Reflections on what was supposed to be our first post-COVID trip to NYC, but that wound up being our “damn, this Delta variant is serious business” excursion into an uncertain NYC (and future). With Tony Bennett.

Day 1: Wednesday, 8/4. 

After a 5.5-hour drive, and crashing with the in-laws in CT Tuesday, we got up early to head into “The City”.  Google estimated it would take us “1:40-infinite, (depending on traffic)”.  After several worrying delays on the Merritt (still in CT), things opened up and we ultimately landed in mid-town in about 2 hours. Not bad.  Found the hotel quickly (Hilton West 57).  Missed the parking entrance and had to go around the block.  Which took 20 minutes.  Still ahead of schedule.  Dropped the bags, got on a train and arrived at our first (timed) ticketed event a few minutes early.

Immersive Van Gogh, lower East Side, north of South St. Seaport.  Very cool.  Recommended.  Cooler than putting your nose a few inches from the real deal?  No.  But a worthy “remix” of Van Gogh’s work, de-constructed and animated, projected on walls, floors and mirrored sculpture emplacements in massive spaces, set to cool music?  Yes.  They’re popping up like mushrooms across the country now.  Go (Gogh – heh).  Exited through the gift shop, new Starry Night mask in hand and walked along the river down to the Seaport to grab a bite. Cool views of Brooklyn and it’s Bridge, and a few seabirds along the way. “Real” NYers working out in the public outdoor gym under the elevated highway.  Not much happening/open at the Seaport itself, but we waited a long time for some decent crepes and canned cold brew coffee. Unimpressed, but refueled. 

Headed West, decided to wander through the World Trade Center area, which is much-changed since our last visit, just a few years ago.  Generally, it’s very impressive.  Extreme scale, incredible architecture. But it was a bit of a ghost town. <sigh – I should edit that, but it’s true>.  Wandered through the underground Oculus mall (massive, and deserted), thought we might ascend to the 1WTC Observation Deck.  Or maybe visit the 9/11 Museum.  Revelation #1: LOTS of things in Manhattan are only open Th-Sun these days.  So after finding the name of one of Eva’s HS classmates who perished on 9/11 on the memorial, we wandered on. 

A short train uptown to the Village, and a visit to Washington Square Park.  I love the “iconic” NY locations.  Lots happening.  Quintessential NYC.  Artists, chess sharks, acrobats, kids, dogs, $4 bottles of water, eccentric NYers and students.  Starting to notice the omnipresent whiffs of weed.

Walked West through the Village toward our next destination, the Little Island.  99% sure we walked past David Byrne.  Seriously.  The dude has gravitas. First stop was a walk through Chelsea Market.  A cool spot, very historic.  But our favorite part of it, the Artists & Fleas? Closed on Wednesday (see Revelation #1).  Almost directly across the way is the new awesome “found space” park, the Little Island. 

So cool.  Check it out.  They planted dozens of massive concrete “egg cups” in the river, over the remnants of the Pier where the Titanic was supposed to debark, and built a beautiful park on it.  Amazing gardens, paths, performance spaces and more.  Seabirds on the pilings. Food trucks, lawns, public art that makes music when you interact with it.  Great views of the Hudson, NJ, and downtown.  Very cool.  Next, since the Whitney Museum is closed on Wednesdays <sigh>, on to the High Line, another “found space” park, built along a mile or so of the old elevated train line.

We visited once before, years ago, shortly after it opened and in the spring, when the plantings were mostly dormant.  It was cool, but we could really only see the potential.  This time, everything was verdant and gorgeous.  A bit wild, even.  In a good way.  The garden plantings are mostly native plants.  Familiar, but beautifully planted for maximum impact.  Less crowded (thankfully) than last time.  <This will be a theme…> 

Art installations, architecture, views down the adjacent streets (and into adjacent apartments!).  And it now ends at Hudson Yards (under construction the last time we visited).  This used to be a massive train yard.  Now it’s a massive shopping mall/restaurant gallery, an open square with an actual shell on wheels that turns it into a performance “shed”, a bizarre, massive copper stairway construction called the Vessel (presently closed, due to it having become a premiere site for suicides.  For real.) and a new skyscraper and observation deck, called the Edge.  We decided to go up. 

