broadway

What’s Hot in N.Y.

Feb 10, 2010 by Ted Botha Leave a Comment

If people ask me what they should see in New York City, I tell them that there are two routes you can take…

The route I suggest skips out Times Square and lots of lower Broadway (too many T-shirt shops) and Chinatown (nightmare crowds), although there are probably elements in all three places that are worth seeing – just to say you’ve been there. But here’s a couple of places to go and things to do that might not always be apparent. Bryant Park (42nd and Sixth Avenue): Just go hang out there, buy a coffee from wichcraft and people-watch. The Staten Island Ferry: It comes free with your Metrocard (another essential, either daily or weekly) and is best taken across to Staten Island and back, viewing the Statue of Liberty along the way. The small coffee shops: 9th Street Espresso, Joe, Gimme!, Third Rail (Google them for addresses). Rent a bicycle at Columbus Circle and go through Central Park (it’s a six-mile loop in total) or along the Hudson River. Check tripadvisor.com for cheaper hotels. Get some takeout lunch at Whole Foods, the wholesome supermarket, and go sit and eat it in a nearby park. For a couple of my local favorite cheap eateries: Gazala Place (Middle Eastern, Hell’s Kitchen), Sapporo East (East Village), El Paso Taco (Mexican, East Harlem). And that’s a start!

Where to be Happy

Dec 23, 2009 by Ted Botha Leave a Comment

New York the unhappiest state in America? Many people dining at Le Cirque and quaffing endless fountains of champagne after an evening in front-row seats on Broadway before taking a carriage ride through Central Park at midnight might beg to differ. But two economists, one from the U.S. and another from Britain, have published their findings in the latest edition of Science magazine after years of research. New York is the bottom of all the states, even after Washington, D.C. The happiest states? Louisiana, Hawaii, Florida, Tennessee, Arizona, Mississippi, Montana, South Carolina, Alabama and Maine. While lots of people think of New York and California as happy places, one of the economists said, “if too many individuals think that way, they move into those states, and the resulting congestion and house prices make it a nonfulfilling prophecy.” So a word from the wise: Think twice before moving here; you might be better off where you are.

Taking in a Show

Oct 29, 2009 by Ted Botha Leave a Comment

Miller and Miller

I’m no reviewer. I don’t think I have the stomach for it. I wouldn’t be able to say that the play I went to on Broadway tonight, Superior Donuts, was if not terrible, then not worth recommending paying $65 to see. Donuts is by Tracy Letts, who won a Tony and Pulitzer last year for August: Osage County. Well, Tracy, you win some, you lose some. So does the audience, but even with those odds it would be a crime to live in this city full of theater and not take in a show every now and then. Last week I went to a play with a friend of mine who does write reviews. He came down pretty hard on lead actress Sienna Miller, a movie actress probably better known for splitting up marriages and dating Jude Law (who’s portraying Hamlet on the Great White Way and whom she’s started dating again). In After Miss Julie, Miller plays opposite another Miller, Jonny Lee (the first Mr. Angelina Jolie) in a sadomasochistic class struggle between the two of them and a rather underused third person. I was glad I didn’t have to review the play because my friend criticized enough for the two of us. I did, however, get to see Susan Sarandon in the audience. “There’s Susan Sarandon!” said the two tourists sitting next to me, as if they were spotting a leopard on safari. I’m sure Sarandon was kinder to the Millers than the critics, her own production of Ionesco’s Exit the King with Geoffrey Rush having come under some terrible scrutiny only a couple of months ago.

Broadway on Two Wheels

Oct 11, 2009 by Ted Botha Leave a Comment

So, lo and behold, there I was walking down Broadway the other night when I saw, smack in the middle of the road, an island of greenery. This is unusual for an area of Manhattan known more for cars, flashing lights, theaters, hot-dog vendors, and honking horns.

In part of his effort to make the city more pedestrian and cyclist friendly, Mayor Bloomberg has started shutting down some of the major thoroughfares, Broadway especially, for cars and trucks. Great, I thought, I’m going to cycle this. And I did. The following day I got on my bike and rode all the way from 57th Street, through Times Square, to Chelsea. That’s several kilometers that now has a cycling lane dedicated to YOU. In a city where the taxi cab is king, queen, and mostly jester, this is a godsend. Until recently bikes in the city meant those horrendous messengers on two wheels who disobeyed red lights and traveled at 100kph. Deaths sometimes happened (I kid you not). For the rest of us, we had to stick to the sidewalk and endure the looks only New Yorkers know how to give. But now it’s all changed.

Ride the City!

And believe me, there is nothing quite as exhilarating as being able to take in the famous buildings of Manhattan with the wind blowing through your hair, a 360-degree view. Along the way, especially around Times and Herald squares, and near the Flatiron Building, there are newly added little tables and chairs (the kind you find in the Tuileries in Paris), all for visitors to park out on.

So anyone coming to New York, think of renting a bicycle and heading down one of the many new bicycle routes or along the river (you can virtually circumnavigate the island on bike tracks now). Most bike shops rent, as do the guys hanging around Columbus Circle. Go ahead, freewheel it!