Travel NYC like Young-Jae of GOT7
Going into 2020 we were determined to find some of the places we thought were impossible to locate. And GOT7 seriously has the hardest NYC spots to find. (click here to see where Jin-young chose to spend his time) And our girl Emi at @prince.sanie on Instagram sent us some of the truly tricky ones.
In our last article, we mentioned our love of rooftop bars and how they are a totally cool way to see the city. Well even Young-Jae enjoyed the sights of New York City from one of our favorite spots. Now when we looked at the photo he posted we were definitely perplexed as to where he was. We had only been to a few roof top bars and none of the buildings around it looked familiar.
Then one day, we were going to meet up with Sammie’s mom and we just took a cool picture down the street our office is on. When we went to look at the picture to edit it, we noticed something. The big blue building and its odd shaped top. Zooming in we noticed some other similar buildings.
We found it! Right outside Time Square, is a slightly hidden, very bougie, and a seriously amazing smelling hotel called Knickerbocker. And guess what they have? A garden oasis in the middle of the concrete jungle, perched on the 18th floor, aptly named St Cloud Bar. Look out onto the tourists a huddled together to watch street performers, enjoy a slightly expensive drink (if you’re 21+ obviously), and look up to see that you too can travel NYC like Young-Ja
Travel NYC like Kino, Yuto, Jinho of Pentagon
After Sammie’s wedding, we needed some serious R&R. And what better way to relax is to go into the frenzy of New York.
There are many things we love about NYC (we know our last two posts probably say otherwise). We love the sights and sounds, but what we love even more is seeing the sights and hearing the sounds from a different vantage point than on the street.
Rooftop bars are everywhere in Manhattan and they all offer different, breathtaking views of the city that never sleeps. We chose to hit up one of these many bars to celebrate her matrimony, while also deciding we needed to start planning our trips to Korea and Japan.
The one Pentagon to chose to visit happens to have a view of the building we work across the street from. A famous staple of New York. The Empire State Building.
A building that at night has different themed light shows to dazzle the people who take a second to glance up at its magnificent wonder of architecture.
Located on the 20th floor is 230 Fifth Rooftop bar. The location that Yuto, Jinho, and Kino decided to spend their day and night enjoying drinks, some food, and best of all taking in the view of NYC, after there concert in the city. Which we got to see! Click here to see how the lit up the city skyline when they performed.
And you guys can do the same. If you’re 21 or older you’re all good. If younger you need a parent or guardian. But have a drink and take in the amazing views as you travel NYC like Kino, Yuto, and Jinho of Pentagon.
Travel NYC like Felix, Lee Know, and Woojin of Stray Kids (We still love and support Woojin)
Since Stray Kids are coming to New York in January, we decided to cover another travel of the boys from their last visit to our city. (Click here for our previous Stray Kids Travel)
We don’t live in NYC. While we wish we could, our day jobs do not make that a possibility. So we have to commute from our homes in New Jersey and Pennsylvania by taking the train. Every day we go into the city via NJ Transit, probably the WORST train system in the United States. (Google it. We’re pretty sure it is top 10 worst or pretty darn close)
But we digress. The reason we bring up the train is where it funnels into. New York Penn Station. Another nightmare of NYC. Yes, we are jaded to certain aspects of NY that some people will love to experience. The hustle and bustle of people waiting for and then ultimately running to catch trains, all the new food and drink spots that have been added, and now all the brand new construction causing even more pandemonium as half the waiting areas are closed…SUCH FUN.
But on one day several boys of Stray Kids chose to go and visit the LIRR (Long Island Rail Road) section of Penn Station and enjoy a staple of New York, Shake Shack. And since we frequent the station we chose to go too! We didn’t eat Shake Shack as we are trying to not eat too bad ALL the time. Lol.
After you arrive in NY Penn Station, make sure to hit up the Shake Shack, have a burger and revel in the fact you traveled NYC like Felix, Lee Know, and Woojin of Stray Kids.
Travel NYC like Sanha, Jinjin and Rocky of Astro
We love when ASTRO comes to the US. We have seen them all three times they’ve been to the states and we can’t wait for their next tour. And when they come to NY they don’t usually have enough time to actually enjoy many of the sites that we love. But they have been able to see some of the sites that a lot of people know best about NYC.
