A Day Trip to New York City (Holiday Edition)
Keith Haring's carousel, lime cotton candy, jamon merch, and elevator wine
On Sunday, we took our three girls to New York for the day to see Luna Luna: Forgotten Fantasy at the Shed in Hudson Yards. It’s an art amusement park made up of rides and attractions created by iconic artists like Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, and Salvador Dali. It first debuted in Hamburg, Germany in the 1980s and is newly-resurrected, thanks in part to … Drake. The backstory — which includes Avant-garde art, a 50,000-foot Texas warehouse, and rattlesnakes — is wild and (mostly) wonderful, read Joe Coscarelli’s incredible piece about it here.
The exhibition is magical. We made our way through a glass labyrinth by Roy Lichtenstein that’s set to a tune composed by Philip Glass, explored an “enchanted tree” by David Hockney, and watched performers from the Puerto Rican art studio Poncilí Creación engaging with the crowd throughout the exhibition. (The girls were partial to the massive blue elephant that was propelled by at least four humans, that I could tell.)
If you go, exit through the gift shop to check out great merch like kaleidoscopes ($10), and original archival t-shirts from the 1987 fair (starting at $200), found in the warehouse and restored. And afterwards, visit the Butterfly Bar on the second floor for a bird’s eye view of the exhibition and a snack. They have cute carnival treats like rainbow lollipops and giant soft pretzels, and lime cotton candy sprinkled with Tajin. (Please get it.)
Afterwards, we walked on the High Line and ate gnocco fritto and rigatoni alla gricia at Ci Siamo, also in Hudson Yards. The restaurant’s located on the second floor, and my friend Nick told me to take the elevator up because they have complementary, serve-yourself wine. So charming!
For dessert, we walked to Mercato Little Spain, the subterranean market by Jose Andres with stalls selling everything from conservas to jamon to made-to-order churros. Before driving back to Philly, we queued up for soft serve in flavors like arroz con leche sprinkled with caramelized Rice Krispies and mango with passion fruit jelly and a shaving of lime zest, and then shopped for what must be the best ham merch in America. (See photo for reference.)
Luna Luna closes on January 5th, but it’s worth it to try to squeeze in a visit before it does!
Had a great dinner at Ci Siamo earlier this year! The focaccia is fabulous, too.