In December, there are so many wonderful things to do in New York City that it’s impossible to work them all in every year. But a special December event that can be enjoyed while you… More
Steinway Tower: 111 West 57th Street
Among the super-tall skyscrapers along “Billionaire’s Row” on 57th Street, it’s impossible to miss Steinway Tower, at 111 West 57th Street. It looks impossibly skinny, tapering dramatically (see below for a recent side view I took from Central Park West recently).
The skyscraper sits on top of the building that was Steinway Hall, a 16-story landmarked building that was the marquee showroom for Steinway pianos. The condominium is now closing on residences, some in the landmarked building but most in the tower. The idea of skinny “pencil towers” like the tower portion of 111 West 57th took off in Hong Kong in the 1970’s, and the mechanics of creating a stable building that is this high and this slender are so complicated that there is a documentary about the engineering of the building (you can find it here and it is really interesting!).
After watching this impossible skyscraper rise over the past several years, this month I was fortunate enough to see a model apartment on the 43rd floor twice, and even go up to the 76th floor to see a triplex penthouse still being finished. As you can see in the photo above, the tower is perfectly centered for a unparalleled view of the entire length of Central Park.
First, entering the lobby, the scale and grandeur of the design is clear. I loved how details like door handles echoed the iconic look of the tower.
In the tower, each apartment is at least one entire floor. As the building tapers, the penthouses become duplexes or triplexes. For the model apartment, a full floor, the elevator opens into the home, and looking to the north, the open living/dining/kitchen area features those full Central Park views.
Just as the door handles in the lobby reflected the silhouette of the tower, I loved that the cabinets in the kitchen resembled piano keys, another sly nod to the history of the site.
While I knew to expect the Central Park views, I was not expecting to see that the bedrooms with south views had such incredible NYC skyline views. I posted a few videos on Instagram from these rooms (see them here and here).
And the primary dressing room – with window – and bathroom with giant golden tub! I loved the bathroom so much I posted a video of it as well, and used one of my favorite songs to represent it (Jill Scott’s “Golden”). See a 360 degree view of the primary bathroom here.
Going up to the high-floor penthouse, the windows were dirtier since it’s still be finished, but the difference in the the view was pretty obvious.
It’s always fun to see a project when not finished yet, and imagine what it will be like when completed and filled with fabulous decor. This spiral staircase is going to be pretty dramatic.
And although I was not able to go outside, this penthouse has outdoor space! This is the view looking south. I believe the top penthouse has a wrap-around terrace with 360 degree views.
This full-service building also has a fabulous pool and large outdoor terrace for the use of residents. Let me know if you’d like me to make an appointment to show you this one-of-a-kind place to live in New York City.
Missing my city while still in it: NYC, Spring of 2020
January and February of 2020 were just another winter in NYC: cold, punctuated with occasional extreme cold, but not that much snow this year. I showed apartments, went to sales meetings and my office, and enjoyed the city as I always did: experiencing the performing arts multiple times per week, trying out bumper cars on ice at Bryant Park, and a public art installation just south of Times Square that involved giant seesaws in the middle of Broadway. There were reports on the news of a new virus in Wuhan, China. By the first week of March the alarms were beginning to sound louder. On March 6 (two days after I enjoyed a preview performance of Company with Patti Lupone), Compass, where I am an Associate Broker, suggested that agents work from home when possible. On March 7 I attended an all-day board retreat at the Larchmont Yacht Club, where one topic of conversation was contingency plans around the virus. Just a few days later, Thursday, March 12, Broadway and all performing arts in NYC were shut down for a month “resuming the week of April 13.”
By March 16, NY Governor Andrew Cuomo had placed our state on “pause.” Real estate showings were not allowed, and everything was shut down except for grocery stores, pharmacies, and other essential businesses (which included bike and liquor stores). People were encouraged to stay home at all times except for getting essential items like food, or for exercise outdoors.
The city quickly became a ghost of itself. Many who had another place to go left the city, and the rest of us spent most of our time inside our apartments. We all began to hear of friends who were sick, or even very sick.
As March crept into April, it became clear that we were far from the peak of infection, despite weeks of lockdown. As we headed toward the second week of April, when we did hit our peak, most of us learned that someone we knew had died, or was close to it.
In April, we began to see refrigerated trucks outside hospitals. The US Comfort docked a few blocks from my apartment, and the Javits Convention Center was set up for hospital overflow (although neither of these turned out to be heavily used). There were hospital tents in Central Park across from Mount Sinai Medical Center.
At first we were advised not to wear masks; but then we were. This is the way science works with a new phenomenon: educated guesses are made until more data come in that suggest alternate approaches. Going out for a walk every day for exercise and fresh air was eerie at times. Where were all the people? To stand in Times Square in the middle of the day and have no one else in your photos was previously not something I could have even imagined.
As April came to a close, it became clear that what we were doing – isolating, distancing, wearing masks – was working and our numbers began to improve. Signs began to appear everywhere showing what 6 feet of distance looked like, and reminding us that we are “New York Tough.”
Meanwhile, the entire city seemed to lean out of their windows, go up to their roofs, or out to their balconies or terraces, to applaud and make noise to thank the essential workers every evening at 7PM. It was incredibly touching that so many people did this, night after night, and it also served as a way to feel less isolated. As we applauded with others, we also signaled to each other “I’m still here, and I’m glad you’re still here, too.”
As May turned toward June, our numbers were under control enough that we began hearing about the future of phased reopening. Simultaneously, protests over the death of George Floyd swept the city. Although the vast majority of these were peaceful, some of the unrest led to the city having a curfew for several nights.
In June, the city began to slowly reawaken. Times Square was still quite empty, but clever signs were put up to remind people of safe distance and mask wearing, with hat tips to beloved Broadway shows.
On June 22, Phase 2 reopening meant the return of real estate showings – with extensive safety measures in place. Appropriately, new Fair Housing disclosures and notices also became a part of our new normal, along with the Covid-19 health questionnaires and liability forms.
Now in August, it is clear that it will be a long time before New York City can reopen performing arts, indoor dining, and so many aspects of life that make living here such a rich and enjoyable experience. This pandemic has taken NYC’s super powers – so many people from so many places, all crowded together and often experiencing things together in crowds indoors – and turned them against us. But there is more to New York City than these experiences, although of course I can’t wait to be able to have our city back to normal again. We have shown that we could do the difficult things and make the difficult choices to save as many lives as possible, led by data and science, and beat back a virus that had taken hold before we realized it. If we can continue to do so, we can stave off this enemy until we can declare it vanquished and return safely to the activities we love. To meet a group of friends and hug them, to sit in a darkened Broadway theatre and be transported, to eat and drink and laugh and sing together – I believe we will do these things again. Many times before people have counted NYC out, and yet we always rise again like a phoenix. Being patient is hard, but we will rise again.
