New York in June

Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
1

I will be in New York City on the 13th of June. (Ennio Morricone conducting a 200-piece orchestra at the Barclays Center; I am seriously stoked.) That’s a Friday; thought I’d take the train and make a full two days of it. I haven’t been to New York for a while (and that area hardly at all). What’s good to see in that part of town (Prospect Park, perhaps, and isn’t there an art museum somewhere), any decent hotels, and what’s the best way to get there by train?

Oh, and would anyone care to meet up for lunch or dinner?

2

You’re probably thinking of the transit museum, but Barclay Center is right on the Atlantic Av. subway stop, and very close to the Brooklyn Bridge, so you can get to Manhattan very easily. You can go pretty much any place you want in Manhattan. The subway is very fast.

3

I thought there was a Brooklyn art museum, but a transit museum sounds kinda cool.

Any decent hotels in that area, too? (I gather there’s no good shortcut to just taking the train to Penn Station and transferring to the subway.) Anything interesting happening in NYC that weekend, or something new (in the last 10 years, or so) that I shouldn’t miss?

4

The excellent Brooklyn Museum is right around the corner from Barclays, and right next to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, Brooklyn Public Library and Prospect Park.

5

Yeah, but it’s Brooklyn. I always have trouble getting into Brooklyn- I tend to forget my passport in the apartment. In Queens. They always stop me at the border. :stuck_out_tongue:

You could take the № ⑤ into Manhattan and get off at Grand Central Terminal and walk around that beautiful building. Always a lovely thing to do.

6

It’s actually not possible to travel directly from Queens to Brooklyn by any mode of transportation. The most efficient way is to catch the autogyro via Tuscaloosa.

(A common ruse is to convince credulous out-of-towners that there’s a subway which connects Court Square to Park Slope. What rubes!)

7

There is a G train but it’s more like a really ugly unicorn than an actual train.

Brooklyn’s great in June. I grew up there. Go to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens if you have time. They have a lot of cool things including an entire room full of bonsai trees, a Japanese garden and a rose garden in full bloom. Right next door is an adorable zoo and the Frederick Law Olmsted designed Prospect Park.

I would be happy to set aside a weekend day if I have time. My girls are cute and I can bring you to some truly unique Brighton Beach Russian restaurants if you like. They have chicken kiev and shasklik for the meat eaters and amazing Russian salads for those who prefer vegetarian fare. Followed by fanciful, delicious and amazing Russian chocolates for anyone who likes chocolate.

8

I’ve been there, several times (but just not lately). I’m sorry I missed the real Penn Station in its heyday.

Ooh, now that does sound tempting. Olmsted is practically a saint in Boston, and I even went through Beardsley Park in Bridgeport, Connecticut, a couple months ago.

And good chocolate, you say?

Anyone else going to the Morricone concert, by any chance? I am seriously looking forward to; the guy wrote some of the best film scores of all time.

9

From the Botanic Garden and the Museum (it has its own station on the 2/3) its just a short hop on any train that comes to Junior’s cheesecake at Nevins street.

The Brooklyn Museum’s Egyptian collection is said to be one of the best in the US. Definitely worth a visit. Current Exhibitions

Interactive Prospect Park Map.

The transit museum is pretty fun too. Its a 10 minute walk from Junior’s.

10

I think the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens would be good at that time. Check to see if the cherry blossoms are still in bloom!

And have pizza :slight_smile:

11

Now there’s a thought. Isn’t there supposed to be some legendary pizza place right under the Brooklyn Bridge or something?

12

You might be thinking of this one:

I’ve never been there, but it sounds good. I would do a pizza tour. You could walk the bridge too.

13

Yeah, that sounds like the place.

I’m ahead of you on that one; did it several years ago. (That may have been my last trip to NYC, come to think of it.)

14

are these Russian restaurants close to the subway? which do you recommend? I will be in NY in October.

15

I grew up in Brighton Beach. The Russian restaurants I am thinking of are those there. Brighton Beach is very accessible by subway. The entire area is basically right under the B and Q train lines. Take the B or the Q train to the Brighton Beach subway stop. This takes about 45 minutes or so from Manhattan. It’s the end of the line for the B train and nearly the end of the line for the Q train.

Once there, you can walk down from the subway platform and explore one of the most interesting areas of NYC, at least in my opinion as a native. A few blocks down to your left you’ll have a very nicely kept boardwalk with a view of the Atlantic. It gets a bit cold by October but you’ll still see many people strolling on the boardwalk. The walk goes on for a few miles into Coney Island.

