Intelligent Travel

Up Next: Blackstone Valley

Slater Mill, the little yellow mill that could

In 1793, the American Industrial Revolution was sparked in a yellow wooden textile mill perched on the Blackstone River in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. More than two centuries later, the oft-overlooked Blackstone Valley is finally coming into its own, chosen recently as the winner of the 2008 World Travel and Tourism Council’s prestigious destination award. Sure, Robert Billington, the region’s chief champion of sustainable tourism, knows industry isn’t exactly hip. So what? This is true authentic travel.

How is the Blackstone Valley relevant today?

Because we [in the U.S.] don’t make things here anymore. Most Americans don’t understand how food is produced or how a product is made. And you can bring people to a place where things began. You name it, we made it. We had the power of the day—wonderfully sustainable, renewable energy, and it was the river.

When you come to New England to learn where the beginnings of America are, we’re part of that story. If you haven’t come to Blackstone Valley, where industry began, then you really haven’t seen America. This was the Silicon Valley of its day.

Backstage at the Café Orlin

Friend of IT Julia Obermiller, a beauty intern and blogger for CosmoGirl in New York, moonlights at the Café Orlin on St. Marks Place in the East Village.  Do you think New Yorkers are unfriendly, we asked this young transplant from genteel Virginia?  Julia finds the opposite is true:

Working in a New York City restaurant is like so many other things in life: If you find the right fit, you'll love it. I managed to find a small café in the East Village that seems to fit me to a tee. It's casual, comfortable and brings new meaning to the industry's word "regulars," as it's not unusual for customers to come in twice a day for our beloved hummus or flourless chocolate cake. In one of the world's most bustling cities, it's comforting to find a place full of familiar faces at any given time. The café has been around since 1981 – it's older than I am – and the kind of character that accompanies such history is impossible to fake. People tend to think of New York City as such a cold, unfeeling place; I'm constantly asked by outsiders how I'm faring. "Aren't the people rude? Don't you get lonely?" And my answer is always "No!" These people I see everyday, both the patrons and my coworkers, have become exactly that – the people I see everyday, the people who know about me, about my life.

In a review by New York magazine, the employees of Café Orlin are summed up as "tall, skinny...wait staff," but we actually come in all shapes and sizes from places all over the world. I've found a place to work, a restaurant at that, which embodies everything I love most about Manhattan – diversity, creativity, and authenticity.

She neglected to mention that the New York review also described the wait staff as "cute," which is true in Julia's case.

Photo: Susan NYC via the Intelligent Travel Flickr pool

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Authentic Queens: Flushing

Our month of Big Apple coverage may be over, but our love continues for New York City. So we got some local tips on how to find authenticity in Queens—not an easy feat in an area often called the “most diverse place on Earth.” And who better to guide us than Jack Eichenbaum, a Queens tour guide and urban geographer? IT editor Janelle blogged about Jack in October, so we caught back up with him recently for a few of his neighborhood picks.

To Jack, the best way to tackle Queens is by venturing through one of its countless ethnic neighborhoods, noshing at exotic restaurants and, of course, joining one of his fascinating walking tours (but more on that later). Jack’s stomping ground, Flushing, is the borough’s oldest community (founded circa 1645) and has transformed into a mostly Asian neighborhood over the past 20 years or so.

A few of Jack's Flushing (and beyond) highlights:

• For an excellent Asian meal, Jack suggests Perfect Team Restaurant for fresh dim sum or Kum Gang San for great Korean food. Both restaurants will likely run you less than $25 for dinner (with enough food for three people), are “pretty swank,” and the menus “go on for five or six pages.” At Perfect Team, follow Jack’s lead and try their scallops in pepper sauce or the pepper-and-salt Vancouver crab (Dungeness crab). At Kum Gang San, you can’t go wrong with either the traditional Korean barbecue or Jack’s favorite, the seafood pancake.

• Built in 1694 by John Browne, the Old Quaker Meeting House is the oldest house of worship in the state of New York and has hosted the likes of George Washington and William Penn. The building itself is distinguished as New York’s only surviving piece of 17th-century ecclesiastical architecture. “When you go in, you feel it’s a very special place,” Jack says.   

Shack-tastic

Ever since Marilyn posted about Manhattan's Secret Burger, I've been meaning to offer my own love letter to New York's Shake Shack, the burger I dream about now that I'm in D.C. Admittedly, the Shack is as much about the scene as it is the food, but the 40 minute-plus line snaking through Madison Square Park is a perfect excuse to gossip and gawk at the eclectic slice of New Yorkers queued up: brusque business-types (or the interns who cater to them), skinny-jean clad hipsters, dog walkers, the elderly, and college students galore. The outdoor burger stand is the brainchild of restauranteur Danny Meyer (of Union Square Cafe and Eleven Madison Park), and since opening in the park in 2004, the line has yet to dwindle.

