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Art comes in many forms, and Mr. Flower Fantastic’s medium is beautiful blooms.

The anonymous creator, who just so happens to be allergic to flowers, continues to dazzle us with gorgeous sculptures created entirely by our favorite garden features. His latest, TAXI!!!, is an ode to the city’s iconic yellow cabs and represents diversity, tenacity, imagination, and brilliance. But like the cars themselves, this Queens Botanical Garden feature won’t be around for long.

All about Mr. Flower Fantastic’s ‘TAXI!!!’

Until September 8, those wandering the verdant 39-acre retreat will be able to catch a glimpse of the lifelike piece, which is included in general admission. Since we are all for Instagrammable attractions in NYC and some one-on-one time with Mother Nature, there’s no reason not to venture to the gardens. Plus, if you haven’t heard, sculptures are kind of having a moment. (We’re looking at you, Dinosaur, a.k.a. the ginormous pigeon sculpture on the High Line.)

More than just a photo opp, Mr. Flower Fantastic aims for his work to serve a purpose: fostering cultural impact through floristry, according to Queens Botanical Garden. He advocates for sustainability, assisting underserved communities, and protecting the planet by way of floral pieces, set designs, and ceramics. You’ve likely seen his creations before, whether it’d be his previous partnership with Louis Vuitton or inclusion in a new Brooklyn Museum attraction: Spike Lee Exhibit: Creative Sources. 

To add to your reasons to visit, TAXI!!!, the Queens Botanical Garden will be open on Labor Day and admission is free, courtesy of the MTV Video Music Awards.

For more photo-worthy moments, be on the lookout for Steve Wasterval’s community-wide scavenger hunt across Greenpoint, which allows searchers to possibly come across one of his 200+ miniature paintings of our favorite city.

“I started the mini hunt because I had always had this idea that I wanted to paint full sized paintings and hang them up on the sides of buildings — like my own version of street art but paintings,” Wasterval told Secret NYC’s Justine Golata. “That morphed into a size that I could give away to the neighborhood.”

One thing’s for sure, creativity flourishes in New York — blooms and beyond.

The post Catch Mr. Flower Fantastic’s Latest Sculpture ‘TAXI!!!’ While You Still Can appeared first on Secret NYC.

* This article was originally published here

Any New York City dweller would agree that finding an apartment in the city is close to impossible–even though many NYC apartments are actually sitting vacant. The good news is, though, that our apartment search woes may be coming to an end as more than 500,000 apartments are expected to be completed in 2024 in the U.S., and 33,000 of those are heading to NY.

According to a study by RentCafe this is the the third year in a row the United States’ apartment count will reach new heights, though 2024 is the first year in the history of the U.S. in which the number of apartment completions will surpass the 500,000-unit threshold.

This year, developers are on track to complete a staggering 518,108 rental units in the U.S. This marks a 9% increase compared to 2023 and a staggering 30% increase compared to 2022. And New York metro is leading the pack for the third consecutive year–of those 518,108 units 32,935 of them will be constructed in New York. This construction boom stems from the Northeast’s persistent housing shortage.

Majority of those new apartments will open in Brooklyn alone–9,379 units, to be exact–followed by Manhattan, where 2,979 apartments will be built. Local developers will also build 2,412 units in Jersey City.

Beyond New York 60% of the new apartments expected to open in 2024 are clustered in the ranking’s top 20 metros. Most notably, Dallas, Texas is extremely close to taking the top spot with developers on track to complete 32,932 rentals here. In third place is Austin, Texas where developers are working to complete 21,506 new rentals before the end of 2024.

Rounding out the top ten are as follows:

1. New York, NY

2. Dallas, TX

3. Austin, TX

4. Phoenix, AZ

5. Atlanta, GA

6. Houston, TX

7. Washington, D.C.

8. Charlotte, NC

9. Miami, FL

10. Denver, CO

Looking ahead, over two million new units are expected to be built by 2028. 

To compile this report, RentCafe’s research team analyzed new apartment construction data across 369 U.S. metropolitan areas. They only looked at buildings containing 50 or more units, and metros with fewer than 300 units or fewer than two properties/buildings weren’t included.

The Bronx and Staten Island were not included in the New York metro data set. You can find the full report here.

The post 33,000 New Apartments Are Being Built In New York appeared first on Secret NYC.

* This article was originally published here

A massive new piece of public art will be installed in Times Square on September 15: a large-scale adaptation of Dominican Surrealist Ivan Tovar’s well-known “La Chaise Adulte (The Adult Chair).” Dubbed “TOVAR The Chair,” the piece will be on display at the Broadway Plaza between 45th and 46th Streets by Seventh Avenue through November 15. 

