Roarshock in New York

Too bad you can't stay a few more days to check out the Ace 50th anniversary at RCMH. 

A walk around the South Street Seaport and Battery Park is a must. Start at BP check out Lady Liberty standing stiffly then wander over to the Seaport.  Wall St and Freedom Tower where the Twin Towers once stood are only a couple blocks in if you're interested in seeing that. Right next to the Seaport is the Brooklyn Bridge, in between them across the street is a nice place for substance - The Paris Cafe

The Paris Cafe
https://www.pariscafenyc.com/

You can take all that in by walking.

After that you can cab it uptown (The Bronx is up and The Battery's down) to Grants Tomb. Not sure what's happening at the Beacon, but a couple blocks up Broadway from there is my favorite pub in the city - The Dublin House. Any time I go to the city a Guinness there is a must.

 The Dublin House
https://www.thedublinhousenyc.com/

Visiting the Met, The Intrepid,  and Central Park are always fun too.

I'm sure you would love this place.

https://www.strandbooks.com/

Beloved and legendary, the iconic Strand embodies downtown NYC's intellectual bona fides – a bibliophile's Oz, where generations of book lovers carrying the store's trademark tote bags happily lose themselves for hours. In operation since 1927, the Strand sells new, used and rare titles, spreading an incredible 18 miles of books (over 2.5 million of them) among three labyrinthine floors.

Check out the extensive section on Americana on the 1st floor and browse eye-catching merchandise (iPhone covers, tote bags, paratrooper messenger bags). Or sell off your own tomes before you get back on the plane: the Strand buys or trades books at a side counter Monday through Saturday.

Take a walk on the Highline

https://www.thehighline.org/

The Staten Island ferry is free and leaves from Battery Park. Great view of lower Manhattan. Free cruise with a view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hotel_Chelsea

Strawberry Fields in Central Park is a must for me every time I visit NYC.

Mc Soreley's for a few beers... love the smell of that place

https://mcsorleysoldalehouse.nyc/

great Thai food here

https://www.thaivillanyc.com/

I'm another California guy who has only been to NYC once, and while I did a few of the "touristy" things, the best thing I did (other than see two outstanding Grateful Dead shows at MSG) was when I just started walking, with no destination.

On our last day there my friend wanted to go shopping, which didn't appeal to me at all, so while she hit the stores I just started out from our hotel on 34th street, ended up at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, and then walked all the way back, just winding around the city.

I thought I'd get tired but that never happened, it was just endlessly fascinating to wander the streets of Manhattan and see the town.

I did enjoy going to the top of the Empire State Building, the views were amazing, and being a venue/rock history/Bill Graham nut the one thing I regretted was not getting to where the Fillmore East was, just to stand on that corner and feel the vibes, otherwise it was just wandering the endless concrete canyons that entertained me the most.

Stone street Lower Manhattan

https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g60763-d105043-Reviews-Sto...

Jimmy's Corner is a great place to hide from Times Square if you unfortunately find yourself in that part of town. It's one of the real dive bars with quite a history. 
140 W44th street between Broadway(7th ave) and 6th avenue 
 

https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2020/may/15/jimmy-glenn-boxing-bar-tim...

I also like the  BXL Cafe.  It's a Belgian bar on 43rd st. Between 7th and 6th ave. 
Both are good nooks to cranny in. 

^ 6th Ave. is also known as The Avenue of Americas.
This may be important because I once needed to know which direction on 6th Ave I had to go as I was walking from the Gramercy Park hotel to an appointment.
I wasn't sure if the place I was going to was north or south. I thought I'd ask a little old man, figuring he would know the area pretty well.
When I mentioned 6th avenue to him, he want into a screed about how I should have said AOTA and nearly bit my head off. Also, he wouldn't tell me what I wanted to know.
As I headed up the street, I looked back and he was still yelling at me almost all the way up the block. I managed to figure it out on my own. Safe travels, Roarshock.

If it's a nice day, head to Washington Square Park and enjoy the buskers. From there, walk to SoHo, China Town, Little Italy, and the Lower East Side. There's no need to have a set purpose.

Personally, I love the Museum of Natural History. Entry is a suggested donation.

New York is a tourist city. You're a tourist. Enjoy it.

Washington Square Park has the cool chess hustlers. 

The Marriott Marquis in Times Square in a good place to stay or just step inside and see,. They have a revolving restaurant on the top with awesome views of Mid-town. Great at night. For a first time visitor to NYC I think it's the best place to stay if you can afford it. At least check it out if in Times Square/

https://www.marriott.com/en-us/hotels/nycmq-new-york-marriott-marquis/ov...

Lots of great ideas above.

I love the Empire State Building Observation Deck.

