It’s normally a late night on Friday. Actually, Saturday as well.
You betcha! I’m flying ATA, LaGuardia to Chicago Midway, then Midway to Flint. You?
BTW, I’m tickled pink & griddled brown that you’ll be in NYC. It’s been ages since I’ve seen you! And you are bringing your safari pics, right? 
Uncle Bill I am putting out all kinds of wishes for that store in Lexington Ky to be able to get that kilt to you.
Persephone I was just waiting for someone to ask. I swear, I really don’t pack them on every trip I go on - I swear!!
But you didn’t answer the rest of my reply! We’re going to the same airport, we’re leaving at roughly the same time…are we on the same freaking flight, or what? 
Nope, not the same flight, but close enough to share a departing mamosa on Monday!!!
More info on Queens visit
Anyone who is planning to do this as the Saturday day activity, or is thinking about just maybe considering it, should email me (address in my profile) and I will email you back my cell phone number. Or, if you are attending Blondie’s at Friday night, ask me for the number then. (Asking earlier in the evening will probably increase the chances of me reciting the correct number, mmmv.)
We will be having lunch at Uncle George’s Tavern in Astoria. The Greek food is excellent and the prices are very moderate. You can review their menu (in Greek and English) on their web site.
We will then go to MOMA (the Museum of Modern Art) QNS. They like to stick that “QNS” on the end to indicate that the museum in in Queens at the moment, because the “traditional” MOMA building in Manhattan is currently closed during undergoing an extensive renovation. (In case anyone was wondering why we were going to Queens.)
In addition, I realized that we will also be in the neighborhood of the American Museum of the Moving Image, if we want to add a stop. This museum contains information and artifacts from the earliest days of cinema up to the most cutting edge digital media. Admission is $10 for adults and $7.50 for seniors or students (with ID). If you email me, you might mention if you would be interested in including this or not, I figure we can pretty much go with the flow. If people want to do this, we might get going a little earlier than 11:30 AM.
Our transportation plans, once we’re in Queens, are going to depend a lot upon the weather – we might do some walking if it is nice, or not if the weather is terrible. If anyone wants to meet up with us for some portions but not others, the cell phone contact info will come in handy!
Amending my Sunday plans. I’m interested in the Ellis Island tour with Billdo, and have a couple of questions about logistics and timing: The weather looks like it will be very cold, does this short ferry ride offer protection from the elements? How much of the Ellis Island experience is outdoors?
I’m interested in watching at least some of each of the championship games on Sunday, which are scheduled at 330pm and 645pm. Who else wants to watch the Patriots game in the afternoon? Anyone have a favorite sports bar in Manhattan? The NFC game will be played during the dinner hours, but that’s the game which interests me even more so I guess I’d like a place where I can get comfy and hang out for the duration.
You’re on, baby.
Most, if not all of the Ellis Island should be inside. I didn’t go through it, but I have been there before and all I saw was inside. The boat trip should have two levels, the on on top will probably be open, the lower one should have at least some protection. Of course I did this in the summer so maybe they have more weather protection in the winter.
Y’know, I thought I was missing a thread. But to be declared tracking in circles, that’s almost insulting
Regardless, I’m happy to say that MrsB and I will be joining the crew for quite a few things: the gathering at Blondies (although we’re only likely to be there around 8 pm), The Queens tour to the Moma, and Dinner at America.
It looks like our book club will be meeting on the Sunday, but if not I’ll gladly romp through Central Park and go to dinner somewhere-- probably not Brazilian… And Billdo, I’ll come munch bagels on Monday too-- and may even have a few Montreal bagels to offer as comparision.
NEW YORK CITY MEGADOPEFEST WEEKEND IV – JANUARY 16-19, 2004
Here’s the latest for Page 4 of the thread. This update includes new details of the Dinner choices on Sunday Night. An exciting addition to our daytime plans is that fellow Doper and NYC history expert stuyguy will be along on the Brooklyn tour on Saturday and Central Park tour on Sunday to discuss the 1898 consolidation of New York (symbolized by the Brooklyn Bridge) and the formation of Central Park, respectively, and the role within both of “forgotten visionary” Andrew Haswell Green. The New York Times recently profiled stuyguy for his “quixotic one-man campaign” to honor Green’s massive but underappreciated influence in shaping the City. For those of you driving in, the City has online maps of off-street parking facilities.
