The New York Dopefest Organizing Committee is pleased to announce the preliminary schedule for:
NEW YORK CITY MEGADOPEFEST WEEKEND IV – JANUARY 16-19, 2004
We’ve changed to having the January MegaDopefest on the weekend of the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, and the expanded format has allowed us to add some new activities.
The schedule of events (subject, as always, to change) is:
Friday, January 16 (evening): Welcome gathering at Blondies, 212 W 79th St (bet. Bway & Amsterdam), 1/9 to 79th or B/C to 81st. We’ll have the back room of this sports bar known for its chicken wings (menu).
Saturday, January 17 (day): Three options:
Lunch at Greek Taverna in Astoria & Museum of Modern Art in Queens (delphica)
Walk across Brooklyn Bridge, Pizza at Grimaldis & The New York Transit Museum (OxyMoron & Zoltarb)
Tour of New York Gaming and Comic Stores (TruePisces)
Saturday, January 17 (evening): The MegaDopefest Dinner at America restaurant, 9 East 18th Street (bet. Fifth & Bway), 4/5/6/N/R/Q/W/L to 14th St.-Union Square. Dinner will be followed by post-Dopefest drinks at No Idea, 30 East 20th Street (bet. Bway & Park).
Sunday, January 18 (day): Three or four options:
Broadway Matinee of Avenue Q (Warning: Full Puppet Nudity). (lisabethnyc)
Ellis Island museum (Billdo)
Central Park Zoo & Carousel, Skating at Wollman Rink & Fifth Avenue shops (sponsor TBA)
Possibly another museum if interest is there.
Sunday, January 18 (evening): Ethnic food night – dinner at some interesting ethnic restaurants of New York. So far we’re planning Chinese in Chinatown (possibly with dessert in Little Italy), Indian on 6th Street, Brazilian in the West Village, Belgian in Chelsea and a cuisine to be named later. We’ll all meet up after dinner at a bar to be determined.
Monday, January 19 (day): Billdo’s Bagel Brunch. Bagels and Lox on the Upper West Side.
We’ll be filling in more details of the schedule as the date grows nearer. As always, we’d be pleased to have you come to as many or as few of the events as you wish. Although the main Dopefest dinner is our centerpiece, many people particularly enjoy the smaller smaller group events. If you want to break off individually and see other New York sights, we’d be happy to give advice as well.
You can’t get around the fact that New York is an expensive place to visit. We try to keep most of our events on the reasonable side (many are downright cheap by New York standards), and we will link to menus, price lists and the like when we can. However, please plan and budget for the trip appropriately.
For those planning their travel, we recommend that people fly into LaGuardia, Newark or J.F.K. airports. There is good public transportation from each into the City, and if there is a significant price difference in flights, you should probably pick the cheapest (and if they’re about the same, pick LaGuardia). Other airports in the region (e.g. Islip) are difficult and expensive to get to and from, and not recommended. Reasonably priced hotels that people have stayed at include: Hotel Olcott, Hotel Wolcott (not to be confused with the Olcott) and the Red Roof Inn Manhattan, and the Hotel Pennsylvania (yes, its phone number is Pennsylvania 6-5000). Free on street parking is available in parts of the City (including the Upper West Side where the Olcott is located), but it can take a long while to find a space, and you have to be very careful in reading the often confusing street signs to avoid a ticket.
Most events are at wheelchair-accessible locations. Please post or e-mail if you have special needs so we can fully accommodate you.
The following Dopers have expressed interest in coming (we’ll ask you to confirm your attendance later): Acrylic Vessel, andygirl, Annie-Xmas, Airman Doors, USAF, av8rmike, Banger, Barbarian, Biggirl, Billdo, bouv, bristlesage, cherry, CuriousCanuck, Cosmopolitan, DaisyFace, DAVEW0071 (& Mrs. Dave-Guy), delphica, DynoSaur, E-Sabbath, Eonwe, Geobabe, GingerOfTheNorth, Gorgon Heap, Hamadryad, Jane D’oh, jeremy evil, jinwicked, JohnBckWLD, imthjckaz, KidCharlemagne, kyla, LolaCocaCola, lurkernomore, mala, olentzero, OpalCat, OxyMoron, Maeglin, manhattan, MannyL, Miss Creant, Moe, Mr. Cynical, MsRobyn, Persephone, porcupine, pseudotriton ruber ruber, Ringo, rocking chair, RTFirefly, Sakura, saramamlana, scott evil, Skerri (& boyfriend), Spit, TruePisces, tkeana, Uncle Beer, UncleBill, Verrain, vix, Weirddave, whatmove, Winterwren, Zappo, Zoltarb,
Victims of those dreaded “circustances”: Colibri, Eve, Tripler
Can’t wait to see you in New York in January.
