The Skyscraper Museum - Big Adventure Recommends a visit

There are seemingly thousands of museums, galleries and the like in NYC, but some of the most interesting are the hardest to find. A solid entry in the "Lesser known yet amazing Museums of NYC" category, is The Skyscraper Museum. Near Battery Park in lower Manhattan, this small but mighty non-profit boasts fascinating exhibits series of interesting expert speakers, an ever-changing collection and a lively, excitable staff that could talk Big City Skyscrapers all day.

Billing themselves as experts in the world's first and foremost vertical metropolis, this unconventional museum operates in the shadow of some of biggest and oldest buildings in the city ever since the museum opened in the splendid new space in 2004. Founded in 1996, The Skyscraper Museum is a not-for-profit, educational corporation devoted to the study of high-rise building, past, present, and future.

Why go now? Because the new exhibit is the perfect way to beat the cold and get into the buildings without actually getting into the buildings.The very cool exhibit SUPERTALL is worth the five bucks entrance fee alone. SUPERTALL is all about the world's tallest buildings from Asia to Dubai that have been built since 2001 or scheduled to be completed in 2016. Visit now as the exhibit closes end the end of January. On their site, they even have this thought-provoking graph showcasing where the Supertall Skyscrapers have appeared across the globe over the last generation.

One of our favorite past exhibitions was 2011's Vertical Urban Factory which featured the innovative architectural design, structural engineering, and processing methods of significant factory buildings from the turn of the 20th century to the present. Now, over a century after the first large factories began to dominate Now, over a century after the first large factories began to dominate our cities, the exhibition posed the question: Can factories present sustainable solutions for future self-sufficient cities? Oooh! That's a true puzzler. Right up there with if you kill a mime in the woods, will it make any noise?

The big buildings of this town never cease to fascinate the Big Adventure and a visit provides a nice homage to all of them. Not to get overly sappy, but it is some concrete and steel poetry in the big city

39 Battery Place on the other side of the Ritz Hotel. 

$5 Admission, Open Wed-Sun Noon-6 PM.  

http://skyscraper.org/ -Phone: 212.968.1961

The Big Adventure Recommends: The Skyscraper Museum

There are seemingly thousands of museums, galleries and the like in NYC, but some of the most interesting are the hardest to find. A solid entry in the "Lesser known yet amazing Museums of NYC" category, The Big Adventure highly recommends The Skyscraper Museum. Near Battery Park in lower Manhattan, this small but mighty non-profit boasts fascinating exhibits series of interesting expert speakers, an ever-changing collection and a lively, excitable staff that could talk Big City Skyscrapers all day.

Calling themselves experts in the world's first and foremost vertical metropolis, this unconventional museum operates among some of biggest and oldest buildings sine it opened in it's new space in 2004. Founded in 1996, The Skyscraper Museum is a private, not-for-profit, educational corporation devoted to the study of high-rise building, past, present, and future. The museum just closed their stunning showcase on Wall Street that ran last year and will be opening a new installation on the "Vertical Urban Factory" on Wednesday, January 12th.

Why go now? Because the new exhibit is the perfect way to beat the cold and get into the buildings without actually getting into the buildings. Vertical Urban Factory features the innovative architectural design, structural engineering, and processing methods of significant factory buildings from the turn of the 20th century to the present. Now, over a century after the first large factories began to dominate our cities, the exhibition poses the question: Can factories present sustainable solutions for future self-sufficient cities? Oooh! That's a true puzzler. Right up there with if you kill a mime in the woods, will it make any noise?

The big buildings of this town never cease to fascinate the Big Adventure and a visit to this location provides a nice homage to all of them. Not to get overly sappy, but it is some concrete and steel poetry in the big city

39 Battery Place on the other side of the Ritz. $5 Admission, Open Wed-Sun Noon-6 PM. http://skyscraper.org/

Update: Brooke and Phil’s W Line Big Adventure!

Great News! Thanks to the wisdom and strong leadership of the New York State Assembly, the W Subway Line has been saved! Rejoice!

Our Big Adventure will no longer be shrouded in darkness as a somber day of mourning. Instead, it will be a rousing tribute to one of our favorite Subway Lines. Better yet, it will be a day to celebrate the W Line, enjoy one-of-a-kind NYC landmarks along the route, and honor all that we were so close to losing. We’re hoping to get a city proclamation announcing the day next Saturday, but that might be a touch unlikely.