The Paley Museum
The Museum of Radio and Television was founded by William S. Paley, who had built CBS up from a small radio station to a powerhouse TV network. In 2007, it was renamed The Paley Center for Media, to better reflect changes in their mission from only radio and TV history to multiple media and their effects on culture and society. The Paley Museum at 25 W 52nd Street in Midtown Manhattan features exhibitions still primarily related to television shows, and also allows access to view vast archives of virtually anything that has been televised, and an entire floor with classic and virtual reality games. Despite having walked past it for decades, I checked the museum out for the first time recently! Spoiler alert, I enjoyed my visit and there is a lot there to do.
There are Paley Archives in Beverly Hills, inside the Beverly Hills Public Library, but the Paley Center in Midtown Manhattan fills multiple floors of a large office building on West 52nd St. You can find out how to become a member on their website (and I will weigh in later on whether I think this might be a good option if you live in NYC), but for one visit you can purchase timed tickets for a 30 minute entry period on a specific day. Once you are in the museum, you can stay until the center closes, so an early time slot is obviously preferable.
The big exhibition on the ground floor when I went was about the show Everybody Loves Raymond (it is just being replaced by a new exhibit on The Office). I have actually never seen ELR, but I was very impressed with the detail. You could sit on their sofa (photo opportunity!), see an Emmy, look at scripts and costumes, and watch videos from behind the scenes. This was as elaborate as pop-up exhibits about individual shows (which often charge as much as more for one exhibit than the Paley Museum does for the entire experience), and more detailed than what you could see on a Studio Tour in Los Angeles (I’ve done many of those).
Heading up (there is an elevator), there is an exhibit about Johnny Carson’s The Tonight Show (which ran from 1972-1992, taped in Burbank, California). They were playing the last episode he ever aired, and you could sit at his desk (another photo op!), or on the sofa where so many famous guests sat, or in seats from the studio audience.
Heading up again, I visited the Paley archives. If you are a Paley member, you can visit them as often as you would like, but if you are on a one-day ticket, you get 90 minutes. They have over 160,000 television and radio programs and advertisements, covering more than 100 years of television and radio history. The collection spans all genres: comedy, drama, news, public affairs, performing arts, children’s, sports, reality, animation, and documentary, and includes a significant international presence, with 70 countries represented. You sit at a large desk with no one on either side of you, with comfortable headphones. You could watch Jacqueline Kennedy give a tour of The White House, or watch David Bowie be the musical guest on Saturday Night Live, there are almost limitless options. I had decided in advance to pull up the 1988 Tony Awards, which I had watched at home in Chicago about two months before I moved to New York City. What a treat! The quality of what you view in the archives is significantly better than videos you can find on YouTube. I had to scrub through a few things to make it in 90 minutes, but Into the Woods and Phantom of the Opera traded off awards, and M Butterfly won Best Play (and I liked the short live excerpts from plays they performed in addition to the musical numbers). There was a tribute to Michael Bennett (who had died in the previous year from AIDS), Patti LuPone sang and danced in Anything Goes, Angela Lansbury hosted, and Bernadette Peters and Joel Grey presented. A delight!
On the top floor, there is a gaming room with over 65 video games and over 25 virtual reality games. I saw on the website that this has been voted the best birthday party venue in NYC, and I can see why! If you enjoy video games or someone in your family does, I could also see a day pass or even a yearly membership being worth it just for this area of the Center.
The Paley Center has continuous screenings in their basement floor theater. The day I went, it was episodes of Everybody Loves Raymond, with one episode of Downtown Abbey thrown in (because the new movie was being released). They also have regular in-person events with television creatives, usually around either an exhibition on display, or around an anniversary of a certain show (the 40th anniversary of The Golden Girls is an upcoming event, for example). There is PaleyFest yearly in October – last year there were moderated talks with creatives and performers from Outlander, Blue Bloods, What We Do in the Shadows, and The Diplomat, among others. PaleyFest 2025 participants should be announced soon.
I enjoyed my visit to the Paley Museum and found the price for a one day pass reasonable. I could see that if you were planning to see a few of the different exhibitions throughout the year, enjoyed visiting the archive, or loved playing video games, that a membership could make a lot of sense. With so many opportunities in NYC, it’s easy to overlook some like the Paley Center – but keep it in mind!
Immersive theatre in NYC (2025)
I wrote quite a while ago (2014, 11 years ago!) about immersive theatre in general. At the time, Sleep No More was going strong, as was The Drowned Man (also by Punchdrunk, the OG of immersive theatre – and to be clear, I mean original GOAT, not Opera Ghost) in London, Then She Fell in Brooklyn, and Queen of the Night in midtown. The two Punchdrunk shows were what I think of as “choose your own adventure” shows, where you wander a space freely and in effect direct your own version of the theatrical experience. Then She Fell was controlled, with viewers ushered into a series of rooms to experience a story. And Queen of the Night had some opportunities to be taken off into different rooms (“one-on-ones”) but the bulk of the evening involved sitting at tables watching a show, and perhaps bartering with other tables for better food.
What a difference a decade (plus) has made! Sleep No More closed at the very beginning of 2025, having struggled after covid lock down (a free-flowing experience like that was even harder to adapt to early covid restrictions once theatre began to re-emerge in September of 2021), and being unable to pay rising rents. (Sleep No More does still have productions currently running in Shanghai and Seoul, who wants to go with me?) The Drowned Man closed (the space it was in near Piccadilly was redeveloped) and Punchdrunk purchased their own space in Woolwich (easily accessible from central London on the new Elizabeth line). Since then they had one traditional show, based loosely on stories in ancient Greece, The Burnt City – which has now also closed (but I was able to see it twice). They have since pivoted to trying one more controlled immersive theatrical experience (Viola’s Room – which is now in NYC, more about that later), and just announced Lander 23, which will merge video gaming with immersive theater.
