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When people come to visit New York, and they ask me for advice on things to do and see, I without fail recommend the Dream House, a long-term sound and light installation in Tribeca. Conceived by minimalist composer LaMonte Young and light artist Marian Zazeela in the 1960ās, and in its current location since the early 1990ās, the Dream House is, essentially, a room on the second story of an otherwise unremarkable downtown building, with four speakers emitting mixed frequency sine waves, in a soft glow of fuchsia light. Hearing is believing, because as you navigate the room, the interplay of frequencies makes every coordinate in the small room completely unique. Even minute movement of the body alters the perception of sound in the space. And the sound isnāt just heard, itās felt. The Dream House predates the publicās consciousness of meditation with binaural sound, and this is quadaural! Donations are suggested, might I recommend going there and spending an afternoon or evening. Stay as long as you like!
Oct 19, 2021
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nothing cooler than introducing the people u love 2 the place u love.. space is a total self portrait. come & take the mystery from me!!!!! see the inside of my room at night
Feb 10, 2024
Big house in the Midwest that a dead rich guy put all his collections in, has some absolutely crazy rooms full of automatons, music machines and just stuff
Jan 29, 2025
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It says no dogs allowed but I saw a little white dog piss on a wooden-framed lantern in the gift shop.
A sign near the kaleidoscope suggests that "visitors with a history of vertigo, seizures, back, neck & shoulder discomfort and migraines" may want to skip the kaleidoscope show.
The thrill of such novelty accompanies a mild disappointment, when you realize the kaleidoscope--which really is big, at least as far as kaleidoscopes go--centers around a video screen. Yeah, it's a digital kaleidoscope. But the giant mirrors are real (I think). You go into this former grain silo, the outside of which is painted gold, including the dome, which is reminiscent of that one building on Little Saint James. I guess the weirdo who put this kaleidoscope together however many years ago had a set of peering eyes painted on the outside of the grain silo/kaleidoscope and I saw pictures of those eyes in a newspaper clipping and the eyes on the domed tower definitely radiated weird illuminati energy.
Anyway you go into this old grain silo. The attendant tells you you can lean against these weird angled furnishings to peer up into the dome for the length of the 10-minute show. I decided to lay on the floor instead. The digital video aspect of it seemed like cheating to me. There was a voiceover of a British lady talking about stardust or some shit. And there was some music that sounded like Gold Panda or Boards of Canada, but Upstate.
It was only $5. If we hadn't gone, I would have wondered forever.
Nov 11, 2023
Top Recs from @a.-savage
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In my opinion, one of the more unheralded New York foods is the crumb cake. Sometimes known as the coffee cake, itās an item that is so New York-centric, but somehow hasnāt made it onto the bucket lists of tourists. In my opinion, the crummier the better. I like there to be a thick layer of crumbs on top, the ideal ration sort of being half crumb, half cake. Youāve seen it beckoning for your attention in glass deli cases, or on an Entenmannās endcap at the grocery, or in the shadow of scones and croissants at your local bakery. Hell even Drakeās makes a decent version if youāre in a pinch. Much like bagels and pizza, most places in New York make a uniformly great version of it, so thereās no need to seek out the ābestā. The ābestā is in fact the one thatās closest to you.
Oct 19, 2021
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I guess you could say Iām a pretty avid backpacker; I enjoy the autonomy of carrying your bed, kitchen and house on your back, while navigating the unpredictability of nature. For this reason I make routine sojourns to Harriman State Park. The park is both approximate to the city, and also very remote feeling once you are inside of it. No car? No problem. Just take NJ Transit from Penn Station up to the Tuxedo, NY stop. There are multiples trailheads just near the station. About 40 miles of the Appalachian Trail pass through the park, which boasts the trail-famous Lemon Squeezer obstacle. It also is a great place for climbing, with the Claudius Smithās Den being the best known locale for rock-heads. Harriman is a labyrinthine network of trails of varying difficulties. Itās probably the only place where you can get mauled by a black bear while looking at the Empire State Building. Actually I have had multiple bear encounters there that were totally were drama free. Great for leaf peeping as well!
Oct 19, 2021
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Iāve lived in the same apartment in BedStuy, Brooklyn for over a decade now. I moved here to flee the nightlife scene in Williamsburg, which had become tedious living on Grand Ave. Then a few years later, the action followed me, and now my neighborhood is robust with newer bars and restaurants catering to gentrifiers like myself. Bar LunĆtico is one of those watering holes; one that I actually feel lucky to live quite near. The bar, which is excellent, has live music every night. No tickets, first come first serve, and the owner passes the hat around, all of which goes to the musicians. Iāve seen ensembles from Morocco, Brazil, Hungary. Itās nice to have a place you can just show up to and expect to see some really interesting music youāve never heard before. The atmosphere is confidently cool without being pretentious, and in a city where most bars have morphed into this hemogenous urban nightlife experience, its unique in a way thatās become increasingly rare. See you there perhaps?
Oct 19, 2021