A collection of the best New York travel stories featured in The Statesider: New York City & Long Island | Upstate New York
Also see: East Coast & New England
New York City & Long Island Travel Stories
Is That a Tweeter in your Pocket? Did you hear the odd news story about the man who was caught trying to smuggle 35 songbirds stuffed into hair curlers into the US? It wasn’t just for fun. Inside the songbird competitions of Queens. Emily S. Rueb, New York Times
Rare Languages: Only 700 people in the world speak this language. Fifty live in the same building in Brooklyn. Kimiko de Freytas-Tamura, New York Times
New York Is Outdoorsy, Part 1: Thru-hiking the Suffern-Bear Mountain Trail with views of Manhattan. Jessica McKenzie, New York Times
New York Is Outdoorsy, Part 2: Exploring New York’s lesser-known islands. Robert Sullivan, New York Magazine
New York Is Outdoorsy, Part 3: New York City’s best hikes to make you forget you’re in a massive city. John Surico, New York Times
New York Is New Yorky: Saving the last punk rock bodega. Allie Conti, NY Times
Times Square (and then Richmond, Virginia): At first glance, it looks like yet another monument with a statue of a man on a horse. But Kehinde Wiley’s new work features a young African-American man with a knot of dreadlocks and a hoodie, an effort to reclaim history in town known for Confederate iconography. Reggie Ugwu, New York Times
Black Woodstock: 50 years after the Harlem Cultural Festival, also called “Black Woodstock,” the overshadowed music festival is getting a revival. Jonathan Bernstein, Rolling Stone
New Park City: The new Shirley Chisholm State Park becomes NYC’s largest state park. Andrea Leonhardt, BK Reader
Lady Liberty, Part 1: The new Statue of Liberty Museum teaches us that the iconic French gift wasn’t intended to celebrate our welcoming of immigrants. Lady Liberty was a monument to the end of slavery. Gillan Brockell, The Washington Post
Lady Liberty, Part 2: Thoughts on the Statue of Liberty in a time when Americans are, uh, not exactly welcoming those huddled masses yearning to breathe free. Arthur Frommer, Frommer’s
LGBT+ Food Culture: Notes on building a LGBT+ restaurant and food culture across the USA. “If you essentially don’t have a seat at the table,” one restaurant owner says, “just build your own table.” Jeremy Allen, New York Times
New York via Texas: Chef Adrian Lipscombe is one of the chefs retelling the story of Juneteenth through food at James Beard House. Jourdan Vian, La Crosse Tribune
New York: A is for ash, B is for Birch. Visual artist Katie Holten just released the New York City Tree Alphabet, a free font made entirely of trees found around the city.
Upstate New York Travel Stories
The Course of Summer: When you’re a kid dragged on a summer vacation, traditions sometimes sound like just another word for the same old boring thing. Kelly Duhigg isn’t a kid anymore, and those rustic cabins and mini-golf dreams take on a whole new luster. Read this Statesider Original
Rod Serling’s Binghamton: Annemarie Dooling goes back to where it all began at Serling Fest in The Twilight Zone‘s hometown of Binghamton. It lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge — or about three-and-a-half hours from New York City, according to Google Maps. 👽Read this Statesider Original Story 👽
Upstate Sandwich: The story of the classic Sino-Italian fusion sandwich of the Catskills: Chinese roast pork on garlic bread. (With recipe.) Sam Sifton, New York Times Magazine
Snakes in the Snow: One of North America’s oldest winter sports, snow-snake, comes to New York’s Ganondagan State Historic Park for the Native American Winter Games. New York State Parks
Lake Placid: Channel your inner Olympian at the home of the 1980 Winter Olympics. Try out the bobsled, skeleton or luge, or figure out why the biathlon is a thing. Abigael Giles, Vermont Sports
Deep Roots: The world’s oldest forest is in Upstate New York? Katherine J. Wu, Smithsonian
Cremains of the Day: Who left a box of ashes outside the Niagara Falls Chili’s? Aimee Levitt, The Takeout
Rest Stops: Nine reporters, two days, and one rest stop on the New York State Thruway. (We know this is an old episode, but Pam just discovered the “Service Plaza” on a road trip from NYC to Cape Cod.) This American Life
Parks & Weck: Buffalo’s best roast beef sandwich requires a very specific type of roll, the kummelweck. Victoria Johnson, The Awl
Dirty Dancing: Inside the Real Catskill Resorts That Inspired Dirty Dancing. Sarene Leeds, Mental Floss
Mrs. Maisel: Borscht Belt Hotel Food Gets Star Turn In ‘Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’. Shira Feder, Forward