NewYorkology

2012 Dine In Brooklyn restaurant week: March 19-29

Fri, 03 Feb 2012 12:40:56 -0500

Brooklyn’s restaurant week, Dine In Brooklyn, will be held March 19 to 29, the borough’s president, Marty Markowitz, announced Wednesday night during his 2012 State of the Borough speech.

Prices and participating restaurants have not yet been announced.

In 2011, Brooklyn Restaurant Week offered three-course lunches for $20.11 and dinners for $25 at more than 200 locations. Some also offered “two for the price of one” meals.

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Earlier: Chinatown Restaurant Week set for March 9-18
2012 Winter Restaurant Week: Jan. 16 to Feb. 10
Savor the Bronx restaurant week starts Nov. 1
Queens Restaurant Week offers $25 three-course meals
Harlem Restaurant & Retail Month includes $20 prix fixe

Renovation to retire Algonquin's Oak Room

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 18:27:08 -0500

When The Algonquin reopens after renovations, its Oak Room will be gone, the hotel announced today on its Facebook page.

“The Oak Room was a launching pad for Harry Connick Jr., Michael Feinstein, Andrea Marcovicci, Diana Krall, Jane Monheit, Peter Cincotti, and Jamie Cullum,” according to the hotel’s website.

The room also has ties to the Round Table, according to Kevin Fitzpatrick, the president of New York City’s Dorothy Parker Society.

“The Round Table first met in June 1919 in what was called the Pergola Room, now called the Oak Room,” Fitzpatrick said today in an email to NewYorkology. “After the group expanded, management moved them to the restaurant, which was named the Round Table room in 1998. So they ate in both rooms.

“I’ve spoken with Intra-Spec and Gary Budge, the Algonquin GM. They are being very respectful,” Fitzpatrick continued. “I think the renovation is important to update the hotel to compete in today’s market; the spirit of Dorothy Parker and the rest are being minded but they can’t be kept under glass. I think the hotel is going about it in a smart way without trying to run a museum.”

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Fitzpatrick, the author of “A Journey into Dorothy Parker’s New York” has been leading Algonquin Round Table walking tours for 12 years. The tours resume in May.

The Algonquin aims to reopen “late spring.” And Matilda the cat “will again take permanent residency after returning from a vacation,” according to the statement from the hotel.

Picture source: The Algonquin.

Earlier: NYC hotel renovations include Algonquin, Tuscany
Algonquin’s Matilda the cat gets the VIP birthday bash
Legendary Algonquin to sell for $74 million

Fashion Week foodies get a prix-fixe meal deal

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:59:56 -0500

To coincide with the return of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, 25 restaurants near Lincoln Center will offer their own mini-restaurant week deals from Feb. 9 through 16.

Deals and prices vary with the Lincoln Square’s Fashion Plate Prix Fixe. Many offer lunch and dinner prix fixe deals while some also include brunch or cocktails.

Options include a three-course fashion-inspired lunch at A Voce for $29; a three-course Porter house lunch for $28; and three-course dinner at Jalapeno for $16.

Other participating locations include Telepan, Lincoln Ristorante, Nougatine at Jean Georges, Shun Lee West, Bouchon Bakery, Boulud Sud and Ed’s Chowder House at the Empire Hotel.

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The city’s main Winter Restaurant Week, with three course lunches for $24 and dinners for $35, runs through Feb. 10.

Earlier: City Bakery reveals Hot Chocolate Fest flavors
Chocolate Week to offer free desserts Feb. 13-19
Pancake month returns to Clinton St. Baking Co.
Chinatown Restaurant Week set for March 9-18
2012 Winter Restaurant Week: Jan. 16 to Feb. 10
Fashion Week gets its own mini-restaurant week

1950s NY photo show to open at Queens Museum

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 12:33:26 -0500

The Queens Museum of Art this weekend will open ““Frank Oscar Larson: 1950s New York Street Stories,” a collection of 65 prints the amateur photographer took with his Rolleiflex Automat Model 4 camera.

“Larson was an avid, compassionate observer of the life of the streets, and in his eyes, the mundane became miraculous,” QMA curator and archives manager Louise Weinberg said in a statement announcing the exhibition. “Whether he was capturing the electric atmosphere of Times Square or the ordinary policeman walking the beat, Larson provided as honest an appraisal of the human condition as Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Berenice Abbott or Brassai.”

Forgotten for five decades, thousands of Larson’s negatives had been stored in more than 100 envelopes he notated with location and date. Larson’s grandson Soren has been overseeing the scanning and printing the images.

