We are here till saturday morning. Our hotel is at 48th and 3rd. Looking for some off the beaten path things to do, see, and eat. Think things i might not find googling...
Googling is information overload and I'd rather hear from people that might be familiar with the city. Plus GRM collectively knows everything.
Also the wifes bday tomorrow lol. We are already doing the parade festivities and rockettes and 9/11 memorial
Give bus drivers sugar free gummy bears
Run over an innocent motorcycle rider and paralyze him with your Range Rover, because you totally weren't in fear for your life or anything.
Walk through Central Park if the weather is nice enough. It's a really cool place.
Also, the Museum of Art is within the park--- also totally worth a visit.
Leave, as fast as you can!
I will do all of those lol. Brother is in jmu marching band, they are leading the parade this year. Thanksgiving madness here might be an experience. That ill only feel the need to experience once I am sure but it should be fun.
Also I presume that beer is absurdly expensive and that's normal?
Chinatown--awesome food, awesome people-watching. The best restaurants are the ones below street level. From there I usually walk uptown until I get to the Village.
Brooklyn Bridge--good, free entertainment, especially when walking into the City. (Skip this one if it's really cold/windy.)
Like music? Best music scene in the world. My favorite place is http://www.fatcatmusic.org.
Like to eat? Follow your nose. You gotta eat at least one knish while there.
If it's nice out, yes, Central Park is nice. I usually go there after visiting my cousin, so that means I'm entering on the Upper East Side. Then I kinda snake my way down to 5th Ave. and head downtown from there.
Fraunces Tavern - where Washington gave his valedictory address to the Continental troops at the end of the Revolution. Best I recall, the dress code and prices in the "tavern" were more accessible than in the main dining area. Friendliest service I ever got in Manhattan.
Intrepid museum. Rare to see a wooden flight deck, even in a museum piece. Has a space shuttle and an SR-71.
If available, sign up for a walking tour of Colonial Manhattan. Very cool. And, because I am a fanboy, check out Hamilton's tomb at Trinity Churchyard (it's on the tour, this is if no tours are available).
Walk to Battery Park and eyeball the Statue of Liberty. Marvel that the sightseeing boats don't roll over when everyone goes to one side to see the sights.
Central Park, weather permitting. The 9/11 Memorial.
Wednesday night make sure to go watch the balloons get inflated. It's supposed to be cold but clear so dress warm, the cold usually keeps the crowd down but still plan for about two hours to walk through the staging area. They set up around the Museum of Natural History on Central Park West and 79st. It starts around 3pm and runs through 10pm, you don't want to get there too early as they are just piles of colorful rubber until a few hours in. I have gone a few times, and usually around 8:00 or so is good. 
Grand Central Station is a short walk from where you are staying. There is an audio tour you can take and the Transit Museum store has their holiday train layout running.
The American Indian Museum is open on Thursday, it is located across the street from Battery Park and admission is free.
http://nmai.si.edu/calendar/?trumbaEmbed=date%3D20131128
Oh yeah, another vote for Grand Central. This winter a friend and I went there for lunch. The old place cleaned up nicely.
If you can find the thread I made back in March or so, there are a lot of good suggestions.
We mainly stayed south of Central Park, but also went to FAO, Dylan's Candy, walked the entire east side of Central Park, MOMA, The Met (only the Egyptian stuff).
Hit up a bunch of the Irish pubs....I think near 25th and 3rd? Every single bartender bought the out of towners at least one shot of Jameson....It was a fun walk home that evening.
Did a few of the NYC Food Tours:
http://www.foodsofny.com/
We did the Chelsea Market/Meatpacking one day and did Greenwich Village the next.
If you like Italian food and you can spare the cash, go to Mario Battali's restaurant Del Posto......it was berkeleying amazing, seriously berkeleying amazing. Top 3-4 meals I've ever had in my entire life.
We went for lunch, but with a few cocktails and other add-ons, with a tip our meal was something like $370. But if you're a foodie it's worth it.
Also hit Bobby Flay's place in the FlatIron district. Shake Shack was a nice spot for a cheap burger to sit outside and people watch.
As you can see, that's we like to spend money on. Eating and drinking. 
Intrepid Museum. It has airplanes.
I always say this, but you gotta give me something to work with! You can find fun/good/exciting ANYTHING (almost) in NYC. Whatever floats your boat...
If you were staying through Saturday morning, I'd tell you to do traditional dim sum in Chinatown. Royal Seafood, on Mott between Canal and Hester.
