Wholly Weekend in New York City

Photos by H. Darr Beiser

The Abominable Easterman, Fifth Avenue, Easter Sunday

There is never a bad time to go to New York City, but last weekend seemed like a particularly good time. Friday was Good, Saturday Passover, and Sunday Easter. We saw the full moon rising while we watched the sun setting from the World Trade Observatory, we found the perfect hole in the wall in Chinatown, we went to a great exhibit at the Met Breuer,  and then we saw The Easter Parade.

Easter Bonnets

We stayed at the Andaz Hotel, the Hyatt’s boutique line. Primo location at Fifth and 41^st, right across the street from the NY Public Library. The lobby was darkish and deeply hip, with a reception desk that floated, island like, in the middle of the room. Check in and check out were mystifying.

Reading Room, New York Public Library

Super cool guest room, a glass closet, double sinks with clear counters, a very large “three-way” shower. By this I mean an overhead shower, the shower on a stick, and, get this, a shower for your feet, really, with a “sitting area.” Pedestrian-centric or ritualistic?

Friday we went to Chinatown to meet Franky who had come in from Memphis for the weekend. He had been advised to go to the Gavin Brown Gallery  Afterwards, we had excellent walk-around snacks of Samgak Kimbap (eel, and salmon covered in a triangle of seaweed.) Sat down to watch handball in the park, it was like watching a play on a cement stage. On the Lower West Side the boys allowed me to go into one store, the impossibly hip Gentle Monsters sunglasses boutique, so alluring that they even joined me.

We met Peter and Cousin Fred back at the Hotel’s Bar Downstairs, dark, subterranean, and unbearably loud. But we pretended we were in Madrid and ordered manchego, octopus, and olive tapas.  Dinner at the always reliable Joe Allen necessitated a walk thought Times Square, which my New York Native cousin equates to a walk through Hell. Hustling Disney characters have taken over. I think I would rather have the old Times Square with the peep shows. Easter Weekend it was just filled with Peeps shows.

Times Square-Happiest Place on Earth?

Saturday morning, we had a nice 40-block walk up Fifth Avenue to see Life Like Sculpture, Color, and the Human Body at the Met Breuer.  The exhibit which shows sculptures of human figures from the 1300's to today was fabulous, and had just been featured in a New York Times Review. Speaking of human bodies, Franky had a major celebrity siting, David Hockney was in the museum.  I mean David Hockney was in the museum. 

Bethesda Fountain, Central Park with Bethesda Brothers

We walked through Central Park, and it was as nice a day as this spring has been willing to provide. So there were hordes of Passover and Easter tourists, and natives in search of a spot of sun. We got sucked into the break-dancers’ hustle, and went voluntarily to Strawberry Fields, and the Bethesda Fountain.

The Oculus

"So go downtown, where all the lights are bright, downtown, waiting for you tonight." Heeding Petula, we went downtown. We wanted to see the new World Trade Center Transportation Hub, better known as The Oculus. Spectacular from the outside and striking inside.  Except…it's basically a large (365,000 square feet) mall owned by Westfield. In that setting maybe a little retail therapy is in order. But really? A mall?

One World Trade Center

We wanted to show the boys World Trade Observatory, so we went at sunset. I could spend hours there. Good thing, because I did. Super crowds, many of whom came in, plopped down and looked at their cell phone screens instead of out the windows. We had drinks at The One where three beers were $54.00. But hey, you're paying for the view.

We found a treasure for dinner. (Well, the New York Times found it, but we Googled it.) Wu’s Wonton King in Chinatown. You could order from photos on the wall or the menu, or point to one of the dead ducks hanging in the window, or you could ask a table of millenials next to you, as we did. But whatever you chose, do it quickly. Efficiency and speed are the name of the game at Wu's. We all sat on one side of a table, just like the scene at the end of The Christmas Story.

And then Sunday to wake up only blocks from the glorious St Patrick’s Cathedral, where at 10 a.m., the legendary Easter Parade begins.

Voguing Celebrant

Finally brunch at Park Avenue Tavern, nothing much, but it came with free hearing. We met our cousin who has lived in Manhattan for 40 years and says he still sees something new in New York every single day. An "I 💗💗 New York" person, like myself.

I 💓New York