A re-cap (full of holes) of my trip to NYC!
Left NC at 8:30 (technically it was around 9). On the way to my gate, I saw this: a vending machine for awesome electronics.
I arrived in NYC Thursday morning around 10:00am (right on time baby!) (first photo of the city, taken by the guy sitting across from me, I asked him to send it to me) and took my first cab ride of the trip to my room. They knew my plane arrived at 10, and check-out is at 11, so when I got there, I expected to be able to check-in quickly. NOPE! I was told my room wouldn't be ready until 1! WTF? They tell me I can leave my things while I'm waiting, so I decide to go for a walk around the area I'm in (West Harlem, not a bad part of town, but kind of close to it). Before I go walking, I meet the house cat Phoebe.
I get back around 1, only to be told my room has been ready for a while now. FFS! And my legs are so cold! Apparently I arrived in the city on the coldest day of the year. Nice. My cabbie was so awesome. He asked if I knew of the New Year's surprise of Lady Gaga being the one to press the button to drop the ball! ♥
I get checked into my room and put on some long johns under my pants. Much better! Then I went back out. I walked around a little more, then caught a cab to McGee's Pub (the inspiration for How I Met Your Mother). Sadly, I was disappointed by this place. I thought the show was actually filmed in NYC, but nope! Filmed in LA, on the same sound stage as Bones apparently (MacLaren's is literally right up the street from Royal Diner, go figure!). They had 2 cast pictures up, & a small note on the menu about the show, but that was it. I ordered some chicken tenders, but they were quite tasteless. Perhaps more so than McDonald's. Ew!
After I left McGee's I decided to go to Barney's to see Gaga's Workshop! And along the way I walked past Radio City Music Hall, Trump Tower, Henri Bendel's and Harry Winston. I was too intimidated to even walk into Harry Winston's. lol! Next time I'm in the city, I may get up the nerve to walk in. ;) And I'm honestly not sure what store this was, but it had AMAZING windows!
Window 1 // Window 2 // Window 3 // Window 4 // Window 5 // Window 6 (window 6 is my favorite!)
But Gaga had amazing windows too! Sadly, my battery on my phone was almost dead, so I didn't take pics until I went back Monday. But I did manage to get this gem! One of the windows had a screen showing the Constellation video and telling people to tweet your wishes to Gaga. This one was honestly the best one I saw! =3
But I did buy this! It's so cute! I also bought the Little Monster 4 pack. The green one is so freaking adorable!! After this, I decided to go back to my room b/c it was quite dark & my phone was practically dead (the battery % was RED, zomg!) and I figured the first night I walk around alone in the streets near my room, I should have a better charge, right?
The next morning, I wake up to a sore throat and a knocked over cup of water. I clean up the water and decide today will be the day I try to see if I can find JoAnne's and the old Stanton St apt. I knew that Gaga grew up about 2 blocks from the restaurant, so I did a little research and found what could be the Germanotta address. I took my first subway ride down to the Upper West Side. But first, I needed breakfast. Hello White Castle! My order was simple enough. A bacon, egg and cheese on toast, hash rounds, and an apple juice. Just one. Somehow the woman taking my order heard EIGHT instead of A. Because I apparently didn't know how to read subway maps, instead of getting onto a train that got off close to the addresses I was looking for, I ended up getting off at Central Park. I walked around the park for a little bit, snapped some pics, and then started the up hill trek to the address I'd found online. As I was walking, I found out I wasn't as close as I needed to be & didn't feel like walking all that way, so I hopped on the subway again. And who do I see?? BYRAN from All Worked Up! haha! He was wearing his signature blue tooth & everything.
So I FINALLY get to the right neighborhood, but being directionally challenged as I am, I head down the wrong street first. I get to the street # I'm looking for before I realize I'm a street before the one I was looking for. Oops! So I go back to the end and try again. That's better! This is what I came across first!
Of course it was closed, school was out for the holiday break. Onward I went! I then came to the address I'd found, and thought this could surely be the right place! I'd find out a few minutes later that it was!
I was just reading on the buildings website, and they actually ADVERTISE that Lady Gaga used to live here (but neglects to mention her parents still do).
Singer/songwriter Stefani Germanotta, better known by her performing name Lady Gaga, grew up in *** ******* where she once lived and attended Convent of the Sacred Heart School, the same private all-girls school attended by Paris Hilton and her sister Nicky.
