CLASSIC TRIP - New York, New York 2000 - Part 1

Those of you who have followed our adventures over the years know that we love New York.  I'd have to say that, pound for pound, it's the most exciting city in America.  Here is a recap of the second trip we took to the city back over a long Martin Luther King Day weekend in 2000...

Our 2-day New York adventure last fall whetted our appetite for more. We had so much fun that we decided to return in the late winter/spring to explore it a little deeper.

This time, by carefully tracking hotel room rates, we were able to find a hotel in Manhattan. I hate to say it was inexpensive because at $120 a night it would be up there almost anywhere else. In Manhattan, that’s a bargain. We stayed at the Hotel Pennsylvania, across the street from Madison Square Garden and Penn Station.

The flight was on American Airlines into Islip on Long Island with a change of planes in Boston. From here, we took Colonial Shuttle from the airport to Ronkonkoma station on the Long Island Railroad. The train then took us to Penn Station, directly across from our hotel.

One final note before we begin, all subway stations mentioned in this article have elevators for accessibility.

Day One, Friday, was spent traveling. The only thing worth noting is that when we arrived at the hotel, they didn’t have two standard rooms available...we had reserved two and confirmed them with the provision that one had to be wheelchair accessible. Just when it was starting to look bad, the manager upgraded us to the Presidential Suite at no extra cost.

While the bathrooms were not as accessible in the regular sense, the chair fit in it and Tim was able to use whatever bars and counters there were to hold himself up and transfer.

The suite itself was immense. 3 big bedrooms, one big bathroom and two smaller ones, a living room, walk-in closets, dining room and kitchen. We had views in three directions looking east to the Empire State Building (the picture at the top was taken from our room), South to the World Trade Center (RIP), and west to a room in the other wing.

Day Two, Saturday. We woke up to rain and 40° temperatures. The weather forecast on Yahoo had predicted this so we were ready with our wet weather clothes. After breakfast in the lobby at Lindy’s...overpriced with an attitude...our expedition begins.

We walk over to Grand Central Station. Transit could have got us there faster and easier, but we were in the mood for walking that morning and were rewarded with a glorious, if wet, stroll up Park Avenue into America’s most beautiful train station. While drinking in the views of the marvelous zodiac ceiling, we pick up our transit passes for the day and make our way over to the subway station downstairs (access via elevator next to the center 42nd Street entrance).

The wooden walkway of the Brooklyn Bridge

 We get off at the Brooklyn Bridge stop, make a lap across this American icon and back, and head back to Grand Central on the subway. We had a member of our group who, for reasons only known to him, had dreamed of going to the Bronx someday. We board a northbound Metro North train to Fordham Station in the Bronx. From there, the #9 bus takes us over to the entrance to the Bronx Zoo.

While it would have preferable to see the zoo on a clear day, there are still enough indoor exhibits to make a trip in the rain worthwhile. In with the gift shop was a great display of elephants and tapirs. Nearby was the monkey house with dozens of playful primates, probably the most enjoyable of all the exhibits. After that was a display of waterbirds and birds of prey including an enormous Andean condor.

Times Square

 To finish off this incredibly hectic day, we toured Times Square with its blinding advertising displays and dined at a wonderful little Italian place called Sam’s on West 47th Street.

The theaters of Broadway are just off Times Square

Our plans were to finish off by downing some cold brews at Times Square Brewery, but it was just way too crowded.

Day Three, Sunday. Despite a few little remaining sprinkles, the rain appears to be gone and the sun is making a valiant effort to break through. The temperatures remain mired in the 40's but today we shall be dry. We start by having a breakfast buffet at Sbarro’s across the street from the hotel. The price is much less than Lindy’s...$4.99 for all you can eat compared to $11.55 for two eggs and toast...but the staff’s attitude was downright rude. At least in New York, Sbarro’s will not be on the itinerary anymore.

Lady Liberty

We start by taking a downtown train, the #3, to the World Trade Center from Penn Station. From here, we walk along the Hudson to Battery Park...about 8 blocks. The crowds are fairly sparse here today, so we take a gamble and buy tickets for the Statue of Liberty ferry. Once you have your tickets, wheelers get to cut in the front of the line eliminating any wait (a Jamaican fellow selling knock-off sunglasses was kind enough to tell us this when we head for the back of the line).