Meanwhile, here in NYC Emursive (the producer but not the creator of Sleep No More) launched an ambitious “choose your own adventure” immersive experience in lower Manhattan last summer. Titled Life and Trust, it was loosely based on the story of Faust, but set just as the great stock market crash of 1929 was about to put an end to the roaring twenties. The set was enormous and detailed, and the story took place on five different levels. In addition to the Faust story (in this case, Conwell vs Mephisto), there were storylines for Oscar Wilde’s Dorian Gray, Evelyn Nesbit, and a host of new characters. There were many extraordinary scenes – two that took place in a boxing ring – and the finale was fantastic. It opened last summer and closed abruptly earlier this year. And I mean really suddenly! They had a show on Saturday night as usual and Sunday morning they took away all social media other than an announcement that they had closed. They certainly were having a hard time making this work financially, but the sudden closing also had me wondering if there was something else going on (because if you are losing money, announcing a closing can spur interest and increase sales, sometimes repeatedly). The people in charge have not made a statement about the closing (that I have heard) but many of the performers are holding a one night event on the Upper West Side next month to discuss the experience of developing and being in the show and I will be there. After this, I wonder if NYC will not see another large-scale traditional immersive theater experience for some time.
Some Broadway musicals have had an immersive element. In my post from 2014, I mention the musical Here Lies Love, with music by David Byrne (see above, he was on the floor for one of the shows I saw in 2023) and Fatboy Slim, about the life of Imelda Marcos. At that point it was a huge hit at the Public Theater, and in 2023 it moved to the Broadway Theatre. Staged with a dance floor where you could move around with performers within an innovative set, becoming part of the crowd in Manila, I loved it and experienced it multiple times. If you were on the floor the show was quite immersive, but there were also fixed seats where there was little immersion. It was not a financial success, closing after 33 previews and 149 regular performances. Currently on Broadway there is an semi-immersive version of Cabaret, which transferred from the West End last spring but has not been received as well here. It is closing in October (if not sooner). Staged in the round, there are cabaret seats at tables where you may have interactions with the actors. The most immersive part of this production of Cabaret occurs before the performance, when musical and dance shows take place all around the public areas of the theater.
One could argue that the famous outside walk taken by the actor playing Joe Gillis in the recent Tony-winning revival of Sunset BLVD, directed by Jamie Lloyd, had an interactive quality. I experienced it multiple times from W 44th Street or Shubert Alley (see below, and here for a photo montage, and here and here for video), as well as seeing the livestream during the several times I attended the musical. Lloyd’s current revival of Evita, almost certain to arrive on Broadway in the next few years, has a similar immersive element, when people outside the theatre become the people of Argentina listening to Eva Peron sing her most famous song.
As I mentioned before, Punchdrunk (the OG creator of true classic immersive theatrical experiences, such as Sleep No More) has a current show at the Shed, Viola’s Room. a smaller-scale work by Punchdrunk founder Felix Barrett that invites audience members to move through a labyrinthine installation inspired by Barry Pain’s 1901 gothic short story “The Moon-Slave,” as adapted by the British writer Daisy Johnson. Participants wear headphones and are guided through the 50-minute experience at the Shed via narration in the voice of Helena Bonham Carter.
One of the more unusual things about Viola’s Room is that you experience it barefoot. There are places to clean and sanitize your feet before and after the experience. They will take your shoes and bags and put them in a box in your first room, and they are waiting for you when you enter the last room. In that first room, you will get headphones and test them out. You are with a small group of people, and instructions are to “follow the light” so you are led by light cues through a series of elaborate rooms that deepen the story being whispered in our ears by Helena Bonham Carter. There are some moments of total darkness, some areas that might bother people with claustrophobia, one instance of crawling (although we were asked in advance if that was doable so there must be an alternate route if it is not), and extremely varied floor surfaces. Like the larger scale Punchdrunk shows, there are scents that change between environments, to immerse multiple senses. Viola’s Room will be at The Shed until October 19th.
Perhaps the most buzzed about immersive theater taking place in New York City right now is Masquerade, a new immersive version of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera. Set in a completely transformed building that once was Lee’s Art Shop on West 57th Street, this is not a “choose your own adventure” wander but rather a guided experience through the story and songs, in small groups of 50-60 people per 15 minute “pulse.” There are six “pulses” or showtimes for every evening (and matinees on Saturday and Sunday), with different actors playing Phantom and Christine for each time slot.
The outside of the building has the windows covered in newspaper, and if you look closer you will see some articles about the original Broadway production of Phantom, and others reporting on the fictionalized goings on at the Opera Populaire that occur during the musical. You line up outside, and if you don’t already have a mask, you can be given one. I quite liked the provided one, it was comfortable, even under glasses, and has a little Phantom mask motif. At least for now, you are asked to dress up and wear black, white, or silver, and you will likely see some people extremely dressed up and wearing their own masks. It does make the entire experience a little more like an “event” to have most people dressed in cocktail (or even ballroom) attire, with the rest at least fairly nondescript in clothing. An important aspect, though, is footwear – stilettos and kitten heels are not allowed, and I recommend flats or even sneakers. This does lead to a certain feeling of disconnect, to be dressed up but wearing “sensible shoes” but the differing floor surfaces (including grates and escalators), sometimes in low light, really do require it. There are also times when you need to rush – more or less – from one room to the next, in a small crowd, and you really don’t need to be worrying about your footing at the same time.
Each time slot or pulse is let in at all at once, and there is no early or late entry, as another group will be experiencing the show just after you. Also, tickets are not resalable, in part because there are no tickets – you show ID that matches the name on the ticket purchase, and in addition you are sent a password the day before to the email used for purchase. While waiting outside, you might have a photographer come by (I did, but have heard of other dates that did not), and if so, you will receive an email later that is password protected by the same password you used for entry. You can download any photo they take at no charge (see mine below).
I don’t want to give too many details about the actual experience of being inside Masquerade, and no photos are allowed inside (all bags/coats need to be checked, which is at no charge, and a sticker is put over your phone camera if you have that on you). But I will say that it is the actual Andrew Lloyd Webber music, sung live with a prerecorded instrumental track. The musical has been cut a little, and a few things/songs from the Phantom movie musical added. The order of the story and some of the backstory are different from the original Broadway musical production. Sets and costumes are lavish, and it was thrilling for me to be in the middle of some of these iconic scenes. You are led from space to space, and no loitering or self-exploration is allowed. In terms of interactions, you might have a character address you, ask you to do something, dance with you, or become a supporting character (at one point Carlotta addressed me as Michaela, asked where I had been, and reminded me that I needed to follow her around with throat spray so that I could moisturize her vocal cords now and again – which I did for the rest of that scene). You might even be handed one of the Opera Ghost’s letters after someone had read it – Christine gave hers to me and the seal was thick red wax in the shape of a skull.
