Out of Manhattan
Here you'll find information about New York City's four outer boroughs (Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island,) as well as spots that make good daytrips from Manhattan.
Fourth of July guide: fireworks, freebies, webcams
The 33rd Annual Macy’s 4th of July Fireworks this year moves to the Hudson River to mark the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s first voyage there.
 The 26-minute SOUSA Firework shows will start at 9:20 p.m. with more than more than 40,000 shells fired from six barges in the river between 24th and 50th streets.
Tune your radio to 10101 Wins, which will broadcast the live music in sync with the fireworks. NBC will broadcast the fireworks show, along with the live performance, which will feature the New York Pops, Rob Thomas, Jewel, Karen Olivo and the cast of Broadway’s “West Side Story.”
See Macy’s suggested fireworks public viewing areas as well as the city’s street closures.
Fireworks cruises
South Street Seaport’s Schooner Pioneer
World Yacht Fourth of July Dinner Cruise
Spirit of NY Fireworks Dinner Cruise
Manhattan by Sail cruise
NY Waterway - waitlist
Fireworks viewing locations
Chelsea Piers
Empire State Building
Top of the Rock
Circle Line’s Rooftop Party
Roof deck of Pier 66
Fireworks on the Hudson at Hudson Terrace
Extreme eating
Nathan’s International Hot Dog Eating Contest - July 4 noon at Coney Island
Special museum events
Declaration of Independence, in Thomas Jefferson’s hand, at the NY Public Library at Fifth and 42nd from 1 to 5 p.m.
Free admission at the New-York Historical Society if you wear red, white and blue
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July 3, 2009 11:39 AM Comments (0)
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Statue of Liberty crown tickets sold out until Labor Day
While the Statue of Liberty is on track to reopen her crown to the public on the Fourth of July, tickets to climb up her steps are already all-but sold out through the Labor Day weekend.
Tickets first went on sale June 13 and demand was so high that the website and telephone lines were difficult to access. (The website has been slow again this morning.)
 Only 30 people per hour will be allowed to take the stairs to the crown under escort from a National Park Service ranger.
It’s important to note that currently the plan is to keep the crown open for two years only. After that, it will close again for a project to make the interior safer to visitors and hopefully allow more people to visit each day.
The crown has been closed since Sept. 11, 2001, mainly for fire safety reasons, the National Park Service has long said. The torch has been closed to the public since 1916, when Liberty’s arm was damaged by a massive rail yard explosion in nearby New Jersey. There are no plans to ever reopen the torch to the public.
You can also follow the the Statue of Liberty on Twitter (it’s an official NPS account;) or flickr; or take an eTour.
What you need to know to get tickets to the Statue of Liberty’s crown:
Crown tickets can be reserved up to a year in advance through Statue Cruises, the only company licensed to ferry the public to Liberty and Ellis islands. The $3 crown fee will be on top of the regular ferry ticket, currently priced at $12 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for children. Tickets can be purchased online or by calling 877- LADY-TIX (877-523-9849) between 8 a.m. and 6 p.m., Eastern time.
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July 2, 2009 9:49 AM Comments (0)
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Rockaway Beach summer ferry service starts Saturday
 Weekend ferry service to Rockaway Beach starts this Saturday from Manhattan’s Pier 11 with one-way tickets priced at $6.
The trip takes 1 hour 15 minutes, with three departure daily from Pier 11 (near Wall Street on the East River.) The NY Water Taxi departs at 9:15 a.m., 11:45 a.m. and 3:45 p.m.
Return departures are scheduled for 2:30 and 5 p.m. Most trips also include a stop at Brooklyn Army Terminal.
The Water Taxi docks at the former U.S. Coast Guard Station just north of Marine Park Bridge at 169 Street, and offers nearby access to Fort Tilden and Jacob Riis Park, (which was the scene-of-the-crime beach in this week’s Law & Order Criminal Intent with Raul Esparza.)
The subsidized summer service is offered in partnership with Gateway National Recreation Area and the NYC Economic Development Corporation.
Picture credit: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology
June 30, 2009 1:09 PM Comments (0)
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Car-free Summer Streets to return Aug. 8, 15 and 22
Almost 7 miles of Manhattan roads will be closed to traffic again this summer as Summer Streets will return August 8, 15 and 22 from 7 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The 6.9-mile route will give way to bikers, skaters, walkers and others from the Brooklyn Bridge, up Lafayette/Centre Streets, along 4th Avenue and Park Avenue up to 72nd streets, map.
However, main cross-town streets will remain open to vehicles crossing the car-free zone.
“This is only its second year, but Summer Streets is already a New York tradition,” Department of Transportation Commissioner Janette Sadik-Khan said at the news conference announcing the dates.
In addition the city has creating 13 extra car-free street events in other neighborhoods in all five boroughs, ranging from one to seven blocks long. Here are the dates of the remaining dates for those events:
Image source: NYC Summer Streets website
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June 30, 2009 12:17 PM Comments (0)
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Summer restaurant week reservations open for July
 Le Cirque, Nobu, Del Posto, Telepan, 21 Club, The Modern, The Oak Room at The Plaza, Perry Street, Esca, Red Cat, Tabla, Gallagher’s, Shun Lee, Central Park Boathouse, Fives at The Peninsula, Le Colonial, Lure, Morimoto, Petrossian, David Burke Townhouse, Water Club and The River Café have all signed on for Summer Restaurant Week and reservations are now open.
