Heading up to Albany to catch a show at the Times-Union Center (The Dead). Seems like there’s only one hotel in walking distance, which is a bit tough on Priceline’s name-your-own-price. I’m thinking of expanding the search to other neighborhoods, but none are congruous to the Center. In days of yore catching a ride after a Dead show was never something to think about (heck, having a place to stay beforehand wasn’t something to think about), but a short cab ride and a nice, comfy hotel room are in order. Priceline lists Albany Airport, Downtown, Latham, and SUNY as possible neighborhoods. Does neighborhood matter? Are cab rides outside the center easily found? Note that we probably won’t be in the most coherent of states, it being a Dead show and all
Albany! Awesome, my town. Times Union Center - you mean the Pepsi Arena? Downtown? Yeah, we’re distressingly short on hotels downtown. You can try googling for hotels on Wolf Road, which is only a couple of miles from downtown, and SUNY is also close. Washington and Central run parallel. Wolf Road is off Central. Washington is where SUNY is. They converge downtown, about a mile or so west of where the Arena is.
Cabs are available but I don’t know if you can just walk around and find one. It’s pretty much a small town! But I’d write down a couple of cab companies ahead of time and keep the numbers handy.
Latham’s a bit farther and I would try to avoid that - there’s actually not that many hotels there and your cab fare will go up. Oh, and “Albany Airport” is basically Wolf Road. Albany Airport is “Old Wolf Road”.
Does that help any? I just went to Yahoo Yellow Pages and put in “Wolf Road” and “Albany, NY” and got a ton of listings. Clifton Park is also too far though.
Hell, I just found this. This is old, so it may not be accurate:
Wolf Road Hotels:
Holiday Inn Turf
205 Wolf Road
1-800-315-2605
518-585-7240
Best Western
200 Wolf Road
1-800-458-1016
518-458-1000
Red Roof Inn
188 Wolf Road
1-800-733-7663
Marriott
199 Wolf Road
1-800-443-8952
518-458-8444
Courtyard by Marriott
168 Wolf Road
1-800-321-2211
I’d have to agree with Anaamika. The hotels on Wolf Rd. are probably your best bet. Plus it’s a retail area, so if you need anything and you’re at the hotel, just about anything is close at hand. It would be a safe assumption that you will have a real hard time getting a cab on the street immediately after the show. Unless you get a spectacular deal I would avoid the Washington ave/SUNY Neighborhood. It can be a real pain in the ass.
There’s also a Motel 6 on Central in the area (other side of I-87) about 6 miles away.
Motel 6
Exit I-87
1600 Central Avenue
Albany, NY 12205
(518) 456-8982
There’s a ton of places, but most of them aren’t downtown. I know of a ton, many independent, within five miles of where I live (including one that advertises heart-shaped tubs.) However, I can’t recommend any of them, having never been in any except the Hotel Indigo at the far north end of Wolf. (I stayed there a couple times while interviewing and looking for a place to live.) That’ll probably run you $100, is the farthest distance, and while nice, probably more than you really want.
