Harlem features an exhibition by a solo artist each month and is located at 2296 Frederick Douglass Blvd, between 123rd and 124th Street in Harlem.

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Posted in Aloft Harlem Hotel, art and culture, Community, education, Events, Harlem

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Amtrak publication makes major faux pas with Harlem, but calls it cool and hip

Posted on February 2, 2012 | 2 comments

While Gothamist was quick to point out how Amtrak’s external publication titled Arrive called Harlem a borough, which is a poor journalistic and potentially costly PR mistake, I’d like to point out and focus on how Arrive called Harlem “cool” and “hip.” The article says “New Yorkers are taking notice” of Harlem and “if you blink your eye, something changes.” Yes, this transportation company clearly only sees New York City and it’s sub-sections as a bunch of boroughs. Given the ignorance, it could have been worse. But lets focus on what they really got right, which is featuring our beautiful community and local businesses, talking to good spokespeople about Harlem, and ultimately using the best verbs to describe us, which…hey, we have always known, is being a place that is “hip and cool!” Thank you Amtrak!

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Posted in 125th Street, art and culture, Bars, bier international, business, Community, drinks, Frederick Douglass Blvd., Harlem, history, Lenox Avenue, New York, New York City, NYC, Red Rooster Harlem, restaurants

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Harlem to become outdoor music stage June 21

Posted on July 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Jun 20, 2011 @ 7:57
By HarlemGal
On June 21, look around in Harlem. You may hear music everywhere. Harlem Park to Park (HP2P) and its HP2P businesses are taking part in Make Music New York, the citywide free live musical celebration on Tuesday, June 21st.

From 11 a.m. to 9 p.m., participating Harlem Park to Park businesses will become impromptu outdoor stages offering live musical performances and some select specials. A complete list of business are listed below.

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Posted in art and culture, baking, Bars, business, Community, entertainment, Events, Frederick Douglass Blvd., Free!, Harlem, Harlem Tavern, Lenox Avenue, music, New York, New York City, NYC, real estate, restaurant row, restaurants, shopping

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Harlem featured in The Boston Globe

Posted on July 5, 2011 | 2 comments

Jun 6, 2011 @ 8:00
By HarlemGal
Not too long ago, Harlem was profiled in  The Financial Times, the UK-based publication. Now The Boston Globe takes its turn and profiles our community in its travel section this past weekend (June 5). Jessica Allen, the reporter, spends two days in Harlem along with her husband and discovers “Harlem makes a visitor feel and taste its forward movement.”

The article highlights various experiences from listening to jazz, to eating at Amy Ruth’s and to drinking at some of our unique establishments, such as 67 Orange and bier international. However, the most notable items in this article are not necessarily about places, but crafted words about Harlem. Allen states “perhaps no other area in New York so eagerly honors its history as Harlem.” She points to our famously named streets, such as Malcolm X and Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. Furthermore, Allen goes on to say “despite the interest in what came before, these days Harlem seems utterly future-oriented.”

We couldn’t agree more with The Boston Globe! And to Jessica Allen and her husband, come back and see us (Harlem) again now!

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Posted in art and culture, baking, Bars, business, Community, education, entertainment, fashion, Harlem, music, New York, New York City, NYC, real estate, restaurant row, restaurants, review, shopping

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New York Magazine acknowledges, Harlem is hot

Posted on July 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Feb 8, 2011 @ 10:30
By HarlemGal
What a difference a year makes?  Let’s reflect! April 11, 2010 Harlem is poorly ranked by Nate Silver for New York Magazine’s Neighborhood Issue. Does anyone remember this article? I certainly do. That article inspired me to write Top ten reason why Harlem is one of the best neighborhoods to live in. Let’s fast forward to today. Harlem and several local establishments are currently featured bright and big this week in a series of articles under the banner The Everything Guide to Harlem in NY Mag. It’s a creme-de-la-creme of articles featuring restaurants, markets, shops and bars in Harlem. My favorite article is The New New Harlem, which is sort of a “Whose In and Whose Out.” In my view, featuring several establishments in this type of format demonstrates the caliber and variety of places located in Harlem. Plus in order to pit two businesses against each other, there has to be plenty of selection. Clearly, Harlem has reached that point.

In closing, I will use soccer terms to describe this Harlem milestone. This article is another G-O-A-L for Harlem. Remember, we won Curbed Cup 2010 too. More importantly, it recognizes (again) what most of us have known all along, and now NY Mag too, Harlem is hot! Adelante!