The summer deal will run from July 12-31, excluding weekends although some restaurants will participate on Sundays.
Restaurants will offer three-course lunches for $24.07 and/or dinners for $35. Tax, tip and drinks cost extra.
Technically, reservations don’t open until Tuesday, but sponsoring group NYC & Co, released the list early on its @nycgo Twitter account.
Earlier: Restaurant Week to offer early reservations via Twitter
June 29, 2009 11:43 AM Comments (0)
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Full rainbow over Brooklyn Bridge during sunny storm
Picture credit: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Update: Another view of the same rainbow, from east of Ocean Parkway, by Antonio M. Rosario.
June 27, 2009 9:46 PM Comments (0)
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Wright's 1909 Statue of Liberty flights celebrated
Officials from the Wright Family Foundation and the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum were in New York on Wednesday to mark an upcoming centennial of flying history that started on Governors Island.
 On September 29, 1909 Wilbur Wright made the first long over-water flight in America as he took off from Governors Island and twice circled the Statue of Liberty, said Tom Crouch, the senior curator for aeronautics at the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum.
Just in case, a red canoe was strapped to the bottom of the plane.
The headline of The Globe newspaper pegged the elevation of the flight at 150 feet, dipping to a mere 25 feet above Castle Williams on Governors Island.
A few days later, Wright made a longer flight up the Hudson as part of the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, marking the 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson’s initial navigation of the waterway (and the first steam navigation of the river by Robert Fulton in 1807.)
Wright’s second flight, on Oct. 4, 1909, started at Governors Island, moved on to the Statue of Liberty and then extended all the way up to Grant’s Tomb. The 20-mile round-trip flight took 33 minutes, and was witnessed by a million people lining the shores, according to newspaper accounts. The river was packed with 1,600 ships that had come for the Hudson-Fulton Celebration, Crouch said.
As New York City is once again celebrating Hudson’s 1609 “discovery,” a September 12 air show is in the works for Governors Island, said Amanda Wright Lane, a great grand niece of Orville and Wilbur Wright. That air show may include a re-creation of a 1909 Wright flight.
Wilbur already has his name on a monument on Governors Island, celebrating the “early birds” of military aviation.
The plaque on the front states: “This bronze propeller was cast directly from one of the Wright brothers’ wooden propellers. Two were used to propel the first United States military aeroplane, a 1909 Wright. The original was loaned to the Early Birds, by the Smithsonian Institution, National Air Museum - Paul E. Garber, head curator.”
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June 25, 2009 9:31 AM Comments (2)
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Hoboken goes 'zero tolerance' for Hudson fireworks
 While Brooklyn and Roosevelt Island are still fuming over the Fourth of July fireworks move to the Hudson this year, Hoboken is doing its best to make the least of the situation by announcing “Zero Tolerance” holiday policies.
“This includes absolutely no rooftop parties or gatherings for viewing of the fireworks celebration, unless the said property has met the code standards for such usage. And it is especially important that no overcrowding occur on these properties. Furthermore, the use of balconies, fire escapes, porches or any other structures for viewing are strictly prohibited within the confines of the codes for such structures,” states the letter from Mayor David Roberts on the city of Hoboken website.
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June 18, 2009 2:33 PM Comments (0)
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Blondie/Donnas show for Brooklyn Summer Concerts
There are a number of interesting acts booked for this summer’s free Brooklyn Concerts series, including the likes of Donna Summer, Gladys Knight, The O’Jays and Anita Baker.
And on August 13, Blondie and Pat Benatar play with special guest The Donnas at Coney Island.
There are two venues, and the concert hotline the same for both: (718) 222-0600.
Seaside Summer Concerts play Thursday nights at 7:30 p.m. at Asser Levy/Seaside Park at W. 5th Street and Surf Avenue, map.
The schedule:
July 16 - Creedence Clearwater Revisted with Mountain and John Sebastian
July 23 - Gladys Knight and the O’Jays
July 30 - to be announced
Aug. 6 - Daryl Hall & John Oates
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June 17, 2009 8:42 PM Comments (0)
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Brooklyn-Gov Island ferry moves to Sun. for punk fest
The free Brooklyn ferry to Governors Island will switch to Sunday this weekend to coincide with the Punk Island music festival.
 The new Brooklyn ferry, operated by NY Waterway, makes a circuit between Governors Island and the base of the Brooklyn Bridge at Fulton Ferry landing. The Brooklyn ferry is added on weekend days when there is special programming, which usually falls on Saturdays.
Manhattan service, which is also free, runs every Friday, Saturday and Sunday through the summer. For more details see the Governors Island ferry schedule, which changes from week to week.
Governors Island has already racked up 30,000 visitors in its first three weekends of 2009. By comparison, in 2006, only 26,000 people visited during the entire summer season, a Governors Island spokeswoman told NewYorkology.
Related: Upcoming events on Governors Island.
Update: See Brooklyn Vegan for the Sunday lineup of 70+ bands on 12 stages.
June 17, 2009 12:35 PM Comments (0)
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