If you could continue to discuss what you’re interested in attending, we appreciate it so we can better plan our activities.
The current schedule 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) from 6:30 on (until at least 11:00) to eat and hang out.
Saturday, January 17 (day): Three options:
*Queens Tour:*Lunch at Greek Taverna in Astoria & Museum of Modern Art in Queens. Meet at information desk (under clock) at Grand Central Station at 11:30 AM, to take the 7 local to Queens. Lunch at at Uncle George’s Greek Tavern, 33-19 Broadway (corner of 34th Street) in Astoria, Queens (menu in link). After lunch (approx. 1:30/2 PM), visit to MOMA, admission: $12 for adults, $8.50 for students and seniors (must have ID). Quoth delphica: “We will view works by Max Ernst, Andy Warhol, Marcel Duchamp, Paul Cezanne, Piet Mondrian, and Jasper Johns, among others. I will even dust off my art history degree and come up with some mildly interesting things to say about what we are seeing. Approx. 4, or whenever we are done, we will return to Manhattan (the island, not the former mod), in time for people to stop back at their hotels/apartments to prepare for dinner.” Possible side trip to American Museum of the Moving Image. Plans may vary due to weather, so please contact delphica for her cell phone number, and see her post on page 3 of this thread for further details.
Brooklyn Tour: The zoltarb/OxyMoron Saturday-in-Brooklyn Tour Starts with lunch at Brooklyn landmark Juniors, 386 Flatbush Ave. Ext at DeKalb Ave. (M/N/R/Q to DeKalb Ave.) at Noon. As Citysearch says: “It’s all about the cheesecake.” (Cost, up to about $20). After lunch, a short walk to the newly reopened New York City Transit Museum at Boerum Place and Schermerhorn Street (2/3/4 to Borough Hall), admissions: $5.00, no student discounts. The group should get there by about 1:45 in case people just want to meet at the museum. After the museum, there’ll be a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to Manhattan (dress warm). The crossing is free, and some of our knowledgeable New Yorkers will talk about the history and legend of this great engineering feat.
Comics/Gaming Tour: The group will meet at the Red Roof Inn Manhattan, 6 West 32nd Street, bet Broadway & Fifth, (B/D/N/R/Q/W to 34th St/Herald Square or 1/2/3/A/C/E to Penn Station) at 11:00, have a quick, basic lunch (probably pizza) and then move out. TruePisces’ plan: “hit Jim Hanley’s, then the Compleat Strategist, then Neutral Ground. If we have time, we’ll head down to Forbidden Planet and the Strand Book Store”, and perhaps some more Anime stores on Elizabeth St. Cost: $5-10 for lunch and as much or as little as you care to spend for shopping. Since TruePisces will be coming in Saturday morning, she asks that you contact her before the Dopefest to make sure she knows who’ll be coming. She has further details on Page 3 of this thread.
Saturday, January 17 (evening): The MegaDopefest Dinner at America restaurant, 9 East 18th Street bet. Fifth & Broadway, (4/5/6/N/R/Q/W/L to 14th St.-Union Square). Please arrive for dinner between 6 and 6:30. (menus with prices). Dinner will be followed by post-Dopefest drinks at No Idea, 30 East 20th Street (bet. Bway & Park), where we have the back room reserved. One trademark of No Idea is their Name Night, where any person who has the nightly name drinks on the house until 11:00, so if anyone’s real name is Carl, on Saturday he’s drinking for free.
