by BCB Property Management | Dec 1, 2018 | Neighborhoods, New York City
Amazon’s upcoming move to the waterfront neighborhood of Long Island City (LIC) has Queens residents abuzz with anticipation, and they’re not the only ones. Local businesses are prepared to welcome the new arrivals with a growing slate of housing, eating, and retail options.
There’s no doubt that we’ll see plenty of ambitious new projects shaping up alongside HQ2, but LIC already has plenty to offer. Long Island City is an artistic community teeming with countless cultural gems, impressive green spaces, and a solid portfolio of quirky bars, specialty restaurants, and down-to-business coffee shops. It’s currently home to over 150 restaurants, bars, and cafes; more than 39 arts and cultural institutions; five waterfront parks; and 32 hotels, with 43 others in the works. From its spectacular views of Manhattan to its lovely parks, trendy restaurants, and easy access to public transportation, LIC will prove an exceptional home for Amazon’s planned new hires.
Cultural Visits:
MoMA PS1: A satellite location of Manhattan’s Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the lesser-known MoMA PS1 is located within a weathered school building, boasting an impressive array of contemporary art within a laid back atmosphere. During warmer months, the museum runs its popular Warm Up series, outdoor events presenting the best in live and electronic music. Last year Warm Up hosted more than 75 artists across 10 energy-packed sessions.
Museum of the Moving Image: This museum explores the history of film with interactive exhibitions, and also doubles as a cinema. Events include everything from screenings of contemporary films (including Q&As with special guests) to showings of cult classics.
The Noguchi Museum: This museum specializes in works by artist Isamu Noguchi, an artist and landscape architect who is especially well-known for his sculpture and public works. The museum houses the world’s largest collection of his art, consisting of two floors, as well as an outdoor sculpture garden.
Other Must-Sees:
Dutch Kills Green: This 1.5 acre oasis in Queens Plaza, formerly a parking lot, was transformed in 2012 into a green space that houses a native-plant wetlands, a collection of artist-created benches, an amphitheatre, and a bike trail that starts at Pulaski Bridge and takes adventurous riders all the way to Manhattan’s Lower East Side
Gantry Plaza State Park: A 12-acre riverfront park, Gantry Plaza features gardens, fishing piers, sports fields, a playground, a mist fountain, and frequent live music. Most notably, though, the park is known for its incredible views of the midtown Manhattan skyline, the 59th Street Bridge, and the Williamsburg Bridge. Visitors are sure to enjoy strolling around its four piers and manicured gardens.
The Cliffs at LIC: This indoor rock gym is a paragon of flexibility, and not just in the athletes scaling its walls. Climbers can purchase day passes or memberships, and solo climbers can take advantage of auto belays. The gym also offers a number of classes, from rock climbing classes to yoga, pilates, and even AcroYoga. Any level of skill is welcome to take on these “cliffs” near the Queens waterfront.
Places to Eat & Drink:
Court Square Diner: Don’t just visit Court Square Diner because it’s one of the city’s last remaining true diners, go there because it serves up a great meal, too. This diner has everything we’ve come to love and expect from such beloved eateries. A sprawling menu, affordable prices, retro decor, and a kitchen that never closes. Absolute perfection.
Dutch Kills: This craft cocktail bar shakes up a huge menu of specialty drinks, and each one is a work of art. It’s big on house-made ingredients (they even make their own grenadine), fresh squeezed juices, and a variety of bitters. While the main attraction is cocktails, the bar also serves a modest selection of wine and beer, as well as a few comfort snacks to soak it all up. Kentucky beer cheese, anyone?
Queens Comfort: Widely considered to be one of New York City’s best brunch spots, Queens Comfort in nearby Astoria is not to be missed. Specializing in comfort food, this place has it all: a menu chock-full of atypical Benedicts, karaoke, live DJs, freestyling MCs, retro movies, and vintage decor. Oh, and it’s BYOB.
The best part is….this is just the tiniest of samples. LIC had already been deemed one of the hottest spots for young people pre-Amazon, and while it’s hard to imagine the neighborhood getting any hotter, Amazon’s announcement is sure to add more exciting destinations to the list.
by BCB Property Management | Nov 26, 2018 | New York City
Why take the time to volunteer? It’s good for the world, yes, but it’s also good for you. Volunteers reap many health benefits from their work such as improved mood and decreased stress. Volunteering can also help your professional path: the Bureau of Labor Statistics says that people who volunteer are 27% more likely to be hired by employers. 92% of HR executives agree that helping nonprofits can improve leadership skills.
If you’re inspired to give back, there are many worthy causes here in NYC. These are just a few examples:
Homelessness
The New York Rescue Mission helps to feed and give hope to the hungry, homeless, and hurting men and women in the city. Volunteers help with preparing and serving meals, distributing donated goods, and more. Many hands make light work.
