Results tagged “New York” from Intelligent Travel Blog

Our favorite funsters, Improv Everywhere, decided to spook the citizens of Brooklyn by enlisting at least 2,000 co-conspirators to walk invisible dogs on plastic leashes, all on the same Sunday afternoon. The leashes were on loan from the current owner of 51 Bergen Street, the factory space where the Invisible Dog toy was invented in the 1970s. The toy consists of a leash and dog harness that stands up on its own.  I remember having one of these invisible pets when I was growing up in a New York apartment building that banned dogs, and it gave me great pleasure to take it out on the sidewalk. But imagine if there were hundreds, even thousands of Brooklynites doing the same thing? Would such a stunt penetrate the famous New Yorker nonplussedness?

Hat-tip to GrrlScientist

Ramin Ganeshram is the author of Sweet Hands: Island Cooking from Trinidad & Tobago (Hippocrene Books, 2006; 2nd edition Spring 2010) and The Curry Chronicles, (Scholastic 2010) a young adult culinary novel, set in the Indo-Caribbean community of Richmond Hill, Queens.

For many tourists, especially first-timers, it's the theaters, boutiques, restaurants, and museums of New York that are the city's main draw. But if you also want to cover a bit more ground outdoors, John Rambow offers a few unusual, nature-oriented tours that will do the trick. Best of all, they're all free.

For the Birds: Consider taking in some bird life -- and I'm not talking pigeons and starlings, I'm talking something a lot more exotic. There are colonies of Quaker parrots here and there in the metro area, and they seem to be especially numerous in the greener portions of central Brooklyn. Just how they got here isn't certain--one much-repeated story involves a shipment of Argentine parrots escaping from the crates at JFK airport at some point in the late '60s. Whatever their
origins, it seems the parrots are here to stay: their shrieking, leaf-green bodies are easy to spot as they fly from tree to tree, building large, rather untidy nests. Brooklyn Parrots runs regular "safaris" to various parrot hot spots. The next one, held on Saturday, September 12, includes a visit to Brooklyn College and Green-wood Cemetery. The tours are usually held the first Saturday of each month, but check the Brooklyn Parrots blog for exact dates, and if you have a chance, bring along a little millet or finch food for the birds--all that flying around and looking cute consumes many calories.

• National Geographic's archival photos will be available as fine art for the public to purchase starting September 17 at the Steven Kasher Gallery, in New York's Chelsea neighborhood. These photographs have been stored for decades in a vault-like archive beneath our DC headquarters: In an interview for the New York Times article on the exhibition, our resident image collection gatekeeper, William Bonner, said, "People don't realize how beautiful this collection is, and it's a shame, in a way, that I'm the only one who's seen many of these pictures." Lucky for us, the article comes with a companion slide show, so that we may see some of them, too.

• While on the subject of art in New York: The Pioneers of Change design festival will take over Governors Island for two weekends this September to celebrate the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the Dutch in Manhattan. Exhibitions, projects, and performances by top talents from the Netherlands will be featured at the Commanding Officer houses in Nolan Park. A shop of Dutch design wares will be set up on site, perfect for enthusiasts wishing to splurge. And splurge you may: all items will be under $100!

• The BBC reports on the demise of mailboxes in the U.S.: More than half of American mailboxes have been taken out of service during the last 20 years, leaving no more than 175,000 of the iconic blue boxes still in use. Declining volumes of mail are to blame, with 2009 set to record the biggest drop in the United States Postal Service's 234-year history. To cope with losses, the USPS is also considering the closure of several hundred post offices.

• Also from the BBC, a feel-good Friday moment: Commuter kitty!

Photo: J. Baylor Roberts/National Geographic Society and Steven Kasher Gallery

IT contributing writer Andrew Evans sends along this interview with his 97-year-old grandfather who vividly recalls his first transatlantic flight in 1949.
Not to boast, but in the last year I've crossed the Atlantic twelve times. In fact, I've done the 8-hour trip so many times, it's become rather routine: I doze during taxi and take-off, read until dinner, watch some movie I didn't want to pay for at home, then fall into fitful sleep before Greenland. Hopefully, I wake up somewhere over the English Channel. It's all so easy and yet still so amazing to me how every night, thousands of people pile into big metal pipes and wake up on the other side of the ocean.

