The magazine wanted the Hotel on Rivington penthouse, but only offered $4.83 and some gum wrappers. "Their offer was well below the current rental rate. They were politely declined," said an anonymous rep for the hotel, according to Page Six.

It seems plausible - how much spare cash can a quarterly online-only magazine have lying around? (UPDATE: Playgirl point out that they're relaunching and are back in print on December 2 with the Levi issue.) And Neel Shah of p6 knows Matt Levine of the Hotel on Rivington pretty well. Perhaps they'll find an accommodating Howard Johnson instead. They want to keep the shoot "elegant", after all.

Update: Playgirl spokesman Daniel Nardicio has issued a statement firing back at the Rivington for trying to drum up press:

The reason we offered them below market is because i saw the space and it was banged up looking. They wanted an outrageous amount of money for a space that I thought would be nice but was, during daylight hours when we planned on using it, looking pretty used.

So i figured we could photoshop out the smudged windows and scuffed floors and make it look nice. But i'm not paying top dollar for it.

As per usual, Page Six was wrong and The Rivington was trying to get a little press out of it.