This is just one of many organizations in New York who help the less fortunate.
Animals
The ASPCA of New York dedicates itself to the ethical treatment of animals. Aside from rescuing them and placing them into good homes, the ASPCA also provides animals under their care with medical treatment and ensures they stay well taken care of. Since the ASPCA national headquarters is right here in New York City, volunteering at this location connects you directly with the heart of its mission.
Volunteers can help with clerical tasks to support full-time staffers, or helping directly with ensuring the animals on site are healthy and comfortable.
Children
While there are numerous organizations that help children, 826NYC focuses specifically on helping kids with their written communication skills. Their mission is focused on giving kids the ability to “write their own path forward, undefined by circumstance.” Volunteers help create spaces for students to express themselves. Encouraging kids on their literary journeys allow you to act as a role model, making a difference in their lives for years to come.
Refugees
The International Rescue Committee addresses humanitarian crises across the world, helping people who’ve been uprooted and need assistance with everything from health care, employment, food, shelter, education, and more. In 2017 alone, more than 5,200 volunteers from across the country helped to further the organization’s mission. Providing a safe haven for those who need it is a vital area that is always in need of motivated volunteers.
Environment
Want to help the planet? Organizations like Big Reuse help to encourage recycling, prevent unnecessary use of landfills, improve the city’s soil, and more. Volunteers help sort through donations, care for trees, and keep the city clean.
No matter which cause speaks to your heart the most, volunteering is a gift that keeps on giving. Don’t have the time to be there in person? Monetary donations are also a great way to contribute to the causes and help those in need.
Find more organizations that speak to your passions at https://www.volunteermatch.org/.
by BCB Property Management | Oct 22, 2018 | Neighborhoods
Museums are known to house sacred pieces that shape history and society as we know it. Silently walking the halls while using your eyes alone to take in the exhibit is becoming a routine of the past. New types of exhibitions are springing to life in cities all over the world. Enter the pop-up museum, created specifically for hands-on interaction and the boosting of everyone’s social media presence. Here are the top pop-up museums in New York City right now.
The Color Factory
A bright take on art makes this museum one unlike any other. It is centered around – you guessed it – colors. It features prestigious artists, illustrators, makers and designers, non-profits, and local food vendors. Located in a 20,000-square-foot Hudson Square space in Soho, this pop-up highlights all the happiness and fun that come from vibrant colors. No outfit is too flashy here.
The Museum of Pizza
The website describes this pop-up as “A space to bask in multi-sensory, psychedelic pizza joy.“ The $35 ticket will buy you a tour of pizza-themed rooms such as the “cheese cave,” a “pizza beach,” and others. Otherwise, they’re a little cheeky as to what it all actually means. Whether you’re intrigued or creeped out, this experience is guaranteed to be “marvelously-’grammable.” Bring your cameras and all cheesy pizza hashtags. It will likely make you hungry.
Candytopia
Here, everything is made of candy thanks to the talents of Hollywood “candy queen” Jackie Sorkin and fabricator Zac Hartog. The website sums up the museum as “where colossal candyfloss constructions meld with a tantalizing taffy twistedness!” If that doesn’t sum it up, you’ll have to see it for yourself. A tour through Charlie’s Chocolate Factory may not live up to this modern-day pop-up. Bring a sweet tooth and your Instagram game.
The Velvet Underground Experience
If you think you should’ve lived your best years in the 1960s, this museum may be your cup of tea. Connect with Lou Reed in his prime and go into a technicolor world befitting Andy Warhol’s iconic banana album cover. This pop-up features six films, 350+ photos, 1,000+ objects, and special events such as concerts, lectures, installations, exhibitions, screenings, and masterclasses.
Museum of Illusions
Want to see your head on a platter without actually losing it? This is the place to do so. When you’re in this museum, everything is an optical illusion. It will make you question your senses and learn about them at the same time. Nothing is what it seems until you leave the building. Great for kids and adults alike. Perfect for selfies.
The weather is getting chilly, so go inside to warm up and check out these delightful budding forms of pop culture in the greatest city in the world. The caveat to these Millennial-centric pop-up museums is that they are only around temporarily. Get your selfies in before they close!
by BCB Property Management | Oct 9, 2018 | New York City
The summer may be over, but that doesn’t mean New Yorkers will be saying goodbye to fun festivities that celebrate the spirit of the city. As temperatures drop and we pull our autumnal fashions out of the closet, a certain chill falls over the city as Halloween gives the seasonal air a certain sense of fun and fright in equal measure. Here are four activities that can color your Halloween celebration this October.
