Such a late post - but I'm finally getting caught up with everything now that I've been back in Los Angeles for about a month. :o) But a few months ago when I heard on NPR that Spiderman the musical had finally opened in NYC (officially after months of being in "preview") I thought I had to see it.
Every review I've heard or read was absolutely critical of the musical, and almost exclusively when I hear or see that - I tend to side the other way ... it's built into my DNA, (honestly - it is). So I thought I'd formulate my own (unpopular) opinions of it ;o)
The chance arose when I was going to be in Boston for work anyway just before the 4th of July. So I took that opportunity to take the first greyhound Saturday morning of the long weekend to visit my buddies Raman and Christie (and Chester) in New York and to watch the infamous musical!
As it turned out that weekend by far was the most diverse collection or random interests and events one could imagine! It started with me getting on a the first bus I could Saturday morning from Boston to New York City! It didn't take as long as the bus from SF to LA does - which is what I was expecting. So I got into NY Port Authority really early in the morning! It was so early - I took two steps out of Port Authority and saw no one on the streets by Times Square. I literally got into Manhattan as the sun was rising - and everyone else was probably just getting to bed from the bars. I wandered around Times Square while it was empty to take a bunch of pictures without people in them and getting run over by taxi's! It was great! Then I got a bagel from one of the numerous Starbucks in the city! A part of me wanted to camp out at the TKTS booth knowing that the line would be incredibly long today since it was a long weekend. But instead I took a stroll down
Manhattan to get to Raman and Christie's place - the city is pretty quaint while everyone else is asleep and the streets are quiet. Perhaps it's Los Angeles growing on me that makes me enjoy quiet, wide open streets with not alot of traffic. But that scene would change pretty quickly as it still is a long weekend in the summer in New York City. While heading downtown, I couldn't believe the granduer of some buildings you're not normally accustomed to seeing with grandeur. I don't know how it is in most of the rest of the country - but I'm really not used to seeing Ionic or Corinthian pillars
on the facade to the US Post Office. The ones in LA look like warehouses and huge fleets of white delivery jeeps/trucks. I was in saw to see a grand architectural commission as the public library. I mean maybe this was the main library in New York - but the ones
I've seen other than the main Library in Downtown LA are just your standard community/senior center variety. But this is New York, and if America is the richest country in the world, and New York is the richest city in
America, why shouldn't these buildings be as grand as they are - especially as I was heading downtown.
I met up with Raman and Chester at Grand Central Station (still with almost no one around ... making this stroll one of the best strolls I've had in New York!) Grand Central Station is another one of those overly grand edifices in New York City - which has become a pediment to the city's architecture.
I wish I could have more early mornings on holiday weekends in New York so I could see more of these grand structures without the crowds. Sadly I only had this one long weekend - but little did I know it was going to turn out to include so many random
little adventures! After dropping my bag off at Raman and Christie's awesome luxury apartment! We decided to head over to the Hell's Kitchen Swap meet. I was thinking a swap meet just like any other street vendor fair would have tons of food vendors. But one should never assume anything! Since it was mostly random crap I wouldn't ever buy really! ... But Raman and I took a ton of pictures!
We ended up getting a Cinnabon before heading over to TKTS for the real deal and buying whatever tickets we could find for today. Apparently Spiderman tickets were on sale at 50% off. Had I know that I wouldn't have bought them online at face value. But I guess that's the trouble with travelling to New York to see a show. You're going to have to pay full price to guarantee you'll see the show you want. If you don't have a preference I would totally suggest TKTS. I've had nothing but an awesome experience using TKTS - plus it gives me incentive to be out and about early in the day. (And usually that's 3 hours earlier than most days because I'm never in New York long enough to adjust my circadium rhythm.)