Now we would like to preemptively say…we are not fans of Times Square. We understand the hype, sort of. You see this place in any movie or TV show about NYC. It’s on all the ads to visit NYC but to us, while it is famous for all the bright shining lights, the stores, and the hustle and bustle, the lights are obnoxious, the stores are large chains you could find in most cities, and that hustle and bustle is so tightly cramped you will get elbowed and possibly pick pocketed. If you think we’re kidding, just ask several of our friends. This isn’t New York. The New York we know and love are the small coffee shops in the basements of buildings, vintage shops and even the designer shops in the Meat Packing district, and the lights and sounds heard from the Highline. (several of these places will be covered in future articles)
The only times we would say to visit this location is in the dead of night and early morning so basically the hours of 2am-8am. And even that isn’t great. This is the time most idols tend to go to Times Square. After they wrap up a show, or they just landed and are jet lagged, Sanha, JinJin, and Rocky took to the streets of NYC like any tourist and enjoyed the lights and sounds and…smells of the area.
We happened to be staying in the area, not because we wanted to, but there was a writers convention and the hotel was right off Times Square. So we took the opportunity to get some pics like the trio. It wasn’t too bad that night and a lot of idols come to the area and so in the future we might have to journey back. Maybe we will fully test the 2AM theory. Just for you guys.
And once you eaten a burger, shopped at H&M, and lounged in the middle of the street, you can cross this off your bucket list of travelling NYC like Sanha, JinJin and Rocky of Astro.
Travel NYC like Hong Joong of ATEEZ
Ever have a day where you crave a food so bad that nothing else but that exact meal, in that exact restaurant will do? Well the day we found a spot Hong Joong had walked past was one of those days. And what we craved were steamed rice rolls down on Canal St.
During a usual summer lunch break at work, we loved going for nice walks in the areas of the city we hadn’t fully explored. We would always stumble on a cool new shop with amazing clothing, or a free experience like a traveling double decker bus decked out like a forest.
But that day we were on a mission. To get rice rolls. We knew about the Canal St Marketplace and all the amazing food and shopping (including a k-pop shop) it had to offer. And while one of us craved steamed rice rolls, the other craved to find this gem of a restaurant tucked away on the streets of SOHO. So we struck a deal with each other. One of us got the rice rolls, the other got her picture like Hong Joong.
Near one of our favorite rice pudding joints (yes that is a real thing), Balthazar is a French restaurant on Spring St. We haven’t eaten there yet but maybe now we will after we’ve wrapped up a day of traveling NYC like Hong Joong of ATEEZ.
VVXXZY Makes Waves
With his mixture of rock, hip hop, and “kpop inspired melodies,” VVXXZY has released his first solo track “Molly Alexandra.” While we are in New York, and he is based in Texas, we were still able to set up an interview to talk about his music journey, and what music means to him.
At the age of nine his friend showed him a Green Day music video and from there music became part of his blood. “I was really into alternative rock before discovering k-pop and later hip hop.”
Getting into making music wasn’t always in his cards, but after the tragedy of one of his friends committing suicide last year, he realized how short and precious life can be. “When he passed, I began to seriously reflect on my own thoughts, feelings, and actions. I began to write everything that’s been haunting me down and it kind of turned out pretty poetically, like a rap.”
And with that, he has his first single to prove it. “Molly Alexandra,” has lyrics that while they might seem simple, actually have a powerful meaning behind them.
“Pop the molly, pop the xanx, take a picture for the gram, I don’t want to understand, I don’t want to give a damn.” When we asked VVXXZY what he sees in his lyrics, he explained, “To me, it represents the youth in today’s society in the sense that kids don’t inherently want to do drugs but rather take them as a means to forget or avoid certain issues in their lives that are difficult to address.”
Getting inspired by personal experiences, listening to other peoples stories, as well as going to live shows, he ultimately hopes that people can connect to his music in a way that shows them they are not alone.
And since this is a site about learning Korean we asked him for a phrase he would like to teach us. His response:
“ ’꿈 꿀 수 있는 자, 그 꿈을 이룰 수도 있다’ (kkum kkul su eessnun ja, koo kkumool eerul sudue essda)
“This quote means that ‘if you can dream it, you can also turn it into reality’. I chose this quote because it really resonates with me. Oftentimes others put us down or we ourselves may hold inner doubts. But I believe that if you have a dream and work hard for it, it can definitely become a reality.”
We were so excited to find this amazing artist and we cannot wait to see what he has coming next. Check out his single “Molly Alexandra” now on Spotify and Apple Music.
