Times Square Yesterday
 

Yesterday we were tour escorts for a friend and her two delightful daughters making their first trip to NYC. They are staying in Times Square for full effect. Although I cannot abide Times Square, the girls thought they were in neon heaven.

As we exited the subway to pick them up, we noticed colorful lounge chairs covering what is now pedesitrian area on Broadway. (There is article on this in today's NY Times). Immediately a slight framed but tall fellow sat in one, and the chair collapsed, leaving him laughing and sprawled out on Broadway. The Times article speaks about how cheap the chairs are.

The girls loved everything about NY including the Tenement Museum and the food. We each had a truffle from Teuscher's, lunch at Supper on East 2nd. (I know that sounds like an oxymoron) and gelati from Il Laboratorio de Gelato. We then went to Harlem to visit a mutual friend.

We will see them off and on for the next few days.

Taste of Times Sq was delicious this year. For 12 dollars I had Gazpacho, ribs, a pasta broccoli sausage dish, lump crabmeat salad, bananas foster cheesecake and honest tea.

Thanks for the update. Yes, "lunch at Supper" is an oxymoron, but so is "neon heaven."

And the chairs are ugly!!!!

Who will be wiping off rain, schmootz, and pigeon droppings from them this summer? Do you think Bloomberg will send his housekeeper?

Permanent chairs are supposed to arrive in August.

It is as if the DOT said, let us pick three of the most congested traffic aareas in the city and make them worse.

But, it is sorta refreshing that for once pedestrians took priority. (OK, I live in a decidedly un-pedestrian friendly city. I'm just jealous.)

The sidewalks are still mobbed and I'm still forced to walk in the side streets and on 7th Ave.

It almost appears suicidal to see people sitting in the middle of Broadway. Transportation in NYC is a hostile activity. People with their cell phones walk the streets as if they are in their living rooms, bicyclists think they are elevated life forms, the trains are crowded at almost all hours, cabs are adventure rides, and driving is an Adrenalin nrush. That is not a complaint simply a fact. And these pedestrian oases seem out of place and make matters worse.

"People with their cell phones walk the streets as if they are in their living rooms." Hell, that's no different than anyplace else! And, if you think New Yorkers do that a lot, it's nothing compared to the street scene in Europe!
As for, the "pedestrian oases" out of place and making matters worse....well, it's New York, where almost nothing is out of place!

Agree. I'm all for ore pedestrian spaces - but Times Square is not the place to put these little "parks". the area is awful, there's nothing green and pleasant and they are making what was always a bottleneck into an impossible situation.

Really one of his worst ideas yet. Why not pick some places with a little room and add small parks there?

Actually I think they are going to plant stuff!

^ OK. That is ridiculous. Planting stuff in Times Square?!

Don't worry - nothing can blossom there except drama.

If they plant stuff it won;t survive - just too much pollution and too many feet - unless they put it all in cement planters.

And what they've done to the downtown traffic pattern on the west side is incredble. That used to be my route to work - down the Park Drive, then 7th Ave and turn east on 42nd to my office.

Now you can;t get below about 50th on 7th or broadway - its just one gigantic traffic blob - not helped by all those silly tour buses. I never cease to be amazed by all the people sitting on the op of a bus in traffic just watching everyone walking to their offices. There's noting else to see but a bunch of ads (and who wants to pay for that) and it takes at least 15 minutes just to get out of the mess.

I'm thinking of headng across 96th instead to the FDR and jumping off at the UN exit, then down 2nd to 42nd.

Dare I ask, nytraveler......why do you drive to work?

inquiring minds want to know....

Auduchamp- if it's not too late, go to the Cloisters! It's amazing. And you can get there on the subway. Saige

Over my desk is a picture of the boxwood rosary bead that is the Treasury at the Cloisters.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wallyg/2189403747/

It a testament to both the insanity and decication that man is capable of.

Tomorrow we will either go the Met or MoMA, their choice. They are in their early teens and have a great eagerness to learn more about art.

I have an opening of a new exhibit at St. Francis College Friday night from 5-8 where there are approxiamtely 7 artists and photographers showing their work.

I love the picture of the boxwood rosary bead - how lovely you have it in your office to admire.

Enjoy the opening exhibit! Are you bringing the girls?

Aduchamp1--I'm one of those "elevated" cyclists... =)

I was originally sort of pleased with car-free Broadway, but I didn't realize it would make it basically impossible to make use of the very nifty bike lanes that now start higher up on Broadway (unless I'm missing something). They basically now dump out into the pedestrian area (where there was once a bike lane) and there are no signs as to what cyclists are supposed to do. The first day I got off my bike and walked it through. The second day I stayed on 7th and was <i>almost</i> hit by an aggressive cab driver after I swerved to go around a pedestrian with an ipod in one ear and a phone attached to the other ear who stepped off the sidewalk and into traffic despite not having the light. Guess it's back to the West Side Highway from now on...

That's great they went to the Tenement Museum; I finally went there last year with my mom when she visited and we really enjoyed it.

Speaking of art---this exhibit at the Armory closes on Sunday. It sounds really cool--has anyone been?
http://www.armoryonpark.org/
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/05/13/ar...0armory&st=cse