The exhibition will be on view at the Queens Museum of Art from Feb. 5 through May 20.

]]> located at the New York City Building at Flushing Meadows Corona Park.

Image credits: Pictures provided by Queens Museum of Art. “Chrysler Reflection” by Frank Oscar Larson. “Photo Booth” by Frank Oscar Larson.

Earlier: ICP exhibition covers Weegee’s early photography

Empire State to light up for Super Bowl, Valentine's

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 11:24:59 -0500

The Empire State Building will go Super Bowl-bound Giants blue again in February, and change colors on other nights to honor the Westminster Kennel Club dog show, the Millrose Games, Valentine’s Day, Presidents Day and other events, according to the tower’s official lighting schedule.

The full February lighting schedule:

Feb. 3 - blue, orange and blue in honor of the American Cancer Society and World Cancer Day

Feb. 4 and 5 - blue in honor of the New York Giants, Super Bowl XLVI vs. the New England Patriots

Feb. 8 - orange, orange and white in honor of the 35th Annual Empire State Building Run-Up Powered by the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation

Feb. 10 through 12 - blue, white and blue in honor of the 105th Millrose Games

Feb. 13 - purple, purple and yellow in honor of the 136th Annual Westminster Kennel Club All-Breed Dog Show

Feb. 14 - red, pink and white for Valentine’s Day

Feb. 17 through 20 - red, white and blue for President’s Day

Feb. 27 - green, blue and green in honor of the Committee Encouraging Corporate Philanthropy and Corporate Philanthropy Day

]]> Feb. 28 - green, blue and green in honor of the National Eating Disorders Association and National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

The top three tiers of the tower light up with regular white lights on nights when no event is scheduled. Colors are subject to change.

Image source: File picture from Edelman.

Earlier: Empire State’s Jan. lighting includes Giants, ‘Today’
High in the Sky: 103rd floor of Empire State Building
High in the Sky: Empire State Building’s 102nd floor

Folk Art Museum refocuses in Lincoln Square

Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:05:24 -0500

After a financially unsuccessful foray into Midtown, the American Folk Art Museum has scaled down and sharpened its mission with a new exhibition on the Upper West Side, “Jubilation|Rumination: Life, Real and Imagined.”

The new show is made up of paintings, quilts, weather vanes, wooden sculptures, and a giant model of an “Encyclopedic Palace of the World” its creator hoped to erect on the National Mall in Washington D.C.

The new exhibition draws from the museum’s collection, which used to cover several floors in Midtown. The new exhibit also includes new acquisitions, such as a 1950s Day of the Dead skeleton by an unidentified Mexican artist, said senior curator Stacy Hollander.

The museum has been organizing exhibitions of self-taught artists and traditional folk art around New York since the 1960s but didn’t move into the Lincoln Square location until 1989. At the end of 2001, it built a six-story, 30,000-square foot complex designed by Tod Williams Billie Tsien & Associates. Located at 45 W. 53rd St., next door to the Museum of Modern Art, the new building proved too expensive. In July 2011, it sold the building to MoMA and decamped to Lincoln Square, which had remained open as a free annex throughout.

Even with the smaller space, their main goal is to “get the art out there,” Monty Blanchard, president of the museum’s board of trustees, said during a press preview of the exhibition in January. In addition to “Jubilation|Rumination,” the museum is getting its collection seen through loans to the Met Museum’s American Wing, the Hancock Shaker Village and Endicott College in Massachusetts.

The Folk Art Museum is also in talks to curate an exhibition at the recently reopened South Street Seaport Museum, he said.

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The museum will operate on a budget of $2.5 million to $3 million a year, with income derived from donations, grants and memberships. So far the museum has $3 million pledged from trustees plus a $500,000 Ford Foundation grant in hand, Blanchard said. The museum plans to stay independent and is not in talks to merge with any other group, he said.

At Lincoln Square, the museum will remain free; it’s actually a term of their long-term lease, Blanchard said. The original developer was required to make the space rent-free (much like the way Zuccotti Park used by Occupy Wall Street downtown is a privately owned public space.)

The new exhibition will be on view through Sept. 2.

The American Folk Art Museum is located at 2 Lincoln Square, on Columbus Avenue at 66th Street.