Really gives you a sense of the sheer size of NYC.

Little Italy and Chinatown are fun too.

Of course tons of live music. If you like Jazz this is the Jazz capital of the world.

RRE @ The Cap 3/19.

The High Line

The first part of this video is a good introduction to the FREE Staten Island Ferry.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pg8DnRlVZUQ

The High Line

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L2y8wAbxWnI

Just a short trail ride to Portchester from NYC and you have a handful of shows to choose from at the glorious Capital Theater.  

Sorry to say Jimmy's Corner may have closed due to pandemic...

Agree on the SI Ferry and Highline.  If you do the Ferry, there is Flagship Brewery within walking distance of the ferry terminal on the SI side.  Good beers with food located next door. 

If you're down in Battery Park, the Native American Museum is right there and is also free to enter- no suggested donation or anything.  If you're down that way, stop in the Killarney Rose or The Patriot and raise one to our brother Lites.  Patriot is cash only though. 

Don't know if you're with a crew or not, but Carmine's is always a good meal with family style servings.  Yeah, yeah it's in Times Square, blah blah blah...

If you're in the Village you can walk around and find the buildings from the cover of Physical Graffiti and things like that.  

Walk across the bridges.

If you are looking for a bit of a trek, check out the Cloisters.

Eaten ar Carmine's a bunch of times. Good Italian food with humongous portions. Need to be in a group. Always left with a lot of leftovers.

Good, cheap Chinese eats/zero atmosphere: China Gourmet, 8th Ave b/t 52nd/53rd.

Food is phenomenal, but somehow the eggrolls are vile.  Just.  Don't.

Top-Five NYC General Tso's Chicken per NY Daily News a few years back.  Orange Beef, Egg Foo Young and Lo Mein all excellent.  

It was my Friday night regular when I worked in-office.  Well worth the walk from east of 6th Ave (you'd be hard pressed to find someone NOT mentally ill refer to it as Avenue of the Americas).

Awaiting official word on return-to-office (3/21).   Off-the-record, I'm hearing that we "Business Professionals" will continue to WFH.

Outside of dropping the wife at Penn Station a few times, I haven't set foot in NYC since 3/13/20.

I'll shoot you an email before you hit the city and we'll figure something out.  

I haven't seen the High Line since before it was completed.  We happened upon two weddings within 45 minutes.

Grey's Papaya is legend in NYC for cheap hot dogs. It's take and eat on the street or they have stand up counters to scarf it down.

I always went to the one a few blocks from Washington Square Park years ago when it was $1 a hot dog. Looks like it might not be open now.

https://grayspapaya.nyc/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u3Gnvzrw2ak

>>lox and bagels, pastrami

That's easy, and they are within blocks of each other. For bagels and lox hit up Russ & Daughters. For pastrami Katz's is a must. In between hit up the Tenement Museum to burn off some calories. Then, for a snack, make a left out of Katz's and 3 doors down is Yonah Shimmel's. Grab a half dozen knishes to eat later.

Don't know if it's still called Bill Graham's Way......

Hey,  have a Great Time Mr. Roarshock.  It's hard not to have Fun in New York,  New York,  the City so Nice they had to name it Twice.

Staten Island Ferry is Free,  but you have to disembark at the terminal and then get back on.  There might be a couple good Pizzerias and THai places in walking Distance on Staten Island.

It's a bit tricky finding the right subway trains to get there;  don't try it at night.

ChinaTown is Great,  but not comparable to SF ChinaTown.  Little Italy is not far from there.

Oh,  and the Ray's ripoffs documented in the Cartoon show 'Futurama' are not terrible,  but you want "Ray's" not Famous Rays or Original Famous Ray's.
 

^^ Oh, man.  The Kiev!  So many zonked hours of chowing down and people watching.

It was like a Lou Reed song come to life.

With french toast.

Bryant Park is an interesting spot,  I believe designed by the Olmstead group that did Central Park.  Near the big Public Library in midtown.

https://bryantpark.org/

https://bryantpark.org/the-park#horticulture

The trees that look like Sycamores are actually Plane trees.  Close cousins,  look very similar.
Bryant Park used to be drug park maybe in the 1980's and 1990.s,  but they did some landscaping modifications and now it's a safe and happy place.

Sleep tight!

Tomorrow is another NYC adventure!

Glad you like it.

Buckle Up as Phil said.

I think all legal weed in Manhattan is that Delta 8 or some such.

Avoid it at all costs

You've got mail.

Is that still a thing?

So waiting for photos Roarshock.

Roarshock, if you'd like to email me some pix, I can post them for you. Address is in my profile.

Sweet pics!   My son says the dreary winter weather has finally broken and folks are out and about.

