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Friday, May 14, 2010

shelter Urban Escape: Modern Love

Posted by Jennifer Hernandez on Fri, May 14, 2010 at 5:29 PM

I’ve never been one to kiss and tell. And after nearly 25 years of marriage, I’m not about to start. But I will tell you this: Last Friday I kidnapped my husband and we spent the night at The Modern Hotel.

It’s hard not to feel hip stepping into the stylish lobby and lounge, where the modern decor is comprised of sexy, understated lines and subtle layers of texture and pattern. Throughout both spaces, blue-gray carpet and dark woods are accented by splashes of yellow upholstery.

Ascending the covered, outdoor stairway to our second-story love nest, I noticed that the very happening cocktail hour inside the lounge had spilled out into the courtyard, which is punctuated by a flaming gas fire pit and a colorful bed of whimsical metal sculpture flowers.

Our retreat for two was outfitted with an impossibly comfortable king-size platform bed, a walk-in rainshower lined in blue and brown mosaic tile, and a wall-mounted flat screen with HDTV.

Room service brought up one Stella Artois, a vegetable panini and a dish of spiced nuts toasted in-house. Get this: no room service fee.

The next morning, we raided the free continental breakfast downstairs on the lounge's bar top. Within minutes we were back in our white-sheet cocoon nibbling on toasted, locally made Blue Sky bagels, Yoplait yogurt and crunchy granola, and swooning over cold, freshly squeezed OJ.

After being unplugged from the world for 17 hours, I couldn't help but tell how I kidnapped my husband for an impromptu overnighter at the stylish Modern Hotel.

Tags: Modern Hotel, Boise, urban escape

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Wednesday, July 1, 2009

shelter The Idaho Slumlord

Posted by Rachael Daigle on Wed, Jul 1, 2009 at 8:57 AM

I just got around to reading this June 12 piece in Newsweek about an out-of-state land lord who purchased a rental property in Pocatello a few years ago. Like many out-of-state "investors" who were snatching up cheap property in Idaho during the housing boom, this East Coast-based Newsweek reporter bought his Pocatello property sight unseen.

When he finally got around to seeing it, here's what he had to say about his property and those who paid his mortgage:

When you walk into the back apartment of the tan duplex on the west side of Pocatello, Idaho, the first thing that hits you is the smell: an acrid mixture of stale cigarettes, pet odors and filthy carpet infused with God-knows-what. Two strips of flypaper hang from the ceiling, dotted with prey. In the kitchen is an ancient gas-fired heater that, despite frigid Idaho winters, hasn't worked in over a year. The tenants, Will and Rose, seem unbothered by their home's shabby condition. Will, 22, stands in the living room, playing songs on a huge stereo, while Rose, 21, tends to their 1-year-old son. Will does have one complaint, however. The couple, unemployed and living on government disability checks, has fallen behind on their $365 monthly rent. Their landlord, Will says, is being a little hard-nosed about it. As a NEWSWEEK reporter I've heard no shortage of sad housing tales in the past few years; ordinarily I nod sympathetically and take notes. But my role here is more complicated. Though I've just met Will and Rose, and this is my first visit to their apartment, the landlord to whom they owe the back rent is me.

Read the full story here.

Pocatello's reaction to the story, which doesn't shed the most flattering light on the eastern Idaho city, is mixed. Writer Jimmy Hancock at the Idaho State Journal had this to say:
" While much of the story is a bit self-depricating, with McGinn admitting he has netted a loss on the property and probably made a really bad investment, it also has some teeth toward the Gate City.
McGinn insinuates in his story that Pocatello is somehow a bastion of low income people, writing, 'today, there’s enough poverty in Pocatello that local food banks are often empty due to high demand.'"

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Tuesday, May 26, 2009

shelter / media What's up with NYT love fest for BOI?

Posted by Nathaniel Hoffman on Tue, May 26, 2009 at 3:09 PM

The New York Times is dropping in on Boise again, this time listing a typical North End cottage in its Great Homes and Destinations section.

What? Is the Gray Lady stepping on our Home Sweet Home turf? First we're dealing with smog, then we're a media lab for Barack Obama's federal stimulus package and now, we're the freshest sheen on mid-$200,000 housing prices in the entire nation.

Under the headline "What You Get For ... $230,000," part of the Times' What You Get For ... series, the three-bedroom, two-bath North End house is matched up with a condo in downtown Nashville and a big, old house in an older Pittsburgh 'hood.

Best of all, the pictures for the story—like in all of the recent NYT stories about BOI—is shot by BW's own Paul Hosefros. Actually, we thought we stole him after he retired from the New York Times, but he seems to be quite busy with his New York Times sinecure. Go Paul.

The house is at 20th and Heron, 1418 N. 20th to be exact. And you can't miss it: a Ron Paul sign is still up (don't worry, it's a rental and the dude is moving out soon). Jennifur Newhouse, the Keller Williams Realty agent who is selling the house, said the price is negotiable and may drop soon.

Newhouse told CobWeb that NYT reporter Mike Powell called her quite randomly. Powell has never been out West, save a little trip to Cali. Newhouse had some advice for him after a 45-minute chat about Boise: "You need to get out of New York."

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