Hi all, I'm on my third trip to nyc (on the bus from dc now) for a totally impromptu trip.

I've done most of the major touristy stuff minus ellis island.

Looking for a few recommendations:
1. Staying near murray hill/kips bay. Good bars or restaurants nearby?
2. Haven't done Brooklyn yet. If I wanted to get a quick sample of
the area that's near a metro stop, what would you recommend?
3. Any interesting events this weekend I should stop by, especially outdoors stuff?

I'm 32, looking for nice but not too dressy bars and restaurants. (literally got a bus ticket with 30 minutes notice and just threw some jeans and a buttondown in a bag)

Mostly just trying to find places with a cool atmosphere and friendly people to chat up that are near my age (late 20's to 30's).

Likes - good whiskey, cocktails, live music, documenatries. For food I wouldn't mind finding something exotic as long as the dress code is casual.
Not a fan of - sports bars, big clubs

Already have done on previous trips: rockefeller, moma, guggenheim, library, central park, highline(incredibly stupid), brooklyn bridge, avenue q, ucb comedy, a few bars (vol de nuit, mcsorleys, a few orher bars near st marks), shopping at uniqlo.

Sorry for the long post, but trying not to make this the usual generic "tell me cool places" post.


Thanks!

blasphemy

prob too late for your trip, but here are some ideas

frick museum and jp morgan library are cool low-key sights in manhattan

for brooklyn, you could take subway to borough hall, see the mta transit museum, then walk to brooklyn heights and along the promenade, and finish with pizza at grimaldi's

Looking to move into a new 3 bedroom in Gramercy or surrounding areas. I've been living in the same place for 3 years but want an upgrade. What a pain in the ass. So many brokers wasting my time. Every good deal is gone immediately. Anybody have a good reliable broker or a site that I might not know about? I'm checking out padmapper which someone above just mentioned.

Last time I rented I literally spent hours on Streeteasy. By far my favorite search site.

i like www.nybits.com

ate at ai fiori this weekend

it gets a big thumbs up

try the duck entre if you have a chance

Need something to do tonight -- three of us. Comedy club, museums, and broadway show have already been nixed. While it's fine if booze is around, it can't be like "go to bar," as one of the crew is in recovery. While he doesn't mind being around people drinking, we can't do "drinking" as our activity (which really kills most of my go-to options).

Been to Brooklyn Bowl, which was fun, but I really don't want to trek out to Williamsburg.

If time is an issue, we don't mind eating at 7 and then going out or eating at 10-11, after we've hung out for awhile.

TIA

Heading to NYC for the weekend in a few weeks. I was planning on staying at The London a few blocks from Central Park unless someone had a better and cheaper suggestion(if it is nearly equally as nice or nicer and in a good location) I'd be open to it. What are some good bars and restaurants(no sushi) in the area w/o doing the whole midtown touristy thing? I've been before but going with someone who has never been before so I'm sure we will end up doing Time Square but I don't want to make a whole night out of it.

Edit:
Going with a girl I'm dating so good date places is mostly what I'm looking for. Also some good daytime things other than the obv ones like walking through Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, shopping, would be much appreciated.

Also if anyone knows specifically of a good rooftop bar/lounge or restaurant w/ good city skyline views.

I've also been checking out hotels in the SoHo/Tribeca area and am actually leaning that direction so any suggestions in that area would be appreciated as well.

Lucid,

Trip dates and hotel budget?

Sept 28-Oct 1.

$300-400/night. I would rather keep it at $300/night but wouldn't be opposed to paying more if it was a decent amount nicer, or the hotel had a rooftop bar/restaurant.

I'm pretty open to any area of NYC except midtown really. I don't want to stay in Time Square. Near it but closer to Central Park would be OK though.

How tough would it be to get something like tickets to SNL assuming they are in filming season right now?

Gansevoort rooftop in meatpacking and Ava Lounge on top of the Dream Hotel in midtown both have great rooftops/views IMO. It will be packed on the weekends late at night though (gansevoort more so than ava) and drinks will be 15-20$.

TR: the 3 of us hit tkts and got tickets to Bullet For Adolf, the Woody Harrelson play (he wrote, he's not in it). Hit up Johns on 44th for pizza (fine, but nothing to write home about. But I'm a pizza snob) and caught the 8p show. Was weird, didn't have a clear plot, many wtf moments, but I laughed pretty hard throughout. IMO it was really funny. I'd recommend for the $38 total we paid per ticket. Would have been less happy paying 72. Finished the night at Milk Bar (@ ma peche). Candy bar pie is sickeningly sweet, cornflake choc chip marshmallow cookies are good, but holy **** the little birthday cake truffles are orgasmic. Gotta learn how to make those. 3 of us were ill from sugar at this point. Grasshopper pie and more cookies are happening for breakfast.

W,

No crack pie!?!!?

Yeah, I know. Did we screw up?

3 of us got there and ordered the bday cake truffles and 6 for $10 cookies (5 varieties: blueberry, corn, 2x choc chip/cornflake/marshmallow, confetti, and 'compost'. One of us wanted to try the candy bar pie and another wanted to try the grasshopper pie.

So we ate the 'truffles', most of the candy bar pie (was sickeningly sweet), and the extra choc chip/cornflake/marshmallow. We were pretty ill by then, so we saved everything else until today. Split the GH pie 3 ways with breakfast this AM. It was fine but not amazing. And we tried all the cookies split 6 ways. Confetti was the best imo, but the corn was surprisingly good, and all of them were pretty tasty.