Does trip advisor give rates by the hour?
I watch Law & Order a great deal, and so it was a privilege to stay at this hotel. From the desk clerk to the cramped stairwell, to the dimly lit corpse-magnet rooms - this hotel must have been in at least 30 episodes. But in person it is so much better. There is a strong smell of bleach as you enter the lobby, a smell normally associated with third world hospitals and first world pornographic book stores. And as I think of the cleaning staff, they did a wonderful job removing the 700lb corpse that must have recently occupied the decidedly lopsided bed. My five senses were razor sharp (as were the the actual razors carried by the "persons of interest" in the basement), and my sixth sense tingled as Jerry Orbach looked down with glee.
If you always wanted NYC in her seamy glory broadcast in smell-o-vision, here is your chance.
The rooms are small and relatively clean. No bugs that I saw (8th floor). Things are spare. 40 watt bulbs illuminate (to the tune of 40 watts) a bed, a nightstand, a desk, and a. No wait That's it. The bathroom is small and poorly outfitted (one dim bulb. Good luck with the makeup ladies. Good luck with the shaving guys. Good luck with both for those who go that way). It is past being cleanable, but it did the job. The hot-cold-hot-hot-cold cha-cha in the shower is always an early morning treat.
And be sure to ask for a room as high up as possible so you can come to know and love the one elevator. As one "person of interest" coming up from the basement said - "this lift it is...very tired." Then he actually did the muhahahaha laugh that is cheesy in movies, but a little scary in real life at close quarters.
Look, you can't catch herpes from a toilet seat, and you can't get hepatitis from walking barefoot on the carpet of a former shooting gallery. But if you could, this would be the place. It may be near the Park in 2012, but it is pure Times Square in 1983.