Picture credits: Amy Langfield/NewYorkology

Earlier: Final day for Folk Art Museum on 53rd Street

Charles Dickens' birthday freebie at Morgan Library

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 17:08:51 -0500

To celebrate the 200th anniversary of Charles Dickens’ birth, the Morgan Library & Museum on Feb. 7 will offer free admission to anyone who mentions the author’s bicentennial birthday.

The exhibition “Charles Dickens at 200”, which features manuscripts, photographs, original illustrations and caricatures, is on view at the Morgan through Feb. 12. Original manuscripts of “A Christmas Carol” are included in the collection.

The free day allows entry to the full museum, including the McKim wing and the new Dutch drawings exhibition.

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Image source: Morgan Library & Museum. Alfred Bryan (1852-1899;) Caricature of Charles Dickens and William Makepeace Thackeray, undated; Charcoal and colored chalks, on blue paper; The Morgan Library & Museum, New York. 1974.7; Gift of Miss Caroline Newton, 1974; Photography: Graham S. Haber.

Earlier: Dutch drawings (including Rembrandt) at the Morgan
Free First Fridays resume at Neue Galerie for 2012
BofA free museums deal first weekend of each month
Free hours at NYC museums, zoos and gardens
Worst of times almost over; Broadway’s ‘Tale’ closing
Even Charles Dickens had ticket scalpers in NYC
‘Dickens in America’ to recount New York’s dirty past

Apollo Theater to host free Open House events

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 15:40:51 -0500

The Apollo Theater will open its doors for free this weekend for Open House events including performances by Ballet Hispanico, the Dance Theatre of Harlem, Amateur Night winners, and an all-ages Friday night Community Sing led by Christian jazz vocal group Take 6.

Open House events, scheduled from Feb. 3 through 5, are being held in celebration of African-American History Month. All events are free but some require reservations.

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Earlier: Live web feed from Apollo’s Michael Jackson tribute
Free backstage tours at Apollo for 75th anniversary
Public invited to Apollo to say goodbye to James Brown

Wellness Week to offer $50 spa deals March 19-25

Tue, 31 Jan 2012 12:54:33 -0500

More than 45 New York City spas have so far signed up to offer discounted treatments during Wellness Week 2012 from March 19 through 25, a spokeswoman for SpaFinder told NewYorkology.

The spas will offer $50 treatments or a 50-percent discount on treatments.

Caudalie Vinotherapie Spa at The Plaza, and the spas at the Mandarin Oriental and Trump Soho hotels are among the locations that have so far confirmed.

Like the long-running SpaWeek (scheduled for April 16 through 22,) the $50 treatments are about half-off regular prices.

Wellness Week bookings will open to the public Feb. 29, but early access can be acquired by signing up in advance on the SpaFinder website. The full list of locations and treatments will go live on the Wellness Week website by Feb. 29.

Other New York City locations taking part include the Beljanski Wellness Center, Brilliant Smile NY,Dyanna Spa, Laser Cosmetica, Madison Avenue Chiropractic Center, Metamorphosis Day Spa, Nina’s Day Spa and Laser, Provence Wellness Center, Rejuva Nation Medi Spa, Smooth Med, Tribeca Beauty Spa, Tribeca Dental Studio, White Tea, YAMUNA and the Yin Beauty & Arts Spa.

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More locations will be added prior to Feb. 29.

Correction as of Jan. 31 at 2:40 p.m.: This story originally said all treatments would be $50. The story has been updated to state that some locations may instead offer treatments at half-price.

Earlier: Spa Week to offer $50 treatments April 16-22

Post-Höller, New Museum drops entry to $14

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 17:54:53 -0500

The recently closed “Carsten Höller: Experience” installation made for quite a few changes at the New Museum, which drew the most foot (and slide) traffic in the museum’s 35-year history.

“To accommodate unprecedented attendance, the museum extended the exhibition’s run, added viewing hours, and temporarily raised admission prices to cover the increased costs associated with additional visitor services, maintenance, and security needs,” Gabriel Einsohn, the museum’s communications director said today in an e-mail to NewYorkology.

During the middle of the middle of the exhibition, adult admission climbed to $16 from $12.

When the next major exhibition — 2012 New Museum Triennial “The Ungovernables” — opens Feb. 15, the price will go down, but only to $14.

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Earlier: Neue Galerie admission raised to $20
New Museum hikes entry at popular Carsten Höller show
Brooklyn Museum raises suggested admission to $12
Fraunces Tavern Museum reduces admission fee

Last look: Admirals Row at Brooklyn Navy Yard

Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:19:20 -0500

Demolition crews are scheduled to move in soon to raze nine buildings on Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Civil War-era Admirals Row.

