CLASSIC TRIP - New York, New York 2000 - Part 2

In Part One of this trip, we were upgraded to the Presidential Suite, had two rude breakfasts, went to the Bronx Zoo, Times Square, the Brooklyn Bridge, the Statue of Liberty, and rode several miles of subway.  Today, we find that in this very expensive city, it is possible to eat well and very cheap.

After dinner we walked over to the New York Comedy Club where we were met at the door by manager and comedian Steve Aarons. At showtime, we were led into a hallway where we thought we were on the way to the showroom. At least that’s what we thought, the hallway turned out to BE the showroom. In what has to be the most cramped space I’ve ever seen in a comedy club, we watched several very funny comedians and a few mediocre ones. When the show was reaching the 3 hour point - with no end in sight - and the raunchiness of the comedians reaching new highs, we decided it was time to call it a night before our 13 year old’s mind was filled with even more clinical descriptions of human sexual behavior.

With the last comedian calling out “Tim! Don’t leave...Tim’s dad, bring him back, we still got more” we excused ourselves. Mr. Aarons was nice to us as we left, bidding us a fond goodnight and we made it back to the hotel at about 2 in the morning - again via the #6 bus.

Day Four, Monday. Monday dawned crystal clear - just the weather we’d been waiting for. Breakfast today was at the A & H store ½ a block from the hotel. They have a wonderful breakfast made and served by some truly nice people - what a change from Lindy’s and Sbarro’s - for less that $3. I really wish we’d had found this place a couple of days ago.

The Empire State Building is spectacular at sunset

With this clear weather, we walked the two blocks to the Empire State Building and drank up the views on top - both at the 86th floor outdoor observatory and the 102nd story indoor one. The outdoor observatory has either wall cutouts or a raised platform that wheelers can use to enjoy the views. The upper indoor observatory is very small and has a wall blocking the view. The staff here provides a periscope so that wheelers can look over the wall. The periscope is then given to the visitor as a souvenir of their visit and it’s a nifty one too. This was the second time we’d visited here and it’s well worth the trip. The view on a clear day is truly one of this country’s best.

Next was a subway ride on the Q line from Herald Square to the Lexington Avenue station where it was a quick walk over to the Roosevelt Island tramway. The tram was only running once an hour, so we red-lined that off of the itinerary and caught the 57 bus over to 5th Avenue so the ladies in our group could gawk over the jewels in Tiffany’s.

Several dozen dollars lighter after buying more souvenirs at Tiffany’s, we take the #3 bus up to 72nd Street, and then take the #72 bus over to Broadway to another New York landmark...Gray’s Papaya.

Fortunately for us, the owners of Gray’s don’t know the recession is over yet. Their recession special gets you 2 deliciously snappy all beef hot dogs and a glass of the juice of your choice for only $1.95. After dining on these delicious, cheap dogs, we head back to the hotel for an afternoon rest-up.

The dog walkers at Central Park

Dinner time and we head back up to Central Park West for dinner at Tavern on the Green. This landmark restaurant built in an old sheep barn is a New York tradition that does not disappoint. In opulent surroundings under 500,000 sparkling blue lights, we dine on rib eye, prime rib, fettuccine, topped off with delicious New York cheesecake. After dinner we walk through the park, coming out at the Dakota Apartments at 72nd Street where John Lennon was murdered on the sidewalk.

Hundreds of thousands of lights adorn Tavern on the Green

A rather well intoxicated bongo playing resident pushing a baby stroller loaded with bongos, boom box, and a couple of cases of beer starts up a jam session with Tim. He introduces himself to us as "Dangerous Dan, the Bongo Man."  After 3 songs and several encores, we are finally able to continue on and return to the hotel where the group celebrated by getting pretty lubricated ourselves before retiring the final time in our huge midtown suite.

Day Five, Tuesday. Ah, if it’s Tuesday, it must be time to go home. After a quick breakfast of donuts and coffee, we check out and take the train back up Long Island to Islip airport. We do have a 2 ½ hour layover in Boston so we take the T (their subway) over to the State Street station for a quick look a Fanieul Hall and a beer in Quincy Market before boarding the 6 hour flight home.

