36 hours in NYC next weekend

In My Humble Opinion
1

I just booked a freaking sweet deal for a two night stay at a Midtown hotel next weekend. I’ll be mostly hanging with my little brother, who lives in Turtle Bay.

I’m looking for suggestions on what to do. I’m mostly in to art and music - modern and garage rock/blues, respectively. I’m definitely going to MOMA, and I’ll probably hit Otto’s Shrunken Head for some live music Friday night. I’m going to try to keep the typical touristy stuff to a bare minimum; I mean, I’ll cruise through Times Square, briefly, but I’m definitely not going to be seeing any shows. Food-wise, I’ll eat just about anything, so some cheap ethnic goodness that I wouldn’t be able to get in the Midwest would be great. Shopping wise, I plan on checking out Muji and any excellent used vinyl and book shops that people happen to recommend.

Sooo… any suggestions?

It’s really weird being a 31-year-old dude who’s never made it to NYC before.

2

If you like used book shops, visit The Strandnear Union Square. Staggeringly large.

And that’s just a hop, skip and a jump to Khyber Pass a tasty Afghani restaurant. It’s on St. Marks Place, so you’ll have to push through a bunch of punk rock mid-westerners to get there, but it’s good.