We’ll be honest, we’re quite fond of what Andres Balazs has done with his empire. We didn’t think much about hotels before we stayed in one of his. Now the floodgates have opened, corporate chains are trying to squeeze their way into the market by opening up smaller offshoots. Hiring the grand daddy that started it all to design them. After building three Standards in LA and Miami, Balazs is ready for New York in 2009. The hotel is open-ish, already taking reservations with a preview rate starting at $215 a night.

To accompany the year, in Standard fashion, they’ve produced a calendar designed as a yearbook with the usual cast of characters that include the prom queen, nerd, jock, stoner, and others. The models they chose are actual employees of the hotel all decked out in high school attire.