Teen Activities in NYC

Parent Cafe
1

<p>I’m looking for info on local activities for teens in NYC. We’ll be there for 10 days starting on the 17th and I’ve found tons of things that the adults would like but my s is not the typical tourist type. He’s not into seeing the “must sees” but will appreciate some. </p>

<p>I found a great website for my young D ([Mommy</a> Poppins - Get more out of NYC with kids](<a href=“http://www.mommypoppins.com%5DMommy”>http://www.mommypoppins.com)) that lists events for that age group - mostly geared toward local kids. </p>

<p>Any suggestions? He’s into music (percussion/drum corp are his ec’s) and photography (he’s the photo ed of school newspaper). Doesn’t really care for shopping or Times Square.</p>

2

<p>Consider (for your S) the International Center of Photography [Visiting</a> ICP - International Center Of Photography](<a href=“http://www.icp.org/site/c.dnJGKJNsFqG/b.731103/k.A5BE/Visiting_ICP.htm]Visiting”>http://www.icp.org/site/c.dnJGKJNsFqG/b.731103/k.A5BE/Visiting_ICP.htm)</p>

<p>And a favorite of mine is to try and time a free ferry ride to/from Staten Island, thus being able to see the city lights come on.</p>

3

<p>Check out High 5’s web site:</p>

<p>[High</a> 5](<a href=“http://www.highfivetix.org/splash.aspx]High”>Homepage - ArtsConnection Teen Programs)</p>

<p>It lists just about everything going on what a teen would be interested in, plus you can get discount tickets. (Last Sunday my Ds and I went to the Guggenheim for $7.50, when the normal ticket price would have been $48 for the three of us.)</p>

4

<p>My favorite thing is to explore the ethnic enclaves. There are multiple Chinatowns, Little Saigons, etc. It’s great fun to go out to, say, an Indian neighborhood in Jackson Heights and sample street food, check out the Bollywood video store, sniff the unfamiliar products in the market, try on the saris, etc. There are literally dozens of miniature trips abroad that you can take on the NYC subway.</p>

5

<p>You are going to laugh, but my teenagers took a trapeze lesson at Trapeze School of NYC and had a complete blast.
They also enjoyed the NBC studio tours.<br>
It may be corny, but what about a carriage ride at Central Park?
Also taking the ferry all the way around Manhattan?</p>

6

<p>I’ve gone with grandparents and with kids (young and old) on the NBC/Rockefeller Ctr tour and it seems to appeal to everyone. Also, the building itself is wonderful architecturally and it’s fun to tour. Here’s the link.
[NBC</a> Tour: Rockefeller Tour- Official NBC Universal Store](<a href=“http://www.nbcuniversalstore.com/index.php?v=nbc_tours_rockefeller-tour]NBC”>http://www.nbcuniversalstore.com/index.php?v=nbc_tours_rockefeller-tour)</p>

7

<ul>
<li><p>A Broadway show (SO many choices - I would see Spring Awakening or Rock of Ages, or perhaps Wicked, Jersey Boys, Shrek, the Lion King, West Side Story, Chicago…). Pick a show that is interesting to the teen, and OK with you content-wise. At the very least see Times Square when it is all lit up at night. You can get very discounted tickets, by the way, somewhere in times square.</p></li>
<li><p>My older teens loved God of Carnage, which is not a musical and is just about four parents having a huge riproaring argument over a physical fight between their kids. The four stars, including James Galdolfini (Tony Soprano) come out every night after the show to sign autographs in front of the theater.</p></li>
<li><p>Make reservations for dinner as far in advance as you can to get a good meal before a show. Becco or Esca are great for Italian. Eat as early as 5:30 or 6 to get to the show on time. Joe Allen is fine and usually easy to get a rez at - also reasonably priced for NYC.</p></li>
</ul>

<p>-rent a car or take a train to see the Hamptons or the Jersey shore (I’d recommend Bay Head or Spring Lake for pretty family spots, or Point Pleasant because of the more exciting boardwalk and rides). Especially if you do not live near a place with good beaches. Get salt water taffy, pizza, play arcade games, etc. Point Pleasant recently added palm trees on the beach, which is pretty funny. Ya gotta go down tha showa to check out how New Jersians spent their summers. If not, fuggetabouttit. Another nice place is Long Beach Island. At Spring Lake you can stay at the Normandy Inn or the Breakers overnight, BTW. Definately do the boardwalk thing somewhere.</p>