As we were waiting in line for the ticket sales to start, the sun started to pick up and I started to feel the heat. It could have been either the sun actually picking up or that it was the first time in the day where I was in a crowd of people. Perhaps it was the proximity to a heated mass of people that subconsciously made me realize the discomfort of the heat (funny how other people can change your psyche) when I didn't notice it earlier. Since the line for musicals was insanely long and the three of us (Raman, Christie, and I) were planning on watching
"A Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo"
we moved to the Theater Only line. Since it was the last week of it's run on Broadway Raman out of curiousity asked the usher what our chances were of getting 3 seats. The guy then stares at us then the front of the line (which was about 8 people over) and says, you're like number 10 in line ... (for the record we were actually 8 th... :oP) ... but point taken. Raman and I actually thought that the line looped around the block, but that was only the musicals line. While in this wait though - they handed out the flyer with all of their ticket availabilities and we were sold on "
The Mother F**er with the Hat" with Chris Rock, both shows were ending within a week or so. So Raman and Christie could only watch one or the other. Yes yes we chose Chris Rock (the New York native) over Robin Williams - the actor who not only lives in San Francisco, but also screams all that San Francisco is about. ... A part of me felt like I was betraying my hometown. But ... this is New York! If you can make it there you can make it anywhere! Because we were going to watch the matinee showing of "The Mother F**er with the Hat" we had to get back to feed Chester before the show - so we headed over to eat Korean BBQ for lunch! And it was awesome. We had it in Koreatown actually close to BCD a Korean Tofu house! It was a close choice but K-BBQ is so hard to turn down sometimes. It was quite authentic - which for New York is not that surprising, but I've been spoiled with California quality Korean BBQ. I'm going to side with Derrick Siao.com when I say that the best quality asian food you can get is in California! Mainly because the quality of the food is better in CA than it is in most asian countries ... and there's a large population of just about every asian country in california.
We continued on our trek through the city and did the
High Line - it's a public park/walkway converted from an old elevated railway. It was pretty cool - especially if it's on your way to your destination. It almost felt like walking down the streets in Orange County somewhere - where you have wide open spaces the roads/benches/grass areas/plants/etc. are all well kept and relatively new - unlike the rest of New York which seems archiac and run down. Sadly that is the downside to large financial barriers of entry to the real estate market in New York. There's just no incentive to pay for improvements to not only your neighborhood, but your own building. A downside to having too many interests (even if they are unified interests) in a property. The sense of ownership and responsiblity is lost in the sea of plurality. Of which I should be forever grateful to have grown up in a city like San Francisco.
We got off the "High Line" in Chelsea - close to where the Chelsea Market is. I didn't particularly have the need for anything. But the High Line wasn't shaded and it was a hot summer day, which is totally ironic to my previous dislike of Manhattan. Previously I used to complain about always being in the shadows because the buildings are so tall and wide, you barely get a strip
of light because the shadow of the buildings always covered the sidewalks. I had felt that this could cause a depressive state - at least it did for me that one October I was there for work my first year out of school. I never really appreciated being in the shadows figurately, ... or ... literally in that case. But given that we were on the elevated rail walking the length of it - I actually thought I might have gotten a sun burn if I stayed up there any longer, and was in a full on sweat with the walking in the New York humid heat. So ... being in the air conditioned Chelsea market sounded like a good idea. Plus I got to see what the urban market place of the 21st century looks like. I was totally expecting a jungle like Faneuil Hall in Boston. It wasn't quite what I was expecting. It almost had a San Francisco Ferry building type of market feel. A little bit calmer than I expected. But again this weekend blew all premonitions of just about about everything I had of New York. It was great! This was only a slight disonnance between my assumption and reality.
Of the things I really wanted to to while I was in New York, besides see Spiderman, I really wanted to get dessert at Serendipity (since I haven't been there before) and go swing dancing. I almost convinced Raman and Christie to go to the trapeze school! (Which is close to the High Line) But as it turns out it wouldn't be in our already busy day - they would do that at a later day without me! (Ok I wasn't actually really close to convincing them - I think they were just being polite when Raman said we'd go when I was thinking of things to do.) Serendipity on the other hand was rather close to the theater - So we ventured out way to Serendipity before the show! Low and behold ... there was like a 2 hour wait.
This is a picture of Christie trying to put our name down - since we had the show to get to - we couldn't wait that long. ... Raman and Christie had suggested a famous confectionary in New York called
Dylan's! Just down the street from Serendipity - I had never heard of it before - but it was pretty awesome ... the color theme and feel of the store gave me a feeling of a modern day Willy Wonky Factory. ... (as I would find out later on ... Dylan's is owned by Dylan Lauren - daughter of Ralph Lauren)
We ended up getting snacks for the show because the candy you can get there is WAY better than anything a theater would have to offer - and sitll probably cheaper.
This is Raman and Christie in front of Dylan's Candy Bar! Such awesome hosts! And two wonderful people ;o) ... (I'll have to say so at least 3 more times before the end of the blog). Even though I only see them on average maybe 3 times a year when I go home to SF (Christmas / Thanksgiving / Labor Day) - I truly enjoy spending time with them and wish I could spend more time - even if it's just sitting at home watching Star Wars on cable tv.
