In December, New Yorkers like to indulge in frothy hot chocolate and other traditional Yuletide treats as much as the city’s holiday visitors do, but facing crushing throngs and high prices, particularly at home, can be as off-putting as a rock-hard bagel.
Locals have learned some hacks to enjoy New York’s holiday hoopla hassle-free. From visiting perennial favorites off-hours to holiday shopping off the beaten path, here’s how residents and visitors alike can celebrate Christmastime in the city with a minimum of stress.
The best free spectacles to get you in the holiday spirit
While the well-known, over-the-top light show at Saks was canceled this year, other New York retailers have continued the tradition of lavishly decorating their windows and buildings to celebrate the holidays.
The display windows at Bergdorf Goodman are always wildly creative, and this year’s lights are inspired by the 200th anniversary of the official opening of Fifth Avenue. One tableau dramatizes the New York Public Library, cramming together madcap likenesses of typewriters, famous writers and the main building’s iconic marble lions. To avoid a jostling wall of heads blocking your view, go early in the morning or near midnight (same for viewing the always mobbed tree in Rockefeller Center).
Also worth viewing this year: the Louis Vuitton flagship store, at 57th Street. Its entire facade is “gift-wrapped” in the brand’s signature travel trunks, stupefyingly stacked to the sky.
Brightly lit Christmas trees in neighborhood parks are smaller in scale, but just as heartwarming. The East Village’s Tompkins Square Park tree was lit earlier this month, as were the trees in the Dumbo district in Brooklyn and in Washington Square Park in the West Village. On Christmas Eve, from 5 to 6 p.m., the Rob Susman Brass Quartet will perform in Washington Square Park, and caroling there is a 100-year-old tradition. The crowds can be intense, but everyone is in such a jolly mood it’s hard to be bah humbug about it.
City marvels worth the price
Traditional holiday shows across the city can be taken in for less if you go at quieter times.
At the Bronx’s New York Botanical Garden, book off-peak tickets (adults, $35; children, $25) for the captivating Holiday Train Show, where multiple toy train displays explore the city in miniature. Brooklyn Botanic Garden’s Lightscape (adults, off-peak $36; children, $18) has sumptuous new art-light installations ideal for holiday selfies. Timed entries gives you the space to angle for the right pose.
On Friday and Saturday evenings, the crowds simmer down at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which stays open until 9 p.m. Stroll around the Christmas tree and Neapolitan baroque crèche in the Medieval Sculpture Hall, which is ringed by arresting vignettes of the procession to the nativity scene (adults, $30 admission; seniors, $22; students, $17; pay-what-you-wish for New York State residents and students from New Jersey and Connecticut).
The Museum of the City of New York rarely gets congested, even for the delightful Gingerbread NYC: The Great Borough Bake-Off. Sugar- and spice-scented architectural fabrications, from Coney Island’s Wonder Wheel to the famed Dakota building, are on view until Jan. 12 (admission: adults, $23, seniors, $18; students, $14). Pastry chefs from each of the five boroughs are depending on your vote.
Another lesser-known museum that’s elegantly embellished for the holidays is the Merchant’s House on East Fourth Street. The actor John Kevin Jones annually wows audiences in the double parlor, performing “A Christmas Carol” as Charles Dickens (through Dec. 29; tickets $50-$130). Tip: Peruse the museum’s tiny gift shop for donated china, glassware and vintage jewelry.
If “George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker,” at New York City Ballet doesn’t entice, the Metropolitan Opera’s family-friendly “The Magic Flute,” directed by Julie Taymor, is another enchanting classic at Lincoln Center and cheap seats start at $35.
Several stunning churches throughout Manhattan offer seasonal music programs, some free, some not. There’s always St. Patrick’s Cathedral, of course, but also look into the calendars at St. Thomas on Fifth Avenue, Trinity Church Wall Street, the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine and the Church of St. Francis of Assisi. And tickets are on sale for the amazing Lucia concert on Dec. 14, presented by Svenska Kyrkan (Church of Sweden); this year it’s held at St. Bartholomew’s Church, on Park Avenue.