More practical issues: 1) You are less likely to be split up from anyone you have come with than in traditional immersive theatre. There is one time when your pulse gets divided up into three groups who each see all three scenes, but just in a different order. But the “butlers” there to move the crowd along seemed sensitive to keeping people from the same party together. 2) In most rooms there are at least some seats, and the butlers will direct people into seats until they are full. If you are the first in one room with a seat, you may be last out of that room and not get a seat. So plan on standing and moving a lot within the two hours. 3) The show is ADA compliant, and you need to contact the show in advance if accommodations are needed. From what I hear, there will be a butler assigned to help you get from place to place, using elevators, and will ensure that you don’t miss anything. 4) There is champagne when you first enter the space (and pro tip – if you drink your glass in that first room, they will refill it in the next room where it is needed for a toast), and you may be offered shots of something (whiskey? brandy?) in a later room, but there are also non-alcoholic options in both instances. 5) If the weather permits, there will be some scenes outside on the roof of the building, but there are alternate places to hold these scenes if the weather is inclement.
As you leave, there is an elaborately decorated bar space, and you are welcome to stay as long as you would like. You can go back to get your bags if needed and then return to the bar. There is also merch – of course! I found it useful to recap the show and process it a bit in the bar. I thoroughly enjoyed myself, and for me it worked both as someone who enjoys innovative and immersive experiences, and someone for whom the original POTO has a lot of nostalgic positive emotional valence.
As I started to write this post, inspired by exploring Viola’s Room and Masquerade this summer, I started to think more and more about what “immersive theatre” really even means. Certainly the classic Punchdrunk idea of wandering through an immense, richly detailed space, and coming in contact with performers you can choose to follow or not, is exceptionally immersive. Making your way through Viola’s Room while being guided by Helena Bonham Carter’s voice is very different, yet does immerse you into its storytelling world. So does Masquerade, even though your movement through the space and story is tightly controlled. I suppose the areas that are less clear involve a production spilling out into public areas, or having performers break the fourth wall by speaking to attendees. In the end, the definition matters less to me than the experience – and whenever I experience a sense of flow by losing myself in a story, I am immersed in it. This can happen even while sitting in a traditional theatre seat watching something on a proscenium stage. However it presents, I enjoy experiencing complete immersion into a story, and I seek it out in whatever form it happens to take!
Digital/Experiential Art in NYC
A few years ago I wrote about my experience of going to the Van Gogh immersive visual art exhibit and since then I have noticed that more and more similar exhibitions have been popping up in NYC. There is even one, ARTECHOUSE (the name is a combination of art – tech – house) in Chelsea Market, that is a permanent space but with rotating shows (and it has other locations in Washington DC and Houston). I have been to a few of these and find them at their best to be a trippy and somewhat relaxing experience, but also occasionally (in my opinion) a regular visual documentary shoehorned into the concept of experiential art.
An exhibit I saw at ARTECHOUSE a few years ago (in 2023) was Beyond the Light, which visualized NASA data from the moon, heliophysics, the Mars rovers, climate science, and their technology transfer program. Set in their gigantic gallery space with projections on the floor in addition to wrapping around the walls, the experience was odd yet transporting.
More recently, though, I went back to see their exhibit in collaboration with Rolling Stone, AMPLIFIED, which described itself as an “50-minute immersive journey into the music, history, imagery and culture of rock ‘n’ roll, encompassing over 1,000 photographs, 200 videos, and 1,300 Rolling Stone covers.”
This one I thought I would adore, as I love music, but strangely it did not seem to fit the format. It was in one way too narrative (with a voice over from Keven Bacon), which led to a more seated/”let’s just look at things and listen” experience, compared to others where people are inspired to move around within the space. But the narrative itself was disjointed to me, and I had the feeling that Rolling Stone had just thrown things together in categories (hey, here’s a bunch of rockers with cars . . . posters are cool . . .now here’s a festival) rather than there being a clear narrative journey. Did I have a good time? Yes . . . but I would have enjoyed just as much just watching a 50 minute documentary on the subject matter – the immersive presentation didn’t add anything (at least for me).
This kind of experiential and digital art is not new. I recently wrote about Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy, which was first presented as an art installation/amusement park in 1987 in Germany. So why are there so many more of these happening now? I believe it is usually the kind of experience you can enjoy but can provide some cool photos and videos, usually to post (and I am guilty as charged on that front). There is an upcoming exhibit that I already have a ticket for that upps the ante by not only having immersive visual effects but also scent, light and sound in tandem (Eternal Nature at Artemuseum at Chelsea Piers). These immersive visual experiences aren’t inexpensive (usually $35-50) and aren’t that long (usually less than a hour). However, when these things work for me, I find them fun but also overwhelming in a positive way, and truly feel transported and immersed in a different world.
Anne Frank The Exhibition in NYC
If you have ever been to the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam, you know what an incredibly moving experience it is to be there in the actual space where a German-born Jewish girl, Anne Frank, along with her family and some others, hid from the Nazis from 1942-1944. The diary that Anne kept during that time was found following the end of World War II by her father after Anne, her sister Margot, and their mother Edith all died in concentration camps after their hiding place was discovered. The very personal story it told has now been translated into more than 70 languages, become a movie and a play, and continues to be taught in schools today to illuminate the horrors of the Holocaust. The Anne Frank House has limited tickets per day and you need to plan far ahead if you want to visit when in Amsterdam (and I would highly recommend doing so). But on January 27, 2025 (Holocaust Memorial Day, that date marking the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the Auschwitz camp), Anne Frank The Exhibition opened just off Union Square in NYC.
Anne Frank The Experience is located at 15 East 16th Street, just off Union Square. Timed tickets for this also sell out well in advance, but if looking to go sooner, I have noticed that a few tickets get released one or two days in advance even for all these dates that appear sold out earlier, so keep checking. Or, just plan to see it later this summer or in early fall, as it has been extended at this point through October 31, 2025.
Most of the exhibit prohibits the taking of photographs, to keep the experience respectful and educational. I will give you an idea what is presented, but highly recommend you go and experience yourself if you live in or near NYC. It will likely take you about an hour to move through the exhibit and read and reflect on everything that is presented. The exhibit is extensive, occupying gallery space of over 7500 square feet. Initial rooms describe Anne’s extended family and its background, and introduce us to her parents, sister, and Anne herself. Woven into this story is the parallel story of the rise of fascism and the Nazi party in Germany and the danger it presented to many. I had not realized that Anne had extended family members in NYC who tried to find asylum for her family but had it repeatedly denied. The Franks’ move to Amsterdam was initially a way to escape danger in Germany, but eventually it was no longer safe there as well. The exhibit clearly describes first the limitations on freedom that were imposed, leading eventually to the need to hide in the Annex.