Merchant’s House Museum
For those historically inclined thrillseekers, this preserved 19th century Greek Revival offers up some East Village history along with it’s spooky present. Built in 1832 by hardware impresario Seabury Tredwell, the house has long been home to some scary experiences and sights by visitors who swear they’ve seen the ghastly spirits of Tredwell and his family wandering its halls. A National Historic Landmark, the museum hosts year-round events and tours, but October brings attractions like a mock funeral of Tredwell where visitors can pose in his coffin!
Boo at the Zoo
The Bronx Zoo is the preeminent showcase of animals in the city, and that wild backdrop makes for an appropriately family-friendly Halloween celebration every October. A haunted hayride, candy trail, pumpkin carving and more seasonal attractions make the zoo a destination for more than just the creatures on display. They’ll still be there, along with an extinct animal graveyard and haunted forest. There’s also a “Bootoberfest” for older guests, with craft beer, food trucks, and live music.
Nightmare Machine
For the most hardened Halloween fanatics, some extra scares are in store at this Williamsburg, Brooklyn attraction. Creepy clowns, cockroaches, and even a haunted laundromat all feature in this modern, social media-friendly revamp of the traditional haunted house. Each room promises screams and frights more chilling than the last. While the Nightmare Machine proclaims somewhat teen-friendly PG-13 thrills, those who are easily scared–or with younger children in tow–ought to beware. Everyone else, prepare yourselves for a bloody good time!
Halloween Parade
No list of New York City Halloween activities would be complete without this historic Greenwich Village parade. Originally beginning with local artists pulling out all the stops to show off their incredible creativity, the parade has grown to attract artisans and celebrants from all across the city and even the country. With no signing up necessary, anyone in costume is invited to take part, with up to 60,000 entrants in recent years. Whether you’re an onlooker or a participant, this is an iconic NYC Halloween event not to be missed.
by BCB Property Management | Oct 4, 2018 | New York City
Outside of the expected pigeons, bodega cats, and sidewalk pooches, some truly colorful animal characters have captured the attention of New Yorkers over the years. From the city’s multiple zoos to high above Fifth Avenue, these are a few of the most famed feathered and furry residents of the city.
Pale Male
It’s only appropriate that “The World’s Most Famous Hawk” would be a New Yorker. This red-tailed hawk caught the nation’s attention in 2004 when his nest was moved by the building’s co-op board, and famous neighbors like Mary Tyler Moore called for the co-op board to reinstate Pale Male’s home, calling the nest removal “pointless and heartless.”
Returned to his perch, Pale Male’s newfound notoriety made him a national figure, appearing on television shows ranging from PBS’s Nature to Conan O’Brien’s late-night talk show. In a city that’s no stranger to pigeons, this wild creature captured imaginations as somewhat out of the ordinary, but not out of place in this unpredictable metropolis.
After his brush with fame, Pale Male continued to quietly watch over the Upper East Side for several years. When he went missing several years later, birdwatchers assumed the inevitable: his time had come and gone. His memory lives on, however, as his progeny survive to this day at his old nest at 927 Fifth Avenue.
Pattycake
The confines of the Bronx Zoo, the city’s biggest and most prominent animal sanctuary, have hosted many remarkable creatures throughout the years. One of its most famous residents, however, got her start in the Central Park Zoo, where she gained fame before moving on to the northern borough’s more spacious confines.
Born in 1972, Pattycake was the first gorilla born in New York and wasted no time grabbing headlines. A “domestic dispute” between her parents (in reality, just an accident) broke her arm when she was just a few months old and made the daily newspapers. Treated at the Bronx Zoo for her injuries, she relocated there permanently in 1982 during renovations to the Central Park Zoo.
Activists utilized her fame to establish the Pattycake Fund in 2002, raising money to stop illegal gorilla poaching in Africa. By that time, Pattycake was the matriarch of a thriving family in the Bronx ape exhibit, where she lived until the healthy age of 40.
Jim, Phil, and Harry: Prominent Peacocks
New York’s pet owners are probably aware of St. John the Divine’s annual Blessing of the Animals, but the uninitiated on their first visit may be surprised to meet the Episcopal cathedral’s three feathered full-time residents.
Jim, Phil and Harry have roamed the Morningside Heights grounds of St. John’s since 2002. They even occupy a mini-cathedral of their own, a specially designed hutch whose silhouette could easily be mistaken for one of the Romanesque Revival building’s stained glass windows.
They continue a legacy carried on since the 1980s when the Bronx Zoo first donated peacock chicks to the church as a gift. Subsequent generations of the majestic birds have given St. John the Divine an ornamentation like no other church, and a uniquely New York twist on a 230+-year-old institution.