In 1492, it took Christopher Columbus exactly 70 days to cross the same ocean and there was no SkyMall to pass the time. In 1776, tall sailing ships crossed the Atlantic in about 54 days and by the turn of the last century, steam-powered ocean liners crossed in about a week.

In 1912, just two months after the Titanic slipped beneath the icy North Atlantic waves, my grandfather Robert Brown Evans was born. Airplanes were just getting off the ground but by the time my grandfather was a teenager, Charles Lindbergh had made his famous flight from New York to Paris in thirty-three and a half hours.

As a paperboy supporting his widowed mother and three sisters, my grandfather never expected to travel outside his native Salt Lake City. But in 1929, when he was just 17 years old, he won an award for signing up the most new subscribers. His prize was a train trip to Seattle and a quick spin in a World War I biplane: "There was a single passenger seat in the front and a seat in back for the pilot, so they squeezed me and another boy up front. Right before we took off, the mechanics came and switched the propeller on the front of the plane, which of course, made me feel uneasy."

• Bite-sized news: New York's delicious bastion of cupcake goodness, Magnolia Bakery, is reportedly opening an outlet in Los Angeles this fall. Made famous on TV and film by supporting roles in Sex and the City and The Devil Wears Prada, it is only fitting that the bakery's first outlet outside Manhattan be near Hollywood. In local news: DC's own house of indulgence, Hello Cupcake--an IT favorite in Dupont Circle--celebrates its one-year anniversary with Free Cupcake Day on August 25th. Only one per customer, so choose very wisely!

• A New York Times article draws attention to the plight of small U.S. cities struggling to keep major airlines from terminating routes to their regional airports--an increasingly popular cost-cutting solution during the lukewarm economic climate. Many small-city governments have to shell out major bucks to stay connected by air to the rest of the world.

• Archaeologists have uncovered what may be London's oldest boardwalk: "Preserved for more than 5,700 years, the structure was found in an ancient peat bog [...] in Plumstead, a suburb of East London near the banks of the River Thames," states the report from our colleagues over at NG News. Unfortunately, the excavating team made no mention of whether remains of ancient funnel cake stands, arcade games, or souvenir shops were unearthed.

Photo by roboppy via Flickr

In film, oftentimes a city becomes more than just the backdrop, but a character itself. Perfect example: New York, I Love You set to hit theaters this October. Following the same pattern of Paris, je t'aime, New York, I Love You is a string of short films each painting a portrait of life and love in the city. The film features a star-studded ensemble including Natalie Portman, Orlando Bloom, Christina Ricci, Shia LaBeouf, James Caan, and many others. Here at Traveler, where we herald destinations with an authentic "sense of place," I can't wait to see this film which embodies that essence.

A few lucky people had the chance to climb the 354 steps to the top of Lady Liberty's crown this Fourth of July for the first time since it was closed to the public after September 11, 2001. The coveted tickets went up for sale on June 13th, and tickets for the holiday weekend sold out within two hours, our own National Geographic News reports. So how can you get your hands on a pass to the top? Find out after the jump.

Contributing Editor Andrew Nelson gathers the gossip from his recent trip to Saratoga Springs, New York.

Longtime patrons will warn you, traversing the Saratoga Springs Farmers' Market is not for the fainthearted. At 8:30 a.m., a half hour before opening, parking is already scarce along High Rock Ave. where the market is held every Wednesday and Saturday. Beneath the pavilions, local farmers set out bunches of emerald-green broccoli, scarlet radishes and strawberries the color of rubies. By 9 a.m., shortly before a bell signals that the selling can begin, the produce-hungry are already lined up in front of their favorite stalls, elbows out and holding prize heads of lettuce still dewy from that morning's harvest while gossiping about life in this historic upstate spa town.

This summer the talk is of Saratoga's ongoing revitalization - the town of graceful Greek Revival houses and brick Victorian shopping arcades is filling with new downtown condos, restaurants and travelers lured here by its charm, its famed racetrack, a summer of music, and its proximity to New York, Boston and the Adirondacks. 

I spotted this NY Daily News story on ColdMud, an aggregator site I love that scours the Web for interesting food news. (Researcher note: "Cold Mud" is diner slang for chocolate ice cream).

Tired of cooking only for their own sometimes unappreciative families, eight Italian grandmas are taking turns in the kitchen of Enoteca Maria restaurant in St. George, Staten Island in New York City, and diners are praising the results, according to this article by Christina Boyle in the New York Daily News. 