The different rooms leading up to the recreation of the Annex are very well done and often multi-media. In one room there is a large screen showing a photo of Anne and the rest of her class at school, and slowly one by one different children are highlighted and their eventual fate is displayed. There are also some actual artifacts that are on loan from the Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. You can see an excerpt from a neighbor’s wedding video where Anne can be seen hanging out of a window for about 20 seconds.
Finally, going through the replica of the actual Annex feels very much being in the actual location in Amsterdam. The windows are covered as they would have been during the over two years the family and four other Jewish inhabitants were in the Annex.
Leaving the Annex, the exhibit continues with the fate of those in the Annex after they were discovered (Anne died at the age of 15 in Bergen-Belsen concentration camp in Germany; seven of the eight inhabitants died in concentration camps). Her father, the only survivor, found her diary and tried to get it published. Many of the rejection letters he received are shown, suggesting that it was not likely to find a readership. But then the exhibit expands to show the movies and plays that have been based on the book, as well as endless copies of the book (Anne Frank: Diary of a Young Girl) translated into languages all over the world. It has sold over 30 million copies.
After looking at the long, long line of different versions of the diary published throughout the years, in a multitude of languages, you are invited, if you wish, to pull out your phone as you leave to take your picture with the montage of photographs of Anne (above). This still felt presumptuous to me, inserting myself into her story in any way. We humans are storytellers, though, and often the best way for us to relate the experience of a group is to tell the story of an individual. This is the magic of the diary of Anne Frank, in that we are able to relate to something almost too large to process, the Holocaust, through the lens of this one person. Primo Levi once said, “One single Anne Frank moves us more than the countless others who suffered just as she did but whose faces have remained in the shadows. Perhaps it is better that way; if we were capable of taking in all the suffering of all those people, we would not be able to live.” We can witness Anne’s story, encourage others to do so, and then expand the connection we have made with her to the larger multitudes of the Holocaust – and the lessons this teaches us. This exhibit states that it wants us to know more about Anne through the “multifaceted lens of her life—as a girl, a writer, and a symbol of resilience and strength” and for me, it succeeded brilliantly.
Printemps, a bit of Paris in NYC
The Art Deco masterpiece One Wall Street, at Wall Street and Broadway in the Financial District, was designed by Ralph Walker and built between 1929 and 1931. First the headquarters of Irving Trust, and later Bank of New York and BNY Mellon, it was sold for residential development in 2015 and converted to condominiums between 2018 and 2023. Commercial space on the lower floors now hosts a Whole Foods, fitness center, and as of late March of 2025, an outpost of famed Parisian department store Printemps.
Printemps is a celebrated French department store chain (with 21 stores in France as well as one in Doha), and its flagship store on Boulevard Haussman in the 9th arrondissement in Paris is an Art Nouveau masterpiece. Sitting next to rival Galeries Lafayette, near the Palais Garnier, it was built in 1865, and was the first public building in Paris to have electrical power installed. For its only store in the United States, it would be important for any Printemps here to be in a building similarly important and beautiful, so One Wall Street was an ideal location.
There are two entrances, but I highly recommend for your first visit to enter on Broadway rather than the side entrance on Wall Street (you will see why later). The NYC Printemps is much smaller than the Haussman flagship, but every design detail is exquisite.
Every item you find as you stroll through the store is French, unique, and presented in a beautiful way.
On the ground floor just to the left as you enter off Broadway, there is a lovely cafe with seating.
The dressing rooms are lushly and immersively decorated.
There are multiple bars within the space, this one is just on the second level above the entrance on Broadway.
Continuing along on the second level, there is a passageway to get to the part of the store that faces Wall Street. It is set up as the beauty section, including some treatment areas, and a champagne bar.
Near the beauty area, you can find the bathrooms. I have never been in such beautiful public bathrooms! Who needs a Maurizio Cattelan golden toilet when you can just visit Printemps?
Past the bathrooms, you find a grand staircase to lead down to the most incredible area of Printemps NYC – the famed Red Room.
The Red Room, the interior of which is now a New York City Historic Landmark (in addition to the entire exterior of One Wall Street), was once a reception area for the Irving Trust customers. Because this was a private bank, most people would not have been able to enter, and the room was designed to impress its wealthy customers. There would have been no tellers, just some chairs and desks. The Red Room has ceiling heights varying from 30 to 37 feet, and the entire room is 100 by 40 feet. Walker and his associate Perry Coke Smith planned the decor of the room, with artist Hildreth Meière hired as a color consultant. The floor is covered in red terrazzo tiles created in Berlin under the supervision of Walker and Smith. The color scheme of the wall mosaic is red-on-blue which gradually gets lighter as it goes up to draw the eye to the gold-on-black on the ceiling.
The Red Room at Printemps is a functioning shoe store, and I dare you to find a more extraordinary one. Photographs truly don’t do it justice. If you entered Printemps NYC from Wall Street and experienced the Red Room first, the rest of the store – while gorgeous – would be anticlimactic after such opulence. If you visit on a weekend or later in the day, you might actually have to wait on a line to get in and you will see plenty of people taking photos and posing in the entire store, but particularly in the Red Room. My recommendation, if you possibly can, is to get there very soon after opening (hours are 10am-7pm daily) on a week day to avoid crowds. If you go early, it will be easier to enjoy the cafe as well (the cafe opens earlier most days, at 8am). Going later in the day would be an alternate plan, and enjoy a drink at one of the bars for the most elegant happy hour. The Red Room bar is open later, until 11:00pm, and the restaurant Maison Passerelle is open 5pm-10:30pm.
As anyone who has been to Paris knows, there is a particular quality to walking through the city – every turn seems to bring another view more charming than the one before. I found wandering Printemps NYC to be a similar experience – an immersive escape to Paris just off the bustling streets of my beloved NYC.
The Frick Collection: Reopening after Renovation
The Frick Collection, on Fifth Avenue between 70th and 71st Streets on the Upper East Side of Manhattan, is a special jewel box of a museum in a city rich with fabulous places to appreciate art. The Henry Clay Frick mansion, designed in 1914 by Carrère and Hastings in the Beaux-Arts style, was converted to a museum to house Frick’s art collection in 1920 after his death. Henry Frick had personally collected a vast array of art, including works by artists as renowned and diverse as Bellini, Degas, Fragonard, Gainsborough, Goya, El Greco, Holbein, Rembrandt, Titian, Turner, Velázquez, Vermeer, and Whistler. What is truly unique, though, is the display of the art within the cohesive and lush interiors of the mansion. The Frick Collection recently underwent an extensive renovation by Annabelle Selldorf and her team at Selldorf Architects, and has added an auditorium, education room, and cafe, while leaving the essential nature of this unique experience intact. I was fortunate enough to be invited to Member Preview Days by a patron (the museum opens for all April 17, 2025, check for tickets here) and was thoroughly transported by my visit.
