See the world in a nine-mile route through Queens on the 7 train

The fair borough of Queens might just be one of the world’s most diverse metropolitan areas. And a fast, New York-way to see this international smorgasbord is on the number 7 train. Hailed in 1999 by the White House as one of only 16 “National Millennium Trails,” this nine-mile route will take its passengers to Romania, China, Korea, Latin America, Nigeria and more.

Your trip will take you to stations alighting in Long Island City, Sunnyside, Woodside, Jackson Heights, Elmhurst, Corona and Flushing. Get out at some or even all the stops along the way and see up close the beauty and excitement of far-away cultures transplanted to the Big Apple.

Sample the cuisine of each ethnic group by stopping at a popular eatery in each neighborhood. Examine the local fashions available in clothing shops catering to the people of the ‘hood. Higher culture calling you? You are in luck because you will encounter some fine innovative contemporary art at MoMA PS1 in Long Island City. Who says you need 80 days to see the world? Just a few hours in Queens should do the trick.

John Lennon and Yoko Ono

Join Joan Osborne, Marc Cohn, Raul Malo, Grammy Award winner Steve Earle and others at the 33rd Annual Tribute to John Lennon. Lennon was a superstar in his time, changing the way a generation, and beyond, saw music and the world around them.

Hosted at Symphony Space, the tribute is pulled together by the efforts of members of Theatre Within, and experimental theatre workshop. Begun in 1981 by Theatre Within founder Alec Rubin and his student at the time Joe Raiola, who took over organization of the tribute in 2001 when Rubin retired.

Now with full creative control of the Tribute, which has already been around for 20 years, Raiola, as a comedian and Senior Editor at Mad Magazine, had his own vision for the evening. Referring to the fact that he performed a Lennon-themed comedy sketch at each Tribute Raiola said,

“It wasn’t what you’d except from a Lennon Tribute, but it reflected Alec’s vision as an artist and it was very powerful.”

Over the past several years the Tribute has continued to grow in size and prominence. Not only is the venue used to remember and honor Lennon, but serious fund raising is accomplished as well, mostly to bring food to the hungry and build music schools in the Third World.

This year’s Tribute will donate a portion of the take the Spirit Foundation. This non-profit was created in 1978 by John and Yoko as a way to help charities that help the aging population, abused women and children and victims of terrorism and natural disasters.

The 33rd Annual John Lennon Tribute will take place at Symphony Space at 2537 Broadway; at 8pm on December 6, 2013. For more information call: 212-864-5400.

Statue of Liberty

Winter might be the best time of year to visit the Statue of Liberty. Lines are shorter with less tourists and natives willing to bundle up against the cold winds blowing up river. But if you are a hardy soul and don’t mind the chill, then you can save yourself hours of time on line and have a great experience.

Most people choose to visit the great sculpture, which was a gift from the French people in the 1870s, via ferry boat from Battery Park in Lower Manhattan. But if you really want to beat any possibility of crowds you can sail over to Liberty Island from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey. Same tour, shorter lines.

After a visit to the statue take the ferry over to Ellis Island and tour the Immigration Museum. It is a wonderfully told story of the people who sought the American Dream as they fled poverty, persecution, and violence in their homelands. There is no doubt you will come away inspired and thankful that the United State of America has been a safe haven for so many, and an opportunity for more.

There is no charge to visit the island, but unless you swim or have your own boat, you will have to pay $13 for the roundtrip ferry ticket. An audio tour of the museum is $8. For more information you can go to the website of the National Park Service, who administers the park and museum.

Grand Central Terminal

Urban historians Justin Ferate and Peter Laskowich bring tourists on an adventure of discovery in the area surrounding Grand Central Station. This 90-minute award winning walking tour explores the secrets of the Whispering Gallery in Grand Central Terminal; the decorative hubcaps and roadsters on the wall of the Chrysler Building; the favorite meeting place in Midtown Manhattan of Greek Gods Mercury, Hercules and Minerva; and a collection of other wonderful idiosyncrasies of this iconic neighborhood.

