We’ve always been amused by the marketing efforts of the Gowanus hotels that have opened so far. The Holiday Inn Express on Union Street says it’s in Park Slope rather than Gowanus. The Comfort Inn on Butler Street markets its proximity to tourist attractions to which it is far from proximate. Hotel Le Bleu on Fourth Avenue casts itself as a futuristic, luxe boutique hotel that rises above the taxi depot and Staples which it adjoins. But will the booming Gowanus Hotel District, which has been chronicled in detail by Brownstoner, actually scare the crap out of the average tourist? What do the Third Avenue and Fourth Avenue corridors look like to someone from another town or country? What will happen if they wander down deserted Nevins Street around Midnight? There’s an email thread on the Park Slope Parents list that started with someone asking local hotel and B&B recommendations for visiting guests that touches on the point, concluding that the hotels are “scary.” In any case, here it is:
I had actually checked out a number of local hotels…but the Comfort Inn on Bergen near Third Avenue was too scarily located for visitors from abroad, ditto the Holiday Inn Express (though at least it’s close to 4th Avenue and a short walk from the Union Ave. subway). And while the rooms at Hotel le Bleu were cool, the place seemed empty and desolate, and apparently the bar/restaurant still isn’t open.
Le Bleu is “empty and desolate”? Nooooooo! We thought the place was packed.
13 responses so far ↓
1 rick // Aug 1, 2008 at 11:16 am
THE AREA WAS ALWAYS CALLED SOUTH BROOKLYN, NOW YOU NEWCOMERS/ HIPSTERS RENAMED IT GOWANUS. I HAVE WALKED AROUND HERE FOR 45 YRS AND HAVE NEVER HAD A PROBLEM. I GUESS YOU NEWBIES NEVER SAW SOUTH BROOKLYN TILL YOU MOVED IN YOUR $2800 APTS. IF YOU DON’T LIKE IT YOU CAN ALWAYS GO BACK TO IDAHO.
2 Rob // Aug 1, 2008 at 11:34 am
Bitter much? The area is sketchy to anyone who’s visiting. Drug deals are going on not too far away in even nicer blocks like Warren st. where they had to install security cameras to curb it. People are firing guns into the Gowanus Canal at night. Call me crazy but anyone who’s spending hundreds of dollars to stay in a hotel probably wouldn’t like audible gunfire near their hotel and strangers approching them late at night in a deserted warehouse area looking for money.
3 Bob // Aug 1, 2008 at 11:51 am
I like Rick’s post -He’s on the money. But why the hell is he on Gowanuslunge.com. Doesn’t really seem like a destination for 60 year old yuppie haters.
4 jp // Aug 1, 2008 at 2:15 pm
Hey, Rick. How are things? I’m good.
Ok. Talk to you later.
5 Mike // Aug 1, 2008 at 3:15 pm
Ricky baby, less time wandering, more time mastering the intricacies of the caps lock.
Say, only $2,800 per month? Tell me more!
Just wanna give a shout out to my boys back in Boise. Much love to the ID!
6 Brenda from Flatbush // Aug 1, 2008 at 5:38 pm
We love passing the Union St. Holiday Inn and seeing the faces of the visitors as they emerge, blinking, into the grim daylight…the ‘RIP Raul’ mural…the flat-fix shop. We can imagine them saying, “Biff–they said this was in Park Slope!” My husband, who works in museum management, suggested the technique of using ‘human arrows’–people holding signs, which could point towards Fifth Avenue and announce, “JUST ONE BLOCK TO HIP AND TRENDY PARK SLOPE!” As for the Bleu, well–who doesn’t love easy access to taxis and dialysis?
7 Frank // Aug 2, 2008 at 9:10 pm
Yea go back to Levinson,
TX where you came from!!
8 wiseguy // Aug 3, 2008 at 2:12 am
These hotels are laughing all the way to the bank each month despite less than ideal locations. A $6.00 cab ride can take them to Smith Street or 5th Ave to enjoy the same places you do.
Oh yeah tell the peeps hangin on the stoops next to the Holiday Inn you dont like them living there because it lowers your property values and look for your car with Ohio or Idaho plates on milk crates. Theres a dozen hotels in Manhattan whos blocks are way worse the Union St or 4th Ave.
9 Frank // Aug 3, 2008 at 2:49 am
Yea go back to your Umapine, Oregon!
Damp people from Oregon! Ruining Brooklyn!!
10 Frank // Aug 3, 2008 at 2:51 am
And you people from Thorne Bay, Alaska
always hanging out at your Alaskan bars on 5th ave! Boo! Go Home!
11 Frank // Aug 3, 2008 at 3:03 am
And all you 1700 New World Immigrants! Boo stop arriving by the thousands crying when you see the statue of liberty and establishing towns and villages in which your descendants continue to live to this day! Brooklyn belongs to the true natives!
12 rick // Aug 3, 2008 at 7:34 am
BOB I’M NOT A HATER OF ANYONE . JUST CALLING IT LIKE IT IS.
13 Grunt // Aug 4, 2008 at 11:26 pm
“Brooklyn belongs to the true natives!”
We, the buffalo and mastadons of what will someday be “north america,” wish that you bastards would take your spears and clovis points and go back to where you came from. Just walk right back over the bering sea. It’s not safe around here any more!