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Downtown Boathouse Bringing Free Kayaking to Pier 26

Downtown Boathouse
Free kayaking on the Hudson is coming to Pier 26 courtesy of Downtown Boathouse Organization.

This May, free kayaking will return to the newly constructed Downtown Boathouse at Pier 26. Until this year, the organization was located at Pier 40 near Houston Street, which does not have a boathouse.

The Hudson River Park Trust announced last week at the Community Board 1 Tribeca Committee meeting that the Downtown Boathouse had won the bid to operate at Pier 26.

The Downtown Boathouse is an all-volunteer nonprofit organization with a mission to provide free public access to the harbor in New York City through public kayaking programs. The goal is to encourage safe public use of the harbor waters of New York City and thereby provide residents of this space-constrained city with increased recreational opportunities. The operations are made possible exclusively through volunteers and public donations.

Graeme Birchall, who heads up the Downtown Boathouse organization said in a statement, “We’re delighted! “We’re happy to be at Pier 26, where we first started out.”

In addition to the upcoming Pier 26 location, the 500-member volunteer organization will also offer free kayaking programs at 72nd Street in Riverside Park, and on Governors Island.

Hours for kayaking will be 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the weekends and 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. on the weekdays, Birchall said. There will be 200 kayaks, and the only requirement is that participants in the walk-up program know how to swim. Young children must also be accompanied by a guardian.

Boathouse Restaurant
Rendering of the upcoming restaurant slated to open in Summer 2015. Photo by Hudson River Trust

There are also plans for the new Pier 26 Boathouse Restaurant which is slated to open in Summer, 2015.

For more information on Downtown Boathouse Organization visit their website

http://www.downtownboathouse.org/

—Alejandro Ramos

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Dining Lifestyle

Erin Go Downtown! The Top Pubs for St. Patrick’s Day!

Celebrate this St. Patrick’s Day in some of the best pubs in Manhattan!

McSorley’s (15 E 7th St)

The oldest Irish tavern standing in Manhattan (est. 1854) is McSorley’s Old Ale House, located in the heart of East Village.  Their original motto holds true till today, “Good Ale, Raw Onions and No Ladies,” and the bar offers an atmosphere that is most reminiscent to ‘Olde New York’.

Recommended: Chili ($3.50), Cheese and (Raw) Onion Plate ($4), Liverwurst Sandwich ($4), Two housemade Ales (light and dark make for a fantastic half and half, $5.50).

Wesbite: www.mcsorleysnewyork.com

Molly’s Shebeen (Pub and Restaurant),  (287 3rd Ave)

Founded in 1895, Molly’s has a rich history that survived the prohibition era and today still stands today. The fare boasts a robust list of authentic Irish food, beer and stouts.  Vintage wooden-framed portraits and a real log-burning fireplace brings a piece of the Ole Sod to the Gramercy area.

Recommended: Irish Lamb Stew ($18), Murphy’s Stout (a 150-Year Old Recipe brewed in Country Cork, $7).

Wesbite: mollysshebeen.com

 Stout NYC (133 W 33rd St.)

stout

This 16,000 Sq Ft., three-level, emporium off of Herald Square has an impressive roster of beer from Malty to Floral varieties.  Twenty beers on tap and over one hundred international brands are listed with the bar’s specialty, the stout, with twenty-five unique options. A raw bar, salads, burgers, and personalized pizzas are all offered.

Recommended: One of the 25 stouts offered ($7-$22) , Burgers ($10-$15), Sweet Potato Fries ($7)

Website: stoutnyc.com

Paddy Maguire’s Ale House (237 3rd Avenue)

Also located in Gramercy Park, this neighborhood staple serves up  20 oz. pints and features two pristine APA/PGA billiards tables to satisfy the pool sharks in the room.

From 11 A.M. to 7 P.M. each afternoon Paddy Maguire’s provides the ‘longest happy hour in New York,” offer $4 pints of Yuengling, Miller, and Budweiser.

Straightforward with no frills, it’s a bar for a serious celebrater.

Recommended: Jameson 12 and Black Bush combination ($8)

Website: paddymaguiresnyc.com

–Joseph Amella, Jr.

