Aces Wild

The New York Times has called it “the country’s most original hotel” and at the pulse of the Ace Hotel brand stands Alex Calderwood, one of the boutique’s owners. With four unique properties throughout the USA, Calderwood’s vision was distinctively different (and not always calculated) to provide a different look, tone, feel, and voice for the hipper-than-hip spots. Here, Calderwood talks about the inspiration behind his Seattle, Portland, Palm Springs, and New York gathering spots.

Seattle

“With Seattle, there was a naivety that served us well because we had never done a hotel so we did it our way, not knowing the traditional way to do it. We had very little money to work with so we had to be resourceful – but often that leads to interesting places.”