Photos from The W Subway Line Big Adventure

Some quality snapshots from throughou the day on the last Big Adventure in late May In New York City during the W Line Big Adventure - From Ulysses' at Whitehall Street in Downtown Manhattan all the way to the Beer Garden at Ditmars Blvs in Astoria and many places in between. Selected for your viewing pleasure...

You can take a gander at all of the photos and leave some comments over on Flickr

Final Itinerary for The Salute To The W Line

Below is a fine, detailed and well spelled list of where we will be and when on Saturday, May 30th...


1:00 PM – Whitehall Street Stop – Ulysses Bar – 95 Pearl Street. We’ll begin the Big Adventure at a great downtown pub. Spacious and Historic, Ulysses is best known for their drink specials, great food and raw bar (which is great because there is nothing Brooke loves more than uncooked fish) Brave the meandering downtown corridors and walk straight up either Pearl or Stone street.

We’ll then trek through Washington Square Park for a bevy of events that may or may not be happening. Free Street Fairs, events and such are tricky like that.

3:30 PM – Union Square Stop– Max Brenner’s – 841 Broadway. Get ready to enjoy some of the finest confections in New York as prepared by the legendary “Chocolate By The Bald Man” at the Israeli chocolatier’s largest US Location.

5:00 PM – 28^th Street Stop – Museum of Sex – 253 Fifth Avenue at 27^th Street. Current exhibits include The Sex Lives of Animals, Sex and The Moving Images, The Sex Lives of Robots (?!) and more. And….the filter for all of your work interneting just sent this whole e-mail right to your IT administration team.

7:15 PM – Broadway Stop (Astoria) – Break– 32-04

Broadway at 32^nd Street (upstairs). More than just a Pool Hall, it’s a large pool hall with never ending drink specials, an excellent pub menu, cheap billiards and, of course, The Inaugural Brooke and Phil Air Hockey Tournament! No Holds Barred! Winner Takes All!

9:30 PM – Ditmars Stop – Bohemian Beer Hall Garden– 2919 24th Avenue at 29^th Street. It all culminates here. Voted again and again, one of the best bars in New York City. Most of you have a great Beer Garden story. If you don’t yet, join us, grab a seat on picnic bench, a stein of Czech beer and prepare to enjoy.

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!

Farewell To The W Line Adventure - Saturday, May 30th

Spring is here and we’re gearing up for another Big Adventure. Mark your calendars for Saturday, May 30^th. That’s when we will bid a fond farewell to the New York Subway “W” Line.

Soon, this nefarious Economic Down Turn and the MTA Budget Cuts will wipe out this entire route for good (along with the Z line). Since we moved to NYC, the W line has hauled us from sundry spots from downtown Manhattan to the edge of Astoria. Over the course of the afternoon and evening, we’ll ride the rails and make several fun and irreplaceable stops to pay tribute to the friendly giant W symbol. Plus, you’ll enjoy the last low fares before the insane jump in cost on June 1^st.

We plan to start the day around 1:00 PM or so and work our way from Battery Park at Whitehall Station downtown and probably end at Ditmars Station in Astoria. We’ll make a few quality stops right off the line which will likely include an Afternoon Air Hockey Tournament, some one-of-a-kind food stops, definitely a visit to the Astoria Bohemian Beer Garden (oh yeah) and much more.

As with all Brooke and Phil Adventures, we promise that the day will be unique, affordable and distinctly NYC. Detailed Information forthcoming in the next two weeks, but we wanted to get it on your radar.

We hope that you’ll join us for one last trip down the W Line before it fades away for good…

The Big Adventure Returns This Spring!

Ah, Great News for all. After a brief hiatus over the winter, Brooke and Phil's Big Adventure returns with vigor and vengeance this spring. We've got some tricks up our sleeves but are waiting till will shore up all the details to spread the word. So...um...get ready to mark your calendars once we have dates for you to mark?

In the meantime, feel free to peruse photos from our last event, The 24 Hour Big Adventure.

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

Announcing: The 24-Hour Big Adventure

It’s that time again! As promised, all the plans are set and we hope that you’ll join us for the 24-Hour Brooke and Phil’s Big Adventure as we trek through the city that never sleeps. This one has been in the making for a long time and the perfect way to give a Gotham farewell to Summer and a NYC hello to Fall.

Brooke and Phil's 24-Hour Big Adventure –

10:00 AM Saturday, September 13^th-

10:00 AM Sunday,

September 14th, 2008

Up, Down & All Around New York City

So, once upon a time over drinks with friends last Spring, the question was asked, what can one do for twenty-four straight hours in New York City? (Aside from watching two dozen episodes of a Kiefer Sutherland packed marathon) The better question, we have found, is what can’t you do in 24 hours?. Below is the brief itinerary for our next Big Adventure. As per usual, all the stops are meant to be a) unique to NYC b) relatively cheap, c) incredibly fun and d) for just about everyone. And, no, sleep is not on the menu. Feel free to meet up with us at any stop on the way. Check back on Monday, September 8^th for final details and plans.

10:30 AM-11:30(ish)

Brunch at Kitchenette

156 Chambers Street. TriBeca

http://www.kitchenetterestaurant.com/brunch.html

Gotta fuel up for the day. This off-the-beaten-bath kinda cutesy, kinda delicious place offers such fine treats as The Bridgehampton – silver dollar pancakes topped with fresh fruit and yogurt.

Noon – 1:30 PM

New York Transit Museum

(AKA The Subway Museum)

Boerum Place and Schermerhorn Street, Brooklyn Heights

http://www.mta.info/mta/museum/

Five bucks gets you in to one of the most underrated museums in the city. Placed in an actual decommissioned subway station, they have everything from 1920s subway cars to a collage of subway tokens (or just buy the cuff links!)

1:45- 4:00 PM

Tour of The Brooklyn Brewery

79 N 11th St, Brooklyn

http://www.brooklynbrewery.com/about/

Free tour and cheap beer samplings in their custom beer hall make this one a no-brainer

7:30- 11:30 PM

OSU/ USC Game at Stout

133 West 33^rd Street, Midtown Manhattan

http://www.stoutnyc.com/

We’re working on getting a special section (perchance private pool room?) for the biggest college football game of the early fall. Don’t like the pigskin? It’s a great bar with some of the best pub grub in the city

Midnight- 1:30 AM

Upright Citizen’s Brigade

307 W. 26th Street, Chelsea

http://newyork.ucbtheatre.com/

Five bucks gets you into some of the best comedy improv in the country. Alums include Amy Poehler, Jason Sudekis and more. Each time Brooke and I have gone, we laughed so hard that our noses bled on everyone. Wait…that’s kinda disgusting.

1:30 AM -3:30 AM

Finest Bars in Hell’s Ktichen

Still narrowing the field, but we’re down to Valhalla, Circus Bar, Vinyl and more

scattered throughout Hell’s Kitchen.

3:30 AM on…

Other Events include fine late,late night dining, watching the sun rise in the best location in Manhattan, being part of the Sunday Morning Today Show/CBS Sunday Morning News, Free Outdoor Concerts and much more. 24 Hours in total. Ts to be crossed, Lower case Js to be dotted. Of course, advance feedback and suggestions are always appreciated.

As always, we’ll also have a handful of surprises and a few things to spice up your day along the way. I’m not making any promises, but two people whose names rhyme with O’llama and McDain may be there in person.

Hope to see you on September 13^th and 14^th! Check back on Monday, September 8^th for final details and plans.
Thanks…

-Brooke and Phil