New York
As many New Yorkers Don’t own a car, you are still able to buy an ez pass and set up an account for cashless tolling without the high rental car prices. You are supposed to call their customer service while setting up the account so they can tell you the workaround on setting up the carless account.
Brooklyn, Queens and Staten Island Click this Link!
The New York Ouside of NYC Can be found HERE!
The REST OF NEW YORK-Everywhere but the Capital region and the I-90 Corridor. The Bronx is on here.
The I-90 corridor, Rochester, Buffalo, Syracuse, Ithaca
The Capital Region-Albany, Troy, Schenectady
ESSENTIAL NYC LINKS
Oh My Rockness Show listings
The Kitchen Arts Organization
Stories about New York City.
DICE.FM
My New York Page usually sucks because NYC changes so fast.
NYC is not what it once was. There are dozens and dozens more bars and clubs then there ever were so now you have many empty bars on the weekdays and overcrowded ones on the Weekends. It’s hard to find a party Monday through Wednesday, though gigs still happen every night.
THE EAST VILLAGE AND THE LOWER EAST SIDE
Sober Bar-Hekate Café & Elixir Lounge-167 Avenue B, New York, NY 10009-The sister bar to Lucky Bar across the Street which does have alcohol and occasional poetry readings
Tiki Bar-
Ottos Shrunken Head-538 East 14th Street, at Avenue B with live music. Some very cool shows that seldom make the listings of Ohmyrockness.com. Monthly surf rock and psychobilly and garage events. Post covid they have been closing on the early side between 12 am and 2 am. Former home to Trashy/PunkRockTravel’s Copycat Cover Song Night. Closed Mondays usually.
Decent Music Venues:
Bowery Ballroom-Delancy and Bowery.
Mercury Lounge (217 Houston St.@ Essex, 212-260-4700)
The Delancey-Delancey and Clinton Streets. Former “scene” bar. Bands can still be decent but the crowd can be awful.
Mercury Lounge -217 Houston St.@ Essex, 212-260-4700)-BIg shows in a smallish room, now often 2 or 3 different gigs a night.
The Knitting Factory at Baker Falls-in the former legendary Pyramid club.
Pianos, 158 Ludlow Street at Stanton, One Block below Houston. Everyone complains about Pianos, but they have decent sound for their small show space. They often book conflicting parties so things get kind of crazy, but the drinks are reasonable. The crowds up front and upstairs can be dreadful.
Dinosaur Bar B Que–700 West 125th Street New York, NY 10027. Theres a Park Slope location but its not nearly as good as the Harlem one. (212) 694-1777-I’ve eaten and lots of bbq joints and this is my favorite, If you are two people get the sweetheart special, a full rack of ribs and 4 sides. Don’t miss dessert. Skip the brisket, but if you have pescatarian friends they can have bbq catfish or salmon here. I recommend the peel and eat shrimp too.
New York, NY 10026 (212) 280-8779 I have to admit, I have not been to this soul food joint yet, but I plan to go to try their Honey Dipped Fried Chicken which is studded with Chili Flakes and made with Honey from their rooftop hives
Biricchino -260 W 29th Street, between 7th and 8th Avenues – 212-695-6690, this italian restaurant has a retail outlet selling homemade sausage. You can get a sausage sampler at the restaurant.
Woorijip-12 W 32nd St, New York 10001 Between 5th Ave & Broadway -24/7- This place is confusing, but there is a noodle bar and a hot food bar where you can get yummy korean food for cheap.
and other locations. Good reasonable bbq. Splurge on a giant brontosaurus rib which feeds two.
7th Street Burger-91 E 7th St, New York, NY 10009-tiny smash burger place. (Has been more miss than hit lately.
Two Boots Pizza.. Its my favorite pizza, and an empire of video stores, theaters and both fast food and sit down restauants. 37 AVE A at 2nd Street and many others. Its cajun style, with normal toppings as well as odd things like crawfish and andouille sausage.
Zaragoza mexican grocery-This place is scary and intimidating, but worth it. On Avenue A between 13 and 14 street, you step into this hole in the wall, right to the counter. Ask the counterperson what they have today and they will open up this mini steamtable and say “today we have lamb, goat, pork, chicken, etc” Pick your meat, get two dollar tacos or a five dollar burrito, a mexican soda and eat there or walk down to Thompkins Square park. You can also find many varieties of peppers for your own homemade fiesta.
Minamota Kitchoan-509 Madison-sells Wagashi, japanese cakes that have bean paste, rice or potato flower. Very amazing wrapping.
