Brighton Beach, Baseball, and Beers at the Boat Basin: Springtime in New York

In the 1942 musical movie “Babes on Broadway,” Judy Garland famously croons, “I like New York in June. How about you?”

Well, Judy, I prefer New York in April. The cherry blossoms are beginning to bloom along the West Side Highway, the first pitch is tossed out at Yankee Stadium, people are starting to stroll across the Brooklyn Bridge, and the city, once again, is looking busy – even though many of the faces passing by at Penn Station probably belong to other awe-struck travelers. 

Who knows what Judy got up to on a Saturday afternoon in the pre-war days? She probably spent a morning at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, took an afternoon walk through Central Park and then maybe did some shopping on Fifth Avenue, and capped it all off with a Broadway show. 

That’s still not a bad way to spend a day in the Big Apple, but it isn’t a typical Saturday for a modern New Yorker. When they’re not in the office trying to pay off their extortionate rents, New Yorkers come up with creative ideas to explore a megalopolis that can offer a new experience, every weekend, to every walk of life. Here are a few ideas best suited for spring, both in Manhattan and in the outer boroughs.

Architectural tours:  Spring is high season for the real estate market in New York, and as a result, many agencies hold open houses in April that double as mere architectural tours for those who don’t have a few million dollars to drop on a new Soho pied-a-terre. Take a tour through the old Apple Bank for Savings on W. 72nd and Broadway, now being converted into luxury condos. At the William Beaver House, on Hanover Square in the financial district, gaze at bare feet dangling above the glass floor of a hot tub on the terrace. Architecture pilgrims should head straight to the newly finished, ship-like building made of glass that Frank Gehry designed for media mogul Barry Diller on the West Side Highway and 18th Street. Scan the classified ads for open houses, or check for happenings at www.therealdeal.net.

Skateboarding parks and cycling paths:  Like nowhere else in the country, Gotham is an Escheresque labyrinth of bricks and concrete, and the best way to revel in that urban landscape is on a deck, two trucks and four wheels. While the whole city is a halfpipe and handrail waiting to be exploited, skateboarding enthusiasts impatiently wait until May for the skate parks to open -- the best of which are the Riverside Skate Park on 108th Street and Riverside Drive, and the Millennium Skate Park in Brooklyn at 68th Street and Colonial in Bay Ridge.  Otherwise, there is my favorite mode of transport, the bicycle, which you can rent at dozens of places around the city and ride on a meandering path along the banks of the Hudson River, enjoying the first bud-breaks of spring. Rollerbladers and joggers welcome.

Chelsea flea markets and the Fulton Fish Market: ‘Tis the season for rummaging through old fur coats and antique mirrors in an abandoned parking lot in Chelsea. The hippest flea market in Manhattan must be the one on W. 25th Street and 6th Ave, where you can jostle boney elbows with frail model-types to score that chic pair of well-worn jeans, or an unscratched Aerosmith vinyl from the 70s. Down-and-dirty marketeers and seafood freaks might prefer to check out the anachronistically named Fulton Fish Market, which, instead of on the east end of Fulton Street where it once resided, now mongers fish in the Bronx, at Hunt’s Point. As any salty northeasterner knows, months that include the letter ‘R’ are the best time to buy fresh shellfish, so our time is running out.

Baseball games at Shea Stadium: As much as a guy from Boston hates to admit it, New York State is, after all, the birthplace of baseball, and the city does lay claim to the second-strongest team in the AL East. As an alternative to watching the pinstripes play, though, you can always take in a game in Queens, which is home to just as much New York baseball lore.

(Trivia question for tourists: Why do the Mets wear blue and orange? Answer:  It’s a nod to the two local teams that moved away to California; the Brooklyn Dodgers -- the blue -- and the New York Giants – the orange.) Opening day for the Yankees is April 2 against Tampa Bay. The Mets open against Philadelphia on April 9.

Tribeca film festival: Dust off your black turtlenecks and tap into some local silver screen talent, which in New York is saying quite a lot. This showcase of about 250 works from independent producers and directors runs from April 25 to May 6, and includes a category for sports films and one for family films. www.tribecafilmfestival.org.

 
Sidewalk café-dwelling, beers at the Boat Basin: Spring in New York yields all sorts of outdoor pursuits for the hyperactive, but at the end of any given Saturday I am just a lazy Europhile who prefers to stake out some real estate at a sidewalk café and watch the world go by with whatever is on special. (A pint of Stella, preferably.) Any place with an umbrella and a few chairs is a good venue for amateur outdoor drinking, but professionals head straight to the 79th Street Boat Basin on the Hudson River to see what kind of crowd the fair weather brings out. As one Midtown friend of mine noted, spring in the city is above all people watching season.

John Moretti is a freelance travel writer who divides his time between Europe, Florida and Vermont. He is the author of "Living Abroad in Italy" (Avalon, 2004) as well as a number of guidebooks. He writes about European sports and culture for the New York Sun.

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