Travel NYC like Hyunjin, Changbin, and Seungmin of Stray Kids
Yes. We’ve covered a lot of Stray Kids spots. The boys travelled a lot. And it’s the pics people send us the most asking where they are. (hint: if you want to see different groups DM us on Instagram the places you want us to find)
As we continue this Travel NYC adventure, we were excited to see the boys find a semi hidden gem in the touristy area that is Rockefeller Center. Yep. We’re just coming out and telling you exactly where this statue is because it isn’t as easy to find as the rest.
In fact, we have walked around that area for years (and we mean close to 20), walked past the sculpture every year during the traditional ‘go see the tree’ event at Christmas, and not once noticed it. Sure, we knew it existed. We had seen it in shows and movies. We knew where it was located, but never. Not once, did we ever search it out.
And for real? Rockefeller Center is known for the big flashy gold fountain statue in front of a tiny ice skating rink that couples propose to each other on.
When we went to the site we learned the name of the sculpture and what it represented. And we felt our hearts clench with a sense of appreciation as to why we believe Stray Kids found and snapped a photo.
Known as Atlas, the sculpture represents the Greek titan, of the same name (Atlas), carrying the heavens on his shoulders. To us it represented Stray Kids. They boys, who have always written about feeling the weight of the world on their shoulders as they search to find their happiness in music, artistic expression, and simply life. We found it fitting that they went to such a historic and prolific site.
In a way, they are like Stays Atlas. Helping us by carrying some of our burdens, to assist us in getting past things we might not think we can handle on our own. Not to put too much pressure on them or anything. And hopefully in a role reversal, Stays could be Stray Kids Atlas. Helping carry some of their hardships, when they don’t believe they can carry them themselves.
Located across the street from St. Patrick’s Cathedral on 5th Ave, between 50th and 51st St. you will find this beautiful statue that felt a lot more comforting to us newer Stays than we thought it would. Check out the area and you will see the FAO Schwartz toy store, flags from all over the world surrounding that golden sculpture and ice rink, and when you finally find our hunky Atlas, you can cross off another spot, and say you travelled NYC like Hyunjin, Changbin and Seungmin of Stray Kids.
Travel NYC like, NCT127, The Boyz, and others
We have done one of these before. A spot that several idols have visited, and even actors have visited in NYC. Today we are offering you another such location. This place is fairly new to New York. Only being open to the public for almost a year at this point. We had actually seen it while it was being built and had no clue what the heck it was. We were so confused. A weird upside down pyramid, honeycomb looking thing with stairs? Huh?
But sure enough when it was revealed to the public as a climbable peace of art, we wanted to go! And sure enough The Boyz and NCT127 wanted to as well. We actually posted on Instagram when we first went, before Travel NYC Like ___ was a thought in our minds.
Meet The Vessel. Located between 10th and 11th Ave and 32nd and 33rd St, this 15 story, stair climbing honeycomb maze with amazing views of the harbor, and the newly built Hudson Yards resides.
The views truly are unparalleled and once at the top, as the wind hits your face you fell an the sense of accomplishment is amazing. You can take breaks going up, finding new angles to observe the city and new sights you may not have noticed before and enjoy the fact that you have now travelled NYC like The Boyz, NCT127, and others!
(Edit: sadly this location is also home to a very tragic event that happened this weekend. RIP young soul, may you no longer be in pain)
Travel NYC like Seungmin and Hyunjin of Stray Kids
Stray Kids went a lot of different places while being here in New York. And since they’re coming back NEXT WEEK, we decided to do one more before they arrive. Some of the spots we loved (Like when they visited The Roxy hotel, and DUMBO) and some we legitimately try to stay as far away from as possible (like Penn Station and now this new spot).
This spot is actually somewhere we had talked about and been to when ASTRO came to town. Yes, that’s correct. We went back to Times Square. JUST. FOR. YOU! To a section we actually have never even been close to if we’re being honest. We had seen it in videos, pictures, and we knew where it was but since it was in Times Square we avoided it like the plague.
Famous from the Alicia Keys and Jay-Z music video for “Empire State of Mind” those bright red stairs actually hold TKTS, an infamous Broadway ticket selling broker. We say infamous because they say they sell tickets cheap, when really they are the same, if not more than face value for the tickets. Fun fact if you come to NY and want to see a show…don’t go there.
The spot has now become an Instagram mecca for the tourists who come to see Times Square. And the boys of Stray Kids hopped on that bandwagon. And what they do, we do. And we have to admit…
It was pretty cool. Actually really cool. Yes, we will admit that something in Times Square was worth going to see. Between Broadway and 7TH Ave, on 47th St. you will find these large red stairs to climb up and see the enormity of Times Square. And you can snap your shot and check another location off your list as you have now travelled like Seungmin and Hyunjin of Stray Kids.
Queen’s Channel Sits on a Throne of Quality Content
Queens Channel on YouTube has amassed a following with her cute reactions to MV’s from predominantly Asian artists and dance videos from all over the world! We met her almost two years ago and we knew she was some of the good people. We got to sit down and chat with her at KCON to discuss everything KPOP!
Back in 2012, her mom was the one to be the ultimate fangirl of K-pop. “TVXQ and Super Junior were the ones she was really into. And so I would listen to them with her. From there I got hooked and started finding more groups.”
Queen made it her own. She had always been into dance and seeing all the amazing choreography of the artists made her want to follow along. And so she started actually doing it. Watching videos and following along until she was a pro just like them.
And honestly her dancing is some dope stuff. She also freestyles which blows our minds. (for reference: We can do the cha cha slide…) We asked her what her favorites song at the time was to dance to. She responded fairly quickly, “BlackPink’s 뚜두뚜두 – ddudduddu. It’s just a great song to dance to.”
With all of this behind she still hadn’t made her debut on the internet. What pushed to her start her YouTube channel? Once again, her family had a large influence on that. They brought it up with her growing passion for dance and her love of watching the videos, why not share that with the world and find other people like her. “I wasn’t sure at first, because I was still in school and wasn’t sure I had time. But I decided to give it a try and before I knew it, the channel grew a life of it’s own and now I’m doing YouTube part time.”
Now that YouTube has become a part time career for Queen, we wanted to know her favorite aspect of the channel. She loves making the videos, reacting to new music, practicing dances, all that kind of stuff. But she loves the interaction with all the people who have been there to watch her grow into what she is today, a channel with almost 10K subscribers and a loyal fanbase (us included) who wait patiently for her next videos. She says she is, “forever grateful for the love and support.”
And in true Korean From Context form, we asked the most loaded question we have asked in every interview so far:
What’s the Korean phrase you want people to know?
It did take her a little while to think of one. There were so many she wanted to choose from but she finally chose one that is probably the most rational. “저기요 (chogiyo -excuse me) If you need to get someone’s attention politely it’s your best bet.” After wrapping up our interview we spent the entire two days of Kcon NY together meeting new people and old friends, eating delicious food, and bonding over our love of kpop, kdramas, and Korean skincare. She is one of the kindest most generous people we have met and here at Korean From Context, we are so insanely proud of everything Queen has accomplished and recommend you check out her work. Below is one of her many videos. If you like what you see head over to her channel and hit that subscribe button. And def check out her Instagram @ji_q111) where she posts previews to her new dance videos!
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.
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.
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.