New York state Senator Diane Savino is a regular. "It's kind of like having dinner at your grandmother's every day of the week," she said. "These are not fancy chefs, these are Italian women who know how to cook Italian food."

"My family have this everyday so they don't appreciate it anymore. I prefer it here, because the people love me," she added. "On Saturday nights the customers clap."

Enoteca Maria is located at 27 Hyatt Street, Staten Island, New York +1 718 447 2777 and is open from Wed-Sun.

Photo: via The New York Daily News

Robin Williams said it best: "If you remember the sixties, you weren't there." But if there's anything to remember about the hippie-loving sixties, it's Woodstock, the iconic music and art fair of 1969. Some 32 artists--including legends Janis Joplin, the Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and of course, Jimi Hendrix--performed in front of 500,000 people on a few hundred acres of land in Bethel, New York.

For years people have tried to recreate Woodstock, but despite their high-profile mud-slathered attempts, none have come close. But this year marks the three-day counterculture concert's fortieth anniversary, and the Bethel Woods Center for the Arts is celebrating by offering a whole season's worth of performers, including Earth, Wind, & Fire, Chicago, Peter, Paul, & Mary, Dave Matthews Band, Brad Paisley, and many others.

The Bethel Woods Center is also home to a museum, which will celebrate Woodstock with exhibits like Give Peace a Chance: John and Yoko's Bed-In for Peace, Rock Heroes: Woodstock-Inspired Selections from the Hard Rock International Music Memorabilia Collection, and even a motorcycle built by Orange County Choppers.

The summer lineup starts June 14 and ends September 26, so there's plenty of time to make plans to get up to New York and celebrate Woodstock, twenty-first-century-style.

Did you go to Woodstock? How do you plan to commemorate the event this summer?

Fuhgeddaboudit, city lovers! Meg Nesterov (of the Notorious MEG blog) tells us why this New York borough deserves to be in the spotlight.

Want to see your city on IT? Copy and paste our list of fill-in-the-blank questions into an e-mail, fill in your answers, and send your responses to IntelligentTravel@ngs.org. And if you're still waiting for us to feature yours, fear not! We're going to keep posting as long as we keep getting them (please include photos and links!).

Brooklyn is My City
 
The first place I take a visitor from out of town is for a walk over the Brooklyn Bridge (into Brooklyn, of course!).
 
When I crave french fries I always go Farm on Adderley in Ditmas Park.
 
To escape the flood of hipsters I head to Bensonhurst or Bay Ridge, which are (and have always been) just plain great Brooklyn neighborhoods.
 
If I want to enjoy a drink outside in the summer I go to Soda Bar on Vanderbilt for beers and kasha and bacon pierogies (bonus: it's near the Brooklyn Museum of Art and Botanical Gardens for pre-drinking culture).
 
For complete quiet, I can hide away in the Brooklyn Public Library at Grand Army Plaza.
 
If you come to my city, get your picture taken with Marty Markowitz, our Borough President and greatest cheerleader.
 
If you have to order one thing off the menu from the dinner tapas menu at Beast it has to be fried manchego cheese bites.
 
Net Cost Market is my one-stop shop for great dumplings, smoked meats, and any and everything pickled.
 
Locals know to skip the lines at Grimaldi's Pizza and check out DiFara's on Avenue J instead (though the lines might be longer).

Reports are now coming out that US Airways flight 1549 just crashed into the Hudson River in New York City within the past hour. Remarkably, the FAA has confirmed that all 146 passengers and 5 crew members survived the flight. The plane took off from LaGuardia airport and was headed for Charlotte, N.C. Preliminary reports are saying that a flock of geese collided with the plane, and one of the birds was sucked into the engine. Watch the report live now on MSNBC. [New York Times]

Image via Reuters

With money tight but gas cheap and time off in excess, my husband and I plotted our post-Christmas road trip. We lounged for two days with the folks in Fogelsville, PA, then darted east to Brooklyn. After a night out at Redd's Tavern in Williamsburg with a schoolmate, we journeyed to Chavella's in Prospect Heights to meet a former Traveler colleague, Emily Haile, for a scrumptious Mexican brunch.

The $11.95 brunch includes hefty and somewhat spicy portions, unlimited tea or coffee, and colorful Mexican sweet bread. And as someone who doesn't eat eggs, I was anxious after initially scanning the menu; all of the entrees were egg-centric. Not to worry, our gracious server suggested a trio of sides (chorizo hash, refried beans, and a chicken tamale adorned with guacamole) that filled me up and got me craving more - despite a stuffed stomach.

