Archive for October, 2009

Halloween weekend is upon us. Here are some tips and suggestions of how you can spend your Halloween NYC style. If you are in the mood for a festival parade, check out the New York Village parade starting tomorrow at 7 pm. The parade will shoot through Spring Street and 6th Ave ending up on 21st street and 6th Ave. If you are in costume, line up on Spring Street around 6:30 pm.

In the mood for a Halloweekend Pub Crawl? Check the ultimate: 3 days, 5+ miles, and more than 100 New York City bars. Break out your craziest costume and join thousands of other pub crawlers for a night of creepy crawling and pumpkin ale, Halloween Cocktails, and Boo Light. Your ticket includes cover charges and drink specials at each and every bar on the crawl. This crawl starts tonight and will be held tomorrow, and Sunday as well. Get your drink on starting at 5pm starting at any bar in Manhattan. Tickets are $15.

There are tons of Halloween parties all over the city. Here is a tip on a top secret one. Attend a SECRET Halloween Party taking place at an undisclosed location in the East Village on Halloween night. Enjoy 7 floors of fun and panoramic rooftop views of New York City, and live Afro Brazilian House music by DJ Chris Annibell. To get in, you’ll have to follow directions and find the mystery location by locating the woman with the bandana at Ray’s Pizza and telling her the secret password.

This Halloween weekend is sure to be a blast. Share your pictures with us on Flickr or post them on Facebook! Happy trick or treating!

It’s been such a wonderful season at mad46 but with cool winds blowing in, it’s time for it all to come to an end. There have been good times, great memories and delicious drinks this year and we look forward to seeing everyone again come spring!

With the doors of mad46 closing on October 28th, we need to clean out some inventory, so join us tonight for HALF PRICED DRINKS all evening.

If you’re looking to book a private event, we want you to know that mad46 is available year round for private parties. Our indoor space is the perfect venue for your upcoming birthday, bachelor/bachelorette or holiday party. Contact us at mad46@rooseveltnyc.com for more details.

We know you’ll miss us while we’re in hibernation, so please check out our newly designed website to hold you over. And be sure to sign up for our VIP list so you’re the first to know when our doors reopen.

Stay warm this winter and we will see you next year!

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MR. PRESIDENT!

Today we honor our 26th President, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt, our hotel’s namesake.   The Roosevelt Hotel was named in honor of President Roosevelt and his love for early American colonial times.  We are excited to have Teddy himself here at the hotel to help us celebrate!  

Be sure to click play and watch the great video above by Teddy himself (played by Joe Wiegand).

TWITTER CONTEST:  Don’t forget about our exciting Twitter Contest for a chance to win a $18.58 rate (the year Teddy Roosevelt was born!)  Click here for details!

The Roosevelt Hotel is inviting you to come celebrate its namesake’s birthday with a Teddy Roosevelt Birthday Celebration tomorrow, Tuesday Oct. 27, 2009. The festivities kick off tomorrow morning with a salute to Teddy over a coffee hour from 9 – 10 a.m.  A Teddy Roosevelt impersonator will also be greeting guests and telling favorite Teddy tales in the lobby of the hotel and showing guests how influential our 26th president was by depicting the life and times of Theodore Roosevelt throughout the day. Teddy’s birthday celebration will wind down at the Madison Club Lounge for dinner. Hope to see you there!

Morl-Jumel House

Do you believe in ghosts? Check out this list of some of New York City’s haunted locations and then let me know. Even if you don’t believe, some of the stories are scary enough to give you’re the creeps.

The Algonquin Hotel
Catch a glimpse of a literary spirit in your bedroom, or walking through the bar! In the 1920’s, this hotel was the daily meeting place for the “Vicious Circle”, a group of writers, editors, actors, and playwrights for eight years. People have reported that they still roam the halls.

Washington Square Park
There is a whole lot of spooky happening at this Greenwich Village spot. Once an execution ground for public hangings, many of the bodies still lie beneath the park’s famous fountain and arch. I’m not done yet. Before the park was built in 1826, the Washington Square plot also served as an American Indian burial ground. Yep. Creepy.

Chelsea Hotel
Dylan Thomas, Eugene O’Neill and Thomas Wolfe have all been “spotted” in spirit form. Be particularly careful when you ride the elevator though. The ghost of Sid Vicious (lead singer of the Sex Pistols who died of a heroin overdose) is reported to linger on the lift.

St. Mark’s Cathedral
Peter Stuyvesant, who owned a farm that took up most of the East Village, is said to haunt the area, along with his friends Edgar Allen Poe, Washington Irving, and Harry Houdini. Spend enough time around St. Mark’s Cathedral and you’re likely to have some pretty unusual celebrity sightings.

