Labor Day Weekend in NYC

We'll be heading back to New York September 3rd staying over the Labor Day Weekend. A couple of new places that we'll visit will be the Brooklyn Museum on Eastern Parkway and hopefully the Bridge Cafe by the Brooklyn Bridge. I'm looking forward to visiting the New Yankee Stadium for the first time. My first trip to the Big Ballpark up in the Bronx was June 28, 1967 where the Yankees beat the Chicago White Sox in a doubleheader (and I don't mean day/night). I was at the last game of Yankee Stadium before renovation (1973) as well as well as the last game of Yankee Stadium (last year).

Part of the fun of going to New York is you don't have to have a lot of things planned before you go. It's just an exciting place and things just come up.

The Red-Eye to New York City

Have you even taken a red-eye flight from the West Coast and arrived in Manhattan at 6:00 A.M.?

If you can't get into your hotel room, drop off your luggage grab breakfast, then take the 6 train downtown to Brooklyn Bridge. You can get off and visit the court houses in Foley Square. There you can sit in on a case, listen or take a nap.

The last time I did this I sat in on cases with an elderly judge presiding over individuals receiving bench warrants for not showing up to jury duty.

Even though this website is devoted to optometry and my office, I wanted to share with you an area I’m quite passionate about. I was raised on Long Island in New York. As is true about a good many people raised there, they never enjoyed what New York City had to offer. It took me moving to California to really get passionate about visiting The City. In this section I’ll discuss places that I’ve really enjoyed. Some of these places are touristy and some are not.

What’s great about New York is you can visit many places either walking or by subway. The subway is not that difficult to navigate and you can always find a friendly New Yorker to help you navigate. A few places of interest come to mind which are easily found. Ground Zero, where the World Trade Towers stood can easily be reached as it’s the last stop On the E train going downtown. If you go uptown you’ll wind up in Queens. The second place of interest is The Brooklyn Bridge and City Hall. It’s quite interesting how many native New Yorkers have not walked this historic landmark constructed in 1875. It’s wonderful. The whole area around City Hall is quite beautiful and historic. You can visit here by taking the 6 train downtown to The Brooklyn Bridge stop. This is the same number train that was featured in the movie, “Taking of the Pelham.” If you take this train uptown you’ll wind up in the Bronx. The one subway train you want to take uptown is the 4 train. If you take it uptown, and get off at 161 Street, you’ll be at the most famous ballparks in America, Yankee Stadium. If you happen to be a Met fan, you can take the 7 train toward Flushing (Queens) and visit Citifield. Two landmarks of historical interest of course are Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. You would take the 1 train downtown to South Ferry (the last stop). You can take a ferry to both places. You could spend hours touring Ellis Island. It’s that interesting. And what more could you say about the Statue of Liberty?

The more trips I make to New York, the more I want to make. When I visit, I sometimes visit new places (that friends tell me about) or places that I’ve visited over the last 30 years when I started going into The City on a regular basis when I attended school there. One of my favorite places to visit is Beekman Tower. It’s on the northeast corner of 49th and First Avenue. It’s has a bar/restaurant area located on the 26th floor. You have views that are great and you can actually sit on the outside. Facing east you see The East River with the 59th Street Bridge. Facing west, you have an awe-inspiring view of The City’s buildings. I’ve been back there many times over the years.

Another area I’ve visited frequently is the Lower East Side of New York. One of the great places to have a deli sandwich is Katz’s. You take the V train downtown to Second Avenue. There you’ll see a sign overhanging one of the tables stating “this is where Harry met Sally.” This is of course in reference to the movie where the actors were sitting. Another place to visit down here of interest is the Tenement Museum on Orchard Street. The location was a condemned building (for decades) that was reopened as a museum depicting life in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. There is also great bargain shopping down there.

An area of interest located at 72nd Street and Central Park West just inside Central Park is Strawberry Fields. This is a memorial site remembering John Lennon (of the Beatles). He was murdered across the street from there. I was there on the 25th anniversary of his death. It was very moving.

I usually take the red-eye flight from California and arrive in New York around 5:30 A.M. Even though you can check your bags into the hotel, you can’t actually check into your room until later. After I grab breakfast I’ve taken the 6 train down to Brooklyn Bridge and visit the court houses down in Foley Square. There, I try to sit in on a couple of trials. You could actually nap there for a while (they do scorn on snoring) if you wish.