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Joel Sternfeld: Track Crossing/Snow
January 2001
http://www.thehighline.org/galleries/images/joel-sternfeld
http://www.thehighline.org/
36 Hours: Lake Placid, N.Y.
December 8, 2011
The New York Times
By LIONEL BEEHNER
LAKE PLACID can feel cryogenically frozen in time — 1980 to be
exact, which was when this secluded pocket of the Adirondacks hosted its second
Winter Olympics. The towering ski jumps and toboggan runs, not to mention the
“Miracle on Ice” hockey rink, look much as they did when Jimmy Carter was in
office. But over the last few decades Lake Placid has quietly been adding
non-Olympic attractions, including sophisticated farm-to-table restaurants,
higher-grade lodgings and a gleaming convention center. Luckily the downtown has
not lost its aura of Adirondack authenticity, with A-frame cottages and
unpretentious boutiques drawing plenty of nonskiers. If the town were not
smothered in Olympic logos, visitors might forget about its Olympics connections
and think they had wandered into an idyllic Swiss hamlet.
Friday
6 p.m.
1. MIRROR IMAGE
First things first: That placid body of water next to town is not Lake Placid —
it’s Mirror Lake. To see Placid, head a few miles out of town to the Lake Placid
Lodge (144 Lodge Way; 518-523-2700; lakeplacidlodge.com). This icon of the
Adirondacks burned to the ground a few years back. But the lodge was recently
rebuilt, all 30,000 square feet, including its grand porch strewn with rustic
chairs handbuilt from gnarled twigs, its stone fireplaces crowned with moose
heads, and its diamond-paned windows offering sweeping lake views. The lodge has
a restaurant, Artisans, with a menu custom-made for carnivores. Try the local
strip loin and Maine lobster ($50) or pork osso buco ($32). Most tables overlook
the lake; or you can ask to dine in the cozy wine cellar.
8 p.m.
2. MOONLIGHT SKATING
The original skating oval from the 1932 Games was left intact and is one of the
country’s few Olympic-size (400 meter) rinks left in the country (Main Street;
518-523-1655; whiteface.com). Entry is $8 a person, with skate rentals costing
$3. It can get chilly, but there’s a giant fire pit to stay toasty. Or head
inside to the indoor rink ($7).
Saturday
7:30 a.m.
3. SOURDOUGH BREAKFAST
Skip the greasy buffet at the hotel and head to Saranac Sourdough (2126 Saranac
Avenue; 518-523-4897). For over a decade, Eileen Black and her husband have been
serving up yeasty sourdough breads like raisin brioche ($6.50) and tangy
sourdough pancakes ($5.50) in their converted log cabin. The room is encased in
swirling twigs and Impressionist paintings of the Adirondacks. Try the Gordie
($9.95), a mountain-size stack of pancakes, meats and sourdough toast.
9 a.m.
4. INTO THIN AIR
Ignore the “Iceface” moniker, which refers to the windswept face and notoriously
icy conditions of Lake Placid’s signature ski hill. Whiteface Mountain
(518-946-2223; whiteface.com) has been stepping up its snow-making capacities
and even recently added a whole new face, Lookout Mountain. For daredevils, take
the gondola up to the top of Little Whiteface and ski down to the Summit Quad to
be spirited up to the highest ski point — a cool 4,386 feet above sea level.
There you can feast your eyes on the breathtaking altitudes of the Adirondack
peaks. Cloudspin, immortalized in the 1980 Olympic Games, is a challenging run
perfect for speedsters. Serious tree skiers will opt for the Slides, a steep
chute of dense glades, while bump addicts should head to Mountain Run, a vast
canvas of fluffy moguls. Cruisers practicing their S-turns should try the newly
carved and never-ending Wilmington Trail that winds along a steep and
picturesque ravine, or Excelsior, a twisty run popular among snowboarders.
Noon
5. WINE, CHEESE, VENISON
Whiteface’s dining options can feel more rusty than rustic. For a pleasant
exception, try the new J. Lohr Vineyards and Wines Café at the base lodge, which
serves up tasty platters of French cheeses ($17.95), as well as chef’s salads,
paninis and Cajun-seared salmon on ciabatta rolls. They all go well with a
Belgian hot chocolate ($3) or hot mulled wine ($7). For something less fancy,
swing by the deck at the midstation Boule’s Bistro, where on Saturdays you might
find sunburned locals dressed like Eskimos grilling up venison on their
hibachis.
2 p.m.
6. HOCKEY AND MORE
Smack in the middle of town is Lake Placid’s main attraction: the Olympic Center
(2634 Main Street; 518-523-1655). It is a draw for not just hockey dads but also
winter sports buffs. The museum displays an impressive collection of miscellany,
like coach Herb Brooks’s natty suit (or at least the one worn by Kurt Russell,
who played him in “Miracle on Ice”), monogrammed ice skates, and Olympic torches
from past games that look like medieval weapons. Upstairs a new motion theater
($10) featuring films from a first-person perspective and mechanized seats
simulate the feeling of soaring off a ski jump or barreling down a bobsled run
($10). The main attraction remains the hockey rink — a smallish arena whose
rafters are festooned with American flags.
3:30 p.m.
7. TOP OF THE WORLD
Take the glass-enclosed elevator up 120 meters to the top of the Olympic Jumping
Complex (52 Ski Jump Lane; 518-523-2202). The observation deck offers
spectacular sunset views of the Adirondacks’ majestic peaks. Entrance to the
observation deck costs $11. At the base there is a medals-ceremony podium draped
in flags for picture taking. Off to the side, the complex recently installed a
700-foot-long tube park under the lights; $8 an hour.
7 p.m.
8. ADIRONDACK FOODIES
The Custard Mustard N’ Brew has changed its name and is closed in the winters,
but nostalgia seekers can still find a Howard Johnson’s (2099 Saranac Avenue;
518-523-2241; lakeplacidhojos.com), one of three still standing, just up the
street. Another locals’ favorite is Liquids and Solids (6115 Sentinel Road;
518-837-5012; liquidsandsolids.com). Don’t be fooled by its dive-bar facade and
no-frills interior; this recently opened gastro-pub boasts an inventive “solids”
menu, combining innovative farm-to-table dishes like Utica-style chard ($12) or
rabbit confit gnocchi ($22). There’s also a daily poutine, as well as the
tastiest burger ($9) around, smothered in aioli on a focaccia roll and served
with sides like maple baked beans.
9 p.m.
9. BAR HOPPING
Unlike many ex-Olympic Villages, Lake Placid’s Main Street retains its party
atmosphere all winter, luring tourists and townies alike to commingle over pints
of local lager. Zigzags (134 Mirror Lake Drive; 518-523-8221), named for the
deadliest pair of turns on the old bobsled course, is a lively bar that doubles
as a shrine to bobsled paraphernalia, yellowed world maps and vintage signs
reminiscent of a Brooklyn dive. By 10 p.m., the place fills up with
rugged-looking locals in floppy dog-eared hats and flannel shirts, as a live
band belts out oldies. For something less crowded, you could head to the Cottage
(77 Mirror Lake Drive; 518-523-2544; mirrorlakeinn.com), a rustic spot
overlooking Mirror Lake that offers a late-night (after 9 p.m.) happy hour.
Drinks start at $3.
Sunday
10 a.m.
10. MUSH MUCH?
Greet the morning with the sounds of eight Alaskan huskies barking and pulling a
sled across a glistening Mirror Lake. For $10, John Houghton (518-891-6239) will
take you on a brisk loop of the lake, starting from the boathouse where Main
Street turns into Mirror Lake Drive. Bring a blanket to pile on top of the one
provided to stay warm for the 10-minute ride.
11 a.m.
11. DEVIL’S HIGHWAY
No trip to Lake Placid is complete without a bobsled ride ($80 a person). The
track (220 Bob Run Lane, Route 73; 518-523-4436), rebuilt a decade back, is a
squiggly chute of steel, concrete and ice that allows amateur bobsledders to
reach speeds of over 50 miles per hour. You share the sled with a pair of pros
who look like members of the Navy Seals. Another recent addition is the skeleton
ride ($65). Not to be confused with the luge, this is a face-first solo thrill
ride aboard what feels like a cafeteria tray affixed to steel runners. Who said
Lake Placid had lost its Olympic mojo?
IF YOU GO
The main strip of Lake Placid is full of cheap cottages, cabins and condos. But
for true Adirondack-style luxury, rent one of the 19 Lincoln Log-looking cabins
at the Lake Placid Lodge (144 Lodge Way; 518-523-2700; lakeplacidlodge.com),
which are pet-friendly and come equipped with crackling stone fireplaces and
deep-soaking “antique-style” porcelain tubs. Rooms start at $575.
A more family-friendly option — there’s even a bowling alley on the premises —
is the Whiteface Lodge (7 Whiteface Inn Lane; 518-523-0500;
thewhitefacelodge.com). No lakeside views but private beach access. Suites start
at $450.
