Free museum hours in NYC for Fall/Winter 2008/2009
Many New York City museums set aside at least a few hours each week when the public is allowed in for free.
That’s in addition to the museums that are always free, or operate under a not-well-advertised “suggested donation” admission, which allows everyone to pay whatever admission price they like anytime. For example, at the Met Museum, you’re required to pay only a penny for full access, but their website does carry this request: “To help cover the costs of special exhibitions, we ask that you please pay the full suggested amount.” Also note that free hours don’t always get you full museum access at some spots.
The good news is that since NewYorkology’s June survey of free museum hours most of the changes are in the favor of the museum goers. Among the museums recently reopened after renovations, the Brooklyn Children’s Museum now has free weekend hours and the Museum of Arts and Design has resumed free Thursday night admission, (but its normal admission has jumped to $15 from $9 now that it’s on Columbus Circle.)
The Studio Museum in Harlem now has free hours on Sunday and the Museum at Eldridge Street is now free Monday mornings.
Mondays Museum at Eldridge Street - opens for free tours every half hour from 10 a.m. to noon (normally $10) Rubin Museum of Art - Free admission to seniors only (65 and up) all day, but only on the first Monday of every month (normally $7 for seniors)
Tuesdays Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Free all day every Tuesday, all year around, from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. (normally $8) China Institute Gallery - free from 6 to 8 p.m. (normally $7) Wave Hill gardens - Free all day during off-peak months (November through April, and again in July through August) and free 9 a.m. to noon during peak months (May, June, September and October) (normally $6) Museum of the Moving Image is closed for renovations, except for the “Behind the Screen” exhibition which is free with an “optional contribution of $5” Morgan Library & Museum - Free access to the McKim rooms (Mr. Morgan’s library and study) from 3 to 5 p.m. (full museum access $12)
It’s not quite time for Winter Restaurant Week, but something like it.
Today marks the start of OpenTable Appetite Stimulus Plan, which allows diners to get three-course $24 lunches or $35 dinners at some of New York City’s best restaurants including the 21 Club, Bar Boulud, Grayz, Perry Street, Bryant Park Grill, Kittichai, Mai House, Nougatine at Jean Georges, Tabla and Frankie & Johnnie’s Steakhouse.
The prices are per person and do not include drinks, tax or tip.
The deals run through Friday.
OpenTable.com is a free, highly reputable online booking site that lets you make meal reservations painlessly.
On that same theme, Crain’s has an unsettling story about restaurant recession specials that quotes one chef calling the business climate worse than after Sept. 11.
That certainly means closures to come.
In the meantime, Crain’s outlines several deals, including Park Avenue Bistro’s two-for-one meal deal on Mondays and Tuesdays starting next week.
Elsewhere, NYConvergence points to the launch of LunchTimeDeals, which has text coupons including 10 percent off at Johnny Utah’s and The Waterstone Grill or an $8.95 Three-Course Prix Fixe Winter Lunch Special at Focacceria.
Would you rather find yourself on slowest bus, or waiting for the least reliable bus?
Well no worries because New York City has both of course.
The M96 crosstown bus, which was clocked traveling across Manhattan’s 96th Street at a mere 3.7 miles per hour at noontime, making it the 2008 Pokey Bus Award winner, as determined by NYPIRG Straphangers Campaign and Transportation Alternatives.
That’s slightly faster than the walking speed of an average person, (3.0 mph) yet far slower than a speeding chicken (9 mph,) the transportation groups point out. (But it’s pretty close to the 3.4 mph walking speed of the typical New Yorker.)
“Riders know from bitter daily experience that it can often be faster to walk than to take the bus,” the Straphangers Campaign’s Gene Russianoff said in a statement announcing the winners. “Or hop on board a strolling elephant.”
Possibly worse than getting stuck on a slow bus is standing around waiting for late bus, only to watch as three or fouor of them pull up at once. To honor those guys, there was born the Schleppie.
The winner of the 2008 Schleppie is the M101/2/3 3rd/Lexington/Amsterdam/Lenox Avenue bus route that spans Upper to Lower Manhattan. It has the worst reliability record for 42 “high-volume” local routes surveyed by MTA New York City Transit, with more than 25 percent of its buses routinely bunched together or with big gaps in service.
Euripides' 'Bacchae' set for Shakespeare in the Park
As the Public Theater prepares a Broadway launch for “Hair” - one of last summer’s Shakespeare in the Park offerings — it’s also quietly mentioned a plan for Central Park 2009: Euripides’ Greek Tragedy “The Bacchae.”
The full notice on the theater’s Shakespeare in the Park webpage states: “Shakespeare in the Park 2009 will include THE BACCHAE. Check back soon for future updates!”
Meanwhile, plans have been announced for “Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical” to move into Broadway’s Al Hirschfeld Theater with previews set to begin February 13. Opening night will be March 5.
