When the lights go down in the city...

I walked home from work tonight in the misty rain, starving. I was missing San Francisco a bit, or at least being on vacation...The weather was so great when we were there, and although I was hungry there too, at least I wasn't detoxing fully so I got to eat and drink lots of good stuff.

We arrived late Thursday and took BART from OAK to Powell Street, in the heart of SF's Union Square area. After walking uphill with our luggage, through the red light district Tenderloin area, we made it to the York Hotel on Sutter St. Not only was it recommended by the New York Times, but it was one of the shooting locations of Hitchcock's classic Vertigo. Always aspiring to live a life noir, of course I tried to get the Kim Novak Room or the Vertigo Room but we had to settle for a different room down the hall. It's a quaint, clean hotel with few amenities but it's a great deal, and a slice of Old Hollywood.

Lots of SF is reminiscent of Old Hollywood in fact: it's similarly old but in a sort of mid-20th century way. I was thrilled to discover an SF outpost of LA's landmark Trader Vic's, a tiki-themed place I've always begged people to take me to but was never lucky enough to visit. Fortunately Edith was game so we sidled up to the empty bar and chatted up the bartender, Lars, drinking zombies and Mai Tai's and 23-year aged rum....Getting free mojito shots and tastes of smoky tequila....

That was really the only night we drank a lot. We tried to do everything in moderation, sharing plates at Zuni (where we split a delicious baked pear with a dessert gorgonzola and wildflower honey) and Colibri Mexican Bistro...We never got to try sushi but we did have a great meal and drinks in the Haight, a disgusting neighborhood that houses Amoeba and a bunch of stereotypically incense-soaked hippie stores. It's very strange to find Magnolia Pub & Brewery and The Alembic there - two lovely places that serve their own-brewed beer (draught and cask!), great food and beautifully crafted cocktails.

San Francisco is actually full of restaurants that serve craft beer, including their own local Anchor Steam. At Magnolia I had their Prescription Pale Ale, and I got to try Pranqster Belgian Style Golden Ale at Hog Island Oyster Co. on our way to Alcatraz...More on that later...

Fortunately we didn't just eat and drink while we were there, but we crammed too much into our short trip to write all about here now...But despite all the walking uphill (and hiking through Muir Woods), I still gained four pounds while I was away. Fortunately I've lost about two by detoxing again since my return.

Carving out my niche

My day started out spookily enough. After waking up at 6:30 a.m. to a hot apartment, I got back to sleep and was awakened again at 8 by my alarm going off one hour too early, thanks to Daylight Savings. When I woke up the second time I realized there was a huge scratch down my calf - I'm not sure whether I did it to myself during my weird dreams, or whether something else in my apartment did it. I've always thought my apartment was haunted - books falling off bookshelves, waking up thinking someone was in the room - but I hate to think something like that scratched me. Then again, I hate to think it was something else.

It doesn't help that my apartment is all tricked out for Halloween. I've got the Day of the Dead streamers and candy corn lights and fake blood dripping down the window, so no wonder I'm a little spooked. I can never have enough frightful stuff so I was thrilled today to come across the Party Box on Rt. 17 in Lodi, NJ. Dan was looking for a cape but I was looking for a few finishing touches to my decorations and devilish costume, and it satisfied our every need. It's a little more ghetto than Party City, but it will definitely be a destination to visit early in the season next year...

We were feeling festive anyway because we went to pick our own pumpkins at Demarest Farms in Hillsdale, NJ. Bergen County has some beautiful foliage right now that's only a bit past peak - mostly a golden yellow color rather than reds and oranges - and it was a beautiful day for a drive. Despite it being so late in the season, we found some great pumpkins and picked them amongst an odd group of pug dogs - I mean, a lot of pugs and their owners. Still trying to figure that one out, and how they could be all out of apples (much to Amy's chagrin).

I was disappointed to not try the hot cider and powdered donuts that were so good last year, but alas, not part of my detox (which is soon ending, thank god). Fortunately being 8 lbs lighter has given me steel will.

We did roast some pumpkin seeds with hot salt while we were carving, and I did partake of those...Check out the pics: this year I went for a spooky face rather than an abstract or modern art design, which I've done the past few years....

Upstate State of Mind

We drove up to Tuxedo, NY today for some Halloween festivities. We were hoping to make it farther upstate to Ulster County for their Headless Horseman attractions, but we didn't plan far enough ahead and it was sold out. So instead we took the Thruway to Route 17, to 17A and then took a left at "Fear" - the Forest of Fear, that is, in Sterling Forest on the site of the NY Renaissance Faire (something I have never visited).

