DISCOVER THE MAGIC OF NEW YORK’S SECRET WONDERLANDS
We all know about the Statue of Liberty, but what about the New York locations you don’t hear so much about? The city is packed with weird and wonderful places to visit, each with an amazing tale to tell. Here are five of the best…
The Record Plant
It was the studio where John Lennon recorded Imagine, Bruce Springsteen did Born To Run and Aerosmith recorded Walk This Way – but, best of all, it was where Slade recorded Merry Christmas Everybody. Bass player Jim Lea wrote the lyrics in the shower and it was recorded in a summer heatwave, with a harmonium borrowed from Lennon who was in the studio next door. After Lennon finished recording here on October 9, 1980, he was returning to his Dakota Building home when he was murdered.
Hotel Edison
Opened in 1931, this Art Deco gem had its lights turned on by Thomas Edison himself – by remote control from his home in New Jersey. He also designed some of its door handles. The death of Luca Brasi in The Godfather was filmed in the hotel’s coffee shop, its lobby appeared as a penthouse flat in Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway and, in Birdman, Michael Keaton drank at its Rum House bar. Guests get free walking tours of New York – including ones of the city’s famous Christmas shop-window displays.
The Campbell
You have to look hard for this bar in the corner of Grand Central station but it’s worth it. Originally leased from the railroad by financier John W Campbell, it was used as an office and for lavish parties. Campbell had it kitted out with mahogany panels, a fake fireplace for his safe (both still there) and a Persian carpet costing $300,000 (almost €3m today). It later became a railroad prison and a radio studio but, in 1999, was converted into a bar.
PJ Clarke’s
The restaurant (founded in 1884) was where Buddy Holly proposed to his wife, having known her for just five hours. Its burgers were ordered by Gene Hackman in The French Connection II. Actor Richard Harris preferred its double vodkas – he used to go straight to PJ’s from the airport and have six of them lined up on the bar. That’s the bar where Johnny Mercer sat and wrote the lyrics to One For My Baby on a napkin.
Alice In Wonderland in Central Park
Just north of the Conservatory Water (East 74th Street) is a bronze statue showing Alice sitting on a giant mushroom, surrounded by the White Rabbit, Mad Hatter and Cheshire Cat. Jimi Hendrix wanted a shot of him and his band sitting there to be the cover of his Electric Ladyland album. His record company refused, despite the photo having been taken by Linda Eastman (the future Mrs Paul McCartney).
The Edison Hotel (edisonhotelnyc.com) has rooms from €90pp. Aer Lingus (www.aerlingus.com) flies Dublin to New York . It has a January sale with flights from €209 each way as part of a return trip.