Yesterday afternoon the Ace Hotel finally welcomed its first guest, officially marking the landmark building's switch from the single-room-occupancy Hotel Breslin to a more upscale and boutiquey identity. Of course, the big subplot of the Ace is the lingering reminders of its flophouse past?and we're not talking about the decision to name the restaurant The Breslin. As you may have heard, a handful of rent-stabilized holdovers from the Breslin days still call the Ace home. Though the hotel has a spiffy new entrance and lobby on West 29th Street, these oldtimers are still using the small portal at 1106 Broadway, which?perhaps so as not to scare away confused Ace guests?still has Breslin signage. We'd love to do a comparison of the two lobbies, but the Curbed operative who snagged the above shots was rather aggressively denied entry. C'mon, Ace, the windows outside say you're the "friendly hotel!"
· Ace Hotel [Official Site]
· Ace Hotel coverage [Curbed]
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