The 13-foot-tall sculpture “features a nude female and male form intertwined creating a throne-like monumental chair,” according to an official press release, and really functions as a “stage upon which global desires and universal emotions are displayed.”

A representation of the artist’s Surrealist craft, the piece also asks the public to reflect on Tovar’s legacy and the importance of art within the global cultural canon.

“Iván Tovar made art to externalize his concerns and obsessions,” said Dominican art collector and member of the Iván Tovar Foundation Board of Directors, one of the organizations behind the installment, Héctor José Rizek. “Each of his works is unique yet simultaneously part of a transcendent visual language, a poem full of emotions. ‘TOVAR The Chair’ is a deeply impactful means to share Tovar’s collective vision in a large-scale public art exhibition to a greater audience beyond the confines of museums and private collections.”

The monument joins an already awesome lineup of outdoor artworks currently on display all around the city, including “Attrition,” the 10-foot-long sculpture of a bison skeleton that now sits in Lower Manhattan, the string of colorful lanterns hanging in the Garment District as part of the “New Stars, New Hope” installation and “Travelers” in Murray Hill, a series of figurative pieces by renowned artist Bruno Catalano. 

Sometimes, it really feels like the city is just one big outdoor museum.

* This article was originally published here

The West Indian Day Parade is hands down one of the most lit parties held in New York City each year.

On Monday, September 2, thousands of people will march, eat and party along Eastern Parkway and the surrounding neighborhoods in Brooklyn. The parade is organized by the West Indian American Day Carnival Association to promote Caribbean culture, also celebrating the strong presence of Trinidadians, Haitians, Jamaicans and other West Indian communities in Crown Heights. 

You’re just as likely to spot colorful costumes from different Caribbean nations, though, as you are to run into headache-inducing traffic jams. Here’s what you should anticipate. 

RECOMMENDED: NYC Labor Day traffic: everything you need to know about the best and worst times to travel over the weekend

When does the West Indian Day Parade start?

The West Indian Day Parade will kick off at 11am on Monday, September 2. However, the pre-parade party J’ouvert, which is French for “daybreak,” will begin as early as 6am at Grand Army Plaza on that same day. 

What is the West Indian Day Parade’s route? 

The route moves along Eastern Parkway from Utica Avenue to Grand Army Plaza for approximately two miles. 

What streets will be closed during the West Indian Day Parade?  

Many people will be driving back to the city on Monday following Labor Day weekend—so you can expect even more traffic than you previously thought you might encounter. 

Here are all the street closures related to the upcoming West Indian Day Parade:

• Grand Army Plaza (Entire Circle)
• Buffalo Avenue between Eastern Parkway and East New York Avenue
• Rochester Avenue between East New York Avenue and Sterling Place
• Ralph Avenue between Eastern Parkway and East New York Avenue
• East New York Avenue between Howard Avenue and Utica Avenue
• Eastern Parkway between Howard Avenue and Grand Army Plaza
• Washington Avenue between Sterling Place and Lincoln Road
• Flatbush Avenue between Grand Army Plaza and Caton Avenue
• Ocean Avenue between Empire Boulevard and Parkside Avenue
• Butler Place between Grand Army Plaza and Sterling Place
• St. Johns Place between Underhill Avenue and Grand Army Plaza
• Rockaway Parkway between East New York Avenue and Rutland Road
• Parkside Avenue between Park Circle and Flatbush Avenue
• Bedford Avenue between Eastern Parkway and Empire Boulevard
• Empire Boulevard between Flatbush Avenue and Nostrand Avenue
• Nostrand Avenue between Empire Boulevard and Linden Boulevard
• Lincoln Place between Eastern Parkway and East New York Avenue

If you’re going to be taking public transportation, you should keep in mind that there are going to be disruptions on several subway lines, the LIRR and Metro North. Check the MTA’s website for the latest details.

* This article was originally published here

It was a relatively short run for The Notebook on Broadway, the theater adaptation of Nicholas Sparks’ incredibly successful eponymous novel and 2004 film: the show has just announced that it will officially play its last at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre on December 15.

The production—which features a score by Ingrid Michaelson—first opened in March: once things wrap up, the cast will have played a total of 35 previews and 317 performances. 

Although the arrival of The Notebook in the Theater District was met with a ton of excitement and anticipation, the show famously failed to snag a nomination for this year’s Best Musical Tony Award, clearly a driver of potential ticket sales. Bekah Brunstetter’s book and the two leading actors earned recognition but none of them won in their respective categories.

“In Brunstetter’s adaptation of the book, this threadbare tale is further reduced to its archetypal essentials,” wrote Time Out’s theater critic Adam Feldman in his review of the show. “Boy meets girl, and they fall in true love straightaway, without even the sparks of bickering Sparks gave them. […] Boy loses girl, but we know he’ll get her back because, unlike the film, the musical makes no effort to hide the fact that the older man reading to Allie is Noah. Potential threats to their happiness (Allie’s fiancé, Noah’s rebound relationship) are minimized or cut, so there’s no suspense—or emotional stakes—in their romance, just a steady march to a conclusion we already know.”

