NYC summer suggestions

[emma]

[Okay, so I know there are already like a million threads about what to do in New York when you’re there for a vacation or something, but I kind of don’t want to sift through and find them, plus my situation’s a little different. Please forgive!]

I just found out that I am going to be spending a month of my summer in the fine city of New York. I got accepted into this summer high school program thing at Columbia, which is super exciting because it means I get to just hang around the city and write all the time.
So. I want suggestions! What should I do? Where should I go?

Caveats:

1)   I’m 17.
2)   Most weekdays I will have classes until like 4:30 and my curfew (I’m living in residence) is 11 pm (ick). Weekend curfew is midnight (again ick).
3)   The FAQ on the program’s website says that they have a whole bunch of exciting scheduled activities (concerts, foncy restaurants, etc.), but you have to pay your own way and
4)   everyone there is probably going to have a ton of spending money except me.

Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated. I’m so excited about this!

[iAmBaronVonTito]

i have a friend who is a photographer/documentarian/all-around film guy and when he had to go to guatemala for a documentary he was shooting, he put up a ton of his photos for auction as a fundraiser.

it may sound ridiculous, but he made a lot of money.  all of which paid for his ticket, his lodgings, his food, etc.  if you have any material you feel comfortable selling, i would do it.  if anything, you have a small base with your peers, family, and FOTs. 

[Susannah]

Emma, I did that creative writing program the summer after my sophomore year of high school!  You'll have a blast. 

The nice thing about it--in addition to being in New York--is that they'll give you a Columbia student ID card, which means you get free admission or deep discounts to all of the museums and lots of other cultural attractions.

On campus, one of my favorite places to go was the Hungarian Pastry Shop, which is on Amsterdam Avenue between 110th and 111th Streets.  It's right across the street from St. John the Divine, which is neo-Gothic and very awe-inspiring.

If you're bookish (which I know you are), you'll like going to the Strand, which is a huge used/new bookstore (Broadway and E. 12th).

Make sure you get an unlimited monthly Metrocard for exploring, and obey your curfew!  The program is very strict about that.

Also--you get to listen to the Best Show live!

[senorcorazon]

There are a few sites of free listings but most are a mixed bag and not age-specific, like www.freenyc.net. SummerStage at Central Park is usually pretty fun, and if you can't get in, sitting outside on a blanket still sounds pretty good (http://www.summerstage.org/) and there are a lot of free concerts as part of Celebrate Brooklyn (http://www.briconline.org/celebrate/2008season.asp). River to River is also great www.RiverToRiverNYC.com as well as rooftop films and films at herald square. Summer in New York is the BEST. If you PM me, I can get you into a certain large museum for free whenever you want with some of your friends (but Susannah is right that you can get in free to a lot of places like the Whitney, too).

[joanna]

try to see that big room filled with dirt if you can. it was always closed whenever i went by.

[Beth]

Emma,
A fun shopping suggestion:

I used to work at this ridiculous store called GirlProps. It's on the corner of Prince and West Broadway (Soho area). It's overflowing with mounds of tacky costume jewelry(tacky in a good way!) most of it's fun, cheap, and awesome, even if you don't usually wear jewelry, you won't regret going there. Just look for the leopard zebra-print awning and the giant hot pink plastic-hand shaped chairs.

EDIT: Whoops. I swear I was picturing zebra when I wrote that.  But really, zebra, leopard, what's the difference?

