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SEE SIDE BAR : Upscale transients
It's a fact of life: Tony winners shouldn't be expected to clean their own bathtubs. Or do their own laundry or cook their own meals or make their own beds.
Broadway baby Elaine Stritch firmly espouses that principle. "I work very hard in my profession, and I don't want to waste my energies on scrubbing the bathroom," the stage vet said.
Luckily, she doesn't have to. As part of an elite group of New Yorkers with a taste for fine living and a six- or seven-figure income to satisfy it, the place she calls home, suite home is a luxury hotel, specifically, The Carlyle on East 76th Street.
Not only is there a staff of a hundred-plus on hand to cater to all her needs - from putting clean towels in the bathroom to sending fresh-cut flowers to her room each day - but there's the added bonus of living in cosmopolitan swank - from the finished hardwood floors, area rugs and classic Old World-style furniture in the rooms to the Art Deco lobby that still has the original 1930s marble floors and mahogany moldings.
"It's a relaxed elegance without being too upper-crusty," Stritch said. "They're not trying too hard. That's the greatest sign of talent in any profession."
And over the next year, it's likely a growing number of people will be spending check-out time - as in, checking out real estate listings - at New York City hotels.
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