Manhattan 2012: Miscellaneous Experiences

We were so lucky that our brief visit to Manhattan overlapped with a two-week Lion King retrospective, held in a building across from Bryant Park. Guides were on hand to explain the inner workings of the puppets and describe Julie Taymor's creative process from sketch to miniature model to full-scale puppet (to souvenir plush toy!).

We learned that the elephants stand 13 feet high, weigh 100 pounds when first created, and require 4 people to operate the pole inside each of the legs.  As time goes by, the puppet will actually gain weight as it needs repairs and patches are added to it.  The loping gazelles are carried on sticks, or rotated on wheels to simulate a galloping herd. The ostriches stand 17 feet tall and the giraffes are even taller than that.

Mannequins are dressed up in some of the costumes so that you can better imagine how they are manipulated. The zebra costume consists of the head and hind legs, with the actor providing the front legs, while for the lionness puppet, the actor provides the back legs and uses levers to manipulate the body and front legs. 

The Antique Garage Flea Market is exactly as it sounds—a flea market situated within a 2-level parking garage. While we've always loved poking around antique markets, this unique setting made it even more fun.

It is always interesting to see what type of things people may have had in their possession. We found some pretty weird and even creepy stuff including  misanthropic Christmas decorations that take "Bah Humbug" to a new level, and  KKK medallions including one shaped like the pointed hood that this group wore.

Kinokunyia is a Japanese book store in Bryant Park that stocks some very cool specialty books. Our favourite was called "Darth Vader and Son" which contains quotes like "Luke, pick up your toys this instant .. Luke, I am your father! Do you want a time out?", made all the more humorous when you imagine them spoken with the Darth Vader voice.  We also liked "The Brick Bible" which told the story of the New Testament using Lego figures, and the "Hello Kitty, Hello Art" book which portrays the Hello Kitty characters through the eyes of contemporary artists.

Although not impressed with the literary merits of the book 50 Shades of Grey, which we read for our book club, we knew that it was a huge commercial success. This was made even more obvious in the Kinokunyia book store, which not only carried the book in Japanese, but also various spoofs of it including "50 Shades of Chicken" (note the bound and trussed chicken on the cover) and "Fifty Shames of Earl Grey".

The New York Public Library is an impressive building at 5th Avenue and 41st Street, that is guarded on either side by large stone lion sculptures. Just inside the lobby, Lego models of these lions can be found.

This library should be considered a museum in its own right, given its comprehensive rotating exhibitions. In honour of the 200th anniversary of his birth, a Charles Dickens exhibit called "Key to Character" features artwork from his novels, photographs of various plays or movies based on his works and Dickens' personal memorabilia including a letter opener with a handle that he made out of his beloved(?) deceased (we hope!) cat's paw.

An even larger exhibit analyzed the evolution of lunch time in New York through the past century. It looked at types of food and eating venues (home, cafeteria, pubs, restaurants, food carts and trucks) including  the invention of the automat which was a vending machine for sandwiches, hot foods and desserts. The origins of the "power lunch were also examined in this exhibit.

The High Line is an elevated walkway built on top of an abandoned freight rail line.  It runs from Gansevoort Street in the Meatpacking District to West 34th Street, between 10th & 11th Avenues.  Walking this trail provides an excellent view of Manhattan's west side, including some interesting graffiti and street art on the buildings. Peeping out of the window of one building was the cardboard cutout of a bare-chested man waving at us.  Another building had composite black and white photos in each of the windows, which put together, formed a boy's open-mouthed face.  We did not learn about them until after our walk on the High Line, but artist Richard Artschwager's BLPs have been positioned in locations along the path.

Whimsical art can be found both on the platform walls of downtown Manhattan subway stations, and in the subway trains themselves.  It was fun trying to spot the design of each station while riding the subway.

 The Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station first opened in 1913 but did not actually serve much in terms of oysters or even seafood. It was named after the oyster stew that was a specialty. In 1974 the restaurant was refurbished back to its original splendor and turned into the oyster and seafood restaurant befitting its new name "Grand Central Oyster Bar and Restaurant". It was interesting that although we sat in an elegant room with high vaulted ceilings with marble columns, we sat on swivel chairs at large communal counters and were served diner-style. The oysters were delicious.

