Here's What To Do In New York City During The US Open

Forbes

a day ago

If you're coming to New York City during The US Open, you'll find that the Big Apple has plenty of offerings to match your interests. This major tennis tournament happens at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Queens, which is one of the city's five boroughs.
Along with Manhattan's famous attractions, Queens has its share of cultural venues, historic sights and restaurants. Or take a swing at seeing gardens in Brooklyn and Bronx or take the ferry to Staten Island. Here are X things to do in New York City in timing with The US Open.
Marvel at The Queens Museum's Famous Panorama
Queens' Flushing Meadows Corona Park is where the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is based and this park is home to many museums. Among then, The Queens Museum will be open with regular hours during the tournament and this art museum is best known for The Panorama of the City of New York.
This mini-metropolis masterpiece was built in timing for the 1964 World's Fair in Queens. Built to a scale where one inch equals 100 feet, this urban model holds 895,000 buildings constructed before 1992. With a very close eye, you might spot the Empire State Building and the Statue of Liberty but also every city street, park and some 100 buildings are also represented.
The Queens Museum also puts on permanent and temporary exhibitions. Current ones include 'Abang-guard: Makibaka' and 'Umber Majeed: J😊Y TECH.'
Take a Tour of Louis Armstrong's House
The famous trumpeter and vocalist lived with his wife, Lucille Wilson Armstrong, in the Queens neighborhood of Corona from 1943 until his death in 1971. The late couple's house has become a museum with their furniture, photos, belongings and period furnishings that are still on display.
The home can be seen on public guided tours through the advance ticket purchases. Across the street, the Louis Armstrong Center hosts a multimedia exhibit and a calendar of events including concerts and trumpet lessons for kids.
Learn About Inventor Lewis Latimer's Life and Work
Every time you flip a switch to turn on a lightbulb or talk on the phone, you have Lewis Howard Latimer partly to thank.
This Black inventor and self-taught draftsman worked alongside Alexander Graham Bell on the development of the telephone. Later on, Latimer worked with Thomas Edison and came up with a way to manufacture carbon filament to make lightbulbs mass-produced.
Latimer's life and accomplishments live on at his final residence — the Lewis Latimer House in the Queens neighborhood of Flushing — through a recently reimagined, permanent exhibition honoring Latimer's life and legacy. The museum will be open throughout the U.S. Open on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.
See The Jim Henson Exhibition at the Museum of the Moving Image
As another Queens attraction, the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria is a media museum located in a former building of the historic Astoria Studios. Its exhibitions showcase the creative and technical aspects of producing and presenting films, TV shows, videogames and other forms of media.
You'll definitely immerse yourself in The Jim Henson Exhibition, an ongoing showing of the Muppets creator's remarkable career that's still felt today. Amid 300 objects, find on view Henson's popular Muppets including Kermit the Frog, Miss Piggy, Rowlf, The Swedish Chef, Big Bird and Elmo. Try your hand at puppeteering through interactive experiences.
Visit the Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn Botanic Garden
Brooklyn, one of NYC's popular boroughs, can rival Manhattan in dining, shopping and sightseeing. A visit to both the Brooklyn Museum and Brooklyn Botanic Garden can be one in a day as they're both adjacent to Brooklyn's Prospect Park.
This Beaux Arts-style museum holds an incredible collection of American, Asian, Ancient Egyptian and Islamic art, design pieces from late 19th century up through today, period rooms and the Visible Storage and Study Center, a 5,000-square-foot facility showing some 2,000 American objects held in the museum's storage.
Near the museum, the Brooklyn Botanic Garden is an incredible urban oasis of various types of gardens and conservatories that puts you closer to incredible greenery and scenic beauty. Among other popular areas, see the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden with a Shinto shrine and wooden torii and the Bonsai Collection, marking its centennial. Visit the garden's website to learn what plants are in bloom.
Wander Around The New York Botanical Garden and The Bronx Zoo
Often associated with Yankee Stadium and as the birthplace of hip hop, The Bronx also contains a public garden, a zoo, art museums and a famous Italian section.