We arrived a bit early, right when it opened at sundown, and felt a bit silly showing up with the sun still out, but it's a good thing we did. Man, this was the place to be. By the time we left around 8 p.m., there was a huge line to get in and a long wait for the attractions. It's totally the kind of place I would have gone on a date were it - and I - in Syracuse. And best of all we didn't feel old or silly at all being there because everybody from the area was there. And it's no wonder - the haunted house ("The Slaughterhouse") is awesome and truly startling. I nearly didn't make it through, only because I was going to try to hit on the guy in the vampire room....

There's a maze too in a weird circus tent full of deranged clowns who try to mess you up and make you lose your way, but we made it out of there pretty quickly. On our way out we passed some distressed ladies who seemed like they'd been in there for quite some time...

Before we left we took a ride on the Scrambler on their midway, despite our terror over how old it was and how half of it was broken. Since I haven't really been eating anything, I didn't get nauseous. We all managed to resist the "funeral" cakes and burgers and stuff they had there, and stuck to our detox.

Next weekend is pumpkin-picking, I think. If there are any pumpkins left.

The Forest of Fear is only about an hour and a half away from NYC metro area, a lovely drive for foliage-gazing along winding roads...

Here It Comes Again

I took Friday off to make this officially a three-day work week. With Monday off for Columbus Day, I got to actually enjoy last weekend. Good timing, too, since it was the annual Open House New York event, which has allowed me to explore the city's nether regions over the last few years.

This year we drove all the way down to southeast Brooklyn, spitting distance from the Rockaways, to Floyd Bennett Field - the city's first municipal airport, and the site of many historic flights (including Amelia Earhart). Park rangers who work for the National Park Service give regular tours, but last weekend they took us into all the "Authorized Personnel Only" areas, including a mezzanine and old residential quarters as well as tunnels under the old terminal building that have fallen in disrepair (and whose many stairwells have been filled with concrete or sandbagged shut).

One of the tunnels under the old terminal building, now Ryan Visitor Center

Another little-known fact is that you can just show up to one of the hangars and find volunteer engineers who will take you around and show you all the aircraft. We went to Hangar B, the big yellow one, and climbed up into old paratrooper planes, stuck our heads into cockpits, examined how salt water had eaten away at the aluminum of amphibious planes...Most of them can't fly but they're the real thing - only a couple are actually replicas.

After that I wasn't toured out yet, so I got dropped off in Flushing Meadows at the Queens Art Museum to take a tour of the old site of the World's Fair in Flushing Meadows-Corona Park. There are a few permanent structures left over from the demolition that happened after the 1964-5 World's Fair, including the art museum (formerly the New York City Pavilion). Most people recognize the Unisphere, which has become a symbol for Queens (and is often televised with coverage of the US Open). But I think few people know about the old heliport (now a catering hall called Terrace on the Park which looks like a big table), or the old New York State Pavilion ("The Tent of Tomorrow"). The state pavilion is heartbreaking to look at - a series of three observation decks (with an elevator stuck 2/3 of the way up) plus an open round structure with a rotting floor that used to showcase a map of the NY metro area. There are some amazing photos online, and apparently a campaign to turn the site from ruins into a space museum.

The Hall of Science was really cool too, and since it's always open to the public, I need to go back. The building itself is architecturally weird, with its undulating exterior wall made of blue glass embedded in concrete. An aerial view shows you its amoeba-like shape. As part of the special tour we got access to the Great Hall, where you can actually see what the blue glass/concrete wall looks like from the inside, with the sun shining through. The Great Hall is a catering hall too, and probably a pretty impressive for events with its unusual lighting, wavy walls and high ceiling. Getting access to it was definitely a highlight of the tour. I wanted to lie down and sleep in there.

Getting home was a struggle since a building fell on the 7 train, but after wandering around that area and finally hopping on a shuttle bus, I feel like I've conquered another piece of Queens. But when will OHNY do guided tours of Glendale?

Ain't That America

I just came back from Indiana. The rest of the state has to be better than where I was.

The Chicagoland area encompasses the northernmost part of Indiana, including Gary (made famous by The Music Man) and Michigan City, both of which run along the south shore of Lake Michigan. We flew into Chicago on Friday for a bachelor/ette party and then headed wayyy out to Michigan City on Saturday to spend the rest of the weekend doing more wedding-related activities (mostly eating).

I have to say, I was unimpressed with both.

I've been to Chicago before, but on business trips staying in a nice hotel and not really seeing suburbs (except Highland Park, where Michelle is from). This time around I got to drive around the southern neighborhoods (yikes - I swear it's stuck in 1979) and eat deep dish pizza for the first time at Lou Malnati's (I like Uno's better). Even though I'm the groom's friend, I got stuck with the bachelorette festivities, which was planned as a sleepover. The problem is, we didn't really do anything. There was a bellydancing instructor who came to give us a lesson, but she wasn't very good and just did a lot of talking and not a lot of teaching. I don't think we really learned anything, and I felt like an expert compared to her. Can't wait to go back to Crunch and take another class with Mimi.

