A NYC Native Guest Blogs about The Edgewater in Seattle

My friend, and fellow New Yorker, Laura L.M. Hill recently launched a very cool website called New York Natives, which chronicles NYC life from a native perspective. Funny, insightful, and unexpected, the site has become a must read for those of us who are in love with the rollercoaster ride of life in this crazy city. Today we’re lucky enough to have Laura guestblogging about her recent trip to the Edgewater in Seattle. Take it away Laura!:

Combine Rock & Roll Royalty, George Jettson modernism, the rusticity of the Pacific Northwest and water water everywhere and what do you get? The Edgewater, Seattle.

Built for the 1962 World’s Fair and set on a pier, literally hanging over picturesque Elliot Bay, the hotel is an oasis of thoughtful design. With a beautifully sleek lounge in the lobby that abuts a chic yet warmly intimate dining room at the hotel’s restaurant 6/7, the aesthetic is a surprising juxtaposition of elements; elements that should not work together but do. Tartans and rough-hewn horn furniture alongside jellyfish video art, fish tanks and white 1950s leather banquettes mix and mingle to create a space that is both cozy and surprisingly cerebral. Throw in the wall of vintage photographs featuring guests such as Led Zeppelin, Ray Charles, Kiss and Diana Ross and you will not know where you have landed, but will certainly not care … happy to have arrived.

The rooms facing the bay have fireplaces that seem to hover above the water as if on a ship, but a ship with picture windows instead of portholes. The Edgewater is a Noble House Hotel, a boutique hotel firm with only 13 properties in the US. The Edgewater became instantly famous in 1964 when no Hotels in the area would host the Beatles on their first world tour. During their stay, the band famously fished from the window in their suite, something I too was very tempted to do, the photo of which has become legendary.

Certainly re-deigned since the 1960s, the hotel has managed to retain something of that era’s pop charm while integrating it with kitschy elements from the surrounding wild beauty of Washington State. The quirky design starts the minute you drive up to the property. Like a sign advertising a 1960s bowling alley or drive-in, the Edgewater’s double “E” neon can be seen from far and wide across the city of Seattle. And just like that sign, the hotel itself lights up the night sky like an old school juke box.

The lobby, with breathtaking views of Elliot Bay has a wonderful array of horn furniture from the large and looming antler chandelier to chairs constructed of large horn and bone.

The lobby and adjoining halls also host a curious collection of metal pillars encased in tree bark with mechanically hinged branches lending to the cyborg meets mountain lodge aesthetic.

To continue the quirky homage to the natural beauty of the surrounding state, the guest bathrooms in the lobby are striking in their use of natural images with clean metal and stone fixtures and birch wallpaper.

I couldn’t stop thinking about the amazing birch wallpaper until I stepped into the elevator and met the forest once again, but this time created out of tiny lights with a jellyfish video installation playing, amidst the trees.

The rooms facing the bay have fireplaces that seem to hover above the water as if on a ship, but a ship with picture windows instead of portholes.

The rooms are cozy, but what really stands out is the fireplace each room has nestled into a corner that overlooks the water. It is indescribably lovely to watch the sun set on the bay with the fire on, and in my case, naughty as I was, I also was awake one morning to watch the sun rise and my breath was completely taken away.