But believe me, it's worth it. The Shackburgers, made of choice bits of sirloin and served with the delicious Shack sauce, have me salivating as of this writing. The fries are best of their species: crinkle cut and amazingly crispy, they're fantastic even without ketchup. Don't be deterred by the long line, for it serves to give you enough time to fully ponder the options on the menu. Should I opt for the 'Shroombuger (a fried portobello stuffed with Muenster) or the Shack-cago dog (a hot dog bedecked with a garden's worth of veggies)? Should I select a frozen custard (soft-serve and ice cream) from their daily Custard calendar or go with a Concrete (frozen custard plus mix-ins)?  What is a purple cow and how will my life change after I've had one?

Subway Art

GrrlScientist is a brainy blog I like, and the author, an evolutionary biologist and ornithologist, has recently completed a photo series of all the tile mosaics on walls of the New York City subway station at 81st Street and Central Park West, which is right outside the American Museum of Natural History. She's identified most of the colorful creatures by their scientific as well as common names.

There's a monarch butterfly (Danaus plexippus), spreading its wings, and in a former life, its jaunty striped caterpillar self looping along near the floor. There's brown kiwi (Apteryx mantelli), with long feathers and slender beak poised on one wall, and a red and yellow African reed frog (Hyperolius marmoratus), glommed onto another. Near the ceiling under a fluorescent light, an unidentified shark patrols a coral reef. A whiptail lizard (or is it a hatchling Knight anole?) curls its tail around the street number 81 on one wall. An octopus's garden appears on another wall, which GrrlScientist photographed for her cephalopod-loving friend's 92nd birthday. She took many of these images, by the way, while she was recuperating from a broken arm. Her entire archive of 81st St. subway art images is here.  Her favorite is this moody blue coelacanth.

NYC with Teens

Traveling with tweens and teens to New York? Senior editor Norie Quintos shares some tips and tricks from a recent trip to the Big Apple with her 12- and 14-year-old sons.

Limit the number of museums and choose them carefully. Just because there are dozens of world-class museums in the city doesn’t mean you have to see them all. Whiny teens are worse than whiny toddlers. I’d read about a temporary exhibit at the Guggenheim by the Chinese artist Cai Guo-Qiang, who worked with exploding gunpowder and cars hanging from the ceilings. Bingo. We hit the museum on Friday evening, when admission was pay what you want (I noticed most New Yorkers weren’t paying anything, so we didn’t either.)

Central Park is good for any age. Try to go with a plan, say, to catch the remote-controlled sailboats in the Conservatory Water or skate dancers in the Bandshell. Because my kids are Beatles fans, we went on a John Lennon pilgrimage to Strawberry Fields and the Imagine mosaic, then walked over to the Dakota building where the singer was shot. Plan your visit with the interactive map of Central Park.

Do something active. We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge, a leisurely 45-minute stroll. It’s one of the world’s most iconic spans and there is a separate path for walkers and bikers, so you aren’t inhaling car fumes. You can view the Statue of Liberty from here. Tips: To avoid constantly craning your neck looking back at the incomparable Manhattan skyline, take the subway to Brooklyn and walk towards Manhattan. Also, be sure to stay off the bikers’ lane, lest you get clipped or cursed at by speeding cyclists.

Just the Very Best Please

Senior Editor Sheila Buckmaster is known for her good taste, so for our Authentic New York coverage, we wondered which New York City locales can satiate her appetite.

Cookbooks and guidebooks aren't all that different when it comes to taste. When I thumb through a cookbook, I think, "Okay, of the dozens of recipes here, which are the really great ones?" When I thumb through a guidebook, I think, "Okay, of the dozens of eat/see/do/stay recommendations here, which are the really great ones?"

I'm always after the "don't miss" spots, and I don't want to have to guess. But I know that a book can't have just 30 pages....Which is why I loved writing the New York City Place of a Lifetime mini-guide for the National Geographic website. There is no padding in this set of recommendations, just the very best. As a native New Yorker now living in Maryland and working in D.C. at Traveler, I try to get "back to my roots" as often as I can so that I can see my pals, walk my favorite streets (Madison, Bleecker), and eat the food that transports me to my New Yorker days.

Here are a few of my favorites, one of which I included in the online New York guide:

• No falafel sandwich I tasted in Israel holds a candle to what's served as Mamouns, a hole-in-the-wall West Village storefront open 365 days a year, 11 a.m. - 5 a.m. (119 MacDougal Street).

• "I'll have a cappuccino, please." Invariably the place I place that order is La Lanterna di Vittorio, a Greenwich Village wine bar and coffee house down the street from Mamouns. At night, enjoy live jazz along with your coffee, pizza, desserts, and wine (129 MacDougal Street).

