Waldorf's lost train off-limits, other tunnels offer tours
Matt Lauer of the "Today" show this morning got rare access into one of New York's City's best hidden spaces -- the abandoned rail platfrm under the Waldorf-Astoria hotel.
Most famously used by President Franklin Roosevelt to help hide the fact he was wheelchair-bound, the track allowed VIPs to enter Manhattan by train and take an elevator directly up to the luxury hotel without ever setting foot on the street.
In 2006, the Waldorf's general manager told NewYorkology that the hotel's entrance to the rail platform had been reconfigued and is no longer easy to access. He also debunked a few myths about who used the private entrance. Researchers at the Franklin D. Roosevelt Library and Museum in Hyde Park also did some research on the matter for NewYorkology, making it clear that the abandoned rail car under the Waldorf isn't the polio-stricken president's famous Pullman car, the Ferdinand Magellan.
So unless you're Matt Lauer, you're probably not ever getting access to the train cars under the Waldorf. But you can get access to a couple other abandoned rail stations in NYC. The oldest option is in Brooklyn, directly under Atlantic Avenue as it leads out to the East River. Tours of the 1844 tunnel are offered about once a month by the Brooklyn Historic Railway Association. But be warned that you do enter the tunnel by crawling through a manhole in the middle of the street at the intersection of Atlantic and Court.
Your other option is to catch one of the rare tours the NY Transit Museum offers of the city's original subway station that opened in 1904 under City Hall in Lower Manhattan. The stunning station, with chandeliers, skylights and tiled, vaulted ceilings, is next open for tours on July 19.
Not quite as glamorous, but still cool, the old Knickerbocker Hotel on Times Square had its own stairs from the subway platform leading up to the hotel. See Forgotten NY for pictures. (In 2006, the Dubai royal family announced plans to convert the Knickerbocker back into a luxury hotel but the Post reported last week that instead they've decided to sell the landmark building which now houses offices and a Gap shop, streetview map.)
Also of note: Julia Solis' intriguing "New York Underground" recently came out in paperback.
Circle Line launching a $50,000 NYC Waterfalls tour
While several ferry companies have already announced plans for summer cruises that will get spectators close to artist Olafur Eliasson's NYC Waterfalls, Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises is hoping to top them all when it comes to pure excess.
For $50,000 you can get a private Circle Line boat (with crew) to cruise aroound the waterfalls while sipping Dom Perignon, dining on a six-course meal from Chef Daniel Boulud's Feast & Fêtes catering and sharing chocolate Knipschildt's La Madeline au Truffes.
Since you probably won't be sleeping on the boat, Circle Line will also throw in a night in a presidential suite in a hotel on par with the Waldorf, Mandarin Oriental or Four Seasons, a spokesman told NewYorkology.
Eliasson's four waterfalls are currently under construction under the Brooklyn Bridge, at Governors Island, at Manhattan's Pier 35 and below the Brooklyn Promenade. They'll be in operation from late June to mid-October.
Rockaways, Frying Pan to get Water Taxi on weekends
While the mayor made his big announcement today about new ferry commmuter service between the Rockaways and Manhattan, the more interesting news may lie in the New York Water Taxi's other plans for this summer, including weekend service to Rockaway Beach as well as the Frying Pan on the Hudson.
Service will also start to Red Hook's new Brooklyn Ikea starting June 18, but the Water Taxi has ditched all plans for Governors Island and the Mets Express this summer, a spokeswoman for the company told NewYorkology. (Governors Island will still be served by a free ferry from Lower Manhattan for the season, which starts May 31.)
Water Taxi Beach in Long Island City will officially reopen for the season on the Thursday before Memorial Day weekend, with Friday/Saturday/Sunday ferry service from E. 34th Street in Manhattan.
The NY Water Taxi is also ditching its weekday hop-on hop-off service which has been aimed at the tourist crowd. That service will remain on weekends (when ridership was higher and the boats won't be needed for the commuter routes.)
However, it will still run its evening sunset happy-hour cruises on most nights. And new this week, it's adding a TV and Movie cruise every Thursday. And once Olafur Eliasson's NYC Waterfalls art project starts flowing, the Water Taxi (along with Circle Line and NY Waterway) will start special waterfall cruises.
