Stuff to do in New York City

[jonny5]

I'm going to be in NYC in August and I was wondering if any locals could recommend some cool spots to check out and any decent arcades. Our hotel is in Manhattan by ground zero.

Any tips or suggestions are welcome.

[cyprien]

Unfortunately, the closest thing to an arcade here since Chinatown Fair closed is a Dave & Busters. =\ They only Had Raiden Fighters and Gigawing, anyhow.

[BulletMagnet]

Not sure whether you're the museum-going type, but I always try to get to either the American Museum of Natural History or the Metropolitan Art Museum (or both) when I'm in town: I'm not as big on modern art, but the Guggenheim or Museum of Modern Art would be good for those who are. I haven't been to the Bronx Zoo or Central Park Zoo in ages, so I'm not sure how they're both doing, especially amidst the budget cuts and such.

[Domino]

Raid the Delis, Bagel and Pizza joints.

[jonny5]

Raid the Delis, Bagel and Pizza joints.

Pizza is a definite!! I looooove pizza!

Not sure whether you're the museum-going type, but I always try to get to either the American Museum of Natural History or the Metropolitan Art Museum (or both) when I'm in town: I'm not as big on modern art, but the Guggenheim or Museum of Modern Art would be good for those who are. I haven't been to the Bronx Zoo or Central Park Zoo in ages, so I'm not sure how they're both doing, especially amidst the budget cuts and such.

The g/f has all that stuff covered.

Unfortunately, the closest thing to an arcade here since Chinatown Fair closed is a Dave & Busters. =\ They only Had Raiden Fighters and Gigawing, anyhow.

I'm shocked that such a huge city doesn't have any real arcades left. Mind you we don't really have any here either.


Dave and Busters can still be ok for lightgun games and driving sims.

Oh well. Here's a dumb question.... what are the drinking in public laws like there? I'm big into park drinking and drunken wandering It's obviously illegal, but if I am subtle will it be an issue?

Greenery is a whole other issue!

My g/f is going to be in meetings during the day for a few of the days so I was just going to wander around and explore.

[sven666]

bring a pair of comfortable walking shoes, its a great city for just wandering around checking out the architecture and parks, personally i was pretty underwhelmed by the obvious attractions and the gouging that goes on around them. (what was it, $140 to go to the top floor of empire state?, ridiculous!)

theres about a million fantastic restaurants aswell, and equally many pubs/bars..

..and thats about it if you dont like to dress like the queer eye guys then theres tons of shopping for you to do aswell.

[xris]

Going to Times Square is pretty cool, just because it is such a visually iconic place. Going to the Met is a must. A quick web search say that the Karova Milk Bar is CLOSED.. So, no drinking at a replica of the milk bar from Clockwork Orange for you (that was very cool). Seeing the worlds dirtiest subway. Central Park is a weird place to see. NYC is pretty cool in general. I like Toronto better..

[jonny5]

Going to Times Square is pretty cool, just because it is such a visually iconic place. Going to the Met is a must. A quick web search say that the Karova Milk Bar is CLOSED.. So, no drinking at a replica of the milk bar from Clockwork Orange for you (that was very cool). Seeing the worlds dirtiest subway. Central Park is a weird place to see. NYC is pretty cool in general. I like Toronto better..

Toronto is an awesome city for sure! I love living here!

It might sound silly but the things I am most excited about are the NYC pizza and cheap American booze. Hopefully I can find some greenery there too, but American weed is shit comparatively and silly expensive, and I really don't like grabbing off strangers on the street, especially in a foreign country.

I'm not much of a site seeing kind of guy, and I know my g/f will drag me around to all the must see places. I will probably just wander around in various states of advanced inebriation checking stuff out while she is in meetings.

It will be interesting to see if I get called out on my 'accent'. I'm sure I will get some 'eh's' and 'aboots'; nobody talks like that here though, except maybe newfies and older fisherman east coast types. Kind of like your southern accent I guess.

I'm excited though, I haven't been to the states since I was a kid.

[xris]

Finding smoke can be kind of iffy, it'll be a matter of luck. Central Park is a good place for that kind of stuff, but still slightly risky.
I had such a good experience in Toronto when an ex-girl friend living as an illegal in the Kensington neighborhood told us to go to Roach-O-Ramma.
* for the record, I live directly across Lake Ontario in Rochester NY.

