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

Key Stop on The NYC Hidden Gems Big Adventure? Muppets at the Museum

 Over the next few days, we'll be announcing each and every stop on the Hidden Gems Big Adventure.  We’re delighted to reveal that one of marquee stops will be to the often forgotten yet amazing Museum of The Moving Image in Astoria where we’ll take a guided tour and enjoy the exhibition “Jim Henson’s Fantastic World” or, as it’s being called, The Muppet Showcase!

 Oh, yes. The Big Adventure will be all over this exhibit on Saturday, October 15th. 

 

The Astoria museum that shares a rich history with Kaufman Astoria Studios recently re-opened with a completely renovated home and endless screenings, special exhibitions and tours. However, that talk of the town has been this Muppet exhibit which is getting incredible reviews. 

We've even been following the Mupper Twitter Feed, hilariously run by balcony grumps Statler and Waldorf, juts to get pumped up. 

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/

The Coney Island and Carnival Big Adventure Final Itinerary!

The Coney Island and Carnival Big Adventure!

For the photo gallery from this Big Adventure click here!

The Coney Island and Carnival Big Adventure went down on Saturday, August 28^th we wanted to send out the complete itinerary and detailed plan for the day! We were extremely excited for a chance to bid farewell to Summer and kept our fingers and toes crossed for great weather. We started around 1:45 PM in the East Village, trekking out to Coney Island and ending back in Manhattan later that evening. 

As always, you can join us at any stop along the way and The Big Adventure is open to all and we encourage you to bring friends, loved ones, etc. Be forewarned that the bars we’re visiting all have two things in common: they all sell Coney Island Lager and they are all Cash Only. Also, Make sure you bring your ID - we’ve found some of these places would even card our 93 year-old grandpappy. Feel free to also bring gear for the beach if you choose. Perhaps a Frisbee, bathing suit or favorite Dick Dale record. 

1:45 PM- Ace Bar and Skee-Ball Tournament - 531 E 5th St (between Avenues A & B). Well kick things off at one of our most beloved game related bars which is opening a touch early just for The Big Adventure crowd. This is also home to the Inaugural Big Adventure Winner-Take-All No-Holds-Barred Skee-Ball Tournament. We’ll be playing on dueling lanes for prizes, a cash purse, fame and bragging rights. 

3:30 PM- VIP Transportation to Coney Island- If you want to ride down to the beach (and back) in style, we’re leaving from Ace Bar right at 3:30. A truly amazing ride would have a DVD player, comfy seats, A/C, a bar and more! Yeah, we’ll have none of that. But our bus will be very, very yellow.



4:15 PM(ish) –Our bus arrives at our featured destination and we head right to Freak Bar and Coney Island Circus Sideshow- Surf Avenue and 12^th. We’ll hang out in the laid-back lounge enjoying local craft beers before heading into the freak show. (Show tickets should be about $5-7.) From this home base, we’ll also explore The 99 Cent Coney Island Museum, The Coney Island Lager Mini-Brewery, El Dorado Bumper Cars (where $6 unleashes that inner road rage warrior),The El Dorado Arcade and legendary Nathan’s where Brooke and Phil will try to eat 59 ½ hot dogs in twenty minutes.

7:00 PM(ish) –Ruby’s and Beer Island- Coney Island Boardwalk –We’ll move up to the beach and imbibe right on the boardwalk as our bar visits continue. We’ll hit the last family owned bar in Coney Island, complete with surly bartenders (Ruby’s) and a sand inspired spot with beach umbrellas and a hundred-bottled beers all priced at five dollars (Beer Island). From here, you can venture out to explore The Wonder Wheel, The Cyclone ($8 to ride, but the coaster thrill is apparently not to be missed) and Shoot The Freak where “the freak” has to be one of the worst jobs on Earth. 

 
9:00 PM—We promptly depart Coney Island via our yellow bus and arrive back in Manhattan after a bit at Otto’s Shrunken Head 538 E 14th St (also between Avenues A & B) Otto’s is a world class Tikki Bar with great, cheap drinks. We’ve set up some fantastic drink specials just for the Big Adventure. If the Photo Booth and impressively strong specialty drinks like the Volcano Blast aren’t reason enough to visit this pharmacy turned bar, the rockabilly band playing in the back will be. 

 Midnight – Led Zeppole 328 E 14th St (between 1^st and 2^nd Avenue) From Otto’s, we’ll take a short walk to our late night final fair food stop. This beloved but tiny gem offers the city’s finest in Fried Oreos, Cream Puffs, Funnel Cakes, Cannolis and the Italian-donut like creation: the Zeppole!

Hope to see you next Saturday, August 28^th for a day we promise that will be unique, affordable and distinctly NYC