36 Hours: Lake Placid, N.Y., NYT,
8.12.2011,
http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/12/11/travel/36-hours-lake-placid-ny.html
36 Hours in Downtown Manhattan
August 18, 2011
The New York Times
By SETH KUGEL
ONE WORLD TRADE CENTER is rising, and the 9/11 Memorial will
open right below it next month on the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.
Although progress on the World Trade Center site has been slow, the surrounding
neighborhoods did not wait to revive (and in some cases reinvent themselves)
after all the emotional and economic devastation. The financial district is
bustling, Chinatown is as quirky and enticing as ever, and TriBeCa is bursting
with new restaurants, bars and hotels. With the exception of those seeking a
night of relentless club-hopping, travelers hardly need venture north of Canal
Street for a complete New York weekend.
Friday
2 p.m.
1) CRUISING THE HARBOR
Been there (Liberty and Governors Islands) and done that (taken the free Staten
Island Ferry)? There are other options for harbor cruises, and what better way
to get an overview of Lower Manhattan? One possibility is a 90-minute sail on
the Clipper City tall ship, a replica of a 19th-century lumber-hauling schooner
(Manhattan by Sail; 800-544-1224; manhattanbysail.com), which departs from the
South Street Seaport. Another is a one-hour harbor cruise with Statue Cruises
(201-604-2800; statuecruises.com). The company will soon launch its Hornblower
Hybrid, which relies on several power sources, including hydrogen fuel cells,
solar panels and wind turbines.
4 p.m.
2) SUGAR AND SOAP
Venture to TriBeCa for a treat at Duane Park Patisserie (179 Duane Street;
212-274-8447; duaneparkpatisserie.com, lemon tarts, $5; “magic cupcakes,” $4) on
the shady pocket park it’s named after. Then wander into the nearby shops,
ranging from the cute to the serious. At Lucca Antiques (182 Duane Street;
212-343-9005; luccaantiques.com) the owners salvage old wood and metal objects
from Europe and brilliantly reformulate them into modern furniture, lamps and
wall décor. Torly Kid (51 Hudson Street; 212-406-7440; torlykid.com) has funkily
functional clothes for babies to tweens. At the Working Class Emporium (168
Duane Street; 212-941-1199; workingclassinc.com), a shop, you can buy quirky
gifts like three-dimensional puzzles and soap shaped like dogs.
6:30 p.m.
3) BANKERS’ HAPPY HOUR
If you resent investment bankers’ salaries and bonuses, then here’s something
else to be envious of: the cobblestone stretch of Stone Street. What might be
New York’s greatest outdoor drinking spot happens to be right next to Goldman
Sachs’s former headquarters. When it’s warm, this quaint block, lined with
19th-century Greek Revival buildings, is practically blocked by tables occupied
by financial types, a few sundry locals and knowledgeable tourists. Choose a
table outside Adrienne’s Pizzabar (212-248-3838; 54 Stone Street;
adriennespizzabar.com) and order a meatball and broccoli rabe pizza ($28.50),
enough for three people; a bottle of wine starts at a few dollars more.
10 p.m.
4) THE ANTI-COPA
Midtown’s Copacabana recently reopened, bringing some throwback flash to New
York’s music scene. But for throwback grit, try the Friday night party at 2020
(20 Warren Street; 212-962-9759; 2020latinclub.com), where Latinos working in
every kind of downtown job come to dance to the D.J.-supplied rhythms of the
Spanish-speaking Caribbean.
Saturday
10:30 a.m.
5) BUENOS AIRES BRUNCH
Under one form or another, the restaurateur Stacey Sosa has run an Argentine
restaurant in this cool space in TriBeCa since 1997. And though brunch at
Estancia 460 (212-431-5093; 460 Greenwich Street; estancia460.wordpress.com) is
very New York, with frittatas, granola and some innovative egg dishes, there are
flashes of Buenos Aires, like French toast with dulce de leche. (Brunch for two
about $30.)
Noon
6) MANAHATTA
Most people don’t put the Smithsonian on their New York must-do list. But the
National Museum of the American Indian (212-514-3700; nmai.si.edu), in the Beaux
Arts splendor of the old Customs House near Battery Park, is a reminder that
Manhattan and the rest of the Western Hemisphere has a long and vibrant cultural
history. The Infinity of Nations exhibition has everything from a macaw and
heron feather headdress from Brazil to a hunting hat with ivory carvings from
the Arctic. To get an up-close view of a wampum belt and corn pounder used by
the Lenape Indians, who called the island Manahatta, head to the museum’s
resource center and ask. The museum is free — not far from the price for which
the Lenapes famously sold Manhattan to the Dutch.
2 p.m.
7) DOCTORAL DOWNTOWN
Continue your historical education with a Big Onion tour. Downtown’s a
complicated place, with layers upon layers of history: Dutch, African-American,
Revolutionary and financial, among others. It takes a doctoral candidate to
decode it, and that is who will lead you on a two-hour $18 tour that might
include “Historic TriBeCa,” “Revolutionary New York” or “The Financial
District.” Times vary; see bigonion.com.
7 p.m.
8) WINE BY THE T-SHIRT
At the wine bar Terroir Tribeca (24 Harrison Street; 212-625-9463;
wineisterroir.com), the young servers dressed in wine-themed T-shirts don’t look
as though they could know what they are talking about, but don’t get them
started. (Actually, do get them started.) A glass of wine begins at $8.75, and
the menu is full of temptations so nonstandard you can justify it: fried balls
of risotto, wine and oxtail ($8), for example, is a perfect way to spend your
allotment of deep-fried calories.
9 p.m.
9) SALVAGE AND BRUSCHETTA
Who knows how many diners have walked out of Robert DeNiro and company’s Locanda
Verde, the big northern Italian spot, and wondered what was going on in the
tiny, bustling restaurant across the street? Decked out with salvaged materials
that evoke an old factory or warehouse, Smith and Mills (71 North Moore Street;
212-226-2515; smithandmills.com) seats 22 at tables shoehorned between the
standing, drinking crowds. The menu includes tomato bruschetta, oysters with
horseradish, burgers and brioche bread pudding; dinner for two about $70, with
drinks. One must-see: the bathroom, in a turn-of-the-century iron elevator.
11 p.m.
10) DRINKS ON DOYERS
Head east to Chinatown, where Apotheke (9 Doyers Street; 212-406-0400;
apothekenyc.com) is a non-Chinese intruder sitting on the elbow of L-shaped
Doyers Street, the spot known as the Bloody Angle for the gang-related killings
there in the early 20th century. Here you’ll find one of the city’s top cocktail
bars, with throwback décor and dim lighting. Try the Deal Closer, made with
cucumber, vodka, mint, lime and vanilla, along with “Chinatown aphrodisiacs”
($15).
Sunday
8 a.m.
11) BROOKLYN BRIDGE CROSSING
With the arrival of the dog days, you have to get up pretty early to walk across
this beloved landmark in comfort. As romantic as ever, a walk along the elevated
pedestrian walkway provides a photo opportunity a minute. On your way back, stop
by City Hall Park to see four decades of Sol LeWitt’s sculptures, on display
until Dec. 3. Then head west across Chambers Street to pick up bagels and smoked
salmon from Zucker’s (146 Chambers Street; 212-608-5844; zuckersbagels.com).
12: 30 p.m.
12) IN MEMORIAM
On Sept. 12, the National September 11 Memorial and Museum opens, with its pair
of one-acre reflecting pools in the footprints of the fallen towers, names of
victims inscribed in bronze panels, and rustling swamp white oak trees overhead.
The on-site museum will have exhibitions on the original World Trade Center and
the day of the attacks. Visitors can reserve free passes at 911memorial.org. No
pass is needed to visit the “Unwavering Spirit: Hope and Healing at Ground Zero”
exhibition at St. Paul’s Chapel nearby (209 Broadway; trinitywallstreet.org).
St. Paul’s became a refuge for rescue workers in the days after the attacks. Now
it houses photographs, testimonials and artifacts from those weeks after the
city changed irrevocably.
IF YOU GO
The Greenwich Hotel (212-941-8900; 377 Greenwich Street; thegreenwichhotel.com),
Robert DeNiro’s 2008 creation, has 88 individually designed rooms in the heart
of TriBeCa. Free Internet and local phone calls, and for rooms starting at $495
a night, you actually get your choice of local newspaper.
To keep it boutique but lower the rate, try Gild Hall (15 Gold Street;
212-232-7700; thompsonhotels.com), a member of the Thompson Hotels, where
12-foot ceilings and marble bathroom floors go for as little as $179 a night on
weekends.