• Cookie! Oversize and like a nearly flat iced cupcake, the black-and-white has been a staple at Glaser's Bake Shop since 1902—and in my family's house since the 1940s. New York all the way. In the "Dinner Party" episode, Jerry Seinfeld says, "The thing about eating a black-and-white cookie, Elaine, is you want to get some black and some white in each bite. Nothing mixes better than vanilla and chocolate. And yet, still, somehow racial harmony eludes us. If people would only look to the cookie. All our problems would be solved." (87th Street and First Avenue).

Do you have your own New York dining recommendations? Let us know in the comments below.

Photo: Nikkicookiebaker via Flickr

Manhattan's Secret Burger

It's about the last place you'd expect to find a greasy spoon. After you enter the swanky, hushed lobby of the $400/night Le Parker Meridien hotel on West 56th St., immediately turn left and push aside the set of heavy floor-to-ceiling brown drapes. Then walk down a narrow hallway and follow this neon cheeseburger sign (left) to the end and turn right. Suddenly you're down the rabbit hole into the noisy, throbbing Burger Joint. Customers shout orders at the counter, cooks flip burgers behind the flaming grill, the jukebox is blaring, graffiti is scrawled on the walls above the few vinyl booths, and a fat, juicy burger comes broiled to order for seven bucks, with a side of hot fries in a greasy paper bag for $3.50. The menu is minimal: your choice of hamburger or cheeseburger, with lettuce, tomato, onion, sliced pickles, mustard, ketchup and mayo. That's it. They've got Coke, Sam Adams on tap and thick milkshakes, with brownies for dessert. If you don't like a long wait, get there right at noon or after the lunch rush around 2:30 pm.  Cash only, and hurry up and order because there's a line of impatient New Yorkers behind you who know exactly what they want.

Burger Joint, Le Parker Meridien hotel, W. 56th St. entrance between 6th and 7th Aves.  Open for lunch everyday and 'til midnight Fri. and Sat. Don't forget: CASH ONLY.

Photo: www.burgerclub.org via Flickr

Subscribe to this blog's feed

The Best Views in Life Are Free

There may be no such thing as a free lunch - especially in New York, where decadence is king. But edibles aside, New York has one authentic freebie: a boat cruise offering a fantastic view of the New York skyline.

The Staten Island ferry is one of the best ways to see the New York cityscape and the Statue of Liberty, and it won't cost you a cent. The pedestrian-only boat leaves every 15 to 30 minutes and goes from Whitehall Terminal on Manhattan to St. George Terminal on Staten Island (and back again). The ride lasts about a half hour.

Once on Staten Island, take in some sights, like the Botanical Garden or the zoo, home to such local celebrities as Chuck the groundhog. Or just turn around and hop the ferry back – as fellow researcher Ashley Thompson and I did back in February. We were not disappointed – a sunset cruise offered exquisite views of the skyline, and we even made some new friends – a pair of Londoners who were up to the same free trick. Maybe you’ll make friends too. But no matter what, you'll enjoy the ride.

Photo: Tom Turner via Flickr photo pool

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Tour Guide: Biking the Underground Railroad

For history buffs out there (you know who you are), the Adventure Cycling Association has a great tour that combines U.S. history lessons with plenty of exercise.

The 48-day, 2,100-mile Undergound Railroad tour takes 14 cyclists from Mobile, Alabama, through the Deep South and the Tennessee River Valley, across the Ohio River, and up through Buffalo, New York, all the way to Owen Sound, Ontario, just like escaped slaves would have done in the 19th century (minus the bicycle, of course). Along the way, cyclists will stop at historic sites, share cooking responsibilities, and camp.

The Adventure Cycling Association is partners with the University of Pittsburgh's Center for Minority Health, which helped create the UGRR route. To get an idea of what the tour is like, check out Joan and Mike's entry on the Review the Ride Registry, who also have a very detailed blog with lots of photos from last year's trip.

The Association has heaps of other multiweek tours, like the brand-new, 79-day Great Western Loop, as well as shorter trips, like the 7-day Cycle Montana route.

For more information about the group's self-contained bicycling trips (you carry your own stuff) and supported tours (they transport your luggage for you), check out their website.

Photo: Adventure Cycling Association/Dennis Coello

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Filipino Brunch in SoHo

Associate Editor Amy Alipio shares her New York long-weekend tradition: Sunday brunch at Cendrillon.

Um, brunch where? you might ask.

Cendrillon restaurant in SoHo flies under the radar because of its Filipino menu. Not one of the better-known Asian cuisines, Filipino fare is a mix of Chinese, Malay, Spanish, and even American influences. (How else to explain the fascination with canned meats?) But this isn’t the typical Filipino buffet-style diner that you might find in other places with a high concentration of Filipinos (NJ, Toronto, the West Coast). Chef Romy Dorotan brings his own contemporary, but still authentic, take to Filipino food. Which means you won’t find anything with Spam in it, but your Filipino grandmother would still recognize the fried lumpia egg rolls.

