The hip Hudson Hotel on the Upper West Side is close to Central Park, the bright lights of Broadway, Lincoln Center, glitzy restaurants and all other things Manhattan. Guests also can stroll to nearby museums or drop wads of money shopping along Fifth Avenue.

But more than just location, this hotel affords décor aficionados what the New York Times called "an aesthetic of strangeness." Phillipe Starck's chartreuse- lit escalators sweep guests to a 40-foot high, ivy- covered lobby with ceiling fresco painted by the famed Francesco Clemente. What's more, the lobby's focal point is Private Park's 45-foot trees, ivy-covered walls and modern garden furniture, a microcosm of Central Park. Not to be outdone, the imaginative designs spill into the hotel's Hudson Cafeteria, a trendy spot for comfort-food-with-a-twist dining with an open kitchen and communal wood tables and benches. Where else could out-of-towners find a Manhattan restaurant inspired by an Ivy League dining hall and a 1940s automat that specializes in everything from macaroni and cheese to phad thai? In addition, the insanely popular Hudson Bar combines a glass floor lit from beneath with space-age furniture in what one reviewer called a cross between Louis XV and "2001: A Space Odyssey." The Manhattan hotel also offers refreshment lounges on all floors and a fully-stocked fitness facility with trainers.

Smallish guests rooms don't scrimp on comfort or, like the overall hotel, design. Offering gorgeous views of the Private Park or Hudson River, they are decorated with imported African-mahogany walls, flowing white curtains, sleek steel tables, white Egyptian cotton sheets, brass-riveted furniture and lamps with Clemente's allegorical images.

For guests looking for something truly funky in an oh-so- Manhattan location, then the Hudson Hotel, even with its "Vertigo" escalators, will fit the bill..