New York City Holiday Stroll

Need a little Christmas?

Kate Hooper takes a weekend stroll around a festive New York City and finds some magic along the way.

Location: New York City

Type: Quintessential Urban

Distance: Just a few miles

Duration: Two days, one night

Difficulty: Easy-peasy, slow and steady. Because you just can't window shop at warp speed.

Highlights: The delicate holiday windows at Tiffany's; the painterly winter sun bathing the skyline in a warm orange glow; watching a young man drop to one knee on the ice at Rockefeller Center to propose, and the joyous roar from thousands of passersby when she said "Yes!"

Granted, the holidays were busting out all over, and New York City had been tarted up with lights for weeks, but my holiday mojo, like Santa, hadn't yet come to town. The prescription? Get off the couch, connect with my inner Auntie Mame, belt out, "We need a little Christmas, right this very minute," and set off on some holiday spirit-inducing strolls. 

...we did the requisite, let’s-go-take-a-quick-look at the Rockefeller Center Tree, expecting the usual postcard view with flapping gold and silver flags, throngs of tourists and giant toy soldiers standing guard over the skating rink. The view was, as ever, lovely, but not all that special ‘til we spotted a young man on the skating rink drop down on one knee and propose to his skating partner. A slight hush came over thousands of passers-by as they realized what was happening, followed by a joyous roar when she nodded and said yes.

 {WISroGIS map_id='19' ~}

---

Granted the holidays were busting out all over and New York City had been tarted up with lights for weeks, but my holiday mojo, like Santa, hadn’t yet come to town. The prescription? Get off the couch, connect with my inner Auntie Mame, belt out “We need a little Christmas, right this very minute,” and set off on some holiday spirit-inducing strolls.

My search for holiday mojo would require the selection of pitch-perfect companions and routes. For the first stroll, the NYC holiday-department-store-windows-at-night-tour, husband Joe would be my escort. For Saturday’s ramble, my girlfriend Ro, a daily Central Park walker, agreed to veer off her usual course and hit the streets with me. Though we all live in New York and would rest our tired feet at our own apartments each night, out-of-towners, or locals looking for an easy getaway should head straight to the Ace Hotel at 29th and Broadway. The perfect New York weekend walk? Park yourself at the Ace on Friday, with cocktails in their lobby bar. Saturday night, retire to the Gem in SoHo (135 East Houston).

Compared to most treks, NYC walks aren’t so much a physical challenge but a mental one, requiring such survival skills as the reflexes of an Indy car driver (to avoid bike messengers and food delivery guys), a mental map of decent restrooms throughout the city, and the ability to find peace amidst the symphony of honking horns and jackhammers. Fortunately, that’s music to my ears, and the beat keeps me moving as I bushwhack my way through streets teeming with beautiful buildings, people, shops, lights, sounds, aromas, the works. Honk, if you love sensory overload.

We pushed off Friday at about 8:00 pm, after most of the locals and tourists had retired for the night. Our first stop was at Bloomingdale’s, (3rd Avenue and 60th) where all was calm, and the windows were bright, as in LCD bright. Seems the city’s most show-bizzy, razz-matazzy store had chosen to present the tamest windows ever: a gallery of hi-def TV screens glowing blue, with still photos of trees in the snow strung with lights. Hmmm. Tasteful, pleasant, but what would Auntie Mame say?

Undaunted, we walked east, peering into the windows of Park Avenue carriage-trade liquor store, Sherry-Lehmann. (Park and 60th)  Husband and wine aficionado Joe gazed longingly at the exotic vintages on display, marveling at their majestic price tags.

From there, we walked east to DKNY on Madison and 60th, which was done up in white lights and sparkly dresses. Across the street at Barney’s New York, holiday window madness was in full bloom. On view: a fruit and vegetable bedecked diaorama with papier-mâché replicas of chefs Anthony Bourdain, Daniel Boulud, Bobby Flay, Emeril Lagasse, some with knives out, surrounding Mario Batali’s head on a platter.  In another window, Martha, Paula, Rachel and Sandra caricatures lounged about in coordinating Snuggies. Mesmerized by Martha in her fetching pistachio Snuggie, Joe rated the windows “short on Christmas, long on loon.”

Next stop: FAO Schwartz, (5th and 58th) where I was catapulted back to my time spent there as a kid hugging stuffed animals, as mom and dad trailed behind, wondering how they were going to get me out of there without buying anything. Decades later, there I was, once again mauling the Gund polar and panda bears.  Not really a bear guy, Joe was more drawn to the plush sharks and whales, pantomiming a fight to the death that seemed to alarm a 3-year old passer-by (um, shouldn’t he be in bed at this hour?).

