Help this New Yorker get reconnected with NYC

[Anonymous]

Born and raised in Bklyn, spent most of my time in Manhattan, moved away, and haven't been back since Covid. I'm coming solo for four days in the fall and would love tips on what to do. Nothing touristy unless there is some amazing that that I must do. I'm a theater kid and don't really need to shop, although I wouldn't mind checking out an up and coming art gallery. Would love to eat some amazing food, doesn't need to be fancy, just solid. Please, tell me your recs! I'm 45 and female if that matters. I miss NY and it's taken me too long to get back so hoping to make the most of it.

[Anonymous]

Go see a Broadway show such as Maybe Happy Ending

Eat at Urban Hawker for some Singaporean style street food

Take in an exhibit at Met, MOMA or Tenement Museum

I do love the views at the Edge at Hudson Yards

Take a boat ride around Manhattan

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Go see a Broadway show such as Maybe Happy Ending

Eat at Urban Hawker for some Singaporean style street food

Take in an exhibit at Met, MOMA or Tenement Museum

I do love the views at the Edge at Hudson Yards

Take a boat ride around Manhattan

+1

Eat a bage and pizza at either Joe's on Broadway or John's no slices.

[Anonymous]

Go to Essa Bagels and Tompkins Bagels. Go to museum gift shops. See four matinees in four days.

Avoid coffee shops and Central Park - that's where all the influencers are.

[Anonymous]

+1 for Urban Hawker, though they got rid of the Nasi Lemak place which is a bummer because there aren't a lot of other good sources for that (the best I've had other than theirs is probably at FishMarket II in the East Village).

[Anonymous]

The exhibit "Treasures of the New York Library" at the main building has lots of interesting art, books, manuscripts, and objects.

https://www.nypl.org/spotlight/treasures

There's also a 100 Years of New Yorker magazine exhibit.

And clean, free bathrooms.

I went to Fraunces Tavern in 2023 and enjoyed a casual lunch and the small museum (changing exhibits). We went on a Hamilton-themed walking tour on that trip.

There are many vendors, but I picked this one.

https://hamiltonthetour.com/

[Anonymous]

When I go back to places where I used to live, I usually go to places that I frequented when I was there. They might not be the best or the most well-known, but they are meaningful to me.

Did you have any spots like this in NYC? That is what I would do.

Sorry this isn't more specific but just telling you how I would handle it. What neighborhood(s) did you live in/work in/frequent?

I somehow keep getting in my Facebook feed this group for people visiting NYC and they all go to the exact same places. A lot of them are good but so many are cliché. The dumb place in Brooklyn where you can get the picture of the bridge kills me - why? Or the same 2-3 pizza spots, bagel spots, view spots.

Seems like you are smart enough to avoid those which is great.

[Anonymous]

Any other thoughts? I'm planning this weekend.

[Anonymous]

Fashion Institute of Technology museum

https://www.fitnyc.edu/museum/exhibitions/index.php?exhibitions=current

Dress, Dreams, and Desire: Fashion and Psychoanalysis is the first exhibition to explore the complex relationship between fashion and psychoanalysis. Curated by Dr. Valerie Steele, director of The Museum at FIT, the exhibition will feature approximately 100 looks by designers such as Alexander McQueen, Elsa Schiaparelli, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Gianni and Donatella Versace, John Galliano for Christian Dior Haute Couture, Rick Owens, Thierry Mugler, Vivienne Westwood, and many more. Described by Suzy Menkes as "the Freud of Fashion," Steele has spent more than five years working on this exhibition and the accompanying book, which draws on the evolution of psychoanalytic ideas about sexuality and the unconscious, with sections devoted to themes such as the mirror stage, the skin ego, desire, and sexual difference.

[Anonymous]

Chinatown is always really fun for me. It still feels gritty NY ish although there are parts that are super hip now around division and ‘dimes square’. It’s an interesting vintage mix and tons of good and inexpensive food options

[Anonymous]

^^ vintage = vibrant

[Anonymous]

^ oh and there are galleries around there. Nothing like the fancy ones in Chelsea but still interesting

[Anonymous]

Use a citibike to get around. Download the app.

[Anonymous]

OP, how was it?

[Anonymous]

If you’re going in October this great new exhibit is opening at the Museum of Art & Design
https://madmuseum.org/exhibition/designing-motherhood