Planning a BWAY (NYC) trip ??? DON'T do these things!
Planning a BWAY (NYC) trip ??? DON'T do these things!
#1Planning a BWAY (NYC) trip ??? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 9:02pm
...FEEL FREE TO ADD ON (YOUR OWN.)
1. DON't walk in packs of 100, linking arms, clogging up every crosswalk from 40th to 50th st.
1A.DON'T whisper for a TAXI...stand in the middle of the street, push other people aside, lunge and yell, YO! TAAAAAXXIIII!!
1B.DON'T pay more than $7 for breakfast...EVER!
1C. DON'T get on mass transit without a "fully-loaded MetroCard". You'll get dirty looks from EVERYONE.
1D. Don't be shy when encountering B'WAY stars on the street....more than likely they'll join you at Starbucks and chat (if you ask). I had a lovely afternoon one day w/Tyne Daly at the Starbucks on 48th and 8th.
2. Girls (women): The streets of Times Square were not made for trying out your super new, chic stilettos.
2A. DO NOT fail to shop at the FABULICIOUS, newly renovated (HUGE) "PEARL RIVER MART"
Chinatown/Soho. (Google) . Thank me later! It's el cheapo and great!
3. The guy with the cats on the corner of 6th ave and 42nd st has been there for years and you will be paying for drugs and alcohol if you part with your hard earned tourist dollars.
4. DO NOT open your wallet on the street. I am still seeing this! Are you looking to get mugged, followed back to your hotel, and worse?
5. DO NOT feel sorry for any creature begging for money, for "whatever". Say after me: "I am NOT a bank", I am NOT a bank"
5. DO NOT buy any food from a "deli" or salad bar containing MAYO. You WILL be sorry, throwing up in the balcony of the St. James Theater.
5A.. ...OR "Rat-on-a-stick" street food...(you know what I'm talkin' about?)
5B...OR "mystery meat dogs on a bun" swimming all day in, shall we say, funky water. CAVEAT EMPTOR. Cast Iron Stomach Alert!
6. DO NOT buy 75.00 indian cotton shmattas in the LEVI's Times Square Store. CONWAYS has them for less than $10.
7. DO NOT hesitate to ask us friendly New Yorkers anything, such as directions, good bars, clubs, etc. Forget about the map thing, we'll tell you all the shortcuts!!
8. DON'T ignore CHINATOWN!!! The best part of town. 10 minutes by subway from the theater district. Yummy! http://www.cheapassfood.com/search/search?q_ferret=Chinatown
HAVE FUN!
Updated On: 7/1/08 at 09:02 PM
#2re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 9:06pm8. Don't go to the ****ing Olive Garden.
-Benjamin
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
--http://www.benjaminadgate.com/
#2re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 9:08pm
"4. Do not open your wallet on the street. I am still seeing this! Are you looking to get mugged, followed back to your hotel, and worse?"
I hate this and never do it. I was meeting some friends at Penn Station once and they were a little late. This guy came up to me leaning on a metal cane and asked me for money. I told him I don't carry cash so then he asked me to buy him food using my credit card. I just moved away. He had what could be considered a weapon. There was no way on earth that I was giving him any access to my wallet. He could have absolutely clubbed me with that can as soon as I looked down.
"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney
We must have different Gods. My God said "do to others what you would have them do to you". Your God seems to have said "My Way or the Highway".
xerotheory7803
Stand-by Joined: 10/16/06
#3re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 9:09pm..I thought not going to the Olive Garden was good advice for anyone, anywhere..
Stand-by Joined: 12/31/69
#4re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 9:14pm
Thanks for the (bad) advice, Tiny Magic. Bad Mayo is an old wives tale. Take a sanitation class and you'll find out that Mayonnaise is very acidic which inhibits bacterial growth. That Chicken sandwich will go bad if you leave it out in the sun, but the chicken salad may be saved by all that Mayo. Wikipedia puts it nicely:
"There is a misconception that foods like potato salad can make a person sick if left out in the sun, due to the mayonnaise spoiling. This is false; the pH of mayonnaise prevents harmful bacteria from growing in it. Left out of refrigeration, mayonnaise will develop an unappetizing taste and smell, due to other types of bacteria and molds that can spoil it; but will not make one sick."
Updated On: 6/30/08 at 09:14 PM
dinglehopper89
Stand-by Joined: 11/18/07
#5re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 9:17pm
ACTUALLY
I met Lance Bass at Olive Garden once
so it was a good thing I went
considering my friend was a hardcore Backstreet Boys fan =D
Mekroth
Broadway Star Joined: 2/23/08
#6re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 9:39pmOlive Garden is the devil. There will always be a batter, cheaper Italian restaurant within a mile of it.
#7re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 9:43pmLove the list. Thanks for making it!
"Everytime you step on that stage it is somebody's first Broadway show and somebody's last Broadway show. Make it count."
#8re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 9:45pm
Backstreet Boys fan
He was NSINC
#9re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 9:45pmDon't be like my dad and go, "LOOK, THAT'S CENTRAL PARK!" or say on Restaurant Row, "THIS IS JUST LIKE THE NEIGHBORHOOD IN SESAME STREET!"
"This thread reads like a series of White House memos." — Mister Matt
#10re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 9:59pm
LOL....actually, don't go to "Restaurant Row", where the owners daughter has to stand in front and shill for customers.