Pack your Metro Card and join us for the Big Adventure NEXT Saturday, May 30th as we Celebrate the W Line! We’ll start near the Whitehall station in downtown Manhattan and slowly work our way to the Ditmars stop at the end of the line in Astoria.

We’ll get started around 1:00 PM with events continuing into the evening. Final details with specific times, addresses and locations to come next Wednesday night right here. Tentative stops and activities include:

Whitehall Street Stop– The adventure begins. Afternoon drinks and merriment at a downtown pub/bar in or near Battery Park. We’re narrowing down the perfect place…preferably with outdoor space. Perhaps Whitehorse Tavern or A.J Kelly.

8th Street Stop– Ah, its spring which means Street Fairs. This one is the legendary Washington Square Park Street Fair. From there, we will wander north to enjoy treats at legendary chocloatier Max Brenner’s place.

28th Street Stop – We’ll then swing by the Sex Museum (225 Fifth Avenue). You know you’ve always wanted to go. And technically it is a museum, so that gives us art street cred.

Broadway (Astoria) Stop – Next up is Break (32-04 Broadway) for the 2009 Winner-Take-All Air Hockey Tournament. On the second floor with all the amenities, you can also try your hand at Billiards, various games and Ping Pong played for some reason in mosquito nets. Oh yeah, hopefully, Drink Specials as well.

Ditmars Stop – Ending (beginning?) the evening at the historic & hip Bohemian Beer Hall which always makes for a good time. Bring a deck of cards. Although the rumor is that the set up has changed a bit this year at Astoria’s Best Known Bar. If the Beer Garden comes up short, we’ll ditch for a new beer hall around the corner that is also rumored to be amazing.

Plus, the usual fanfare of surprise and personal touches that accompany every Big Adventure.

Suggestions for the day are always welcome…Hope to see you next Saturday!

24-Hour Big Adventure Follow up...Plugging in the holes…

The 24-Hour Big Adventure- More Info

10:00 AM Saturday, September 13th- 10:00 AM Sunday, September 14th, 2008

Filling in some of the hour-by-hour gaps by the original list. After all, with no sleep and a 24-Hour Adventure, every hour must be filled. (all other original info is in the post below)

Also, we’ve gotten e-mails and calls from many of you who say you’re planning on dropping by at so and so times. As we said before, swing by whenever!

1:30 AM-3:30 or Later
Bar Hopping in Hell’s Kitchen- Valhalla and Circus Bar

Valhalla -9th and 53rd, Circus Bar – Circus Bar- 9th and 44th

So, among the Big Adventure Planners and committee members, there was a hubbub of disagreement concerning the best bars to visit in Hell’s Kitchen. The resolution: keep it simple. We’re going to start at Valhalla around 1:30 AM where they have a great atmosphere and many, many beers on taps as well as sampling and end at Circus bar – home of a half-assed circus theme, incredibly cheap beers and always something going on that’s a little north of shady (and I always get the impression that they never close). Depending on how it goes, we may stop at sundry bars along 9th Avenue between the two places as we walk/stagger. Call to locate us.


3:30 AM -4:30
Late Night Eating: Diner Grub

Mid-Town West

Time to refresh and refuel. Probably will stop at the Tick Tock Dinner or New Diamond Café or one of the other 50 24-Hour Diners located in Midtown or Hell’s Kitchen. Ah, isn’t New York great?

5:00 AM-7:30 AM

Watching the sun rise at Battery Park

133 West 33rd Street, Midtown Manhattan
http://www.batteryparkcity.org/

Ah, Daybreak. We’ll take the 1 Train to the tip of Manhattan to watch a new day dawn. Battery Park is said to have the best view of Sunrise on the island and we can point and laugh at the early, early morning runners at the secluded city park. We will the then be filled with inspiration and epiphanies and we’ll start some sort of crusade and take the world by storm in some manner. Stopping at a 24-Hour Starbucks is also part of this segment of the Adventure.


8:00 AM- 9:00AM
Appearance on the Today Show

Rockefeller Plaza
http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/3688676/

Okay, we’ll not really an appearance, but we’ll be those stupid people outside waving signs. Yes, both CBS and NBC host a Sunday Morning version of the weekday show that no one watches. And Yes, we’ll have signs to wave. Since there are only about a dozen people on Sunday, we should make quite an impact. Set the DVR and tell your great aunt who is up that early on Sunday to get ready to watch us hang with lesser-known anchor Lester Holt.

9:00 AM- 10:00 AM
Stuyvesant Town Farmers Marker

Fresh Veggies. Delicous. Home. Sleep. Wake up on Tuesday