I'm in a Brochure!

it's the AMERICAN dream



Something remarkable has happened.



A few years ago I flirted with the idea of restaging the Battle of Brooklyn, the obscure (but huge) battle of the Revolutionary War that sent scampy colonials running for the Bronx via Manhattan -- a huge, potential war-ending victory for the British before the war really got started.



The problem is, someone already was 'restaging' it, more or less, at Brooklyn's Green-Wood Cemetery. So I went. (Read about it here.)



This week is 'Battle Wedk' in Brooklyn, with a host of events linked with the battle. I happened to grab a brochure today, and noticed something shocking: I'M IN IT.



Check it out:







See the guy in the background? NO ONE but me wears green shorts like that. And the reenactor in question is someone I talked to too (footage also made this video). Here's my photo of the same bloke:







Getting accidentally included in a brochure due to bad photo-cropping skills? Check that off my list. So no matter what happens next, I got that going for me.



For more on Battle Week, go to www.theoldstonehouse.org.

NYC's East River Ferry: Free to June 24

This week the East River Ferry has brought back regular ferry service to the 18-mile East River, which is a nice reminder that New York -- down deep, away from skyscraper canyons -- is a river city.

New York was founded not because of the chunky rocks that glaciers pushed to present-day Central Park, but the Hudson and the East Rivers. The first ferry to cross from Brooklyn to Manhattan began in 1642, back when the colony was Dutch. In 1776, George Washington fled with 9500 troops after the disastrous Battle of Brooklyn -- escaping from wig-wearing Brits at night through Manhattan; the war was saved, and all because of the ferry. By 1870, 50 million annual passengers took steamboats across the river. That service ended in the mid 1920s.

Run by NY Waterways, East River Ferry's rides are free through June 24. Afterwards, visitors can buy a day pass for $12, nice considering MTA recently suspended the one-day 'fun pass' for New York subways and buses.

To help plan a day, I put together this planner for some of the main ferry stops for Lonely Planet. Just a $4 ride from Wall Street to Midtown sounds better than the subway too.

I also got to speak on all the new ferry fun at a New York Waterways/East River Ferry event at Fulton Ferry Landing in Brooklyn last night... right after Brooklyn mayor Marty Markowitz.

Hope he's not mad that I said I live/work in Queens.

Brooklyn's Historic Subway Tunnel Tours Close

Bob Diamond is a classic New Yorker. Snubbing naysayers to discover, at age 19, the world's oldest subway tunnel, under Brooklyn's Atlantic Avenue in 1980. Two years later Bob started leading tour down there -- raw tours, often peppered with fiery jabs at city officials. (I enjoyed one in July.)

Last month the city closed them down, alas. Hopefully they'll come back.

Here's my story for Lonely Planet.