[Shaggy 2 Grote]

The Red Hook Arts Festival and Celebrate Brooklyn both involve some awesome fun events, and PS1 always has interesting daytime things happening.  I often organize my summers around making NYC more tolerable, but there are many interesting free or cheap oddities around that make you forget you're in NYC: The Cloisters way uptown, The Roosevelt Island tram, the various beaches (Brighton Beach and Coney Island are accessible by train, and this might be the last year to see the seedy, low-rent, Chris-L-chili-dog-pic version of Coney Island before it gets turned into Times Square.  There are dozens of art-house cinemas (Film Forum and IFC usually have the best stuff, IMO), and while the Strand in the summer will be so full of cranky, smelly weirdos that you'll feel like you're in a live-action FOTchan reenactment, they have some of the most amazing deals on books I've ever seen.  The NY Public Library usually has some cool literary stuff on display, and if you can use your student ID, Moma, The Met, and the Museum of Natural History are all worth checking out.  Clubbed Thumb's Summerworks and Arielle Tepper's Summer Play Festival are probably the best deals on theater if you want to avoid schmaltzy Broadway garbage (I think they're like $15/ticket) and I'm happy to make specific recommendations for you.

All of that is Googleable.

[A.M. Thomas]

Assuming you like this kind of stuff, you could go to these shows:
May 30: WIRE (for free) @ South Street Seaport
July 4: SONIC YOUTH/THE FEELIES (for free) someplace in NJ
July 9:THE VASELINES in Jersey City
July 18: TIMES NEW VIKING in Jersey City
Julian Koster of the Music Tapes/NMH is secretly playing in Central Park sometime soon.
Museums are good too.

I don't know; these might violate your curfew.

Also,

GirlProps.

I've been here before and if I were a girl I'd probably love it.

Or you can volunteer at WFMU.

[erika]

Eat here! Very affordable and awesome.

http://www.wikipages.com/index.php/Les_Deux_Gamins


Oh, and go to the Whitney.

[A.M. Thomas]

Oh, I'd also like to second the Film Forum/IFC suggestions.

I love them both.

[emma]

Just reading this thread makes me so excited I have to get up and walk around.

You are all fantastic!

[Dorvid Barnas]

I highly recommend you go see a Mike Daisey monologue.

[KickTheBobo]

get a good 12 hour playlist on your mp3 player and just walk. if you are up at Columbia, walk south until you get sick of walking south, then walk across the island, then walk north again. Or: make up your own route! Be careful at intersections, though. take a shitty disposable camera with you or a jamcam (no digital, not this day).

Suffer the wait and go to the top of the Empire State building.

if you aren't vegetarian: get the Recession Special at Gray's Papaya on 6th Ave & 8th Street. You'll get indigestion mere yards away from legendary Electric Ladyland studios.

watch the chess dudes in Wash Sq. park, or if you are brave enough, take one on.

remember: look up! there are all sorts of crazy gargoyles watching over the city that you never notice at street level.

I haven't done it, but you could take a walking tour with Timothy 'Speed' Levitch from The Cruise. here's some info:

http://speedisms.wordpress.com/

scratch that, he doesn't seem to do them anymore.

[Martin]

Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge is nice - classic NY experience, lots of wonderful sights, and it didn't take as long as I had been told either, about 30-45 minutes or so. If you do it from Manhattan you can then take a stroll along scenic Cocain Brooklyn Heights Promenade.

[Anonymous 43]

[Okay, so I know there are already like a million threads about what to do in New York when you’re there for a vacation or something, but I kind of don’t want to sift through and find them, plus my situation’s a little different. Please forgive!]

I just found out that I am going to be spending a month of my summer in the fine city of New York. I got accepted into this summer high school program thing at Columbia, which is super exciting because it means I get to just hang around the city and write all the time.
So. I want suggestions! What should I do? Where should I go?

Caveats:

1)   I’m 17.
2)   Most weekdays I will have classes until like 4:30 and my curfew (I’m living in residence) is 11 pm (ick). Weekend curfew is midnight (again ick).
3)   The FAQ on the program’s website says that they have a whole bunch of exciting scheduled activities (concerts, foncy restaurants, etc.), but you have to pay your own way and
4)   everyone there is probably going to have a ton of spending money except me.

Any and all suggestions are greatly appreciated. I’m so excited about this!

It this what these boards have become?  A place where wannabe rich kids discuss their pretentious vacations? [gag]
Jason, please, please bring back FOTchan so that us real folks can have a place to interact.