My spouse and I stopped at The Standard High Line for drinks
on a Saturday evening in late November 2014. The Standard High Line is located (surprise!)
at the base of the High Line elevated walkway in the Meatpacking/Chelsea
neighborhood of Manhattan. The property is located on Washington Avenue, which
runs parallel to (just one block south of) West 13th Street between
10th and 9th Avenues. (Another Standard Hotel is
located in the East Village.) When we arrived at the hotel, we were greeted by
a small ice-skating rink that the Standard set up on the street level of the
property (in the summer it holds outdoor seating). Adjacent to the skating area
is an outdoor bar / après-skate area called Kafeeklatsch (with heaters); the indoor
portion of the bar is located inside the hotel and off the lobby. The Standard
property features additional dining venues: a German Biergarten, the Standard
Plaza, and The Standard Grill, besides two additional drinking venues on the 18th
floor (which is where we were headed). When we stepped off the elevator on the
18th floor, we waited in line with other guests to check in. At the
podium, the hostess asked us whether we wanted to visit the regular bar or the
rooftop bar. She also checked our clothing to make sure that we were not
wearing any athletic wear, before she directed us to check our coats. We were
dressed in business casual attire, but we still passed her test. Most other
guests were dressed fancily for a night out on the town; most guests appeared
to be tourists and not locals. We chose to visit Le Bain Discotheque because it
also had a rooftop terrace (on the 19th floor). Le Bain is more casual
than the Top of the Standard venue. Le Bain is dark, with minimalist décor
except for 20+ rotating mirror balls hanging from the ceiling. The rooftop area
must shine in the summertime, when the hotel lays down faux green carpeting,
rolls out the mod furniture, opens and outdoor creperie and an indoor plunge
pool. (Unfortunately, we visited in the late fall when the area functioned
primarily as a smoking deck.) The views both uptown and downtown along the West
Side Highway are tremendous, as is the view across the Hudson River to Hoboken
and Jersey City. We shared two rounds of drinks, which decently priced by
Manhattan standards. One fruity drink and one beer cost approximately $18. The bartender
served the mixed drink in a real glass with better-than-average ice, but he
poured the beer from its bottle into a plastic cup, which seemed a bit tacky. Why
the difference in serve ware? We peeked into the Top of the Standard before we
left, and it was tasteful, classy, and glitzy; a contrasting atmosphere to Le
Bain. The crowd at Le Bain was more youthful than we are, yet we can see why Le
Bain is popular with the younger crowd, as well as why it is popular for any
guest in the warmer weather. However, in retrospect, the Top of the Standard
would have been more our style.
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