A Weekender Guide to New York

By Kelly Fennig

New York, New York: the town so nice they named it twice. Population: 16 million. Last spring, during my great co-op experience also known passionately as the Big Nerd Ranch or Nerds Together (BNR / nt for those who haven't been back east), I had the opportunity to go to the tri-state area with a few other co-ops. 65 in total. It was only for a 3 day weekend, but you can see tonnes if you plan it right and the trip can be one to remember if you are lucky. Here is a quick guide to in get as much as you can with time constraints.

We left Ottawa at 12:01 am Friday morning (midnight) and rode the 9 hour bus ride to NY. We traveled in 2 buses: those who wished to sleep and those who wished to eventually pass out. After an hour stop at Denny's somewhere in the boonies and some very impressive traffic maneuvering by our bus driver, our bus pulled up to our hotel, the Burlington, at 10:30. Our hotel was cheap (pricewise) and right in the middle of it all.. It was 17 blocks from all the action at Times Square and about the same from Grenwich Village and SoHo. 17 blocks isn't much, you could walk it in 15 minutes or take a $2 - $5 cab. We now had 51 hours in which to see NYC.

We were 10 blocks from the Empire State Building so we did the tourist thing and hit there first. It was 10 blocks away and can be seen from everywhere. It costs $5 to ride the elevator to the 86th floor, the last floor exposed to the open air. The 86th is surrounded by a link fence and guard rails with spikes (problems with jumpers?) as well as quarter viewers to view the sights. The visibility was poor so the skyline was hazy (kinda like Vancouver this year), but you can make out all the major sights: the Chrysler building, the World Trade center, Central Park, Liberty Island (if you squint), and bright yellow streets. The only cars found in Manhattan are Limos and cabs.

Speaking of cabs, you haven't visited NY until you have had a ride in a Yellow Checker cab. Don't drive a car, it is too unsafe. Cabbies drive like maniacs, but they will get you where you want to go quickly and (hopefully) safely. The cabs have two modes: gas pedal to the floor and full brake. The cabbies are friendly and informative as well, unless you forget the tip (I was saluted quite politely for my forgetfulness). In fact, I found most New Yorkers friendly, but it may have been the smog.

You should take in a Broadway show while you are there. The productions are by far the best you will probably ever see with their lavish sets and costumes and fine performances. We saw Kiss of the Spider Woman and the revival of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes. We were in the 8th row orchestra and the tickets only cost 30 bucks apiece. Normally tickets are twice that but there is a group called the Theatre Development Fund (TKTS for short, don't ask me why) that sell the remaining tickets the day of the show for half price. They open at 3:00 and the lineups are pretty long but if one member of the group is willing to make the sacrifice, it is a wicked deal. The best thing is casual attire is allowed when viewing a show. Show times vary but there are matinees as well as night shows. Now some of you are asking "what about TV shows?" Two words for you: good luck! To get Lettermann STANDBY tickets, you have to be at the Ed Sullivan Theatre at 6:00 in the morning to have a decent place in the lineup. Once you have the tickets, you aren't guaranteed to be in the audience, only your place in the STANDBY line is guaranteed. Same goes for Saturday Night Live. 10 members of our group actually got tickets for SNL STANDBY (one of which was our very own Chris Mills), but they let in all standbys. From what I heard, two of this group had too many BEvERages in their system and passed out as soon as they arrived at their seats.

I didn't get in to see Lettermann or SNL but do you remember what I said about luck? My roommates and I ended up at the Fashion Cafe Friday night. Now what we didn't realize was that the Friday was the grand opening night. We were eating inside as they rolled the red carpet out for all the fashion designers and supermodels. They asked us to leave and thanked us for our patronage. We explained that we were four guys from Canada and wanted a memorable experience from New York. After some hefty convincing, we ended up bussing tables for the opening. That's right kiddies, we bussed tables for Claudia, Elle, Naomi and other fashion bigwigs and celebrities. After taping, Dave Lettermann came over with his musical guests DuranDuran. So I guess we did see Letterman after all. Unfortunately, because we were working and such, we were not allowed to take any pictures. Oh yeah guys, Claudia is pretty tall too (about 6 feet). I understand I wasn't the only one to mix with celebrities, Cecil Lau and his group saw Kato Calin and Charlie Sheen at the Planet Hollywood the following night. By the way the food at both these places are cheap in price, relatively large in quantity and quite tasty. The sights are pretty cool too, if you know what I mean.

For art lovers, NY is the home of the Guggenheim, the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). I saw the MOMA in 3 hours and the Technology wing is a must see. Travel down 5th Avenue to see all the big name (big price) stores. 5th is the home of many famous clothiers like Saks, Chanel, Armani, and Georgio's. F.A.O. Schwartz is a HUGE toy store and is famous for their stuffed animals, especially their 2 story teddy bear. The Warner Brother's store and Trump Tower are also on 5th.

In the middle of the garment district is Macy's, the largest department store in North America, and perhaps the world. It takes up a full city block and the sign can be seen from at least 12 blocks away. Don't expect to see the stuff you'd find in K-mart, Wal-Mart or Zellers. Each of the 7 floors is packed with high priced luxury items and clothes. Most of the items are big name or designer brands and fairly pricey.

Tourist sights you must see are Carnegie Hall (how do you get to Carnegie Hall? Go 3 blocks west of the Ed Sullivan theatre, then down one block) and Rockefeller Center (home of the only open air ice rink open all year round and NBC studios). Our group was lucky to catch a tour of Manhattan. We drove by some of the sights like the hotel John Lennon was shot in and Jackie Onassis's suite. We went crosstown to Grand Central Station, downtown to China Town (a very, very pale comparison to ours, I must admit), then to the United Nations (which wasn't in session, so we didn't stop) and to Wall Street and the World Trade Center. We finally stopped at the harbour overlooking Liberty Island and the big Lady herself. I understand that a trip to the Statue of Liberty is a whole day event, so our time constraints limited us to get a few miles of the grand woman.

The night life is fantastic. Times square literally comes alive. The amount of electricity used to light up the square must be able to power a small country for a week. I already mentioned the Broadway plays and musicals, but the off-Broadway stuff is pretty good too. Some groups took in a New Jersey Nets game (the Knicks game was sold out), others went to some of the many clubs. But if none of that tickles your fancy, there is the seedy, yet infamous, 42nd street red light district. For the adventurous types, you could always run naked through Central Park (ask Bill DeVries and Cecil about that one). Grenwich Village is one of the greatest homes of blues, jazz, and alternative poetry clubs. My group went to the Blue Note, the Carnegie Hall of Blues, where we watched improv jazz. Very tasty. Another club we went to was the Limelight, which was within walking distance of the hotel. The place is awesome. It is an old Catholic church and each part of the church had its own separate bars and music: Dance in the chapel, techno in the cardinal's quarters, punk in the belfry, and the list goes on. The price of admission is $20 and DRINKS ARE $8 EACH!!! It's pretty stiff, but the place is open until 5 am and if you are underage, you can enter, but they won't serve you (kinda makes the $15 bucks I blew on fake ID from Times Square a good souvenir. Doh!!). It is an experience and a must see, regardless of the price.

Would I go back to New York? In an instant, but I wouldn't want to live there because to have as good of a time as I had, I would be broke. The trip for the 3 days I went cost me about $550, but I went out of my way to have a good time. If you would like to learn more about New York ask some of the others who had memorable times. For a more conservative view, talk to Sean Puttergill or talk to Bill DeVries for the more libBEERated version.

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