Sunday, January 18 (day):
Ellis Island Tour: A visit the Ellis Island Immigration Museum, where you can learn about America’s history as an immigrant nation and the experiences of some of your ancestors. We’ll meet at 11:30 at the Castle Clinton National Monument in Battery Park (4/5 to Bowling Green, 1 to South Ferry, or N/R to Whitehall Street) and pick up ferry tickets ($10). We’ll board the ferry (with enclosed cabin) for the short ride to Liberty Island (we’ll skip the Statue of Liberty, which is closed to visitors for security reasons) and to Ellis Island, where we’ll go through the museum. We’ll probably pick up a bite at the snack bar. Afterwards, depending on time and interest we can see some other sites in downtown Manhattan. I think that Ellis Island is one of the most interesting museums/sites in the City because it vividly shows the conditions experienced by some of the waves of immigrants that have populated (and continue to populate) this country. (Billdo)
Central Park Tour: A Sunday ramble through Central Park, starting at about 11:30 at a location to be announced. lisabethnyc is putting together a low-key trip to some of the highlights of the park. She’s looking for people to post about what there interested in seeing, possibly including the Zoo, Carousel, Skating at Wollman Rink. She’s also trying to arrange some historical discussions about the park.
Sunday, January 18 (evening):
NEW DETAILS FOR ETHNIC FOOD NIGHT. We’ll be having three choices, and for each, please meet at the restaurant at 6:30.
Chinese in Chinatown: Hop Kee Restaurant, 21 Mott Street (downstairs), corner of Mosco St. (J/M/N/R/Q/W/6 to Canal St., east to Mott St., 3 blocks south of Canal St.). This choice will probably be the least expensive of the three. Possible dessert at an Italian pastry shop in Little Italy. If you’re interested in this selection, please mention it to manhattan during the weekend.
Indian on 6th Street: Haveli, 100 Second Avenue, bet. 5th & 6th (6 to Astor Place, N/R/W to 8th Street). This is the only handicapped-accessible choice, and the closest to Ace Bar, where we’ll be going afterward. The link has a few menu selections listed, but we’ll probably be ordering a selection of appetizers and dishes and sharing them family style. If you’re interested in this selection, please mention it to Billdo during the weekend.
Brazilian in the West Village: Delicia, 322 West 11th Street, bet. Greenwich St & Washington (A/C/E, 1/2/3 to 14th Street). Fabulous Brazilian hole-in-the-wall restaurant. If you’re interested in this selection, please mention it to OxyMoron during the weekend.
After dinner, we’ll all meet up at Alphabet City hangout/dive bar Ace Bar, 531 East 5th Street between Avenues A & B (just about an equally inconvenient walk to F at Second Ave, L at First Ave, 6 at Astor Place and N/R/W at 8th St). The bar has pool, darts and a wall full of vintage metal lunch boxes dating back to the 1950’s.
Monday, January 19 (day): Billdo’s Bagel Brunch. Bagels and Lox on the Upper West Side. 11:00 to 2:00 I’ll have details to distribute at the other events.
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. (There may be late night groups heading out from the evening activities 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. (You may also want to see the discussion on page 2 of this thread).
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. For those of you driving in, the City has online maps of off-street parking facilities.
Most events are at wheelchair-accessible locations. Please post or e-mail if you have special needs so we can fully accommodate you.