Festive drink spots without the crowds
Rolf’s, the German restaurant near Gramercy Park overstuffed to a bonkers level of holiday adornment, is already booked through Christmas, but the circa-1864 Pete’s Tavern is close by, also elaborately festooned, and serves eggnog spiked with bourbon ($20). To imbibe, try your luck walking in when it opens (11 on weekdays, noon Monday through Friday).
At the storied Bemelmans Bar, in the Carlyle Hotel, it’s first come first served. But to savor a classic martini ($25) without a frustrating wait or crowds, arrive well before 4 p.m. (it opens at noon).
Warming drinks certainly do not need alcohol — just flavor — and for those hot chocolate lovers, there are two must-haves in the city.
At Frenchette Bakery at the Whitney, a spoon could almost stand upright in its cup of dark, thick, creamy hot chocolate, which is topped with a marshmallow wedge torched to a golden luster ($10). In SoHo, the chef Dominique Ansel, who also invented the Cronut, serves a masterpiece of a concoction at his namesake bakery. In his silky, rich drink ($11), the marshmallow unfolds like flower petals when it hits the warm liquid.
Other hot chocolate drinks that stand out can be found at Jacques Torres, in Dumbo, where the “wicked” brew is spiked with chipotle (small $4; large $5.50), and at MarieBelle, whose sweet tearoom in SoHo serves a chocolaty blend of chilies, cinnamon and nutmeg in a china cup ($8). Finally, the hot chocolate at Angelina, a Parisian-style cafe near Bryant Park, is a fusion of three varieties of chocolate ($8.90 with a scoop of whipped cream). MarieBelle and Angelina get an avalanche of afternoon visitors, so go before noon.
Another local tip: There’s rarely a line — but there should be — at Roni-Sue’s Chocolates, a shop on the Lower East Side producing exquisite confections and frothy hot chocolate ($5), made with 65-percent Dominican cacao and steamed whole milk (oat milk is an option).
In-the-know places to pick up presents
Shopping for those less naughty on your list? The garlanded Macy’s and Bloomingdale’s tend to be jam-packed, so head to the lesser-known shop Delphinium Home in Hell’s Kitchen. The retailer stocks tree ornaments of Broadway legends like Chita Rivera and Billy Porter, and also sells a host of quirky bath and body products, throw pillows and oven mitts that might have raunchy sayings (“Oops, I’m Drunk” and “I’ve Got a Knife” are among the tamer ones).
For another unusual shopping experience, venture to the Bronx’s Arthur Avenue Retail Market, a year-round jumble of Italian meats, cheeses and hard-to-find pasta shapes. In its center is La Casa Grande, where Spanish-speaking cigar rollers ply their craft in public. If you’re passing through Grand Central Terminal to get there, poke around the Grand Central Holiday Fair, but other outdoor holiday markets can be found in Manhattan as well, with national and local vendors selling wares in Columbus Circle, Bryant Park and Union Square.
Two other stores with fun, local curiosities are Fishs Eddy, near Union Square, chock-full of mix-and-match dishware, bagel ornaments and animal-themed kitchen towels, and Exit 9 Gift Emporium, in the East Village. They carry a reminder that the rat is to New York what the lobster is to Maine — who wouldn’t want a felted pizza rat ornament? Brooklyn-made candles, street art coloring books and an “unofficial” Dolly Parton crochet kit make other swell gifts.
On the Lower East Side, visit the Tenement Museum’s gift shop, even if you’re not taking a tour, for Gotham-themed histories and cookbooks, subway map wrapping paper and a Staten Island Ferry toy replica. The nearby Economy Candy, in business since 1937, is a wonderland of nostalgic novelties, from weird Pop Rocks flavors to candy bars you thought no longer existed (5th Avenue bar?). To save time, place your order online and schedule a pickup.
Whoops, now that these secrets are out, it could ruin it for everybody. Oh, well, the holidays are all about giving, right?
The post A Local’s Guide to Celebrating the Holidays in New York appeared first on New York Times.