NY Water Taxi weekend service to the Rockaways -- at Riis Landing on National Park Service land -- is aiming to start weekend service in early summer. No pricing details are yet available (although the city-subsidised weekday commuter service on the same route will be $6 each way.)
Service to the Lightship "Frying Pan" would also start mid-summer, as a stop on the hop-on hop-off service. The "Frying Pan," which recently moved to Pier 66 from its longtime Pier 63 home on the Hudson River, hopes to reopen soon as a restaurant and bar -- the same facilities it offered in the old location, a spokeswoman told NewYorkology today.
Farther out on the horizon, the city is sinking $500,000 into a study on more routes, including LaGuardia Airport, Roosevelt Island, Coney Island, Riverdale, Camp St. Edward on Staten Island, W. 125th Street, Orchard Beach, Hunts Point, Sheepshead Bay, Bay Ridge, Astoria, and Manhattan's E. 20th , E. 75th, and E. 90th streets.
Statue of Liberty's insides twisted, but no beating heart
In Grand Theft Auto IV's Liberty City, which is apparently New York City in a parallel universe, a number of things in the video game are cleverly inspired by the real.
Serious Eats has charted the places to eat in Liberty City (including the "Steinway Beer Garden,") while Gawker points out that the "Statue of Happiness" in the harbor "contains at its heart... a beating heart, chained to the exterior walls."
But since NewYorkology dwells in the travel blog realm, it would be proper to proffer some pictures of what the inside of the Statue of Liberty actually looks like.
Also, keep in mind that if you're planning a trip out to the Statue of Liberty, it's key to buy your time-specific ferry tickets in advance and tick the box for the free monument pass (otherwise you can't see up inside the statue or gain access to the museum.)
Can't wait for fall to set foot up on the High Line when it will start opening to the public as a park? Then sign up for a High Line sketching class in May.
A section of the HIgh Line opened for (legal) tours during last year's Open House New York, but the sign-ups maxed out super fast. Currently, there are 34 spots available for the sketching spots.
The sketching classes will be taught by artist Ann DeVere. The price is $25 for High Line supporters or $50 otherwise -- and art supplies will be provided. Participants must be at least 18 years old. And apparently there's no prerequesite that your art skills have to be any good before you arrive.
The High Line -- an abandoned, elevated freight train tracks built in the 1920s and '30s -- is on schedule to open its first park section in fall from Gansevoort Street up to 20th Street. See construction pictures on the High Line's website.
Other upcoming (off-site) High Line events include a May 6 lecture with artist Spencer Finch who will discuss plans for the public art work he's creating for the High Line.
Picture credits: High Line above the Hudson Yards during the OHNY tours in October 2007. Amy Langfield/NewYorkology.
Darwin, edible lawns on May's garden-events agenda
NewYorkology contributor Jane Berger has compiled a list of selected garden-related events for May. Jane is a professional landscape designer working throughout the Northeast and is editor and publisher of Garden Design Online.
Brooklyn Botanic Garden (718) 623-7200
May 3 and 4
10 a.m. to 6 p.m.
Sakura Matsuri, weekend-long Cherry Blossom Festival
May 6
6 to 8 p.m.
Annual Garden Secrets, lecture by BBG Curator Nancy Seaton
May 14
10:30 a.m. to noon
Urban Gardening Workshop, author Linda Yang
May 14
9 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Tour of NYC Flower Market led by floral designer Nancy Kitchen
May 31
10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Japanese Pruning Techniques for Small Gardens, workshop with arborist Asher Browne & BBG curator Brian Funk
May 31
3 p.m.
Small Urban Gardens of Japan lecture with Asher Browne
NY Botanical Garden (718) 817-8747
Through June 15
Darwin’s Garden, special exhibition in the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory
May 6
5 p.m. in the Ross Lecture Hall, NYBG
Darwin: Yesterday and Today, panel discussion featuring Darwin historian David Kohn, philosopher Michael Ruse and Rita Colwell, former director of the National Science Foundation.
May 8
6:30 p.m. at the Kaufman Theater, American Museum of Natural History
Human Evolution & the Complexity of Living Organisms panel discussion featuring Barbara Schaal, VP of the National Academy of Sciences; biologist & author Kenneth Miller and biochemist Gerald Edelman
May 17
10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in NYBG's Watson Bldg
Photo Workshop: The Power of Natural Light with photographer Allen Rokach
That will get you breakfast, a one-hour Circle Line waterfall cruise and a harbor-view room with an in-room telescope to see the Governors Island Waterfall -- the most southern of the four man-made waterfalls.
