Stay here: Moxy East Village, New York review

What’s the deal?

New York’s East Village has gentrified since its ’70s punk heyday, but it’s still one of Manhattan’s coolest corners. That vibe extends to this new outpost of Marriott’s edgy, upstart Moxy brand, where the spirit of the underground lives on – it now just comes with a light dose of luxury and better drinks. Housed in a 13-storey glass-and-steel building opposite live music venue Webster Hall, Moxy East Village opened in September 2019 with an enviable postcode that gives you the perfect base for exploring the neighbourhood’s mix of dive bars, speakeasies, high-end boutiques and cheap and cheerful Ukrainian eateries.

Rooms

The rooms may not be enormous, but this is NYC we’re talking about. Instead minimal, modern spaces are smartly designed to optimise space and punctuated with neat design flourishes: graffiti-esque shower walls, Netflix-enabled TVs and you can choose from a curated list of vinyl to have sent to your room along with a turntable. There are also quad-bunk rooms perfect for sharing, and the Suite Jane (named for the Velvet Underground classic) event space for entertaining – complete with wet bar, dining table and an adjoining Queen room.

Facilities

Every one of New York’s Moxy outposts makes a design statement – the Moxy Chelsea , which opened earlier in 2019 in the flower district, made a splash with its strong botanical theme that shone through the ground-floor florist as well as floor-to-ceiling green walls in The Conservatory bar and the terrace of Italian restaurant Feroce. Moxy East Village leans into its countercultural roots with a rock’n’roll aesthetic throughout in found-object artworks fashioned into check-in desks in the lobby by local artist Michael Sanzone, cheeky slogans splashed across the walls and the subversive attitude hard-coded into the DNA of the brand.

Extra touch

We loved Moxy’s laidback hipster-haven Alphabet bar, with its wall of CDs, VHS and retro TVs, as well as books to borrow from neighbourhood bookshop Strand ; the broody, cavernous Cathédrale restaurant, complete with hanging ceiling sculptures; and the hotel’s adjoining subterranean nightclub, Little Sister. At Moxy East Village, you’re also just a short walk away from the restaurants, bars and sites of the Lower East Side and Alphabet City, and its easy to skip across the East river to hipster-haven Williamsburg.