-Darryl
Copyright 2000 - Darryl Musick

CLASSIC TRIP - New York 1999, Part 1

UPDATE: 5-2-11, I had other plans for articles this week, but they'll keep.  It seems like a good week to celebrate the great city of New York instead.

Let's go back to 1999 to our first trip to the Big Apple.  Standard disclaimer, prices, events, and other items are accurate for 1999-things have changed...

In our travels around the country, one place intimidated me...New York. I heard all the horror stories about the crime, the filth, rude people, crowds, traffic, etc. My old boss (from Brooklyn) told me about how he got a flat tire and while he was changing it, someone started to steal the rear tire. You see movies like Taxi Driver and Mean Streets and have to wonder.

My son, on the other hand, had no such emotional baggage. He always wanted to see this city. He wanted to go up to the top of the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Times Square, and perhaps most of all to ride the Cyclone in Coney Island.

A couple of years ago, we decided to take a fall trip to the northeast corner of the country to see the fall colors. Since New York was only a few hours to the south, we decided to spend a couple of days there just to see what it was like, give Tim his time there, and continue on our way.

The short story? My illusions of the city were shattered. None of my preconceptions held any water at all. We loved it and made it a point to come back in the spring for a longer trip. Now the long story...

Our flight into Manchester, New Hampshire arrived two hours late. A rather long drive finally deposits us at the Susse Grand Chalet in Stamford, Connecticut at four o’clock in the morning. Dead tired, we happily climb into bed.

(to see what I think of Susse Chalet, my review is at http://www.epinions.com/content_42139750020 )

We wake up in time to catch an 11:00 Metro North train into Grand Central Station. 35 minutes later, we exit into Grand Central’s beautiful lobby. Being our first time in New York, we can’t help ourselves and quicky run out the door for our first glimpse of Manhattan’s famous skyline. A sense of vertigo envelops us...we have no idea where we are...and we see the familiar sight of the Chrysler building and the Met Life building.

It’s time to head back in to continue on our way to Brooklyn and Coney Island. We set ourselves up for quite a challenge. The MTA’s web site says that 33 of the city’s subway stations are accessible. Armed with our $4 fun passes (a one day pass that gives you unlimited rides on the city’s buses and subways), we feel that nothing can stand in our way.

Plotting this out on the excellent, free subway map we got at the information booth, we see that the B line (which goes to Coney Island) stops at the Lexington Ave. station near Central Park and also has an access symbol on it. The 4�5�6 lines go from Grand Central to the Lexington Ave. station. It’s decided to take the 4 up to Lexington and then switch over to the B.

Two things come up wrong with this plan. First is almost immediate and has to do with looking at our map a little closer. Although the Lexington Ave. station is accessible for the B line, the 4�5�6 line part of the station isn’t. Whoops. We cheat a little and take the escalator up to the B line station.

Once on the B train, problem number two crops up, although compared to the first problem is relatively minor. The B train turns out to be a local, stopping at every station along the way. It will take forever to reach Coney Island. On the other hand, we occasionally see a D train, the Coney Island express, stopping across the platform from us. Quickly, we decide to transfer at the West 4th Street station and continue on.

Eventually, we get to Coney after a scenic ride through Brooklyn (the D line goes elevated here). Brooklyn looks a lot like East L.A. The Coney Island station was built in 1919 and is certainly showing its age. It’s dark, dank, even a bit scary looking inside. But it has that very welcome accessory...an elevator.

We emerge onto the corner of Stillwell and Surf, directly across from our lunch destination, Nathan’s. Nathan’s has been here for eons selling their world famous hot dogs. We grab a few and are not disappointed. They are very tasty. This Nathan’s is also very popular for its seafood. Some of the locals there swore by the fried clams. This bit of legendary New York cuisine sets us back only $10 for the three of us.

Unfortunately, Coney Island’s famous amusement parks are closed for the season. Tim & I were hoping for a ride on Cyclone, revered as one of the world’s top coasters. No ride today, only pictures.

Time to take the D back to Manhattan to the Herald Square station, which is accessible (but the elevators are very hard to find and no one there seems to know where they are). A short walk over to Grand Central and we hop back on the 4 train southbound to the Brooklyn Bridge. This time access works as planned and the elevator deposits us directly across from the walkway over the bridge. Here we get an unforgettable walk with great views over this old, historic span.