Chavella's atmosphere is snug and festive but not overdone. We lingered over our coffee and conversation and weren't rushed out. So Brooklyn-goers, be sure to head over to Chavella's for some authentic Mexican cuisine that's flavorful, fresh, and thankfully egg-free.

Chavella's: 732 Classon Ave, Brooklyn, NY; +1 718 622 3100. 

Photo: Jackie Turner from Flickr

IT Editor Janelle is of the opinion that no holiday season is complete without the viewing of the Christmas classic, "It's a Wonderful Life." So when we heard that it's possible to experience the best of Bedford Falls in upstate New York, we were intrigued. Friend of IT, and On Location Vacations blogger Christine Bord has the scoop.

Seneca Falls, New York, is best known as the location of the first National Women's Rights Convention in 1848. But what many don't know is that the town has another claim to fame; it is believed that Seneca Falls is the "real" Bedford Falls from the classic Frank Capra Christmas film, "It's A Wonderful Life." 

The citizens of Seneca Falls don't make this claim without plenty of evidence. On their website, The Real Bedford Falls.com, the town lists the many similarities between the two. For starters, both are mill towns, boast Victorian architecture, and have grassy medians in the center of town.

But the similarities don't stop there. Seneca Falls also seems to be in the right location. Though director Frank Capra never tells us exactly where Bedford Falls is, we are given clues throughout the film. For example, in the movie, the bank examiner says he wants to get back to Elmira on Christmas Eve, and George's sister-in-law has family in Buffalo. As it happens, Seneca Falls is in the Finger Lakes region of New York, close to both Buffalo and Elmira.

Furthering this theory is an anecdote that has circulated throughout the region since the film's release in 1946. The story claims that Frank Capra was in Seneca Falls just before production began on "It's A Wonderful Life" in 1945. As the website explains, "he was going to visit an aunt in nearby Auburn and stopped in Seneca Falls and had his hair cut. Barber Tommy Bellissima didn't know who Frank Capra was at the time, but when the movie came out, he recognized the name of his famous patron on the poster." Whether this is folklore or fact is debatable, but it does seem to make sense given all of the other evidence.

But perhaps the most convincing fact is that both towns - real and imaginary - have a steel truss bridge over a canal (which plays a central role in the film). The Seneca Falls bridge has a plaque on its side that commemorates the death of a town resident who leaped from the bridge in 1917 to rescue a woman who had jumped off its edge. Believers speculate that this "guardian angel" sacrifice is one Capra would have noticed. And indeed, Karolyn Grimes, who played Zuzu in the film, has been swayed by this line of thinking. When Grimes saw the steel bridge that flows over the canal, she is said to have gasped, saying, "It is nearly a replica of the same bridge that George Bailey had grown up with all his life."

The article in our current issue about Washington County, New York, aka "The Place Nobody Knows," was apparently the "talk of the Cambridge market last Sunday," according to more than a few local residents who emailed us this week. Here's a sample of what, exactly, they've been talking about.

"There is much more to Washington County than toothless farmers and gossiping in the general store and post office," wrote Bob Nopper, a potter, artist and garlic farmer who lives in the region. "Here in our towns we rally together to take care of people diagnosed with cancer, look for missing children, create art, have a Fourth of July parade, farm vegetables, herbs, and livestock, make hay, spin yarn, bake bread, hunt, fish, work, teach and play.  Our hills and valleys are home to famous writers, actors, award winning filmmakers, journalists, artists, sculptors, educators, gourmet food producers, architects, in addition to the farmers, plumbers, electricians, small business owners, and others who work in our community. We are snug between the tourist areas of Vermont and Saratoga Springs. There is some drive-through traffic which helps our economy, in the antique shops, galleries, farm stands and local food establishments."
 
Nopper acknowledged that perhaps our writer, Barbara Lazear Ascher, couldn't include all the cultural touchpoints in the region, so he offered a few standouts: "In Salem we offer the Historic Salem Courthouse, which is a community center, The Artisan's Guild (which Nopper oversees), Steininger's Restaurant and Homemade Chocolates, Salem Artworks, McCartee's Barn, Gardenworks, Proudfit Hall, the Revolutionary War Cemetery, the recently renovated Fort Salem Theatre and Cabaret."