36 Hours in Downtown
Manhattan, NYT, 18.9.2011,
http://travel.nytimes.com/2011/08/21/travel/36-hours-in-downtown-manhattan.html
10 of the best art galleries in Manhattan
From a SoHo loft full of soil to contemporary art in a
converted church,
art blogger Aneta Glinkowska guides you
to the best off-the-radar spaces to see art in New York
Aneta Glinkowska The
Guardian Friday 6 May 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/may/06/top-10-new-york-manhattan-galleries
10 of the best hidden dining gems in New York
Eater.com editor Amanda Kludt sniffs out the best hidden eateries in the city
Amanda Kludt
Guardian.co.uk Friday 6 May 2011
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2011/may/06/top-10-hidden-new-york-eating
New York's 10 top boutique bolt holes
Uptown, Downtown, Brooklyn and Staten Island…
here is our pick of New York's hippest hotels and B&Bs
Nicola Iseard The
Observer Sunday 29 August 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/aug/29/nicola-iseard-10-top-boutique-hotels-bbs
Affordable Boutique Hotels in New York City
June 14, 2010
The New York Times
By STEPHEN HEYMAN
FINDING a decent place to sleep in New York City has never
been easy. Traditionally, you either had to spend a ton of money (the Ty Warner
Penthouse at the Four Seasons for $35,000 a night, anyone?) or scrimp and hope
for the best (warning: a recent search for “bed bugs” on TripAdvisor found 877
mentions for city hotels).
What is a budget- and style-conscious traveler to do?
Go for the new middle. In a city that still boasts one of the nation’s highest
room rates ($238 on average in Manhattan, according to Smith Travel, which
tracks the industry), hotels aiming for the midrange are reaching new heights.
The trend began about three years ago, with a trickle of boutiquey places like
the Pod, the Ace and the Jane — which offered a patina of style without the
premium prices. It has accelerated in recent months, with a raft of new hotels
promising cool design, nods to local flavor and wallet-friendly rates of about
$200 to $250.
Call them budget boutiques. But instead of coming from daring young hoteliers,
many are being rolled out by chains like InterContinental and Wyndham in a bid
to attract a hipper clientele.
“There’s a huge wave of consumer demand, especially with the younger Gen Y or
millennials, for properties that have some level of style to them,” said Sean
Hennessey, founder of Lodging Advisors, a hospitality consultant firm.
In May, I slept in six of these new hotels. Despite their novelty, some were
already victims of their own clichés. Rooftop bars, rainfall showers and iPhone
docks were everywhere. Still, rooms were large by the city’s pint-size
standards, service was sharp, and for the moment, they offer some of the best
values around.
DISTRIKT HOTEL
WHY BOOK? On an exhaust-choked block next to the Port Authority bus station,
three new cookie-cutter hotels are stacked together like cereal boxes in a
configuration that hotel bloggers have started calling a “tri-pack.” Distrikt,
next door, is different: it has a simulacrum of soul. This is impressive, not
only because of its unseemly location — within shouting distance of a homeless
shelter and a parole office — but also a kitschy design conceit: every floor
takes its cue from a New York City neighborhood.
ROOM My standard room was on the 28th floor: Central Park. Don’t expect a wax
statue of Frederick Law Olmsted. The only nods to the famous park were photo
collages that hung in the room and hallways. Needless to say, the actual park
wasn’t visible from the window, though tantalizing glimpses of the Hudson River
were. The room itself was a beige rectangle furnished with the type of
inoffensive contemporary furniture one might find in a West Elm catalog. The
glass shower was spacious, and the matted gray carpeting was fun to dig your
toes into — like newly mowed grass.
VIBE Blame the sketchy neighbors, but parts of the hotel feel as though they’re
under lockdown. Key cards are needed to operate the elevators, and the
marble-and-steel lobby is a tad cold, despite a 12-foot vertical garden. An
adjacent lounge, called Collage, looks like a modern airport bistro. It serves
breakfast by day (a continental spread of sweaty pastries), and drinks and bar
food by night. On a recent Friday evening, it was empty. “This is New York
City,” said the young bartender. “Who wants to stay inside their hotel?”
MINTS An organic fudge brownie awaits you in the room, along with a personalized
welcome letter — nice touches for a hotel of this class. There’s no fitness
center, but free passes are available to the nearby Mid City Gym. You can check
your e-mail on one of three large Mac screens in the lobby, but be prepared to
wait.
342 West 40th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues; (888) 444-5610;
distrikthotel.com; free Wi-Fi; breakfast for $14.95; 155 rooms from $209.
EVENTI
WHY BOOK? Straddling the higher end is the Eventi, a 292-room hotel that opened
last month in northern Chelsea. Operated by Kimpton — a San Francisco-based
chain that helped pioneer the budget boutique niche — it offers doses of luxury
that are unusual at this price range. There’s clever design, 24-hour room
service, a large terrace, a sunny gym, a spa that offers something called
spirulina body wraps, and even dog and cat massages.
ROOM The standard queen was sleek and handsome, with custom-made furnishings
(dark woods, cloud-gray upholstery, heavy drapes) that felt rich. It had a
risqué side: a huge mirror faced the bed, Frette robes were trimmed with zebra
prints, the honor bar was stocked with an Intimacy Kit ($6). Other high-end
perks await in the marble-tiled bathroom. There was an elongated tub, a
magnifying makeup mirror and bottles of musk-scented Italian hair products.
VIBE It’s a work in progress. Planned for October are a Basque restaurant by
Jeffery Chodorow, a plaza with a movie screen and whiskey bar. Meanwhile, the
lobby — with cave-red marble and quirky seating nooks — fills up during the free
wine hour that begins at 5 p.m. For breathing room, take your glass to the
wraparound terrace on the fifth floor, furnished with terra-cotta planters and
oversize wicker love seats.
MINTS No Pringles here. The minibar was stocked with goodies like blueberry acai
Gummy Pandas ($4), Late July organic crackers ($3), and Alba Botanica shave
cream ($5). There’s even a 375-milliliter bottle of Absolut vodka, big enough
for an impromptu party. Service was polished. A free toothbrush and hair
straightener were delivered in under five minutes.
851 Avenue of the Americas, between 29th and 30th Streets; (212) 564-4567;
eventihotel.com; Wi-Fi is $10 per day (free for Kimpton rewards members); a
breakfast buffet is $22; 292 rooms starting at $249 (at $399 once introductory
rates finish in fall).
FASHION 26
WHY BOOK? A quick step from the Fashion Institute of Technology, this shiny new
hotel by Wyndham tries hard to live up to its name. There’s a Best Dressed Guest
contest held occasionally (winners get room upgrades), the Mondrian-like mural
above the front desk is made from thread spools, and the concierge keeps tabs on
sample sales. No, you won’t see a gaggle of models during check-in, but the
hotel does have fun playing dress-up.
ROOM A standard room was maybe a size medium, with plenty of nods to fashion:
buttons on the door numbers, a merino herringbone throw on the bed and
mint-green polka dots on the walls. Housekeeping staff members wear custom
dresses that hint, naughtily, at French maid. A big window offered postcard
views of the Empire State Building, as well as peeks inside garment showrooms
across the street.
VIBE Despite all the sartorial trappings, guests dressed like any in your
typical off-the-rack hotel. On a recent Monday, there were F.I.T. parents in the
slate-gray lobby, and suits trading airport stories in the elevator. There’s a
chatty cocktail scene at the lobby bar, but Rare, the fiery orange dining room,
was desolate. Maybe the ho-hum menu — part burger joint, part formal steakhouse
— was to blame. A rooftop bar is expected to open this month.
MINTS Service was elegant and unobtrusive. Arriving two hours before check-in
was no problem; the attendant had a room ready. Come back from dinner and the
bed is turned down: the pillows stacked upright, the comforter removed, a note
left on the sheets with tomorrow’s weather, and a mint. There’s also a decent
gym in the basement and a single-cup Keurig coffee maker in the room.
152 West 26th Street, between Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenues; (212)
858-5888; f26nyc.com; free Wi-Fi and a $15 cold and $19.70 hotbreakfast buffet,
along with à la carte; 280 rooms from $229.
HOTEL INDIGO
WHY BOOK? Hotel Indigo may be the prototype of this new hotel class. Started by
the InterContinental Hotels Group, which owns Holiday Inn and other chains, the
Indigo brand aims to be affordable yet stylish, though its first property in New
York City doesn’t quite hit the mark. It opened last October in the heart of the
flower district, so it is hemmed on all sides with orchids and pussy willow.
There are flowers inside the hotel, too, though mostly of the printed variety.
Hallway carpets with comically giant indigos and carrot-orange walls conspire to
create a visual jungle. Too bad the floral theme didn’t extend to the scent. The
lobby smelled more like cleaning fluid than roses.
ROOM The oversaturated color scheme continued inside the room, with a headboard
stitched together from swatches of reds, oranges and yellows. Still, the room
was bright and airy, with hardwood floors, a small desk and a floor-to-ceiling
print of sewing needles. The view was quintessentially New York: fire escapes
and the back of old factory buildings. As in many of these budget boutiques, the
bathroom was sleekly appointed. In this case, however, the shower lacked water
pressure, and a puddle from the previous night was still on the shower floor in
the morning.