So here’s the weirdest thing about NYC right now - Revelation #2: You see a thing, you think “hey, let’s do it”, and you do it.  You walk laps through the empty Disney World-style people corrals and you do the thing.  With no delay.  It is wonderful (for us. Surely not for the people who own it and who work there).  I am NO FAN of waiting hours in line for anything.  We waited in zero lines.  In NYC.  In the summer.  Bliss.

The elevator up to the Edge deck has video walls and goes VERY fast.  It’s a bit disorienting.  But the deck is pretty great.  We’ve been up the Empire State, 30 Rock, and (way back) the WTC.  This is cooler.  Wide open spaces, no bars/walls (just sheets of glass) and an area with a glass floor (for all you vertigo-junkies).  The views are incredible.  There’s nothing quite like seeing NYC from above.

Back to the hotel, to check in (officially), freshen up, then back down to the Village.  A very nice dinner outdoors at a French restaurant (No reservation? No worries!  Indoor or out?), hampered only by the obnoxiously loud Millennial dipshit media dweebs and their vocal fry at the next table… <sigh>  And then on to one of the highlights…

Around the corner to Swift Hibernian Lounge, a classic Irish pub with an impressive whiskey list, a right proper pour of Guinness, and (I kid you not), an actual freaking Catholic confessional booth in the back room.  Not sure if it was staffed, but brilliant.  One-stop shopping.  Anyway, Eva’s HS buddy Chris Campion (rock star, author, charming rogue, playwright, raconteur and legend) was playing a pop-up duo gig in the bar, with long-time collaborator Mike Cranmer (the Cran-Man). 

Impressions:

·       3-minute setup (backpack PA, 1 mic, Chris’ $64 Casio and Mike’s acoustic) – brilliant.  Jealous.

·       Songlist – including Bowie’s Star Man, Waterboys, Talking Heads, Cars, Dylan, Cure and SO much more.  A very smart, well-curated list.

·       Mike’s freaking monster guitar chops, Chris’ simple keyboard and (not simple) harmonica, Chris’ rock star vocals and the balls-on harmonies throughout made them sound like the best bar band you never heard.  Sans drums.

·       The Guinness was excellent.  Eva agreed.

·       I’ve heard Chris several times over the years, in concert with his band (the Knock Out Drops), in a raucous pick-up band with his brother in a Huntington (home town) dive, in his amazing off-Broadway show based on his book Escape from Bellevue.  This one was my favorite.

We stumbled back uptown and slept like babies. 26,000 steps.

Day 2: Thursday, 8/5 <paying our dues>.

We stayed at the Hilton West 57^th Club.  Half a block from Carnegie Hall (closed, under renovation). Beautiful room, excellent location.  $125/night.  For real. In Manhattan, in the summertime.  For the record, the room normally goes for $500+ per night… The hitch?  Way back in the dark days of March 2020 COVID lockdown, we bought a deal where we’d get 2 nights in the future, at that rate, as long as we sat through a 90-minute pitch for their (not time-share!) Member Buy-In Program!  So, after a lovely $50 breakfast at the Carnegie Diner (did I mention NYC is even MORE outrageously expensive these days?), we reported at the appointed spot at 9:20 for our 90-minute duty.

The place and the pitch was very professional, very slick.  Our sales rep, Rob, was excellent. A nice guy.  We really engaged, and for a hot second, we both seriously considered buying in.  It was well-explained, and did not feel like a scam.  I came to think of it as sort of a “bank” model – you invest in the company, and in return you get an annual allotment of points, to be used however/wherever you like.  With lots of bonuses/perks/upgrades.