New York may be the only city in the world where you can name any ethnic or global cuisine and find someplace dishing it up (hello, Caracas Arepa Bar). But it’s not the faithful menu of dishes from the old country that interests me as much as the New World interpretations that reflect the chef’s newfound American roots.

As a second-generation Filipino American married to a Hungarian-Romanian-Canadian (I can’t even begin to count how many hyphens our two-year-old has), I love New York’s United Nations diversity—but I lovelovelove how so many individual everyday New Yorkers are a global mix in themselves: the Ethiopian chef raised in Sweden, the Chinese-Jewish journalist who speaks Arabic, the Cajun-Italian fashion designer (ok, I’m beginning to make these up here).

Which brings me back to Cendrillon—a top-notch (the New York Times gave it a two-star review in 2005), contemporary Filipino restaurant with a French name, located right around the corner from a Kate Spade boutique.

Here’s what I’d order for brunch: kalamansi (Philippine lime) juice to drink, ukoy (shrimp, tofu, and bean-sprout fritters) to start, followed by tocino (pork sausage) & eggs with garlic fried rice, and ending with halo-halo (“iced dessert with red beans, coconut, jackfruit, sugar palm fruit, coconut & pineapple gel, toasted young rice topped with purple yam ice cream”).

Mmm, I love New York.

Photo: 536 via the Intelligent Travel Flickr pool

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Tour Guide: Scene in New York

Photo: Jane Kratochvil

When anyone who has a TV thinks of New York City, images of Seinfeld, The Sopranos, and Sex and the City immediately come to mind. So in light of the highly anticipated Sex and the City movie, premiering at the end of May, I've found a couple of tour companies that take travelers to all the New York TV hot spots, to see filming locations for movies and shows shot in the Big Apple.

This week, the buzz was about the complete Sex and the City experience (minus the, um, sex), now offered by Destination on Location, a "luxury film and travel company" that specializes in one luxury tour of the city. The four-day, five-night tour includes a cocktail hour at Jimmy Choo, lunch at Balthazar, dinner at TAO, plus lots of stops at Versace, Louis K. Meisel Gallery (Charlotte's Prince Street gallery), and Scoop... and that's just on the first day. One of Patricia Field's stylists will also accompany the tour, giving guests an inside look at New York's famous fashion quartet.

But pretending to be Carrie or Samantha comes with a hefty price tag (and we begin to wonder, as a columnist, how Carrie could afford any of this) – the tour costs $15,000 per person (and, if you decide to take the tour on the movie's premiere weekend, it will cost an extra $9,000).

Warning: People in New York Still Steal

Continuing our Authentic New York theme, we've asked several New York writers to riff a bit about their city. Amelia Mularz offers a reminder that while Times Square may now feel like Epcot Center, it still pays to be on guard when it comes to keeping your stuff safe...

Though I love Europe, ask any traveler who’s toured the continent and he or she is likely to have a pickpocket sob story of some kind. I myself have wandered wallet-less and teary-eyed through a Madrid metro station only to report my crime to a police officer who meets me with that eye-rolling, here-we-go-again kind of look. I’ve always taken comfort in the fact that New York, on the other hand, is relatively theft-free. Of course this is a big city and you have to have your wits about you, but it’s unlikely that a woman in Grand Central will make you hold her baby while she rifles through your pockets, looking to steal your wallet. I, perhaps naively, thought that petty theft in New York had gone out with subway crime and the seediness of Times Square. But after the week I’ve had, I can safely say that thievery is alive and well in New York City.

Last week somebody stole my desk. Yes, it was a full-size piece of furniture. I ordered it online and waited patiently with my new stapler and matching tape dispenser for its arrival. When it never came, I went online to track its progress and was confused when it said it had been delivered and signed for a few days beforehand. I called the company and the agent assured me the doorman had signed and it was safely in my building. The only problem is…my building doesn’t have a doorman.

Just as I was coming to terms with the fact that some doorman imposter had stolen my desk, my mom called to see if my roommates and I enjoyed the Easter basket she had sent…the Easter basket that, like my desk, I never received. Now the fact that I’m a grown woman and still receiving an Easter basket from my mom is completely beside the point. What’s important here is that somebody would actually steal an Easter basket sent from a 57-year-old woman in Illinois…so sad. I imagined at that moment some maniac in New York was sitting with the contents of my basket spread across my desk, separating the good Jelly Belly flavors from the bad.

Even More Places a Dollar Can Get You

Calling all Dollar Menu lovers… or just fellow travel cheapos – the BoltBus, which recently launched $1 bus trips between Washington, D.C., and New York City, just announced that it is expanding its $1 service to Philly and Beantown as well.

