Yes, this New Yorker spent New Years Eve in Times Square. This is how it's done.
Jan 4, 2017, 12:03 pm
#1
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Join Date: Aug 2003
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Yes, this New Yorker spent New Years Eve in Times Square. This is how it's done.
I certainly didn't plan to. And there's no way in hell I was going to spend all day penned inside of NYPD barricades. (This year's crowd was lucky because the weather cooperated.) But I had an opportunity to spend New Years in Times Square, and it was fun and painless. If you want to cross it off of your bucket list, this is the way to do it.
On Saturday morning I got a call from a very good friend of mine. She had just that morning broken up with her boyfriend and, as a result, had an extra ticket to the late (10pm) show at Carolines that night. Caroline's, as most know, is on Broadway between 49th and 50th Sts., right in the heart of the Times Square area where you won't find many New Yorkers on New Years Eve. But my friend sent me the instructions that had been sent to her by Carolines -- meet the Carolines representative at the northeast corner of 8th Ave. and 49th St. by 9:30 and you'll be escorted in -- which sounded reasonable enough so I agreed to give it a shot.
Since the show was not until 10pm, and because I had no desire to eat whatever Carolines happens to call food, I immediately went online to find us a dinner reservation. The newly reopened Union Square Cafe came up with a 6pm reservation, and after a call to the restaurant confirmed that they were serving their a la carte menu (rather than an overpriced special New Years Eve menu), I booked the table.
So I met my friend and her two teen boys at 6pm at USC, where we had a wonderful and unrushed dinner. We finished up around 9pm (we were there for three hours by choice, not because the service was at all slow), hopped in my car parked right out front (driving and parking in NYC on NYE is incredibly easy), and drove across town to the west side, where we parked around 8th Ave. and 23rd St. We hopped on the E train and were at the 50th St. station in no time. We walked to the corner of 49th and 8th as we had been instructed, and sure enough there was the Carolines representative holding a sign. After checking in with him, he flashed his ID to the NYPD at the barricades, got us through, and passed us off to another Carolines employee who walked us past all of the idiots who had been sitting in their NYPD pens since early that day and directly to Carolines.
The show started shortly after 10pm and ended, six or so comics later, at 11:45. At that point, the Carolines people directed the entire crowd up a back staircase that connects to an office building that faces 7th Avenue. We were then led out of the building and directly onto 7th Avenue where we were not penned in and where we had an unobstructed view of the ball drop (which, in this day and age, is basically no more than a video projected onto the side of a building). Afterwards, the Carolines crowd was allowed to go back into Carolines where they had a DJ going late into the night. I didn't bother going back in; instead I just walked to the subway, was at my car in short order, and was home in Williamsburg before 1am.
So I saw the ball drop. What did I think? It's stupid and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to anyone. BUT, if it's something you want to do, this was a GREAT way to do it. My favorite part was seeing all of the people who had been penned in for hours and hours. I cannot for a moment imagine doing that. It looks like torture. It doesn't look fun in the least. So if you need to see the ball drop, buy tickets for the late show at Carolines. You get to see a decent comedy show, and you get to be in Times Square and to see the ball drop without any of the hassle.
(I have no idea what my friend paid for the tickets. There was a two drink minimum as well. I picked up that tab and was surprised how reasonable the prices were. Not super cheap, but not the super inflated prices I expected either.)
On Saturday morning I got a call from a very good friend of mine. She had just that morning broken up with her boyfriend and, as a result, had an extra ticket to the late (10pm) show at Carolines that night. Caroline's, as most know, is on Broadway between 49th and 50th Sts., right in the heart of the Times Square area where you won't find many New Yorkers on New Years Eve. But my friend sent me the instructions that had been sent to her by Carolines -- meet the Carolines representative at the northeast corner of 8th Ave. and 49th St. by 9:30 and you'll be escorted in -- which sounded reasonable enough so I agreed to give it a shot.
