The gilded NoMad, drawing design inspiration from its 1905 Beaux-Arts structure and designer Jacques Garcia's former Paris apartment, boasts a Parisian-style restaurant flowing into the lobby of the hotel and furniture modeled after French originals.

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Drawing on the meditative traditions of Buddhism and Taoism, combined with deep-breathing and martial-arts exercises, it may seem somewhat cranky to non-adherents, and no doubt it has attracted its share of charlatans and crooks.

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