Two will be saved. The “Quarters B” building, in Greek Revival and Italianate style, was likely constructed between 1859 and 1870. “This would have been housing for the captain of the yard,” David Naczycz said Saturday while leading an Urban Oyster tour of the Navy Yard.

Despite severe damage to roof, the Timber Shed at the edge of Admirals Row will also be saved. The shed probably dates to 1853, according to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp.

Last week the federal government transferred the Admirals Row property to the City of New York, which will turn it over to the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation (BNYDC) for redevelopment. Plans call for a supermarket and new industrial space for the Navy Yard, which already has a wait-list for tenants.

Extensive interior and exterior pictures of the decay can be seen at Officer’s Row and Nathan Kensinger’s photography website.

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James Earl Jones leads 'Best Man' back to Broadway

Sat, 28 Jan 2012 08:51:36 -0500

Tickets go on sale today for the Broadway revival of Gore Vidal’s “The Best Man” with a cast featuring James Earl Jones, John Larroquette, Candice Bergen, Eric McCormack, Kerry Butler, Jefferson Mays, Michael McKean and Angela Lansbury.

Limited to an 18-week run, previews of the political drama will begin March 6 with opening night set for April 1.

Regular tickets are priced from $66.50 to $131.50 with premium seats ranging from $186.50 to $226.50. “The Best Man” will play the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre, located at 236 W. 45th St. The box office will open Feb. 14. Tickets are on sale through July 1.

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Shakespeare '12: "As You Like It" and "Into the Woods"

Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:32:50 -0500

“As You Like It” and “Into the Woods” will be staged for free this summer in Central Park for Shakespeare in the Park, the Public Theater announced Thursday.

Performances of the Shakespeare comedy “As You Like It” will begin sometime in June under the direction of Daniel Sullivan. Lily Rabe (as Rosalind,) is the only cast member announced thus far.

At the end of July, the stage will switch to Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s musical “Into the Woods.” The production — directed by Timothy Sheader with co-direction and movement direction by Liam Steel — will be based on the 2010 Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre London production.

Free Shakespeare in the Park tickets will be distributed, up to two per person, at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park at 1 p.m. on the day of each show. Some tickets will also be available through a same-day online lottery. Tickets can also be acquired by making a donation to the Public Theater.

The summer of 2012 will mark the 50th year of Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte Theater.

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Earlier: Free ‘Henry V’ includes ferry to France/Gov Island
Shakespeare in the Park tickets via online lottery
Shakespeare in the Park 2011: ‘All’s Well’ and ‘Measure’
Paul Simon’s ‘Capeman’ to play Central Park in August
Shakespeare in the Park ‘10 ‘Merchant,’ ‘Winter’s Tale’
‘Twelfth Night’ kicks off Shakespeare in the Park

South Street Seaport Museum reopens

Thu, 26 Jan 2012 12:10:00 -0500

Closed since March, the South Street Seaport Museum today reopened under a temporary partnership with the Museum of the City of New York, which aims to pump new energy into the historic buildings by linking the city’s past with the present. The 16 exhibitions cover everything from Made in New York contemporary furniture and fashion to Thomas Edison’s movies of the New York waterfront.

Nearly a year ago the museum abruptly closed its galleries as its financial problems became public. Its collection of historic ships docked nearby remained open only on occasion as maritime fans warned of neglect and damage. In October, the Museum of the City of New York stepped in to operate the Seaport under a one-year agreement with a possible six-month extension.

“We really thought of this as an open house,” Sarah Henry, deputy director and chief curator of the Museum of the City of New York, said this morning at a press preview of the galleries. “Our first priority was just to open.”

Upgrades to the roof, lighting and heating and ventilation system have allowed the public to see more of the historic buildings, which in some areas are still filled with centuries-old graffiti, warehouse winches and a decaying stairwell or two. The museum covers several adjacent buildings in the historic
Schermerhorn Row constructed in 1812. (Its Fulton Ferry Hotel was made classic in Joseph Mitchell’s “Up in the Old Hotel.”)

A new “Remains of the Stay” installation evokes the building’s past as a well-dressed ghost-like mannequin roams the crumbling old halls.

Elsewhere, rooms are set up to evoke the city’s ties to the coffee trade and its recently departed Fulton Fish Market. A handsome display of artisanal tools fills one room, while model ships and ships-in-bottles get pretty displays elsewhere.

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A large upstairs room holds a gallery of photographs from the Occupy Wall Street encampment that was set up several blocks away.