<p>-Maybe something interesting is happening at Lincoln Center:
[Lincoln</a> Center for the Performing Arts](<a href=“http://new.lincolncenter.org/live/]Lincoln”>http://new.lincolncenter.org/live/)
Fiorello’s is a good place to eat across the street.</p>

<p>-have brunch on Sunday in New York. It is the thing to do. Sarabeth’s is a great place.</p>

<p>-get tickets to a television show taping</p>

<p>-eat yummy pastries at Cafe Roma when you visit Little Italy</p>

<p>-the wax museum </p>

<p>-Ripley’s</p>

<p>-the Titanic and Lucy exhibits</p>

<p>-a doubledecker bus ride</p>

<p>-eat lots of pretzels and hot dogs with mustard</p>

<p>-consider Caroline’s or Catch a Rising Star for good stand-up if he or she looks old enough to get in (unless you think that would be too corrupting - sneaking in underage and hearing edgy comedy, I mean).</p>

<p>-the Museum of Natural History is amazing</p>

<p>-my teens really enjoyed the Statue of Libery/Ellis Island ferry tours</p>

<p>-the Empire State Building is SO COOL. I have been up there a dozen times, and the view still takes my breath away.</p>

<p>-check out The Carnegie Deli (7th and 55th Streets) <a href=“http://www.carnegiedeli.com/[/url]”>http://www.carnegiedeli.com/&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

8

<ul>
<li>if there is a concert in Central Park, do what the locals do and pack or buy a nice meal, some wine perhaps for the parents, spread out a blanket under the stars, and enjoy. Also, look into concerts which might be of interest when you are there. AC/DC will be at Giant’s Stadium on 7/31, but I think you will be gone by then (but there may be something else you’d like more).</li>
</ul>

9

<p>justamom, looked at the ICP site and liked what I saw. </p>

<p>Then I took missypie’s advice to checkout High 5 for discount tickets for teens and saw ICP on the list - score! I also found an improv show on the list that I know he’ll enjoy.<br>
And I thought I’d go to the Guggenheim alone but I can now get a discount ticket if I take/drag one of my teens - aahh, dilemma! Who knows, they may actually enjoy it…</p>

<p>I also got tickets to see GMA - I’m hoping that we can get there in time - they say be there by 7 A.M.</p>

<p>Hanna, yes, Indian food is on my list (I’m the foodie of the family) and we’ll definitely explore Chinatown.</p>

<p>Pizzagirl, I don’t know about trapeze lessons but I think he’ll like the NBC Tour!</p>

<p>Thanks, everyone, for the suggestions!</p>

10

<p>I’ve never made it to the Lower East Side Tenament Museum but it sounds fascinating. I hate to say it but one D hates the heat and the building is not air conditioned (to be authentic) and I frankly haven’t wanted to hear D complain. You’d have to deal with heat, too, but it sounds really interesting. </p>

<p>Are you an “NBC” family? We are, so we were in the crowd of the Today Show and saw Matt, Ann and Al. (We also did the studio tour.) The other morning shows have similar things, obviously best to go where you know the “personalities.” That was fun - if you can get your teen out of bed early. I hadn’t really wanted to do the NBC tour, but it was cool to see the SNL studio, be on the Today Show set, etc.</p>

<p>Have some sense about Central Park. A couple of years ago it was hot as can be, but we had said we were going to Central Park after the Metropolitan Museum of Art, so by gosh we did it. How silly. We were so hot and it wasn’t fun. Try to be flexible enough to hit it if you have a cool morning.</p>

<p>If you’re in the neighborhood, Wall Street is interesting, if only to see the security around the stock exchange.</p>

<p>I assume you know about broadwaybox.com where you can buy discount tickets to Broadway shows and all types of other events.</p>

11

<p>Korean Spa in Queens. This is a real place and I know a number of families that have had a great time here.</p>

<p><a href=“http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/fashion/11inspa.html[/url]”>http://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/11/fashion/11inspa.html&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