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Posted in art and culture, baking, Bars, business, Community, entertainment, fashion, Harlem, history, New York, New York City, NYC, real estate, restaurant row, restaurants, shopping

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Harlem businesses come together to ‘Kiss and Tell’

Posted on July 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Feb 8, 2011 @ 7:30
By HarlemGal
Tonight, several Harlem businesses, such as Harlem Flo, The Winery, Make My Cake, Tonnie’s Minis, Aloft Hotel and Yatenga, are gathering together to “Kiss & Tell.” Well, not exactly that, but sort of! These Harlem businesses will be on hand Tuesday evening, starting at 6 p.m., to offer gift advice for Valentine’s Day. According to Harlem Flo’s Facebook site, the February 8th event will “feature unique and creative gifts items that you can purchase for your loved ones for V-day and there after.”

So if you need something for your cupid or yourself, head on over to Harlem Flo, second location at 2276 Frederick Douglass Blvd., at West 122nd Street.

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Posted in business, Community, Events, fashion, Free!, Harlem, New York, New York City, NYC, restaurants

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Aloft Hotel plans to offer Harlem-made or themed items in cul-de-sac type shop

Posted on July 5, 2011 | Leave a comment

Oct 13, 2010 @ 15:11


By HarlemGal
While The Aloft Hotel, located at 2296 Frederick Douglass Blvd., is receiving a ton of news coverage at the moment from the traditional media as the first hotel to open in Harlem since 1967 (darn that’s a long time ago), we want to share one detail we’ve heard about the hotel, which will open in Harlem October 21!

Apparently the Hotel will have some sort of cul-de-sac type gift shop where they plan to only sell Harlem-made or themed items. Harlem watercolorist Lynn Lieberman announced recently that her Harlem watercolor notecards will soon be available at The Aloft Hotel. Congrats to Lynn and we look forward to hearing who else strikes a product agreement with the Harlem hotel. And looking forward to checking out The Aloft!

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Posted in art and culture, business, Harlem

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Harlem is booming says NY Times supplement

Posted on July 5, 2011 | 1 comment

Oct 13, 2010 @ 13:45


By HarlemGal
Did anyone see the supplement in The New York Times last week featuring the new condo developments in Harlem? It mentions The Livmor, Ellington on the Park, 2280 Frederick Douglass, and The Apex inside The Aloft Hotel.
I know these supplements can be a bit cheesy and there is no editorial involvement. However, in this particular case I want to say the banner rings true for me as well as the quote from Arthur Barnes of the National Jazz Museum in Harlem. "I think it is better to define the current phase of development in Harlem as a reawakening." Nicely said Mr. Barnes!
I have only seen hardcopies of this supplement. No luck finding an electronic version. If anyone has an electronic copy, feel free to share!

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Posted in art and culture, business, Community, Harlem, New York, New York City, NYC, real estate

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Harlem rezoning plus Frederick Douglass Boulevard equals restaurant row

Posted on July 5, 2011 | 1 comment

Sep 24, 2010 @ 6:00

Frederick Douglass Blvd. street sign

By HarlemGal
Frederick Douglass Blvd is in the news again! Some entities are clearly getting it that FDB from 110th Street to 125th Street is the place to be! DNAinfo.com and The New York Times have recently filed stories about FDB and how it’s experiencing a boom in drinking and eating establishments. These articles even mention the buzz words “restaurant row.” Hmm…sounds familiar?

Frederick Douglass Blvd. (Circa 2008)

On September 23, DNAinfo wrote about the booming restaurant and bar business along FDB.  It was a good story. They introduced us to new information about what the Livmor is up to with their commercial space. However, I was wondering why they left out other notable places, such as Mojo, Billie’s Black Bar, Questan’s and Cafe Amrita? Amrita is at the base of 110th and FDB. Mojo and Billie’s are technically on 119th Street, they are less than a block away from FDB and Mojo and Questan’s opened for business in the last five years. I think all these venues deserved a mention in DNAinfo and The Times. Also, why not mention the proposed Cupcake Suite opening on FDB, Aloft Hotel or the rumored Busboys and Poets coming to Harlem? I guess there is so much action happening on or near FDB, it is a challenge for these news outlets to keep track!

Frederick Douglass Blvd. today

In addition, I noticed that both publications did not mention much about vacant commercial space. What are The Douglass and Gateway Condominiums planning for their commercial space? I would bet that they are aggressively trying to sell their space. I hear Society Cafe is interested in expanding their space right next door once Gateway finishes their construction. If that ends up being true, that would be great for them. They appear to have outgrown their current space.

Overall, it is awesome media coverage for Harlem once again. I love it! Out of the two articles, I will end with my favorite quote from Chris Pollok, co-owner of bier international. “My sense is that this [Frederick Douglass Blvd.] is going to be the Restaurant Row of Harlem.” I will drink to that, Chris! Strawberry beer, please!

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Posted in business, Community, Harlem, restaurant row, restaurants

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