Beginning April 10, the $1-each-way trips will be available between New York City and Philadelphia, and service between Boston and New York will begin two weeks later on April 24. Tickets for New York-to-Philadelphia are already on sale, and tickets for New York-to-Boston will go on sale on Monday, April 7. As part of the promotion for the new routes, tickets to and from Philadelphia on April 10-13 are $1, as are all trips to and from Boston April 24-27.

Just like the D.C.-New York trips, prices per seat will start at $1 (plus a hefty 50 cent booking fee) and go up to market value (currently about $20). BoltBus will offer six daily round-trip schedules between New York and Boston and nine between New York and Philadelphia.

The BoltBus will pick up and drop off passengers at 30th Street and Market Street in Philadelphia and stop at either 34th Street and Eighth Avenue or Canal Street and Sixth Avenue in the Big Apple. Service between New York and Boston will be at Boston’s South Station and 34th Street and Eighth Avenue in New York near Penn Station.

As I’ve mentioned before, BoltBus has free Wi-Fi, power outlets, and extra legroom. And, once you take eight trips on BoltBus, you get a free ride. If there's anything better than a $1 bus ride, it's a free bus ride.

Image: BoltBus

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Random Tea

Despite what the vernal equinox might say about spring, I'm still freezing at my desk this afternoon. So when I read this post from The Poverty Jet Set about the new Random Tea Room in Philly, which offers a wide selection of teas from around the world (and, according to PJS, also has the best chai around), I started to get a hankering for some of the liquid magic.

Poking around their website (still in progress it seems) I turned up an extensive list of teas, with elaborate descriptions that would normally befit a bottle of wine, i.e.: "The Autumnal Flushes are mellower and markedly less common — their darker, woodsier qualities remind one of walking through a path of fallen leaves." But I was also instantly drawn to their sensibilities — and the opportunity to experience many of the teas as they were traditionally poured. From their website:

Taking the time to sit and sip a pot of tea can do wonders for clearing the mind from some of the excess baggage we carry with us in our daily routines. But tea isn't only about relaxation – it's about fresh experiences, entertaining the taste buds with previously unknown sensations, delighting the senses and savoring the richness of life. Some new experiences you'll encounter upon spending time in our tea room include Gong Fu tea service, drinking from the Chinese Zhong and sipping the finest Yerba Mate from the traditional cuia (Mate gourd) and bombilla (filtered straw).

I for one know that my instincts to visit a place have certainly been kicked into high gear by getting a taste of foreign food (or drink!) beforehand. So perhaps it makes sense that the word Travel starts with "tea."

Read More: The New York Times had a great piece recently about exploring the tea shops in the city. The founders of the company In Pursuit of Tea have traveled the world to find exotic blends. And I highly recommend high tea at The Savoy hotel in London...the finger sandwiches alone make me wistful...

Photo: Mark Schoneveld at the Poverty Jet Set

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Literary Lodging: New York's Library Hotels

We've covered bookstores--even one you can sleep in–but bookish hotels? Bookworms take note: The financially-strapped New York Public Library sold one of its branches in midtown Manhattan to Orient Express Hotels late last year to the tune of $59 million. In cash.  Located at 24 West 53rd Street, the Donnell branch opened in 1955 and is in desperate need of repairs, according to news reports. It will close its doors this fall.

The Orient Express property, dubbed the "21" hotel, will be connected to the exclusive 21 Club restaurant, and is due to open in 2011. If you're as saddened as we are by the need for the library to hold a fire sale in order to stay afloat, fear not: In exchange, the hotel will build a brand new state-of-the-art-library on three floors of the hotel building.

In the meantime, if you're hungry for a place to bed down with books, try the Library Hotel, a concept boutique property organized around, you guessed it, the Dewey Decimal System.

Each of the 60 guest rooms is filled with tomes devoted to a specific category (Botany, New Media, Slavic). A terraced Poetry Garden and "Writer's Den" are available to guests. And if you crave the real deal, the public central branch is just a block away.

Share your thoughts: What do you think of the public library taking up residence in a private hotel?

Photo: Writer's Den, courtesy Library Hotel

Subscribe to this blog's feed

New York City: Air Bears

As I've noted before, I'm a D.C. newbie, and while I'm loving my new home, I have to admit I always come up short when people ask me what I miss the most about New York. So, though I've been a bit quiet while editing all of our other great content about the city (don't worry, I'll add plenty in time), when Marilyn sent me this link a few moments ago I realized that this is part of what I've missed. It's the spontaneous wonders you can come across at any moment, and the knowledge that though they may seem not to care, everyone in the city is equally incredulous deep down that they're actually, physically, there. Little moments like this just help serve as a reminder. So maybe that's reading a bit more into a plastic bag polar bear that you would expect, but it's a little glimpse of my own version of Authentic New York.

