%cgNew York For Free and other New York City, NY Off The Beaten Path Tips

Christmas tree in Plaza

Hotel lobby

by Ciambella

NYC is an expensive city, but also one of the best cities in the US that offers a great majority of the attractions activities for free. The list of free things to do in The City is long; here are only some of the highlights:

1- Free tour of the city conducted by Big Apple Greeter, a volunteer group of local people who know NYC inside out. (212) 669-8159.

2- Free tour of the historic Grand Central Terminal: There are two being offered, one on Wednesdays and the other on Fridays, both at 12:30.

The Municipal Arts Society sponsors the Wednesday tour. Meet the tour guide at the center information booth on the Main Concourse. (212) 935-3960.

The Altria Group sponsors the Friday tour, which also includes a tour of the neighbourhood. Meet the tour guide in the Sculpture Court of Whitney Museum at Altria (E. 42nd St and Park Ave) across from Grand Central. (212) 883-2420.

3- Many museums have free admission or only suggested admission (pay what you wish). Among the pay-what-you-wish are the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art), Whitney Museum of American Art, Jewish Museum, and Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum. Brooklyn Museum of Art is free the first Saturday of each month. National Museum of the American Indian and Hispanic Society of American are free all the time.

4- Staten Island Ferry, Queen Botanical Garden, Sony Wonder Technology Lab, Grant's Tomb, and New York Stock Exchange are all free.

5- Alliance for Downtown New York gives free tour of downtown on Thursdays and Saturdays at noon. Meet the tour guide at the steps of National Museum of the American Indian. (212) 606-4064.

6- Central Park offers free concerts and tours on regular basis. 888/NYPARKS.

7- Rockefeller Center offers free concerts in the summer.

8- United Nations HQ is free, you can even sit in at the meetings.

9- Tour of Riverside Church is free on Sundays. Meet the tour guide at 12:15 in First Balcony. Parking in the church's garage is also free.

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Off The Beaten Path: On The Streets Of Brooklyn

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Updated by Ciambella

on Dec 4, 2005

The streets

People who came from Brooklyn and now live somewhere else talked about the borough with emotion in their voice and sometimes, tear in their eyes. I wish I have known Brooklyn the way they do, but unfortunately, I don't. What I know about Brooklyn is now, not then.

Even with an insignificant knowledge of only a very small part of the borough, I liked what I had seen. Had we not have one or two free places to stay each time we visit NY, I would like to stay in Brooklyn. I loved walking through the multi-ethnic neighbourhoods that live side by side, well-matched but not thoroughly mixed, well-interacted but not fully-merged, harmoniously co-exist but still maintain own pride and heritage. I loved the brownstones in Prospect Heights and Bedford Stuyvesant, the artist colonies in Williamsburg and DUMBO, the historic Clinton Hill, and the brick row houses in Windsor Terrace.

I was in one neighbourhood on trash day and spotted an old suitcase among the refuse, one that looked like it was brought over from the old Europe on an old ship at the turn of the last century. A few steps away, I watched well-dressed people rummaging through boxes of discard books. A neighbourhood with book lovers is a good neighbourhood to live in, I thought.

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Off The Beaten Path: Hidden Treasure On The Upper West Side

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Updated by Ciambella

on Nov 13, 2005

by Ciambella , 2 more photos

Modelled after the High Gothic XIII century Cath�drale Notre-Dame de Chartre, Riverside Church has spectacular stained glass windows, the second largest in the world carillon (with 74 bells that strike on the hour daily) and an incredible view of the city from the tower.

A free tour of the church is held every Sunday at 12:15 approximately.

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Phone: (212) 870-6700
Website: http://www.theriversidechurchny.org/

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Off The Beaten Path: Morningside Heights

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Updated by Ciambella

on Jun 18, 2006

The building

by Ciambella , 1 more photos

The great majority of New Yorkers will have a blank look when asked whether they know where Morningside Heights is. Same with taxi drivers.

Morningside Heights is located on the Upper West Side, specifically the area between 106th to 125th Sts and between Riverside Drive and Morningside Park.

Dead center of the area is the fortress of Columbia University; surrounded by the colleges of its affiliations or possession, and the off-campus housing (Columbia owns all but three buildings on Amsterdam Ave between 116th and 122nd Sts).

This is where you can find an array of restaurants and cafes that serve decent food for much less money than everywhere else. There are also very expensive restaurants-with-a-view where gentlemen are required to wear coats and ties and the food is certainly much better than what served at Tom�s Restaurant.

The Riverside Church and the largest Gothic cathedral in the U.S, St John the Divine, are here. The Japanese Buddhist Temple of Jodo Shinshu sect and Grant's Tomb are here. Sakura Park, Riverside Park, Morningside Park are here.

There were enough celebrities of all genres who lived here at one time or another, from Eisenhower to Thurgood Marshall, from Alan Greenspan to Warren Buffet, from F. Scott Fitzgerald to Frederico Garcia Lorca, Jack Kerouac and Issaac Asimov, from Simon and Garfunkel (both) to Dustin Hoffman, from Cecile B. Demille to Dustin Hoffman, from I.M.Pei to Georgia O' Keefe, and there are many, many in between. Spend a day and map out the site of their old homes if it interests you.