<p>[++</a> Welcome to Paradise! New York Spa Castle ++](<a href=“http://nyspacastle.com/eng/introduction/introduction01.php]++”>http://nyspacastle.com/eng/introduction/introduction01.php)</p>

12

<p>D & I had the best (open room) foot massages in Chinatown for $15 (15 minutes). Delicious after pounding pavement all day.</p>

13

<p>The tenement museum is fantastic. It totally changed my understanding of my own family’s history – and I had thought, before my visit, that I was pretty well informed.</p>

<p>While on the Lower East Side, you must go to Katz’s deli for real pastrami (though my favorite is the corned tongue). Sorry, the Carnegie is for tourists only. Katz’s is the genuine article.</p>

14

<p>My son spent 2 different days in NYC with friends. They enjoyed exploring on their own. They took a taxi ride (found that it was quite more expensive than they anticipated), ate at McDonalds in Times Square (don’t ask me what was so fascinating, but he mentioned this several times to me), and spent some time in Central Park. He was absolutely engrossed by a street artist who was painting in Central Park on canvas by using spray paint. He had never seen anything like it before and he bought one of his paintings. I guess one never knows what they will see in Central Park. He stopped into a hobby shop and looked around without buying anything. They visited the Hershey chocolate store Also, he told me that they did a lot of walking. As you can see, they went without planning and they had a great time and left without spending too much and they have some memories. Please keep in mind that he has seen the traditional tourist places with his family, so he was not missing out by not going to the Statue of Liberty, Circle Line, Broadway Show, museums, Yankee Stadium etc.</p>

15

<p>2boysima, the Korean Spa looks so inviting!!! I just HAVE to go there. I’ll wait for the DH’s and kids’ feet to be ready to fall off from walking and I’ll suggest it. I’ll be a hero…</p>

<p>From all of the suggestions, I think the teens will be very busy. </p>

<p>Thanks for the tip to watch the Night In The Museum movies. Its been a while since we saw the first one. We watched the National Treasure movies before DC and Philly and we were excited to see the real things/places.</p>

16

<p>There are SO many movies that feature NYC. Before our trip we watched On the Town and Moonstruck and Crossing Delancy.</p>

17

<p>Re: post #7. Spring Awakening is no longer on Broadway but is just on tour.</p>

18

<p>oh!
Eat at Ellen’s Stardust Diner. At least one lunch or dinner! Please give it a try. It is not too expensive.
The waiters and waitresses really are “singing on Broadway.”
It was definitely a hit when we went with 18 and 16 year olds, and also when I went with a 13 year old.
[Ellen’s</a> Stardust Diner - MAP](<a href=“http://www.ellensstardustdiner.com/map.htm]Ellen’s”>http://www.ellensstardustdiner.com/map.htm)</p>

19

<p>You have to walk around the village area, which is also a bit of a college town atmosphere (NYU). STart out at Union Square Park. On Mon, Wed, Fri and Sat there’s a great green market there. It also is huge gathering spot for high school aged kids. Then wander down to Washington Square Park, which is in the process of renovation but the first phase is finished and it’s looking quite nice. It’s loaded with people, and many street performers. On a hot day there will be people in the fountain. Both parks have free programs on various days and evenings. Then wander around MacDougal/Bleecker St area. </p>

<p>There are also free programs throughout the city during the summer. There’s free outdoor movies at various locations (see [Summer</a> Movies in New York City: Outdoor Film Screenings](<a href=“http://gonyc.about.com/od/summer/a/summermovies.htm]Summer”>http://gonyc.about.com/od/summer/a/summermovies.htm)). Also some free concerts, [River</a> To River Festival](<a href=“http://www.rivertorivernyc.com/]River”>http://www.rivertorivernyc.com/), and of course sreets fairs (any given weekend you can find a few). </p>

<p>Wandering around little italy and chinatown is also fun. Go to Il Fornaio in little italy for a decent, inexpensive italian meal.</p>

<p>You can also take a little boat ride on the Staten Island ferry. It’s free and you get a nice view of the downtown Manhattan skyline, and the status of liberty.</p>

20

<p>If you son likes to try different foods, check out falafel at Mamoun’s, on MacDougal St, Arepas at Caracas Arepa Bar on E. 7th St, Italian pastries at Veniero’s on E. 11th St and a great slice of pizza at Joe’s on Carmine st.</p>