The building actually has a pretty rich history, but no, it's not connected to the Illuminati. :p
I realized that it was the right address when this pulled up, complete with Gaga's driver!:
Sadly, she wasn't in the Suburban, but a guy came out of the condo carrying a box marked with Gaga X Richardson books. And a few moments later, Cynthia came out! EEE!!! I asked if I could get a pic, but she apologized, saying she was in a hurry, but said "New Year's Kisses" and blew me kisses. OhEmGee! Had I been more of a pro at working my camera phone, I'd have taken her pic or a video, but I lose at life, so I didn't manage. lol! I found out a little later that she'd rushed off to JoAnne's (you can see her here, she's the one person whose face is visible), which was my next stop! Before I left though, I saw Joe walking down the block (probably from the restaurant) and entering the building (again, too slow w/the camera to get a pic). Before I left though (since the front door was propped open) I did walk inside and take some interior shots. When I went to JoAnne's I wanted to get some interior shots, but couldn't because there were people inside and a guy working on the outside. I decided I'd come back another day to try for interior shots.
After I left there I went to find the subway to get down to Stanton St. On the way I passed a place where a bunch of people were crowded outside taking pictures at the sidewalk. I walked up to a couple and asked them what was going on. Oh, this is where Lennon was killed? Ok...I was not aware. My bad. lol! Does my Beatles ignorance shine too brightly? lol!
Then I went down to Stanton & got pics of Gaga's old apartment. There was lots of writing on the door (which wasn't there in April, as I'd later find out), all but one piece being to Gaga (the blue piece, I don't think it's to Gaga, but I can't tell for sure b/c I can't tell what it's supposed to be??! It was so cute! I decided I wanted to sign it, but realized that I'd left ALL of the Sharpies I had (3 total) back at my room (I'd even bought one at the Workshop Thursday night!), fml. So I went a few blocks north & bought MORE SHARPIES! When I got back there were 2 guys coming out of the building. They asked if I needed in, & I told them I didn't live there. Turns out, they're Monsters (Alex and Rhonny) & were visiting Stanton St for the same reason I was! But kudos to them for getting past the 2nd & 3rd doors! I only got past the 1st one. Haha! I signed the door first & they borrowed my mighty Sharpie to sign it themselves.
My message // Alex's Message // Rhonny's Message
We agreed to meet Saturday morning in Time's Square and then went our separate ways.
The next morning I was in Time's Square by 6:30am. WAY too early, but it was already started to get crowded & the sun wasn't even up yet! Wha? There I met more Monsters and hung out with them until Alex & Rhonny arrived. As the day progressed and the crowd grew thicker, I met more & more Monsters, including 12 Hour Girl/Katie
Oh, and there was this... *shudders*
Before the NYPD decided to start shuffling everyone around we were right behind the main stage. I saw crew members bringing up stuff for Santana and Gaga. But then the NYPD told us we had to move because everyone had to go through security check points. They told us to go to 46th St b/c that's where the check points were starting. So we all rushed off to 46th St, only to be told to go to 47th, and so on, until we'd ran around the block 2-3 times. My bad choice in shoes made forced me to eventually take my shoes off, and I eventually lost the people I was hanging out with in the crowd. I only had Alex's #, but I couldn't get a hold of him, and my battery was dying again (stupid battery!), so I was trying to save what little I had left by not getting on Facebook or Twitter to try & message the others that way. I really wish I'd have been able to find them though, because at least 4 of the group I'd been with, including Alex, Rhonny and Katie ended up meeting Gaga 4 times w/in the next 48 hours. 。・゜・(ノД`)・゜・。 I was actually pretty upset about this the rest of the trip. But in hind sight, I realize it was probably for the best that I lost them. When they actually got to speak to her she'd been drinking, and I didn't really want my first real encounter to be w/Drunky Gaga. Plus, NYC doesn't really seem like the safest of places to be alone at 4am, which is about what time they finally got back in. But I digress! After I got separated from the group I ended up getting shuffled into a barricaded area about a block away from the stage, and couldn't really see anything...then I had to pee. the problem w/the barricades is that once you leave them, you can't get back in, anywhere! And no one in NYC has a fucking bathroom! So I got frustrated and ended up going back to my room to use the bathroom and sleeping through the new year. Honestly though, I didn't really miss much. Her performance wasn't that great tbh.
