Page 122 - Off The Tourist Trail - 1000 Unexpected Travel Alternatives (Part 2 of 2)

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CITIES

Indie-pop band Margot And The Nuclear So & So performing as part of
the CMJ Music Marathon
Music Venues

New York’s indie music legacy has included punk
rock icons the Ramones, the New York Dolls,
Talking Heads, Blondie, and Sonic Youth. Many
innovative jazz and blues musicians, such as
freewheeling artist Ornette Coleman and
Thelonious Monk, also made their start here. New
York’s alternative music scene continues to flourish,
TOP New Yorker walking beneath cherry blossoms in the Brooklyn Botanic Garden ABOVE Late afternoon stroll in Cloves Lake Park, Staten Island Greenbelt and you can groove to creative tunes throughout
the city, from East Village haunts with cheap booze
Hidden Parks novel. The ferry to Staten Island is one of the city’s and tiny corner stages to low-lit Harlem jazz joints.
great deals, offering top-notch views of the Statue
Check out local bands seven nights a week at the
and Greenery of Liberty and the city skyline – for free. Upon lively Cakeshop in the Lower East Side. In the West
arrival, make for the center of the island, where Village, the cheery Cornelia Street Café showcases
you’ll find the Greenbelt, a lush nature reserve of local music of all stripes, from improvisational
New York reveals a surprising number of green verdant forest, streams, and lakes. Staten Island also quartets to “po’jazz,” a blend of poetry and jazz.
spaces where you can wiggle your toes in the grass features a superlative: Todt Hill, the highest natural Tap your toes to jam sessions and Afro-Cuban
and forget that you’re in the concrete jungle. point in the five boroughs of New York (and also and Latin jazz at the intimate lounge Smoke in
Central Park is, of course, de rigueur on every New where the 1972 epic The Godfather was filmed). Trek Morningside Heights. The Brooklyn Academy of
York itinerary, but venture farther afield and you’ll to the top and gaze out at the rolling greenery that Music (BAM) has long been at the forefront of
find quiet pockets of greenery that you might gives way to the sparkling Upper Bay. Standing contemporary music, dance, and theater. Tune in
share only with the chirping birds. here, you might just forget you’re in New York. to free live shows, from world music to modern
For a reminder that Manhattan is, in fact, an vocalists, at the BAMcafé on weekends. Indie music
island, head to its southern tip. Tucked behind the fans might want to time a visit to New York for the
Practical Information
sun-speckled promenade lies the petite, peaceful Brooklyn Botanic Garden 1000 Washington Avenue, Brooklyn; subway: lines CMJ Music Marathon in October, one of New York’s
Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park, with its gentle grassy 2 or 3 to Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum, lines B or Q to Prospect Park or largest musical events.
slopes, pretty linden trees, and sweeping views line 4 to Franklin Avenue; www.bbg.org
of the East River and the Statue of Liberty. For a Robert F. Wagner, Jr. Park Near Rector Place and the Esplanade in Battery Practical Information
romantic escape, roam the lush Brooklyn Botanic Park, on the southern tip of Manhattan; subway: lines 1, R or W to Rector BAM 30 Lafayette Ave, Brooklyn; tel. +1 718 636 4100; www.bam.org
Garden, with their acres of fragrant foliage, from Street; www.bpcparks.com Cakeshop 152 Ludlow Street, Lower East Side; tel. +1 212 253 0036;
orchids to honeysuckle. New York’s coastal areas Staten Island Greenbelt and Todt Hill Staten Island; public transportation: www.cake-shop.com
take the ferry or the 11X, 12X or 13X express buses to get from Manhattan
have some splendid patches of greenery, including Cornelia Street Cafe 29 Cornelia Street, Greenwich Village; tel. +1 212 989
to Staten Island; www.nycgovparks.org
Fire Island’s Sunken Forest, one of the few 9319; www.corneliastreetcafe.com
Sunken Forest On Fire Island, just to the south of Long Island; public
remaining maritime forests on the eastern CMJ Music Marathon www.cmj.com/marathon/
transportation: take the LIRR (Long Island Railroad) from Pennsylvania
seaboard. Its mist-soaked gnarled trees look like Station in Manhattan to Bay Shore, from where it’s a 15-minute walk or a Smoke 2751 Broadway, Morningside Heights; tel. +1 212 864 6662;
they’ve been plucked straight out of a Tolkien short taxi ride to the ferry (30 minutes to Fire Island); www.fireisland.com www.smokejazz.com

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