Tag: Columbus Circle

New York City Holiday Markets

Published on by juliebrannan4 Comments

New York City has a different kind of beauty in every season, but it never shines as bright as during the holidays. Many other years I have posted about the yearly holiday decorations (see here and here and here and here for instance!) but this year I wanted to shine a light on the many holiday markets that spring up, roughly from Thanksgiving to New Year’s. While it is very easy to find gifts for your loved ones on Amazon, I guarantee that the array of small vendors with unusual gifts will enable you to find something unique for everyone on your list. And while there is a certain level of comfort in shopping online in your pajamas, shopping in a NYC holiday market is an experience that surrounds your senses with holiday spirit. I can’t loop the jaunty sounds of Vince Guaraldi’s “Linus and Lucy” theme, or provide the scents of hot cider and spruce candles, but I can show you some of the sights of the markets that brighten the city this time of year.

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Central Park is without a doubt my favorite place in all of New York City (see a few previous love letters here and here and here and here!) and if you are walking out of the park in December toward the southwest corner, you begin to spy the stalls of the small but atmospheric Columbus Circle market.

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Limited by its geography in size, this market is on the smaller side but has lots of interesting options.

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The great thing about these markets is that you don’t go looking for a specific item, but as you browse, something may just catch your eye as a perfect gift for a particular person (a unique and beautiful wine stopper for the oenophile in your life?).

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These ornaments make a terrific souvenir for visitors to the city,  but can also be personalized to give as a gift to the host or hostess of the holiday party you are heading to during this month.

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It’s hard to beat the visual drama of this market, with Central Park on one side and the towers of the Time Warner building rising on the other.

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Another market limited in size by the constraints of its location is the one in Grand Central Terminal.

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This one is just off the 42nd Street side of Grand Central, or if you are inside the main hall, just off that towards 42nd Street.

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If you go to a lot of these markets, you will see a few repeating shops, but surprisingly the vast majority are one-of-a-kind. For example, the Harlem Candle Company, which I love, is only at the Grand Central market. For that matter, they have no storefront, so the only way to smell these candles based on the Harlem Renaissance is to find them at this market (most of the year they are online only).

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Some markets only run for a few weeks, like the market at CityPoint in Brooklyn. The Arctic Adventure popup is throughout the season, but for a few weekends there is also a crafts-based market.

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The market here has some vendors that are Brooklyn-based and only found at this market.

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An indoor market, while less scenic, is certainly potentially more comfortable (I was here on a cold and rainy day!). And if at CityPoint, be sure to head downstairs to the DeKalb Market for lunch or dinner.

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Now we are moving on to one of the larger holiday markets, the one in Union Square.

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Easily accessible from multiple subway lines, this market is worth a few hours of your time, if you can spare it.

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My recommendation for this market, if you can, is to go on a weekday. Seen here, it will still be busy but you will be able to get around without too many crowds.

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Again, this is a place to wander and wait for the right gift to show itself. This stall sells kits for someone to make their own beer, or cheese, or sourdough pretzels.

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At all of the markets, there will be some vendors selling hot cider, or cocoa, or holiday treats to eat.

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I love seeing the Empire State Building off to the north through all the stalls.

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Finally, I come to the Bryant Park Winter Village, perhaps the largest and most elaborate of the markets. There’s an ice skating rink under a large Christmas tree. Skating itself is free although skate rental does involve a cost.

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Just behind the NYPL on Fifth and 42nd Street, blocks from Times Square, this market is a small-scale delight surrounded by the heart of large-scale Manhattan.

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There are some very unusual shops here – this is from a very luxurious resort and spa in Montauk.

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An actual outpost of the Metropolitan museum gift shop – the only one I’ve seen other than the ones in the museums.

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Similarly, to see an outpost of the famous Strand bookstore is a wonderful surprise.

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It’s hard to resist a stop of the Santa Claus Cafe, although at Bryant Park there are multiple options for food and drink, including a bar area to warm up with something alcoholic.

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Imagine, you can even visit the North Pole before taking in a Broadway show a few blocks away!

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As with the Union Square market, going on a weekday, but not during lunch or after work hours, will net the most space to walk around. However, this market is so large and well laid out that even in a crowd it doesn’t seem as overwhelming as the meandering Union Square can.

