Newsletter 5 - Holiday 1999
We're sorry to say that after June 2000,
because of changes in our service provider's operations and a host
of other circumstances, we were forced to discontinue publication of
what -- we thought -- was a information packed digest. We hope to be
able to resume sometime in the future
Contents
1. Broadway Reviews
2. New Year's Eve Driving: Don't
3. Last Minute Gifts
4. Clement Clarke Moore & A Visit from St Nicholas
1. Broadway Reviews
Broadway has had a very busy month. Last issue
we listed six new shows and now there's four new productions on the
boards. Two more come before the end of the month. Check out these
reviews of the recent openings:
Minnelli
on Minnelli Liza at the Palace Dec 1st thru Jan 2nd. Go
if you love Liza
Swing!
Opened Dec 9th at the St James Theater. Lackluster, but might stay
around
Amadeus
Opened at the Music Box Theater Dec 15th. A sublime David Suchet
Waiting
in the Wings Opened Dec 16th at the Walter Kerr Theater.
Rosemary Harris is back!
2. New Year's Eve Driving: Don't
Driving in New York City is never much of a
pleasure unless you're a triple Type A personality who subsists on
Starbucks' heartiest and revels getting to your destination ½
second earlier than the person on foot. Getting around town during
the Millennium celebration is going to be much worse than usual.
In Manhattan Broadway between 43rd and 47th
Streets will be closed for at least 24 hours beginning 6:00A on Dec
31st. This means that during the day much traffic going Downtown
will be pushed onto 5th and 9th Aves; which means that more Downtown
traffic will be pushed onto Lexington and 11th Aves; which means
that . . . you get the idea.
By 5:00P Dec 31st (at the latest) the area from
34th Street to 59th Street, 6th Avenue to 8th Avenue will be closed
to all traffic. This area can be expanded as needed. With how we
have seen the Police Department control crowds the past few years
it's our bet they will close streets earlier rather than later. This
means that all of Midtown West will be impassable by car, bus, taxi
and bicycle and be very, very slow going on foot. The spillover
effects will be felt from 14th Street to 86th Streets on the West
Side and the Midtown Tunnel to the 59th Street Bridge on the East
Side. Increased riders will affect all subway lines through the
Times Square area, with spillover to the Lexington Avenue lines
likely. The Port Authority Bus Terminal, Penn Station and Grand
Central Terminal will be busy, busy, busy.
The Brooklyn 2000 celebration at Grand Army
Plaza will be host to up to 100,000 people. Vehicle traffic in an
area from Garfield Place to Atlantic Avenue, 4th Avenue to
Washington Avenue (including all streets surrounding the Botanic
Garden), will be restricted to residents and their guests; others
need not attempt to enter the area by car. All traffic in the area
will be affected, bus and taxi included, due to the closing of 6th
through 8th Aves, Flatbush Avenue and Eastern Parkway.
So, how do we get around? Plan to celebrate at
home or within walking distance of home; take the subway, not a bus
or a taxi (even that $100 per hour limo isn't going to get you
anywhere if there isn't anywhere to go). It's all going to be a
mess, so be sure to plan ahead and find alternate routes. Above all,
have a safe and happy Millennium Celebration.
To find out where and when things are happening
check our New Year's Eve Celebration pages. They include our New
Year's Eve 2000 Events Calendar - What to do and where to do it;
Times Square 2000 - Find out all about this 26-hour extravaganza;
and New Year's Eve Hotels - Yes, there is room at the inn. Find out
where at (old link)
3. Last Minute Gifts
Here are four New York City books that are bound
to interest someone on you holiday gift list. Run out to your
favorite bookstore and pick them up today or, if you'd like, click
on the link to order through Barnes & Noble, our online partner.
Orders place by Noon, December 21st can be in hand by Christmas Eve.
Auntie Claus -- by Anna Primavera
Sophie Kringle's family likes Christmas. Her
father owns the Jingle Bell Company; her mom is the proprietor of
the Mistle-Toes-To-Nail salon. Sophie's aunt lives atop the Bing
Cherry Hotel in Manhattan and disappears each year season on a
business trip between Halloween and Valentine's Day. This year,
Sophie stows away in her Aunt's luggage and is off to the North
Pole. Her discoveries of the 'first and final rule,' propel the
story to a children-satisfying end.
Go to your favorite bookstore or follow this
link to order at Barnes & Noble online: [Inactive link]
Madeline in America and Other Holiday Stories
- by Ludwig Bemelmans & John Bemelmans Marciano
Ever wonder how the Carlyle Hotel's Bemelmans
Bar was named? Ludwig Bemelmans came to New York from France as a
young man and worked for many years in the Carlyle's restaurant.
Sometime artist, sometime author, always raconteur, he got the
inspiration for the Madeline series while traveling in his native
France. Madeline in America is the only one of the series to be set
in the States and was completed by Bemelmans grandson, John
Bemelmans Marciano. The first story in the collection is set in
Texas, but the one we prize is 'Sunshine,' bringing the true warmth
of the season to New York. Many NYC landmarks are highlighted,
especially the Carlyle Hotel. The book also includes 'A Bemelmans
Christmas Memory' by Barbara Bemelman, recounting the holidays in
New York City with her father.
Go to your favorite bookstore or follow this
link to order at Barnes & Noble online: [Inactive Link]
New York: An Illustrated History - by Ric
Burns, et al
The companion volume to the PBS television
series, with more than 500 full-color and black-and-white
illustrations captures all the beauty, complexity, and power of New
York. Chronicling the story of New York from its establishment as a
Dutch trading post in 1624 to its global preeminence today. The
book's vibrant illustrations include hundreds of rare photographs,
paintings, lithographs, prints, and period maps. The narrative
incorporates the voices and stories of an extraordinary cast of
characters that includes Peter Stuyvesant, Alexander Hamilton, John
Jacob Astor, Walt Whitman, Boss Tweed, Jacob Riis, Emma Lazarus, J.
P. Morgan, Al Smith, F. Scott Fitzgerald, George Gershwin, Fiorello
La Guardia, Robert Moses, and Jane Jacobs. This is one for the
coffee table.
Go to your favorite bookstore or follow this
link to order at Barnes & Noble online: [Inactive lin]
The New York Pop Up Book - edited by
Marie Salerno
This great little book offers 3-D popups of
spectacular New York City. Scenes include a Brooklyn Bridge
(complete with cables), the Statue of Liberty, Christmas at
Rockefeller and an Empire State Building that stretches to about
four feet high. Contributors to the text include E L Doctorow, Tom
Wolfe, Wendy Wasserstein, Ric Burns, Betty Comden, Adolph Green and
other quintessential New Yorkers. Besides the popups there are a
gaggle of other gimcracks to play with: Doors and windows that open
and close and bring new discoveries, just as in the real city.
Go to your favorite bookstore or follow this
link to order at Barnes & Noble online: [Inactive link]
4. Clement Clarke Moore
We moved our discussion of Clement
Clark Moore and "A Visit from St Nicholas" (otherwise
known as "The Night Before Christmas") to our Christmas
in New York City section
Hope you enjoyed our newsletter. See you next
month!
Susie and Jim
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