So that brings us to Sunday. Sunday I went to Penn Station in search of the British ELLE magazines b/c someone Saturday told me she'd found them at Penn Station at a news stand. I didn't find them there (but I would later find both covers a few blocks from the Germanotta residence at a small news stand/convenience store beside Big Nick's Pizza/Burger Joint! I also got a small newspaper w/Gaga on the cover w/the mayor & the new Rolling Stone w/her on the cover along w/lots of other celebs), but I did get to see MSG! If Gaga gets to perform there again I'd LOVE to see her there! ♥ I also got to see the main office for The New York Times. I'd decided I'd go to Madam Tussaud's, but changed my mind when I saw how expensive it was. And the line was ridiculous. But this put me back in Time's Square. And while I didn't get to go to the Wishing Wall like I'd wanted, I did find some clean confetti and decided I'd write down my resolution for 2012. Front // Back I left it on the platform of the main performance stage, and I'm sure it wound up in the street, which is where it would have ended up anyways. So I'm quite happy with that.
After I left Time's Square I went down to the 9/11 Memorial. Didn't know you had to get tickets to be able to see memorial, so I didn't get to see it b/c the tickets for the day were gone. But I did get to see the progress of the new towers. :)
From there I headed back to Gaga's Workshop to get pictures. got better pictures of the windows, including the AMAZING HAIR WINDOW!! Took some pics/videos of the workshop, including the main entrance.
After that I went back to Central Park (and ate ice cream outside b/c I'm a bad ass), where I saw an UNDERGROUND APPLE STORE. To be honestly, the only reason I went into the Apple store was to go to the bathroom. m(_ _)m
After THAT I went back to JoAnne's to see if I could get interior pics since I was SO CLOSE. Once again I was denied interior pics, but this time it was because Cynthia & Joe were eating dinner. That photo was shot as discretely as possible as not to be rude. lol! But I was determined to get some (rather crappy as it turned out) interior shots of the restaurant, so I went back AGAIN Monday, where I managed to finally get pics (again, they were crappy, but mission accomplished!). I also mailed off a post card. ;) As I walked by the first time there was nothing of real interest at the restaurant, but when I came back by, a new sign was in the window! After that I walked all the way from Central Park (Upper West Side) to Time's Square to meet my friend Benny. We had lunch at The Counter and then walked around Bryant Park for a while. After hanging out for a while and catching up, it was time for me to head back to my room to collect my bags and head back to the airport. Funny thing, I didn't see ANY rats in the subway until the Bryant Park station, and then I saw tons of them! Go figure. Anyways, I made it home safely and finally got to bed around 12:45am.
I've left out loads of stuff, but most of it is explained in pictures, including pics of awesome buildings.
If you'd like to see my photo gallery from the trip, I've broken them up into two.
NYC Pics
No Password Required
NYC - Gaga Related Pics
Password: NYCMonster
I arrived in NYC Thursday morning around 10:00am (right on time baby!) (first photo of the city, taken by the guy sitting across from me, I asked him to send it to me) and took my first cab ride of the trip to my room. They knew my plane arrived at 10, and check-out is at 11, so when I got there, I expected to be able to check-in quickly. NOPE! I was told my room wouldn't be ready until 1! WTF? They tell me I can leave my things while I'm waiting, so I decide to go for a walk around the area I'm in (West Harlem, not a bad part of town, but kind of close to it). Before I go walking, I meet the house cat Phoebe.
I get back around 1, only to be told my room has been ready for a while now. FFS! And my legs are so cold! Apparently I arrived in the city on the coldest day of the year. Nice. My cabbie was so awesome. He asked if I knew of the New Year's surprise of Lady Gaga being the one to press the button to drop the ball! ♥
I get checked into my room and put on some long johns under my pants. Much better! Then I went back out. I walked around a little more, then caught a cab to McGee's Pub (the inspiration for How I Met Your Mother). Sadly, I was disappointed by this place. I thought the show was actually filmed in NYC, but nope! Filmed in LA, on the same sound stage as Bones apparently (MacLaren's is literally right up the street from Royal Diner, go figure!). They had 2 cast pictures up, & a small note on the menu about the show, but that was it. I ordered some chicken tenders, but they were quite tasteless. Perhaps more so than McDonald's. Ew!
After I left McGee's I decided to go to Barney's to see Gaga's Workshop! And along the way I walked past Radio City Music Hall, Trump Tower, Henri Bendel's and Harry Winston. I was too intimidated to even walk into Harry Winston's. lol! Next time I'm in the city, I may get up the nerve to walk in. ;) And I'm honestly not sure what store this was, but it had AMAZING windows!
Window 1 // Window 2 // Window 3 // Window 4 // Window 5 // Window 6 (window 6 is my favorite!)
But Gaga had amazing windows too! Sadly, my battery on my phone was almost dead, so I didn't take pics until I went back Monday. But I did manage to get this gem! One of the windows had a screen showing the Constellation video and telling people to tweet your wishes to Gaga. This one was honestly the best one I saw! =3
But I did buy this! It's so cute! I also bought the Little Monster 4 pack. The green one is so freaking adorable!! After this, I decided to go back to my room b/c it was quite dark & my phone was practically dead (the battery % was RED, zomg!) and I figured the first night I walk around alone in the streets near my room, I should have a better charge, right?