You can join the tour every Friday all through the year. Meet at 12:30pm at the sculpture court at 120 Park Avenue on the southwest corner of East 42nd Street and Park Avenue directly opposite Grand Central Terminal. It is absolutely free and no reservations are needed.

For more information visit Grand Central Terminal online.

Have you ever thought of visiting New York’s branch of the Federal Reserve Bank? It is completely free and well worth the effort of joining a guided tour in order to see the high-security vault. Behind that impregnable door lies over 10, 000 tons of gold reserves, safely stowed 80 feet underground. For those on the tour only a small percentage of that mass of precious metal will be on view. To book your free tour, which is the only way to get a glimpse of the vault, you will need to reserve about 6 weeks in advance of your planned visit. The tour can accommodate up to 25 visitors, takes about 45 minutes, and begins several times during the day between 11:15am and 3:00pm. A visit can be reserved as far as 90 days in advance.

New York Federal Reserve Bank Vault

Self-guided visits are also possible and also need to be booked ahead on-line, and do not include a visit to the vault, but does enable you to see the Museum of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which has an interesting display of the history of money. Self-guided tours are usually available with only one day’s notice.

View from the Ground of High Line Park

The High Line is a public park located in an unusual place; atop an historic freight rail line high above the streets of Manhattan’s Lower West Side.

One hundred percent wheel chair accessible, the first section of the High Line opened in June, 2009, ten years after community residents founded the Friends of the High Line organization to preserve and develop the area into a useful public space.

The second section of the park opened in June, 2011; and there are plans to open a third, and last section of the park. All three sections are 30 feet above the streets of Manhattan, are accessible from nine points along its length, four with elevator service. The southernmost point of the High Line is located at Gansevoort and Washington Street, and the northernmost point is at West 30th Street between 10th and 11th Avenues.

Due to the havoc reeked on New York and New Jersey by Hurricane Sandy, combined with High Line’s location within location A, a mandatory evacuation area, High Line Park has been closed since October 28, and has not yet reopened as of this writing. As of November 1st it appears that the park has no electricity, and a minimal amount of damage appears to have been suffered by trees and other landscaping elements. A full assessment of the park’s condition will  not be available for at least a few more days.

When life in New York gets back to normal, definitely visit the High Line Park and get a new perspective on New York City.

African Burial Ground National Monument

Low on bucks but big on curiosity? Try a fascinating and enlightening visit to the latest free attraction in Lower Manhattan: the African Burial Ground National Monument. Why haven’t you heard of this historical spot before? Well, it all began in 1991 when a burial ground for slaves was unearthed during the first stages of a new construction project. Over 400 wooden caskets were discovered only 16 to 28 feet below the street. Its development has been progressing over the past twenty years, and the site only recently became New York City’s newest National Monument.

From the end of the 17th century until 1794 about 15,000 men, women and children of African descent, both free and enslaved, were buried in this 6.6 – acre cemetery; denied the right to be buried in the nearby Trinity Church graveyard. At the time the burial ground was in use New York had more slaves than any North American city outside of Charleston, South Carolina.

In 1993 the site became a National Monument, and the first one dedicated to Africans of early New York and Americans of African descent. Visiting is free. The address is 290 Broadway between Duane and Elk Streets. For more information call 212-637-2019.
 

Judy Chicago at The Dinner Party

The Brooklyn Museum’s Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art is celebrating its 5th anniversary this week by holding an extraordinary banquet with some of the world’s greatest women of the past three thousand years invited.

The celebratory banquet is wonderful installation artwork produced on a grand scale, created by Judy Chicago. The decorative sculpture, “The Dinner Party,” is a huge, triangular table set to host 39 special guests, 13 women from each of the past three millennia on each side. From legendary, primordial goddesses, to women from the Middle Ages and up until the 20th century, included are such luminaries as Queen Elizabeth I, Sacajawea and Emily Dickenson. An additional 999 names are inscribed in gold leaf on the tiled floor.

Curator of the Sackler Center, Catherine Morris explained why an additional fourth side to the table will be symbolically presented during the anniversary celebrations:
“The question I often get when giving tours of ‘The Dinner Party’ is ‘who would be there today, who would we add?'”

