A SUMMER HOLIDAY IN THE BIG APPLE (c) by Polly Guerin

Whether you're a Manhattan native or visiting tourist spectacular summer events provide a unique holiday in the Big Apple. From viewing the fireball sun, to dining in a neo-speakeasy restaurant to accordion, piano, jazz, music festivals it’s a joyous round of entertaining venues that make summer in the city the Best of New York, my friends, the Very Best of New York. Here’s the scoop!!!
MANHATTANHENGE…AN ASTRONOMICAL PHENOMENON. Midtown is the place to be Wednesday Night, July 13th at 8:25 p.m. to catch Manhattanhenge (image above). This visual spectacle arrives when the setting sun aligns just so with New York City's street grid, casting a radiant glow of light across Manhattan’s skyscrapers and every cross street. As the sun dips below the horizon in perfect alignment with 42nd Street it sends waves of orange across the skyscraper facades, tricking the eye with visions of evening traffic headed into fiery oblivion. It’s an amazing occurrence, not to be missed and a great photo opportunity. Share yours with the American museum of Natural Histories Manhattanhenge group on Flickr.
MINETTA TAVERN, Polly’s Restaurant Pick of the Week is the standard bearer of the old tavern tradition, a haunt frequented by the likes of various layabouts and hangers-on including various writers, poets and pugilists. The place reeks of nostalgia and as one passes through the red velvet entrance curtain the ghosts of the literati of the day seem to be still lurking in its dining room, albeit in photos on the walls. In its heyday Ernest Hemingway, Ezra Pound, Eugene O’Neill, E. E. Cummings and Dylan Thomas were regulars but today the neo-speakeasy is a modern fashionistas destination where its reputation as ‘the best steakhouse in the city,’ does not disappoint. 113 MacDougal St., NYC 10012. Tel: 212.475.3850 www.minettatavernny.com.
WASHINGTON SQUARE PARK MUSIC FESTIVAL launches a month of free music in the West Village. Chill out, sit on the grass, find a bench seat and listen to operatic selections by Schubert, Mozart and other great composers in the repertoire of masterful music. Guest appearances by a New York Philharmonic clarinetist fills the summer nights with delightful melody, while jazz, by the late, master Charles Mingus gives cause to find our place in the maddening crows. Dates: July 12-Aug. 2. For schedule contact: www.washingtonsquaremusicfestival.org.
MUSIC, DANCE, POETRY, and a LUSH LAWN wind down at Bryant Park where accordion music, 12:30-2:30 p.m. Monday-Friday, brings a nostalgic Parisian feel to a summer day. Ragtime jazz also has its due, and Word for Word Poetry introduces internationally renowned poets who share their latest works to an admiring public. Feeling playful, then pick up a mallet and join the Ping Pong enthusiasts at the 42nd Street Allee, cutting up games from 11am to 7pm daily. Deanna Wiktowski, world class pianist, holds forth at the Upper Terrace from 12:30pm-2:30pm. Contact events@urbanmgt.com.
Ta Ta darlings!!! You’ll find me sun gazing on Wednesday night on 42nd Street. Fan mail: pollytalk@verizon.net. Polly’s Blogs: go to www.pollytalk.com and in the right-hand column click on the link to the Polly Blog of your interest like amazingartdecodivas.blogspot.com.