The Palace Theater
This historic landmark was the center of the vaudeville universe in the early 20th century, attracting acts from across the country. Today, it hosts Broadway’s best and brightest, however, the theater is said to also be home to hundreds of ghosts, including Judy Garland.

The Dakota Building
In the sixties, the ghost of a young boy was seen by a couple of construction workers. Several years later a group of painters working at the building reported a sighting of a girl dressed in turn-of-the-century clothing. John Lennon, who was murdered outside the Dakota in 1980, is also rumored to haunt the area around the undertakers’ gate. To add to the eeriness, the building was also the setting for Roman Polanski’s Rosemary’s Baby.

One if by Land, Two if by Sea
This former carriage house was once owned and operated by Vice President Aaron Burr (who famously killed Alexander Hamilton in a pistol duel). Burr and daughter, Theodosia (who was supposedly kidnapped by pirates), haunt patrons and staff. One maitre d’ quit after being shoved up and down the stairs every night by invisible hands, and numerous women claim to have had their earrings pulled off by Theodosia while sitting at the bar.

St. Paul’s Chapel
George Frederick Cooke, a prolific British actor who died of alcoholism in 1812, was buried on the grounds of St. Paul’s Chapel. Not so strange, until you consider that he was buried without a head. Cooke donated his skull to science to pay medical bills, though it supposedly made its way into a stage production of Hamlet.

Bridge Cafe
The building dates back to 1794, but the Bridge Cafe’s life as a drinking establishment first began in 1847 when it was opened as a porter house, making it New York City’s oldest bar. Just under the Brooklyn Bridge, rumors of ghosts of the pirates who frequented the bar continue.

Empire State Building
Built in 1931, this building sits 102 stories tall, and was the tallest building in the world from 1931-1972. Various sightings have been reported of suicide victims who jumped from the Empire State Building’s observatory.

“The House of Death”
This classic brownstone was constructed in the 19th century and is believed to be haunted by the 22 people who have died in the house, as well as Mark Twain. Twain, who lived there from 1900-1901, is rumored to haunt the stairwell of the house. In addition, attorney Joel Steinberg lived in the house in 1987 when he was accused and later convicted of beating his 6-year-old adopted daughter Jessica Steinberg to death.

Morris-Jumel Mansion
Built in 1765 as a summer home for British Colonel Roger Morris and his wife, the Morris-Jumel Mansion is the oldest remaining house in Manhattan. Several ghosts are reputed to haunt the mansion: Eliza Jumel, former mistress of the mansion, has been seen wandering the house in a purple dress, rapping on walls and windows, the ghost of a young servant girl who committed suicide by jumping out a window has been seen in the mansion’s servants quarters and a soldier from the American Revolution, who’s picture hangs on a wall in the mansion, has also been seen.

Pack up the kids, the circus is back in town!

Aside from being New York’s home team circus, the Big Apple Circus has always provided New Yorkers with a unique entertainment experience.

This year, Bello Nock, the daredevil clown and one of America’s true circus treasures, is back after a nine year hiatus. He’s been a big star all over the world ever since and was named “America’s Best Clown” by Time Magazine.

Some of the other performers include Curatolas, the acrobatic duo from Italy; the Aniskin Troupe, a trampoline and flying trapeze act from Russia; the electrifying equestrians Christine Zerbini and Sultan Kumisbayev; the Spanish juggler Picaso Jr., who avoids making a meal out of five ping-pong balls by puffing them out of his mouth and then catching them all over again; the Chinese contortionists The Long Brothers, among many other sensational performers, including the Big Apple Circus’ resident clown, Barry Lubin, as the irrepressible Grandma.

Opening today, the Big Apple Circus will fill the tents at Lincoln Center’s Damrosch Park with fun and laughter!  The show will stay in town until January 18th and tickets are available through www.bigapplecircus.org or by calling (888) 541-3750.  You can also stay updated by becoming a fan of the Big Apple Circus Facebook page.

The Roosevelt Hotel was named after the 26th President of the United States, Theodore “Teddy” Roosevelt. The name seemed appropriate to the architects of the hotel who designed the building style in honor of Roosevelt’s fondness for early American colonial times.

To honor the birthday of our namesake, The Roosevelt Hotel New York will be hosting another Twitter contest for a very exclusive hotel room rate. You may remember the last contest we hosted for the hotel’s 85th anniversary just a few weeks ago. It was such a success (and a lot of fun!) that we decided to do it again!

On Teddy’s birth date, October 27th, we will be posting two separate quiz questions about the life and times of President Roosevelt. The first five (5) correct answers will win a VERY special room rate at The Roosevelt Hotel New York.