In response to this question 15 contemporary women will be honored on Wednesday at the center’s first-ever First Awards, all first in their specialties and fields.

The honorees are, in part, Sandra Day O’Conner, the first woman to serve on the US Supreme Court; Toni Morrison, the first African-American woman to be honored with the Nobel Prize for literature; the first woman chief of the Cherokee Nation Wilma Pearl Mankiller (who died in 2010); and Muriel Siebert, the first woman to have a seat on the New York Stock Exchange.

The Sackler Center is largely the result of the efforts of its chief benefactor, Elizabeth Sackler. The 8,000-square-feet Center’s main aim is to raise awareness and appreciation of feminist art.

“There is a serious underrepresentation of women and feminist artists in museums and galleries globally,” said Sackler. Sackler donated Chicago’s “The Dinner Party” to the museum, where it makes its permanent home when it is not on tour.

“The center’s purpose is not to resolve the use of the word feminism,” Sackler said. “It is a place where people can come to have dialogues about the meaning of feminism, reminding us of women’s contributions in the past, marking women’s achievements in the present, and inspiring contributions in the future.”

If your special beloved loves candy and/or flowers, then there is no shortage of choices of those standard gifts which will show you went out of your way to find something really special.

Max Brenner Chocolate

•    Chocolate by the Bald Man: At 841 Broadway you will find the very special chocolate home of Max Brenner, a company that does not balk at the chocolaty unusual, such as chocolate filled bagels, pizza topped with chocolate and even fudge! You can believe they will be going all out for Valentine’s with a Chocolate Love Box, Chocolate Spa Gift assortments, or how about Max’s Valentine Love. Give them a call, or just stop by. 646-467-8803, Union Square, Manhattan.

•    Starbright Floral Design: Much more than just a place to get flowers, on hand at 150 West 28th Street in Chelsea is a complete gardening department store with shrubs,

Starbright Floral Design

bamboo, outdoor plants, and flowers, too. They offer services such as plantscaping and custom arrangements. For Valentine’s pick from amazing bouquets of roses such as ‘Be My Love,’ ‘Always on My Mind,’ and ‘Make Me Blush’ are a small sample of what’s available. 800-520-8999, Chelsea, Manhattan.

•    Katrina Parris Flowers: At 191 Lenox Avenue you will find the beautiful, award-winning selection of boutique flowers designed by owners and husband and wife team of Katrina Parris and Mark Pinn. They create elegant and unusual arrangements for all occasions, and also for Valentine’s Day. Famous for their incredible attention to

Katrina Parris Flowers

detail they display their flowers for weddings, corporate events, and other times when flowers provide just the right touch. Also offered are free group workshops on the basic rules of flower selection, design principles and care. 212-222-7030, Harlem, Manhattan.

Shaolin Kung Fu

This year’s celebration of the Chinese New Year coincides with the 100th anniversary of the founding of modern China. According to one opinion this year marks the 4709th year since the adoption of the Chinese calendar, and beginning on January 23rd, 2012, it is the year of the dragon. (Many hold that since the Chinese calendar is cyclical it is not relevant to give a number to the years that are passing.)

No matter which version of the Chinese calendar you adhere to, there is no question that the Chinese New Year is the most important holiday in the

Year of the Dragon

traditional Chinese calendar, and is celebrated with great joy. The New York Chinese Cultural Center invites everyone to celebrate the coming year of the dragon on January 28th, 2012, from 1pm until 4pm at the Winter Garden in the World Financial Center.

This celebration will be the biggest of its kind on the entire East Coast. To make this day even more special, for the first time in history there will be an indoor family cultural day event on the Chinese New Year for all New Yorkers to share in.

The festival will begin with arts and crafts for children and their parents. For about 90 minutes participants will try their hands at paper cutting, making dough figurines, having their faces painted, and calligraphy workshops. There will be entertainment on stage, with the traditional lion dance, folk dances, Shaolin Kung Fu acrobats, and wonderful music ensembles. All the programs are free to the public.

The Winter Garden, World Financial Center is located at 220 Vesey Street in lower Manhattan’s Battery Park City.