But in the end, it did not appeal to who we are as people, and as travelers.  If you love resorts, and cruises, and get really jazzed about upgrades and perks, this is for you.  But as I said to him a couple of times, we really don’t care where we sleep (beyond a base level of cleanliness and comfort).  We care about what’s outside the door.  We don’t want to stay in a resort in a network of resorts.  We want an apartment in a neighborhood where the “real” people live, with amazing “real” places and things to do, right outside.  It was not for us.  We put in our time, honestly considered it, then moved on.

Eva was feeling a bit knackered after the long first day, and the sales pitch.  So she settled in for a nap, and I headed out to the streets!  Sam had reminded us that there is a new Harry Potter shop in Manhattan, so I decided to go there.  It’s down in the Flatiron neighborhood.  This is a good time to mention 2 NYC innovations I quite enjoyed.

1.    1. The MTA has gone high tech!  You can now register your credit card with OMNY, and boarding a train or bus is now as simple as tapping your credit card, OR (next level cool) using Apple (or Google) Pay on your phone/watch/fitbit.  So basically, with a few simple setup steps, you can wave your device/card at the reader and get a ride!  Magic.  (PS – Google Maps will give you directions including walking, trains, real-time reports on arrival times, how busy different stations are, which street corner to emerge from, etc.)

2.    2. Many of the “destination” stores (Harry Potter/LEGO/Disney/M&Ms) now have a QR code out front.  Scan it for a timed entry “ticket” and they will text you when your time comes.  No more lines!

Even with the sparse crowds in Manhattan right now, my Harry Potter entry took about 35 minutes (it’s only been open a few months), so I had time to walk around the corner and revel in the wonderfulness of Eataly.  It’s the third time I’ve been there, and the first time it wasn’t packed to the gills with people.  Endless aisles and cases of the most amazing imported Italian foods and cooking paraphernalia on the planet.  Fresh fruits and vegetables, cured meats and cheeses, endless aisles of jars, boxes and cans, bakery cases, fresh wood-fired pizzas, wines and coffees and oils, chefs cooking, pots, pans, coffee presses, utensils, gadgets and so much more.  I just enjoyed exploring through all of the amazing goods and imagined being one of the guys I saw filling their baskets with delicious gastro-magic for the days and weeks ahead.

Anyway, the minutes passed quickly, and I got a text that it was my time to enter the Harry Potter Experience Manhattan™.   I still love HP, and if you haven’t been to the Studios near London (which are fantastic), or the Orlando thing (which was fun), this is the next best thing.  All of the products, with none of the accompanying experiences or artifacts!  <sorry, it actually IS pretty cool, and the kids there were SO excited!  And they have a butterbeer bar>.  But if you’ve done those other things, this is basically a shop.

Ever since he came out as a Hufflepuff, Sam has been craving a proper house scarf.  So I ventured into the fray and emerged with a beautiful black and yellow striped wool scarf, actually produced by the same Scottish company that made the costume scarves for the movies.  I’ll let you speculate on what it cost…

Gauging my time until my appointed reunion with a much-refreshed Eva, I consulted Google and decided to power-walk back to the hotel, approximately 35 blocks.  Since I’ve become a “walker” in recent years, this was actually kind of a treat.  78 degrees and partly cloudy – as good as it gets.  Rather than go straight up 6^th Avenue, I decided to detour slightly and stay on Broadway right up through Times Square.  It is truly a spectacle, and one that Eva humors me with each time we visit.  This time I spared her.  I don’t actually go into any stores there – I just soak in the crazy energy.

So I power-walked the 2 miles or so, just loving the parade of humanity and urbanity that is Manhattan.  Natives and tourists, eccentrics and supermodels, homeless and uber-wealthy, every color of the rainbow, speaking every language on the planet.  Scaffolds and cabs and street meat and sunglasses. This is what I love about NYC. Did I mention that the city basically reeks of pot all the time now?  It’s actually kind of nice – covers up the trash and pee! 😊

Eva was recharged and ready to go.  Next stop was one that Eva discovered – the JP Morgan Library and Museum.  What a cool place.  Like most uber-rich guys back in the day, Morgan collected things.  Amazing things.  And he had a personal library to house his collection.  It has since become a major research center, open to tour, but also for scholars, artists and researchers of all stripes to put their hands on incredible things.  It reminded me of the British Library we visited in London. 