The latest list of the expected Dopers:
Thinking of what to pack: Acrylic Vessel (F-Su), Anita Vacation (F-M), av8rmike (F-Su), Banger (F-M), Barbarian + Mrs. B (F-M), Biggirl (S+), Billdo (F-M), Canby (F-M), Cosmopolitan (S-M), CuriousCanuck + gf (F-Su), DAVEW0071 + Mrs. Dave-Guy (F-S), delphica (F-S), E-Sabbath(S), Eonwe (F-M), Edward the Head (S), Eutychus (F-M), FriendBill (S), Geobabe (F-Su), GingerOfTheNorth (F-M), Gorgon Heap (F-Su), Helen Wheels (S), Happy Scrappy Hero Pup (F+), Houseman (S+), Jack Batty (F-Su), Jane D’oh (F-M), JohnBckWLD (F-S), Juniper200 (S), LaurAnge (F-Su), lisabethnyc (F-Su), LolaCocaCola(F?), Maeglin (S), manhattan (F-M), MannyL (Su+), matt_mcl(F-Su), Mehitabel (F-M), Moe(F+), nyctea scandiaca (F-M), OpalCat (F-M), OxyMoron + bf (F-M), Persephone (F-M), pseudotriton ruber ruber (S+), RTFirefly (F-M), scott evil (F-Su), Sakura (S), saramamlana(F+), stuyguy (S-Su), SuaSponte (F-Su), sunfish(F-Su), SmackFu (S), TruePisces (S), UncleBill (F-Su), Verrain (S), vix (F-Su), Winterwren (F+), Weirddave (F-M), Zappo (F-S), Zoltarb (S+)
Thinking of whether to pack: Annie-Xmas, bristlesage, cherry, CrankyAsAnOldMan, DaisyFace, DynoSaur, Hamadryad, jinwicked, imthjckaz, KidCharlemagne, mala, Miss Creant, Mr. Cynical, paperbackwriter, primesite, pravnik Skerri (& boyfriend), Spit, starkyld, tkeana, whatmove.
Already packed it in:: Airman Doors, USAF, andygirl, bouv, Casey105, Colibri, Eve, jeremy evil, kyla, lurkernomore, MsRobyn, Olentzero, porcupine, Ringo, rocking chair, UncleBeer, Tripler, Wicked Blue
To answer a few of your questions:
OpalCat and the rest of the games gang, we’ll have the back room at Blondies, and they probably wouldn’t mind a bit of unobtrusive card-playing in our area while we’re there. The weekend is set up so we have some set activities, but people can break away to do their own thing whenever they want, so feel free to organize any other game sessions you want to.
TruePisces (and Verrain), sorry you won’t be able to make it for more of the weekend, but we appreciate the work you’re putting in.
Mehitabel, thank you for posting. It was tough holding my breath for all of those weeks waiting to learn what you’d be doing. I look forward to seeing you and your smugness. To answer your question, it would be great to have your father along (or anyone else that is interested).
saramamlana, some of us expect to be at Blondies until at least 11:00. There may be groups that go
Anita Vacation, the ferry to Ellis Island has an enclosed cabin, so if you don’t want to brave the cold, you don’t have to. The museum is all indoors, though you can walk around on the grounds a bit if you want to.
And everyone, the weather forecast for the weekend is currently for clear but cold weather, and most activities involve at least a bit of walking, so please take suitable warm clothing and comfortable walking shoes.
We’ll probably also be joining the MOMA group on Saturday because we really needs to get ourselves somma dat culcha.
Oh, and Anita, I forgot to mention that Blondies is one of our favorite sports bars. Also, Ace Bar isn’t a sports bar, but it will have the game on behind the bar next Sunday.
In fact, just about any bar in the City will have the game playing.
If they’re a bunch of people looking to watch the game Sunday, who want to try someplace else, we be happy to provide suggestions.
Me!
Don’t know a thing about sports bars in Manhattan, but I’m sure we can find a convenient one for the afternoon game. I think I’ll settle for seeing the end of the late game at Ace.
I’ll definitely be there Friday night and possibly Saturday night.
Update: Definitely in for America and No Idea. I may do the game tour, and if so, one of my hosts may be along for the fun.
I have another game I could bring (we got it for Christmas): CRANIUM. I’ve never played but I’m told it is excellent for groups. Anyone want me to lug it along?
Indian Food: I’ll be there! I’m up for “family style” if there are vegetarian dishes being ordered, otherwise I’ll just buy an entree for myself off the menu–no problem
I figure I should check in.
I’ve been avoiding the thread because my plans have kind of turned up in the air. I’m still planning on coming, but I don’t know if I can afford this/find the time. I thought I was gonna get stuff figured out tonight, but I didn’t, but I’ll post as soon as I know for sure. It might be that I’m only there for Fri and Sat, I don’t know.
Honey, you live in Flint, fer Gawd’s sake. NYC everything is infinitely superior to that!