At Dylan's they had a bunch of tables and booths set up. Of all of the cool choices they had to do - the blind chocolate taste test caught my attention. I totally would have done it - if I was somewhere between the ages of 5-15. But I felt a bit timid to participate ... (not that I'm timid to do anything - cause I generally feel there's nothing to be ashamed about) but I thought I'd leave this one open for the children. So how this worked was there were 4 cups with different chocolates in each cup. You have to guess which one is which chocolate brand. It is alot harder than you'd think - since this isn't your standard fun sized candy bar. It's chocolate that was broken to pieces - so you couldn't tell by tactile surface features, and it
was only pure milk chocolate (think like Hersey's Chocolate bar, not Nestle Crunch) I guess we'll never know how good my tongue is!
Even though I didn't take the challenge - I asked the lady for a picture!
So with our snacks in tow - we started towards the theater. On our stroll down we also stopped to do some shopping at H&M since it was on the way. One thing I noticed - they play loud music at H&M - I'm not quite sure why that is - but generally higher end shopping places in my experience had a more mellow quieter environment. I don't know if this was a east coast or NY thing in general - or if H&M is actively blasting the music for some other effect. I couldn't come up with a good reason why they would do this - but in my trying to analyze the situation - Raman came back with a shirt that was on sale - that - as far as I could tell - was exactly the same shirt he had on. Raman is more fashion savvy than I am - but I also have no shame in stating the obvious :o) ... Raman didn't get it only after Christie said the same ... but then again - I'm also not married to Raman either, so my opinion really doesn't matter. ... :oP
As we continued on to the theater, the crowd had picked up a bit from this morning (to the point where there were no cars on the road going down Broadway ;o) My what a difference there is between the morning to afternoon in Manhattan.
Don't get me wrong - I love crowds and feeling the energy of the people around you - like concerts, sporting events, conventions, etc. A part of me misses that now that I live in suburbia and drive everywhere. It's almost an uplifting feeling to see people out and about when you're out and about.
We made it to the theater with time to spare. As with every theater I've been to in New York City, I was readily prepared to cram cram cram. Literally every
theater I've been too had the seats packed tightly in each row, most people could barely get their knees in, and there's almost no chance of getting by people if you had to get up. You know how in shows when you arrive late they wait for the first break before they let the late arrivers sit in their seats ... unless you're at the ballet or opera where it says no late seating ... well back home it's not a big deal, the theaters are large and spacious and you can get in and out with ease. In this theater and most New York theaters - if you arrived late, the whole row would have to stand up to let you get to your seat ... so it might as well say no late seating. This show didn't have an intermission either.
I'm a bigger musical theater fan than I am of theater - though I have seen a few. And pretty much every play I've been to has had amazingly good acting. One thing that I've noticed though, is that unlike watching a movie or television - often the content is completely unwatered down, and having the live acting in front of you can really be intense. I'm the kind of person who feels for people - like I can't watch American Idol until after the auditions because I just get too embarassed for people. Like, I start blushing as if I were the one singing - which is totally opposite for me, cause I don't get embarrassed for myself! But often as tensions build between the characters and the plots thicken - it can be an intense experience for me. More so here than what I've notice back home (in California) the audience breaks this tension when they throw their own interjections here and there. I think that's all part of the New York state of mind - to interject oneself into anyone else's conversation. But overall I believe everyone else in the theater is feeling that tension too - and they try to make light of it by adding a distracted comment to ground the audience.
The show was a good show - I totally wanted to take a picture of the cast at the end, but as a fan of theater in general ... I know the rules :o/ Though, honestly I think allowing photos would probably increase demand for the industry in general. Think of all of the facebook publicity they'd get! They would have otherwise had a photo credit here ;o) Obviously, there will be some who will go and record the whole show and put it on youtube. But even if they did that - I don't believe the show would be hurt financially by it - since those quality recordings are crappy and to the demographic they would be marketing to - the audience would never spoil their theater experience with a handycam recording of a theater or musical production.
After the show we had dinner at
Shun Lee - I had never heard of it before - but supposedly it's been in New York for a long time and has good Dim Sum. Who would have thought they'd still be serving Dim Sum at 7pm. But it was awesome, like many Chinese restaurants that I've been to out here - there's a fancy side and the quick and cheaper side. We were sitting on the fast and easy side - but I suddenly had a craving for Peking Duck!