Another gallery features Edward Burtynsky’s large photographs of ships being stripped for scrap in Bangladesh, where 52 percent of the world’s ships are dismantled.

Two exhibits were borrowed from the Museum of the City of New York: a portion of the popular multimedia Mannahatta which pictures the city’s dominant island at the time of Henry Hudson’s arrival, as well as its 22-minute “Timescapes” history film.

New exhibitions will start rotating in sometime in the late spring, Henry said.

Ultimately it’s a grab bag of present and past, all pieces of a puzzle that don’t quite come together as a coherent narrative. But the museum makeover specialists get credit for getting the building open again and aiming for a new, edgy direction.

Items in the gift shop evoke the spirit of the nearby, seasonal New Amsterdam Market, which emphasizes locally made goods and artisanal foods. Indeed many of the items overlap with the offerings across the river in the By Brooklyn shop, which stocks only items made in the biggest borough.

Ahead of today’s debut, the museum reopened its Bowne & Co. print shop and stationers and opened part of the museum to nearly 2,000 schoolchildren for education programs.

The museum’s historic ships were closed today and plans to reopen them to the public are still unclear. The lightship Ambrose, a National Historic Landmark, is currently having work done at Caddell’s Dry Dock & Repair in Staten Island, as evidenced by photo updates on the Tugster harbor blog. The Lettie G. Howard schooner is wintering and undergoing repairs at the Mystic Seaport museum in Connecticut.

The South Street Seaport Museum will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesdays through Sundays. Admission is $5 for adults and free for children under the age of 9. A ticket stub from the Museum of the City of New York, (where admission is a suggested donation of $10,) will get you into the Seaport Museum within a week of your visit, and vice versa.

The South Street Seaport Museum is located at 12 Fulton St. and the Museum of the City of New York is on the Upper East Side at 1220 Fifth Ave.

Picture credits: Pictures by Amy Langfield/NewYorkology, including dresses by Fabiola Arias and Occupy Wall Street photographs by Federico Savini and Chang W. Lee/The New York Times.

Earlier: Seaport Museum’s historic boats rotting and rusting
Struggling Seaport Museum closing exhibit, ships open
Stieglitz’s NYC pictures on display at Seaport Museum
Normandie’s salvaged art deco at South Street Seaport
New Amsterdam Market draws crowds to South Street
Video: Up in the Old Fulton Ferry Hotel at the Seaport Museum
Historic Fulton Fish Market closes, moves to Bronx
Seaport Museum: antique graffiti to seagull poop
Thomas Edison 1903 East River movies now online
Archaeological artifacts at NY Unearthed may leave city

City Bakery reveals Hot Chocolate Fest flavors

Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:02:34 -0500

City Bakery today announced its lineup of flavors for its 20th annual Hot Chocolate Festival taking place throughout February.

Highlights include a “Super Bowl” flavor on Super Bowl Sunday, “Love Potion” on Valentine’s Day and the rare taste of “Leap Year” on Feb. 29.

The 2012 Hot Chocolate Festival schedule of flavors:

Feb. 1 - Sunken Treasure - (“chocolate truffles and caramel coins at the bottom of the hot chocolate ocean”)
Feb. 2 - Espresso
Feb. 3 - Ginger
Feb. 4 - Banana Peel
Feb. 5 - Super Bowl
Feb. 6 - Lemon
Feb. 7 - Tropical
Feb. 8 - Vietnamese Cinnamon
Feb. 9 - Milk Chocolate
Feb. 10 - Bourbon
Feb. 11 - Caramel
Feb. 12 - Happy
Feb. 13 - Darkest Dark
Feb. 14 - Love Potion
Feb. 15 - Moulin Rouge
Feb. 16 - Honduran
Feb. 17 - Beer (Brooklyn)

]]> Feb. 19 - Sunken Treasure
Feb. 20 - Chili Pepper
Feb. 21 - Earl Grey Tea
Feb. 22 - Ode to the Polar Bear
Feb. 23 - What Would Faulkner Drink?
Feb. 24 - Beer (Dublin)
Feb. 25 - Chinese Cinnamon
Feb. 26 - Banana Peel
Feb. 27 - Espresso
Feb. 28 - Ginger
Feb. 29 - Leap Year

City Bakery is located at 3 W. 18th St.

Earlier: Chocolate Week to offer free desserts Feb. 13-19
Pancake month returns to Clinton St. Baking Co.
Hot Chocolate Festival calendar of flavors for February