Since the show was not until 10pm, and because I had no desire to eat whatever Carolines happens to call food, I immediately went online to find us a dinner reservation. The newly reopened Union Square Cafe came up with a 6pm reservation, and after a call to the restaurant confirmed that they were serving their a la carte menu (rather than an overpriced special New Years Eve menu), I booked the table.
So I met my friend and her two teen boys at 6pm at USC, where we had a wonderful and unrushed dinner. We finished up around 9pm (we were there for three hours by choice, not because the service was at all slow), hopped in my car parked right out front (driving and parking in NYC on NYE is incredibly easy), and drove across town to the west side, where we parked around 8th Ave. and 23rd St. We hopped on the E train and were at the 50th St. station in no time. We walked to the corner of 49th and 8th as we had been instructed, and sure enough there was the Carolines representative holding a sign. After checking in with him, he flashed his ID to the NYPD at the barricades, got us through, and passed us off to another Carolines employee who walked us past all of the idiots who had been sitting in their NYPD pens since early that day and directly to Carolines.
The show started shortly after 10pm and ended, six or so comics later, at 11:45. At that point, the Carolines people directed the entire crowd up a back staircase that connects to an office building that faces 7th Avenue. We were then led out of the building and directly onto 7th Avenue where we were not penned in and where we had an unobstructed view of the ball drop (which, in this day and age, is basically no more than a video projected onto the side of a building). Afterwards, the Carolines crowd was allowed to go back into Carolines where they had a DJ going late into the night. I didn't bother going back in; instead I just walked to the subway, was at my car in short order, and was home in Williamsburg before 1am.
So I saw the ball drop. What did I think? It's stupid and I wouldn't necessarily recommend it to anyone. BUT, if it's something you want to do, this was a GREAT way to do it. My favorite part was seeing all of the people who had been penned in for hours and hours. I cannot for a moment imagine doing that. It looks like torture. It doesn't look fun in the least. So if you need to see the ball drop, buy tickets for the late show at Carolines. You get to see a decent comedy show, and you get to be in Times Square and to see the ball drop without any of the hassle.
(I have no idea what my friend paid for the tickets. There was a two drink minimum as well. I picked up that tab and was surprised how reasonable the prices were. Not super cheap, but not the super inflated prices I expected either.)
Jan 4, 2017, 2:55 pm
#3
Join Date: Dec 2009
Location: New York, NY
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Posts: 6,776
Nicely done.
On my second year of living here I got invited to a NYE party at one of the many buildings with terraces outside overlooking Times Square. I Had dinner with some friends until 10, approached the meet-up coordinator that got me through all the crowds and by 10:30 was some 20 stories high enjoying a cigar and a glass of bourbon looking out at all the crazy people that crammed themselves into those pens.
After the ball drop and the champagne toast I said goodbye and met friends down at my local whiskey bar in the East Village to ring in the New Year for the next two time zones.
Ah to be 25 again.
On my second year of living here I got invited to a NYE party at one of the many buildings with terraces outside overlooking Times Square. I Had dinner with some friends until 10, approached the meet-up coordinator that got me through all the crowds and by 10:30 was some 20 stories high enjoying a cigar and a glass of bourbon looking out at all the crazy people that crammed themselves into those pens.
After the ball drop and the champagne toast I said goodbye and met friends down at my local whiskey bar in the East Village to ring in the New Year for the next two time zones.
Ah to be 25 again.
Jan 4, 2017, 6:59 pm
#4
Join Date: Mar 2015
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It would take a very large paycheck to get this NYC resident to stand in those pens for hours. Imagine it is a boatload of tourists with some B&T folks sprinkled in...
Jan 6, 2017, 7:50 am
#6
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I considered taking a picture of the guy who had been waiting in the pen and drinking all day with his buddies only to spend the stroke of midnight puking into a trash bag but decided against it.
Jan 6, 2017, 11:39 am
#7
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