Manhattan 2012: Guggenheim and Whitney Museums

On the past two visits to Manhattan, we had always wanted to visit the Guggenheim Museum, but it never quite made it to the top of our short list of places to see.  This time we were determined to make this a priority. We upgraded to the next level of our Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) membership, so that we could get reciprocal entry into the Guggenheim and the Whitney museums (as well as other museums around the world) for free. The cost of the entry fees were more than the cost of the upgrade, so this was a good deal.

 The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum is a gorgeous building designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.  The highlight is a circular "Starship Enterprise-like" section with a stunning skylight at its pinnacle and spiraled ramps leading to each floor.  This area acted as a showcase for the current feature exhibition while smaller wings that offshoot from each level of the spiral hosted smaller exhibits. A cafe on the third level has floor to ceiling windows overlooking Central Park.

 When we visited, the main exhibit was entitled "Picasso Black and White" and concentrated on art that Picasso created in monotone or pale shades.  The pieces progressed chronologically through his career as you moved up the ramps from level to level. Viewing works by Picasso is always a treat, and would have been even more impactful if we had not already attended larger Picasso exhibitions at the AGO and in Barcelona, as well as viewing famous works of his in Paris and multiple cities in the USA. We had seen coloured versions of many of the paintings and sculptures before, such as The Kiss, his surrealistic sculpture of Marie-Thérèse Walter and his homages to Les Meninas.

It did make us pause to consider what an eclectic and prolific artist Picasso was. His works could be curated in so many different ways.  Each potential theme would result in a formidable collection of art and there would always be something new to experience.

The museum had a good audio guide for the Picasso and other exhibits as well as a guided tour of the Black and White exhibit. It was enlightening to hear thoughts and anecdotes from Picasso's daughter Maya.  She described being liberated by American soldiers after WWII and how they mistook her paintings as "new Picasso's". We learned how to identify renderings of Marie-Thérèse by her distinctive nose, and that in images of women seated or reclining in chairs, the chair was a stand-in for Picasso.

A pair of sculptures were a new revelation both in subject matter and in form and material. They were of Sylvette David, a new muse that was not featured in previous exhibitions. Picasso met her towards the end of his career and created many works based on her image.  The sculptures on display were created from sheet metal which he bent and shaped, then painted. Sylvette's trademark high ponytail was prominent in each piece, leading the hairstyle to be adopted by actress Brigette Bardot.

Beyond the main Picasso exhibit, there were smaller rooms displaying the gallery's permanent collection, new acquisitions, a very sparse selection of Vasily Kandinsky paintings and an installation by Gabriel Orozco called Asterisms. This last exhibit was the most unique and interesting.  It consisted of a collection of debris that Orozco accumulated from a ball field in New York and from the coastline of Baja California, Mexico. He catalogued and photographed his finds, then arranged them on the ground as a sculptural piece that seemed to comment on the impact of humans on nature.

We had lunch in the Guggenheim restaurant called "The Wright", whose vibrant design by architect Andre Kikosk made it feel like you were sitting in the middle of an abstract expressionist painting.  My roasted pepper and goat cheese terrain also looked like a work of art, with its layers reminding me of a Mark Rothko.  Rich's crab cake was one of the best we've ever tasted with light breading and large chunks of crab meat.

For a building that looked fairly large, the Guggenheim held what seemed like a surprisingly small number of works. In the end, we found the architecture and design of the building itself to be so impressive that it distracted from the art it held.

The Whitney Museum was partially under renovation so there were even fewer exhibits to see and what we saw was difficult to understand. However some outstanding guided tours really shed light on the works and helped us appreciate what the artists were trying to convey.

When we first surveyed Wade Guyton's works, we were mystified by the floor-to-ceiling large images of what looked like the letters "X" or "U" in various shades, laid on top of different backgrounds. Imagine our surprise when the guide compared Guyton to Jackson Pollack, explaining that each artist revolutionized the concept of "painting" in his time. Pollack  rejected the notion that paintings should represent recognizable people, objects or places and celebrated the idea that application of the paint itself was the art.

In contrast, Guyton eschews paint all together and moves "painting" into the modern digital world. He uses computer programs like Microsoft Word to create images from alphabet or shapes, then prints them onto various medium.  He started out by printing on top of photographs from magazines, but eventually moved to printing on large sheets of linen. He would fold his material in half, print one side of the image, flip it over, then print the other side, resulting in a line down the centre of his "paintings".  If his printer jammed, misaligned the two sides, ran out of ink or tore the work, he embraced these random accidents as part of the art.  He started with the letter "X" since it held so many meanings, such as a negation, an illiterate's signature, or preface for words like "X-rated", "X-files", "X-Men".  Later he moved to the letter "U" for the arbitrary reason that "it was not the letter X". Without the tour, we would have looked at the "X" and "U" works, shrugged and walked away.

