TR: NYC according to BeanDip

[Art Shirk]

About a week ago, Beandip4all posted some places that she thought we be good attractions for out-of-towners in NYC. I printed it out and took off to New York and used its sage advice, so thanks much Beandip. I took many pictures with my point and shoot, none spectacular, but numerous of the areas Beandip mentioned. They will receive honorable mention.

I have flown through but never stopped for any extended period of time. Here is what I learned about NYC:
(1) It is a conglomeration of many different countries in one place -- a fact that is both sad and endearing;
(2) Everything is negotiable;
(3) Puerto Rican's will strap large stereos to their bikes, and leave their blaring bikes chained to a pole while they meander down Graham Ave;
(4) New Yorkers are actually quite nice;
(5) Garbage may actually be thrown on your head from above;
(6) I want to go back as a much richer man.

Here are a few from the journey:

The first night in NYC from the rooftop of my friend's brooklyn apartment.


A little mariachi on the subway.


Went to a dive in brooklyn that night as evidenced by the bathroom.


Brooklyn Bridge HONORABLE MENTION TO BEANDIP FOR THE CROSSING


A quick snap of my gf along with her cousin from Poland who was in town (left) and my friend Myles who was kind enough to let me crash at his place.


Dinner at Grimaldi's below the bridge. Fantastic pizza and cheap decent wine. HONORABLE MENTION TO BEANDIP


Then it was onto forty's in brooklyn. As my gf's cousin had never even heard of this horrible drink we forced it upon him.


Off to Greenpoint, a Polish neighborhood where my gf was born. Couldn't get the full frame but this church was magnificent.


Then we had to part ways with Marcin. Look for him as a senior editor of Playboy Poland. My dream job if I spoke a lick of Polish beyond "Let me floss your pussy."


Peter Luger's for lunch. A member of the owning family must inspect each cut of meat before it is sent below for further aging. One of the better steaks I have ever had.


I didn't know that they kept small jewish girls in cages.


More skyline.


We had some bagels and lox at Russ and Daughters. HONORABLE MENTION TO BEANDIP. FANTASTIC.


Literary walk. HONORABLE MENTION TO BEANDIP.


Central Park



A small park near Williamsburg with a great view



This was an amazing bit of graffiti entitled "cereal killers." Too bad the shot was so poor. The Trix Rabbit was icing Snap Crackle and Pop.


Coney Island. One of my books described it as "full of dilapidated charm and garishness." Bingo.


Down to Brighton Beach and the Russian district for some Moscow salami [insert joke].


Dinner in the West Village at a great Italian place. It took some work to get in there but it was worth it. HONORABLE MENTION TO BEANDIP


This guy had a much harder night than we had.


The oldest building in NYC.


We were told to hit the Shake Shack. HONORABLE MENTION TO BEANDIP. I thought the line was just a touch long.


Spotted a few treehouses above us in Manhattan.





Thanks for the great recommendations Beandip.

[Hutch]

Cool TR.

I think I liked this one the best.

[oftpiste]

That photo nearly fulfilling the as-yet unspoken requests of thousands of mags.

So that's where you were!!!

[Benny Profane]

Posers. Needs a whole lot more work to get anywhere near the original.

And, really, it isn't sad that NYC has people from nearly every country in the world. Not sad at all.

[Whiteroom_Guardian]

Nice!!!


NYC has tilted alot since I was last there!

[Art Shirk]

Skidog took the picture

And Benny, my point was that I am inspired by the melting pot but and discouraged by the fact that is really isn't melting. The Puerto Ricans were in their own world, the blacks theirs, the jews theirs, the whites theirs, the Polish theirs, the Russians theirs, etc. It is clear that there isn't an incidental separation, but that there is a deliberate divide. I didn't really see the spirit of New York City binding these people. Just my internal observation, and maybe it is not shared by others.

[BeanDip4All]

damn!!!

I am SO glad you guys had a good time and enjoyed some of my recommendations! Wasn't literary walk amazing? We're heading cross country next week for three weeks or so and I hope to go see Oak Alley near baton rouge... I hear it has a similar feel with the tree boughs lining a nice walk.

