Results tagged “thepond”

SKATE: Free skating at Bryant Park just got...more free! Now you can get free rental skates every Wednesday provided you are one of the first 100 people to get over to The Pond Exhibit Area.

It's been snowing out lately, and thanks to The World's Largest Snow Globe, it's going to be snowing indoors soon as well. Standing at over twenty feet tall, the monstrosity of holiday cheer will be arriving at The Pond at Bryant Park next week (December 14th to 18th). Throughout the week, the snow globe will feature live models in cheery winter scenes, not unlike an Old Navy ad. Why? Good question. In typical holiday fashion,...

Despite the warm winter weather, coat drives have not lost momentum this season in comparison to coat sales.

You know how we know it's almost winter, besides feeling the chill in the air? The fact that Wollman Skating Rink in Central Park is opening today. This year happens to be the 20th anniversary of the rink's re-opening, thanks to Donald Trump's chutzpah and swooping in to take over renovations from the city (the city had been "working" on the rink for 6 years). Admission to the rink is $9.50 weekdays/ $12 holidays/weekend for adults; children 12 and under - $4.75/$5.

Interesting - the Post has a sorta followup to yesterday's Daily News story about Fashion Week being at Bryant Park next February. Though yesterday's Daily News article had Vogue editor Anna Wintour saying that Mayor Bloomberg would support fashion - and tents in Bryant Park - in spite of the park's desire to keep the ice rink up, the Post says Diane Von Furstenberg couldn't convince Bloomberg to keep the tents there. Von Furstenberg, designer and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, made a "personal appeal" to ask Mayor B to prevent the tents' eviction, but "instead he'll work toward finding another suitable location," according to a CFDA executive that told the Post. So, the locations that may see the Spring shows next February: Javits Center, Lincoln Center, and Chelsea Piers.

It's Bryant Park-going plebes versus the fashion plates! The Daily News has an article about how Bryant Park wants the fashion shows out (or auf, if you like) this February, so the park can keep its free skating rink, The Pond, open. Dan Biderman, the head of the Bryant Park, says, "The public hates the [fashion] shows, except the public who goes to them, and they want the ice rink in the winter and they want the ability to use Bryant Park the way they always use it, sitting under the trees and reading or talking or eating." So true! The fashion tents, though glamorous seeming, are just huge blobs for the rest of us. However, Vogue editor Anna Wintour deigns to give the Daily News a quote:

"We need a very, very large place and we need something that's very central and convenient for all the press and media coverage that the fashion industry quite rightly garners, and nobody has come up with anything that's as good as Bryant Park."

Wintour also believes Mayor Bloomberg will come out on fashion's side in the dispute (apparently Lincoln Center and sites on the West Side waterfront haven't been acceptable). Hey! Why not the Javits Center? It's not glamorous, but it's sorta central - and it's near Chelsea clubs! Then if not that, why not Lower Manhattan -we're sure the Mayor could cook up a good deal.

What do you think of Bryant Park and its sponsorships? Now, Gothamist loves the quiet of other city parks devoid of sponsorships, but Bryant Park is such a sliver of park so near Times Square, it would have been inevitable that some companies would try to get their foot in the door there somehow. Just as long as we can sit there in the warm weather months, we're happy. And besides, if parks uptown and in the outer boroughs could be cleaner and more frequented by virture of sponsorship, we imagine they'd jump at the chance.

Today, the Parks Department will announce that Bryant Park will get a skating rink from October 28 until January 15. The New York Public Library had been worried that a rink would damage an underground book storage area, but say, "The concerns we've raised are being addressed and we know that Bryant Park, with its views of the library's Beaux-Arts facade, will provided a beautiful setting for skating this winter." And how. The rink, called The Pond at Bryant Park, will cost $4 million and is 17,000, which the Times says is half the size of Wollman Rink and double the size of Rockefeller Center. Fun fact: The rink and equipment like the Zamboni, plus crowds, will weigh less than the fashion shows! And to top it off, the skating will be free (there is $7.50 skate rental).