Richard Artschwager's art was described to us as uncategorizable - "too cerebral for pop art, too playful for minimalism and too whimsical for conceptualism". His sculptures make you do a double-take. For example, "Description of Table" looks like a table with four legs covered by a white tablecloth.  It is actually a block of plywood covered with formica (the stuff used for fake wood floors or furniture) of different colours, with the white simulating a tablecloth and the black simulating the void between the legs of a table. He paints on top of celotex (the material used to make ceilings bumpy), allowing the uneven surface to impact his paint strokes. One series of Artschwager's works were a set of wooden crates like those used to deliver art to galleries. The deliverymen had to be carefully instructed not to accidentally "uncrate" the actual art pieces.

In a precursor to modern day graffiti, in the 1960s, Artschwager developed the BLP, a black oval shape that he innocuously placed throughout and around the grounds of the gallery that was showing his work. It was meant to cause people to slow down and really look at their surroundings. As part of the Whitney exhibition, the BLPs have been painted on building walls, windows and smokestacks all along the High Line Trail. Later, Artschwager reinvented his BLP, turning it into a 3-dimensional sculpture that looked more like an exclamation mark.

The last exhibit at the Whitney, called "Sinister Pop", was more accessible to us, but still benefited from the additional information provided by the guided tour.  It dealt with the darker, more subversive attempts at Pop Art, which Andy Warhol obviously embraced since several of his works were included.  Warhol's "Before and After" was based on a National Enquirer ad for Rhineoplasty and feeds into concepts of loss of ethnic identity, assimilation, and conformity as people try to aspire to media-driven perception of beauty. Warhol painted "Vote McGovern" to promote the presidential campaign of Democrat candidate George McGovern against Richard Nixon. Rather than portraying a positive image of McGovern, the painting shows a sinister, demonized, green-faced Nixon as a "reverse message" of what not to vote for.

Madonna and Child by Allan D'Arcangelo show the outlines of Jackie and Caroline Kennedy, depicted as saints with halos over their heads, without rendering their faces.  Drawn after the death of JFK, the painting highlights how celebrities have replaced religious figures in a secular world. It is interesting that that with only hairstyles and clothing to go by, these iconic images are instantly recognizable.

Jim Dine's "Drag - Johnson and Mao" depicts US President Lyndon Johnson and Chinese Chairman Mao Tse-Tung as drag queens decked out in makeup, rouge and lipstick.  At the time, these two powerful men were promoting unpopular policies in the Vietnam War and the Cultural Revolution. Spoofing them in this emasculating fashion was possibly an attempt to make them seem less invincible in the eyes of the public.

There are so many excellent art galleries and museums in New York that it is hard to pick which ones to go to.  We had a great time and learned so much on this trip, without even getting to revisit the Metropolitan or MOMA.  We'll save those for the next visit.

Manhattan 2012: Soho

For the past few years, we have been using the website Vacation Rentals By Owners to find accommodations for our vacations.  This allows us to stay in apartments with a living area and kitchen, usually for a cheaper price than hotels in the same area.  On our previous visit to New York, we found an apartment near Times Square with a spectacular view of the Empire State Building.

This time, we decided to stay in Soho and found a loft right in the heart the neighbourhood for the great price of $160 per night. The location could not be better. We were within 2 blocks of the two subway lines that went to all the main tourist attractions in New York, directly across the street from Balthazar bakery which sold delicious croissants and chocolate chip-walnut cookies, and within walking distance to all the shops, art galleries and restaurants that Soho had to offer. The only drawback was that the loft was situated on the fifth floor without the availability of an elevator. Trudging up and down four long flights of creaky stairs each day took quite a bit of energy but probably accounted for the favourable rental rate. It also helped to work off the calories from the bakery treats.

In comparison, the room rates at the Hotel Crosby, which was just a block away, started at $595. We were more than happy to climb a few stairs in order to save over $400 per night!

Soho has a bohemian feel that is reflected in the shops, art galleries, graffiti and its architecture. There were some beautiful late 19th-century cast iron decorated industrial buildings with the classic zigzagging fire escape ladders or stairs featured prominently in movies like West Side Story.

