New York

I used to know someone who lived on the UWS. She was a struggling documentary filmmaker! I also used to know people who lived in Chelsea. I knew somebody who rented a room in the meatpacking district for peanuts. One of my best friends lived on Ludlow Street. But nobody lives in Manhattan any more, right?

Talk about NEW YORK, people. What is the deal? I haven't lived there in 8 years and I imagine it as a kind of post-apocalyptic landscape of rich people, ringed by pools of poor people, reinforced by vast concrete holding pens of families just gettin' by, interlaced and suffused with artisanal seams of Portlandia extras who receive outsized attention in regional magazine articles.

it's been fucking over for years, even before we got Domino's Pizza and police-state patdowns at ballgames.

I've lived all over in 3 boroughs I'm the past 20 years and I like the UWS a lot. Everything is right there. And 5 blocks between Ruverside and Central Parks.

Lower Manhattan is just French ppl and some Scandinavians

Can someone please lower the tax rate in France so these horrible people stop coming to Brooklyn?

sad http://www.grubstreet.com/2016/08/times-squares-seor-frogs-has-closed.html

Times Square hasn't been good since Mars 2112 closed

goodbye Houston Street Lenin

http://evgrieve.com/2016/09/the-fall-of-lenin-iconic-statue-removed.html

Tapping into the ilx hive mind, heading to NYC soon for a family trip. My son wants to do a lot of the touristy stuff of course, so we'll be hitting up Ellis Island, Central Park, Broadway (Hadestown and Sweeney Todd - son is so beyond excited to see one of the Stranger Things kids in the latter), etc.

Will be staying in Chelsea area and wife will be working in Financial District a few days - looking for book/record store recs. Are there any of the latter left in Manhattan (doubt we'll have much time to head to Brooklyn or anywhere else this trip)? Planning to hit up 30 Rock anyway and I understand Rough Trade reopened there for some reason, but happy to hear any other recs. Also happy to hear any food spots in Chelsea area - keep in mind we'll have an 11 year old with us, but he is an adventurous eater.

here are some very standard recs

bookstores - strand, mcnally jackson, bluestockings (a little out of the way from you but employee-owned anarcho LBGTQ coop), printed matter, book-off

record stores - feel like a-1 records or academy are your best best for finding something good and reasonably priced. otherwise, there are a bunch of small random shops that are very expensive all over town.

food - chelsea market is touristy but good, otherwise chelsea is kind of a desert, maybe shukette? better bet would be to walk down a few blocks and go to the west village (lot of choices but $$$) or macdougal street, or an even better bet is to head over to the east village or chinatown. if you're going to 30 rock, urban hawker is kind of a fun food hall, otherwise there are a lot of restaurants in the area that cater to the business lunch crowd. this is probably the hardest thing to recommend without some kind of forcing function, just see whatever's hot on eater.com at the moment.

Thanks! That is all super helpful. yeah we'll definitely be roaming around the city, just good to have some ideas close to where we are staying. Strand was already for sure on my list.

I'll be there tonight to Friday, it's an ILX Chicago to NYC exodus!

Go to the Lower East Side Tenement Museum!

Didn't make it to the Tenement Museum, couldn't convince the family. But we had a great time, my son is already asking when we can go again. Didn't hurt that he was able to get a selfie with Dustin from Stranger Things after the performance of Sweeney Todd we saw, and that he got to visit Flight Club, an apparently super popular sneaker store.

A few thoughts:
best food was Bazar Tapas on 26th, Black Tap (I loved the burgers, kid loved the insane shakes), Anita Gelato, Stone Street Tavern
Academy Records was great, found some good stuff at reasonable prices
Rough Trade at 30 Rock was fine I guess? decent selection, but packed with random tourists completely uninterested in looking at the selection (due to the location), also hate when these newer shops stock their CD shelves so you can only see the spines, makes it hard as hell to find anything and gives you a sore damn neck (lol, old)
shout out to the super nice bartender at Fraunces Tavern that let us bring the history loving kid in after 11 pm to look around and gave him a tour
Strand lived up to the reputation, had to come back a second time due to being kinda overwhelmed the first time on a crowded weekend day
McNally Jackson was really nice! obvs not as deep as Strand, but had a cool vibe, super friendly employees and a thoughtful approach to curation
Hadestown was fine, but honestly don't get the insane hype
kid loved the audio tour at Ellis Island
so glad to finally get to experience the Guggenheim
High Line kinda sucked tbh, we went at 9 am on a Tuesday and it was already so packed we could only kinda shuffle along
Felt really out of place at the ritzy Hudson Yards mall thing, but The Edge was cool
Fuck JK Rowling forever and I kind of felt gross about the Harry Potter store when we randomly stumbled upon it, but hard to argue with the absolute magic in my son's eyes as he got excited about all the wands and butterbeer and everything

all in all, A+++++++ visit would recommend, fuck the "NYC is scary and violent" narrative. can't wait to go back when my wife is less tied to her work and we can hit up some of the other boroughs.

Reviving Jon’s question above. We’re bringing our 3 teenage girls to NYC this weekend, also staying in Chelsea. They say they don’t want to book tickets for any shows and would rather wander south on shopping adventures. I’m into that but would welcome any ilxor endorsements or recs for exhibits or other events that don’t involve Times Sq or Central Park madness. South of Chelsea would be a plus but I’m shaky on NYC geography and am not picky on that point.

I'm pretty out of the loop on stuff, but I know there's a Harry Smith exhibit at the Whitney right now that looks pretty cool.

staten island ferry is free; brooklyn bridge park for views of LM (accessable via A/C to high st; F to York - CHECK YOUR WEEKEND TRAIN REPAIR INFO). Chinatown for curios and breakable stuff and good eats (Tasty Hand Pulled is my jam). Outdoor Holiday markets at union sq (near the Strand) and Bryant Park.

Wandering shopping from Bleecker St at christopher, all the way over to 10th and B and down to Reade or so (excite 4 u 2 b poor). Your garden variety brand names/flagship stores are on lower broadway so if ur looking for unique you won't find it there.

Central park is enormous and once you get about 70th st or so the crowds thin out dramatically (I would advise going to any of the 110th st stops and walking DOWN to the reservoir or belvedere castle)

If I knew what they actually liked I may be able to help more.

https://americanindian.si.edu/visit/reopening-ny

https://www.mocanyc.org/

https://www.govisland.com/things-to-do/events/winter-solstice-celebration

the new museum is cool and it is right on the bowery. https://www.newmuseum.org/exhibitions

for shopping, i recommend that area, like elizabeth street, mott street, etc. a little off from the main soho drag with the mall-like stores.

Walk south on the high line

Hudson yards is worth a trip, you can get to it from the high line as well

Thanks peeps