Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
A Brooklyn Christmas
The big department stores offer the sidewalks plenty of entertainment with elaborate window displays, but for my money,
New York's best free Christmas show is in Brooklyn. Homeowners from Bay Ridge to Bensonhurst run up the electric bills to
bring bulb envy to their neighbors. Dyker Heights is “Christmas Central,” with 100,000 tourists drawn every year to the
blocks around 80th and 86th streets, between Tenth and Thirteenth avenues. Unbelievably elaborate choruses of mechanic-
al Santas and snowmen compete to prove the lights are always brighter on the other side of the fence. Take the D to 79th
Street or the R to 86th Street. Between Thanksgiving and New Year's.
December
Lighting of the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center
Professional ice-skaters make graceful turns, live music
plays, and Hizzonner throws the switch on 30,000 bulbs strung along 5 miles of wire. Rock Center's overflow crowd, many of whom
have been waiting for 4 or 5 hours, cheer with relief. Even for grinches like me, watching the tree come alive is a pretty cool moment,
but they'd have to make the spruce levitate while spouting a fountain of $50 bills for me to want to weather that crowd twice. Better to
come back at a more mellow time, especially if you can visit at dusk, when the tree is at its most quietly dramatic.
212/332-6868.
www.rockefellercenter.com
.
B/D/F/M to 47th-50th sts.-Rockefeller Center. From 7 to 9pm, the Wednesday after Thanksgiving.
Alternatives to the Rockefeller Center Tree Lighting
It's not like Rock Center has the only Christmas tree in
New York City. The
WinterGarden
at the World Financial Center sets 100,000 lights softly glowing. More elaborate rites can be found
at
LincolnCenter
's Christmas celebration, usually held on the Monday after Thanksgiving. A tree lighting supplements crafts booths
and live music along Broadway from 61st to 68th streets. The crowds are a fraction of Rock Center's. World Financial Center.
212/
945-0505.
www.worldinancialcenter.com
.
Subway: 1/2/3 or A/C to Chambers St.; E to World Trade Center. Lincoln Center BID:
212/581-3774.
www.winterseve.org
. Subway: 1 to 66th St./Lincoln Center.
Festival of Lights
This skyscraping candle-holder (at 32 ft., it's the world's largest menorah) shines at sunset on the first
night of Hanukkah, gaining another light on each of the following 7 days. It's in Grand Army Plaza on Fifth Avenue, at 59th Street.
917/287-7770.
Subway: N/Q/R to Fifth Ave.; F to 57th St. During Hanukkah.
New Year's Concert for Peace at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
Leonard Bernstein inaugurated this
event, and in the subsequent decades, it's become a candlelit legend. Pop stars like Judy Collins join opera greats and world-class
conductors in headlining the bills. The best seats are reserved and come with steep price tags, but general seating is free. It's in the
Cathedral of St. John the Divine. 1047 Amsterdam Ave., at 112th Street.
212/316-7490.
www.stjohndivine.org
.
Subway: 1/B/C to
Cathedral Parkway/110th St. December 31, 7pm.