So as not to freak out any more members of the stroller set, we headed out and across the street to take in Bergdorf Goodman’s (58th St) spectacular windows, which were crammed with gorgeous clothes, props, optical illusions and baubles. The theme was travel by any means – boat, car, Pegasus, train and plane, all with a retro, roaring 20’s feel. Our review? Non-denominational, must-see works-of-art.

Crossing back to the west, Tiffany & Co. (57th St) was a wonderland of tiny, snowflake-etched windows, filled with delicate paper cutouts and sculptures depicting a fairy tale prince, princess and lots of sparkling jewels set on castle spires and hung on branches. Despite my general distaste for fairy tales, the whimsy of the displays captured my imagination, and damn if I didn’t start to feel my holiday mojo starting to rise. Be it the baubles or the bears, this walk was definitely starting to kick in.

We headed south to Henri Bendel, (56th St.) whose windows featured piles of pretty little gift items topped off with a peculiar array of mannequins dressed in jeweled ballerina drag, suspended from the ceiling, which we dubbed “Suicide at Swan Lake.”  A post-walk Google search informed me that the display was actuality inspired by The Nutcracker. Oops, call us culturally challenged.

As we continued south, the crowds began to thicken as we passed the glittering Fendi (54th) storefront and the Cartier building encased in a red neon bow. By 51st Street, traffic cops deployed police tape to manage the throngs en route to the Saks  Fifth Avenue windows. Falling in line, gawking like tourists, we once again found ourselves playing name-that-narrative. We labeled these displays “Bored Socialites Under The Sea.” Our favorites included one leggy mannequin accessorized with a giant squid and another languid lady lounging in a bathysphere. The real show however, was best viewed from across the street, where every 15 minutes, a 3D projection video dance-off between The Snowflakes and The Bubbles was beamed onto SFA’s facade. Kudos to Saks for marrying holiday motifs with a loopy, creative concept to arrive at a madcap laser light show – one that topped off our holiday spirit tank.

 

From there we did the requisite, let’s-go-take-a-quick-look at the Rockefeller Center Tree, expecting the usual postcard view with flapping gold and silver flags, throngs of tourists and giant toy soldiers standing guard over the skating rink. The view was, as ever, lovely, but not all that special ‘til we spotted a young man on the skating rink drop down on one knee and propose to his skating partner. A slight hush came over thousands of passers-by as they realized what was happening, followed by a joyous roar when she nodded and said yes.

Buoyed by the sight of young love and rapidly descending temperatures, we picked up the pace a bit, speed-walking down to the southern end of the route.  At 37th street we came to Lord & Taylor’s motorized windows depicting a yesterday-and-today, peeping-Tom’s eye-view of New Yorkers in their living rooms, decorating trees and exchanging gifts. Two thumbs up for not confounding us with nutty narratives.

Our last stop on the holiday tour? Macy’s Herald Square, of course – the end of the Thanksgiving Day Parade route, and the end of ours.  Their windows  presented the classic “Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus” tale via motorized cartoon cutouts. As we gazed at Virginia, all warm and cozy behind the glass, we decided a hot toddy was in order. We continued south on Broadway to the Ace Hotel, threw down a nip of cognac at the packed-to-the-rafters lobby bar, our holiday spirits lifted, literally, at last.

For the next day’s walk , I left my shopping-averse husband home and met up (at the civilized hour of noon) with my buddy Ro, who I’ve known since our club kid days. We lucked out with a warmish, cloudless and wind-free day (39 degrees), pretty good for December.

Our starting point? Mario Batali’s Eataly, (23rd Street( his over-the-top Italian marketplace, complete with fresh pastas, fish, pastries,  coffee and gelato, all begging to be sampled. Having forgotten to eat before leaving home, I asked Ro if she saw anything wrong with gelato for breakfast. “Absolutely not,” she said  “you should have your sugar first thing, so you burn it off the rest of the day,” and we split a tiny cup of perfect strawberry gelato that was somewhere between an extra thick smoothie and sorbet. “It’s all about the fuel,” said Ro.

Jacked on fruit sugar, we crossed Fifth and headed due south on Broadway, which we would stay on most of the way. We popped into Fishs Eddie for gift ideas and came out with a bag of them, including several New York State Official Prescription plates and NYC skyline magnet sets. Next, it was on to Paragon Sporting Goods (18th Street) to pick up a new swim cap and goggles (Merry Christmas, Joe!) and across the street to ABC Carpet & Home to gawk at their delicate glass ornaments, snow globes and classically creepy nutcrackers. From there, we cut through Union Square’s outdoor holiday gift market, accompanied by Bing Crosby’s “White Christmas” and the aroma of hot chocolate bubbling in cauldrons.