VIBE An oddball mix. Foreign tourists in I ♥ New York T-shirts sat in the lobby.
Office workers crowded the smoky rooftop Glass Bar. And at Blu, its street-level
Italian restaurant, there was, well, no one. The soupy risotto I was served one
night may have something to do with it.
MINTS Service was unexpectedly attentive; the front desk called shortly after
check-in to make sure everything was in order. In the basement, there’s a basic
business center (two desktop computers) and a well-equipped, if petite, fitness
studio with free weights and treadmills.
127 West 28th Street, between Avenue of the Americas and Seventh Avenue; (212)
973-9000; indigochelsea.com; 122 rooms from $269; $15.99 breakfast buffet, and à
la carte brunch served on weekends.
THE MAVE
WHY BOOK? The MAve looks great on the outside. Opened last July, it is housed in
a beautiful, mansard-topped building from 1902, with a ghost-white lobby that
looks like a cosmetics boutique off the Boulevard St.-Germain. The spirit of
Stanford White lingers approvingly over the neighborhood’s magnificent limestone
buildings. And Madison Square Park, a block away, is a serene place to take your
coffee and Danish (provided free) in the morning.
ROOM I snagged a $159 rate for what the MAve charitably calls an “urban” room.
At 165 square feet, it conveyed that special feeling of living in New York City:
claustrophobia. There was a modern bathroom, a flat-screen television and an
iPhone docking station, but no room left for a desk or even a chair. (You have
to book a larger room for those perks.) The window air-conditioner obscured an
already narrow view of 27th Street. An in-room massage ($100 an hour) sounded
nice, but a massage table couldn’t possibly fit.
VIBE The MAve (a contraction of “Madison Avenue” ) bills itself as “a relaxed
urban retreat,” but utilitarian might be more accurate. There’s a barracks feel
in the hallways, with an open staircase covered in that heavy-duty metal you
sometimes see on truck beds. On a recent Sunday night, the hotel lobby felt
empty, even eerie, which may have been why the few guests milling around —
middle-aged Europeans in well-worn Pumas — felt compelled to whisper.
MINTS Secreted into a top-floor garret is a hilariously tiny fitness center.
Room service is supplied by the nearby Park Avenue Bistro, with a $3.50
surcharge for each plate, plus a 25 percent gratuity. But with such spartan
rooms, and no bar or common spaces to speak of, the MAve doesn’t lend itself to
dining in.
62 Madison Avenue, at 27th Street; (212) 532-7373; themavehotel.com; free Wi-Fi
and basic breakfast; 72 rooms from $159.
THE STRAND
WHY BOOK? Or maybe a better question is: Why is there ice in the lobby men’s
room urinals? Whatever the reason, it’s among the many flourishes — some
endearing, some not so much — that lend the Strand, which opened last October on
an anonymous block on East 37th Street, its accidental charm. Another bonus: the
rooftop bar, which offers King Kong views of the Empire State Building, was
recently featured in New York magazine’s “Best of New York” issue, alerting the
natives.
ROOM My $260 queen room, on the 10th floor, felt brand new and not necessarily
in a good way: dinky lampshades and chairs swathed in bold, contempo prints.
Still, the room was cozy, and the view of water towers and prewar brick
buildings felt distinctively Gotham. Fashion blow-ups from vintage issues of
Vogue gave the walls some pop. Until the seafood tapas restaurant opens, as
early as next month, there’s no room service. The bathroom was airy but sterile,
with beige marble and a large mirror, though only half of the spacious shower
stall was walled in glass, which made for a chilly wake-up.
VIBE The lobby, with its white limestone floor, brushed metal and vaguely Art
Deco furniture, felt a little cold, too. The vibe is warmer at the rooftop bar,
Top of the Strand, thanks partly to a retractable roof that keeps the party
rolling in bad weather. The Hamptons-patio look is by Lydia Marks, who did the
sets for the “Sex and the City” movies.
MINTS The Strand doesn’t skimp on its free breakfast: piles of cold cuts,
cheeses, hardboiled eggs, fruit, rolls stuffed with meat. It was surprisingly
tasty. There’s a 24-hour gym that seems to be underused. Service was casual,
even chatty, including a bellhop who over-shared.
33 West 37 Street, between Fifth Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas; (212)
448-1024; thestrandnyc.com; free Wi-Fi and breakfast buffet; 177 rooms from $259
(until June 30) and $239 (from July 1 to Sept. 6).
Affordable Boutique
Hotels in New York City, NYT, 14.6.2010,
http://travel.nytimes.com/2010/06/20/travel/20hotels.html
New York City guide: Harlem lights
New Yorkers no longer think Harlem a no-go zone,
so tourists shouldn't miss its live jazz, great architecture and soul food
Jonathan Gill The
Guardian Saturday 29 May 2010
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2010/may/29/harlem-new-york-tourist-guide
One Foot in the Past
November 29, 2009
The New York Times
By ELISA MALA
Inwood, the northernmost neighborhood in Manhattan, is a place
of hills and history. Inwood Hill Park, 196 acres of tree-filled landscape,
dominates the scene, and traces of Lenape Indians and Dutch settlers abound. But
there are relative newcomers, too, including opera singers and others who are
attracted to Inwood’s burgeoning arts community. One artist who lives there —
and grew up there — is Lin-Manuel Miranda, the Grammy- and Tony-winning creator
of the Broadway musical “In the Heights.” The expedition begins at the 207th
Street station, the terminus of the A train.
NOON Built in 1784, the Dyckman Farmhouse Museum, 4881 Broadway, (212) 304-9422,
is the city’s last remaining Dutch colonial home. Visitors ($1 for adults, free
for children under 10) can examine the Dyckman family Bible and an 18th-century
case clock, and inspect the space where 10 cramped tenants once slept. In the
basement, a slab of stone juts out from a wall. “It’s so rocky and hilly here
that in those times, you had to build around the rock,” explained Susan De
Vries, the director of the museum. The grounds also include a half-acre of
landscaped gardens, a smokehouse and a Hessian military hut from the Revolution,
rebuilt with the original materials.
1 P.M. For lunch, head to the Piper’s Kilt, 4944 Broadway, (212) 569-7071, a
20-year-old Irish pub. One popular menu item is the Eastchester ($9.50), a
burger topped with bacon, cheese and onion rings and named for the Westchester
neighborhood where the pub has another outlet. Wash it down suitably, say with
an Irish ale like Smithwick’s (pronounced SMIT-ticks) ($5.50). On Saturdays,
before or after lunch at Piper’s, head over to nearby Isham Park to the farmers’
market to stock up on pears, squash or maybe some of its popular cider doughnuts
(50 cents apiece).
2 P.M. Hike, bike or lie about in Inwood Hill Park, a bucolic setting that has a
plaque on the supposed spot where Peter Minuit, with $24 of trinkets, bought
Manhattan from the Lenape tribe. Tools and pottery and other Native American
artifacts have been discovered in hillside caves in the park, which also
features a reproduction of a wigwam. The park is home to Manhattan’s only salt
marsh and only remaining forest, where eagles — reintroduced in 2002 — soar
above the treetops.
4 P.M. The recent past is on display at Scavengers, 600 West 218th Street, (212)
569-8343, a 12-year-old antiques shop run by Lela Cooper. The mix of china,
furnishings and vintage apparel includes a boudoir lamp ($35) and greeting cards
featuring the Dyckman Farmhouse ($2.95).
5 P.M. Baker Athletics Complex, 533 West 218th Street, is the home of the
Columbia Lions football team, one of whose former players, Jack Kerouac,
achieved much fame off the gridiron. The field has its own claim to fame: The
Princeton-Columbia baseball game played there on May 17, 1939, was the first
sporting event to be televised.
6 P.M. At the Indian Road Café and Market, 600 West 218th Street, (212)
942-7451, some folks pop in three times a day for coffee ($2), panini ($10) and
free WiFi. “The place is a town hall,” said Jason Minter, a co-owner. At sundown
it becomes a watering hole, with extensive wine and beer lists, and it also
hosts concerts, trivia matches and Inwood history nights (sample factoid:
Houdini’s wife lived here after the magician’s death). Like much of the rest of
the neighborhood, Mr. Minter’s cafe also has relics from the past — some chairs
and tables from the set of Nuovo Vesuvio Ristorante, a hot spot depicted in “The
Sopranos.” Mr. Minter worked for six years as an associate producer and location
scout for the show.
One Foot in the Past,
NYT, 29.11.2009,
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/11/29/nyregion/29stops.html
New York for free
Follow our four-day itinerary – including Broadway shows,
guided tours and live comedy and music –
and you needn't spend a dime
Rob Grader The Guardian
Saturday 17 October 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/oct/17/new-york-free-short-break
New York's new designer hotels
The world's most famous city has long welcomed the well-heeled
and the impecunious.