The fact that we are moving away from NYC in 5 short days makes this TR even more special to me. Whutta city... Im a little heartbroken to be leaving to tell you the truth... absolutely loved living here the past 5 and a half years. Hopefully will have as much fun exploring SF.

Cool how you made it out for some ethnic food in the boroughs! way to get your chowhound on, i am psyched you got into picolo ag... what was the wait like? normally they are "closed for a private party" until you give the host a 20.

your girlfriend has very cute boots, btw!

[Dug]

The Puerto Ricans were in their own world, the blacks theirs, the jews theirs, the whites theirs, the Polish theirs, the Russians theirs, etc. It is clear that there isn't an incidental separation, but that there is a deliberate divide. I didn't really see the spirit of New York City binding these people. Just my internal observation, and maybe it is not shared by others.

That's pretty much true for the whole country, and in fact, the whole world.

[stapes]

Thanks for sharing! I'm going for my 1st visit (besides the airport visits) in November and this got me pumped.

[Benny Profane]

Skidog took the picture

And Benny, my point was that I am inspired by the melting pot but and discouraged by the fact that is really isn't melting. The Puerto Ricans were in their own world, the blacks theirs, the jews theirs, the whites theirs, the Polish theirs, the Russians theirs, etc. It is clear that there isn't an incidental separation, but that there is a deliberate divide. I didn't really see the spirit of New York City binding these people. Just my internal observation, and maybe it is not shared by others.

Oh, they're bound. They mix and interact in many places, mostly work. Next time, check out Times Square and the Village on Saturday night to see a nice mix, too. And they're all living the city for the same reason - to make money. NYC attracts ambitious people of all color and race and education level.

Well maybe not the Orthodox. You'll only see them on 49th St. outside of their neighborhoods. But, they're pretty ambitious, too.

[bklyn]

rude....

[Benny Profane]

Aw, c'mon. I wasn't trying to be. But I've been to some Orthodox neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Queens where, I'll bet, some residents barely leave their block.

[AbsolutStoli]

beandip knows her shit!

thats awesome that you went to brighton beach. not many tourists venture there...are you russian?

[Trackhead]

Cool TR.

I think I liked this one the best.

Agreed.............nice backside, I mean, backlighting.

[B-Squads in Deep Pow]

Several posters have hinted at it, but none have come right out and said it:

Dude, your GF is f-ing hot !

nice TR...

[bmg97]

Here is what I learned about NYC:

(4) New Yorkers are actually quite nice;

Next time you tell someone that I'm gonaa break your legs

There's no nice people here ! Stay away... there's enough traffic.

[thin cover]

grimaldi's brooklyn, so much better than hoboken.

[Art Shirk]

beandip knows her shit!

thats awesome that you went to brighton beach. not many tourists venture there...are you russian?

Brighton beach was inspired by what I remember to be an Anthony Bourdain episode. I may be wrong. In fact, that is why I sought after M&I market.

And I didn't realize the transparent result of central park lighting

[grapedrink]

Thanks for sharing! I'm going for my 1st visit (besides the airport visits) in November and this got me pumped.

couple things to add to the list.. head to the top of 30 rock right before sunset, to go to nyc for the first time and not go up the empire state building or the ge building is just wrong. ge has better view, amazing view.. spend an evening in greenwich village, johns on bleeker has pizza that is arguably just as good as grimaldi's and you can catch a show at the comedy cellar afterwards and who knows who'll pop in. have some dim sum in china town. take a ride on the staten island ferry. walk central park from end to end. if you've never seen a dinosaur you can see a bunch at the american museum of natural history, for a unique museum experience you can visit the intrepid if you're into that kinda thing. the met and moma are great but if you've been to the big museums in paris and london you'll probably be dissapointed. walk past cbs/lettermans studio and ask if they've got any extra tickets for the show, slim chance apparently but it worked the one time i tried. check out a broadway show, i enjoyed spamalot, go to the tkts booth in times square for discounts.. that should be enough for a couple days.