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Aaah, New York City during the holiday season. In the immortal words of the sign seen at Bryant Park Winter Village, “this place does not suck.” I could not agree more.

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Central Park West from 72nd to 59th Street

Published on by juliebrannanLeave a comment

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For this dérive (an unplanned walk within an urban landscape), a portion of the Upper West Side beckons. Emerging from Central Park, passing the guy who will tell a joke for $1 (money returned if you don’t laugh, according to the sign, but I’ve never personally tested it), and with the sounds of the ever-present guitarist singing Beatles songs to the throngs of tourists in Strawberry Fields fading away, Central Park West welcomes you at 72nd Street with a visual treat: the facades of two iconic buildings, the Dakota and the Majestic. Central Park West, like Fifth Avenue, features an unbroken line of residential apartment buildings from 59th Street to 110th Street. While the buildings on CPW and Fifth gaze (or perhaps glare?) across Central Park at each other, they do differ quite a bit from each other in style. The buildings on Central Park West are more elaborate and ornate, while those on Fifth tend to appear more stately and reserved. The west side buildings are often named, while those on the east side are called by their street address.

The Dakota, on the northwest corner of Central Park West and 72nd Street, was built between 1880 and 1884, and seemed as distant from the city and alone as the Dakota Territories (whether that was in fact the origin of the name, which is unclear, it was certainly true – it is bizarre to see photographs of the building in 1890 with just a scattering of short rowhouses in the far background, with nothing on either side or behind). The Dakota was the beginning of a building boom on the Upper West Side from 1885 to 1910, in part because of the creation of the city’s first subway line, the Broadway/Seventh Avenue line, making the area less remote from downtown. Being featured in the opening credits of “Rosemary’s Baby” certainly has not adversely impacted the value of the apartments in the Dakota, demonstrating that it takes a lot more than the prospect of living next to a group of Satanists to keep people away from a fabulous apartment in New York City.

The Majestic, built long after the Dakota in 1930-31, is a splendid example of minimalist Art Deco design, inside and out. The spare and square two towers were a result of the Multiple Dwelling Act of 1929, which restricted how tall a building could be immediately above street level, but allowed towers if the building would house a large number of people. The west side of the building has curved ornamentation that looks like the side of a jukebox. Take a peek in the lobby to enjoy the elaborate geometric designs that decorate the entrance.

Although I was walking along Central Park West, I was unable to resist turning into the park at W. 67th Street to look at the exterior of the newly renovated Tavern on the Green. Originally the location of a building to house the sheep that grazed (and kept the grass mowed to a civilized length) on Sheep’s Meadow in Central Park, it was converted to a restaurant as part of Robert Moses’ 1934 renovation of the park. Closed since December 31, 2009, it has just reopened. I will be interested to see how it has transformed; the Tavern I knew was certainly unique! The photographs I have seen from inside the renovated space look more understated and the menu seems promising. As I snapped a photo of the exterior of the building, I couldn’t help but notice One 57 looming in the background. The transformation of West 57th Street into “Billionaire’s Row” was certainly in some developer’s minds when Tavern shuttered in 2009, but was not yet cocktail party conversation, which it is now.

Walking along CPW, just a block or so west you can catch glimpses of Lincoln Center, a triumph of urban development that meant that the tenements shown in some of the beginning scenes of West Side story on the current site of Lincoln Center would be torn down immediately after filming. The people who lived in this area at that point would scarcely be able to believe the creation of a super-luxury building like 15 CPW (at 62nd Street), “the world’s most powerful address,” as a recent book declares.

Central Park West dead ends at Columbus Circle and the Time Warner Center. A mix between residential homes, office space, CNN studios, performance spaces (Jazz at Lincoln Center is there) and shopping areas, it signifies the transition from Upper West Side to Midtown. The statue of Columbus seems to turn his back with distain on Central Park West, instead looking south toward midtown. I can never see this statue without remembering the Public Art Works Project from 2012, where Tatzu Nishi created a living room in the air surrounding Columbus. Despite Columbus’ arrogant upthrust chin, hand on his hip, once you have climbed several flights of stairs to see him within a completely furnished living room with pink wallpaper and a large television, he never quite commands the same level of intimidation. Such is the power of art, and the joy of living in a city that values art enough to support innovative projects at no cost to the public.