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.
Travel NYC like Many K-pop Idols
While on our Travel NYC Like ___ journey, we knew this next place was a definite must see! From all the pictures we had seen of so many different idols making the spot a stop on their NYC travels the place was a no brainer.
ATEEZ shooting a dance practice video The spot we’re talking about today is a setting that we have seen many a k-pop idol frequent. Not even just K-pop idols like Stray Kids, and ATEEZ, but K-drama actors, like our boy Woo Do Hwan, who inspired Hwan Soo in Seoul Searching, jokingly, made a stop here.
Woo Do Hwanss funny insta post at the famous location This was another location that we had always seen and wanted to go to, but never actually went. But as we drew up the plans for this series, it was one of the top on our list. Rather easy to find, and not actually in Manhattan but in the borough of Brooklyn, we found this gem of a location.
Stray Kids during one of their challenges Located at the intersection of Washington and Water St. in the area lovingly named DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass), is where you will find this picturesque setting. Settled between the cobblestone streets and old brick factories now converted to shops and apartments, it has a view of the Manhattan Bridge so breathtaking it’s no surprise why idols make the trip.
Sammie and E. enjoying their day at the gorgeous area of DUMBO We felt like we could’ve spent all day stood in that intersection. The lighting changed with every passing cloud, and the sun dipping back down to bring on the moon, and we wanted to stay to witness it all. We unfortunately had a lot more ground to cover and we had to sadly move on. Maybe we will hit it up once again and spend all the time we had planned. And maybe we will even see you there while you take amazing, Instagram worthy photos and enjoy your travel like many kpop (and K-drama) idols.
Sammie wishing she could dance along with ATEEZ (Actually just wishing she could dance) Travel NYC like Bang Chan, Changbin, Jisung, and Hyunjin of Stray Kids
On a hot summer weekend in NYC, the heat not only radiated from the sun above but off the concrete below causing us to want to spend the whole day in the nice cool AC of our hotel room. But no! We were determined to go hunting for travel spots. With our list as long as Priyanka Chopra’s veil, we ventured out into the jungle.
Hopping onto the subway, we made our way to the always entertaining area of SoHo (short for South of Houston). A place filled with amazing restaurants, cool shops, and all around fun stuff to adventure and find.
On this adventure we were going to a place we had actually never been, but knew from a movie called Two Weeks Notice (released in 2002). See how we have, are, and always will, love love. While they had put a different name on the building, Sammie’s mom had said she knew where the place was and had been with coworkers years prior.
When we watched “Stray Kids: 제 9구역 시즌2 ( chae 9 guyeok shijon 2 – the 9th district season 2) we loved seeing so many sights of the city we love, which will be showcased in future articles, but when we saw them walk past an iconic scene in RomCom history we paused and proceeded to screech. We knew the image very well.
Sandra Bullock running to save Hugh Grant Sandra Bullock had run to that very spot to find Hugh Grant had called her for the ‘emergency’ of not finding the right outfit to wear to an event. And our fan fiction hearts started imagining Jisung meeting us in one of the gorgeous rooms in the hotel for a romantic rendezvous, or Bang Chan ordering room service so we didn’t have to leave our room and simply spend time together, or Changbin buying us a drink while Hyunjin performed on the small stage in piano bar.
Stray Kids Bang Chan, Hyunjin, Changbin, and Jisung outside The Roxy We knew we had to go. And so here it is. The Roxy Hotel is located at the intersection of 6th Ave, Church St. and White St. Yes, three roads all meet to make the area that is The Roxy Hotel. Outside is a gorgeous old black clock with a white face that reminds us of the clock in the historic Waldorf Astoria Hotel (which is currently closed).
Sammie outside trying not freak out too much that she was living out a childhood memory. After you see some art at a small local gallery, do some shopping at some cute boutique, get a gelato from the local creamery, or a drink down at one of the local pubs, go and relax in the gorgeous venue that is The Roxy Hotel so you can say you travelled NYC like Bang Chan, Changbin, Jisung, Hyunjin of Stray Kids.
Travel NYC like Jin-Young of GOT7
Do you ever have one of those moments where you look at something and say, “Wait. This looks familiar.”?
After starting this “Travel NYC like _____” series, we realized we say that A LOT. Most of the time, while the buildings look similar, they are in fact, not the same. Which can be disheartening, but it hasn’t stopped us yet. And this is a tale of one of those times.