I was fortunate enough to be able to go the first day the museum held member previews (April 9) thanks to this patron, and we went first thing upon opening to avoid crowds. I would recommend this strategy if you are able. The entrance area was open and easy to navigate thanks to the renovation. There is a coat check and bathrooms downstairs (and quite some stairs! a new grand cantilevered staircase made of veined Breccia Aurora marble), and the new cafe and gift shop above. The second floor rooms in the mansion, once bedrooms, are smaller and I recommend going to them first before the museum gets more crowded if you are first in.
The experience of being in the mansion and the way art is displayed (rather than white plain backgrounds, the walls are covered in hand-woven French silk damask and velvet in sumptuous colors) makes entering each room like becoming part of a new little immersive world.
In almost every room there were lifelike porcelain flowers by contemporary artist Vladimir Kanevsky. Designed to look like real floral displays set up in the collection when it first opened to the public in the 1930s, these flowers are on display through October 6.
Downstairs rooms are larger, as they were public rooms and many specifically designed to display Frick’s art. The beautiful central courtyard has been restored so that the fountain once again works as designed.
In the center of the mansion, the original grand staircase showcases the ornate organ installed.
The location of the Frick Collection right across from Central Park, means that views from the rooms often highlight stunning views of nature to complement the interior art. Seeing the Collection as spring trees extravagantly bloom made many views out of the windows rival that of the stunning art within.
In the evening, I was fortunate enough to attend a member’s reception through the generosity of the same patron. It was much more crowded in the evening, so I preferred the morning experience overall. I was struck, however, with how the quality of the light at sunset changed the look of some rooms in the mansion. To truly appreciate the collection, I think it is important to come multiple times, and at different times of day, as this museum is a part of its urban environment, not insulated from it.
The new gift shop was tempting (see photos above).
To live in New York City is to enjoy almost an embarrassment of riches when it comes to experiencing art – visual art, music, theatre, and dance. The Frick Collection stands alone with its singular blend of the exceptional quality of the art itself, and the immersive environment enabling you to see this art within such splendid surroundings. Make a pilgrimage there when you can to feed your soul – and go back as often as you are able to see it change with the time of day and the seasons. Thanks to this renovation, the Frick Collection will be ready to welcome us for decades to come.
Aire Ancient Baths in NYC: Tribeca vs. Upper East Side
I do enjoy a great spa experience, and there are plenty to enjoy in New York City. Previously I have written about a day at the QC NY spa on Governors Island and just recently about having a Aescape robot massage at iLy Only Spa at the New York Lotte Hotel. But my daughters know that the the one gift that I am always thrilled to get is a massage plus baths experience at Aire Ancient Baths. I first went to Aire many years ago (maybe 2017?) and have been at least once or twice a year since then. It was my first massage experience when things started reopening after covid lockdown (we were still wearing masks). But I have never blogged about it because you are not allowed to take any photos whatsoever and your phone is locked up. The only photos I have are of the outside of the building. The original Aire in NYC is in Tribeca, and that was the only one I had experienced until one opened walking distance from me, on the Upper East Side, this month (March of 2025). They are not identical, and I kept comparing the two locations while in the new space. This made me think that even without my own photos I might be able to help others wanting to go but unsure of what location to select. All photos from inside the spas are taken from the Aire website.
The Tribeca location is the OG, and obviously the one I have been to the most. I see that the Tribeca location is closed temporarily for renovations, but should reopen in May. It’s located on Franklin Street, in a restored 1883 building that was once a textile factory. As with all Aire locations, it is inspired by baths of the ancient Roman, Greek and Ottoman traditions. When you enter, you immediately note the luxe and relaxing vibe – dimmed lights, nice scents, big sofas with comfy throw pillows, infused water and warm mint tea to sip. They always send an email to check in the day before, and if you have done that, you will just need to show an ID and take a rubber bracelet or bracelets to wear (these let the staff know how long you will stay in the baths and if you are having additional treatments like a massage). Shortly you go back to the changing room (separate for men and women), where you are given a locker (you lock and unlock with a code you set), robe, little black neoprene booties to wear to prevent slipping, and a towel for afterwards. You wear your own swimsuit, and put the robe over it. You are required to leave everything behind in the locker – especially your phone.
The ambiance inside is magical. It is lit with thousands of flickering votive candles (more, I think, at Tribeca than at Upper East Side), and there are multiple pools to experience. If you have not been before, an attendant will show you around the different options. There is a steam room, a vigorous whirlpool, a very hot pool, a cold plunge pool, a “tepid” pool which is roughly body temperature, and (my favorite) a floating salt pool. Before you get into the salt pool, there is a shower and you can scrub with a gigantic pile of salt for exfoliation. Then in the “floatarium” you can literally float, weightless. I find it possible to anchor my head along the rails at water level and just float. With your eyes closed, it approximates a sensory deprivation experience. I generally start out in the steam room, go to the whirlpool, alternate hot and cold pools, then relax in the tepid area (there are multiple semi-private nooks to relax in), but spend most of my time in the salt pool. There are also heated stone loungers where you can enjoy infused water or mint tea.
If you have a massage or other experience (scrub, etc) booked, they will find you when it is time to go and have that. The first time I was at Aire, I was slightly anxious about “missing” it and not knowing what time I will be taken to that, but now I can completely relax and know they will come to me when it is time for my massage. There is a second level area at Tribeca that holds the massage rooms, and I have never had anything other than an exceptional massage at Aire. When done with that, they will let you know if you have more time to relax in the pools. You generally have 90 minutes or more in the pools, whether you have the pools-only experience (which I have only done a handful of times) or if you have a massage (your overall time will just be longer). They come around with singing bowls to chime every hour and you will be told when your time is up (on the second chime, for instance)
Now some details about the Upper East Side new location before concluding with some thoughts that apply to both locations. The new Aire is on E 61st Street, in a 120-year-old building that most recently was a storage facility for artwork MoMA did not have on display. This location is on multiple floors, while the Tribeca location is generally on one level (except for the massage area). It has the same pools, but things are laid out quite differently. The vigorous whirlpool was more enjoyable to me at this location because it has slots big enough for one person to rest in and almost recline, leading to why the attendant called this one a “aqua massage.” The tepid area doesn’t have the semi-private nooks to relax in, so I prefer the Tribeca one. The steam room and hot and cold plunge areas are relatively equivalent at the two locations. The biggest different is in the salt pool, which on the Upper East Side is a level up from most of the other pools and has a clear floor so that it appears to be suspended from the air. However, the pool is not as deep (perhaps the weight of the water was too much to suspend if it were deeper) which to me makes the floating a little more difficult. The Tribeca salt pool is probably 3 feet deep and I would guess the UES location is 12-18 inches deep at most. While this pool looks cooler, I prefer the Tribeca pool. Like Tribeca, they also have heated stone loungers and infused water/mint tea at the UES location near the pools.
