aqua

Do you have any suggestions for a visit with our young adult son to New york City in mid January, we want this visit to be about him, We have been to the city before and visited the sights and museums, and stores with sisters and Art addict mother. I understand the weather could be harsh so we would like to make a plan.
Any suggestions as to trendy restaurants appealing to the young crowd?

tjhsu

are you travelling with your son the whole time? might be good to let him just do his own thing / explore on his own.

lots of restaurants to try - if there's some sort of cuisine he'd like to try that he can't get at home, this is his chance.

aqua

He just graduated as a Civil Engineer so he is into construction, buildings, etc.

aqua

He will be getting married in the spring so this will be a chance to make a family trip together.

Aduchamp1

Tell him to get a copy of the AIA Guide at the library, so that he can choose structures that he may want to visit. It is expensive and too heavy carry around on a daily basis. He could make xeroxes of selected pages however.

travelbuff

THere is one VERY intersting Sanford White building in the Village that he will want to see, it is an office building now and quite beautiful.

He also might want to see the progress at the World Trade Center, which just passed the half way point, so the building is now going up quite quickly.

A strange new apartment building that just went up is on E 23rd St at Madison Ave VERY tall and SKINNY.

THe Highline Park might be interesting, which is close to CHelsea Market a rennovated building now with tons of food stalls. Oh and on that subject the Church on 6th and 20th St which used to be a nightclub now a food mall.

I'm sure lots of other posters will come up with lots of other ideas.

frogoutofwater

Visit the Skyscraper Museum in Battery Park.

Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, but start from the Brooklyn side. Take the 2/3 train over the bridge to the first stop in Brooklyn and then walk because, because that way you'll be walking toward Manhattan and have its great views. Or do the walk as part of a Big Onion Walking Tour (which would probably provide more information on the construction of the bridge.)

Opentable.com is a good way to make (free) restaurant reservations. It's often a good idea to make reservations several days (or even a week in advance) for trendy restaurants you'd want to go to on a Friday or Saturday night. You can specify options like type of cuisine, neighbourhood, etc.

Get cheap tickets for the musical American Idiot (which features the music of Green Day). While most people know about the TKTS ticket booth at Times Square, there is a less busy one at the South Street Seaport.

SueNYC

www.mas.org for architecture walking tours.

aqua

Great ideas thank you will there be sports, games like Basket ball, I know football will be over by the 19 of Jan?

SueNYC

You all can construct your own meals at the Meatball Shop which is also a trendy bar on the Lower East Side.

nytraveler

Um - if he's 24 doesn't he know what he wants to see/do? I would ask him to map out the tour - and assume that he will want to go out clubbing or similar in the evening at least a couple of times. Or perhaps sports bar - based on his biggest interests.

And I think the parents might not be comfortable in many of the most trendy places - even if they could get in - except for a few restaurants.

ggreen

Definitely agree about the Skyscraper Museum! The museum's site, skyscraper.org, has some interesting web-only projects, including Manhattan Timeformations created by a professor I had in grad school:
http://www.skyscraper.org/WEB_PROJEC...S/mt_intro.htm (Sadly, it only goes through 2000, so none of the current building craze is included!) Not far away, I've been fascinated watching the development of the Gehry residential building in the financial district near the Brooklyn Bridge.

(Note that if you want to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, it's either the F to York Street - to see some of DUMBO - or the A/C to High Street. Not the 2/3, which will put you farther away across a rather dreary park. In DUMBO, I always recommend getting hot chocolate at Jacques Torres (mrchocolate.com), or you might like a drink or lunch at Rebar or dinner at Superfine... The neighborhood is a mix of artists and tech startups; Rebar especially usually has a young crowd.)

I also like the idea of walking along the Highline: start at 23rd Street and head down to 14th Street. The Standard at the Standard Hotel is a good place for a drink - definitely a young crowd, and the building itself might be interesting for the civil engineer!

Use menupages.com for restaurant reviews and menus.

FWIW, with so much development that's gone on here in the last 5-10 years, plus more happening all the time, there should be plenty of construction sites to fill his fancy.

sf7307

>>

It's worth going out of your way for!

Aduchamp1

City Bakery also makes great hot chocolate and they usually have Hot Chocolate Festival during February.

sf7307

Where is City Bakery?

Aduchamp1

City Bakery is on 18th between Fifth and Sixth.

ggreen

For sports, at the pro level there's always basketball (Knicks at Madison Square Garden) and hockey (though, like football, none of our area teams play within NYC).

If your son might be interested in participating in sports activities, you could look into what's going on at Chelsea Piers. Or the Polar Bear Club out at Coney Island.

Aduchamp1

Please note GGreen that the New York Rangers play at Madison Square Garden and have played at the various incarnations of MSG for 85 years.

ggreen

Oh oops! There I go being un-caffeinated again. I knew that didn't sound completely right! (In addition to lack of caffeine, I blame the mistake on being something more of a fan of teams from that city-that-cannot-be-named instead of those of the local variety...) In case you were worried, I am fully caffeinated now!

Aduchamp1

The old Starbucks Defense.