[Art Shirk]

damn!!!

I am SO glad you guys had a good time and enjoyed some of my recommendations! Wasn't literary walk amazing? We're heading cross country next week for three weeks or so and I hope to go see Oak Alley near baton rouge... I hear it has a similar feel with the tree boughs lining a nice walk.

The fact that we are moving away from NYC in 5 short days makes this TR even more special to me. Whutta city... Im a little heartbroken to be leaving to tell you the truth... absolutely loved living here the past 5 and a half years. Hopefully will have as much fun exploring SF.

Cool how you made it out for some ethnic food in the boroughs! way to get your chowhound on, i am psyched you got into picolo ag... what was the wait like? normally they are "closed for a private party" until you give the host a 20.

your girlfriend has very cute boots, btw!

Thanks again for the tips beandip.

The really was no wait. I had a few tricks up my sleeve when I went based upon your comments and what I had read online. I was amazed as a "walk-in" that everyone after us was categorically denied a table.

The food was great. We had some great wine, some mussles as an appy,the gf had the pumpkin ravioli, and naturally I had the vodka penne. I was a bit surprised that they were out of grappa but the owner jetted right up to the table with some other amazing suggestions.

[stapes]

couple things to add to the list.. head to the top of 30 rock right before sunset, to go to nyc for the first time and not go up the empire state building or the ge building is just wrong. ge has better view, amazing view.. spend an evening in greenwich village, johns on bleeker has pizza that is arguably just as good as grimaldi's and you can catch a show at the comedy cellar afterwards and who knows who'll pop in. have some dim sum in china town. take a ride on the staten island ferry. walk central park from end to end. if you've never seen a dinosaur you can see a bunch at the american museum of natural history, for a unique museum experience you can visit the intrepid if you're into that kinda thing. the met and moma are great but if you've been to the big museums in paris and london you'll probably be dissapointed. walk past cbs/lettermans studio and ask if they've got any extra tickets for the show, slim chance apparently but it worked the one time i tried. check out a broadway show, i enjoyed spamalot, go to the tkts booth in times square for discounts.. that should be enough for a couple days.

Thanks Grapedrink! We've got almost 3 full days there. I plan on just walking around and soaking it all in.

[cramer]

(4) New Yorkers are actually quite nice;

i went there back in 2000. I was suprised on how nice they were too. We spent most of our time in manhatten though drinking until 4am everynight. My fondest memory is we went to this karyoke bar, i think it was mr biggs, or something like that. Anyways, we are sitting there listening to people sing and i was like, WTF, is it me, or could everyone here singing be a pro? My 2 buddies were both thinking the same thing. So we comment to the waitress "geez, im not going to even get up and sing, id be embarrassed". Come to find out, this place is where all the broadway performers go to drink it up and karyoke, hehe. The drinks eventually took over and we got up and made fools out of ourselves. We were great entertainment for the pro's. Anyways, if its still around id suggest it. It was like going to a free concert. Some really good singers.

Another suggestion would be to tour nbc. id never been on a studio set before. I couldnt believe how small the audience is for SNL and how big it looks on tv. I thought it was pretty interesting...
Nice TR, thanks for sharing! Makes me want to go out there again.

[Stikki]

Found a clearer pic of that graffiti. Nice.

[irul&ublo]

Roo called...he wants his capris back

[Art Shirk]

Nice find on that graffiti. It was dark at the time so it is cool to see it illuminated a bit.

A few more from the trip. The weather was 75 and clear every day.




My friends' apartment was in north brooklyn right on Graham Ave, which is the Puerto Rican district. Here is a shot down the Ave. I liked how all the business owners would stand in front of their shops.


Another on the brooklyn bridge. The gf didn't like the pic so I had to retake another.


Cute little jewish boy.


Had some grub at Katz's



Chess players in Washington Square


Bocce in Bryant Park. Yeah you Project Runway fans, that is the same one.


And a very uninhabited meadow in Central Park


And the final photo of one of those moments you tell your therapist about. I was begging him to keep his clothes on.