Midtown Manhattan Festivities

There really is nothing quite like Christmas in midtown Manhattan. Check out this video from a year ago to get yourself into the spirit.

Midtown Tree

Selecting the perfect Christmas tree for Midtown Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center is no easy task.  It has to be quite perfect.  But one has been found that meets the requirements.  It was chosen from Pennsylvania’s State College (Jason Perrin’s home) and is originally from Norway.  It was put on display behind the ice rink and it will be lit up in a ceremony on November 29.

The tree will – as in years past – remain at the center throughout Christmas and New Year’s and will only be taken down January 7.  Rockefeller Center has been adorned with a tree now for around 7 decades and is viewed by passersby between W. 48^th and 51^st Streets and Fifth and Sixth Avenues.

This year measuring in at 75 feet it has a 50 foot diameter and weighs approximately 12-13 tons.

The Suburbs in NYC?

Possibly.  Well, at least New Yorkers will be privy to a taste of suburban life with the opening of a branch of Target – America’s 2^nd largest discount retail store.  Opening its doors in Midtown Manhattan at 112 West 34^th Street, the third location in Manhattan will open three days from now. 

For Manhattaners – veteran and newbies alike – this is not the first in a great move.  At one point Target was not known for its presence in NYC.  But today that is no longer the case, with another one due to open next week in Bensonhurst, Brooklyn as well as one in East Village next year and two more in the region in 2019.

And there is more positive suburban-style news for NYC.  Insider City Guides recently ranked Brooklyn Bridge Park in its sightseeing research article Six of the best: City Parks for its “unmatched Manhattan views... manicured lawns and six (so far) re-purposed piers [featuring] a festival feel on summer weekends.”

Perhaps the suburbs aren’t so far away from NYC after all.

New Happenings in Midtown

There are some new eateries opening up in Midtown Manhattan.  Although it already has three branches in NYC, Joe’s Pizza is now available on Times Square, at 1435 Broadway. The iconic store originally opened back in 1975 in Greenwich Village.

Next up is Luke’s Lobster which opened its 12^th NYC location in Midtown Manhattan.  Located between West 38^th and 39^th Streets, to mark the occasion of its new place, the first customers to frequent the store received a free lobster roll. 


And for something completely different a plant-based “fast-food” joint just opened in Midtown also.  Run by Craig Cohran (co-founder of a plant-based fast food café that already exists in Manhattan), he opened P.S. Kitchen in Times Square as a way to give back and make a difference. The idea is to make giving more fun by creating a nice restaurant that would give profits to charity; enjoy a cocktail and a meal and at the same time support a worthy cause. The menu is completely plant-based and many of the employees come from underprivileged backgrounds.

The Silent Parade

A century ago (last month) on July 28, 1917, around 10,000 black (kids, men and women) marched in silence down Fifth Avenue to protest against racial violence in the United States. This was one of the first mass protests of anti-black violence in America.  It was entitled Silent Parade.

To mark this, Google honored the centenary with a Google Doodle, “honor[ing] those whose silence resonates a century later.”

Organized by W.E.B Du Bois and James Weldon Johnson (NAACP leaders), it was put together as a reaction to the 1917 East St. Louis Riots during which a slew of blacks were killed and thousands displaced. The non-speaking march from Fifth Avenue to Madison Square symbolically represented an anti-violence stance by participants who marched with signs like: “We march because we deem it a crime to be silent in the face of such barbaric acts,” and “We march because we want our children to live in a better land," etc.

Midtown’s Restaurant Week

The summer’s Restaurant Week starts next week.  Between July 24 to August 18, restaurant goers in Midtown will be able to pay a fraction of the price at some of the region’s most upscale eateries. Offering three-course fixed priced menus for both lunch and dinner, around 400 restaurants are participating in the week long event, open to all for registration.

this year there are many more restaurants participating – 33 to be exact – they include: Bar & Cabaret, Benjamin Steakhouse Prime, Bob’s Steak & Chop House, Boucherie, Bâtard, Cut by Wolfgang Puck, Farmer & The Fish, Feast, Fifty Restaurant, Flinders Lane, Fowler & Wells. 

For lunch the cost will be $29 and for dinner, $42.  Program sponsor is OpenTable.

Getting Outdoors in Midtown

Summer is upon us and Manhattan is a great place to do something fun.  In this article we look at some of the fun things happening in the area and suggest places to cool down as well.

First, there is MoMa in New York which is spending $450 million on an expansion project.  The first phase has already been completed and the public is invited to check out the 15,000 square feet of “reconfigured galleries, a new, second gift shop, a redesigned cafe and espresso bar and, facing the sculpture garden, two lounges graced with black marble quarried in France.” Ultimately the expansion will provide more room for the 200,000 pieces to be displayed as well as 25 percent additional space for visitors to relax.

Then there is BevNET Live Summer 2017 – the “leading conference for the beverage industry,” with its networking opportunities, discussions on moving the industry forward and bringing your products to the limelight.

And while you’re out strolling the neighborhood in the evenings, don’t forget to enjoy one of the many fabulous rooftop bars in the area.  Check out: the PHD Terrace at Dream Midtown, Empire Rooftop, Roof at Park South and St. Cloud Social atop The Knickerbocker if you want to fully appreciate some of the great summer happenings in the area this year.