Although New York is known for being one of the origins of graffiti, signature-styled tagging graffiti seemed less prominent in Soho. Much of what is found in here would be better termed as street art and we spotted many colourful, vibrant examples.

We took advantage of the location of our accommodations to really get to know Soho.  Following a grid from West Broadway to Mott St. between Houston St and Grand St, we traversed each of the streets and visited all the shops and art galleries that interested us. We had originally allocated just one afternoon for this, but quickly realized that we needed a second day since there was so much to see. On the first afternoon, after about four hours, we had only covered about 2 blocks!

The Housing Works Book Store was a great space with its tall ceilings, wood paneling, swooping spiral staircases, overhead balconies that provided reading tables, and a cafe on the ground floor.

The storefront at 209 Elizabeth Street is very interesting. The sign reads "G.L.A. Rosa and Son Bread Co." after an early 1900s Italian bakery.  It is now the location of the Elizabeth Street Gallery where you find antiques and curiosities including a model of a Blériot monoplane (only Rich would know this!), sculptures of horses, eagles, angels, an antique midway shooting game and more. Step through an archway and suddenly you are in the Holland & Sherry Bespoke shop which sells custom made suits and accessories and gives off a totally different vibe.

When you first step into Carrol Boyes' shop at 118 Prince St., you aren't sure if you are looking at art or kitchenware.  As it turns out, the answer is both!  These South African works, made of pewter, aluminum and stainless steel, are so unique that they can be used as sculptures. But they are also functional items such as salt and pepper shakers or grinders, bowls, trays, cutlery, and gravy boats. We bought a couple of pieces but are displaying them as works of art until we have opportunity to use them.

Sicis Art Mosaic Factory at 480 Broome St. is another store whose merchandise is so beautiful and creative (not sure about functional) that it straddles the line between art and furniture.  They also do lovely, large-scale mosaic wall murals, including ones depicting street scenes, but for me it is their gorgeous and creative chairs that really stand out.

United Colours of Bennetton has been known for its provocative and controversial ad campaigns, including large posters depicting inmates on death row and AIDS victims. This year a popup store has been set up at 133 Crosby St that positions life-sized knitted mannequins in various explicit sexual positions, surrounded by ropes and cords that suggest bondage and S&M scenarios.

The Pearl River Mart at 477 Broadway is a fun store to browse around. It sells touristy "Chinese" novelty items and knickknacks.  Large dragon dance props hang overhead. In the aisles, you can find items like a shopping bag with Michelle Obama on a swing, a baby pacifier with attached moustache, cutesy animal bowls and plates and Hello Kitty Lamps.

At the Converse store, red, white and blue running shoes are arranged to form the American flag.  G-Shock men guard the front of a Casio store. At Bond and Treasure, a bed is made out of the back end of an El Camino with the dashboard for the headboard. In other windows, Merino wool socks are caught in an avalanche and 3MonkeysEyeWear glasses are advertised with their "see-no-evil, speak-no-evil and hear-no-evil" monkeys.

The Rebecca Hossack Art Gallery at 262 Mott St. featured an exhibit of crochet art by Kate Jenkins.  Entitled "Kate's Diner", the crocheted works depict food products like peanut butter, ketchup, soup and meals such as spagetti and meat balls, fish and chips, bacon and eggs or pastrami on rye.

The Afa Gallery at 54 Greene St had some cool robots in the window and Peanuts-inspired art inside. The highlight at Eli Klein gallery at 462 West Broadway were the "see-it-to-believe-it" work of Chinese artist Liu Bolin, who paints himself head to toe to blend into a background and then photographs himself against it. You can spot him in the floral display by looking for his shoes.  This takes the "Where's Waldo" game to a whole new dimension. The Campton Gallery at 451 West Broadway was exhibiting work by Greg Miller, whose large-scaled work with a glossy, shellac-like finish depicts vintage 50s images from advertising, comic books, and pop culture.

The Pop! Gallery at 473 West Broadway had some interesting pop art including a painting in the window featuring Woody Allen in taxicab, and some risqué images involving Tintin.  The Opera Gallery at 115 Spring St. was showing work by Paul Insect on the upper floor while on the lower floor, a series of paintings by Ron English depicted obese versions of cartoon characters. One particularly delightful one re-imagined common cereals and renamed them as Count Calorie, FrankenFat, Obesios, Sugar Frosted Fat, etc.