The best part was staying over in an amazing converted loft apartment in the old Rowe Building on Printer's Row near the Loop in downtown Chicago. The bride's sister-in-law has an amazing space and it was cool to be in such a historic area I'd never seen, with the El tracks looming above...

It was too bad we had to drive the hour and a half out to Michigan City, but we did some exploring there too. I knew that there were a lot of dunes along the beach shore, and we got to see one for ourselves: Mt. Baldy, a huge mountain made of sand that - because of wind, erosion and other environmental factors - actually moves 4 ft. every year. It looms 123 ft. high above the Lake Michigan shore and there's only one way to get to the top: a practically vertical climb of pure sand, flanked by foresty trees. I was certain I'd never make it up there but after taking my time, I managed to ascend to the flat top and see the gorgeous and bizarre view (obstructed only by the weird fossil fuel plant next door). By the time we stumbled down the vertical drop to the bottom (some ran, I squished my bare feet in very slowly and carefully), our legs were covered up to the knees in sand, grains like cinnamon sugar, soft and sweet between our toes.

Michigan City has this nature thing happening but it's also riddled with chain restaurants and big discount superstores. For a small town, it has no small town feel - only highways, a weird casino that's half boat / half building, and tons of cigarette/tobacco shops and fireworks stores. I was happy to eat at the Bob Evans for breakfast, but I don't know if that was because it's good or because I was anxious to get away from my repulsive motel room with the terrifyingly dirty bedspread.

The wedding today took us back to nature, at the International Friendship Gardens. It looks like they have a great variety of gardens and hiking trails there, but we stuck to the official wedding area which, although chilly today, was a beautiful venue for a marriage ceremony.

I'm glad I was there this weekend - after all, it's all about friendship - but I'm betting that Vic's December wedding in St. Thomas is going to give me a more enjoyable vacation.

Labor Day Weekend Travels Part II

The trip back today went relatively smoothly. I did get to stop in Scranton and eat at Perkins, though their "new-improved" salad bread bowl is really bizarre, and not that tasty. But it's still a great place to eat, even by yourself, and I got a sugar cookie to go, to keep me company on the rest of the trip home.

I left Syracuse a bit later than I wanted to (making a requisite stop at Carousel mall), so of course I was pretty much rushed the whole way back to Newark. Instead of stopping at every scenic overlook and taking pictures like I wanted to, I treated the trip back as more of a fact-finding mission for the next time I drive through that way. Besides all the previously mentioned restaurants, there's also The Crossings outlet mall, and Bushkills Falls (known as "The Niagara of Pennsylvania"). Plus, Pennsylvania (esp. the Scranton area) has all these coal mine tours, and even a mining museum. Probably great family vacation attractions, which means of course I want to go.

But today I spent a long time in stand-still traffic on 80E, and soon thereafter my check engine (or check oil?) light went on, so I was anxious to drop that frickin' rental car off in Newark.

By the way, if the car rental company asks you whether you prefer a KIA Rio or Optima, tell them "Neither. Give me a car with a quiet transmission and a steering wheel that doesn't shake."

Labor Day Weekend Travels Pt 1

I rented a car today and drove up from Newark, NJ to Syracuse, NY. What a shithole Newark is. The last time I rented a car there (which is much cheaper than Manhattan), I was driving home for Christmas, and I got terribly lost getting to the highway. Finding my way went much more smoothly and quickly today, and soon I was careening down Route 80 in the rain, through the Poconos and the Del Water Gap, past the area where I went skydiving last year for my birthday.

I smartly planned my trip upstate with Maria in two sections: two hours to Scranton, pit stop, and then two hours to Syracuse. We made a detour outside of Scranton to Clarks Summit, a cute mountain town that houses all the chain restaurants you could ever want, including the only open Bennigan's I've seen in months and Waffle House. They also have a crazy restaurant right next to Waffle House called Vince the Pizza Prince, whose structure is an actual castle. I'll have to eat there one day but today I was hell-bent on introducing Maria to the famous waffles and coffee.

I think on my way back to NYC on Monday I'll drive the same way and stop to eat at one of the several fully operational Perkins restaurants in the Scranton area. I thought they were all long gone (the Syracuse locations having been replaced by Denny's), but lo and behold, they're all over the place (including three on Staten Island!).

Weather is crap and I'll probably skip the State Fair this year. Hope the visibility on the ride back is better than on the way up here.

