Downtown in NYC’s West Village neighborhood sits a 7,000 SF structure beside the West Side Highway. It is the last hourly rate hotel ($95 for two hours and $155 for six hours in case you are in the area) in Manhattan’s meatpacking district—a relic with a rich history of sordid behavior.
The hotel is billed as the “most sexiest” in the city (sophomoric and clunky to say nothing of the grammar) providing a sanctuary for bouts of afternoon passion, clandestine affairs and lunchtime quickies. All activities that remain elusive to this humble author suggesting I may have picked the wrong profession. This kinky little spot was once known as the Strand Hotel, a boardinghouse for sailors. Reporters even once rented rooms to file reports about survivors of the Titanic when they arrived at Pier 54. In the 1960s, it was known as the Hide-a-Way Motel (who names these things), which later shared space with a gay nightclub, the Anvil (where drag performances by the likes of Ruby Rims, Candy Stevens and The Famous Yuba entertained patrons).
The Liberty is designed with a narrow purpose as evidenced by room designs and certain unique fixtures. Certain rooms are bathed in red light, filled with erotic wall art, have hot tubs and ceiling mirrors presumably reflecting back at you all of your physical shortcomings and life’s missteps. You can even find “The Liberator” at the Liberty Inn, a black stump-like apparatus used for lovers to contort themselves into imaginative and physically challenging positions.
The owner, Edward Raboy, who uses the alias Robert Boyd—and, why not, when in this line of business—is the son of the owner of the Hide-a-Way (it’s true apples stay close to the tree when they fall). Raboy acknowledges the West Village has changed dramatically from its wilder days where ample drugs and meatpacking of all kinds was considered groovy. In his view, the Liberty Inn no longer fits within the current context of the gentrified West Village (or does it) and, as Raboy explains “it’s been a fabulous run” but its time for him to run along and let the next chapter of the storied hotel be told.
Vadukul, Alex. “For Sale: The ‘sexiest’ Hourly Rate Hotel in Manhattan.” The New York Times, 10 Aug. 2022, www.nytimes.com/2022/08/10/style/hourly-rate-hotel-manhattan.html.Leave a Comment