NYC Fleet Week 2012 begins Wednesday morning with the Parade of Ships combined with a special tall-ship contingent, OpSail, commemorating the bicentennial of the War of 1812. The U.S. Navy’s Blue Angels will also do a flyover during the Parade of Ships.
The ships will get a cannon salute as they begin their journey at the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and head toward the Statue of Liberty. The ships will head up the Hudson River to the George Washington Bridge before returning back down the Hudson.
Participating ships include the USS Roosevelt, the USS Wasp, USCGC Eagle, RFA Argus of the UK Royal Navy, Finland’s FNS Pohjanmaa, Canada’s HMCS Iroquois, Japan’s JS Shirane and tall ships from France, Brazil, Ecuador, Spain and Mexico.
Fleet Week events are scheduled from May 23 through 30.
8:11 a.m. - The first tall ships sail under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge
9:18 a.m. - The first ships reach the Statue of Liberty
10:30 a.m. - Military parade of ships begins under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge
11:07 a.m. - The first tall ships reach the George Washington Bridge and begin the turn-around
Noon - Northbound warships pass southbound tall ships near the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum to coincide with the military aircraft flyover
2 to 4 p.m. - Ships moor at berths in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island.
The Intrepid’s flight deck hosts the “Men in Black 3” premiere after party. Tickets are on sale to the public for $150.
Thursday, May 24
Throughout the remainder of Fleet Week, ships docked at Manhattan’s Pier 90 and Pier 92 as well as Staten Island’s The Sullivans’ (Stapleton Homeport) Pier will be open for free tours from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
The tall ship Gloria will be open for tours at the Intrepid’s Pier 86 in Manhattan.
A ceremony at the Intrepid at 11:30 a.m. will mark the 50th anniversary of the Mercury-Atlas 7 Mission, in which the USS Intrepid picked up astronaut Scott Carpenter, who will attend the ceremony.
Dixie and Oogie are the proud parents of three new North American river otters at the Prospect Park Zoo, the Wildlife Conservation Society announced today.
The pups, which arrived in February, are the first North American river otters born in a New York City zoo or aquarium since 1956.
Riverflicks to screen free movies on Pier 46, Pier 63
The Hudson River Park Trust has announced the lineup for its Riverflicks summertime free movie series. Once again, one pier will be devoted to family fare and one pier for adult-themed movies.
Popcorn will be free at both locations.
Wednesday night movies, aimed at grown-ups, will screen on the lawn at Hudson River Park’s Pier 63 at W. 23rd Street in Chelsea. Friday PG-rated, family-night movies will screen at Pier 46 at Charles Street in the West Village.
Movies begin at dusk, generally around 8:30 p.m. In addition to the free popcorn, food and drink will be available for purchase.
July 11 - “Moneyball”
July 18 - “Super 8”
July 25 - “Bridesmaids”
Aug. 1 - “Limitless”
Aug. 8 - “Cowboys & Aliens”
Aug. 15 - “Crazy, Stupid, Love”
Aug. 22 - “Horrible Bosses”
July 13 - “Kung Fu Panda 2”
July 20 - “Superman, The Movie”
July 27 - “Hugo”
Aug. 3 - “Puss in Boots”
Aug. 10 - “Rango”
Aug. 17 - “Back to the Future”
Aug. 24 - “The Smurfs”
Intrepid free screenings start with 'Top Gun' on deck
Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum will kick off its series of free summer movies with a Fleet Week screening of “Top Gun” on the flight deck of the museum’s namesake aircraft carrier.
On movie nights, doors will open at 7:30 p.m. with members of the public invited to bring their own lawn chairs, blankets, food and non-alcoholic drinks. Movies screen at sunset on a large inflatable screen on the Flight Deck of the USS Intrepid.
The 2012 Intrepid Summer Movie Series schedule:
May 25 - “Top Gun”
July 13 - “Spider-Man”
July 20 - “Star Trek” (2009)
July 27 - “The Muppets” (2011)
Aug. 3 - “Jurassic Park”
Aug. 17 - “The Goonies”
On Monday movie nights, the gravel area surrounding the Bryant Park lawn opens at 4 p.m. with access to the lawn starting at 5 p.m. (following bag inspection.)
Films begin at sunset, usually between between 8 and 9 p.m.
The 2012 Bryant Park free outdoor movie schedule:
June 18 - “Psycho”
June 25 - “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid”
July 2 - “The Wizard of Oz”
July 9 - “On the Waterfront”
July 16 - “Roman Holiday”
July 23 - “The Maltese Falcon”
July 30 - “Rebel Without a Cause”
Aug. 6 - “The Adventures of Robin Hood”
Aug. 13 - “All About Eve”
Aug. 20 - “Raiders of the Lost Ark”
This summer’s season of free shows at the Prospect Park Bandshell will include performances by Jimmy Cliff, Lyle Lovett , Esperanza Spalding, Ballet Hispanico as well as a “Muppet Movie” Sing-A-Long and a 35th anniversary screening of “Saturday Night Fever.”
