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“Roll Out the Barrel! Let’s Have a Barrel of Fun!” |
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Oktoberfest | ||||
Oktoberfest is a time to remember our German legacy in New York City. Over 100,000 Germans lived in NYC in 1840; in 1860, 200,000 – ¼ of our population. It’s hard to realize the impact these immigrants had with their religious diversity, music, cultural and culinary contributions. We still have delicatessens filled with luncheon meat, sausages and salads. In 1877 there were 78 breweries in New York with fondly remembered names like Ruppert, Rheingold and Shaeffer. Every neighborhood had a beer garden serving steins of golden harvest brew with savory fare. Our musical heritage was very Germanic with the Metropolitan Opera offering a full season of Wagner. Even today the “Ring Cycle” is a sellout event at the Met. World War II and post war urban diaspora decimated the concentrated “Klienedeutschlands” neighborhoods. Starting with the Steuben Day Parade, the spirit of these hardy ancestors still flows through the city especially in October! |
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YORKVILLE |
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Spring Awakening | ||||
The Czechs lived on East 72 Street, the Hungarians on East 79 Street but the Germans centered on East 86th Street - Yorkville. It wasn’t very long ago when you walked down East 86th Street that German was the lingua franca. The Palast Theatre showed German language films. There were dozens of stores and restaurants: Die Lorelei, Cafe Mozart, and The Ideal, the famous coffee shop. Old World merchants, such as the Elk Candy Company with a wide assortment of marzipan in myriad animal and fruit shapes, Kleine Konditorei bakery and Bremen House market (all German), as well as the Rigo bakery and Mocca restaurant (Hungarian) have sadly closed. Today there are still a few remnants of Yorkville's German origins (Schaller & Weber butcher shop, Heidelberg Restaurant, a German church, Orwasher's and Glaser's bakeries with buttery cakes and piquant rye breads), but alas it has largely become an upper middle class residential neighborhood. Aufedersein Yorkville - Halo Duane Reade.
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Spring Awakening is the Tony Award-winning rock musical with music by Duncan Sheik and book and lyrics by Steven Sater. The musical is based on the controversial 1891 German play of the same title by Frank Wedekind. Set in late-nineteenth century Germany, it concerns teenagers who are discovering the inner and outer tumult of sexuality. The original play was banned in Germany due to its portrayal of highly sexual content. It’s been given a new breath of vitality with a much younger cast featuring Weeds cable television teen heart throb, Hunter Parrish. Openings:
Closings:
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German Restaurants |
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Neue Galerie | ||||
The Heidelberg up in Yorkville, established in 1936, is still the traditional favorite featuring Sauerbraten, Weinerschnitzel spaezle and strudels served by waiters in lederhosen accompanied by an om-pah-pah band. Down in Gramercy, Rolfes is particularly festively decorated for the Christmas holidays turning itself into a Winter Wonderland. Chef Kurt Gutenbrunner prepares haute cuisine, innovative variations at Wallse in Greenwich Village, and if you want to travel back in time, take the N elevated train to Astoria to the Bohemian Hall established in 1910 the last remaining outdoor beer garden In New York City. Here you can enjoy a cold stein of beer on a hot summer’s day under a stand of beautiful elm trees. |
The Neue Galerie New York (German: "New Gallery") is a museum of early twentieth-century German and Austrian art and design located at 86th Street and Fifth Avenue. It’s one of the most recent additions to New York City's famed Museum Mile. The collection of the Neue Galerie is divided into two sections. The museum houses works of fine art and decorative art from early twentieth-century Austria, including paintings by Gustav Klimt, Oskar Kokoschka, and Egon Schiele and decorative objects by the artisans of the Wiener Werkstaette and their contemporaries. The museum, housed in an elegant Louis XIII/Beaux-Arts structure, also contains a bookstore, design shop, and two Viennese cafés, Café Sabarsky and Café Fledermaus. | |||||
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Briggs, Inc. - 1501 Broadway
- New York, NY 10036 - 212-354-9440
Copyright Briggs Inc. © 2008 |
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