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Keeping in theme with the sponsorship thread, we are in NYC for a week which obviously includes the marathon
This year, I am a lot more organised (or at least feel it) but I do know that LFW posters are a well travelled bunch.
So, I would be hugely grateful for some advice, in terms of getting from the airport (JFK) to our hotel (Near Grand Central Stn), things to see and do and also good reasonably priced places to eat.
I know when we did Chicago last year some of the tips that came from here were amazing so thought I would return for some more
I recommend this to everyone who goes to NYC, but if you're there on a Monday, you simply have to go to Union Pool and see The Reverend Vince Anderson and The Love Choir.
He plays every Monday for free (you need a ticket though) and has done for 25 years. It's a kinda uplifting & optimistic Tom Wait/Nick Cave "dirty gospel", with a rotating backing band - the time I went one of the guys from TV On The Radio was playing for him.
Pool is also an amazing venue, has a lovely outdoor space and a killer taco truck.
I would classify it as the ultimate New York experience and would prioritise it above everything else
I recommend this to everyone who goes to NYC, but if you're there on a Monday, you simply have to go to Union Pool and see The Reverend Vince Anderson and The Love Choir.
He plays every Monday for free (you need a ticket though) and has done for 25 years. It's a kinda uplifting & optimistic Tom Wait/Nick Cave "dirty gospel", with a rotating backing band - the time I went one of the guys from TV On The Radio was playing for him.
Pool is also an amazing venue, has a lovely outdoor space and a killer taco truck.
I would classify it as the ultimate New York experience and would prioritise it above everything else
"I would classify it as the ultimate New York experience and would prioritise it above everything else"
- Duplex. Downstairs - a piano bar where you waited on by aspiring broadway performers, who will take to the stage. I went on Halloween and they all performed Rocky Horror. Upstairs however is the Gay Steel Mill from The Simpsons so depends on your tastes where you go
- Walk the high line
- Katz's is kinda obligatory and the sandwich does bang, but man it's pricey
- Rockefeller has better views than ESB, and you can get a combo ticket with MoMA
I personally find Brooklyn more interesting than Manhattan, YMMV
Sadly too late for the baseball season. I was in Seattle a couple of years ago. Baseball and a legal edible is a top tier experience that's left me actually interest in baseball lol
JFK - America loves having their airports as badly connected as possible (Dulles in DC is a joke. You used to have to get a bus to the train, they only finished the metro stop in 2022). Your choices are slow, expensive or both. When i've been on my own I've got the metro cos it was cheap. It took forever. When I went with work, I got a car. It took forever
great diner on times sqaure called juniors , best cheeesecake in new york
if you fancy a laugh pkenty of comedy clubs around usually get a beer thrown in as part of the ticket price and the ones we saw were very very good even being english.
highline
walk the bridge to brooklyn turn right when u get over it and about 500 years on the right the oldest pizza place in brooklyn expect a wait though but is worth it
obv plenty of shows aval if thats ur thing as well ticket prices can be high though
great diner on times sqaure called juniors , best cheeesecake in new york
if you fancy a laugh pkenty of comedy clubs around usually get a beer thrown in as part of the ticket price and the ones we saw were very very good even being english.
highline
walk the bridge to brooklyn turn right when u get over it and about 500 years on the right the oldest pizza place in brooklyn expect a wait though but is worth it
obv plenty of shows aval if thats ur thing as well ticket prices can be high though
that pizza place is class - if you go outside of peak eating hours you can get lucky. I went around 4pm and walked straight in
And like a lot of big cities, while the subway is a good way to get around you should try and walk everywhere because in a place like NYC you never know what you might come across.
I was there in January 2000 trudging through the snow, going down Wall Street, and I come across Rage Against The Machine and Michael Moore recording a music video.
Walk the length of Central Park -need an afternoon for that.Look at Haarlem at the top.come back. Choice on whether you want to check out Dakota building where Lennon was shot but I had to.
Walk across Brooklyn bridge to Brooklyn( great restaurant, but expensive with a view of New York next to water
Boat trip to Ellis island/statute of Liberty
Empire State because it is the Empire state and the Rockafella building.
And like a lot of big cities, while the subway is a good way to get around you should try and walk everywhere because in a place like NYC you never know what you might come across.
I was there in January 2000 trudging through the snow, going down Wall Street, and I come across Rage Against The Machine and Michael Moore recording a music video.
Walking is easy around Manhatten and up to Central Park.
I like Long Island and plenty of trains head out there. Long Island Station is just a few blocks from the endless beach.
The Waldorf Astoria Hotel is an impressive art deco building which has featured in quite a few films. Might be worth having a drink there...
"Things had started becoming increasingly desperate at Loftus Road but QPR have been handed a massive lifeline and the place has absolutely erupted. it's carnage. It's bedlam. It's 1-1."
If you're shopping - Woodbury Common well worth it for the day and then plan some eats out on your return.
Free ferry to Ellis Island gives the best views of downtown
Did the river cruise once round bit's of the Hudson, was okay but I preferred the late night bus tour which pitched up somewhere and had incredible views of the city all lit up. The bus tours are great and not a bad way of seeing a bit of Harlem... some of which pretty raw.
Last visit we took in a show - Jersey Boys. Was good but no better than up London and was proper expensive.
Got to be the easiest city in the world to walk around - involves a lot of looking up though!
Eat Out's I loved:- Sparks Steak House - bit of history with the shooting outside. The most amazing food I've ever had but not cheap and needs a booking.
Bobby Van's - going to Grand Central Terminal one. Absolutely fantastic.
Smollensky's - class.
Waldorf Astoria - if I could go anywhere in the world for a cheescake again it would be here.
Frankie & Johnnies - couple of these, can't recall one we went to but was upstairs and brilliant food at great prices.
Grand Central Station - some great spots in there for eating and people watching
Bars / Drinking - we made it our mission to hit as many high level / rooftop bars as we could. There's loads of them but the one's I remember are Monarch Bar, 230Fifth, Bar 65 at Rockafella, Cloud in a hotel off of Times Square and one called The Strand IIRC (There was one we went to that I was proper looking forward to and you had to pay to get there plus pricey drinks; went we got there the tourist viewing bar basically looked at the brand new building opposite it with only a sliver of the Hudson. Might be worth checking current views out!
CAVEAT!!! It's been 8 to 9 years since I last went, the Freedom Tower was opening the week after we got home... gutted! A lot of the above may have changed.
I think I've been there about half a dozen times and loved it every visit - ENJOY
Cherish and enjoy life.... this ain't no dress rehearsal
I used to go two or three times a year but haven't been for ten so a lot of my references will be out of date now. Even then it was getting difficult to find an old school diner doing an inexpensive traditional NY breakfast, I imagine they're even thinner on the ground now.
I'd get the air train to the LIRR and go to Grand Central from there.
High Line is a must, but generally it's a city for just walking and wandering - Little Italy/Chinatown/Canal St/East Village, Soho, Greenwich Village, the list is endless. If you want a taste of something more American, take the PATH to Jersey City and go to the mall.
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