Hotel Bogota

Though the attractive foyer of this characterful two-star belies rooms more functional than fancy, it's still a wonderful place and terrific value. The history is remarkable too: there's a bit of ornate parquet near the lobby on which Benny Goodman once tapped his feet at a party. The photographs in the fourth-floor foyer were shot by the fashion photographer Yva, who had her studio on the very spot. Her assistant, Helmut Newton, learned his craft here before fleeing Germany in 1938 (Yva died in the Majdanek concentration camp four years later). Half the doubles have their own showers and all have at least a sink.