In just over a fortnight I’m off to New York so I’m looking for some general doper input and answers/pointers on a couple of questions.
Quick background, I’ve been to NY before and have done some of the tourist things. I’ll be there with a few other people but I’m not sure what they’ll do or what we’ll end up doing as a group. I’m there for 6 days Thursday 17th to Wednesday 28th Feb.
Shopping
I’d expect to be doing some shopping, I’m not a high-end label junkie more of a random jeans’n’t-shirt kinda guy, in particular cheap stuff.
A lot of what I’ve read about shopping in New York seems to concentrate on the department stores and the big brands, where would be smaller cheaper shops. In particular boots and shoes, I’m a UK size 13 (I think that’s US 14) and it’s a pain to get stuff that big without mail ordering it, I’d love to find a shop that had boots and shoes that size in stock.
And I’d also love to get me an I-Pod Shuffle if someone could point me to where I could get 'em cheap.
Presidents’ Day
I’m led to believe that it’s Presidents’ Day while we’re there. Whats’atallabout? Anything I should know, what sort of thing happens? Anything I should make a point of doing?
Atlantic City
We were thinking about a day trip to Atlantic City. Worth it ? Worth staying the night ? We’ve all been to Las Vegas before and we all enjoyed that. I like the odd gamble and wouldn’t mind playing a bit of poker if I went to AC.
The Rest
Basically anything else you want to say/suggest. I tend to like to do things that are a bit off the beaten track, a bit unusual which I guess is the sort of suggestions, comments I’m looking for. Tell me things I’m not going to find in the guide books.
Sorry for the vagueness, but thanks in advance for all your help.
Shopping - Downtown or L.E.S. for trendy/inexpensive. Particularly cheap…Try a big box, like Daffy’s or Century 21.
I-Pod Go to Park Row – J & R. They’re far more reputable than any (Fill-In The Blank) ‘Photo’.
Presidents’ Day - Similar to dentists & Trident gum, 4 out of 5 NY have absolutely no idea when it is and could care less.
Atlantic City - Harsh cold wind gusts off the Atlantic will keep you off the boardwalk. Geographically speaking, the 2 Indian casinos (Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun) in Connecticut are closer.
The Rest - Indoors I assume. Newly redesigned MoMA - or maybe the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You could consider summoning the locals for a MiniDopeFest.
8th street near New York University has many cheaper shops that cater to the University age type crowd. Tour through Soho for were prices vary widely.
Presidents Day, the only thing you need to know is that it is a bank holiday. So if you need to, for some reason, visit the Bank of London branck in NYC it will be closed. The Post Office will be closed as well.
But most stores do have a “Presidents Day” sale so that’s a plus.
IANAGambler but if my out of town guests wanted to go to a casino I would head to Mohegan Sun or Foxwoods. Most of the Casino’s in Atlantic seem to cater to the 65 and older crowd. I heard there is a new one there that is much better and if you would get some thrill out of visiting the town that the original Monopoly board got it’s street names, then go for it. (but summer time would be better)
NYC Dopers love to do lunch at the Algonquin…
Or diner at the Chelsea Grill…
But if you feel funny about introducing your RL friends to your doper friends I would understand.
Have you ever been bowling? You might give the Bolwmor Lanes a shot. It’s kind of a bowling alley/night club.
There’s a good strip on Broadway below Houston that continues down to Canal St…
As mentioned before, J & R music world. Take a 6 train to the City Hall station, and it will be there when you get out.
Nothing that I know of. In fact, things might be a bit quieter, or maybe not, you can never tell with this crazy city.
I’ve never been there, but it ain’t no Vegas, that much I know. IIRC correctly, it takes about 3 1/2 hours to get there each way. Not worth it to me but ymmv.
The Rest
Basically anything else you want to say/suggest. I tend to like to do things that are a bit off the beaten track, a bit unusual which I guess is the sort of suggestions, comments I’m looking for. Tell me things I’m not going to find in the guide books.
Sorry for the vagueness, but thanks in advance for all your help.
SD
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I always recommend the Staten Island ferry. It’s one of the best rides in the city, and it’s free! If you like Indian food head over to 2nd ave and 7th or 8th street on the lower east side. They have all thesee crayz places with christmas lights blinking away, plus the food is top notch and cheap as hell.