A K-Drama Wedding
Sammie here!
I got married this November, to the man I have loved for the last 11 years. Yeah, we’ve been together awhile. He has been with me through a lot. The goods, like buying a house together and the bads, like having to lay to rest my cat and closing up my business after six years in business. We’ve seen each other’s highs and lows. It hasn’t always been easy, but we have always had more smiles and laughs than tears and that’s how I knew he was the man for me. He has also handles my fanaticism very well.
With that being said he handled my fanaticism during our wedding.
One night I reached out on our Instagram asking what people’s favorite wedding scenes from some K-Dramas. A few people answered and I took those photos to my now husband, who hates taking photos I might add, and asked if he would re-enact them with me during our wedding.
He was hesitant at first. But when I brought up the fact we would already be taking a ton of photos, and the photos that our lovely K.F.C family chose weren’t crazy or out of the ordinary, he let out a defeated sigh and agreed to take them. (Let me again say how much I love my husband.)
The next step was asking my photographer if she could make them happen. I had no doubt she could (Check out @loveshackphoto on instagram) but I wanted to make sure we had enough time.
She loved the idea and on November 1st, 2019 my K-Drama fairytale happy ending became a reality.
K-drama’s we re-enacted:
어비스 – Abyss
힘쎈여자 도봉순 – himssaenyoja Do Bong Soon – Strong Woman Do Bong Soon
이번 생은 저음이라 – eebon saengoon jeooomeera – Because This is My First Life
아버지가 이상해 – abujeega eesanghae – Father is Strange
A massive thank you to my husband for humoring me and our amazing photographer Jackie of Love Shack Photo for making these photos a reality.
Travel NYC like Mark and Jaehyun of NCT 127
A rainy day was suddenly made bright and cheery when we realized that we had walked the same steps as some of our favorite idols.
It was the night after a very stressful day of work when Sammie left to meet up with some of us for dinner. As she ran to not be late, she went past her absolute favorite place in NYC, New York Public Library. Behind said favorite place is a park. Bryant Park to be exact. A small park that, during the holiday season, becomes an decked out ice rink, gifts galore, food stall filled, Christmas marketplace.
That particular day, while gloomy, was still mid-summer so the trees still had their gorgeous big leaves, the flowers were in full bloom and the water fountain spouted its nourishing H2O.
A lot of these places we know but don’t know that we know. (Yes that was a ‘Friends’ reference)
So when she ran into the corner where Mark and Jaehyun stood, after going to see Phantom of the Opera, to admire the gorgeous view of the Empire State Building, she texted us to meet her so we could take a few photos.
Located at the corner of 42nd St. and 6th Ave. is this spot where you can enjoy the greenery of Bryant Park, nestled behind the massive library of the New York Public Library.
Grab a book, take a seat in the park to people watch and as you leave, run across the street to Travel NYC like Mark and Jaehyun of NCT 127.
Travel NYC Like Sang Yeon, Jacob, and Sun Woo of The Boyz
We were hype when KCON NY 2019 announced one of our fav rookie groups, The Boyz, were performing. We were even more hype that The Boyz made the absolute most of their trip to NY. They traveled up and down the city, and even into the borough of Brooklyn. We find it funny how ‘hip’ Brooklyn has become in the last ten or so years.
We’ve grown up going to Brooklyn as a couple of us have family there. When we told our families that these kpop idols keep coming to the area they laugh. And when we told Sammie’s mother where we were going to take pictures of this location her eyes went wide with worry.
“I wouldn’t be caught dead there…actually I would probably end up dead there,” she explained, not making us feel all that great about making the trek up that way. But after doing our research we found that the area has definitely changed since her mother had lived in any of the boroughs.
The area of Brooklyn, named Bushwick, is now filled with breweries, beer gardens, restaurants, and insane street art. Seriously, the street art covers almost all the old factories now turned hipster shops, and apartments. This was another location we could’ve spent an entire day and not gotten enough pictures.
This corner we shot was a part of their “D.D.D” music video. There are actually several locations in the vicinity of this particular one. We will cover those in future articles.
Like The Roxy, where Stray Kids visited, this awesome crossroads is three street corner mish mosh. The intersection is Troutman St., Scott Ave., and St. Nicholas Ave.
We enjoyed living out a Beatle’s crossing Abbey Road scenario to get this photo and we hope you will too when you travel NYC like Sang Yeon, Jacob, and Sun Woo of The Boyz.