Its smartest new hotel is aimed at the former
Mariella Frostrup The
Observer Sunday 20 September 2009
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2009/sep/20/new-york-hotels-the-standard
In Riverside Park, Relaxation on the Shore, Thrills on the
Water
July 27, 2009
The New York Times
By VINCENT M. MALLOZZI
Crystal Berrios, clad in bikini and sunglasses, lay on a beach
blanket a few feet from the rocky shoreline, watching sailboats pass in the
distance.
“This reminds me of home,” said Ms. Berrios, 28, who grew up in the South Beach
area of Miami Beach. “This is how I spent my summers.”
Ms. Berrios, who moved to New York two and a half years ago, found a slice of
the tropical life she left behind not on a Long Island beach or the New Jersey
Shore, but on a grassy stretch of Riverside Park, where she discovered hundreds
of others spending well-oiled weekends in the shadow of a sewage plant, awash in
an improbable sea of colorful bathing suits, fishing poles, barbecue grills and
water sports.
Who needs Florida? The Upper West Side has become a weekend hot spot for
sunbathers and swimmers, many of whom frolic in the rough river waters as if
they had confused Manhattan Island with Manhattan Beach.
“When you’ve lived in South Beach for as long as I have, I guess you just
gravitate to this kind of scene,” said Ms. Berrios, who works in Manhattan as a
client services representative for a financial company, and who lives in
Washington Heights, within walking distance of her new place in the sun.
“I come here because it’s very family-oriented, and such a good time,” she said.
“And the best is, I don’t need a car to get here.”
On a recent Sunday, Ms. Berrios shared a blanket with her mother, Carmen, who
still lives in South Beach, her 10-year-old daughter, Kaylyn, and a small cooler
filled with water and beer.
“When Crystal first told me that there was a place in Manhattan that reminded
her of home, I was like, ‘Oh yeah, right, I’ll believe it when I see it,’ ” said
Carmen Berrios, looking out at the high-rise apartment buildings across the
Hudson River in Fort Lee, N.J. “But when I came here, it was like, ‘Wow, now I
get it.’ ”
By late afternoon, the sounds of Latin music bursting from boomboxes were being
drowned out by the revving engines of the Sea-Doos and other water scooters.
They come ripping through the choppy river every Sunday about 3 p.m. to the area
near 155th Street in Riverside Park — a half-mile north of Riverbank State Park,
which is built over the North River Wastewater Treatment Plant. There Ms.
Berrios and company are among a breed of New Yorkers not afraid to dip their
toes, if not the rest of their bodies, into the murky waters.
“My family loves coming here, especially to see the boats,” said Edwardo
Batista, also of Washington Heights, who was picnicking with his wife,
Miguelina, and their children, Lisbeth, 12, and Brian, 9. “Personally, I
wouldn’t go in the water because it’s very dirty, but I see people swimming in
it all the time.”
Some of the water scooters began putting on a show, with drivers turning hard to
splash one another as many of their passengers dived overboard for a brief swim,
to the cheers of spectators on the riverbank.
Several other drivers turned off their engines and bobbed toward the shoreline,
asking if anyone was interested in going for a free ride.
In an instant, Ms. Berrios, her mother and Brian Batista, about to take his
first such ride, were carefully making their way down a short but unsteady pile
of slippery, salt-stained rocks — “Oh well, there goes my pedicure,” Carmen
Berrios said — each of them putting on life jackets before speeding off.
Crystal Berrios took the longest ride, a nearly half-hour cruise to Lower
Manhattan. By the time she returned, she was in the driver’s seat, and Jose
Diaz, a 40-year-old plumber from Yonkers who had picked her up in his Yamaha XR
1800, was sitting behind her in the passenger seat.
“Man, this girl really loves the water,” Mr. Diaz said. “She told me to come
back next Sunday and pick her up again.”
By the time the Berrios and Batista families were reunited on their blankets,
many others were standing in line, waiting for a chance to take a spin with a
different kind of Sunday driver.
“I love telling people in my office that I spend my weekends Jet Skiing, in
Manhattan,” Crystal Berrios said. “A lot of them say: ‘Really? That sounds like
fun. I’ve never done that before.’ And these are people who live in the
suburbs.”
In Riverside Park,
Relaxation on the Shore, Thrills on the Water, NYT, 26.7.2009,
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/27/nyregion/27water.html
For High Line Visitors, Park Is a Railway Out of Manhattan
July 22, 2009
The New York Times
By DIANE CARDWELL
The High Line is still under construction, with orange-vested workers busily
adding last-minute touches. Yet the park, perched on an old elevated railway on
the West Side of Manhattan, already seems like a permanent fixture, almost a
small town in the air.
It has its own mobile skyline in the steady stream of heads (or, in the rain,
umbrellas) bobbing above the trestle. It has its own economy, including the $15
High Line Picnic Baskets for sale at Friedman’s Lunch at the Chelsea Market
(sandwich, cole slaw, pickle, chips, cookie, beverage). It has its own art
scene, drawing students from Parsons sketching panoramas, and photographers
armed with devices from cellphones to Leicas. It has its own neighborhoods and
hot spots, shifting in feel throughout the day.
It even inspires crusty New Yorkers to behave as if they were strolling down
Main Street in a small town rather than striding the walkway of a hyper-urban
park — routinely smiling and nodding, even striking up conversations with
strangers.
“Here people tend to be more friendly,” Kathy Roberson, who is retired but does
volunteer work with the poor, said on Saturday. “Those same people, you might
see them someplace else and, you know,” she broke off, raising her eyebrows,
“they’re kind of stressed.”
A little more than a month since its first stretch opened, the High Line is a
hit, and not just with tourists but with New Yorkers who are openly relishing a
place where they can reflect and relax enough to get a new perspective on
Manhattan.
Despite the complaints about noise, gentrification and tour buses spewing forth
their cargo, many locals have fallen so hard and fast for the park that they are
acting as impromptu tour guides, eager to show off their new love interest.
“It just gives you a whole new appreciation of Chelsea,” Amy Goodman, co-host of
the radio and television news program “Democracy Now!,” was saying with an
enthusiastic sweep of her arm to her companions early on a Friday. “It’s such an
incredible celebration of urban architecture.”
Later, the evening found one of her group, Brenda Murad, leading a tour of her
own for a friend from Mexico City.
Since its southernmost section — from 20th Street near 10th Avenue to the corner
of Gansevoort and Washington Streets — opened to the public on June 9, the park
has attracted more than 300,000 visitors, said Patrick Cullina, vice president
of horticulture and park operations for the High Line. Plans call for the park
to reach as far north as 34th Street.
Weekdays it draws from 3,000 to 15,000 through its entrances at 20th, 18th,
16th, 14th and Gansevoort Streets. Weekends are busier, with roughly 18,000 to
20,000 visitors a day; but the park’s legal capacity is 1,700, so officials have
often resorted to “special entry” for an hour or two, limiting entry to
Gansevoort Street and, for those needing an elevator, 16th Street.
On Saturday around noon, the park was lively, but there was still plenty of
room. Ms. Roberson had brought her mother, Josephine, and her neighbor Louis
Smart, a retired opera singer and teacher, from their apartments on West 43rd
Street, wanting to show them something a little different.
They were sitting on the topmost row at the Sunken Overlook, the centerpiece of
10th Avenue Square, which hovers over 16th and 17th Streets. In daylight the
space functions like a central plaza, with trees scattered around benches, open
areas and rows of amphitheater-style seating that offer a windowed view of cars
and trucks rushing below on 10th Avenue.
Mealtimes tend to be most crowded, when people picnic, chat or just stare
blankly at the traffic underfoot, often with children running serpentines
through the seats. At night, the overlook turns into a Warholian conceptual
installation, with its art-house vibe and screenlike windows.
But on Saturday, it was a stop on Amy Chin’s “urban birthday safari,” a daylong
tour of attractions far above the ground, she said, inspired by the High Line.
Ms. Chin, a consultant to nonprofit arts groups, was celebrating her 47th
birthday with friends and family over lunch and a cake frosted in thick
chocolate butter cream and poppy-red and saffron-orange flowers (“Van Gogh
colors,” as her sister, Lily, put it).
Back at the top of the overlook, Mr. Smart was transfixed by the cake.
“Now, I’ve got to see that,” he said.
“You’ve seen a cake before,” Kathy Roberson said. “Not like that!” Mr. Smart
countered, descending.
After his return a few minutes later, Amy Chin approached, offering to share the
confection. Josephine Roberson accepted. The High Line had not yet seemed to
impress her much, but the cake did.
“She’s smiling now,” Kathy Roberson said, laughing.