Cheap: yes. Blinking lights: yup. Clean: don’t look to close.
Part of the fun of doing Indian in NYC is seeing the competitive Indian places employees fighting over you(r business). Most of the places on the stretch mentioned are BYOB. A good way to mess w/ a fellow traveller is to tell the staff it’s their birthday.
Shopping- Depends on what you’re looking for, but my favorite spots are the upper west side, SoHo, and the village.
Presidents’ day-Things may be on sale. Or, they may not be. All I know is I don’t got school.
The Rest- Well, foodwise I’d have to recommend Gray’s Papaya, the Peanut Butter Co., and Ben’s Pizzaria: good food for cheap prices. As for other stuff, if you don’t mind being too impulsive you could just pick up a bunch of newspapers when you get here to find out what’s going on.
Since time absolutely flies there, it’s probably worth spending the night. But being a cheap bastard, we never stay in the hotels in town. You’ll pay half the price for a room 10 minutes away. Spend a few bucks on cab fare, and you’ll have an extra wad of cash to toss on the tables.
If you decide to make the trek, shoot me an e-mail and the wife and I’ll be happy to give a guided tour.
We’re going to NYC Feb. 17-20 to see the artist Christo’s latest project, The Gates. (More info about The Gates)
Check it out – I guarantee you will be amazed. Plus, you may never get another chance to see a Christo work in your life – or any other work of art that cost $15 million. There’s lots of things to do in and around Central Park, so you just as well go. There should be a good aerial view from the roof garden of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
Cheers for the replies everyone, sorry for taking a while to get back to this thread I blame work, timezones and World of Warcraft.
I remember hearing about the Christo project, I’ll definitely be going to see that. I think the hotel is quite close to Central Park anyway and I didn’t get much chance to explore that area last time I was there.
Cheers for the shopping pointers, that should enable me to work out some areas to places to mooch around in.
It occurs to me I hadn’t given much thought with regards to food apart from planning to seek out something in China town (I loves me some good Chinese food).
As to a dopefest, it might be cool to meet up with some people (I dunno wether my RL friends would join me or not) the problem being that I’m not, as is clear from this thread, 100% sure what we’re doing yet. I take it that a weekend night or day would be more suitable ?
When you say you’re going to “New York”, you mean “New York City”? New York is a state. If you’re visiting the whole state, you’ll get different suggestions.
Are your travelling companions NY natives or tourists like you?
I’ve been planning our 3-day visit to NYC for a month and right now consider myself an expert on being a tourist in NYC. I’ll be glad to discuss it endlessly. Email me if you want. I can tell you about subways, busses, tourist attractions, and general stuff that I think is cool.
This link is to a website that has menus (with prices) for most of the restaurants in NYC.
BTW Spaceeog, J & R Music World is one block over from Ground Zero, in case you had wanted to go there. It’s also a hop skip and a jump from the Staten Island Ferry.
Not to mention Wall Street, The South Street Seaport, Trinity Church, and the Brooklyn Bridge, The Woolworth building are all down there.
Although the Woolworth building won’t even let you in the lobby for a look if you don’t have business there, which is a shame. They should re-open the observation deck.
Yup, basically I mean New York City. One of the people going lived in New York State when she was younger. Two of us have been before as well. So we have some combined experience, I guess I’m looking for things that we might not think of or might not know about.
Thanks for the links and the advice, I’ll certainly check out J & R Music World and the surrounding areas.
Bowling in New York might be cool, any other suggestions for bars or things to do in the evening ?
Well, a friend of mine used to bartend (might still) at Korova Milk Bar in the East Village; it’s on Ave. A between 12th & 13th Sts. http://www.korovamilkbar.com
It really is quite "Clockwork Orange"ish - I obviously don’t know if that’s something that intrigues you. The size of the crowd depends on the night, but naturally, a Saturday night’s generally going to be busier than a Tuesday night. It has several small tables & chairs, at least one banquette, two or three chaise lounges, and a bar with seats. There’s usually something unusual playing on the TVs, sans sound.
I’ve no idea about the quality of the merchandise generally - I have one t-shirt. I can tell you that generally speaking, the drinks are quite good. Good selection of specialty & mixed drinks, mixed well. Thing is, be prepared to pay.