We will say, this picture was a challenge. Our lovely friend over at @starlightseungmin sent us this insta post of Jin-Young from GOT7.
brb just letting Sammie know she’ll never find me. -Jin-Young Gorgeous right? We’re talking about the waterfall obviously…*clears throat* anyway…
We wanted to find the place just for sheer amazement that there was a location like it in NYC. But Sammie had her own reasons.
When she was in High School, her and a friend skipped prom to roam around NYC. While on the adventure they stumbled upon an amazing waterfall tunnel. And to this day, almost 15 years later (omg we’re old), they still have not been able to find the mysterious passageway. Seeing another waterfall triggered Sammie and she became even more determined to find this one.
But even with our combined group of eyes, including Sammie’s mother, none of us had a clue where this place could be. We pushed it to the side for a lot of the other locations we knew where to find, and in time it had become forgotten.
Sammie had gotten out of work early one day, and was meeting her mother for their monthly mother/daughter date (a location The Boyz visited as well! Look forward to that in an upcoming post). They chose to kill some time and walk around to find a few locations they knew were near each other.
As they walked Sammie paused, smelling the fresh scent of misting water. If you’ve ever sprayed a hose, you know the smell of that scattered water as it nourishes the ground beneath your feet. The smell stopped her dead in her tracks. Water misting in NYC? How? WATERFALL!! She looked around frantically trying to find the source of the smell. Did she find the tunnel she had been always searching for since her high school days? Was it where Jin-Young chose to sit and relax and scroll through his phone?
She pulled her mom along the streets to follow the scent and she finally found its location. She ran over, seeing a restaurant where couples were out to a late lunch, a mother with her kid fresh out of school, some coworkers out for drinks, sitting by the side of a waterfall. It was at that moment she said, “Wait. This is familiar.”
The chairs were exactly the same as those in Jin-Young’s photo, the color of the marble/granite behind the waterfall was identical. But when she looked from the photo to where she stood, it wasn’t the same. So as that familiarity and hope subsided, she realized she had not found the spot she thought would never find in the first place.
She snapped a few photos as it was gorgeous either way, and she was resigned to keep a small hope alive to find the real scene.
Come on! They looked so similar! Walking away to move on to another location she saw her mom, a few steps ahead, stopped, looking off to what seemed like a small alleyway. Her face unreadable, Sammie ran up concerned her mom had stumbled upon a not so pleasant sight, but when she followed her mom’s line of sight and her jaw hit the floor.
A small waterfall with red marble/granite stairs, modern white metal chairs, flowers surrounding large trees, and the kicker? A building with a turret like structure with windows on each side.
Her mother had found where Jin-Young sat and enjoyed a nice spring day in New York.
Queen of the awkward poses? Our loving leader Sammie. Sammie wanted to cry. It was a gorgeous little hidden gem that she was shocked existed in Manhattan. Brooklyn? Sure. Queens? Maybe. But in the center of New York City? For real?! And yet, there it was. This gorgeous secluded, serene, majestic spot, that she had searched months for that her mother and her had simply stumbled on.
And so we get to share the location with you guys! This hidden spot is in an area not normally frequented by most tourists. The block (53rd st) is nestled in between the large office buildings, housing massive corporations (between Madison Ave & 5th) and a few blocks away from the MoMA. If you make your way into the city, this is definitely a chill place to relax after all your Traveling NYC like Jin-Young of GOT7.
Travel NYC like a K-pop Idol
Ever wonder where your idol is when they are in a town or city near you? Or even, in a place you’ve always wanted to go? We have. And when they come to our city, New York City, and post pictures of places we see daily, or have heard about, we always feel the need to go and check out said places ourselves just to say “We were there too!”
That’s when we wondered…” Are we the only ones who do this?”
The answer we found was no! People are dying to see what idols see and be in an idols shoes even for that sliver of a second. Friends of ours, who are not familiar with NYC had reached out to us a few times with pictures of their bias standing at a street corner, sitting in a park, or eating in a restaurant, and asked us if we knew where they were. The crazy part was…we did. Having a mother who worked in Manhattan for all her young adult, and adult life, Sammie was bound to get the NYC bug as well. For as long as she could remember hopping on a train with her mother, walking up to the Chrysler Building where her mother worked, going out to lunch at different, fun, and unique spots, and once a month, for almost two or three years, going to see a Broadway show, was the norm. Her mother knew the city like the back of her hand, and unbeknownst to either of them, she was passing that trait down to her daughter.
