Eight-story high, freeway-style biillboards, like the one the Hotel Gansevoort has erected on Hudson Street, do not belong in our neighborhood. In fact, billboards of this size and nature destroy the very qualities that make the West Village and the Meat Packing District so unique and desirable. The Hotel Gansevoort greatly benefits from the character and appeal of our neighborhood. Now it is resolutely destroying it.

[A]pproximately 10 in the Meatpacking District... no longer take reservations from the Hotel Gansevoort. Keith McNally, owner of the restaurant Pastis, started the boycott in response to the hotel's recently erected billboard frame, which stretches eight stories high on Hudson St. and will hold ads measuring 1,200 and 670 square feet.

The ban has been joined by neighborhood mainstay and all-around genius Florent Morellet, and it doesn't seem like there'll be peace any time soon. "This is a multi-front war," said the strangely sexy Andrew Berman, executive director of the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation "We're not letting up on any front."

What with yesterday's Post puffer for McNally, it seems like the boycott brigade has the local media well in hand. Your move, Michael Achenbaum.

Billboard food fight in Market gets hot [Villager]
Rush hours [NYP]
Earlier: McNally v. Gansevoort: Salt I Talks Planned

Two interesting quotes from the inside:

• "I think you may benefit if you don't have any Gansevoort patrons"—the owner of The Park and The Waverly Inn [that'd be either Eric Goode and Sean MacPherson], suggesting that a boycott will be GOOD for their businesses. McNally confirmed that the boycott has had zero effect on business so far, although people have mentioned it when they come in the restaurant.
  
• "You're fucking with my livelihood, are you sure you want to do this? I will take it to the grave"—Gansevoort owner William Achenbaum, during a heated, expletive-filled phone call shortly after news of the conflict broke, according to the owner of 5 Ninth [presumably Joel Michel]. Apparently during the call he claimed to have done more for the community than anyone. That got some incredulous laughter from the group.

  There will be further meetings. This is far from over.

Earlier: Hotel Gansevoort's Billboard Destroying Natural Beauty of Meatpacking District
Keith McNally: At War With The Gansevoort Hotel

Be sure to ask for a room facing New Jersey. Otherwise your view of the Village will be blocked by the giant 8-story billboard they have erected.

If you are planning a stay at the Gansevoort, be forewarned: the hotel has erected an 8-story (yes, eight stories, the height of the entire hotel) double billboard perpendicular to the building which is what every guest facing east (that's half the guests) will see out of their windows, instead of the beautiful city. (Those facing west get to see New Jersey. Enjoy.) It is giant, it is ugly, and you will think you are in TImes Square. Oh, and you also get to see it (and have the view blocked) from both the rooftop bar and the outdoor bar on the street level. IT'S THAT BIG. See photo.

Their "hip" is "hype" They tout the cool meatpacking area while they put up two HUGE illuminated bill boards and turn the nabe into Times Square..You'll see these LOVELY BILL BOARDS outside your hotel room windows. New York has plenty of other hotel choices. The neighborhood is enraged about the ARROGANCE OF THE GANSEVOORT HOTEL.

If you're hip, you won't go there.

Hotel Gansevoort [Trip Advisor]
Earlier: Keith McNally: At War With The Gansevoort Hotel

The Gansevoort put up a fugly billboard that McNally and the some of the meatheat district business owners are not taking kindly to. Haven't seen it for myself, but apparently it's awful, and if you think the Jersey trash is bad there now [We do! -Ed.], wait until you can see that fucker across the Hudson, not to mention the abominations that could go up in its wake. So McNally is having his reservationists say the following when the Gansevoort concierges - all totally sycophantic asshats, by the way - call Pastis: "I'm sorry, but we've been instructed not to take reservations from your hotel in protest against the billboard on Hudson Street."

[Photo: Eat This New York]

Update: Via Curbed, an image of the billboard in question:

We digress. Point is, Barry Diller's InterActive Corp. is having its holiday party on the roof tonight. (We're assured by those in the know that Barry will, in fact, make at least a cursory appearance. Plus there's always Michael Jackson to shmooze with in hopes he'll toss you a buyout offer.) Your invite is straight ahead.

Hotel Gansevoort Rooftop Party Pics [WhatISee]
Principal Hells: Land of Rooftop Pools [Gawker]
The Gansevoort Installs Some Sort of Silencer [HotelChatter]

The pool at the Gansevoort is the nicer of the two; located on the 26th floor, it's 45 feet long (larger than Soho House's) and boasts a damn nice view. It's expectedly littered with eurotrash, however, and those willing to get their hair wet will have to endure music being pumped underwater, a popular gimmick from 2003. The scene is calculatedly chill — it's a hotel pool, first and foremost, before a party venue, though the Ibiza Chill-Out Mix pumping in the background might suggest otherwise. An additional drawback: anyone can stay at a hotel, and that means the Gansevoort's emaciated sunbathers may find themselves mingling with a Minnesotan family that booked their room on Expedia.com.

And then there's Soho House, the pool made famous by those damn Sex and the City hags. Open only to members and their guests and located on the seventh floor, the view is nice enough - but the pool is 32x15', and that makes for a very cramped swimming experience. That is, if you'd dare to go swimming: get there in the morning, and you'll find at least 8 silver-spooned babes splashing around, plus a handful of water toys (this lovely image of the anatomically correct, somewhat-destroyed doll was taken there on a Sunday). On weekends, kiddies have to leave by 1 PM, at which point the place becomes quiet and pleasant for an hour until the masses appear, transforming the venue into a scantily clad networking bonanza. And good luck finding someplace to sit - the area is teeny-tiny, fluffy chaises and white mattresses all crammed together in hopes of fitting as many people as possible. If you don't get a spot, you can sit in an uncomfortable deck chair or, should you be so foolish as to arrive after 2 PM, resign yourself to an afternoon spent sprawled on the ground, enjoying $5 plates of beans and rice from the special Amstel Light BBQ Menu. Tasty and ghetto chic!