brooklyn

Each year I post some ideas about what is fun to do in NYC around the holidays. The usual cliche events are often included (tree lighting, ice skating, holiday windows, Rockettes, etc) and shouldn’t be missed, but if you’ve seen and done all of that (although seeing that tree never gets old) here are some holiday type things to do THIS year.

1. Go cheer up employees at Old Navy at 34th & Broadway because they are likely NOT in the holiday mood as that location is open 24/7 through the 24th. WTF? Those poor employees.

2. If religion is your thing, go see the Ten Commandments with your own eyes (not the movie—the actual document included as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls Exhibit). Running until Jan 2nd in Times Square.
Discovery at Times Square 226 W 44th between 7th & 8th Ave.

Charlton Heston as Moses (but looking a bit Planet of the Apes-like)…

3. Run (or Walk) in the 2nd Annual Christmas Day Marathon in Westchester County!

Designed to bring new people to the sport of running, there is no entry fee (donations are accepted) and you can sign up for 1/8 marathon, 1/4 marathon, half marathon, 3/4 marathon and full marathon and according to the organizers, all paths loop back, are paved and scenic. PLUS- Santa hats are available and all finishers get a candy cane!
Tibbetts Brook Park 120 Teresa Avenue, Yonkers, NY 10704 11:00am on 12/25

4. For some adult only fun, go enjoy the annual reading of the Dickens’ classic: A Christmas Carol. Read by burlesque professionals with names such as Legs Malone and Franny Fluffer. Oh yeah, the girls are completely naked during the reading.
One showing (no pun intended) on the 21st at Under St. Marks at 94 St. Marks Place

photo from the Naked Girls website

5. See lights and over the top Christmas decorations in the Dyker Heights neighborhood in Brooklyn. Very traditional. Very cool. Word has it, that he greatest concentration of decorated homes is around 12th Avenue and 84th Street. The Gothamist site has a good write up and includes pics like this:

6. You don’t have to be Jewish to enjoy some of the fun had during Hanukkah! Check out the Beer + Latke Hanukkah Celebration on the 22nd in Tribeca. Brooklyn Brewery will be there to help you choose the best brew to compliment the variety of freshly made latkes on hand! And don’t miss the dreidel competition!
December 22, 7PM at 92YTribeca, 200 Hudson Street $22.

7. Go see Harry Potter Daniel Radcliffe on Broadway in ‘How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying’ before his run is over on the 1st of January. This really isn’t “Christmasy”, but Harry Potter always feels a little festive to me so I thought I’d add it in here!

Whoo hoo — check it out!
See my guest post on GotSaga on some things to do in NYC that aren’t technically mainstream, including: the Brooklyn Museum, Prospect Park and the church turned rave club turned boutique shopping center known as the Limelight Marketplace… click here to see what else!

Brooklyn Museum

Prospect Park

Limelight

Read, enjoy and come visit the best city in the world!

Amazingly, I had a day with nothing scheduled on my calendar so I decided to do one of my favorite things: play tourist. My destination this time was Brooklyn–the hip Borough.

view of the bridge

Brooklyn water tower

Brooklyn is known for many things. Some call it the new “Seattle” for its music scene. So many bands are coming out of Brooklyn right now that its hard to keep up (my fave currently: TV on the Radio). The NJ Nets will soon make Brooklyn its new home thanks to a Russian billionaire that has a passion for basketball and this borough. It is the home of stroller pushing mothers that work their mandatory hours at the local, yet uppity co-op; large parks that host pickup games of all types; and, it also seems to be the place to live if you (men) want to sport a throwback mustache, Tom Selleck circa ’84 style. I can’t believe all of the ‘staches I see here and maybe its ’cause I don’t live here but I gotta say big N.O. no on that look making a comeback. The only guys I think look good with a mustache, in this order, are 1) Tom Selleck and 2) my dad. However- seems that I am the minority in this line of thinking since Brooklyn did host the 2009 NYC Beard and Mustache Championship.

But I digress…

Brooklyn street

Aside from roaming the quaint brownstone lined streets and and shopping at the some of the best stores around (such as my favorite bookstore Spoonbill & Sugartown), I enjoy noticing the seemingly acceptable, ample amounts of street art. The street art I am talking about could also be called graffiti, but the photos I am posting here will show that the graffiti stereotype of wall litter and/or tagging wouldn’t be appropriate. Enjoy and let me know where you enjoy browsing street art.

a little live art