Myer’s of Keswick 634 Hudson Street (between Horatio and Jane St.’s) New York NY . 212 691 4194-Here is where you take your friend to make fun of products like spotted dick.
Schaller & Weber -1654 Second Avenue @ 86th Street, New York, (212) 879-3047-amazing chocolate and smoked meat
Visiting NYC in the future? Well, here are some tips for you trip:
A small tour of Nicola Tesla Sights.
One of the best things you can do for sightseeing is taking the Staten Island Ferry that leaves from Battery Park. It gives you a great view of the harbor, Statue of Liberty and much of lower Manhattan. And best of all, ITS FREE!!!! Even if you live here, its a great place to take a date, and you get to set foot in a borough that many Manhattanites have never ever been to!
Better than museums because they are free! Galleries abound in NYC. All are free and most are open Tuesday to Saturday, 11 am to 6 pm. Artsy has a great list of current shows, and you can map your own tour. Or look for my free guided tours on the NYC events page. Many times during a month there are opening parties for shows at these galleries. The Douglas Kelly list and art cards have many of these openings. Most are 6 pm to 8 pm and are free and open to the public and have free beer or wine. Gallery guide lists openings too, but you have to look up the addresses of the galleries yourself, and they sometimes have inaccurate information.
Live Music: My favorite thing about NYC is the live music. We have tons of it and much of it is free.
During summer months The Central Park Summerstage, Prospect Park Bandshell and Battery Park all host concerts that are fantastic and feature some very amazing acts. Also during the summer, don’t miss the MERMAID PARADE in Coney Island. It is a must see experience. They also have lots of fun summer events on that page.
Performance-
The Kitchen and PS 122 Have unique performance events.
The Slipper room has lots of inexpensive Burlesque and Beauty Bar has free comedy and burlesque shows
Art Stuff-
The only possible Michelangelo statue outside of Europe lies in a building lobby at 972 Fifth Avenue at 79th Street. 212-439-1400. If you cant find it, ask where the cupid is.
Also on Bleeker in front of the NYU Dorms is a Picasso Sculpture in front of Silver Towers, 110 Bleecker St. Between La Guardia and Mercer.
Art-
(both closed for the summer)
The New York Earth Room by Walter De Maria is located at 141 Wooster Street between Houston and Prince Streets.
Dream House by Lamont Young-Sound and Light Environment-Extended Exhibition at MELA Foundation, 275 Church Street, 3rd Floor between Franklin & White Streets in Tribeca
Eats-
You can eat cheaply on your trip. Its pretty easy.
Falafel-Mamouns Falafel has $2.50 falafel and $4.50 delicious lamb schwarma sandwiches. Two locations. 22 St. Marks Place, New York, NY 10003 and in the West Village, 119 Macdougal St.
Greys Papaya has really cheap and tasty hot dogs. $1.25 each. 72nd Street, Upper West Side and other locations
Sea and Spice Thai restaurants. Both the Sea and Spice brand restaurants have great cheap thai food. You can’t beat their lunch deal, where til 4 pm you can get an appetizer AND entree for around $7.
Shake Shack-Legendary burger joint also selling chicago style hot dogs in madison square park. Lines can be outrageous, but worth the wait. Go when its raining for faster service. In the park at 23 Street and Broadway but go to one of the other locations for much shorter waits.
The Brooklyn Scene
Williamsburg gets lots of props for having a great scene and lots of great stuff, but I still prefer Manhattan. Theres lots of art galleries scattered about which you can see listed at the Williamsburg Gallery association site. They have monthly events where all the galleries stay open late on Fridays on the second Friday of the month.
NYC Bars
A ton has changed in the last few years in NYC. It used to be that with few exceptions, most of the really cool activities in NYC took place in the East Village and Lower East Side. This is the area east of Broadway and below 14th Street.
Now a lot of that has changed with things moving over to Bushwick, Williamsburg, Park Slope and more. The East Village has a few joints still worth your trouble. Crowds sometimes get out of control with fair weather folks overcrowding things on Friday and Saturday.The only Trashy Travel approved Bars in the East Village/LES are:
Beauty Bar-231 East 14th Street, between 2nd and 3rd Avenue
Niagara-12 Avenue A, New York, NY 10009, who recently started having some live bands again.