Here are the rules:

TEDDY ROOSEVELT BIRTHDAY CONTEST
• Contest will be held on Roosevelt’s birthday (10/27/09)
• Trivia Question 1 (2:00pm/ Eastern): A question will be posted on Twitter @RooseveltNYC about Teddy Roosevelt. The first five (5) people to respond with the correct answer will win a hotel rate of $18.58 in honor of the year Roosevelt was born.
• Trivia Question 2 (2:30pm/ Eastern): A second chance will be offered in the same was as question 1. The first five (5) people to respond to this question correctly will win a hotel rate of $26.00 (Teddy was the 26th President)
• Answer must be sent as an @ reply to the hotel @RooseveltNYC
• Winners must be a follower of @RooseveltNYC
• All winning rooms are Deluxe Rooms
• Rates are based on availability. Black out dates may apply. These rates are offered for a three (3) night maximum and do not include sales tax. Must be booked by 12/31/09 and consumed by 3/31/10. Offer cannot be combined with any other offers. Click here for official rules and here for our policy.

Time to pick up the history books and get to know your 26th president! We will be tweeting fun facts about Teddy all this month to get ready for his birthday so be sure to follow us on Twitter @RooseveltNYC

The New Yorker Festival is celebrating its 10th year this Fall. From October 12-18, this three day festival brings together some of the world’s most talented and distinguished people in the fields of literature, art, film, music, humor, business, food, politics, design, and science.

Last year the festival offered the amazing Political Humor panel with Jim Downey, Allison Silverman, and Todd Hanson, as well as the interview with comedian Stephen Colbert. It’s quite a line-up to live up to, but there are some great events in 2009.

Some of the highlights that I am looking forward to this year is the Rachel Maddow interview with Ariel Levy, Mad Med: Truth in Advertising, Jason Schwartzman talks with Richard Brody and a visit from a few of the Wainwrights (Loudon III and Rufus).

For a complete schedule of events, visit http://www.newyorker.com/festival/ or click here. You can also get up to the minute details by following their Twitter feed: @NewYorkerFest.

It’s been getting a little chilly out here in NYC, but that doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice a rooftop martini! You can still enjoy mad46 by visiting our (very warm) indoor lounge. Just opened this season, the indoor space offers an escape from the cold while still offering the views of midtown Manhattan. However, if you still want to brave the chilly temperatures and enjoy our outdoor space, we’ll offer you a cozy fleece blanket to snuggle up in.

It’s almost time for the season to end, but we still have a lot planned. Be sure to catch our Rooftop Film Series before the end of the month. Click here for a complete list of upcoming events or join us on our social sites to get our daily updates on events and exclusive offers.

TWITTER: www.twitter.com/mad46
FACEBOOK: www.facebook.com/mad46

We may be closed to the public during the winter months, but mad46 is available for private parties year round. Contact our promotions manager at mad46@rooseveltnyc.com to book your next event.
Looking for a delicious Fall cocktail, try our Prickly Pear:

PRICKLY PEAR
1 part XANTE
1 part tequila gold
half a fresh lime
2 tsp vanilla sugar
**Crush the peeled fruit with the vanilla sugar. Shake all of the ingredients, strain and pour into glass over crushed ice.

Haven’t worn heels in awhile? Or danced anywhere besides a wedding? Hey moms, when was the last time you’ve eaten in a restaurant that doesn’t have crayons on hand?

A trip to New York City with your best girls will take care of that. The Big Apple is a great place for a ladies getaway and we thought we would just list a few fun ideas for you to plan a weekend retreat for your and the special ladies in your life.

On Location 
Take the Sex & the City tour and follow in the footsteps of Carrie & Co. Where they drink. Where they eat. Where they shop.

Pamper Yourself 
I’ve never met a woman who doesn’t love a spa day! Check out this great list of the top ten spas in NYC.

Shopping, shopping, and shopping
o Boutiques – If you’re looking for vintage, then take a trip downtown to Soho or Greenwich Village. My favorite place to shop is Elizabeth Street (bet. Houston and Spring). You could really spend an entire day walking through these neighborhoods. Tip: Wear comfortable shoes, I guarantee it will be a long day!
o Designer – Take a stroll down Madison Avenue (bet. 57th and 72nd St) and shop Saks Fifth Avenue, Donna Karan, Calvin Klein, Henri Bendel and Tiffany’s, along with many more celebrity designers.

Museum of Sex 
Definitely a unique experience, spend a few hours touring this museum and try to hold down the giggles ladies!

Martini Time
What better way to loosen up with your girlfriends then to share a martini and chatter away! We suggest you come up to mad46 and try one of our amazing Teddy Tinis and enjoy the views of midtown Manhattan.

Put on Your Dancing Shoes
Dance the night away in one of NYC’s finest clubs.  Check out this list of NYC’s top ten dance clubs.