FYI: The artist is Joshua Allen Harris, and the plastic bags are built to inflate when the subway passes under the grates. They kind of remind me of the beautiful scene in the film American Beauty, when the teen couple watch the video footage of a plastic bag floating through the air. An image of the plastic bag bear was posted on the Wooster Collective's blog last week, and people are already smitten. You can count me among them.

What do you think?

Subscribe to this blog's feed

New York's 10 Best Buildings

Each time I visit New York, my first instinct upon arrival in Manhattan is always the same. Emerging from the subway, I look up and rubberneck the squadron of skyscrapers. The guilty pleasure undoubtedly brands me a tourist faster even than when I order “pop” instead of “soda” (hey, some habits die hard). But to a Midwesterner turned D.C. resident accustomed to height restrictions on buildings, skyscrapers induce giddiness in a way I can’t quite explain.

Not that I’m the first, mind you, to be struck by New York’s architecture, and certainly there are many more qualified. Enter Rick Bell, head of the Center for Architecture, who recently revealed his own picks for ten great buildings to see in New York.

The list eschews icons like the Empire State Building, opting instead for more contemporary additions such as the flagship Prada store (pictured), with its distinctive Rem Koolhaas-designed zebrawood wave, and SoHo’s Apple store, tucked inside a 1920s stone-and-brick post office.

Bell’s complete list follows:

• Conde Nast Building, an eco-friendly 866-foot-tall skyscraper in Times Square.
• Brooklyn Museum, “a suitable centerpiece for Brooklyn’s burgeoning hipster art scene.”
• Prada New York, an architectural wonder that feels like it just happens to sell clothing and shoes.
  
• Rose Center for Earth and Space, an “illuminated 87-foot diameter sphere, which appears to be floating in a huge glass cube.”
• Apple Store, SoHo, whose stone facade gives way to a white-walled ice cave of cool.
  
• Grand Central Terminal, the green vaulted ceilings alone are worth staring at for hours; free tours sponsored by the Municipal Arts Society are offered Wednesdays at 12:30 p.m. (leaving from the main concourse’s informational booth).
• Morgan Library expansion, a 1906 Beaux-Arts building considered one of Renzo Piano’s “masterpieces.”
• Chrysler Building, “a phenomenal example of art deco architecture that is both elegant and fun.” Find it on the cover of the April issue of Traveler!
• Hearst Tower, with “diagonal gridwork and see-through glass panels, with no vertical supporting columns,” making the “sleek design unique in the world.”
• Seagram Building, a “perfect glass box” that “transformed [New York’s] skyline.”

Which buildings do you think deserve to be on the list? Tell us in the comments below.

Photo: William Perez

Subscribe to this blog's feed

 

Global Eye: Coney Island, New York

Photographer: Jenene Chesbrough, Brooklyn, New York

Getting the shot: This shot was taken on opening day of Astroland/Coney Island 2006. Every year my friends and I bike down to hang out, put our feet in the sand, ride the Cyclone, and eat some Nathan's Famous cheese fries. There were organ grinders and lots of Coney Island regulars hanging in front of the Sideshow when all of a sudden The Potani Sisters ran by in matching outfits... and I grabbed this shot. I realized afterwards they were shooting a silent video (I think) and that's why there was a gorilla there that day as well! This picture really captures the spirit of a disappearing Coney Island. Lots of changes are in place now, and this year looks like it will be the last year of Astroland and maybe the Sideshow too. I hope the freaks and fun stay in Coney and that this new wave of "improvements" retains some of the original flavor.

The Details: I was shooting film with my Seagull TLR medium format camera (a cheap version of the old Rolleiflex twin lens Diane Arbus used). 

Taste more of New York’s authentic flavor with the April issue of Traveler, on newsstands now, and right here at IT, where we’ve got the Big Apple for brains this month. Think you captured a “New York moment” on film (or, ahem, memory card)? Add it to our Flickr pool.

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Intelligent Travel in New York!

There are few places that evoke more gut-reactions than New York City: love it or hate it, it's a place with dozens of personalities, many of them eccentric, but all of them wonderful. In our April issue, now on newsstands, we interviewed New Yorkers on New York - getting their picks for the most authentic restaurants, shopping, sites, hotels and nightlife. We had a blast putting together this issue, but even we admit we couldn't cover it all, so all this month we'll be offering more insights, secrets, and tips on the Big Apple. And of course, we want yours as well. So leave us notes in the comments below, or email us with your favorite places, buildings, restaurants, and experiences. We'll do our best to feature as many as we can on the blog, and we look forward to hearing from you.

To get you inspired, check out our online photo gallery, and our guide to exploring New York (for free!).