That assessment echoes other similar ones among theater experts, a fact that, perhaps, makes the closure announcement a bit less surprising.

That being said, just like Sparks’ original novel and the movie that originated from it, The Notebook on Broadway has amassed a pretty devoted fanbase that felt particularly attuned to the music on the show. Unfortunately, folks only have a few more months to experience the production live again.

* This article was originally published here

With the arrival of Labor Day weekend, we can deny it no longer—the fall season is on the horizon. The changing of the season comes chilly temps, the return of everything pumpkin and the greatest holiday of the year (according to this writer): Halloween. Set to get us in the mood, a spooky pop-up bar is rising from the dead, bringing goth, ghouls and all the scary good times.

Ushering in the spookiest season, the Black Lagoon is gearing up for a Halloween return. Described as “an immersive, creepy-as-hell cocktail experience,” the supernatural bar is popping up in bars across the U.S. and Canada, with a location landing right here in New York.

Starting October 1, the Black Lagoon will bring mixology and the macabre to Someday Bar (364 Atlantic Avenue). Last year, the Brooklyn bar held the first Krampus Cove pop-up, complete with doll heads, eerie carols and demonic drinks. All to say, they know a little something about keeping things spooky.

The brainchild of industry veterans Kelsey Ramage and Erin Hayes, the cocktail menu is scary-good. The booze-forward Memento Mori has a trio of alcohol and liqueurs, including Mezcal Union, Mr. Black Coffee Liqueur and Cruzan Blackstrap Rum, shaken with cold brew and topped with Bitter Queens Chinese 5 Spice. Meanwhile, the green-hued Hex Appeal features Fords Gin, honeydew cordial, Lustau Vermut Dry, lemon juice, seltzer, saline, absinthe and chlorophyll to give it that sickening color. The non-alcoholic Blood Lust cocktail is just as complex with Giffard Sirop, miso falernum, rooibos tea, lemon juice and a topping of ginger beer.

Expect skeletons, life-sized coffins you can take a selfie in and illuminated skulls that lean occult and bizarre. Curious for more? Check out a preview of the pop-up experience sure to put you in the mood:

* This article was originally published here

So your trip is booked and you’ve got your passport ready. The expiration date has at least three to six months left on it from your date of entry, but there’s one more thing you need to look out for. If you don’t have two blank pages on your passport, some countries could deny you entry.

It’s important to remember that trips are supposed to be these wonderful life experiences, not hair-pulling, stressful ordeals. So in oder to ensure you’re all set for your next travels, here’s everything to know about this crucial passport rule so your trip goes as smoothly as planned.

Can I travel with less than two blank pages on my passport?

The answer is yes and no. Certain countries in the EU require a minimum of two blank pages in your passport for entry, while others require one or none. So really, it all depends on where you’re going. The best way to know is by going onto Travel.State.Gov and typing in your destination country. There, you will see how many blank pages on your passport the country or countries you are traveling to require for entry.

You should also be aware of the 90/180 rule if you’re traveling to the Schengen area.

Which countries require two blank passport pages?

• Belgium
• Cyprus
• Czech Republic
• Finland
• Germany
• Italy
• Netherlands
• Portugal

Countries like Luxembourg, Malta, Greece, Denmark, Estonia and more only require one blank page in your passport. Be mindful that all countries (even outside of the EU) have their own standard on how many blank passport pages can grant entry.

If you’re in need of a new passport, you can now renew yours online again!

Which countries don’t require a blank passport page for entry?

Countries like Sweden (EU) and the Philippines (non-EU) don’t require a blank page on your passport, just space for entry and exit stamps.

Do all countries stamp passports for entry and exit?

Some countries are beginning to phase out passport stamps, opting for a more digital record of entry and exit. For example, Singapore, Israel and Australia have already introduced digital systems to track such records.

These more modern technologies help efficiency, security, and environmental considerations. Overall, getting your passport stamped when entering or exiting a territory is necessary for reasons such as proof of entry and exit, immigration control and personal record.

Moreover, did you know that the U.S. passport is one of the strongest in the world? Find the entire list of the most powerful passports here.

And just because summer is coming to its unofficial end with Labor Day weekend ahead of us, that doesn’t mean travel has to stop! In fact, fall can be a great time to score deals on trips as the demand for bookings tend to drop this time of year.

The post Not Knowing This Crucial Passport Rule Could Deny You Entry From The EU appeared first on Secret NYC.

* This article was originally published here