(Although, I do like HOURGLASS and BECCO (sometimes))
proptart101
Stand-by Joined: 2/26/06
#11re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 10:15pm
12. DO learn the difference between "Walk" and "Don't Walk". We even got rid of the words and use these spiffy little pict-o-grams to help with the dis-literates out there.
If there are a whole bunch of you, those that made it across the street/avenue can wait the 2.5 minutes it takes before the lights change again - the whole lot of you do not have to tie up traffic to stay together when you're just across the street from each other.
(I drive in midtown fairly frequently - the rumors that tourists are worth more points are simply untrue. It's rude and a paperwork nightmare to hit tourists, even when they can't figure out the whole "Walk / Don't Walk" thingy.)
"It's never too late to have a happy childhood. "
- Tom Robbins
#12re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 10:20pmOOPS!, Proptart....I have NEVER even looked at those things. Guilty as charged....I ignore all traffic lights, signs, etc. NOT that I'm advocating this, but I'd never get anywhere...WAITING!.......
#13re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 11:05pm
Awesome list - I agree. Chinatown is the best - great little mom and pop restaurants - Mandarin Garden has the best dim sum. Also, Little Italy - you can't miss the 'Wall of fame' that up until a year ago only had Frank Sinatra Jr on the list! There is to die for Italian Ice right next to the church with the Wall of fame - order a cone and stroll along the most exquisite streets of restaurants, side walk cafes and beautiful people.
Take the Circle Line cruise at sunset around Manhattan - the best $30 you'll spend.
Take the Staten Island ferry for free.
Save some Prada and Coach knock offs for me - I'm coming July 14!!
Even a poor tailor is entitled to some happiness.
#14re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 11:07pmDONT take pictures of crazy cat man on Columbus Circle. He will eat you. JK but he will run down the street following you for your money.
broadwayboy101
Broadway Star Joined: 3/20/08
#15re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 11:10pm
Our school group was totally guilty of the sidewalk thing. We'd walk in a huge throng for no apparent reason. Finally, our specific group of about 6 people just broke off because it was getting completely ridiculous walking around like that.
Any time we were in a huge throng though, I tried to be a bit ahead of everyone else just so I wouldn't look like I was with them. It was completely ridiculous.
#16re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 11:15pm
I have a couple
DO NOT enter the TKTS line in large groups. You will slow things down for everyone.
DO NOT purchase electronics from those stores you see on 7th Ave, Broadway, and 8th Ave. They have the highest mark-ups, and are there to rip you off. Take the R train down to J&R at the City Hall stop. Have it shipped back home and be exempt from paying tax.
DO NOT stop in the middle of the side walk no matter how fascinated you are by what you see. Move to the side or I will push you.
DO NOT pay more than $1 for bottled water (1/2 Liter Poland Spring). If you want water, stop by Duane Reade.
DO NOT eat while you're watching a show. It's not your living room.
and I'm with the above poster about not eating at the Olive Garden. There's one 2 miles from your house back in Omaha, Nebraska. It is the same thing.
Updated On: 6/30/08 at 11:15 PM
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
mattnyc2
Broadway Star Joined: 9/27/06
#18re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 11:32pm
I love this thread!
I'd like to add:
-When you're in a theater, put away your damn cameras. Seriously, what's the point of taking a picture of a scrim?
-Don't flip open your electronic devices while a performance is going on. The glare is brighter than you think and extremely distracting.
-Don't buy any candy from kids on the subway who are "just trying to stay off the streets." If they were serious about bettering themselves they would just get a job like the rest of the real world.
-Don't unfold a gigantic map while sitting on the subway unless you feel like making yourself a target for pickpockets.
-There's so much more to see in NYC than Times Square...get out there and enjoy the city!!!
#19re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 11:35pm
-There's so much more to see in NYC than Times Square...get out there and enjoy the city!!!
Hellz yeah.
LPF, I think you should be fine. I take my money out on the street all the time.
#20re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 11:36pm
"So sitting in Bryant Park and organizing my playbills and ticket stubs while counting my money to see if I have enough to get tickets from TKTS for one last show is a no-no?"
As long as you're eating a sandwich with mayo:)
"My understanding is that he is leaving show business to pursue a career as a thermometer." -- David Mamet on Jeremy Piven's early departure from the cast of Broadway's 'Speed-the-Plow'
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
#22re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 6/30/08 at 11:59pmBwayBoy101: I have seen school groups wearing the SAME COLOR T-Shirts, for fear of losing someone? I've also seen groups holding skinny long sticks with some hometown banner on it or something, waving them to each other...(among the "throngs"). cute.
#23re: Planning a Bway trip? DON'T do these things!
Posted: 7/1/08 at 12:11am
"12. DO learn the difference between "Walk" and "Don't Walk". We even got rid of the words and use these spiffy little pict-o-grams to help with the dis-literates out there."
In my experience it's mostly the New Yorkers who walk against the lights. It's usually the tourists standing on the curb waiting to walk across and blocking anyone who's trying to cross.
Two blips from wiki:
"An average New Yorker typically jaywalks 10-15 times a day"
"If you do not wish to jaywalk, be considerate of New Yorkers by not blocking them from crossing at an intersection while you are waiting for your signal."
"All our dreams can come true -- if we have the courage to pursue them." -- Walt Disney
We must have different Gods. My God said "do to others what you would have them do to you". Your God seems to have said "My Way or the Highway".
LePetiteFromage
Broadway Legend Joined: 1/19/08
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