The History Of The Bowery/Houston Street Graffiti Mural Wall In NYC

This looks cool:

"Almost 30 years ago, Keith Haring put up the first mural on the Houston Street wall, a concrete slab just off of Bowery in New York. For decades, the wall had been bombed by illegal graffiti and various commercial ads, but over the past few years, the wall has seen new life through the help of curator Jeffrey Deitch and the wall's owner, Tony Goldman. The two friends began sanctioning murals at this location in 2008, and have since collaborated with artists including Os Gemeos and Shepard Fairey."

Go to the link and see all the different looks the wall has had over the years.

iPhone walking tour app for Manhattan's Upper West Side

Looks great, and that blog might be worth following as well!

Rock n Roll Map of Manhattan

Courtesy Flavorwire; more cool info, including song links, at the link. Larger map here.

The Zinester’s Guide to NYC is no ordinary book. In the age of crowdsourcing and digital everything, it’s a delightfully analog, painstakingly curated tour of all the things that make the city a cross-cultural icon — from its rich culinary landscape to Brooklyn’s bookstores to the midday madness of Midtown to the peculiar cultures of different neighborhoods,

ZG2NYC is a remarkable achievement of urban curiosity, beautifully illustrated with original artwork. In the eloquently laconic words of Stephen Colbert’s review, “it kicks ass.”

I think it's called "Zinester" because the art and sensibilility is like a 'zine? Anyway, check it out!

25 Affordable Hotels and Inns in New York City

25 Affordable Hotels and Inns in New York City

I refer people to this all the time, so now I can find it easily. Great resource!

New York's Best Kept Secrets

From MSNBC, three of these are our favorites: Salumeria Rosi, Muji Times Square, and Fishs Eddy! Others to check out for the future.

How To View New York’s Secret City Hall Subway Station

New York City’s beautifully restored City Hall Subway Station has been closed to the public for decades, however enterprising subway riders can view this secret station by riding an out-of-service 6 train.

A Literary Map of Manhattan

Cool map, click on the numbers to see literary references!

Caracas Arepa Bar

Actor/comic Donald Glover just recommended this on his Tumblr. I remember walking by it! Not sure which one he means; the one we saw was probably the East Village one. (Just checked the link; he meant the East Village one, too.)

Caracas Arepa Bar

This is one of my favorite places in NYC. Perfect place to bring girls. Somehow classy and drunk food simultaneously.

New York Graffiti Tag So Large You Can't See It

We must have walked right over this and didn't know. Damn. Check it out if you can...

"The thin orange line of paint traces a winding path though downtown Manhattan neighborhoods like SoHo, Greenwich Village and the Lower East Side. Uneven and wandering, the stripe runs up major avenues and across narrow streets, sometimes prominent, at other times so faint and worn that it is barely visible...Over the last four years hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers who have walked by or on top of the orange lines have unwittingly passed what is possibly the biggest graffiti tag in the world. The tag, which is so vast that all parts of it cannot be viewed simultaneously, was created in 2006 by an artist known as Momo and consists of a paint line that he said runs about eight miles long and spells out his name."

9 Free Mobile Apps for Exploring New York City

This came out after we got home, but oh well. The first one, pictured here, looks especially good! In fact, I may check it out now for apartments and stuff for next time.

http://mycityway.com/

Just to say, the weather was pretty gorgeous when we were there. No rain, bearable humidity, and mostly in the 80s.

"NASA astronaut Douglas H. Wheelock is on Twitter... and is sending transmissions from space. His photos from above include one of Hurricane Earl, sending everyone "many prayers from space." He tweeted the above photo on August 28th, saying, 'The City That Never Sleeps… New York, New York on a clear summer night' [via MoneyRies]." from Gothamist.com, which is great to follow on Twitter when you're in town.

And HEY, we were there when this photo was taken!

How much for a Taxi--World Wide.

Don't really need this for New York, since the cabs in from the airport are a standard rate ($45 plus toll from JFK to Manhattan) and the cabs around town are cheap (though not as cheap as the subway!), but good resource anyway.

