Off Broadway hotel a hit with me!

When I travel from upstate NY to the City for a few days, I like to take the train down. It really beats driving into Manhattan with a stick.

What I like even better is a good deal on a hotel that doesn't skeeve me out.

I have stayed for many years at the Carlton Arms on the corner of E. 25th and 3rd Avenue. It's a funky little place with each room and bath decorated by local artists in a variety of motifs, some tasteful, some not so much. It's really nothing to write home to mother, or to anyone else for that matter, but I like it. I like the resident cat, I like to buy some Chinese food and sit out on the fire escape to eat it, watching the people pass by on 3rd Avenue. I like to walk over to Madison Park, the site of the original Madison Square Garden, and get something to eat at the little food hut there. But some time between visits, a pub opened up across the street on the opposite side of 3rd Avenue, and I spent a restless night listening to a lot of unwelcomed noise.

Too, there is no elevator at the Carlton Arms, so it's a schlep up a steep flight of stairs. That's getting a little old as I get a little older.

Traveling with a companion who is not a risk taker and who likes some of the finer things in life, like shopping at Tiffany's, whether she can afford anything or not, during my last visit to the City, I knew I had to find some better digs for us, without breaking my bank.

I found the Hotel St. James on W. 45th St., just a block and a half from the Times Square TKTS booth (7th Av). Now I call that, location.

The hotel, in business since 1972, has recently been spruced up, and is a twelve story, pre-war "tower." But some of the old touches remain like the ornate iron stair cases, and the old fireplace in my room on the 4th floor. I got a free WIFI connection, and the usual hotel amenities: wake up call, cable TV, direct dial phone in my room (none of which the Carlton Arms offers, by the way), clean, comfortable beds, windows that open.

They could get rid of a few touches, like the freight elevator that they use for the second lift to the upper floors. Maybe that's next on the list. Too, I noticed there was no AC in the window that opened. In March, that's not a problem, but in August, it could be.

Next door was a great Dunhill deli for breakfast (try their corned beef hash) or lunch, and a couple of Irish pubs and restaurants completed our block.

The room, with two double beds and a newly refurbished bath, ran about $160 per night. I really couldn't complain, because that was about half of what we paid the last time I was in New York, when we stayed across the way at the Crowne Plaza.

If you're looking for a good location, cleanliness and comfort, a friendly staff who asks you to leave your key with them as you go out and pick it up as you come in (kind of an old-fashioned touch), try the Hotel St. James.