The package will be on offer from July 4 through October 14.
The Plaza Athenee waterfall hotel package might not have a room with the view, but it will get you a NY Water Taxi waterfalls cruise with an optional add on of the "Waterfalls Inspired Lunch or Dinner Menu in Arabelle Restaurant." Package rates are 560 in July and August and $750 in September and October.
Related: Bike and Roll, a new bike rental and tour company for NYC will also be offering NYC waterfalls tours this summer.
Image source: NYCWaterfalls.org rendering of "Governors Island"
MadMaps has published a series of daytripper and weekend getaway maps, including two focusing on the area around New York. They're maybe best suited for the times when you're too fed up to do the research ahead of time, and just want to hit the road and drive. However, the itineraries are maybe too generic from some travelers and could be frustrating when they list a town's high points, but offer no directions or addresses.
For cheap out-of-town travel, keep tabs on BoltBus and MegaBus, which are rapidly adding service to NYC with fares from $1 (if you book in advance.)
And in the cheap-airfare department, Skybus is now flying to three destinations (Portsmouth, Columbus, and Greensboro) from the rapidly expanding Stewart Airport in the Hudson Valley. (Update: Skybus just went out of business.)
Metro-North's new partnership with Enterprise lets you take the train out of Manhattan and then pick up your rental car at 23 stations, including Beacon, Middletown, Port Chester and Goldens Bridge.
For organized trips out of the city, the Adventure Society has a serious calendar of offerings ranging from hiking and horseback riding to Indy race car driving and Adirondack white-water rafting.
NYC Audubon spring field trips include a wildflower hike at Pyramid Mountain and to the Raptor Trust bird rehabilitation center.
Metro-North's one-day getaways include packages to Cold Springs, the Mohegan Sun Casino, and the Bruce Museum of Arts and Science in Greenwich.
Not only is there a Lucille Ball-Desi Arnaz Center in Jamestown NY, but the town is hosting Luci-Desi Days from May 23 through May 25.
Singer Castle on Dark Island opens for the season on May 17.
The Long Island Lighthouse Challenge -- scheduled for May 17 and 18 -- opens the doors to the lighthouses on Fire Island, Eatons Neck, Huntingdon Harbor, Cedar Island, Horton Point, Montauk Point, Orient Point, and the Long Beach Bar.
Upcoming tours: Navy Yard, train tunnel, watershed
There are several unusual, upcoming tours of note in New York City. Some are free, though reservations are highly encouraged for most. The list:
New York Marble Cemetery
March 23 - First open day of the season for the oldest public non-sectarian cemetery in New York City. (Open once a month through November.)
Tunnels and Chambers - NYC Dept. of Parks and Recreation
March 30 - Billed as “the big unveiling of the Endicott Batteries, a labyrinth of
concrete hidden among trees and bushes” at Fort Totten in Queens. Bring a flashlight.
Top tier of Fort Wadsworth's Battery Weed - National Park Service
March 30 - A rare tour of the to of Battery Weed, as well as the restored turn-of-the-century lighthouse.
The First Walk - The Municipal Art Society
April 6 - Retracing the steps of the very first Municipal Art Society walking tour of 1955, which was "such a novelty then that newspapers sent reporters and a photographer to cover it." Covers Madison Square, Gramercy Park, Stuyvesant Square and will end "as that first tour did -- at venerable Pete's Tavern on Irving Place." (Led by Francis Morrone, architectural historian and NewYorkology contributor.)
Grand Avenue Bus Depot - New York Transit Museum
April 13 - Behind-the-scenes tour of the 500,000 square foot Bus Depot and Central Maintenance Shop in Maspeth, in operation since Fall 2007.
Lantern tour of Fort Wadsworth - National Park Service
April 14 - 7 p.m. tour of the fortification at the foot of the Verrazano Bridge. Flashlights required.
Cheese Caves - Murray's Cheese
April 19, May 17, June 21 - Now offered on the third Saturday of every month, the much-loved cheese shop on Bleecker opens its subterranean cheese caves for $10 tours.
Fresh Kills Park Tours - NYC Urban Park Rangers
April 19 - First free bus tour of the season of Staten Island's retired landfill currently being turned into a park. Tours run through November.