The massage at the UES location was just as excellent as every one I have had at Tribeca. Areas where I would say Aire excels in both locations are: customer service (the staff is extremely helpful and pleasant, from the locker room attendants to those checking you in to those in the bath area – the last time I was there someone accidentally took my robe from where I had it hanging up near the steam room and someone had a new one for me within minutes), getting it as a gift experience (tip is included, so if you are given a gift box, it is all-in), and the locker room experience and inclusions to help you get cleaned up and ready to leave (there are showers with L’Occitane shampoo, conditioner, and shower gel; a machine to dry off your swimsuit before putting into a waterproof bag to take home; hair dryers, etc.). Both locations are wonderful about keeping the experience tranquil by making sure people are quiet if they are with someone (large signs note “Silence” and I have seen staff gently shush people who are talking too loudly). The one issue I would note is that often they book up way in advance, so there are times I am given a gift experience and it might be a few months before I can enjoy it. On the other hand, I appreciate that they limit numbers so that it never feels crowded at all while enjoying the baths.
So which location is better? Both are excellent! For me, it is going to be hard to beat the location of the Upper East Side spa as I can walk to and from my experience. I do prefer the salt pool at Tribeca, but prefer the aqua massage pool on the UES. If you want to try one, go to the one more convenient for you – or better, yet, try them both!
Aescape (robot massage!) at Ila Onlyspa in NYC
I enjoy a good spa experience, and luckily for me New York City has endless opportunities. I posted once about the fabulous experience at QC NYC Spa on Governor’s Island, and will soon write about Aire Ancient Baths. Both of those are fully immersive, with lush surroundings and multiple types of experiences. For this post, however, I will describe something completely different – Aescape robot massage! Most of us have sat in a massage chair, and it can be a pleasant few minutes. But the Aescape claimed to actually customize a real massage, so I decided to check it out
There are multiple locations for Aescape in New York City (and some in Florida), most within Equinox fitness centers. I decided to go with the one at the ila Only Spa at the Lotte New York Palace Hotel. I imagined that the fitness locations might smell like workouts and thought going to a spa might be more fun (the spa location is slightly more expensive). Checking in was pleasant, and the spa smells delightfully spa-like! I was sent to the lounge first, and able to enjoy citrus spa water and little spears of fresh berries. From this lounge there was a spectacular view of St Patrick’s cathedral.
When I was invited into the room, they had very form fitting (skin tight) long sleeve tops and bottoms to change into. They asked about size when making the appointment, and recommend you go smaller than you usually wear, as the machine slides along the slippery surface of this clothing. You are entirely alone in this room, and you can lock the door, although they have a heavy tassel on the door letting people know not to enter (unless you summon someone during the massage using the screen, I presume!). The room looked and smelled just like a spa massage room, only with the face rest looking onto a screen and robot arms hovering above.
Once I lay down on the table, I could see a screen directly under my face welcoming me, and walking me step by step through setting up. There is a large button on the screen if you want it to stop immediately (good for those imagining one of the machines from the Terminator going rogue). You are walked through adjustments for the headrest, foot bolster, etc., to be sure you are comfortable. Then it makes a scan of of your body, so that it knows where to massage. If you aren’t perfectly straight on the table with your feet in the scoops for your ankles, it will ask you to reposition before it scans. You can see the outline of your body once the scan is done. When that was done, I hit go – and it started. You could change the music (I left it as it was), and either watch the default, which was a schematic of your body and where the robot arms were and how much time you had left, or change to relaxing scenes. I left the schematic on, and had my eyes closed most of the time but it was good to be able to peek at how far along it was. You could see how long you had left, and the steps of what it had done and what was still to come. You could also move the pressure up or down, and you could “heart” things or skip them to customize. I just let it do its thing. You can do “Power Up” – which is a all-over massage, and I did this – or pick specific areas to target. The robot arms are heated and sort of push and slide, much like a strong Swedish massage.
The room actually had a phone cradle set up for you to take a video of your experience if you wanted (and encouragement to tag them on Instagram), but I chose not to do that. All in all, here’s what I feel it did better than a person – it can get two sides of your body at the same time, while a person usually does one side then moves to the other. And it was good on the glutes, which people usually don’t touch for obvious reasons. But it is not a person, and definitely does not provide the experience or level of pampering/relaxation that you can have with a skilled massage therapist.
For people who are made anxious by the idea of being massaged by a person, or of being unclothed during a massage, I could see this being a wonderful option. However, for those (like me) who don’t feel those limitations, I would say at this point, it is still too expensive (between $60-75 for 30 minutes) to replace a massage by a real person. There is no tipping of course, since there is no person massaging you. But all in all, I would say I liked it much better than I had anticipated, and if the price comes down I could see it being an adjunct to massages by a human being, especially for recovery of large muscle groups like glutes and hamstrings.
Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy
Luna Luna was an open-air museum/amusement park in Hamburg, West Germany that ran from June 4 to August 31, 1987. Created by Austrian artist André Heller, it was an attempt to “create a traveling terrain of modern art, that in the centuries-old principle of the fairground involves people of all ages and educational levels in playful acts”. Heller commissioned around 30 contemporary artists to design the attractions, including Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Roy Lichtenstein, Salvador Dalí, David Hockney, Kenny Scharf, Roland Topor, Jean Tinguely, and Sonia Delaunay. It was rediscovered and relaunched as a global tour 2023 by Drake (yes, the Canadian singer/rapper) and his entertainment firm DreamCrew with production assistance from Live Nation, and it is currently in New York City’s Hudson Yards at The Shed through March 16, 2025. In this version, called Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy, about half of the original 30 attractions are on display, and many cannot be touched (or ridden) due to their fragility over time. I had a fantastic time when I went recently, and it was perhaps the most joyful immersive art I have ever experienced.
You have to purchase timed tickets (get them directly from The Shed here and use code LUNA20 for 20% off on most days), and you can enter any time during that hour. They don’t care how long you stay in the exhibit, but I think most people would stay an hour or maybe a little longer. I recommend getting your ticket for the the first hour of the day if possible because then there will be no crowds when you first go in. They also offer a more expensive ticket that allows you to enter without waiting at any point during a specific day.