If you're in Chinatown, get a foot rub or full massage at Foot Heaven, Pell Street at Doyers. Just do the locals a favor and keep your voices down and remember to tip well - the prices are dirt cheap and I'm willing to believe that the ladies take home the tips only. CASH. (Actually, cash is a good idea ANYWHERE in Chinatown - very few places take plastic)
Buy a couple baked pork buns at Mei Li Wah on Bayard, near Elizabeth St.
Do not buy fake hand bags in Chinatown. My friend found, to her chagrin, that the Coach outlet store offered the same handbag at pretty much the same price.
If you buy anything in Chinatown, other than services, haggle. This can be fun or business-like, your choice. 50% of initial ask is too little, expect ~75%, with your distance from that demonstrating your skill.
That's Chinatown in a few lines. It's worth visiting.
If you like fine booze, you must make reservations (easy to get) at The Brandy Library in Tribeca, and stop in for a drink or two. Their "Spirit Sommeliers" really, REALLY know their E36 M3. The best I can recommend you do is ask their opinion. Tell them what you like to drink, explain why you like it, and ask what they'd suggest to broaden your horizon. Or do one of their tasting flights. If you're only getting your feet wet, try their "Library Spirits" flight, it's a great intro to a variety of liquors. The staff are some of my favorite people in NYC. Dress nicely, behave, and tip well.
The Ghostbusters firehouse is cater-corner to the Brandy Library. Note it.
I could personally take or leave Shake Shack, but it is an experience, at least the one in Madison Square Park. The other locations are if you just want Shake Shack food without the line. There are better fast-ish burgers in NYC.
Take the Ikea ferry from downtown to Ikea in Redhook. It's a nice, off-beat water tour, and last I rode it it was free. Redhook is supposed to be up-and-coming, supposed to have some fun stuff in it. There -was- a great local-art gallery space over near the Fairway that's within walking distance of Ikea, but Sandy did a number on that area and wiped out a lot of the gallery and its contents. Hopefully it's back, but I don't know. 
I prefer MoMA to the Met(ropolitan Museum of Art), but choose whatever museum you prefer. I always like to look at the free docent tour schedule and take one of those. Learn about something that interests you, see the highlights of that particular topic, without overloading yourself. Do not expect to "see" the Met in its entirety in one visit, unless you want to be really, really miserable and rushed. The Astor Court Garden in the Met is one of my favorite places to just sit and chill. It's probably a bit cold now, but the courtyard at MoMA was always a wonderful treat. Beautiful art, sunshine, people watching, beer.
Get lost in Central Park. This should involve going "uptown" a bit, to the places where the paths get narrow and winding, there are lots of trees and hills and stuff.
If you like Jazz, there are great places to see it, but the really odd, modern stuff is at The Jazz Gallery on Hudson. Incredibly weird and uninviting venue, but... interesting.
If you want to do cocktails and Jazz... dammit, I just found my favorite place for that closed. You're out of luck.
Belgian beer and pommes frites? Vol de Nuit on West 4th. It'll be crowded and NYU'y, but persist.
Restaurants? You really have to give me some hints here, or I'll just tell you that if you eat anyplace you could eat at home, I will personally find you and shove my oldest, nastiest gym shoes so far up your...
Oh! It's touristy but fun, even for the locals. Hit the rink at Bryant Park at night. You may be berkeleyed because it's a holiday, but ... one (or did I do that twice?) of my favorite dates started there...
Ah, yes. You can do the Empire State Building observation deck, but I personally prefer to go to the "Top of the Rock", which lets you enjoy the view OF the ESB, and the rest of NYC. Great park views too. I loved it at night (another great date activity...), but you may have to sort of know the layout of the city to appreciate it then. Otherwise it's just pretty lights.
What else...
Generally, walk as much as you can, take the subway when it's too far to walk, take a cab when you can't walk. No offense to Wally's busses, but most New Yorkers can outpace a crosstown bus in moderate or worse traffic. Unless you're over on 1st Ave or East End Ave, there's no reason to take an uptown/downtown bus. Take the subway instead.
shiny happy person New Yorker comments:
Do NOT walk three abreast down the sidewalk, at any time.
Do NOT deploy a golf umbrella for any reason.
Do NOT stop suddenly in the middle of the sidewalk for any reason. Move to one edge or the other, then stop. Anyone who bumps into you or knocks you over for stopping in the middle of the sidewalk was completely justified in doing so. It's our equivalent of parking yourself in the left lane doing 45 with your left turn signal on.
