NYC Life: Event Recap, LIRR, Dogs, Outdoor Art and More
Photo: Marc A. Hermann/MTA
Our event last Sunday at the Museum of Broadway and lunch at Chez Josephine was simply fabulous. Check out our recap. The opening of Grand Central Madison is exciting news for LIRR travelers. Head to Javits Center this weekend and hang out with hundreds of dog breeds. Yesterday was Holocaust Remembrance Day and it reminds us to visit the Jewish Museum on Fifth Avenue. There’s an 18-foot sculpture in Madison Square Park. Our roving photographer captured the firecracker celebration of the Lunar New Year in Chinatown. And Valerie Smaldone has some great Valentine’s ideas for theatre and food lovers.
Tomatoes Take Over Broadway
I can’t think of better way to spend a Sunday afternoon in January than with a group of fabulous Tomatoes and a few good men, to tour the new Museum of Broadway followed by a wonderful lunch at the iconic Chez Josephine. GET THE RECAP.
Grand Central Madison!!!
Photo: Marc A. Hermann/MTA
I can’t tell you how exciting this is for LIRR customers. We can now travel directly to the East Side into Grand Central for the first time ever. This has been in the works for decades, and I honestly never thought I’d live to see it. Limited service is now available with a full launch in the next few weeks. I can’t wait for my first trip! Get details and the schedules.
Jan. 28-29. AKC Meet the Breeds at Javits Center
From Affenpinschers to Yorkshire Terriers and everything in between! AKC Meet the Breeds® gives dog lovers a unique opportunity to meet, play with, and learn about hundreds of dogs! Get details and tickets.
The Lunar New Year
Our roving photographer, Nicole Freezer Ruben, captured the fireworks celebration on January 22 for the start of the Lunar New Year. She writes:
The Lunar New Year is celebrated by two billion people around the world. It is surrounded by so many meaningful traditions. This Year of the Rabbit began with the Spring Festival on January 22nd and will end with the Lantern Festival on February 5th. It is believed that people born under the Year of the Rabbit are caring, obliging, popular and successful.
Like other New Years, Chinese New Year bids farewell to the past and promises the hope of new beginnings. There are many beautiful sentiments such as cleaning one’s home to rid the bad luck of last year. It is also customary to exchange gifts that bring good fortune. Traditionally older generations give red envelopes of money to children. Like so many cultures food presents a lot of symbolism. Eating fish and dumplings increases prosperity, sweet rice balls, family bonding, fruit fullness and wealth and consuming noodles brings happiness and longevity. One folktale explains that wearing red and setting off fireworks once scared away a mythic beast.
This long history of colorful traditions brings all people together to celebrate community and the New Year and provides hope that the best is yet to come.
Nicole Freezer Rubens is the author of “The Long Pause and the Short Breath.” Follow her on Instagram@nfrconsult
Feb. 24 & 25. Sheree Sano at the Knickerbocker
The fabulous singer and pianist, Sheree Sano (our 2016 Tomatoes Got Talent winner) will be performing with Joe Wallace on bass, at the Knickerbocker. Two sets at 9 PM and 10 PM. Get details. Listen in below for a sneak peek.
Look What’s in Madison Square Park
Madison Square Park Conservancy / Yasunori Matsui
This incredible 18-foot golden statue, titled Witness, is a focal point at Madison Square Park. Created by artist Shahzia Sikander it is part of a major new project on the theme of women and justice for a multimedia exhibition, called Havah…to breathe, air, life, in on display in Madison Square Park and the nearby Courthouse of the Appellate Division, of the New York Supreme Court. The Witness sculpture, a video animation, and an augmented reality (AR) experience are on view at Madison Square Park.
Madison Square Park Conservancy / Yasunori Matsui
A second sculpture, NOW (2023), also an allegorical figure, is installed on the courthouse rooftop on Madison Avenue and 25th Street and can be viewed from street level. Get More Details.
Visit The Jewish Museum on Fifth Avenue – the Oldest in the World
For more than a century, the Jewish Museum has illuminated art and Jewish culture from ancient times to the present, offering intellectually engaging and educational exhibitions and programs for people of all ages and backgrounds. The rotating collection exhibition features nearly 450 works from antiquities to contemporary art—many of which are on view for the first time.
The Jewish Museum founded in 1904 in the library of the Jewish Theological Seminary, where it was housed for more than four decades, is the first Jewish museum in the United States and the oldest existing Jewish Museum in the World. In 1944, Frieda Schiff Warburg, widow of the prominent businessman and philanthropist Felix Warburg, donated the family mansion at 1109 Fifth Avenue at 92nd Street where the museum has resided ever since. GET THE DETAILS.
The tomato behind The Three Tomatoes.
Cheryl Benton, aka the “head tomato” is founder and publisher of The Three Tomatoes, a digital lifestyle magazine for “women who aren’t kids”. Having lived and worked for many years in New York City, the land of size zero twenty-somethings, she was truly starting to feel like an invisible woman. She created The Three Tomatoes just for the fun of it as the antidote for invisibility and sent it to 60 friends. Today she has thousands of friends and is chief cheerleader for smart, savvy women who want to live their lives fully at every age and every stage. She is the author of the novel, "Can You See Us Now?" and co-author of a humorous books of quips, "Martini Wisdom." Because she's lived a long time, her full bio won't fit here. If you want the "blah, blah, blah", read more. www.thethreetomatoes.com/about-the-head-tomato