There are other gathering places, like the passage beneath the Standard Hotel
near Little West 12th Street, where the arching structure has created a
breezeway with perpetual shade and cooling winds. The Standard is itself a draw,
attracting people hoping for a glimpse of the racy displays in the huge
plate-glass room windows of the hotel, which seeks out exhibitionist guests by
promoting itself as a sleek sex palace. (“And now, the floor-to-ceiling glass
windows overlooking the High Line at the Standard New York offer direct views to
your most intimate moments,” read a notice on its blog).
There is plenty to see below the hotel, especially near 13th Street. On Friday
around 7 p.m., a shifting cluster was leaning over the railing there, snapping
pictures of the creative types sipping champagne at an open-air lounge, and of
Marni Halasa, a figure skating instructor and “parade junkie” who was posing,
arms held high — for a National Enquirer photo shoot, she said.
She was wearing what she called her mermaid outfit: long, form-fitting
aquamarine sequined skirt slit nearly to the waist, halter top, shimmering cape
held like angel wings, Rollerblades.
But there is no spot more coveted than the sundeck facing the Hudson River
between 14th and 15th Streets, where the row of dark brown ipe wood lounge
chairs brings bikini-clad sunbathers, picnicking families and affectionate
couples throughout the day and evening. If it were the late 1980s, this would be
Nell’s, albeit without the cocaine and cocktails: roving park security officers
are vigilant about drinking, which is prohibited.
The visibility of the staff — maintenance workers, gardeners, volunteers wearing
“Ask Me About The High Line” buttons — is important, Mr. Cullina said, in
promoting the sense that the park is well maintained.
So on Sunday night, before the park’s 10 p.m. shutdown and 7 a.m. reopening, a
maintenance worker was wheeling a garbage can along the sundeck.
“I’m looking for trash donation,” he called out, as if hawking hot dogs at a
ball field. “Can I get a trash donation, y’all?”
A few along the way obliged. Meng Li, a bond analyst with a fondness for magic
tricks, playfully fanned out a deck of cards. The pinks in the sky deepened
toward purple, the red neon W of the hotel across the Hudson grew brighter, and
the strains of Hector del Curto’s Eternal Tango Orchestra on Pier 54 drifted
overhead.
One of Mr. Li’s companions, Nikoleta Kasa, took it all in, saying, “I’m lucky to
live here.”
For High Line Visitors,
Park Is a Railway Out of Manhattan, NYT, 22.7.2009,
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/22/nyregion/22highline.html
New York's buried treasure
Paul Berger visits the Green-Wood Cemetery,
500 acres of stunning tree-lined hills and valleys of hulking Gothic stonework,
home to Basquiat, Bernstein and a colony of fugitive parakeets
Paul Berger
Guardian.co.uk Monday September 08
2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/sep/08/newyork.culturaltrips
Weekend in New York | Juice Bars
Pour Me a Melon: Masters of the Blenders’ Art
July 20, 2008
The New York Times
By SETH KUGEL
FOR visitors from tropical countries where fresh fruit juice
is a given, New York must be confusing. Here, in what is arguably the finance,
theater, media and artificial waterfall capital of the world, why aren’t there
more people willing to put a watermelon through a blender to make a cool drink
on a blazing summer day?
Luckily, the oppressive reign of the corn-syrup drinks faces scattered
resistance around Manhattan. Sometimes, the best can be hidden away, like at the
Michelle Deli & Grocery in East Harlem, the kind of place that looks like a
run-of-the-mill Mexican market but (like many others of its type) hides a lunch
counter in the back. A menu that ranges from beef tacos to rabbit in creole
sauce doesn’t mention the $2 “aguas” (as Mexicans call them). Ask the cook, who
will grab watermelon (or cantaloupe, mmm!) from the front and blend it up for
you. It’s almost like having your mother make it for you, if your mother were a
young woman from Guerrero.
If Harlem isn’t on your itinerary, you can often find Mexican-style watermelon
water in some spots downtown as well, like La Esquina’s informal taquería in
SoHo and the Pan Latin Cafe in Battery Park City.
But if Harlem is on the itinerary, move on to the Uptown Juice Bar on 125th
Street. At first glance, it looks like a narrow, crowded old-school
celery-beet-and-ginger mashery, but there are three surprises: an all-vegetarian
steam table, where a plate of any three dishes go for $6; a hidden space in the
back that turns out to be a bright, art-filled dining area; and a menu where
juices are named after the ailments they’re meant to remedy. There’s the PMS,
the Indigestion and, perhaps somewhat unfortunately, the Hemorrhoids (just order
a carrot-and-spinach juice).
Downtown, the East Village and environs are where some of the most serious
juiceries do business. The 12-year-old Liquiteria combines a maniacally clean,
brightly colored interior with drinks with cutesy names (Liquid Lozenge,
Peaches-N-Dream, Orangasm, all $5.95). It has the standard, straight
fresh-squeezed stuff, of course, and all those supplements that are said to burn
fat, bolster the immune system and teach you calculus. But where it really
stands out is on the vegetable front. There are concoctions like the Brain
Teaser, in which carrot, kale, apple, red cabbage, parsley and ginger combine
with things called lecithin and the supplement Mental Master to make a drink
that tastes shockingly good.
Also in the East Village is the cheaper Juicy Lucy, a walk-in-closet-size spot
on Avenue A, where a 16-ounce juice is only $3.95; the smoothies are $4.50; and
the Red Bull punch (apparently not 100 percent natural) is $3. It also is
serving up the fashionable Brazilian wonder-berry, açaí (actually the fruit of
the assai palm, imported in frozen pulp) in what it calls the Rio Bowl, an
imitation of what you might find blended for you at juice stands in Rio de
Janeiro. With guaraná, banana and granola, Juicy Lucy has the right recipe, but
at least on one recent visit, the drink was too goopy and warm and definitely
not worth the $6.75.
For better açaí, try the smoothie at Jus, the diminutive, plain-Jane stand with
the fancy French name attached to that Union Square staple, the Coffee Shop
restaurant. Structurally, the place is just a step or two above the neighbor’s
kids’ lemonade stand, but it must have retained a top juice-maker head-hunting
firm because the staff makes a watermelon-banana-cantaloupe smoothie that on the
refreshment scale competes with jumping in a backyard swimming pool any day.
One neighborhood alternative: if it’s Monday, Wednesday, Friday or Saturday and
the Greenmarket vendors are out, you can find an unusual bottled cherry-nectar
drink at the stand run by Red Jacket Orchards of Geneva, N.Y. It’s called Tart
Cherry Stomp and will remind you instantly how rare it is to have something that
actually tastes like cherries in something labeled “cherry.”
Adding local ingredients to exotic açaí is a success at another star of the
juice-and-smoothie scene, though this time in the West Village: Elixir. To its
açaí with banana smoothie, Elixir adds apple cider and blueberries creating
something that bridges the tropical and the local. It’s a great drink (though
$5.95 for a small might be a bit steep). Another star of its repertory is the
Quick Quencher: watermelon, pineapple, lemon and aloe vera ($4.60 for a small;
$5.95 for a large). Nice work.
The Caribbean, Latin and Asian neighborhoods of the other boroughs also know
their juices, and there are too many spots to name. One newish spot, Pão de
Queijo, which mimics a Brazilian snack shop, is worth a mention, though. It’s
just a few stops out of Manhattan on the N train in Queens, and its offerings go
beyond açaí and into much rarer fruits like the Amazonian cupuaçu (no
translation in English) and the cajá (better off without its translation, hog
plum). But the most innovative parts of all are the snacks that go with them:
fried goodies like the chicken-and-cheese coxinhas and beef bolinhos.
That’s another thing we can’t seem to keep straight in this otherwise
sophisticated world capital: juice doesn’t have to be part of a healthy diet, it
can be the healthy part of an unhealthy diet.
LET'S DRINK FOR OUR HEALTH
La Esquina, 106 Kenmare Street, at Lafayette Street; (646) 613-7100;
www.laesquinanyc.com
Pan Latin Cafe, 400 Chambers Street, at the Hudson River; (212) 571-3860;
www.panlatincafe.com
Michelle Deli & Grocery, 215 East 116th Street; (212) 828-9097.
Uptown Juice Bar, 54 West 125th Street; (212) 987-2660;
www.uptownjuicebar.com .
Liquiteria, 170 Second Avenue, at 11th Street; (212) 358-0300.
Juicy Lucy, 85 Avenue A, between Fifth and Sixth Streets; (212) 777-5829.
Jus, corner of Union Square West and East 16th Street; no phone.
Elixir, 523 Hudson Street, between Charles and West 10th Streets; (212)
352-9952; www.elixirjuice.com .
Pão de Queijo, 31-90 30th Street, Astoria, Queens; (718) 204-1979;
www.newyorkpaodequeijo.com.