What you need is the bed in the Guggenheim on New Year’s Eve, plus a private dinner party for 10 in the museum’s rotunda catered with an artisanal menu by Olivier Cheng, decorated by David Monn - and of course a live entertainment and a live feed from Times Square.
The eight guests can stay past midnight - but only two are allowed to sleepover in the Carsten Höller’s Revolving Hotel Room (2008), supported in part by Waldorf=Astoria Collection.
Though before you bid, you might want to make note that as part of “theanyspacewhatever” exhibition, the floor of the rotunda currently asks “Are We Evil.”
The New Year’s Eve package will go up for auction November 10 at the Guggenheim International Gala. But if you can’t make the gala, you can submit sealed bids now. For Gala tickets, or for information on silent or phone bid sheets by email or by fax, please contact Bronwyn Keenan at (212) 360-4255 or bkeenan@guggenheim.org or Ben Whine at (212) 423-3584 or bwhine@guggenheim.org.
The November 10 gala, which will be held on the 45th floor of 7 World Trade Center, will feature music by Brightblack Morning Light and limited-edition art object entitled “Primal Stone” by Mariko Mori will be given to all guests.
The ING New York City Marathon wrapped up Sunday with Marilson Gomes dos Santos and Paula Radcliffe clocking the best times in the men’s and women’s categories, but again the contest was capped by tragedy as one runner died and two others suffered heart attacks, amNewYork reports. Update: Make that two fatalities.
Here’s a roundup of links to coverage and pictures of the race:
The Daily News is the latest publication to cover the rotating hotel bed at the Guggenheim Museum - but adds one new detail: there will be an auction to determine who gets to sleep in the bed on New Year’s Eve.
Museum officials previously said all the nights were sold out, so apparently this is a new addition.
Carsten Höller’s Revolving Hotel Room is part of the group exhibition “theanyspacewhatever,” which is on display at the Guggenheim through January 27.
Imagine yourself on the top floor of the spiraling Guggenheim museum, rotating in a bed as you look up at a twinkling sky affixed to the ceiling, listening to clips of censored movies playing a floor below at the free coffee bar.
That’s what you can expect from theanyspacewhatever group exhibition show that opened at the Guggenheim last week.
To be fair, the only way to get into the bed is if you snagged one of reservations which allows one couple per night to stay overnight in the “Guggenheim hotel” and have free run of the exhibition.
Unfortunately the whole run of the hotel is already booked up for the 50 available nights, Betsy Ennis, the museum’s director of media told NewYorkology.
Chloe Sevigny was the first guest on Saturday night — and Anil Dash reported via Twitter last night that his wife had surprised him with a booking for their anniversary.
“Revolving Hotel Room” is designed by Carsten Holler and features not just the bed, but also a table and dresser.
One floor below, you’ll find beanbags (no reservations necessary) where you can have a seat in the “Cinema Liberte” to watch clips from censored movies. Next door, illy coffee will bring the “bar” to life, giving away 5 ounce cups of its illy iperEspresso to upwards of 1,000 people a day, an illy spokeswoman told NewYorkology.
The exhibition will remain on view at the Guggenheim through January 7.
Also worth noting, the iron-on transfers books, which were free the opening days of the exhibition, are now on sale in the gift shop for $10, a spokeswoman told NewYorkology today.
Picture and video credits: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology
Among the predictable crowd-pleasers in the Guggenheim’s almost-open theanyspacewhatever exhibition is a book of iron-on decals with images of the landmark building as well as works from the show.
The Transfer Book of iron-ons will be given away free for the first two days of the exhibition, which oens Friday, Guggenheim spokeswoman Betsy Ennis told NewYorkology today. After the first two days, the booklets will be on sale in the gift shop for a reasonable price, possibly $5 she said.
The booklet is filled with the illustrations of Craig Mullins, and is intended to accompany Pierre Huyghe’s “OPENING” events, which will take place October 24, November 17 and December 8.
Each of the 12 iron-ons is in black, white and grey tones, measuring 8 by 9 inches.
“theanyspacewhatever” will be on display at the Guggenheim from October 24 through January 7.
Image source: Scan from Pierre Huyghe’s iron-on Transfer Book of the interior of the Guggenheim New York, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.
Skating rink planned for natural history museum - Post
The American Museum of Natural History next month hopes to open a 12,000-square-foot skating rink that’s so high-tech that it will feel like ice but will not need refrigeration, the Post reports this morning.
The rink would stay open late into the night, sources told the paper. But museum officials aren’t yet confirming the plans. A museum spokesman told the paper: “We will be announcing it eventually, but right now it’s a little premature.”
The rink would be located on the museum’s Arthur Ross Terrace, adjacent to Theodore Roosevelt Park.
Related: The American Museum of Natural History has opened new dates for its sleepovers. The Halloween night event is sold out, but there are still openings in November 1 and 8 and December 13.
Picture credit: Rose Center at the AMNH by Amy Langfield/NewYorkology
