So it seems like I made it to New York alive in one piece without incident, noice yay. Didn’t die or lose anything, gud shit. Well then, even tho it’s technically a travel day the flight from Toronto was only like 1.5 hours and even with taxi to hotel, it got there at like 3ish which means ample of time to do things and see shit. I’ve already taken hundreds of photos since getting here but I’ll choose the nice snapshots which kinda tell a story and or just straight up food places/pictures. When AnimeNYC starts I’m not sure if i’m going to rename the series or keep it to “New York Trip 2023” but we’ll see.
After probably one of the shortest plane rides in recent memory I arrive at LaGuardia airport. I see that the airport knows whats up with a Shake Shake already in the place, jokes.
After a pretty quick cab ride I got to my hotel, the Voco Times Square South. The taxi cost in total like 70ish but what can you do. The hotel is pretty clean and neat. It seems like a old building but was renovated recently. They have all the modern amenities like tv with chromcast built in, ac/heat etc. No mini fridge however too bad.
After a quick freshen up I went out to get my first order of business completed, eat a “1 dollar slice”, which is not really a dollar anymore but $1.50 but yea, inflation what can you do. I have read reviews and multiple youtube videos that this chain/store is pretty popular, but the name appeals to me.
Waiting in line to get this basic $1.50 slice was already quite a New York experience as there was standing inside the store 2 beggars asking people for money or asking them to buy them a slice making a ruckus. Ahead of me was a ghetto black dude fighting his girl talking shit about something I have no idea about, I think arguing who is going to pay for the pizza or something. All of the employees are Mexican or black and they don’t give a shit. lol. This is the perfect NYC experience indeed. Once i get the pizza I eat it outside the store in these standing tables besides some eastern European Russian/Ukrainian dude with a face full of tattoos eating a slice too lol. As for the pizza itself, honestly, it’s pretty good, makes Pizza Pizza at home look like complete shit, even more than it already was; now it’s failure it complete having eaten NYC cheap pizza. This slice was hot, crispy and had decent cheese/sauce, for $1.50 I can’t really complain at all. Good shit.
I haven’t eaten anything since I got here so that cheap slice wasn’t enough for me so I decided to do a little more walking and go to this place which was also highly rated among locals and got shout outs on youtube videos near Penn station.
With alot more fancy selections I ended up going with 2 slices, a margarita and a “grandma’s slice”. The large slice being I think like $4 dollars and the grandma being a bit cheaper like $3 I think. Compared to the dollar slice, the quality of this pizza is considerably better, still crispy and with good cheese/ingredients but overall better. I would say that if you wanted a more complete nyc pizza slice, don’t be afraid to spend a bit more for quality, you definitely get what you paid for. In retrospect however, I kinda reget getting the grandma slice since it was almost the same was the margarita except they used a different kind of mozzarella and was more square like, I could have tried a different kind of slice but yea, ah well.
Unlike 2bros pizza, this place actually had a sit down area. Notice the woman with her luggage, wow. Either just got here or leaving soon and still wants to get that slice before she leaves. Also notable is that big picture of Anthony Bourdain the background. Wow. I guess he liked this place or talked good of it; he really has become a God level personality, even in death.
Fast forward some walking and shit and now I am heading up an elevator to an observatory. I won’t say which one yet but I found that this couple staring at the top of the elevator and recording kinda jokes, as it had a video playing on the ceiling about the building and etc.
On to the first ‘step’ of my tower trip and on the indoor observatory on the 80th floor they had windows to look out on the city. I noticed on one window someone had left their phone there to record the city, in what I assume for an hour or so to capture the setting of the sun and the transition of the cityscape to night. I initially thought someone forgot their phone but this seemed all to intentional, after I took this shot of the phone an Asian women was behind me and said, ‘oh you like it huh?” I then asked “Is this your phone?”, and she replied “yes”, “noice” I said then went on my way. Interesting.
If you haven’t figured it out by now, I am inside the Empire State building, one of the most famous towers in New York and perhaps most iconic in the world. Leading up to the elevator to the 80th floor they have a ghetto museum of history and stuff but I honestly just ignored that shit so I can get to the top of the tower as soon as possible. My time-frame for day light was quickly diminishing.
From the 80th floor you can take another elevator to go up 6 floors to the outside observatory. There are various ticket packages to go even higher, I think up to the 102 floor but the lowest and base one goes up to 86 which honestly is good enough for most. The view and pictures you can take from here are pretty incredible.
As I stayed in the outside area on the 86th for about an half hour or so, the sun completely set and the city turned on at night. I look a lot of great photos here so this is just a snapshot of what I have. It should be noted here that there are actually like a gate with metal bar/fence obstructing the full view due to safety, you have to put your phone between the bars to take a decent shot. Selfies are possible but not great here, I tried.
After my mad lad tower adventure to the Empire State building I headed to Times square and noticed this nice shop. The Bubba Gump Shrimp store/restaurant. Oh shit. I went inside, it was nice. Didn’t eat there tho. Funny enough, right besides it was a Raising Canes Chicken Tenders fast food place, a place that is often mentioned when people in the US talk about fried chicken and such; I couldn’t resist. This had to be my dinner lol.
I got their most popular combo, which is called “The Box Combo” which comes with 4 tenders, fries, coleslaw, canes sauce, buttered toast bread and a large soft drink. After tax, all of this was about $16 not bad, a bit pricey I suppose given inflation. Overall I would say this is pretty good chicken tenders lol. For a chicken place to sell nothing but tenders you gotta be a mad lad but it works. The place was very busy and there was hardly any seats left. The chicken itself was crispy and tender good shit, sauce good and tangy and coleslaw good although the fries could have been better and toast I honestly could have done without but it’s a nice filler just like fries. Would I go again? Sure, but maybe less fries and bread and more just chicken instead.
After finishing my chicken tenders I continued to road towards Times Square, I mean, technically I was already in it but at the ‘core’ if you will. It certainly is very busy on the streets with all stores still open even after 7pm. I’m not sure what the occasion was but they also had this crazy inflatable thing in the center which I have no idea about.
In the middle of the sidewalk in Times Square you have a couple of old dudes just waiting to play chess. lol wtf. It looks like the game was already in progress and he’s just waiting? Who knows but yea, kinda weird. Baller, but still kinda out of place.
And here I am at the very center of Times Square with a bunch of shit happening that I have no idea about with Mexican and black mickey mouses and spider mans asking people for photos and the such. Noice, smells like weed and vape here tho. lol.
They have setup these red stairs just infront of the big vertical screen for people to sit/stand and take photos of and selfies of, which is pretty useful I guess and popular The nice coke ad with how many days until the end of the year is cool.
Gang signs yo cause whatever lol. I took alot of photos here of varying quality and such but this one just seems appropriate since the large red coke ad was playing and changed the lighting for everyone to like a reddish hue. I guess depending on the ad being played you look different which is really true due to lighting and such.
And that about sums up my first eventful day in NYC, pretty productive day I would say. Gud shit.
Let’s see what I’m gonna go to tomorrow.