Pour Me a Melon:
Masters of the Blenders’ Art, NYT, 20.7.2008,
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/07/20/travel/20weekend.html
Weekend in New York | On the Water
Where River Views Are From the River
July 13, 2008
The New York Times
By SETH KUGEL
MANHATTAN ISLAND sure looks different if you’re doing six
knots through New York Harbor on a Colgate 26 racing sloop on a breezy summer
Sunday. You can smell not a single pile of rotting trash outside McDonald’s and
feel not a single blast of furnacelike heat from a subway platform. This serene,
stark postcard image may be illusory, but it’s also an illuminating reminder of
what we so often hear but rarely absorb: New York is a city of islands and
rivers. But with Olafur Eliasson’s four “New York City Waterfalls” dotting the
waterfront, all eyes — and more bodies than usual — are on the city’s rivers.
Summer is precisely the right time to get on a boat in the city. And while
locals might head out onto the Gowanus Canal or Jamaica Bay or the Bronx River,
visitors can probably best spend their money on a trip on the East River or New
York Harbor. Alas, sometimes that can cost a lot of money.
On the expensive end is a two-hour, $125 trip on the Compass Rose, that Colgate
26, based out of Liberty Landing Marina across the Hudson in New Jersey and
under the command of Capt. Matthew Carmel. (There’s a water taxi that makes the
short run from the Manhattan side north of the World Financial Center near Vesey
Street for $7.)
An afternoon on the Compass Rose is the rough equivalent to getting invited out
with a friend who loves boating. The ship is small and slick, fitting a maximum
of five passengers and packed with GPS display and digital gadgets: unlike the
huge schooners that dole out wine and cheese, this feels like a boat you
yourself could own someday (but probably won’t). And for added fun, Captain
Carmel asks you to man the tiller or trim the sheets or do other things
involving vocabulary you won’t immediately understand. In between, he’ll
entertain you with stories like the time the Hasidic Jew requested a trip with
no women aboard, which the captain did not guarantee; that day two Norwegian
lesbians came along. Your group will probably not be quite as interesting, for
better or worse.
Also on the high end is a trip out on perhaps the highest-profile boat in New
York Harbor this summer — the Moët & Chandon America II, which took part in the
trials for the 1987 America’s Cup. It never made it out of 1986, but let’s not
focus on the negative. This is its first season hosting the public on $150 trips
that include a Champagne toast at the end (if you’re perceiving some corporate
sponsorship here, you’re on target). The 65-foot boat can reach up to 12 knots,
which in the spectrum of boat speed is way too slow to run drugs into Miami but
much faster than other sail-powered ships you can take out in New York Harbor.
You can also get out on the water for under $100, mostly by joining bigger
vessels. The 82-foot Shearwater is one of the most popular, leaving from the
North Cove Marina on the Manhattan side of the Hudson for a ton of different
excursions, the most expensive being a wine-tasting trip for $95. There is also
a brunch trip for $79, a happy-hour cruise for $45 and plenty more. The boat
definitely fits the romantic-old-schooner image with old-fashioned look, teak
deck and mahogany-paneled, surprisingly big (and yet still totally
claustrophobic) cabin, which comes in handy in the rain.
Most trips give you a glimpse of the “New York City Waterfalls,” but the Liberty
Schooner (which sails from Liberty Landing, no relation) offers specific
“Waterfalls” tours this summer, run by Sea Fever Excursions. For $45 and up, you
join up to 48 others on a schooner owned by an extremely friendly South African
family and captained by Bill Noe. The 78-foot boat is modern, but with an older
feel; with the kids (and dogs) of everyone involved populating the boat, the
experience is family friendly. Sea Fever also runs smaller trips on its 30- to
35-foot cruisers, which are cheaper than Compass Rose but in boats not as
impressive.
There are also the standard companies that offer cheap trips en masse. The
official “Waterfalls” tour is on the Circle Line Downtown, and with reservations
you can go free; otherwise, tickets are $10. It’s 30 minutes in and out (plus
several more minutes waiting in line), with a recorded welcome by the artist
himself that addresses that key question: What the heck is the point of this
glorified scaffolding with water pouring over the top? You get to ponder (or
ignore) all that as you stop by all four, close up, straight on and from the
side. That’s great, because you don’t really experience the falls by looking at
them from one angle from shore. Still, on these trips, you can’t quite shake the
feeling you’re being herded like cattle — albeit by extremely professional
cowboys. Just about every other boat company in town offers waterfall tours —
New York Water Taxi boats are smaller and more intimate than the Circle Line
Downtown boats, though the tour is a bit pricier ($25).
And any incomplete summary of New York Harbor trips would be even more
incomplete without stating the obvious: riding the Staten Island Ferry is really
cool, really free, and requires no reservations. It also makes for a great
perspective on the “Waterfalls,” providing a view of all four from a distance,
which is totally different from seeing them up close: it allows you to notice
how they punctuate and transform the look and feel of the Manhattan waterfront.
If, that is, you have ever looked and felt the Manhattan waterfront before.
MEET THE SAILS STAFF
Compass Rose, Liberty Landing Marina, Jersey City; (973) 378-8011;
www.cprose.com
Moët & Chandon America II, North Cove marina, Battery Park City;
www.bigapplesailing.com
Shearwater, North Cove marina, Battery Park City, (212) 619-0907;
www.shearwatersailing.com
Liberty Schooner, Liberty Landing Marina, Jersey City; (973) 309-1881;
www.libertyschooner.com
or www.sailthehudson.com
Circle Line Downtown, Pier 16, South Street Seaport; (866) 925-4631;
www.circlelinedowntown.com
New York Water Taxi, various locations; (212) 742-1969;
www.newyorkwatertaxi.com
Staten Island Ferry, Whitehall Terminal, (718) 727-2508;
www.siferry.com
Where River Views Are
From the River, NYT, 13.7.2008,
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/07/13/travel/13weekend.html
The best of the rest: New York's secret
museums
David Vincent gets away from the crowds to
explore some of New York's hidden gems
David Vincent
Guardian.co.uk Wednesday June 18
2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/jun/18/newyork.art.culturaltrips
Weekend in New York | Behind-the-Scenes Tours
The Backstage Sights, the Locker Room Scents
June 1, 2008
The New York Times
By SETH KUGEL
THE behind-the-scenes tour is a staple of the pamphlet-driven
tourist routine, promising a glimpse beyond the glitzy sites where shows and
sporting events are put on in this city.
But are the tours worthwhile for visitors? And what about New Yorkers, who might
consider themselves too cool to be seen among school groups from Kentucky and,
in a sense, already get a daily behind-the-scenes-tour of big-city life just by
living here?
The answer is, of course, it depends — both on which tour you choose, and which
tour guide you happen to get.
Let’s say you get James, a balding, bursting bundle of tour guide energy who
puts on the cheapest show you’ll ever see in Radio City Music Hall. (The Stage
Door Tour is $17, and tickets for actual concerts usually start around $50.) The
man is either a great actor or really likes what he does, or probably both. “Are
you ready to see the greatest of all theaters?” he screams with high school pep
team urgency. If the response is tepid, he asks again. By the time he urges you
to give a round of applause for the hydraulic elevator system deep below the
stage, you’ve been through it enough that you know just what to do.
The other tour guides vary. The moment where a real Rockette pops out of the
star-marked dressing room door is painfully corny (or kitschily adorable). But
running around the back halls of the Music Hall, checking out the Rockettes’
studio and having the place to yourself instead of sharing it with 6,000 others
is definitely worth it, though perhaps only on a rainy day when lines for brunch
are too long.
The tour of Madison Square Garden, on the other hand, is pretty lame. That’s in
part because the Garden itself is kind of lame (grungy, no hydraulic lifts or
Rangers popping out of doors). But also because, at least on one recent tour,
the guide didn’t pass the Wikipedia test: the sum total of his charm, energy and
knowledge did not exceed what you would have gotten if you had just brought
along a printout of an online encyclopedia entry. It is cool, though, checking
out the locker rooms of the Rangers (double doors to accommodate a goalie in
full gear) and the Knicks (single door, seven feet tall).
Don’t give up on sports sites: the Yankee Stadium tour is awesome, at least on a
nice day — and, since a new stadium opens next door in 2009, this is your last
chance to experience the total awesomeness. You get to sit in the dugout (maybe
in Derek Jeter’s spot) and the press box. And on the way out of Monument Park,
where plaques honor the greatest Yankees (and the popes who have visited), you
get to walk across the warning track in left field. Which means a family member
can photograph you leaping at the wall, pretending to make a game-saving catch.
(Bring your glove and a ball for added realism.)
Carnegie Hall and the Metropolitan Opera Guild offer tours by knowledgeable,
dedicated, volunteer tour guides who love the places and the music performed
there.
Between the two, though, the Met wins hands down: there’s simply more to see.
For 90 minutes, you wend your way through the enormous backstage world, where
gigantic sets are hammered together in cavernous workshops, an army of
stagehands prepares things for that night’s performance, and an elaborate
costume hangs in waiting in the leading lady’s dressing room. And check out the
labels on boxes in storage: “Premade Bows and Cockards,” “Epaulettes — Old
Traviata Style,” “Fake Lit Cigars and Cigarettes, American Tragedy 2005.”