I like several Russian restaurants in the area. My favorite is probably Primoski. The vegetable platter appetizer is a feast of things you’ve probably never tasted before. If you’re only going for one item to try first, try the stuffed eggplant with walnuts. The smoked fish are also excellent, a sort of Russian, Georgian and Jewish mix of spices applied to fish to create a really nice version of lox. Most of the hot appetizers are also really good – classic Russian potato dishes with lots of dill. For a main course, I highly recommend the shish kabob or the chicken kiev. You must also sample the thick, buttery lavash. I’ve never seen this bread anywhere else.

The rest of Brighton Beach is filled with all sorts of fruit markets and places selling Russian chocolates and other Russian cultural items. Don’t miss the hot pirozhki . They’re little Russian donut-ish things that are sold with filings like meat and cabbage.

If you want Russian chocolates, smoked meats and other dishes to take home, try Taste of Russia, Gastronom Arkadia or Brighton Bazaar. Basically you’ll find thick rye bread of all kinds, picked everything (the locals love their pickles!), various stuffed dumplings, smoked meats of every possible permutation with dill, salads with dill from eggplant and red pepper, smoked fish, potatoes of course with dill, chicken soup dripping with dill and then chocolate covered everything. The motto is either cover it with dill or dip it in chocolate here. Oh and fancy pastries and Russian tea and coffee.

It’s a sort of mélange of Russian, Jewish, Ukrainian cuisine with a splash of middle east throw in for good measure. Get off the subway and look around. You’ll find about ten blocks of Little Odessa there and then right behind the NYC Aquarium and what’s left of Coney Island.

It’s a strange place to grow up but there are worse things than having an ocean for your backyard and hot dilled potatoes for an afternoon snack.

16

*“I love New York in June,
How about you?”
*

You might also enjoy the Promenade in Brooklyn Heights. A beautiful neighborhood (see Montague Street) and spectacular views of the lower Manhattan skyline . . . especially at twilight.

And if you’re a lover of cheesecake, you must try Junior’s.

Not far from lower Manhattan, if you want to visit Ground Zero (I’m sure it’s called something else these days).

Or how about a ride on the Staten Island Ferry? Great views of the skyline and Statue of Liberty.

17

Both you and friedo cracked me up with this. Indeed, the G train is the train to nowhere from nowhere. One hears stories of it rumbling along in refuse-strewn stations, down rusty dingy tracks to neighborhoods nobody’s heard of. It’s tragic, really.

A neighbor told me a while back that he stumbled onto that train by accident once at Court Square. He was inebriated on Greek moonshine. Which is in of itself a remarkable solvent. Anyway, he got onto the N train in Astoria, stumbled onto the 7 at Queensboro and then blacked out. Apparently he’d fallen down some stairs and onto a train. A train with no clear stations.

3 weeks later he emerged from a hollowed-out tree trunk in Van Cortland Park. :eek:

Oh, and yeah I deeply second Brighton Beach. Aaaaaaamazing foodstuffs, great shops for Russian delicacies. And that boardwalk- love it !!!

18

I am not sure if I am on the road then, but if you are in Brooklyn and want to see some guitars that Mary Ann* would like to get to know better, you would want to go to RetroFret, one of the best shops for old / vintage guitars in the country…

*for those not in the know, he named his Stratocaster Mary Ann…

19

You can catch a Cyclones game while you’re down in Coney Island too. That’s minor league baseball – it’s about $10 and there are usually sweet giveaways and bizarre entertainment* throughout the night.

*Guy dressed up as Henry VIII, who is not the mascot
*Giant seagull, who is the mascot
*Other seagull, who is also somehow the mascot
*Nathan’s Hotdog race
*Irish dancing girls
*a baseball playing robot
*t shirt cannon
*Random cheerleaders
*Shout-outs to your homies on the main board
*whole stadium sings happy Birthday to a 9 year old.
*Jersey-off-the-back auction – sell off a player’s shirt for charity.

… it was like nonstop weirdness interrupted by a baseball game. My British friends LOVED it.

They’re home on the 14th:

Added: you can see the cyclones at the Staten Island stadium on the 13th, which is just a short distance from the ferry, and I’ve heard is also fun.

20

Already ridden the ferry. I did the 5 Boro Bike Tour a couple times; got to ride across the Verrazano Narrows Bridge and take the ferry back to lower Manhattan. Been up to the crown in the Statue of Liberty, too, before the restoration. I’d like to do that again someday, but tours are sold out too far in advance for this trip.