Hotel Elysée and The MoMA
Published: July 6th, 2018Midtown Manhattan offers so many great gems! For example, you have the Hotel Elysee & the MoMA! Our guests have always enjoyed the hotel’s prime location in midtown Manhattan. To the east, Park, Lexington, 3rd and 2nd Avenues offer many great restaurants and bars. Venture a little further east, and you can discover some beautiful brownstone homes off of 1st Avenue. To the west, there is the shopping on 5th Avenue, the Museum of Modern Art, Rockefeller Center, Times Square, and the historic NYC neighborhood known as Hell’s Kitchen. About 10 blocks downtown and you will be around Grand Central Station. Heading uptown, you will be among Central Park and Museum Mile.
Although we recommend “doing it all”, visitors of NYC will come to realize that, that is a tall order! There are so many great attractions that Manhattan has to offer. The Hotel Elysée has created a partnership with the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). Our guests love this package. It gives a great tourist starting point, all at a great value!
Live Music and a Great Time can be found at MoMA’s PS1 (photo cred: moma.org)
Museum of Modern Art & The Hotel Elysée Package:
Throughout the year, guests at the Elysée can book the MoMA Package with a prepaid reservation. Depending on the time of year, there is a 2-4 night minimum to receive this offer. Keep in mind though, that guests receive 2 VIP tickets to the museum. Skip the lines! If your travel itinerary saves room for a trip to Queens, you are also granted access into MoMA’s PS1. Catch live musical performances as well as art installations.
Guests heading to the MoMA
The Museum of Modern Art and the Elysée have been great partners for several reasons. For one, the museum’s proximity to the hotel makes us a perfect pair. Both located on 54th street, the museum is just a 5 minute walk from the front door of the hotel. We have been midtown neighbors for almost 80 years. The Elysée opened its doors in 1936 and the Museum of Modern Art took up occupancy in the building it is now in 1939. The 2 buildings allow New Yorkers and tourists to delve into a chapter of NYC’s history where times were simpler, but the city was on the rise.
Mr. Mayer Quain was the Hotel Elysée’s original owner and founder. He had a vision of coupling the hotel and its neighboring piano bar, the Monkey Bar, into a swanky hangout for show business and sport and entertainment personalities. Although the Museum of Modern Art was not inspired by being a hangout for luminaries, the devotion to the arts makes its origin similar to the Hotel Elysée.
History of MoMA:
“In the late 1920s, three progressive and influential patrons of the arts, Miss Lillie P. Bliss, Mrs. Cornelius J. Sullivan, and Mrs. John D. Rockefeller, Jr., perceived a need to challenge the conservative policies of traditional museums and to establish an institution devoted exclusively to modern art.” (https://www.moma.org/about/who-we-are/moma-history).
One of the many beautiful paintings on display at the MoMA
One may relate the opening of the Museum of Modern Art to the Renaissance in Europe. Some of the “big wig” New York names attached their resources and fame to the project, all with the intention of helping people to visualize and understand the arts of the time. Manhattan was not always the most desirable of the Burroughs to live in, but the introduction of art and tourism certainly paved the way for the island’s status today.
Today, the Museum of Modern Art is known worldwide. Tourists, local art students, and New Yorkers on “stay-cation” alike come to midtown Manhattan to marvel at and find inspiration in the exhibits at the museum. Your trip itineraries may already be chock full of New York’s many sites and attractions, but if you can, we surely hope you will take advantage of going to the MoMA. Check out the MoMA package and other special offers here: Elysée Special Offers. For upcoming exhibits and events at both MoMA locations, you can visit their site here: Exhibits and Events at MoMA. If you have any questions or would like any assistance with making reservations, our 24 hour email is Elysee.FD@gmail.com.
We hope to see you in NYC soon!
Author: Joseph Bode