CHRISTMAS
IN NEW YORK
Christmas Eve at The Plaza, the tree at Rockefeller, the toy store, the park in the snow, and midnight in Times Square to finish it.
No. 1The nine days
One rule: never rush a morning. Two anchored things a day, the rest left open for wandering, and for standing still in the cold looking at lights.
No. 2The movie, in real places
Every one still standing, and still looking like the film. Most within a fifteen-minute walk of the hotel door.
The Plaza Hotel
"The Plaza Hotel. New York's most exciting hotel experience."
Kevin checks in with his father's credit card. We do it properly. The lobby, the Palm Court, the corridor he sprints down: all still there, all unchanged.
768 Fifth Avenue, at Central Park South
The Rockefeller Tree
"I've been thinking about you a lot."
Where he finds his mother on Christmas Eve. Go after ten at night, when the crowd thins out and for a few minutes the whole plaza is yours.
45 Rockefeller Plaza
Wollman Rink
The park he cuts through, twice.
Skating with the skyline over the treeline. Take the first session of the morning and it is nearly empty.
Central Park, east side at 62nd Street
Central Park South
Where the Pigeon Lady walks.
The carriages still line up on the same block, outside the same hotel. Dusk, a blanket, twenty minutes in and back.
59th Street, at the Plaza fountain
FAO Schwarz
Duncan's Toy Chest, more or less.
The real store the film's was dressed to feel like, now at Rockefeller Plaza. The giant floor piano is still on the ground floor.
30 Rockefeller Plaza
51 West 95th Street
Uncle Rob's brownstone, the "empty" house.
A quiet Upper West Side block. Ten seconds of screen time, a two-minute photograph, then brunch around the corner.
Upper West Side, off Columbus
Carnegie Hall
"Your heart might still be broken, but it isn't gone."
The rooftop was a set; the hall is the landmark it was built around. Worth the walk past, better still if there is a concert that night.
881 Seventh Avenue
Times Square
The lights he stands under, mouth open.
Ours on the one night of the year it belongs to everybody. The plan for it is below, and the details matter more than the hype does.
Broadway at 45th StreetNo. 3What it costs
Two people, nine nights, a suite at The Plaza and the top floor over Times Square for the ball drop. Priced at holiday rates, which are the worst of the year, so this is the honest number rather than the brochure one.
Picture credits
- Radio City Music Hall Marquee (54458011259).jpg, Eden, Janine and Jim from New York City, CC BY 2.0
- Dyker Heights Christmas Lights.jpg, Rachel L'Heureux, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Wollman Memorial skating rink.jpg, Eternalsleeper at English Wikipedia, Public domain
- 309 West 104th Street (right) and 315-317-319-321 West 104th Street (left), Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York.jpg, Deansfa, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree, 2023-12-02.jpg, JJonahJackalope, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Brooklyn Bridge pedestrian walkway during snow storm January 2014.jpeg, MusikAnimal, CC BY-SA 3.0
- High Line Park, Section 1, in late winter.jpg, Dansnguyen, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Times Square New York City Colour (134336377).jpeg, Andrew Muller, CC BY 3.0
- Central Park Bethesda Terrace in the snow.jpg, Ralph Hockens, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Plaza Hotel New York January 2016.jpg, King of Hearts, CC BY-SA 4.0
- Carnegie Hall exterior, 1899.jpg, Unknown authorUnknown author, Public domain
- Aerial views of winter snow on Downtown Manhattan, CC BY 3.0
- Aerial views of Central Park in winter, CC BY 3.0
- New York battles snow, January 2018, Voice of America, public domain
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You can't spend a week in New York and not see it snow at least once.