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Website: http://www.morningside-heights.net/

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Off The Beaten Path: The Plazas

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Updated by Ciambella

on Dec 8, 2006

People with AIDS Plaza

It must be hard to be the officials of NYC. With over eight millions in population, there are hundreds of different ethnicities and thousands of different special interests, and every group wants to be represented. Thus, the officials created new names for streets and plazas just to honour the groups.

Liberty Plaza and Vietnam Veterans Plaza are easy to understand -- although I do not think it is fair to honour only Vietnam Veterans. What about the WWI, WWII and Gulf War Veterans? What about the present-time Iraq War soldiers?

Canyon of Heroes was created to honour the men and women who gave their lives to save others in Sept 11. That's a needed memorial.

People with AIDS Plaza is just pure PC, there is no other reason behind it. Did the City think only people who live with AIDS suffer and people with other diseases don't?

Edgar Allen Poe is a bit strange to be honoured in a city where he only lived for a mere four years of his life during which he did not create any important work.

Then there is a corner in the Village called Sylvia Rivera, an obscure name to most people but not to the GLBT community: she was the transgender and often-homeless person who participated in the Stonewall incident. Because she joined others in throwing bottles at the police, Ms. Rivera was touted as the modern Rosa Park in the fight for equal rights.

And those examples are only from the top of my head�

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Off The Beaten Path: Behind The Ivy Wall

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Updated by Ciambella

on Nov 11, 2005

Subway station

Founded in 1754 as King's College, Columbia is an Ivy League university, the fifth-oldest institution of higher education in the U.S., and one of the world's most prestigious institutions of higher learning. Although the main campus is in Morningside Heights, other campuses and facilities are located all over NYC and the state of NY.

There are quite a few things to see on Columbia's campus, my favorites are:

-Low Library and the Alma Mater

-The four statues in the rotunda (Euripides, Demosthenes, Sophocles, and Augustus Caesar)

-Auguste Rodin's The Thinker

-College Walk

-St. Paul's Chapel

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Website: http://www.columbia.edu/

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Off The Beaten Path: St. Paul's Chapel In Morningside Heights

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Updated by Ciambella

on Nov 29, 2005

St. Paul's Chapel

St. Paul's Chapel in Columbia University's campus was dedicated in 1907. In 1966, it became one of the first official landmarks in NYC.

The entrance to the chapel is a columned portico adorned with cherubs heads carved by Gutzon Borglum, the sculptor who later carved Mount Rushmore. Above the doorway is Columbia's motto "In Lumine Tuo Videbimus Lumen" (In Thy Light Shall We See Light).

The stained glass windows depict the scene of St. Paul preaching to the Athenians in front of the Parthenon. This detail purports that Morningside Heights is "The Acropolis of New York�.

St. Paul's Chapel also contains a 5348-pipe organ and a bronze bell donated by the Class of 1893 that bears the inscription "To Ring out through the Ages for Truth, Justice, and Liberty.�

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Off The Beaten Path: Harlem

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Updated by Ciambella

on Jan 6, 2007

National Black Theatre

by Ciambella , 2 more photos

Harlem�s old reputation has changed over the year the same way The City has shred its bad image. Nowadays, Harlem is a very diverse area consists of three sections: East, Central, and West Harlem. Each section in turn has subsections and identity that is so vastly different from the other two.

Strivers' Row is the aristocratic Harlem and the gem of NYC architecture where every house is a landmark. Hamilton Heights is the beautiful brownstones on tree-lined streets. Sugar Hill is the expensive medium-rise townhouses. Mount Morris Park is the city's historic district. El Barrio is the Spanish Harlem. The myths and typecast of Harlem are no longer valid.

Spend a day or two in Harlem and discover the great restaurants, the good hotels, the green parks, the beautiful homes, and the ethnic neighbourhoods. You will like what you see, I know you will.

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Off The Beaten Path: Cult Or Culture?

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Updated by Ciambella

on Dec 2, 2005

The shop

Original Products Corp is located in the heart of the Bronx. This is not a shop for the uninitiated.

The normal merchandises are there -- icon statues, candles, incenses, oils, perfumes, etc. The not so normal stuffs, as in charms and talismans, are also there -- Azabache's hand, Lazarus' crutch, St. Elena's nail, St. Lucy's eye, etc. Then there are the specially prepared items -- love potion, sex potion, money potion, good luck potion, bad luck potion, jinx potion, jinx remover potion, revenge potion, etc.

Everything a witch and voodoo practise need can be found here and some of them can be downright scary. There is no such thing is impossible to achieve, according to the merchandises. Want to bring back a lost love? Easy. Want to cause somebody harm or destroy his life? It's done. Want to extend that power even to targets beyond the personal level? Not difficult, just need patience.

As I said in the beginning, this is not a place for the uninitiated. The world outside, no matter what it looks like, seems much safer than what I see inside that shop.

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Phone: (718) 367-9589
Website: http://www.originalprodcorp.com/index.html
Other Contact: info@originalprodcorp.com

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Off The Beaten Path: Shine Your Shoes, Mister?

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Updated by Ciambella

on Nov 11, 2005

by Ciambella , 2 more photos