With a station stop along Metro North Railroad's Harlem line, the New York Botanical Garden is another city green space full of flowers, plants, trees and other horticultural splendors. The 250-acre site has a beautiful conservatory and children's adventure garden and arboretum collections. A seasonal Home Gardening Center which shows how to recreate an oasis within your backyard and incredible conservatory. Log onto the garden's website for monitoring their Bloom and Plant Trackers.
The Bronx Zoo is also a longtime attraction, spanning more than 265 acres and home to a menagerie of mammals, reptiles and birds amid indoor and outdoor exhibits and wildlife encounters. Recently, the zoo introduced a Dinosaur Safari with life-size animatronic dinosaurs and pterosaurs.
Head to Arthur Avenue, often argued as NYC's real Little Italy, for purchasing Italian bakery pastries and dining at red sauce joints.
Learn about NYC's Theater History at The Museum of Broadway
Of course, seeing a Broadway play or musical is a NYC top recommendation but why not learn more about how Broadway theater came about. As the only museum of its kind, The Museum of Broadway in Times Square provides a fascinating timeline of NYC's Broadway theater history, starting from its origin in the 18th century up through the present day.
See costumes, stage props and sets from groundbreaking productions including Oklahoma!, Wicked and Hamilton and learn what goes into the making of a Broadway show.
Pay Your Respects at The National 9/11 Memorial & Museum
The National 9/11 Memorial and Museum complex were established in remembrance of the close to 3,000 people who perished in the events of September 11, 2001.
The memorial stands at what was once the World Trade Center as two reflecting pools with inscribed bronze parapets surrounding them. They list, by section, the names of the passengers and flight crew who were onboard the hijacked flights along with those who were at the Pentagon, emergency responders or within the North and South towers. The six individuals who died in the February 26, 1993 World Trade Center bombing are also recognized.
The museum itself is quite moving, with a collection and repository of 9/11-related artifacts, imagery, personal stories and interactive technology.
Note that the site will have specific access restrictions and hours on the day of September 11, as a remembrance ceremony occurs. It's highly recommended to buy tickets in advance.
Head To The Top Of An Observation Deck
Currently, there are five observation decks in New York City, with each of them having their own histories, features and vantage points. They're all throughout Manhattan and the oldest is the Empire State Building.
A pop culture icon, the Empire State Building has two observation decks -- the main open-air deck on the 86th floor and then the building's enclosed 102nd floor. On your way up, catch exhibits showing the building's construction, cinematic impact and its opening day in the 1930s.
The Top of the Rock, atop 30 Rockefeller Plaza, provides a bird's eye view of the city skyline from 70 floors above Rockefeller Center and with indoor and outdoor offering. The Beam Experience replicates the famous 1932 photo of ironworkers seated having lunch on a high-up steel beam during the plaza's construction. Or go even further with SKYLIFT, a 360-degree adventure that puts you in a revolving, open-air glass platform.
Other must-visit observation decks are the One World Observatory in Lower Manhattan, Edge at Hudson Yards and SUMMIT One Vanderbilt.
Head to One Of NYC's Islands
Manhattan is among other islands linked to New York City, with happening spots and fascinating histories.
Staten Island has been nicknamed the forgotten borough, but it's been garnering visitation much in part to its orange-colored, no cost ferry service. Going to and from Lower Manhattan, the ferry brings passengers to Staten Island's St. George Ferry Terminal. Popular spots include the historic Richmond Town, Alice Austen House and the Snug Harbor Cultural Center & Botanical Garden. Enoteca Maria restaurant is famous for their cooking grannies, but you can also try Sri Lankan cuisine at Lakruwana Restaurant.
Connected to Manhattan via an F subway line train station and a tramway, Roosevelt Island has grown not only as a destination but also a year-round hub. It has the first Graduate Hotel property in New York City and Cornell Tech campus along with Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park, a four-acre memorial to our U.S. President to Franklin that celebrates the Four Freedoms articulated in his 1941 State of the Union address.
Once a military fort and then an Army and Coast Guard base, Governor's Island significant military site, serving as a British and then American fort, followed by an Army and Coast Guard base. Today, it's a public space with public art, Fort Jay and Castle Williams monuments, and QC Spa New York, a day escape with thermal baths and saunas
Take a boat tour to Ellis Island, an immigration processing center that primary entry point for millions of immigrants, primarily from Europe, between 1892 and 1954 and Liberty Island are symbols
Found at Pier 55, Little Island is a one-of-a-kind public park that appears to be
Coney Island