The next morning, I wake up to a sore throat and a knocked over cup of water. I clean up the water and decide today will be the day I try to see if I can find JoAnne's and the old Stanton St apt. I knew that Gaga grew up about 2 blocks from the restaurant, so I did a little research and found what could be the Germanotta address. I took my first subway ride down to the Upper West Side. But first, I needed breakfast. Hello White Castle! My order was simple enough. A bacon, egg and cheese on toast, hash rounds, and an apple juice. Just one. Somehow the woman taking my order heard EIGHT instead of A. Because I apparently didn't know how to read subway maps, instead of getting onto a train that got off close to the addresses I was looking for, I ended up getting off at Central Park. I walked around the park for a little bit, snapped some pics, and then started the up hill trek to the address I'd found online. As I was walking, I found out I wasn't as close as I needed to be & didn't feel like walking all that way, so I hopped on the subway again. And who do I see?? BYRAN from All Worked Up! haha! He was wearing his signature blue tooth & everything.
So I FINALLY get to the right neighborhood, but being directionally challenged as I am, I head down the wrong street first. I get to the street # I'm looking for before I realize I'm a street before the one I was looking for. Oops! So I go back to the end and try again. That's better! This is what I came across first!
Of course it was closed, school was out for the holiday break. Onward I went! I then came to the address I'd found, and thought this could surely be the right place! I'd find out a few minutes later that it was!
I was just reading on the buildings website, and they actually ADVERTISE that Lady Gaga used to live here (but neglects to mention her parents still do).
Singer/songwriter Stefani Germanotta, better known by her performing name Lady Gaga, grew up in *** ******* where she once lived and attended Convent of the Sacred Heart School, the same private all-girls school attended by Paris Hilton and her sister Nicky.
The building actually has a pretty rich history, but no, it's not connected to the Illuminati. :p
I realized that it was the right address when this pulled up, complete with Gaga's driver!:
Sadly, she wasn't in the Suburban, but a guy came out of the condo carrying a box marked with Gaga X Richardson books. And a few moments later, Cynthia came out! EEE!!! I asked if I could get a pic, but she apologized, saying she was in a hurry, but said "New Year's Kisses" and blew me kisses. OhEmGee! Had I been more of a pro at working my camera phone, I'd have taken her pic or a video, but I lose at life, so I didn't manage. lol! I found out a little later that she'd rushed off to JoAnne's (you can see her here, she's the one person whose face is visible), which was my next stop! Before I left though, I saw Joe walking down the block (probably from the restaurant) and entering the building (again, too slow w/the camera to get a pic). Before I left though (since the front door was propped open) I did walk inside and take some interior shots. When I went to JoAnne's I wanted to get some interior shots, but couldn't because there were people inside and a guy working on the outside. I decided I'd come back another day to try for interior shots.
After I left there I went to find the subway to get down to Stanton St. On the way I passed a place where a bunch of people were crowded outside taking pictures at the sidewalk. I walked up to a couple and asked them what was going on. Oh, this is where Lennon was killed? Ok...I was not aware. My bad. lol! Does my Beatles ignorance shine too brightly? lol!
Then I went down to Stanton & got pics of Gaga's old apartment. There was lots of writing on the door (which wasn't there in April, as I'd later find out), all but one piece being to Gaga (the blue piece, I don't think it's to Gaga, but I can't tell for sure b/c I can't tell what it's supposed to be??! It was so cute! I decided I wanted to sign it, but realized that I'd left ALL of the Sharpies I had (3 total) back at my room (I'd even bought one at the Workshop Thursday night!), fml. So I went a few blocks north & bought MORE SHARPIES! When I got back there were 2 guys coming out of the building. They asked if I needed in, & I told them I didn't live there. Turns out, they're Monsters (Alex and Rhonny) & were visiting Stanton St for the same reason I was! But kudos to them for getting past the 2nd & 3rd doors! I only got past the 1st one. Haha! I signed the door first & they borrowed my mighty Sharpie to sign it themselves.
My message // Alex's Message // Rhonny's Message
We agreed to meet Saturday morning in Time's Square and then went our separate ways.
