Hicks in the City

For any number of years our visits have always had us sleeping at the Riverside Towers on the upper West Side. A good location, three blocks from Zabars. But I swear if they have a motto it would have to be “guaranteed, no rats.” Talk about bare bones…

Now we’re at the Washington Jefferson on 51st, just off 8th Ave., at the edge of the Theatre District. I think technically we’re in Hell’s Kitchen.

yesterday after walking around and around for a while we had dinner at a nice little Spanish restaurant, Old San Juan’s. Good food.

Thanks to our tkts tickets we took in the Fantasticks. The long running show closed after 9/11, but has reopened in the newly refurbished off Broadway venue the Snapple Theater Center. We saw a Perfect Murder there a few years ago, and at least I was disappointed at what I considered a high end amateur production. So, once we figured out where we were, we were both anxious. Need not have been. It was a delightful experience. The whole cast absolutely professional, and as I was unfamiliar with the plot, a sweet story. It even had a bit of what I think of as soul.

As I mentioned yesterday our new hotel is also pretty bare bones, but of a different character than the Riverside. Clean and charming, while the other is dingy. I think this one is considered a hotel in the European manner. We’re in what I’d guess to be about two hundred square feet, Jan is sure much smaller. She’s usually right about these things. It’s certainly little more than a nice bed, a desk and chair, a wall mounted TV, and a tiny bathroom with shower.

There is no thermostat & the heat is provided by some sort of radiator system. Once we figured out how to open the window, while feeling mild waves of guilt over the waste of energy, we also no longer feel we’re in a hot house. Our room is to the front of the hotel. Last night the street noise was something fierce.

When I inquired about it with the bellman, he said “welcome to New York.”

Today we plan on spending some serious time at the Strand, then visit the Tenement museum & get to the Lion Brand Yarn Studio.

We major way splurged and are going to see Van Morrison this evening.

Ah, the tourist life…