Whenever we saw a celebrity post a photo of New York, we would run to her mother with the photo asking where it was. And like Rain Man, she knew exactly what street they were on and other stores and such around it. Sammie, while well versed in certain areas of the city, went on a different path for awhile and the city seemed like a distant past she would most likely forget. But when she got a job working in Manhattan, she found she would meet up with her mother to continue their adventures of unexplored areas of NY. And that’s when the genetics kicked in.
We will never forget the day we knew we had a series on our hands. A friend had reached out, fangirling over a photo ASTRO(아스트로) had posted on their Instagram, and Sammie laughed while saying, “Oh I haven’t been there in ages!”
We looked at her in awe. It was a picture of a hamburger. As we stared between her and the photo, the friend who had texted the image in the first place responded with the emoji that perfectly fit our faces :0 . This friend continued to send photos in which Sammie quickly identified where the members were. It soon became an ongoing thing. The second an artist came to NY, this friend sent a picture and within minutes Sammie had identified where it was.
And so Travel NYC like _____ was born.
We will be watching videos that the bands post, looking through their Instagram’s, and Twitter’s to find all their travels in NYC so that when one journeys here they will be able to follow the path of their kpop counterparts. So come and travel like an idol.
TRAILER:
MAJOR DISCLAIMER: We do not condone the act of stalking. We go to these places well after the idols have posted the videos, pictures, etc. DO NOT STALK!
K-CON NY 2019: Convention
A convention that continuously has one-uped itself, not only one-uped for this year, but it made us die to know what they have in store for 2020.
K-Con NY, had two new venues this year. The convention was held in the Javits Center, and the concerts were held in Madison Square Garden (MSG). We, at first, were a little nervous of how that scenario would work out. Thousands, if not tens of thousands, of fans leaving one venue to walk to the next? All we could think was chaos. We were proven dead wrong. There was no issue at all. Fans filed out when they felt like it, and walked to and from the venues with ease. And while the sweltering heat and nearly suffocating humidity would’ve been a problem at the previous convention location, the refreshing air conditioned Javits Center made for an amazingly enjoyable experience.
And with the new indoor location, came fun and creative booths from both vendors and K-con themselves. As we walked around we found so many Instagram worthy sets, including the new trend of a ball pit filled with inflatable flamingos and donuts.
(check out the ball pit in the back of the photo) The K Food Fair within the convention offered K-con goers a one of a kind food experience. We got to sample Korean melons, pears, crunchy ramen snacks, and even a meal worm burger (which was shockingly delicious). Bibimgo offered samples of their 만두(mandu- dumplings), Melona had people spin a wheel to pick from a multitude of flavored ice cream pops, and for sale was Kung Fu Tea, who sold out by mid day both days.
The entrance to all the amazing free and tasty Korean food. After eating our way through the convention, it was time to shop the convention. The dominating force was Korean skin care. As Korean drama and K-pop fans all know, Korea takes their skincare very seriously and that prestige showed. There were several k-beauty, skincare, and makeup booths that came to show both their new and tried and true products. While we received a handful of samples, we also ended up purchasing some goodies as well. (Hint: we will be doing a skin care blog soon.)
The freebies we gave out and some of the stuff we bought! Albums stalls had lines wrapped around them twice if not three times of eager fans waiting to get their hands on exclusive merchandise, posters, and above all else, albums. There was even a small amount of clothing booths (we had actually hoped for a few more) that not only promoted k-pop, but Korea in general.
To put it simply, our bank accounts were heavily depleted.
The other aspect of the convention was panels. There seemed to be a lot more panels then previoulsy, which we have the larger venue of Javits Center to thank. These panels covered creative things like create your own fansign, and making your own embroidered patch, to educational like Women in Hallyu media, and how to start your own YouTube channel. Fans got to sit in and listen to some of their favorite YouTubers, artists, and industry professionals and left feeling inspired.
While we couldn’t cover the fan engagements, we did hear from several of the fans in the audience as well as ones who got to meet their idols that it was a once in a lifetime experience. Fans were shown so much love and appreciation from their favorite groups.
This two day experience was one to remember. We ate a lot, we saw a ton of bands, we learned a lot and we simply loved meeting all the amazing fans who love the same things we do! We have already begun to countdown until next K-con!