The centerpiece is the original building, beautifully restored, which includes Morgan’s office, the library itself, and some adjoining galleries.  Adjacent are floors and floors of study/research rooms, offices, preservation labs and more. The collection contains many thousands of volumes with publication dates extending back hundreds of years, and many notable original documents.  Hand-written poems and letters from Keats, original scores from Beethoven, Chopin and Mussorgsky, jewelry from Norman England, 500-year-old ceramic art from Italy, so much more.  All in spaces that are beyond beautiful.

Even the story of the librarian, Belle de Costa Greene, is amazing – she was the first female graduate of Harvard, she was black, and she served as Morgan’s personal librarian for 45 years, assembling and curating this incredible collection.  To my mind, it’s more her collection than his.  Built with his money, but with her expertise. In a city full of incredible museums, it’s easy to miss a place like the Morgan, but it’s worth your time.

Next door, we checked out the Polish Embassy, then turned back uptown, walking 20+ blocks up 5^th Avenue.  We had an excellent Cuban lunch (Cubano, Beets & Green Beans, Yucca, Beans & Rice, Avocado), flipped the bird at Trump Tower, window-shopped the big stores, rested up for a bit in front of Rockefeller Plaza (all in sparsely crowded streets, where normally it would be body-to-body on a nice summer day) and wound up in Central Park.  There we explored some trails and paths we’d never seen before, around beautiful ponds and gardens. 

There was a guy playing a haunting Chinese bowed string instrument, and a young black man singing sweet R&B ballads through a pocket karaoke rig who was better than the average singing contest finalist.  We saw a racoon and a big rat. Twice.  Squirrels and pigeons would step right up and inquire as to what snacks we were offering (sadly, we were without).  We stumbled upon several bride and groom photo shoots, and too many adorable dogs to mention.  It’s amazing how quickly the city recedes when you enter the park.

After a quick fresh-up back at the room, we headed over to a Greek restaurant around the corner.  It was excellent (and half-full, like every place we’d been).  We had meatballs and pita and octopus salad and wine and lamb chops and lemon potatoes.  So good.  We got baklava to go and decided to take a walk to justify the extravagance.  Back up into the park, then over to Columbus Circle as the sun was setting.  The new “pencil” skyscrapers that fill the skyline are so weird, and tall, and mostly empty (few lights on). 

As we headed back towards the hotel, walking along Central Park South, we came to a hotel entrance where about 20 very excited, mostly young men were gathered in two rows between the doors and a waiting Big Black Car.  They had Sharpies and albums and other items.  Obviously, SOMEBODY famous was expected, and soon.  So we hung out.  About 2 minutes later, the living legend Tony Bennett came out with a small entourage.  He was very kind and signed everyone’s items.  I got pictures from about 3 feet away.  It turns out he was on his way to what will likely be his final live performance.  He and Lady Gaga had performed 2 nights earlier at Radio City on his 95^th birthday, and this was their “final” show.  Sadly, he has been diagnosed with dementia.  What an amazing cap to an amazing day. 23,000 steps.

Takeaways:

·       NYC is alive, but quiet. I like it better with less people.

·       Masks are common, but not universal.  Things will be changing in the coming weeks, becoming more strict.  COVID tests and vaccines are both readily available on the streets

It is SO expensive.  I mean, it’s always been expensive, but WOW.

·       Weed is everywhere.  Not for sale (yet), but it is everywhere.

·      The crazy people are still there, but seemed fewer and more subdued.

·       The subways have never been easier. Use the technology.

·       I’ve had my fix for a couple of years.