The bridge is clothed in deepening darkness. It’s to return to Grand Central and catch a Connecticut bound train home.

Scroll down below for Part 2...
 
-Darryl
Copyright 1999 - Darryl Musick

CLASSIC TRIP - New York 1999, Part 2

Back in 1999, we visited New York for the first time.  The first day, we took the subway to Coney Island.  Now, we head back to see some sights in Manhattan.  Back in the WayBack Machine we go...

Today is our Manhattan day. Maybe we shoulda done it yesterday too, but we just had to see Coney Island.


We retrace our steps to the Brooklyn Bridge station and start walking towards the Battery. It’s Columbus Day and we stumble onto a sidewalk festival around Bowling Green Park. The three of us eat a lot of strange and colorful food and wash it down with some beer and soda.

Arriving at Battery Park, we head over to the water to see the Statue of Liberty. It’s amazingly small. Much smaller than we were prepared for, but still, it’s one of those things you want to see. It reminds me of how everybody has to see Hollywood when they get to my hometown, only to be amazed at how dirty, depressing, and disgusting it is. At least the statue is just small...none of the other bad things can be said of it.

The wait for the ferry is several hours. We already know that the statue itself is not accessible, so we content ourselves by gazing at it from the shore. We do want to get a closer look, however, and NYC’s public transit system again comes to the rescue.

The big yellow boats of the Staten Island Ferry will take you right by Liberty Island on a scenic, free, and accessible cruise over the bay. Even close up, the statue still looks small. The view of Manhattan from the fantail is what postcards are made of though.

Back at the Battery, we walk a few blocks up to the World Trade Center. New York’s tallest buildings are actually a big complex of buildings atop a mall and a sprawling subway station. I am shocked and deeply saddened, today, that a few lunatics could erase it off of the landscape.

The map here shows several lines are accessible. The station master told us only the E line was. Lacking any other obvious signs of access, we boarded the E line to Penn Station, which our map said was accessible.

Penn Station, at least on the E line, turned out to have stairs...no elevator. Doing it over, we would take the E a little bit farther to the Port Authority station where there is an elevator. We work Tim up the stairs in relays with him and his chair and proceed down 34th Street to our next destination, the Empire State Building.

Along the way, hungry for lunch, we decide to try some New York pizza. We find a little hole-in-the-wall called Spinelli’s and have a few slices. Yes, New York pizza is delicious and, yes, you need to fold it to eat it right.

We find the usual handicapped entrance to the Empire State Building on 34th is closed but a maintenance worker quickly directs us around the corner to the entrance on 5th Ave. Although not signed as such, an accessible entrance does indeed reside there between two revolving doors.

A guard directs us to an elevator to go to the basement where the ticket counter is. Like Disneyland, you skip the line here if you are disabled and go right up to the counter to purchase tickets for the observation deck. Adults are $6, kids $3, and handicapped are comped.

Next, an ear popping ride up to the 80th floor followed by a another quick ride to the 86th floor deck. An additional elevator goes up to the 102nd floor but was closed this day. The deck we were on is the one you see in “Sleepless in Seattle”.

The view from here is amazing. On a clear day, as ours was, 50 mile views are possible. Even a jaded kid like Tim was impressed by it. After the obligatory visit to the gift shop for miniature versions of the building, we head uptown (by foot) towards Central Park.

Along the way, we swung through Rockefeller Center to see the ice rink and the Today set and then up 5th Avenue by Tiffany’s to the park.

We just did a quick loop through the southern end by Tavern on the Green and Wollman Rink to see what it was like. As it was getting dark, we headed south to Times Square.

Here the lights knock our socks off and the energy of the place seeps in. The the vibrancy of New York is on full display. We also find the only clean public restrooms we saw in the city at the Times Square Starbucks.

We’re only there for the facilities and end up having some drinks, music, and a marvelous time at the accessible Times Square Brewery.

At the end of the evening, it’s a short walk east to Grand Central Station for our train home.

Back in 2011 - This was, of course, only our first trip to New York.  After having had a taste, we'd return again and again.  Those reports will be coming up on future episodes.  

-Darryl