As you enter, you are looking directly at a fantastic full-sized carousel by Keith Haring (you aren’t allowed to ride or this or a few other pieces because of potential damage, but when first displayed full-sized adults were able to ride it). There are also large Haring murals behind the carousel.
You can wander through Roy Lichtenstein’s acrylic fun house maze, and I recommend getting on line for this as soon as you get in, as they only let one or two people go through at a time. They recommend you keep your hands up as you go through this labyrinth because it would be easy to just smack into one of the acrylic walls (and you probably will – I did!). There is a sticky mat to step on before going through this and a few other interactive artworks, both to prevent you from slipping and to keep out dirt that might be on your shoes. Lights change color slowly over time, and it is disorienting in the most fun way. The music you hear when you are in this was composed for the artwork by Philip Glass.
Going into a separate room from the one you first enter, you are immersed in music, lights, and several artworks that periodically turn on and move – a Sonia Delaunay-designed entrance gate, a huge Ferris Wheel by Jean-Michel Basquiat, a swing carousel by Kenny Scharf, and a small carousel by Arik Brauer. None of these can be ridden, but each has its own music and lighting when it activates.
When the Basquiat Ferris Wheel activates, you hear the music that he selected to be played, from the album Tutu by Miles Davis.
Much of the exhibit is unusually kid-friendly for an art installation (it is truly for all ages), especially the Poncili Creacion room, by an art collective from Puerto Rico. There are large soft “body parts” that you can wear to become an oversized kind of fanciful creature.
There is also a room specifically devoted to the history of the original amusement park in Berlin, with lots of memorabilia both from the planning of Luna Luna and from the few weeks it was open to be experienced.
Salvadore Dali contributed a reflecting sphere, which you can enter after stepping on the sticky mat again. The lights and music change over time, and as you walk around all the mirrors reflect an endless array of reflections.
Perhaps my favorite thing was the wedding chapel, conceived by André Heller. Couples are invited to take part in a whimsical wedding ceremony (for example, the exchange of rings involves throwing a hoop, or ring, around the forearm of your partner) and others are invited to be witnesses and shake bells as a form of approval several times during the ceremony. The couple then gets a polaroid picture of themselves and a “marriage certificate.” I took photos and videos of the ceremony I witnessed and then was able to AirDrop all the photos and videos to the couple afterwards (and no, I didn’t know them before this!).
Of course there was a gift shop, with some very very unique items (see above)! I almost purchased the small Haring carousel and am already regretting not doing so. Occasionally while in the installation there would be performance art (also a part of the original Luna Luna park) like a gigantic elephant artwork lumbering around the room, or people fluttering huge butterfly artowrks over your head. You can see some of the performance art as well as the rides in motion in a video reel I posted on Instagram (see it here). Your entrance ticket also allows you access to the Butterfly Bar, which overlooks the installation and has food and drinks for purchase. On Friday nights, for the final hour of the evening, New York jazz musicians take over the soundscape of Luna Luna, improvising to the legendary artworks. All in all, I had a fabulous time and would recommend to everyone. On a deeper level, as is posted in the main room, Heller believed that something like Luna Luna was a way to expose people to art who might not ordinarily be interested in it. I think that if you are already an art lover, there is plenty to think about and study, but for those who are not, these “unconventional guises” truly do provide an entertaining way to enjoy the products of these extraordinary artists.
Times Square at year’s end
I didn’t grow up in New York City, and like so many others, when I was a child seeing the ball drop in Times Square on television was a normal part of my routine as one year passed into the next. I have now been fortunate enough to live in NYC for over 30 years now, for many of them just a few blocks from Times Square itself. Have I ever waited all day in Times Square to see the ball drop live on New Year’s Eve? No, I have not! But due to the pandemic I was able to get quite close to the ball as it dropped in 2020 without waiting, and there are many other events in Times Square at the end of each year that have now become a regular part of how I process the year past, and anticipate the year to come. Here’s my take on how you can be a part of the Times Square NYE celebration, with even a few ways to participate if you aren’t in the city.
My favorite year-end event in Times Square is the arrival of the numerals that will replace the previous year’s numbers. They sit on the ground in Times Square for just a few days, and you can take your photo with them. You can find out when they will be available each year on the official Times Square website, but they are generally there for four or five days, and around the middle of the month (for 2024, they were there December 18-22). You might have to wait a bit for your turn at a photo, but if you can be there earlier in the day the area is much less crowded.
I think this is a relatively recent event, and the first year I remember seeing it (2018, to see the 2019 numbers) they only had the last two digits there (see above). Now the full year is on display for these few days.
Another activity in Times Square that I really love is the New Year’s Eve Wishing Wall. For most of the month of December (for 2024, December 2-29) you can write wishes on little slips of tissue paper, and they are saved to throw among all the confetti (over one ton is dropped!) that is released at midnight on New Year’s Eve onto Times Square. I find this to be a wonderful way to crystallize my hopes as I enter a new year. This is fun to do in person, of course, but the Times Square Website also allows you to type in wishes from anywhere and they will also be part of the confetti (find it here).
Another fun event is Good Riddance Day (usually December 28, but you can check the Times Square Instagram each year to confirm). More or less in opposition to the cheerful Wishing Wall (haha), for this you write down things you want to leave behind in 2024 and not take with you to the new year. And they shred or even BURN THEM for you . . . good riddance!
No guarantees that they will do this every year, but in 2024 on December 19 you could swap out old crystals on the actual Times Square ball for new ones, and you could keep the old crystal as a keepsake. Lines were long, but hey, at least the Naked Cowboy was there for entertainment.
The big event of course is the actual ball drop on New Year’s Eve. The area around Times Square becomes entirely blocked off earlier in the day and everyone who enters this area (roughly 40th to 59th Streets, from Sixth to Eighth Avenues) goes through airport-style security. If you are interested in going, all your questions can be answered in the FAQ section of the official Times Square website, but I will answer the most important question here: no, there are no bathroom facilities. During the height of the covid pandemic in 2020, only a few blocks were cordoned off and there was no official viewing area. That year I was able to get just a few blocks away, and with no wait, and I saw the actual ball drop from a few blocks away on 50th and Broadway.
I enjoy going to Times Square the morning of New Year’s Day. It’s eerily quiet, and although the clean up is fast and efficient, you can still see remnants of the confetti drop the night before. I know it’s not cool to like Times Square, and there are certainly times I try to avoid it. But that little girl inside of me who looked longingly at the ball drop on television is still there, on some level, and I love that I have been able to find a way to make the reality of Times Square a part of my end-of-year routine.
Julie Brannan, NYC residential real estate 