New York City: Le Bain at The Standard (November 2014)

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 13^th Street between 10^th and 9^th 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 18^th floor (which is where we were headed). When we stepped off the elevator on the 18^th 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 19^th 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.