There was no shortage of eating opportunities in the Soho district.  Right across the street from our apartment was Balthazar bakery which had some amazing baked goods. We bought breakfast from there several days in a row and feasted on savoury croissants filled with mushroom and asparagus or ham with bechamel sauce, chocolate almond croissants and a delicious walnut chocolate chip cookie.  We planned to go to Balthazar's restaurant for dinner but after walking around all day, we could not face having to climb the 5 flights of stairs one more time that evening.  Instead, we bought takeout on the way home from the gourmet supermarket Dean and Deluca at Prince and Broadway. Dining on freshly made jeruseleum artichoke or butternut squash soups with chicken salad and grilled broccolini in the comfort of our own "home" was a much more appealing prospect.

We had found Rice to Riches at 37 Spring St. on our previous trip to New York and Rich was anxious to have a return visit.  This place is like the Baskin Robbins of rice pudding with about 20 different flavours including cinnamon, coconut, tiramisu, rum and raisin.  We shared a container of chocolate-hazelnut and butter pecan.  Humorous signs on the walls celebrated the calories that would be gained after eating this treat.

We went to Ed's Lobster Bar at 222 Lafayette St. for their famous lobster roll and it did not disappoint.  It was not cheap at $22, but the bun was stuffed full of large juicy chunks of lobster meat.  There was no fake crab or seafood substitute in this sandwich.

When we planned to go to the Antique Garage Bar for drinks and a quick snack, I was anticipating a grungy bar that served beer and wings and played rock music.  I was pleasantly surprised to find an elegant establishment full of antiques on the wall (thus the name), with a live band that was playing Jazz standards such as My Funny Valentine and Girl From Ipanema. We had a wonderful salad with rare tuna and hummus with bread sticks.

In the end, it took almost two full days to experience all there was to offer in Soho. And its great to know that the next time we visit, we can do it all over again since most of the shops and galleries will have new displays.

Manhattan 2012: A Christmas Story: The Musical

We've been watching the classic 1983 movie "A Christmas Story" every holiday season for years now. This humourous tale, set around 1940, follows the adventures of young Ralphie Parker, who plots to receive a Red Ryder BB Gun for Christmas. At every turn, he is thwarted by the admonishment "You'll shoot your eye out." Unlike other saccharine-sweet Christmas shows or movies, this one has a bite as it shows nostalgic vignettes in the small town life of Ralphie, his family and school friends. The grumpy store Santa is more vein of the Bad Santa movies than the Rudolf or Frosty ilk.

When we were searching for a good show to watch on Broadway during our Christmas-themed Manhattan trip, "A Christmas Story: The Musical" seemed like the perfect choice. The singing and acting abilities of the cast was excellent. We were especially impressed by the boy that played Ralphie, who could really belt out a song and hold a note, and had great comedic timing as well. The other children in the chorus were also very good, as they sang and danced throughout the show. One small boy in particular performed a spectacular tap dance number that wowed the audience. The role of adult Ralphie, who acts as the narrator of the story reminiscing about his childhood, is played by Dan Laurie who also played the father in the TV show The Wonder Years. This is fitting since this movie inspired the creation of The Wonder Years.

The musical included most of the iconic scenes from the movie, such as bundling Ralphie's little brother Randy with so much winter gear that he can't get up when he falls down, the frozen tongue stuck on the flag pole, the pink bunny suit, Chinese turkey (fa-ra-ra-ra-ra) and of course a major award for winning a crossword puzzle contest - the leg lamp. There was even a leg lamp can-can kick line in one of the big production numbers. When Ralphie's father is chased across his lawn by the hounds, real dogs are unleashed and run across the stage. These same hounds eat the Christmas turkey.  Fans of this movie need no further explanation about these scenes; those who haven't seen the movie need to do so as soon as possible!

The musical numbers ranged from light-hearted and fun to sweet and sentimental. In the opening number "Counting Down to Christmas", Ralphie sings about his gift wish:

"Don't know how. Don't know who
But all I know's I gotta get
A Red Ryder Carbine Stock with a Compass,
Red Ryder Carbine Action BB Gun!"

