Do you love the subway? Perfect.
This Saturday (tomorrow, October 3) there is a “nostalgia ride” leaving from 96th Street 2nd Avenue station in Manhattan at 2 pm to Brooklyn’s renowned cemetery, Green-Wood on a vintage train from the 1930’s. It’s a whole day adventure and ends at 7 pm. Tickets range from $60 to $30, depending on your age.
From their website; “Pack a picnic and take a guided tour to learn the fascinating stories of Green-Wood’s permanent residents, including famous actors, politicians, artists and inventors from the Victorian era and beyond.”
Another subway happening is happening next Thursday and Friday (October 8th & 9th), MTA’s Memorabilia and Collectibles Pop-Up Sale. My dad worked for the MTA his whole life but he never came home with any of this cool stuff. Now’s a chance to make that right. Subway signs, grab-holds, retired fleet memorabilia.
Gates open at 2 p.m. at 23 Avenue X, Brooklyn (D to Bay 50th Street). 45 minutes to shop (to give everyone a chance). No cash, only Visa and MasterCard. No processing fees. More details here to see what else will be available.
Low on money? Hate the subway? I hear you…and got you covered.
If you’re New York state resident, you are eligible for a Culture Pass. All you need to do is get a library pass and ask for a Culture Pass to get in in to an endless list of museums and attractions for free and depending on the establishment, multiple free tickets. Just some of the institutes participating include:
Manhattan: American Museum of Natural History, Carnegie Hall, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, and Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
Brooklyn: Brooklyn Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Museum, BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music), and New York Transit Museum.
Queens: MoMA PS1, Museum of the Moving Image, Queens Museum, and Queens Botanical Garden.
The Bronx: Bronx Museum of the Arts and Wave Hill, and the New York Botanical Garden.
Staten Island: Historic Richmond Town and Staten Island Museum.
For more details, click HERE.
I was a Culture Pass guest last Tuesday at the MET. The MET!
I will recommend the portrait exhibit, The Face of Life: Modern Portraits at The Met.
From the MET website; “This exhibition examines the language of portraiture from about 1900 to the 1960s through nearly 80 works from The Met collection by artists including Marsden Hartley, René Magritte, Henri Matisse, Joan Miró, Alice Neel, Pablo Picasso, and others.”
If you are looking for the gift shop (and you know I recommend a visit to the gift shop anytime you go to a museum), you’re going to learn their once large, expansive gift shop has moved. It is currently, now broken into small satellite shops throughout the museum. The largest of them is on the south end toward 81st Street in the basement1—where you can also find signed copies of my new museum book.2
Speaking of books, I’d like give some love to some new books. If you are not included here, but were expecting to be, I will be doing more. You are welcome to remind me—I have stacks and stacks of books I hope to endorse and so I will do my best.
Jason Chatfield’s new book, in his series is out any day now: You’re Not a Real Parent Until...Volume 2. is another collection of hilarious cartoons and observations from the team of award-winning cartoonists and stand-up comedians Scott Dooley and Jason Chatfield. To pre-order, click book.
I will just share what I told author Gary Justis about his new book Floating in The Middlelands, a collection of short stories. “Your writing IS amazing and dense. Your story telling skills are exceptional. I can see and hear the commitment and craft in the book…” To purchase a copy, click HERE or on the image.
Regular readers of The Bob know what a big fan I am of Paul Noth’s work.3 He has a new book coming out, I Am Going to Eat You . . . and Other Awkward Truths. A Cartoonist’s Romp Through the Lunacy of Our Times and it can be per-ordered (the book comes out Oct. 13th) by clicking HERE or on the book cover. The Foreward is by Jim Gaffigan.
Carol Isaacs has a new book out that looks absolutely beautiful. This is a graphic novel for grade 3 through 6. The story I will let Carol describe herself;
Growing up in London in the 1970s, there’s a lot that Louise doesn’t know about her family. Her parents and grandmother fled Iraq forty years ago, but no one will tell her why. She gets her answers when a magical cloak—an abaya—transports Louise back in time to her mother’s childhood.
In the 1930s, Flora is living an ordinary life in Baghdad with her twin brother and the rest of their family: attending school, shopping in the souk, swimming in the Tigris River. But the world around them is changing, and Iraq is no longer a safe place to be Jewish. When Flora’s home is attacked, Louise finally understands the forces that have shaped her family.
A kid-friendly story about the underrepresented community of Iraqi Jews.
Click on either book image to purchase this title.
Thanks for all the great response to the edition on the late Peter Vey. I recommend it to those who haven’t read it yet or want to see the touching feedback in the Comments.
….and special thanks to my doctors who are new paid subscribers here who not only took care of me this past year but for supporting this newsletter to keep the lights on.
Click either image to bid now!
Anna Wintour’s enlarged Costume Department has now supplanted the MET Gift Shop on the main floor, where it is now the first thing one sees when entering the museum.
I went pretty long without promoting myself, right?
What I consider one of the most perfect single-panel gag cartoons…click on image to buy or use.
I love this post! I wish I could have done the vintage subway trip. Thanks for the recommendations ... I'll be spending some time in NYC this month and next and will take them on board (bad pun, sorry) ...
Always enjoy The Bob.