Having only covered 8 blocks, we resisted the urge to browse Union Square’s DSW, Filene’s and Forever 21, opting instead to enjoy the sunshine and forge ahead to the far brainier The Strand Bookshop, NYC’s bustling 80-year old mecca for new, used and rare books. (Broadway and 12th) Ro picked up a copy of “A Little History of the World,” while I trolled the aisles for stocking-stuffer gift books for my cousins.

With the gelato sugar-rush starting to wane, at the 20-block mark , we took a quick lunch at Think Coffee, (Mercer and W 3rd) amidst a sea of NYU students hunched over laptops cramming for exams. Glancing around the room, Ro noted one upside to middle age – no exams! Warmed with quiche and soup, and “re-fueled” by a shared piece of red velvet cake, we pressed on.

As the sun started to slide to the west, we crossed into Noho and ducked into the Wired magazine Holiday Pop-Up Shop (open thru Dec 26, Boradway and w. 4th). Inside, there was a gallery of gadgets and high-tech toys one might find in Tony Stark’s Ironman bachelor pad. A Ducati here, hanging framed speakers there, $2,500 Fagor “Black Art “ fridge and a Jetson-style relaxation pod that Ro tested personally, with great amusement but to no discernable effect.

Ambling south, our NYC-as-outdoor-mall-walk continued, with stops at the Scholastic Store (nephew gifts! Broadway and Prince), Uniqlo where the mannequins seemed to be wearing outfits strangely similar to my own, and Spitalfields, (Broadway below Spring) a British boutique specializing in the deconstructed, post-apocalyptic black and gray styles I adore, and that horrify straight men. After a pit-stop at downtown Bloomingdale’s (it’s on the 4th floor ), a stop at the Benefit cosmetics counter netted us mini-Magnolia cupcakes as the sales lady wrapped my purchase. Though a shot glass full of insulin might have been a wiser choice, it seemed impolite to refuse. So, drunk on more butter-cream frosting, we stepped out into the twilight.

At Top Shop (Broom Street) we checked out the latest high-style hippie looks from the Kate Moss collection, briefly considering a pair of leather hot pants for laughs.  Across the street at Pearl River Mart, cheap and stylish Chinese nick-knacks and housewares had hostess gifts written all over them, as did the piles of disco ball ornaments on the shelves down the street at CB2.

By 5:30 pm it was pitch dark, the temperature had dropped to 29 degrees and the streets of lower Manhattan were virtually empty. At Duane Street, Ro led me over to the African Burial Ground Memorial site, a peaceful oasis of landscaped trees, grass and marble sculptures, in a part of the city I only see every few years when I serve jury duty. (Vesey Street) The memorial was a moving reminder of all those walked these streets before us, by force or by choice.

As we walked back west to Broadway and headed south, we realized we were coming to the end of the line, arriving at our Everest – the famed Century 21, where designer duds lined the aisles and shoppers waded through rivers of clothing racks in search of deals. We, however, were looking for the exits, as we had hit the shopping-browsing-wall. So after only a half an hour, we busted out and caught an uptown train home. That night, I slipped into a semi-coma at 11 pm and woke up 9 hours later. Haven’t gotten that much uninterrupted sleep since I was a teddy bear-hugging tyke. Anyone up for a walk to FAO Schwartz?

---

Resources:

EAT

The great thing about spending the day walking around is you get to eat pasta guilt-free. So, start with the best (plus pastries and gelato) at Mario Batali's Eataly, on 23rd St.

For a lighter lunch (quiche, soup, NYU students cramming for exams), try Think Coffee at Mercer and West 3rd

SLEEP

The Ace Hotel, at 29th and Broadway is a cool, comfy place to sleep, with a great lobby cocktail bar.

In Soho, check out the Gem, at 135 East Houston.

Hotels aren't the only places to rest your feet: right in the heart of the city, timeshare resorts such as the Manhattan Club can make for a great base camp. For what you might spend for a couple nights in a swanky hotel, spend a week midtown and walk your way around New York.

DO

 Bloomingdales....need we say more?

New York's bustling Strand Bookshop is more than 80 years old, and a mecca for new, used and rare books. Find it at Broadway and 12th.

Holidays aren't just about shopping (right?). If you want a peaceful place to reflect on the season, hoof it over to the African Burial Ground Memorial site at Vesey Street.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Tags: car free | christmas | east coast | easy | food | inn2inn | island | manhattan | moderate | new york | northeast | overnight | public transportation | self guided | snow | timeshare | upscale | urban trek | walking | wine

• < Prev
• Next >