The Ace Hotel

Got to give some recognition to The Ace Hotel. Found out about it via a deal with Tablet Hotels, which is a cool service--I guess--that connects with boutique hotels. I recommend it, it's a good way to learn about some off-beat places.










It's in a slightly odd neighborhood, edge of the Garment District I guess, and not a lot of businesses close close by (nearest Starbucks, two blocks! Nearest Duane Reade, more like four blocks!) but it's an awesome location, very central, and in the shadow of the Empire State Building so you can never get lost. A mile or so walkable to Union Square and all that's around there, ditto Times Square in the other direction, and Chelsea to the west. Cool gift shops, crazy noisy and popular bar, and hip coffee place. The street scene is loud, but the rooms are pretty quiet. We had a Large King, very roomy, and nice big bathroom. Plus, FREE WI-FI, and high-quality at that. I'd recommend it.

Yankee Stadium!

Decided this deserves its own post. We built this trip around Lori getting these tickets ages ago. I'm a closet Yankee fan, have been ever since the Yankee-Dodger World Series back in the Bronx Zoo days. So easy to get to the game, and it was fun to be part of the throng pouring out of the subway station toward the park. The place is huge, airy, and filled with modern "conveniences," including blaring video and the biggest gift shop I've seen since Disneyland.


Never seen so many people in any fandom wearing player jerseys.


The bleacher creatures do a player "roll call" at the beginning of the game.



Nick Swisher got a lot of hits. The Grounds Crew do YMCA in the sixth. Joe Lieberman, Donald Trump, and Bill O'Reilly were in attendance; all got roundly booed when shown on the Jumbotron. At the seventh inning stretch, there is a moment of silent prayer, followed by a (presumably now non-mandatory) rendition of God Bless America, followed by a singing of Take Me Out to the Ballgame. We did the Wave. Pretty busy time.


The Yankees won, like 11-4 I think. Crowd was happy, and so were we, just to have been there.

Last Full Night In New York: Ippudo!

Of course the last night's supper must be Ippudo (65 4th Avenue, btwn 9th and 10th). If you go earlier in the trip, you end up having to go twice. Whenever we mention going here, everyone says, "But the wait!!!" Last year we went right at 5 pm, no line, and I went once for lunch. Tonight we took a 30-minute walk, arrived at 6:30, and it was a 45-minute wait. Which was great because it gave us a chance to hang out at the Ramen Bar (no, really, it's made of ramen, well anyway ramen under glass) and have drinks and Yamitsuki Goma Kyuri--cucumber and toasted sesame oil appetizer.




The place is like a nightclub, quite noisy, especially with the loud and enthusiastic greeting for each new patron (a much more boisterous version of the classic Japanese restaurant irasshaimase). Paradoxically this atmosphere seems to heighten the eating experience, stimulating a kind of intense focus on the flavor and texture of the food (as we noted last year). Hard to explain how fantastic this is. You have to try it sometime.

Hotate Ponzu Lightly seared sea scallop served with yuzu kosho & ponzu sauce. And jalapeno. Really wakes up the taste buds. Fresh garlic with a garlic press to add to your ramen.

Akamaru Modern--'The original tonkotsu' soup noodle with Ippudo's special sauce, pork belly chashu, cabage, kikurage, scallions, miso paste & fragrant garlic oil. With Nitamago--Seasoned salt boiled egg.

Tori Ramen--Salt flavored ramen noodles in 'Ippudo chintan' clear chicken and pork soup with pork loin chashu, menmaa, spinach, 1/2 boiled egg, naruto, shiso & daikon.

Annin Sorbet--Sweet tofu custard topped with your choice sorbet. We had blood orange, and were both struck with a sense memory...something fruity, something creamy, something that reminded us of family reunions....that Jello Salad with the creamy layer, what's that called?

Walked back enjoying the warm warm night air (90 degrees!) and ducked into Fishs Eddy on Broadway and 19th for some late-night souvenir shopping. Very nice stuff there.

The remainder of the stroll was in the light of the Empire State Building. Nice homing beacon.