The next morning I was in Time's Square by 6:30am. WAY too early, but it was already started to get crowded & the sun wasn't even up yet! Wha? There I met more Monsters and hung out with them until Alex & Rhonny arrived. As the day progressed and the crowd grew thicker, I met more & more Monsters, including 12 Hour Girl/Katie
Oh, and there was this... *shudders*
Before the NYPD decided to start shuffling everyone around we were right behind the main stage. I saw crew members bringing up stuff for Santana and Gaga. But then the NYPD told us we had to move because everyone had to go through security check points. They told us to go to 46th St b/c that's where the check points were starting. So we all rushed off to 46th St, only to be told to go to 47th, and so on, until we'd ran around the block 2-3 times. My bad choice in shoes made forced me to eventually take my shoes off, and I eventually lost the people I was hanging out with in the crowd. I only had Alex's #, but I couldn't get a hold of him, and my battery was dying again (stupid battery!), so I was trying to save what little I had left by not getting on Facebook or Twitter to try & message the others that way. I really wish I'd have been able to find them though, because at least 4 of the group I'd been with, including Alex, Rhonny and Katie ended up meeting Gaga 4 times w/in the next 48 hours. 。・゜・(ノД`)・゜・。 I was actually pretty upset about this the rest of the trip. But in hind sight, I realize it was probably for the best that I lost them. When they actually got to speak to her she'd been drinking, and I didn't really want my first real encounter to be w/Drunky Gaga. Plus, NYC doesn't really seem like the safest of places to be alone at 4am, which is about what time they finally got back in. But I digress! After I got separated from the group I ended up getting shuffled into a barricaded area about a block away from the stage, and couldn't really see anything...then I had to pee. the problem w/the barricades is that once you leave them, you can't get back in, anywhere! And no one in NYC has a fucking bathroom! So I got frustrated and ended up going back to my room to use the bathroom and sleeping through the new year. Honestly though, I didn't really miss much. Her performance wasn't that great tbh.
So that brings us to Sunday. Sunday I went to Penn Station in search of the British ELLE magazines b/c someone Saturday told me she'd found them at Penn Station at a news stand. I didn't find them there (but I would later find both covers a few blocks from the Germanotta residence at a small news stand/convenience store beside Big Nick's Pizza/Burger Joint! I also got a small newspaper w/Gaga on the cover w/the mayor & the new Rolling Stone w/her on the cover along w/lots of other celebs), but I did get to see MSG! If Gaga gets to perform there again I'd LOVE to see her there! ♥ I also got to see the main office for The New York Times. I'd decided I'd go to Madam Tussaud's, but changed my mind when I saw how expensive it was. And the line was ridiculous. But this put me back in Time's Square. And while I didn't get to go to the Wishing Wall like I'd wanted, I did find some clean confetti and decided I'd write down my resolution for 2012. Front // Back I left it on the platform of the main performance stage, and I'm sure it wound up in the street, which is where it would have ended up anyways. So I'm quite happy with that.
After I left Time's Square I went down to the 9/11 Memorial. Didn't know you had to get tickets to be able to see memorial, so I didn't get to see it b/c the tickets for the day were gone. But I did get to see the progress of the new towers. :)
From there I headed back to Gaga's Workshop to get pictures. got better pictures of the windows, including the AMAZING HAIR WINDOW!! Took some pics/videos of the workshop, including the main entrance.
After that I went back to Central Park (and ate ice cream outside b/c I'm a bad ass), where I saw an UNDERGROUND APPLE STORE. To be honestly, the only reason I went into the Apple store was to go to the bathroom. m(_ _)m
After THAT I went back to JoAnne's to see if I could get interior pics since I was SO CLOSE. Once again I was denied interior pics, but this time it was because Cynthia & Joe were eating dinner. That photo was shot as discretely as possible as not to be rude. lol! But I was determined to get some (rather crappy as it turned out) interior shots of the restaurant, so I went back AGAIN Monday, where I managed to finally get pics (again, they were crappy, but mission accomplished!). I also mailed off a post card. ;) As I walked by the first time there was nothing of real interest at the restaurant, but when I came back by, a new sign was in the window! After that I walked all the way from Central Park (Upper West Side) to Time's Square to meet my friend Benny. We had lunch at The Counter and then walked around Bryant Park for a while. After hanging out for a while and catching up, it was time for me to head back to my room to collect my bags and head back to the airport. Funny thing, I didn't see ANY rats in the subway until the Bryant Park station, and then I saw tons of them! Go figure. Anyways, I made it home safely and finally got to bed around 12:45am.
I've left out loads of stuff, but most of it is explained in pictures, including pics of awesome buildings.
If you'd like to see my photo gallery from the trip, I've broken them up into two.
NYC Pics
No Password Required
NYC - Gaga Related Pics
Password: NYCMonster