The Celebrate Brooklyn shows, organized by BRIC Arts | Media | Bklyn, are free, though a $3 contribution is suggested at the gate. Seven additional shows — including Dirty Projectors, Wilco and Sigur Rós — are benefit shows and require a paid ticket. BRIC also offers memberships which include benefits such as reserved seats and jumping-the-line privileges.
The next public step in the Enterprise’s journey to the Intrepid Museum is tentatively scheduled to begin Monday, June 4 on a barge at JFK Airport.
The two-day trip will conclude June 6 at Pier 86 as the space shuttle will be lifted by crane onto the retired aircraft carrier, the USS Intrepid. The barge’s route has not yet been confirmed, a museum spokesman told NewYorkology.
The Enterprise will be placed in a temporary, climate-controlled Space Pavilion on the Intrepid’s Flight Deck. (Ultimately it will be moved to a permanent exhibition facility.)
The Enterprise will be on exhibit to the public starting July 19. Museum admission with access to the Space Shuttle Pavilion will cost $30 for adults; $26 for seniors and students; $23 for veterans and youth ages 7 through 17; $16 for children 3 to 6; and free admission for U.S. active military, retired U.S. military, and children under 3. (The museum classifies a “veteran” as someone who has served in the armed forces for any amount of time, and “retired U.S. military” as someone who devoted his or her career to the military and is now retired, a museum spokesman told NewYorkology.)
Transit tours offer access to LowLine, Old City Hall
Registration opened today for the NYC Transit Museum’s spring and summer transit tours, which offer rare access to abandoned stations, a century-old power station and rides on classic trains to Coney Island and the Rockaways.
Some of the tours, including the chandeliered Old City Hall station, are open only to members of the Transit Museum. Museum membership starts at $40 for an individual and includes free or discounted access to museum exhibits, programs and special events for one year. Members also get priority registration to the tours, which explains why some of them have already sold out. (Current members also have access to June tours of the new East Side Access tunnels under Grand Central.)
Public tours are scheduled June 7 and July 12 of the abandoned Williamsburg Bridge Railway Terminal, which is also the potential future home of the LowLine underground park. Although these two tours are currently sold out, museum officials will sometimes set up a stand-by list to take the place of no-shows.
Terracotta Warriors, horses arrive in Times Square
A small but distinguished group of Terracotta Warriors from China on Friday will go on display at the Discovery Times Square, bringing the 2,000-year old life-sized statues to New York City for the first time.
The exhibition includes seven of the original warriors plus two of their horses and more than 200 other artifacts dating as far back as 221 BCE, including the world premiere of a set of gates from an ancient Han burial chamber.
First discovered in 1974, thousands of the warriors were intended to protect China’s First Emperor, Qin Shihuangdi, in his afterlife. Although the full site has not been excavated, based on current discoveries researchers believe a total of nearly 8,000 statues were buried there.
The subset of the warriors on display at Times Square includes a high-ranking officer, a cavalry soldier, an acrobat and other 600-pound men. In addition, a life-size archer is included (but is a modern reproduction.)
Excavated from Pit. No. 1 in 1980, this “high-ranking officer” likely was holding something in his right hand. To date, only nine “high-ranking officers” have been discovered at the site.
The acrobat, excavated in 1999, was possibly intended to be spinning something on his fingertip. Traces of white paint remain on his face, chest, skirt, leg and back.
New York City will have to wait just a little longer for the final voyage of the space shuttle Enterprise.
For the second time, the weather has caused NASA to reschedule the flight of the Enterprise to New York from Washington. The new tentative date is Friday morning, April 27, the space agency announced today.
Previously, the flight had been scheduled for April 23 and then April 25. A large region of low pressure over the east coast has made it difficult to predict an ideal flight day, NASA said.
“Once officially approved, NASA’s 747 Shuttle Carrier Aircraft (SCA) with Enterprise mounted atop will fly at a relatively low altitude over various parts of the New York City metropolitan area on Friday,” NASA stated in a news release. “The Federal Aviation Administration is coordinating the flight, which is scheduled to occur between 9:30 and 11:30 a.m. EDT, weather permitting. The exact route and timing depend on weather and operational constraints. … If all goes as planned, the aircraft is expected to fly near a variety of landmarks in the New York metropolitan area, including the Statue of Liberty and the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum.”