This is as close as you get in a wheelchair

After a quick ride, you’re on Liberty Island looking up at the statue. Again, wheelers cut to the front of the line but you’re limited to visiting the pedestal and can’t actually go in the statue itself - it takes being able to climb 354 steps to get to the top. Overall, I think you get a better view of the statue from the free Staten Island Ferry than you do on the island itself.

Back on the ferry to Battery Park - we skipped the stop at Ellis Island - where we caught the #6 bus back to Herald Square. Here we dined on some delicious New York pizza though I couldn’t see a name on the place. Then it was a two block walk back to the hotel where we rested up for the evening activities.

Later, another #6 bus took us down Broadway headed for 19th Street. It broke down at 24th Street so we walked the rest of the way. We had dinner at Friend of a Farmer on Irving Place between 18th & 19th Streets. Good food, not spectacular, but decent.

Stay tuned for part two and our encounter with "Dangerous Dan"...

-Darryl

Copyright 2000 - Darryl Musick

TRANSIT REPORT - NEW YORK CITY

UPDATE: For service status following Hurricane Sandy, check this page: MTA Service Advisory

New York is a dizzying, confusing place but, if you do your homework, you can navigate your way through the city in a wheelchair.  Here are your major options.

AIRPORT TRANSPORTATION - The two major New York airports are Kennedy and La Guardia.  Amazingly in this city of subways, neither is connected to that system.  Your best bet is to either request an accessible taxi at the taxi stand, or to book an accessible shuttle from a company such as Supershuttle.  If you're more adventurous, and don't have a lot of luggage, you can catch an MTA bus.  At La Guardia, it's not too far to take the 48 bus to Queen's and catch the 7 subway there into the city at the accessible Flushing-Main St. station.  At Kennedy, you can take the AirTrain to the accessible Sutphin subway station (E line) or to the accessible Howard Beach subway station (A line).  We did try the bus option from La Guardia.   It's doable, but coming back it's very confusing finding the right bus stop when you get off of the subway.  We haven't tried the Kennedy option yet.  There is also train service from Newark airport and nearby the Islip airport, which you'd either have to taxi or bus to...it would be about a mile walk from the airport to the train station.  We did this via a taxi one time...if possible, I'd rather fly into one of the other three airports.

SUBWAY - Let's face it, it's just not New York without the subway.  When possible, it's also the fastest way to get around.  There are currently 33 accessible subway stations in Manhattan listed on the MTA's website.  Some popular locations with accessible stations are Times Square, Herald Square, Penn Station, Grand Central Station, Brooklyn Bridge, Rockefeller Center, Roosevelt Island, and the World Trade Center station.  Outside of Manhattan you have Yankee Stadium, Coney Island, and Flushing Meadows Park.  There are several more non-accessible stations where you can transfer between lines in a wheelchair.  It is very important to study the map and information provided by the MTA's website for particular access information, for example some lines may be accessible in a station while others in the same station are not such as Times Square, where the shuttle (S) is not accessible.

The basic fare for buses or subways is $2.50. A 7-Day pass is $29. (2012)

BUS - All buses in New York are accessible.  We had no problems on any bus or with any drivers while we were there.  The only problem is that they must also sit in traffic, although they have dedicated lanes on the busiest streets.

STATEN ISLAND FERRY - is accessible and a great way to get good views of the city and the Statue of Liberty. The Staten Island Ferry is free.

STATUE OF LIBERTY/ELLIS ISLAND FERRY - is accessible.

ROOSEVELT ISLAND TRAMWAY - is accessible.

TAXIS - Most are not accessible.  You'll usually need to call a dispatcher to have one sent, it is very hard to hail an accessible cab on the street.

LONG ISLAND RAILROAD - In Manhattan, the LIRR uses the accessible Penn Station, underneath Madison Square Garden.  Click the link for a map of accessible stations.

METRO NORTH RAILROAD - For points upstate and Connecticut, the Metro North uses Grand Central Station, which is accessible.  For points across the Hudson, Metro North uses Penn Station, which is also accessible.  Click the link for a map of accessible stations.

-Darryl
Photos courtesy of Wikimedia Commons
Diliff and Janke under CC-BY license
Daniel Schwen under CC-BY-SA license
Kris Arnold under CC-BY-SA license

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