When you get on the subway, do NOT stop in the doorway. Move in. And for the love of god, hold on at all times and expect that the car is going to lurch unexpectedly at any moment. You're a tourist, not a local, you can't hack the "look ma, no hands" thing. If the car is crowded for any reason, start moving your way towards the doors BEFORE you arrive at your station.
Do NOT stop at the top of the subway stairs. New Yorkers sometimes have trouble with this too. If you don't know where you are, move away from the stairs and then figure it out. There are dozens of people behind you who thank you.
New Yorkers are actually friendly people. But remember that we still have jobs to get to, bad days, etc etc. Do not stop someone who appears to be rushing somewhere. (learn to recognize rushing vs just walking). Do not step in front of anyone to stop them. Ask politely. Most of the time we'll help you out if you're lost, especially if you ask nicely and don't interrupt (note, catching someone while they're waiting for something, e.g. to cross a street, the subway, etc, is a good bet). Don't ask "is there anywhere good to eat around here". There are too many places. Ask "I'm looking for good X, know of any nearby?"
That's just a taste of Manhattan. Give us some ideas of specific things you like, etc and I/we can help you better.
God, I really miss that city.. (5 months since I moved away 
)
Wally wrote: Wednesday night make sure to go watch the balloons get inflated. It's supposed to be cold but clear so dress warm, the cold usually keeps the crowd down but still plan for about two hours to walk through the staging area. They set up around the Museum of Natural History on Central Park West and 79st. It starts around 3pm and runs through 10pm, you don't want to get there too early as they are just piles of colorful rubber until a few hours in. I have gone a few times, and usually around 8:00 or so is good.
I'll share this since it's one of my favorite NYC memories (before I moved there), and I'm 99% certain they've closed the loophole...
The north side of 79th is all expensive townhouses and is always blocked off from public access during the inflating. But it's the best place to watch from and not crowded at all. People in those townhouses have big parties where they invite their friends over to drink champagne, eat caviar, and laugh at the proletariat crowded on the other side of the street. Fun times I'm sure.
Used to be that all you had to do was print up a party invitation to Joe MadeUpName's Balloon Inflating Party at a real address on that side of 79th, show it to the cop at the barricade, and get let into the penned-off area. Now I believe they actually have resident/guest lists that they check off... But if you're a cocky, smooth-talking bastard, you could give it a shot...
In reply to peter:
That's brilliant, I wish I had tried that.
peter wrote: Do NOT stop suddenly in the middle of the sidewalk for any reason. Move to one edge or the other, then stop. Anyone who bumps into you or knocks you over for stopping in the middle of the sidewalk was completely justified in doing so. It's our equivalent of parking yourself in the left lane doing 45 with your left turn signal on.
Walk, or get the Berkeley out of the way.
I wish people would follow the same rule in airports.
I think we're walking over to the intrepid museum this morning then winging it from there. Very good suggestions, we have some choices to make over breeakfast.
Don't worry peter, we make it a point when traveling to never eat what we can get at home. As for food we went for cuban at Havana near times square yesterday. It was just ok. Had some happy hour beers and a reuben at a Connollys pub around the corner from the hotel. Good price and good food.
Any great thai food places that we could hit for lunch? Wife wsnts to try a different cuban place I think we should mix it up
As a side note..we are NOT city people. But I am having more fun than I expected so far despite the rainy weather.
Street Meat !!
The open air market at Union Square on 24th is always good for Christmas shopping, trinkets and chatchkas.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8LmPBPWHJu4&feature=c4-overview-vl&list=PLPU-SleOZ3Z95Dy5CPBJlLpn02S_eUOP
At all costs stay away from the NYPD......well, or if they are attempting to shoot a suspect, stand in front of the suspect, everyone else around them will get shot.
I've heard from more than one person that you should stay with your wife as much as possible and keep your arms covered if you don't want dudes whistling at you 
NYC has an amazing baseline of pizza quality, and some, particularly the older coal-fired places are as good as anywhere in the US. If you're intent on going to a shrine-to-pizza, skip Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn Bridge. Last time we went they'd closed their old location where they'd been for decades, sold it to the family that used to run it, and moved to a huge, old, weird restaurant a few doors up the block. Which despite being half empty, the shyster berkeleys were still running a line down the block to keep the tourist rubes interested.
And the pizza, while good, wasn't really transcendent.