Tour Guide: New York Chocolate

I don't think I need to introduce this post with a quirky anecdote about how much we love chocolate here in Traveler's office. But clearly I got a bit excited when I found out that there's a tour company that gives chocolate tours of the Big Apple (yum...apples and chocolate).

Chocolate Zoom Magazine offers three tasty tours of the city. Sample cacao from five European chocolatiers on the Upper East Side on the Luxury Chocolate Tour (Fridays and Saturdays at 12:30 p.m., $70). The New Cuisine Chocolate Tour (Saturdays at 3:30 or 4 p.m., Sundays at noon, $70) takes guests to five American chocolatiers in downtown Manhattan.

But the icing on the (chocolate) cake is the new Union Square Chocolate, Wine, and Culture Tour (Fridays at 3:30 p.m., $80). Guests on this three-hour tour will sample chocolate and learn how to pair it with wine, all while learning about Union Square's role in the history of sweet-making in the city.

And of course, there's nothing better than being able to walk off the chocolate you just ate.

Photo: Patrick Houlihan via Flickr

Subscribe to this blog's feed

 

The Best Kept Secrets of New York City

New York is a city that you can never really stop exploring. But once you've seen the tourist traps, it's hard to know where to head next. Fortunately, author Michelle Haimoff's new book, Secret New York, helps uncover some of the city's intriguing nooks and crannies. We asked her to pick her favorite secret spot in each of the five boroughs.

The Unknown Island of Manhattan: There is an entire island separate from Manhattan that holds the ivy-covered ruins of a smallpox hospital, a community flower garden, and a lighthouse that once guided ships through the choppiest part of the East River. Every square foot of land is coveted in Manhattan, yet the  two-mile strip of Roosevelt Island lies relatively unexplored. The five-minute tram ride is an experience in itself as it dangles you above Simon and Garfunkel's beloved 59th Street (Queensboro) Bridge, which straddles the island. The tram runs on the quarter hour and you can catch it on Second Avenue and 60th Street.

A Waterfront Recluse in the Bronx: In the suburb of Riverdale stands a former country house with majestic gardens that look more like the English countryside than New York City. Wave Hill was once a private home for such dignified company as Thomas Henry Huxley and Teddy Roosevelt, and when Mark Twain lived here from 1901 to 1903, he gushed that the "noblest roaring blasts" made him "want to live always." Since 1960, when the last family to own the land deeded it to the public, its 28 acres have provided a serene waterfront hideaway from the commotion of the city. The closest mass transportation options are the Bx7 and Bx10 buses, which you can catch from the 231st Street stop on the 1 train.

Indulge at Philly's Beer Week

Oh, Philadelphia, always trying to get us drunk.* But as the place that bills itself as the "best beer-drinking city in America" and keeps a beer reporter nicknamed "Joe Sixpack" on its newspaper staff (who penned the great line "The new Miller Lite: The Kenny G of beers"), it's not hard to see why they're eager to ply us with spirits. So if you consider yourself a fan of the ales, pils, lagers, and stouts, clear your schedule from March 7-16th to check out Philly's first annual "Beer Week."

The ten-day beer extravaganza has over 120 events that cater to the variety of beer enthusiasts: those interested in pairing beers with dinner, out-geeking the competition in a beer tasting contest, dessert lovers (like us) who are interested in incorporating beer into their sweets, and visitors looking to sample the many locally brewed beverages.

For a preview of what's in store, you can even watch videos featuring Joe Sixpack himself leading the lucky cameraperson through the town's many taverns. All of which is getting us thirsty.

Read more: IT has had to raise our glasses numerous times in the name of research. We trekked along the Eco-Brew trail, went to the source for some Belgian brews, and left on a microbrew pilgrimage.

*Just kidding - we love the City of love and all of its responsible drinkers!

Image: Philadelphia Beer Week

Subscribe to this blog's feed

City Life: Hot Tickets

City Life Editor Amy Alipio is crazy about a lot of things: desserts, James McAvoy, satellite radio, and her new Honda Civic hybrid. But she admits being the geekiest of fans about theater. Musicals, dramas, pantomimes, obscure one-acts, whatever—if it’s a stage, she’s there, wide-eyed and giddy as a toddler. If she could jet around the world at will, here’s where you would find her this spring:

The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, National Theatre, London, now playing - through April 12
27 actors, 450 characters, and no dialogue. “Written” by the experimental and controversial Austrian theater artist Peter Handke.

August Wilson’s 20th Century, Kennedy Center, Washington DC, March 4-April 6
The full cycle of August Wilson’s ten plays about the African-American experience in the 20th century. Each play is set in a different decade (though Wilson didn’t write them in chronological order). The Kennedy Center’s staged readings start March 4 with the 1900s-era Gem of the Ocean.