ANIMENYC. That’s it. That’s the title.
Anime. A Japanese animated film or tv show. Not something you would expect to be discussed on a site dedicated to Korea and everything Korean. We hear you.
So then why did we go to AnimeNYC powered by Crunchyroll?
Solid question.
We’ve discussed many times, mostly via our Instagram, our love of otome games. These visual, choose your path, romance novels make our hearts go pitter patter on the daily. We aren’t exaggerating. We read them daily. Between the romantic prose and the pretty, sexy, dreamy art we are constantly inspired for our own stories for this site.
They’re predominantly made in Japan.
Are you starting to put together how we ended up at AnimeNYC?
Lindsay, who helps us out with the site, is the biggest Anime fan we know. When we received information that the Javits Center was hosting this year’s AnimeNYC we applied for the press simply to have an awesome birthday gift for our girl. (Which everyone go follow @fashioningcosplay on insta to show her some happy birthday love!)
Lindsay and Sammie celebrating Lindsay’s bday! But, when we got the extremely long list of exhibitioners, we noticed two names that had us squealing like the crazy fangirls we are. Voltage Inc. and Cheritz had their licensed sellers with booths at the exhibition area.
D-E-A-D. DEAD.
Cheritz is actually the one Korean otome game we know of and have played. Jumin being our major bias and Seven as the bias wrecker. We played and have spent a pretty penny on the game. And hearing the sultry voices when our ‘phone’ rang in the game? OOF! (If there are more Korean otome games, PLEASE send them our way! We love spending money on hot 2D boys)
Now to get back on track. We packed our bags, saved our paychecks and headed to the Big Apple for a convention that we had no clue what we were getting ourselves into.
K-Con NY, take notes.
AnimeNYC is, by far, the best convention/expo we have ever been to. Besides having the large anime, game, and toy company booths, including the ones dedicated to our favorite otome games, they had hundreds of stand alone artists who took the characters we know and love and turned them into whatever they wanted. Whether it was simply drawing them in more modern clothing, or giving them cute little cat ears, or going the extreme route and making art for the 18 and older crowd, they created posters, keychains, postcards, and so much more. What impressed us the most was the artists that created anime characters out of K-pop groups we all admire. BTS, MonstaX, EXO, you name it.
All the Multi love at this booth 
Mystic Messenger 
BTS art 
BTS inspired Jewelry 
More BTS fan art 
A massive booth of kpop albums and posters 
Sammie’s glass case of joy. 
Go Go Curry with Jumin Bae 
There is apparently a Idol anime…Lindsay and I plan on enjoying fully.
These artists were, at least to us, the highlight of the event, because they were just like us. Fans showing their love and appreciation through their creative outlet.
Our second favorite aspect was the street clothes. Next to Sammie blowing her money on her otome game merch, she blew the other half of her paycheck on the clothing. Brands we had never heard of, but are glad we do now, came with clothes that we could see anyone rocking. But most importantly we could see K-pop idols performing in, showing up to the airport in, and even just wearing in their day to day lives filming a live insta or Vlive video. Or K-drama actors wearing them to press events, or in the dramas, or similarly at the airport or on a live insta video.
Crazy thing was, several of the brands had Korean influence. 소주 bottles on shorts and t-shirts, 메론바 (maelonba – melon bar) on hats, even a fashion line with a bag quoting BTS’s famous “Mic Drop” line, “Did you see my bag?” These brands mixed the many amazing Asian street clothes cultures and we were, and still are, here for it.
Wooji used this soju bottle print as both this shirt and shorts 
Is this not a bag you would see an idol wearing to hold their passport at the airport? Four Eyes clothing came to kill! 
Not only was Moonstruck’s owner sweet, peep that bag at the bottom left of the photo 
Bought the jacket and hoodie got the bag and beanie free from Valeza 
Bibi Sama astro boy bomber jacket. 
Saju threw an alcohol party on a shirt and soju was invited 
Kinfold had hats with korean food and frink
There is so much to talk about and not enough reader attention span to fit it all in. To sum up the rest of the three day, yes THREE DAY, event, there was a lot of yaoi to keep our BL hearts thoroughly satisfied, new anime releases we are set to actually watch and learn more about, new games being released, and amazing cosplay everywhere we turned that blew our minds with how much work these people put into the outfits. We were so happy to be a part of this amazing event and it opened our eyes to what conventions should be. Now all we have to do is wait until AnimeNYC 2020!