The tour of Carnegie does have its charms: orchestra members might be preparing
for rehearsal in their jarringly normal street clothes, and you can snag free,
unlimited Ricola cough drops from the dispensers throughout the theater. But you
don’t really get to see all that much more than you would if you simply went to
a concert. It is cheaper, though ($10 versus $15). Alas, the Met’s season is
over, and tours don’t start again until September, but Carnegie Hall’s go on
through June.
The most entertaining tour of all is the NBC Studio Tour in Rockefeller Center.
It’s a polished operation that will pluck the nostalgia strings of all but the
most hardened pop-culture haters. True, you’re herded like cattle, but how many
cattle live in pens with a yellowed, typewritten letter from a vice president of
NBC to a potential client: “On July 1, 1941, commercial television in the United
States becomes a reality — marking another milestone in radio’s progress!”
The tour starts with a slick video that takes you from Milton Berle to David
Brinkley to Gumby to Chandler, setting the stage for a walk through the studios,
where you’ll have to admit that the flashing “On Air” signs are kind of cool.
You can gawk at a live MSNBC broadcast, check out Brian Williams’s “NBC Nightly
News” desk, and glimpse the ”Saturday Night Live” set. The guides may be overly
scripted, but at least they’re energetic, and details on Brian Williams’s
make-up routine are not to be found anywhere in Wikipedia.
New Yorkers are rare there, but those who accompany out-of-town friends won’t
suffer too much. And they get a cultural bonus: a rare chance to spend an hour
with a cross-section of America.
PRACTICE, PRACTICE. OR TAKE A TOUR
Radio City Music Hall Stage Door Tours, daily, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., $17; (212)
307-7171 (Ticketmaster); www.radiocity.com
.
Madison Square Garden All-Access Tour, daily, 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., $17;
www.thegarden.com .
Yankee Stadium, the Classic Tour, schedule varies, $20; (212) 307-1212;
www.yankees.com .
Carnegie Hall tours, every day through June, $10; (212) 903-9765;
www.carnegiehall.org
Metropolitan Opera Guild Backstage Tours, weekdays at 3:30 p.m. and Sundays at
10:30 a.m., $15, in season only; (212) 769-2020;
www.operaed.org .
NBC Studio Tours, daily, 8:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Saturday; 9:30 to 4:30
Sunday; (212) 664-7174, $18.50;
www.nbcuniversalstore.com .
The Backstage Sights,
the Locker Room Scents, NYT, 1.6.2008,
http://travel.nytimes.com/2008/06/01/travel/01weekend.html
Brooklyn or bust
If you've seen the sights of Manhattan,
why not follow the lead of many New Yorkers
and head to Brooklyn for an alternative view of the city, says Paul Berger
Paul Berger
Guardian.co.uk Monday May 12 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/may/12/newyork.brooklyn.usa
Walk of
the town
Joshua
Stein joins the Manhattan Shorewalkers for their annual Great Saunter,
a 32-mile waterside walk around the entire island
Wednesday
May 7 2008
Guardian.co.uk
Joshua Stein
This article was first published on guardian.co.uk on Wednesday May 07 2008.
It was last updated at 10:53 on May 07 2008.
I've lived
in New York City for nigh on nine years. So I've certainly walked around
Manhattan but until Saturday, I'd never actually walked AROUND Manhattan. The
entire perimeter of the island is 51.5km (32 miles) and the Shorewalkers' annual
Great Saunter covers all of it. The Shorewalkers, an organisation of
littoral-loving New Yorkers founded in 1982, has been doing this grand tour for
23 years. "See Manhattan at three mph!" they say. On Saturday morning at 7.30am,
I and hundreds of other shore lovers and expert walkers gathered under an
overcast sky at the South Street Seaport. The crowd was older, many were
bearded. They had walking sticks and panama hats, gaiters, hiking boots. We were
given numbers to affix to our backs. They meant business. I, still hungover from
a night at the fights, wasn't so sure.
Photograph: Joshua Stein We started off our trek heading south around the
southern tip of Manhattan. We passed the Peking, a beautiful 1911 four-mast
barque anchored at the South Street Seaport; walked past the Staten Island Ferry
Terminal; through Battery Park - at 7.30am on a Saturday deserted save for a
lonely fisherman casting out into the water and a park service employee raising
the American flag. Castle Clinton, a fort used to repel British attacks in 1812,
sat squat in the fog.
Most of the west side has been developed into lush greenways. Moving northerly,
these include Battery Park City, Hudson River Park, Riverside Park, Riverbank
Park and finally Inwood Hill Park. As we walked north we passed the
child-crammed playgrounds of Tribeca. The Nelson D. Rockefeller park due west of
Chambers Street hummed with assorted squads of Little Leaguers. They looked like
they were part of some mock heroic battle manoeuvres, fatigues replaced by
bright uniforms reading "Gee Whiz Diner" on the back.
The West Side makes for a fair and breezy walk. Kids' playgrounds give way to
West Village where you'll find Pier 45 aka the Christopher Street Pier, which
has long been a hangout for the gay community. Passing Chelsea Piers, home to
the fitness industrial complex of the same name, one can't miss Frank Gehry's
twisty headquarters of IAC. Past Chelsea and into the Upper West Side, the
western shore of Manhattan takes on a leisurely pace. The elevated gardened
strip of the Riverside Park Promenade above the 79th Boat Basin is about the
most aristocratic mile of Manhattan you can find. Community gardeners have
transformed the acre or so into a verdant oasis. The Parks department keeps an
up-to-date schedule of the blooming flowers. A brightly festooned maypole and
blossoming cherry trees welcome the spring.
Apart from the natural world, the most impressive monument is the Joan of Arc
memorial on Riverside Drive and 93rd Street. Erected in 1915, the bronze statue
looks defiantly out on to the Hudson. The base, made of Mohegan granite, also
includes stone from Rouen Tower, in which Ms Arc was imprisoned and fragments
from old Reims cathedral where Charles VII was crowned. A bit further up,
beneath the George Washington Bridge, the famous Little Red Lighthouse keeps
perky watch over the steady rolling of the Hudson.
The northern most tip of Manhattan is taken up by Inwood Hill and Fort Tyrons
Parks, wilder, older, less structured versions of Central Park. Up Inwood way
one finds the Metropolitan Museum's The Cloisters, a beautiful monastic cluster
of buildings dedicated to renaissance art. As I approached Inwood Hill Park at
the very crown of Manhattan, I weirdly heard the beat of a huge drum circle. I
had happened upon a pow-wow, a gathering of Native Americans. According to the
2000 census, most of Manhattan's 7,167 Native Americans live in this northern
tip of the island. A semicircle of stalls had been set up in a large field. They
sold, among other things, venison sausage tucked into a puffy, crunchy fold of
fry bread, dream catchers, feathered outfits. In another nearby field, squads of
Little Leaguers were nearing the bottom of the eighth inning. We took a lunch
break for a few minutes, aired out our dogs (at this point the blisters had just
begun to form) and headed southwards down the East Side of Manhattan.
Frankly, the East Side is, for the most part, no great shakes. It hasn't been
prettified as the West Side has. From Inwood until Harlem, the route by the
river looks out on to bizarre Bronx shantytowns across the Harlem River to the
east, and the rush of traffic to the west. A surprising exception is the
beautiful Peter Jay Sharp boathouse in Swindler Cove Park. A little further
south, the northern desolation breaks into the dog-and-kid friendly Upper East
Side. Finally, a beautiful elevated stretch called the John H. Finley Walk,
after a former president of City College and editorial page editor for the New
York Times, offers the East Side visitor the verdant glory of the West Side.
By this point, around mile 24, my hips were aching. Every step was agony on my
hip flexors. I took frequent breaks, watching the occasional tug boat make its
way downstream, while infuriatingly spry old people marched past me. "We'll save
a seat for you at the bar," they called. I inhaled sharply and continued on.
The shorewalker will pass the squat and tall buildings of the United Nations,
taking note of the UN Piece Cleaners, a cleverly named dry cleaners. There's a
statue garden. Groups gather for tours. Weddings happen. Protests occur. It's
the final stretch back to the South Street Seaport. It's a little past 5pm at
this point. The railings of Stuyvesant Cove, a well-kept park, are lined with
fishermen. A pedestrian pathway winds through crab grass. Red-breasted
mergansers swim in the East River, feathered flotsam who seem out of place in
the trash-strewn water.
I crossed the bow of the Peking at 6:30pm, 11 hours after I started my
circumambulation. Already at the Heartland Brewery, the elderly walkers were
downing a congratulatory pint. I, however, called a cab, hobbled in and went
straight to the steam room.
Walk of the town, G, 7.5.2008,
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/2008/may/07/newyork.usa
Related
The Guardian > New York City Guide
http://www.guardian.co.uk/travel/series/new-york-city-guide
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