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.
Fleet Week 2012 features tall ships, Blue Angels
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.
On July 16, 2013, Citi Field in Queens will host the Major League Baseball All-Star Game, NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg, MLB Commissioner Allan (Bud) Selig and Mets CEO Fred Wilpon announced today.
“As we celebrate the franchise’s golden anniversary this year, I am pleased to award the 2013 All-Star Game to the New York Mets and their loyal fans,” Selig said today at a City Hall news conference.
New York City last hosted the MLB’s All-Star Game in 2008, at the old Yankee Stadium. The Mets’ old home, Shea Stadium, hosted the 1964 All-Star Game.
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.
Tickets will go on sale to the general public May 21 at 10 a.m.
“Streisand will perform publicly for the first time in Brooklyn,” according to the Barclays Center listing, which bills the show as her “Back to Brooklyn” concert.
Pre-sale dates will be available for Brooklyn Nets All Access ticket holders.
Still under construction, the Barclays Center is scheduled to open Sept. 28 with a concert by another Brooklyn native, Jay-Z, who is also a co-owner of the Brooklyn Nets.
Update as of May 21: The Oct. 11 show sold out and an Oct. 13 show has been added.
IKEA water taxi testing E. 35th free weekend service
New York Water Taxi temporarily has added an East 35th Street stop in Manhattan to its free weekend service to IKEA Brooklyn, a company spokeswoman told NewYorkology.
The E. 35th Street service is in addition to the regular free weekend service between IKEA and Pier 11 at Wall Street. If the route is popular, it will become permanent, IKEA spokeswoman Lorna Montalvo told NewYorkology via email.
Currently the East 35th Street service is scheduled only for May 13, 19 and 20.
“We still have the rest of the month until we make a full assessment of the 35th Street Pier route,” she said. “However, if the route does prove to be successful it would be in addition to the Pier 11 service.”
The IKEA Water Taxi is free for everyone on weekends, but riders with an IKEA receipt get priority if the boat exceeds capacity. On weekdays, the ride is $5 each way, but IKEA shoppers will get a $10 credit at checkout in the store.
Cunard’s Queen Mary 2 docked in Brooklyn this morning under heavy fog. For a few minutes the entire Manhattan skyline was obscured except for the top floors of the tallest building in the city, 1 World Trade Center.
Among the passengers disembarking the trans-Atlantic cruise were former President George H.W. Bush and his family, according to USA Today.
The one-day polo event will take place June 2 and tickets will cost $25. (The event was free and open to the public on Governors Island, with VIP areas available for a price.) The $25 ticket includes ferry transportation from Manhattan or a shuttle transfer from New Jersey Transit Hudson-Bergen Light Rail. Parking will not be available on site.
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.
PS1, the Queens branch of the Museum of Modern Art, is offering two-for-one admission during May as part of its culture spot of the month designation by the city’s official tourism bureau.
On Thursday, PS1 will open a Lara Favaretto installation called “Just Knocked Out.” Other exhibitions on view include works by Frances Stark and Rania Stephan. A collection of Kraftwerk’s audio and visual work is also on display through May 14.
Upcoming Sunday Sessions events include performances by Questlove on May 6 and Afrika Bambaataa on May 13.
The museum’s new restaurant, the M. Wells Dinette, also opens sometime this month.