北京烤鴨 Raman and Christie actually were thinking the same thing - and if you haven't had it before ... the best part is the bun! Especially dipped in the sweet sauce (
甜麵醬). So we ordered it - not knowing that it was only on the fancy side menu ;o) ... Needless to say we paid New York Prices for a Beijing Duck! The food was very good - and actually it's been a really long time since I've had dim sum.
We had picked this restaurant because it was really close to the Lincoln Center and in the morning when we were looking for things to do today, we found an event called
Midsummer Night Swing at the Lincoln Center. As much as I wanted to swing dance, today was a Salsa Event. I remember distinctly that Carina (one of my dance instructors) was telling me that New York style salsa breaks on the 2 (called "on-2") Salsa. Same steps - but with a difference in syncopation. After being in New York and seeing literally thousands of people dancing Salsa, I think I can say that they break on the 1. But I know Carina will say it depends on the music they are playing and when the music breaks. And I'd know she's probably right. The dance venue was awesome - since how many people can honestly say they've danced at the Lincoln Center (albeit not inside the theater .... I'll still take it!)
The band played a variety of Salsa and Cha Cha songs. And then they threw out a little history of dance when the Latin Salsa rhythms met a Cha Cha beat that was first danced in the streets of New York. (They call this dance the Bugaloo) but I had never heard it before. I regret not taking a picture of it - but I was dancing with one of the volunteers at the event (and she was a pretty avid dancer herself) who was explaining the steps to me - which almost felt like the timing of Cha Cha Cha with the steps of a Salsa. It was a fun time though.
Raman and Christie ventured to the rooftop bar of the Empire Hotel and so after the party had ended (promptly at 11) I ventured to the bar to find them. I stayed for maybe a drink or two with Raman and Christie, while checking out the bar. Rooftop bars in New York are the thing to do - especially when it's not raining and warm out!
Since I still wanted to get my dessert from Serendipity - we ventured our way down the elevator - while the line was amassing to come up to the bar. I mean before we said we were leaving - the waitress had sat us in a "lesser" table - since someone else had reserved the seating with the view. We were pretty easy going about it since we were thinking about dessert already anyway. But by random chance of God - Raman and I saw BENJAMIN LEONG on the way out the door. As we were going out he was walking in with his friends. (For anyone reading this who's not from West Portal Lutheran) Raman and I went to Kindergarten to 8th grade with him - then he went to a different high school.
We ventured back to Serendipity to see if we could get seated ... and low and behold ... still a 90 minute wait. I mean this place must be like golden or something. So put our name on the list and instead standing around, we ventured down the street to a bar called the Blue Room! It was an interesting crowd there were two amazingly hot blonde Russian women next to us speakign in Russian. As much as I'd like to have been me and tried my adventurous luck - we were striking a conversation with the bar tender - while watching the Giants game in the background - it as around midnight - I can't remember who they were playing that day - but out west they should have been close to the 9th inning already. We didn't stay long here since we had to get back to Serendipity - but the bartender was an amazingly friendly fellow - you wouldn't think so from the first sight. But his demeanor and openness reminds me alot of the other New York bars I've been to in the past.
We finally made it to Serendipity! And I had the Frozen Hot Chocolate - what everyone suggested I try if I do go there. At this point it was probably between 1-2am, and I had woken Raman and Christie up extra early cause of my even earlier arrival! (Again I have to include how they are the most awesome hosts!) And we ended what was close to 18 hours of Manhattan with a frozen hot chocolate! Raman (big surprise) got the Oreo flavored one, where as I got the regular - just cause it was my first time at Serendipity! I do have to say - it was not exactly what I was expecting ... I was expecting more of a Max Brenners or Ghirardelli, in terms of location and ambiance. And when I actually got the Frozen Hot Chocolate - I was expecting more of an ice cream dish that was going to be extra rich and sweet. It was more of a Chocolate Milk. Had a known that I would have ordered a rich dessert with my Frozen Hot Chocolate ... but at 2am there was no way I could have anymore food! And we were ready to crash out - at least I was ... since I took the 2am bus from Boston :o)
~more to come~
Day 2:
Max Brenner
Washington Square
Home Depot
Spiderman Turn Off the Dark
Dinner from the "Most Awesome" chef in town
Beer Brewing in NY
and Star Wars ... :o)
