Thursday, April 12, 2007

For lovers of art and history, Museum Mile in New York may well be the ticket to paradise. New York's Upper East Side boasts nine museums, including the world-renowned Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim, the Frick Collection, the Cooper-Hewitt, and the Whitney. Just across Central Park, on New York's West Side, you'll find the perennial favorite of kids of all ages: the American Museum of Natural History (Central Park West at 79th Street), with the world's largest collection of vertebrae fossils including dinosaurs, ancient fishes and mammals. And in midtown, the acclaimed Museum of Modern Art (MOMA), the leading museum of modern art in the world (West 53rd Street, between Fifth and Sixth Avenues). 

New York's Museum Mile, on the Upper East Side, runs from 82nd Street to 104th Street, on Fifth Avenue. Along this famous street, you'll find: the Cooper- Hewitt National Design Museum (Smithsonian Institution), displaying a virtual cornucopia of decorative and design arts in Andrew Carnegie's Upper East Side mansion (Two East 91st Street, on 5th Avenue); the National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts, one of the oldest artist-run organizations in the United States and designated a New York City landmark), housing a sizeable collection of American Arts (1083 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street); the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (Frank Lloyd Wright architected this building, now designated the youngest New York City landmark), featuring works from artists of the 19th and 20th century, including Calder, Chagall, Giacometti, Kandinsky, Klee, Leger, Miro, Picasso, and Van Gogh (1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street); the Metropolitan Museum of Art, boasting nearly every category of art in every known medium from every part of the world (1000 Fifth Avenue, at 82nd Street); El Museo del Barrio, New York City's only Latino museum dedicated to Puerto Rican, Caribbean and Latin American art (1230 Fifth Avenue at 104th Street); The Museum of the City of New York, established in 1923 to collect, preserve, and present original materials related to the history of New York City (1220 Fifth Avenue at 103rd Street); the Jewish Museum, the largest Jewish museum in the Western hemisphere (1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street); the Goethe House German Cultural Center, which organizes and supports a wide range of international cultural exchange programs (1014 Fifth Avenue at 82nd Street); The Frick Collection, housed in the former residence of steel magnate Henry Clay Frick, and one of the preeminent small art museums in the USA (East 70th Street, at the corner of Fifth Avenue and 70th Street); and The Whitney Museum of American Art, featuring one of the most important collections of contemporary American art of the 20th century (945 Madison Avenue at 75th Street).

Heading to New York City to enjoy the museums? CRSHotels.com has the perfect New York hotel for you. Choose the tranquil Franklin Hotel or the luxurious Bentley Hotel on the fashionable Upper East Side, just blocks from Museum Mile, or stay just across beautiful Central Park, at the highly- rated Lucerne Hotel or the landmark Excelsior Hotel on New York's eclectic Upper West Side. Prefer Midtown? Choose the cosmopolitan Flatotel New York for its expansive rooms, the Kimberly Suites, a European boutique, the comfortable Belvedere Hotel, the art nouveau Ameritania Hotel, or the budget-friendly Grand Union. Enjoy the world-class New York Helmsley's panoramic city views, the Shoreham Hotel, close to the finest Fifth Avenue designer boutiques, the historic beaux-arts Mansfield Hotel, or the Marrakech Hotel on Broadway (check out CRSHotel.com's special deals below). In New York's Theater District, choose from the Wellington Hotel, the new Hotel Mela (see CRSHotel.com's special deals below), or the long- time theater hotel, the Portland Square (see CRSHotel.com's special deals below). In the quieter Murray Hill area, stay at the Clarion Hotel Park Avenue (check out CRSHotel.com's special deals below) or the quietly sophisticated Bedford Hotel, where the business district meets residential Murray Hill.