Clockwork Bar-21 Essex Street at Hester
Manitoba’s-99 Avenue B at 7th Street
Other bars that some folks enjoy for a relaxing evening of getting wasted are East Village Social (good food too), Monas, Parkside Lounge, Hi Fi, 169 Bar, Crocodile Lounge(music is hit or miss but they give free pizza with every drink), and Pinks
Some exceptions to this rule:
Art Bar-52 8th Ave , New York, (212) 727-0244-If you can actually secure a spot in the back, this is one of the best makeout places in the city. Plush chairs, fireplace, dark. They even have a menu with great hamburgers and the like.
One of the best venues in the city is Ottos Shrunken Head, 538 East 14th Street, NYC at Avenue B. The reason is it is the only venue left with good bands and no cover charge ever. Parties range from the Trashy Travel sponsored all cover song Copycat night to hardcore psychobilly parties and more. Lots of famous old time punk rockers show up and perform too.
Ethyl’s Alcohol & Food – 1629 2nd Ave, New York, NY 10028 upper east side, lots of DJs and go go dancers.
Other Music Venues-
Bigger bands play at Irving Plaza, Bowery Ballroom, Terminal 5, The Highline Ballroom and Webster Hall.
Gee, Mr. Trashy Travel guy, now we have all the venues, but who should we SEE since we don’t know anything about these local acts.
Well, since you asked, consider yourself in good hands when you see any of the following top New York Bands from Hipster/Trashy Travel:
The Mystery Lights
Gustaf
Bipolar
Yaasss
Sharkmuffin
The Memphis Morticians (Psychobilly)
Love Pirates (Rock a la Stones)
Les Sans Culottes (fake french)
I recommend you check out Brooklynvegan.com and Ohmyrockness.com.
NYC Tips
New York City has an amazing range of food. From Albanian to Ukrainian, we have it all. We have cuisines you may have never even heard of. Here are some of our favorite restaurants and food purveyors:
Uptown-
MAX-134 W Broadway, New York, NY 10013, with a very homey taste. Their Lasagna is like no other I have tasted. ed-moved to Tribeca.
7th Street Burger-91 E 7th St, New York, NY 10009-tiny smash burger place
Two Boots Pizza.. Its my favorite pizza, and an empire of video stores, theaters and both fast food and sit down restauants. 37 AVE A at 2nd Street and many others. Its cajun style, with normal toppings as well as odd things like crawfish and andouille sausage.
The Mermaid Inn-96 2nd Avenue-Theres not too many seafood places in NYC and most of them aren’t cheap. This one tops out at $25 dollars but most of the plates are cheaper than that.
West Village & Chelsea
Grand Sichuan-24th Street and 9th Avenue. If you come here after 6:30, it will take forever, but this is the best Chinese in NYC. Recommeded dishes, Wontons in Red Oil, Shrimp in Garlic Sauce, Dry Sauteed String Beans and Pork, Orange Beef, Soup Dumplings. Caution, can be too spicy!
Soho-
Mariebelle-Pricey Chocolate Shop with sexy cafe with regular and mexican hot chocolate. Taking a date here will guarantee second base-484 Broome St
NYC Visitors Guide
Visiting NYC in the future? Well, here are some tips for you trip:
A small tour of Nicola Tesla Sights.
During summer months The Central Park Summerstage, Prospect Park Bandshell and Battery Park all host concerts that are fantastic and feature some very amazing acts. Also during the summer, don’t miss the MERMAID PARADE in Coney Island. It is a must see experience. They also have lots of fun summer events on that page.
Other great FREE and cheap music venues are Ottos Shrunken Head and Pianos. Also check with Ticketweb for listings to Mercury Lounge and Bowery Ballroom listings for some great and resonable shows in amazing venues and Oh My Rockness.
For a very good night of Barhopping, check out Beauty Bar (231 E. 14 St. between 2nd and 3rd avenues) is a bar in a former beauty salon.
In another direction not far from Beauty Bar is Ottos Shrunken Head, former home to Punk Rock/TrashyTravels own Copycat night, a night of cover songs. Lots of different events here like legendary monthly die hard rockabilly parties, plus some indie rock too. Best of all, virtually every event is free, with the bucket passed for tips for the bands. Vintage Photo booth too.
Or for more casual scenester and rock and roll hangouts head to Niagara- 112 Avenue A at 7th Street and on occasion, Sway, all the way across town at 305 Spring St, especially for their Sunday night Morrisey night.
Decent Music Venues:
Bowery Ballroom-Delancy and Bowery.
Mercury Lounge (217 Houston St.@ Essex, 212-260-4700)
Eats-
You can eat cheaply on your trip. Its pretty easy.
Greys Papaya has really cheap and tasty hot dogs. $1.25 each. 72nd Street, Upper West Side and other locations