Are you going to check out Brooklyn and Queens?

It was beautiful a few days ago, Got up into the 70's for a couple days but colder times ahead.

Thanx Mikey for the uploads.

Roarshock, you might want to explain some of the pics.

Is that one photo of the reincarnation of John Belushi?

>>>I have been impressed by the kindness of people I meet.... Polite and friendly people<<<

That was my experience in NYC as well. 

I was SO prepared for the "east coast attitude" when I was there.

But no. Everyone was so damned cool, so "east coast nice".

Which is damned nice.

And a fine way to be.

A fine example for ALL of us!

My pleasure, Roarshock. Like I said in an email, I have a quicker way to post pics on Viva and will probably start a thread about that this week.

My God, that pastrami sandwich looks good!

Any good buskers in Washington Square? It looks like it was a beautiful day and packed.

Thanks for the photos, Roarshock and Mike. 
There is a tutorial for posting pics in Formatting on the left side of every page of the black screen. 
 

Carry on!

Roarshock, since you're a poet, and because you had a pic of the White Horse Tavern, I wonder if you know Dylan Thomas' last words.

judit, the tutorial for posting pics under Formatting is the one people have such a hard time with. There's a much quicker way to get pics posted that requires a few more steps. I'll start a thread in the next day or two.

Thanks, mike.

Much quicker, few more steps. That sounds funny.

You are of course correct, sir. I suppose that's one way to rage against the dying of the light.

Did you feel that the pastrami was worth the trip? 

I was so inspired by your pic that I ordered from Katz's 2 lbs of pastrami, a loaf of rye, 2 knishes, and a chocolate babka. It came today and will be dinner tomorrow. Food like that is foreign to Vermont.

Glad you liked it. The place is iconic. I've been going there since before I could walk.

Russ and Daughters is for real. Did you get anything there?

My New York recommendation for Saturday 

Glad you're having a great time Roarshock, and thanks for sharing your trip. NYC does get a bad rap and my experiences there are usually real good. Lots of people get surprised by the hospitality.  

Have you tried the Hello Deli and seen Rupert yet? (Letterman.) 

I'll be at the Brooklyn Bowl tonight. Love to  buy you a beer. 

Anybody else singing Sting - "Roarshock in New York"?  

Ha. The place looks even stranger in a photo.  The pink bust gives the background real Pythonesque flair.

Great to see you, D.A.  We've still working on leftovers.  Safe travels!

Sing it Sting....      I'm an alien             I'm a left-coast alien             Time for Roarshock in New York

Sounds like a magical trip. Nice. 

So did you do the SI Ferry, High Line, Strand Books and Chelsea Hotel.?

And glad despite the weather you enjoyed NYC.

>>>>I could spend a lot more time there.

Yep, it's fun and LOTS to see. Throw in the surrounding area (and DC isn't far, either) and there's a lot of cool things to check out. 

Kinda how I feel when I come in for my 4-5 day trips for HSBF in October in San Francisco. Never enough time. Glad it was great.

It was fun to read about your adventures, Roarshock. Thanks for taking us along.

Sayville was my home town! 

Fillmore East baby

The Fillmore East.

Thanks for sharing your travelogue Roarshock.  I won't be spending as much time in the city as you did, but am anticipating seeing Radio City Music Hall tonight.  
 

Took a two hour road-trip upstate with two of my brothers yesterday to see a piece of property one of my brothers bought to hopefully develop into a farm in a Broom County.  We were traveling through some beautifully scenic landscapes featuring some of the best trout fishing spots in the land.  On the way back, we visited another famous concert venue:

Damn. I must have missed this thread and would have popped into NYC to meet up. Hell, True, the East Village rocks but I'm more of a Lower East Side/Bowery Boy. Glad you had a blast. 

Roarshock, thanks for sharing your work. I really like the short lines and all the imagery you had to work with. One question: Does this have any stanza breaks? I'm asking because formatting text on the black screen can be kind of tricky, and there seemed to be a couple of places where this verse wanted to breathe.

Nice!

Endless Elmos

Will play the the Thursday noon slot at some festival one fine day.  Let's put a band together!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LSj7ArLcpJ4

Roarshock I'll be at the little Run and Hide Brewery pre-show, around 5pmish... same side of Westchester Ave as the CAP, but up the street a few blocks.. past the fire station.  Per usual, all are welcome. 

Im trying to wear a costume but look for dark hair and big boots, LOL.

Never mind: Run and Hide Brewery is closed on Mondays.

Another reason not to have a show on a Monday.

You should have started a new thread!

Good thing you found me anyway (:

(((Next Time)))

Sorry to have missed you Roarshock, I hope your Philoween was spectacular!

^^^^ Me too!