A guide: NY Coal-Fired (and other) pizza
peter covered everything pretty well.
eat at katz, get a pastrami sandwich.
i want to add DO NOT EAT IN GRAND CENTRAL OMG THE ROACHES AND WATERBUGS ARE EVERYWHERE DOWN THERE DO NOT EAT IN GRAND CENTRAL. It's not so much the thought of "oh, eww, they may have been in the kitchen!" - thats taken as granted anywhere in the city - its because while you are sitting down and eating, probability is HIGH that you will see a big ol' roach scurry along the wall next to you or on the floor beside you or in some poor womans bag or on some poor shmucks shoulder.
failboat wrote: Don't worry peter, we make it a point when traveling to never eat what we can get at home.
Good, saves me a cross-country trip with those gym shoes...
failboat wrote: As for food we went for cuban at Havana near times square yesterday. It was just ok.
I believe I've actually eaten at that place and had about the same reaction to it.
failboat wrote: Any great thai food places that we could hit for lunch? Wife wsnts to try a different cuban place I think we should mix it up
Sorry it's late, I'm +3 hours here and don't GRM at work. I can't believe I didn't mention Hell's Kitchen, but that post was plenty long enough...
A few national chains have elbowed their way onto 9th ave, sadly, but in general, there's amazing food along 9th from...44th to...56th (in my book). There are a bunch of Thai restaurants up and down that stretch, check Yelp for the current hot one, chefs do move around a bit. If you're in that neighborhood and want to try something you'll never get anywhere else in the US, excepting certain grandma's kitchens, go to Gazala Palace and order up... everything. Especially the bourekas, which they will hopefully have in stock (limited quantities made fresh daily). You really have to fight for a table (if you're not seated right away, make sure to check in with the hostess frequently!), but my date swore that it was the best middle eastern she'd had outside of Israel and later took her parents there because it was so excellent and authentic. What a meal...
Katz's I could take or leave, I've been there, had "my own" slicer who remembered me and treated me well, but it's... yeah, go, have an amazing sandwich and a soda, but don't get caught up in it, and for the love of god, do not re-enact that scene from that movie...
A good reason to be near Katz's on Friday night would be to see some live music down on the LES, or catch some of the night life down there. Arlene's Grocery is a favorite, National Underground has some good acts. Look up their schedules online, listen to some clips from the bands, pick a show you want to see, and go. Fun. One of many amazing places to eat near there is Gentleman Farmer. Was walking somewhere else with a friend, looking for dinner, place looked inviting, and what a treat! Amazing stuff, great, chill atmosphere.
Also, for beer bars in the East Village, try Proletariat. Do not, under any circumstances, no matter what anyone else tells you, no matter how big of beer snobs they may be, go to Jimmy's No. 43. Terrible place with an undeservedly good reputation. I'd take Burp Castle over that, and I think Burp is a sad hole. dba is also good, but a bit more sterile.
peter wrote: A good reason to be near Katz's on Friday night would be to see some live music down on the LES, or catch some of the night life down there. Arlene's Grocery is a favorite, National Underground has some good acts. Look up their schedules online, listen to some clips from the bands, pick a show you want to see, and go. Fun. One of many amazing places to eat near there is Gentleman Farmer. Was walking somewhere else with a friend, looking for dinner, place looked inviting, and what a treat! Amazing stuff, great, chill atmosphere.
My favorite post at work was the corner of Houston and Allen. I worked there 3p-11p for a year. Once rush hour died down I could stand near one of the bars and take in some music, and there was always something good for dinner. The down side was I put on about 20 lbs but it was one of the most entertaining spots for people watching.
motomoron wrote: NYC has an amazing baseline of pizza quality, and some, particularly the older coal-fired places are as good as anywhere in the US. If you're intent on going to a shrine-to-pizza, skip Grimaldi's under the Brooklyn Bridge. Last time we went they'd closed their old location where they'd been for decades, sold it to the family that used to run it, and moved to a huge, old, weird restaurant a few doors up the block. Which despite being half empty, the shyster berkeleys were still running a line down the block to keep the tourist rubes interested. And the pizza, while good, wasn't really transcendent. A guide: NY Coal-Fired (and other) pizza
I will dissent on that. I've been to NYC twice and had pizza at a few of "the" places.........yeah, the crust was decent, but it just doesn't do anything for me.
Could it be because I'm from south of the Mason-Dixon line? Sure. But we've got a guy from Brooklyn that opened his own place here in Tulsa, and it blows away anything I've ever had in NYC.
Also, Chicago style pizza is overrated as well.
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