One for the Road: Hidden New York

by Kelly Amabile on

Today’s New York book recommendation is for travelers in search of a more organic approach to exploring the city. This collection of 32 “Places That Matter” (and their offshoot “sister sights”) offers visitors a unique cultural perspective on the five boroughs. Hidden New York is the result of collaboration between folklorists and city historians, wishing to tell the story of NYC’s secret spots and distinctive communities.

Here’s an example of what sets this guide apart from the rest: While yesterday’s book suggestion offers travelers specifics on shops to visit in the Flower District, Hidden New York offers up a deeper look, including a 10-page history of the bustling W. 28th St. market and interviews with shop owners about the future of Manhattan’s wholesale flower business. They provide similar backstory for each of their 32 featured “destinations.”

The authors encourage visitors to explore the lore of subway art, wooden water towers and historic public spaces like Union Square and Grant’s Tomb. Unique communities where bird-watchers, fishing fans and chess aficionados can gather are also highlighted, underscoring the book’s theme of showcasing “where people and place intersect.”

This is a book that even locals will love and learn from — I can’t imagine that every New Yorker already knows about the Tic-Tac-Toe Chicken in Chinatown?! Hidden New York is a guide to be used again and again, by natives and those just passing through. The authors invite readers to visit and re-visit these landmarks, to engage with these sacred sights and gain insight on the importance of cultural conservation to ensure these traditions and spaces survive.

Bug Fair!

by Neil Woodburn on

It’s almost Spring and that means time for the 21st Annual Bug Fair!

As you can tell by the great photograph above from last year’s event, the bug fair is a big hit with tykes who can’t get enough of the creepy crawlies. The event, held at the Los Angeles Natural History Museum May 20-21, is the largest bug fair in North America with over 60 vendors and thousands of wide-eyed kids.

Those who venture through the doors of the museum on this weekend will be treated to hissing cockroaches, rhino beetles, tarantula feedings, and cooking demonstrations from a couple of “insect chefs.” I’ll bet they steam up the big guy in the photo above and serve him in a hot dog bun with a bit of mustard. Mmm…

May Day is Lei Day: Have a Happy One

by Jamie Rhein on

In Hawaii, May Day is Lei Day. That makes sense. The holiday, started back in 1928 by poets Don Blanding and Grace Tower Warren with May Day as a template, is meant to celebrate flowers and spring Hawaiian style. Since leis are kind of like May Day baskets you wear around your neck, wearing a lei on May Day is a perfect fit. I read on hawaiianlanguage.com, this day was a huge ta-do in the past. From one woman’s account, it sounds like schools closed and it was flower mania for everyone.

There are Lei Day activities in various parts of Hawaii today. Some continue on through the week. Here’s a professionally made video on Lei Day that gives a polished, historical look, including an overview of activities. For the history of the lei, click here.

The first time I went to Hawaii, my great aunt and great uncle who lived on Oahu met my husband and me at the airport and put leis around each of our necks. Think of rolling around in a field of the most fragrant flowers and that’s what it’s like to wear a lei.

Things to do in New England: It’s Not Totally Too Late

by Jamie Rhein on

At explore new england, there’s a list of “10 things not to miss in New England in April” and I haven’t seen done one of them. I don’t live in New England which is one excuse-a big one.

The items on the list range from visiting the Newport Mansions in Rhode Island–there are 11– to skiing. Some events could not happen anywhere but here. Fishing season starts on April 14 and the Kenduskeag Canoe Race in Bangor, Maine can’t really take place in Kentucky. Canoeing in Bangor, Maine? In April? All I can wonder about is how cold is it anyway?

And not to beat National Poetry Month to death, but number 10 on the list of “10 things not to miss in New England in April” is to visit Robert Frost territory in New Hampshire and Vermont. The farm where he lived is in New Hampshire, but in the Green Mountain National Forest in Vermont where he spent some time, Frost’s poems are engraved on plaques fastened to trees along the Robert Frost Interpretive Trail.

The comforting thing about this list is that even though April is past, it’s not too late to do some of the things. There’s May.

Keats and the Hampstead and Highgate Festival

by Jamie Rhein on

This is the last day of National Poetry Month. Although this month is an American invention, here’s a poet whose influence on American poets is unquestioned, and whose former home is now a museum and poetry center. John Keats lived in this elegant house from 1818 to 1820. Back then the house was actually two houses that were later joined together.

Keats wrote several of his most famous poems here maybe because of his love for the girl next door. Fanny Brawne and Keats were supposed to marry, though theirs is a sad tale of romance cut short by illness. Keats had tuberculosis, not the best affliction to have when living in London. He headed to Italy and died there at age 25 without ever seeing Fanny again.

The Keats House Museum is in the London suburb of Hampstead. From May 9-19, the Keats House Museum is part of the Hampstead and Highgate Festival that includes concerts and community arts events.

The first four lines of Keats’ poem, “The four seasons”

” FOUR Seasons fill the measure of the year;
There are four seasons in the mind of man:
He has his lusty Spring, when fancy clear
Takes in all beauty with an easy span. . .”