A rainy night in New York

The rain didn't stop us from enjoying the Dutchess County Fair last night, whose crowd was pleasantly light because of the weather. By hell or high water, we were going to eat veggie tempura and sausages & peppers and buy dozens of tickets to ride the rides. I haven't been that nauseous in a long time, and not only because of the fried food but because of the very looooong rides whose repetitive motion always bothered me as a child and now is practically unbearable to the adult me.

I also fed a llama and a camel from my hand which was nauseating in a completely different way.

Worst of all was a new ride for me, the Cliff Hanger which mimicks hang gliding but lasts forever and just goes in circles. But fortunately, by the time we went on that ride, we'd already enjoyed the Zero Gravity (formerly known to me as the Round-Up), 1000 Nachts (formerly known to Mike as the Rainbow) and swing rides as well as my staple, bumper cars.

After the Cliff Hanger I ran right over to Bob Maxwell's Walk-A-Way Sundae stand to experience the magical healing powers of square vanilla ice cream covered in chocolate and peanuts on a cone. Cures a sick tummy every time.

The drizzle also did not deter us from dipping into the hot tub when we got back to Mike's house. Somehow it only feels right when the weather is chilly and gloomy like yesterday, and it's pitch black out.

The quick trip was a bit exhausting but we managed to get up in time today to drive to Cold Spring and grab a meal at Cold Spring Depot, the haunted old train station that's been converted into a restaurant. I'm pretty sure we sat in the exact spot where the woman who haunts the station was originally murdered. I felt a little nauseous there, too.

And now back home to NYC where I have to try to explain to people what things are like Upstate.

Christmas in August

Yes, that's me right in the front, second from left in the pic

Last night I went out to the Audio Magick studio in West Babylon (that's Long Island, yo) to sing backup vocals for the new Twisted Sister Christmas album.

Of course I wasn't hand-picked for the gig. In fact, the invitation had nothing to do with whatever talent I may or may not have. But fortunately working in the music industry has its perks, and one of them happens to be a bizarre opportunity such as this, when a band needs a lot of voices and free labor.

Being the Christmas music afficionado that I am, it was hard for me to stand back and not music direct the whole thing ("no, you're going too slow!"), but actually Mark and Jay Jay did a great job corralling us and making the whole night really fun, despite our hunger and the hot temperature of the small studio.

We didn't get to meet Dee, but we sang "Deck the Halls," "Silver Bells," "Let It Snow," "O Come All Ye Faithful" and their take on "The Twelve Days of Christmas" called "Heavy Metal Christmas." Look for my name in the liner notes - Twisted Christmas comes out later this year on Razor & Tie. A proud moment for my recording debut.

Did I mention I love Long Island?

[Edited on 5/21/16 8:52 p.m. PT to fix broken links and photos]

I have complete control of the vehicle.

The Dodge Caliber is a weird little car. I rent a lot of cars, but never has the driver seat been so much higher than the passenger seat, and never have I needed to adjust the steering wheel. It's a strange little box - roomy enough - but its small size and sturdy build actually make it hard to see outside of the car. I have a hard enough time changing lanes and checking my blindspot - thank God I had Mike in the backseat saying things like "Watch out for that car in front of you."

We drove down to Six Flags Great Adventure yet again yesterday, this time to see Club Kidz Bop - I'll withold my reviews. The weather was terrible, but Six Flags apparently never closes because of rain, and we had to go there for work anyway, so off we went despite the bleak forecast (which our resident meteorology expert Mike confirmed).

Lucky enough this time we actually got to do the Daredevil Dive, which was probably the highlight of the day. Mike missed it because he wandered off for an Italian ice, but had he stayed he would've seen me and Edith being strapped together, tethered and launched 157 ft. up into the air, clutching onto each other, arms interlocked. We were then released, bungee-style, to swing back and forth over the crowd. A good precursor to skydiving for anyone who's never done it. And it wasn't scary at all for me, except for that moment before the freefall (but thankfully you're suspended by a strong tether instead of hurdling towards the ground). You can do the ride with up to three people bundled together, so we're looking for a third participant for the next time....
We also rode Nitro based on Mike's recommendation, and I too had a visual fade-out - not a full-on blackout, but everything turned sort of purple as the ride banked over that last turn. Very satisfying, especially since the threatening sky and severe thunderstorm warnings closed down the rest of the rides for most of the day.

A decent dinner at Champps bar & grill in Edison's Menlo Park Mall gave us a good break from the rain, and when we were done we had a relatively short drive home. Finding a lucky meter-free parking spot on 25th Street helped me get into bed at a decent hour, and when I checked the car this morning I discovered that there was no damage to the car, despite hitting the curb on a flooded highway exit when a deluge of water hit our windshield the night before. Relieved, I gave that weird red Caliber back to Dollar car rental by 10 a.m. and came home to go back to bed.