Ace Hotel

Ace Hotel is a chain of hotels originally founded in Seattle, Washington. It operates hotels in Seattle, Portland, New York and Palm Springs. Ace has been called “the country’s most original” hotel by the New York Times, and a “mega-chain waiting to happen” by Wallpaper (magazine). 
==History==
The first Ace Hotel opened in 1999. Friends Alex Calderwood, Wade Weigel, and Doug Herrick purchased and transformed a Seattle halfway house into an affordable hotel that would appeal to the creative class. Calderwood and Weigel had previously founded Rudy's, a barbershop concept they started in Seattle that eventually expanded to more than a dozen West Coast locations, and a marketing and advertising company known as "Neverstop".
In 2007, Jack Barron joined the team, and a second hotel was opened in Portland, followed by properties in Palm Springs in 2009 & New York in 2010.
==Operations==
===Properties===
 
According to Calderwood, the style and furnishing of each Ace property is designed to reflect its location, 
with an eye towards re-imagining properties that are “challenged.” Torline, Monica. "Aces high on pop culture", 
The Desert Sun, Palm Springs, 1 October 2009.
*Ace Hotel Seattle is a former Salvation Army halfway house located in the Belltown neighborhood. 
*Ace Hotel & Swim Club in Palm Springs, CA is a converted Howard Johnson motel, and King's Highway, the hotel's on-site diner, is a converted Denny's. There are two bars, the Amigo Room, and poolside, the Short Bus. The hotel was originally a Westward Ho prior to being a Howard Johnson. The remodel was a collaboration with L.A.-based design firm, Commune.
*Ace Hotel Portland occupies the former Clyde Hotel in downtown Portland. In its former incarnation, the hotel's lobby served as the setting for a scene from the film Drugstore Cowboy. The property is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
*Ace Hotel New York worked with Roman and Williams to redesign the former Hotel Breslin, a 1904 building in Midtown Manhattan. This location features a Stumptown Coffee and Chef April Bloomfield's Michelin-starred The Breslin restaurant.
===Growth===
Calderwood has stated his goal is to open a new Ace Hotel every "one to two years."
==In popular culture==
The 2011 episode "Blunderbuss" of the sketch comedy series Portlandia had a sketch set at the "Deuce Hotel", where the obnoxiously hip staff hand out complimentary turntables and typewriters to all guests;"Blunderbuss" review, The Onion AV Club, February 18, 2011 it was a parody specifically of the Portland Ace Hotel.Portlandia: Over | Flyer Wars | Deuce Hotel, Anne Adams, Portland Monthly Culturephile blog, March 1, 2011
==References==
==External links==
* Ace Hotel website
* Ace Hotel blog
Category:Hotels established in 1999
Category:Hotel chains
Category:Companies based in Portland, Oregon
Category:Hotels in Washington (state)
Category:Hotels in Portland, Oregon
Category:Privately held companies based in Oregon