A Holiday Bagatelle [parenthetically speaking]

A press release announcing development of a small [less than 100 room] boutique hotel is cause for about as much news play as was actually generated by the recent announcement for the Ace Hotel in East Liberty.  This is not a 1,000 room convention center behemoth generating hundreds of jobs.  But it is an indication of Pittsburgh’s evolution to [returning to] a more important economic and social center.

Ace Hotels are usually [too often] referred to in the media as “hip”.  OK, my personal caveat here: once something/someone/someplace is called “hip” [or “cool”] it’s not [or no longer is].  I picked up that viewpoint from something Miles Davis is reported to have said.  And in my worldview, Miles is the definition of cool.  Also beware: declaring oneself hip or cool immediately negates any prospect of it.  Hip can only be bestowed as well as unspoken; it can never be assumed or declared.

Underlining the City’s inherent integrity, Pittsburgh never has and I suspect never will self-define as hip or cool.  And it should always be so.  But I’ve digressed.

So Pittsburgh is getting another gift of [currently defined] hip.  Pittsburgh is already hip in so many authentic ways.  A singular example is the continuance of the Carnegie International, the world’s first and longest running biennial art celebration.  Rock on Steel City!  But layers of hip must be added and the Ace Hotel is another one.  After all, something had to replace the ol’ Holiday House supper club on Route 51 in Pleasant Hills which in its heyday regularly hosted members of the Rat Pack [who along with Las Vegas’ demolished Desert Inn also defined hip].

There’s not much to comment on here other than boo-yah for the ‘Burgh and to note Ace’s other locations: London, Los Angeles, New York, Palm Springs [more Rat Pack references], Panama City [Panama, not Florida and if you’ve not been there or noticed, PC is becoming the Dubai of Central America], and the self-referentially hip [meaning no longer hip] Portland, OR.  What I believe will yield needed buzz for Pittsburgh is the list of media outlets that consistently cover Ace hotels.  Go to the Ace Hotel Web site and view the link to “Press”.  These are the media outlets that Pittsburgh wants to add to its portfolio of “buzz” and “mentions” [or as they say in Washington, DC, “gets”].  Pittsburgh wants to get press in “Asiana” Airlines magazine, “Elle Décor” [both European and US editions], “L’Officiel Voyage” [France] and “Blonde” [Germany]; style and lifestyle books all.

Finally, speaking of building layers, there’s a segue here to building economic layers [of success].  It’s rarely reported but known in certain quarters that Ace hotels are favored by the technorati [such as Google employees].  Any doubt that Google’s growing presence in East Liberty influenced Ace’s decision to look for an opportunity in Pittsburgh, targeting that particular neighborhood?  There should be no doubt.  But that’s how success gets built, layer upon hard won layer.  Rock on.