New Business Traveler: For Hotelier Ari S. Heckman, Baltimore Is a Playground

08.11.2023 - 00:13 / cntraveler.com

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Ari Heckman loves a good list. The co-founder and CEO of Ash, the New York City-based hotelier and design firm whose hospitality projects include the Hotel Peter & Paul in New Orleans and The Dean in Providence, Rhode Island, has used Google Maps to compile extensive, truly tantalizing indices for more than 100 locales around the world—an inventory of people, places, and things that, stashed in his device, are perennially at his disposal. “I'm like a sponge for trying to get the tea on interesting places" he says. “I have Google Maps lists for pretty much every city that I've ever been to, or that I'm thinking of going to.”

In 2022, Heckman oversaw the opening of Ulysses, the brand’s fourth property, in Baltimore's historic Mount Vernon neighborhood. The hotel, once a gentlemen's boardinghouse, is a paean to louche classicism, stocked with antiques and eclectic bric-a-brac that could have been scooped up on a European Grand Tour. A sense of campy irreverence punches up the concept—a quality that can largely be attributed to the influence of indie darling and Baltimore native John Waters. (Those flamingo-printed bed canopies, for instance? A nod to the auteur's 1982 cult classic Pink Flamingos.) “It seems impractical, but I've been to places where I just couldn't do a project because I could not catch the vibe,” he says. “But Baltimore is a playground for adventure, if you're willing to give it a chance.” Here's what Heckman did, and where he ate and shopped, on his last trip to Charm City. You can bet they're all pinned to his map.

So, you were in Baltimore recently—why?

I've actually been there a couple of times in the last few months just because, when you have a newer hotel, it requires you to check on things more often. And I also had the really fun experience of going to a wedding there. It was a very fun experience to be at the hotel in Baltimore, but for a completely non-work-related reason. Long story short, I've been down there a lot recently. Most people were staying at Ulysses, but it also hosted the pre-function and the afterparties.

Lane Harlan, who's the premier Baltimore restaurateur-bar person, became a friend of mine when I was getting to know Baltimore and working on Ulysses; she just opened her little cocktail bar in the alley/lower-level of the hotel. That's the newest addition. It opened the week before I was there for the wedding. It's such a hit and it's so cool. It just brings another dimension into this property that is already chock-full of dimensions.

When were you there?

I was there in the