In the scene where schoolmate Flick gets his tongue stuck to a frozen pole on a "triple dog dare", the children sing:

 "You just sit, don't dare to admit it
If you're caught, they might haul you to jail
And in jail, they don't have Christmas
And Santa doesn't answer your mail
Its a sticky sticky sticky situation!"

The song "Up on Santa's Lap" has hilarious lyrics including:

"Up on Santa's lap
Little Nancy wants a new toy train (Woo! Woo!)
Little Nancy's drivin' me insane
Ain't that a lovely Christmas mob
I hate my job!"

This was a feel-good show that really puts you in the Christmas spirit. It was supposed to come to Toronto this season as part of the Dancap series, but has since been cancelled. Hopefully it will come another year as it is well worth seeing.

Manhattan 2012: At Christmas Time

This is our third trip to Manhattan, New York City.  The first time, we went in October 1999 and hit the usual tourist sites such as the Empire State Building, Times Square, Broadway, Central Park, Battery Park and Wall Street.

On the second trip in November 2008, we tried to experience the various neighbourhoods, touring Chelsea, Greenwich Village, Soho, Tribecca, Chinatown, Little Italy, Union Square, Gramercy Park and the Upper East Side.  We were there right before the U.S. Thanksgiving, just in time to see the big Christmas tree arrive on a truck at Rockefeller Center.

At that time, we decided that our next trip to New York would be in December, so that we could actually see the Christmas decorations and lights in their full glory. This December 2012, we finally made that happen, and we were overwhelmed by what we saw. The decorations were large, bold, bright, innovative, and prevalent in the lobbies, courtyards and windows of most of the stores and offices along 5th avenue.

The giant, glowing crystal lizard hanging above Bvlgari Jewelry could be seen from blocks away, while the oversized Christmas balls and strings of LED lights at 50th street were delightfully whimsical. In one store, a Christmas tree was formed from a series of white pumps with bright red soles.

The entire storefront of Harry Winston Jewels sparkles, as does the UNICEF Star which hangs high above the street lights at the corner of 57th Street. Further up 5th Ave., large candy canes hang from an office building and the trees are lit up. The main lobby of the Empire State Building is decked out with two large Christmas trees, overhead snowflakes, and multiple wall panel displays showing holiday themes.

Walking through the Diamond and Jewelry district along 47th Avenue between 5th and 6th Streets was quite the experience. It was like passing a sports arena before a big game and being cajoled by ticket scalpers. In front of every shop was a hawker calling out, "Diamonds! Who wants diamonds? Who's got diamonds?".

Radio City Music Hall was lit up with its colourful Christmas tree. But this was just a harbinger for the ultimate, gigantic tree located at Rockefeller Center, looming over the skating rink and gilded statue of the Greek god Prometheus. Also scattered around the center were large marching band sculptures and glowing herald angels.

The Christmas windows in the large department stores in New York are so renowned that there is a walking tour on the internet taking you from one to the next. It all starts at Macy's, whose windows prominently feature scenes from the classic holiday movie that made them famous—Miracle on 34th Street and its message that you have to "Believe".

Bergdorf Goodman's windows had a more sophisticated, Art Deco/Roaring 20s feel. We found these displays to be spectacular with their beautiful, intricate designs and wardrobe.

Bloomingdale's windows featured a circus theme with animated scenes including a carousel, acrobats, aerial gymnasts twisting and twirling as well as a strong man who made a puppet rise when he hits the lever with his mallet. It was fun trying to take multiple photos of a scene in rapid succession to simulate the motions.

Barneys partnered with Disney to create a short film set to a jazzy score.  It stars Minnie Mouse, who dreams that she is front row during a fashion show, watching her Disney friends such as Goofy, Cruella De Ville, Daisy Duck and Snow White strut the catwalk dressed in designer duds. Slightly disturbingly tall, thin versions of Minnie and Mickey also are in the show.  Not quite sure this is setting the right message for young girls, but lets go with it. Animated cameos are made by celebrities like Sarah Jessica Parker, Lady Gaga, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista and other names in the fashion industry.

The Parker Meridian Hotel held its second annual gingerbread sculpture contest which resulted in some impressive entries that took gingerbread creations to a new level of architectural complexity.

 A holiday market was set up in Bryant Park with rows of shops filled with quirky gift ideas such as microwavable stuffed animals called "Hot Hugs" and objects such as clocks or wallets made from vinyl records.

New York City certainly knows how to celebrate the Christmas season.  This is a really magical time to visit.