The God of Carnage, Gielgud Theatre, London, opening March 7
Yasmina Reza’s new comedy, starring Ralph Fiennes, about two couples hashing over a playground altercation between their two young children. Reza is the author of the award-winning and much-staged "Art".

Japan! in D.C.

It's inside, outside, and even trickling out into the parking garage—it's Japan! Culture+Hyperculture, the latest exhibition to take over The Kennedy Center. Made up of over 450 artists, 40 performances, and over a dozen free events, this interactive exhibition showcases all things Japanese: theater, dance, music, fashion, art, photography, literature, and, of course, toys.

According to the DCist, the terrace level of the building is where it's at. Here you'll find a two- and-a-half-foot yellow robot that moves about and shakes your hand as a reward for correct pronunciations of Japanese words. Just beyond is a glass-enclosed display of Jumbo Machinders (courtesy of American-born Japan fan Matt Alt, who began collecting these life-size toys when he was a boy) featuring classics such as Voltron and Godzilla.

Other points of intrigue: A manga and anime reading room; the innovative folding screens (byobu) of Motoko Maio; the lacquered sculptures of Tanaka Nobuyuki; and the vivid photographic portraits and still lifes of Mika Ninagawa, one of Japan's most popular photographers.

But wait! There's more! Costume displays. Drum performances. Robot demos. And a mixed media installation by avant-garde sculptor, painter and novelist Yayoi Kusama called "Dots Obsession," which is composed of two rooms—one bright yellow with large black dots and the other black with large yellow dots—guaranteed to make you feel loopy and, in some cases, slightly mad. Kusama, who lives voluntarily in an institution in Japan, effectively uses her art to work through her own inner turmoil:

I have stood between the pleasure and fear of filling the void of my heart with ever so infinite dots obsession and I feel elated all over my body. 

The good news is that, minus a few performances and guided tours, this exhibition is free. For more information on the various events and shows taking place, consult the exhibition's daily calendar on the Kennedy Center's website.

Feb. 5 - Feb. 17 at The Kennedy Center, 2700 F Street NW, Washington D.C.; 800-444-1324; 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily.

Photo: Klea Scharberg via Flickr

A Tree (Clone) Grows in Manhattan

While wandering through northern Manhattan’s Washington Heights, you pause to rest under a gorgeous elm tree so storied-looking it seems to pre-date New York. Could the shade you seek be the same as when General George Washington himself strolled the neighborhood in 1776, you muse?

Perhaps. But soon, it’ll be just as likely that the 110-foot tall tree—known officially as the St. Nicholas elm and by locals as “the dinosaur”—could be one of 250 New York City tree clones. It's a unique form of preservation, to be sure.

The National Trust’s Preservation magazine has the details:

As part of Mayor Bloomberg's campaign to plant one million trees in the city in the next decade, Connecticut-based Bartlett Tree Experts is donating 250 trees to the city, all genetic copies of historic trees found in the city's five boroughs. Cuttings from the trees were taken earlier this month and sent to an Oregon nursery, where they will be grafted onto roots to create "clones" that will be planted throughout the city.

"There's just a heightened level of interest in the city's trees," says Adrian Benepe, commissioner of parks and recreation. "If we can get more people interested in trees for their historic association, it's a good thing." Older trees, he says, are a reminder to people of the long-term benefits—economic, environmental, and aesthetic—of planting trees.

Cause a Scene

One man was tying his shoe. Another was looking at a map. They were just a few of the more than 200 "undercover agents" for the group Improv Everywhere to freeze in place on the Main Concourse at Grand Central Terminal. The result was a human art installation: Frozen Grand Central.

For five full minutes on January 31, 2008, a historic transit hub trafficked by more than half a million people each day became a hall of statues. Instead of looking at the cerulean and gold leaf ceiling or Tennessee marble floors, visitors to the station unwittingly became part of a grand social experiment.

Causing scenes since 2001, the Improv Everywhere team may seem like mere pranksters. But their "missions" are also attempts to make people "stop to notice the world around them." 

Anyone can sign up to particpate in one of their larger or more missions such as the annual No Pants! Subway Ride, by joining their mailing list.

Whether you're participating in the mission or happen to be an innocent bystander, this can be a fantastic way to experience a city. Plus, they've gone global, and local improv groups are sprouting up from Houston to Helsinki.

Subscribe to this blog's feed

Hotel Central: Seaside Chic

Associate editor Susan O'Keefe rounds up a bunch of news from the hotel beat... 

Gated Community: Guests of the Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City not only receive access to a private key to the gated Gramercy Park—the city's only private park—located across from the hotel, but they also are welcome to have brunch, continental breakfast, and evening cocktails on the Private Roof Club and Garden—an indoor/outdoor space exclusive to guests on the hotel's 16th floor.

Seaside Chic: While it continues to be expensive to travel to Europe, we love that the chic, modern