[jonny5]

Finding smoke can be kind of iffy, it'll be a matter of luck. Central Park is a good place for that kind of stuff, but still slightly risky.
I had such a good experience in Toronto when an ex-girl friend living as an illegal in the Kensington neighborhood told us to go to Roach-O-Ramma.
* for the record, I live directly across Lake Ontario in Rochester NY.

Funny that you mention that.

I lived in Kensington Market for like 6-7 years. I actually helped build Roach-o-Rama when they moved to the current location. It started off as a bong shop around the corner for a number of years, then they moved to the current spot, and the next year opened the cafe.

I haven't been in a number of years as its now a trendy spot full of hipsters and the cafe prices are too high now. In the beginning it was just all the Kensington locals and the cafe only had pop and water and stuff. Now its like a Starbucks you can smoke weed in.

Out of curiosity, how long ago was it your friend was in Kensington? If it was when I still lived there, I probably knew them.

Small world!

[trunk]

I liked going to the Nintendo World Store when I visited(This being a gaming site and all)

[evil_ash_xero]

Smoking hot escorts.

[jonny5]

Smoking hot escorts.

Right I'm sure the g/f will be down for that.

'I went to NYC and all I got was this oozing sore on my junk'

Put that on a tshirt!

[evil_ash_xero]

Yeah, might not be the best idea!

[charlie chong]

I WOULD GO TO THE CARTER BUILDING FROM NEW JACK CITY AND PRETEND TO BE NINO BROWN.
THEN I WOULD GO TO CONEY ISLAND SO I CAN REANACT THE FINAL SCENE FROM THE WARRIORS
THEN I WOULD PROBBLY GO RECORD SHOPPING.GOOD RECORDS IS MEANT TO BE ONE OF THE BEST.

[jonny5]

I WOULD GO TO THE CARTER BUILDING FROM NEW JACK CITY AND PRETEND TO BE NINO BROWN.
THEN I WOULD GO TO CONEY ISLAND SO I CAN REANACT THE FINAL SCENE FROM THE WARRIORS
THEN I WOULD PROBBLY GO RECORD SHOPPING.GOOD RECORDS IS MEANT TO BE ONE OF THE BEST.

I am probably going to be avoiding shopping, as I won't have too much cash, and I loath shopping anyway. This was a short notice work trip for my g/f, so I don't have very long to save.

Kinda pissed there are no arcades. Oh well, guess I can go play 'Superbikes' or 'Nascar' at Dave and Buster's.

[xris]

It was several years ago that I was in the Kensington area. Her name is Hadassah, and worked right around the corner from there in a MASSIVE thrift store. We dated a long time ago in highchool for a couple years.
If you are willing to make a slight detour to Rochester on the way home, there is the largest video game exhibit in the world at Strong Museum of Play, http://www.museumofplay.org/see-do/exhi ... revolution It does look like they have thinned out a couple of the cabinets, I haven't been there since they remodeled the exhibit. Hopefully they still have the very first two-player Space War (yup, played this with a friend!!) and, this cool hologram time travel game that plays like Dragon's Lair. All the cabs are a quarter, and the exhibits are cool.
I keep meaning to donate something to it, I just need to go and see what I have that isn't there.

[jonny5]

It was several years ago that I was in the Kensington area. Her name is Hadassah, and worked right around the corner from there in a MASSIVE thrift store. We dated a long time ago in highchool for a couple years.
If you are willing to make a slight detour to Rochester on the way home, there is the largest video game exhibit in the world at Strong Museum of Play, http://www.museumofplay.org/see-do/exhi ... revolution It does look like they have thinned out a couple of the cabinets, I haven't been there since they remodeled the exhibit. Hopefully they still have the very first two-player Space War (yup, played this with a friend!!) and, this cool hologram time travel game that plays like Dragon's Lair. All the cabs are a quarter, and the exhibits are cool.
I keep meaning to donate something to it, I just need to go and see what I have that isn't there.

Names not ringing a bell.

As for Rochester, I am taking the bus, so detours are kinda tricky, short of a hi-jacking.

My g/f is flying as her work picks up the tab, but if I flew I would be pretty broke while I was there. I can take the bus for like $200cad return, and flying was like double that. Sucks I didn't have more notice for this trip so I could save some more money.

On the plus side, it made me get off my ass and finally get my passport.

[Shocky]

NYC is not just Manhattan...

http://barcadebrooklyn.com/

[jonny5]

NYC is not just Manhattan...

http://barcadebrooklyn.com/

I might check that out, but it seems more classic 80's arcade stuff, which pre-dates my interest if I'm honest. I'm not much into anything pre-90's really.