Categories
Living News Uncategorized

New Report Indicates 10 Percent Rise in Downtown Baby Births

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The New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene recently released a report titled, “Supplemental Population, Mortality and Pregnancy Outcome Data Tables” that reveals a nearly 10 percent increase in Downtown baby births between 2011 and 2012 in Lower Manhattan’s Community Board 1, which includes the neighborhoods of Tribeca, Battery Park, the Financial District, and South Street Seaport. The report shows 1,087 births in 2011 and 1,191 births in 2012 in Manhattan CB1.

These numbers “appear to settle the question of whether population growth among children in Lower Manhattan has peaked, or even begun to plateau. Neither of these seems to be happening. The curve is still trending upward,” Eric Greenleaf, Tribeca resident and member of State Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver’s School Crowding Task Force, told The Broadsheet Daily.

The increase in births and the overall growth is a positive sign of the area’s desirability, but it also presents a challenge for school capacity and future school planning. Greenleaf told the Broadsheet, “Kids born in 2012 will be going to kindergarten in 2017. We’ve know for years that we’re facing a shortage of school seats, but this makes the deficit more drastic that before. And it may be even worse than it looks, because these numbers are for 2012.”

At a December meeting of Sheldon Silver’s School Overcrowding Task Force, community members and advocates, including Mr. Greenleaf, discussed the immediate need for more school seats. At that meeting, Silver told the Tribeca Trib, “We’re asking that when the DOE finalizes its plan for next year, it add at least 1,000 seats for here in Lower Manhattan, and site them for the Financial District and Battery Park City, where we have seen the most growth.”

The Peck Slip School, which is expected to open in the South Street Seaport neighborhood in 2015, will alleviate a small percentage of the need. The D.O.E. has projected another school in the next five years, but there is still not a site.

—Louise McKnight

Categories
Living

Jazz and the Perfect Cocktail at The Village’s Grownup Bar, Analogue

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There are times when you really want to be a grown-up, when you want to go to a grown-up bar and have a grown-up drink. You don’t want to deal with music you have to scream over or hordes of barely-twenty somethings who are constantly taking photos and posting them on Instagram. You want quality time drinking quality alcohol, surrounded by quality people and Analogue is the place where you find this.

Recently opened on what is fast becoming my favorite New York street, West 8th in the Village, Analogue is the first joint project of two stylish but completely different men, who happened to meet whilst they were getting their business degrees at NYU. Jesse Wilson from Oakland, California, loves bourbon and ryes whilst Jared Gordon, a native New Yorker, is the whisky man, a lover of single malts, and the beautifully stocked shelves behind the bar reflect both their passions.

Not that you can’t get any other kind of drinks here – they do have a full bar, including a great selection of wines and draft beers – but my visit here coincided with my sweetheart’s birthday, so a motley crew of chums convened specifically to sample the remarkable cocktail menu. The mixologists at Analogue are definitely some of the best I’ve ever encountered; the cocktails are truly sublime. Every element in them is right – the liquor, the glass, the garnish, the ice. All perfect.

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The Matahari – which I chose – is cognac-based, with fresh lemon, pomegranate juice and homemade chai- infused vermouth and it was as seductive as it sounds, the garnish of crushed rose petals really elevating it to a heady, sensual experience. The birthday boy had the bar namesake drink, a combination of dark spiced rum and bourbon stirred with ginger and lime cordial, which was perfectly balanced and exactly right for a cold, snowy night.

Other members of our party enjoyed the Peche Bourbon, which served in a gorgeous coupe with its crushed mint garnish, turned us all temporarily into Southern Belles, and the W8, a vodka-based drink that is shaken with mint, lemon and cucumber and topped with a splash of soda – a very refreshing beverage that I look forward to imbibing as Spring hopefully comes to us.

The atmosphere in Analogue is like that of the perfect hotel bar, but more friendly. Since both the owners are jazz lovers, that is what is played and the environment couldn’t be more perfect for it; big, comfortable banquettes or soft leather chairs are the seating, the lighting is flirtingly low and amazing original prints of jazz greats such as Miles Davis decorate the walls.

—Fiona Tedds