00:00Hey guys, I'm Tiana Achai, Senior Editor of Social and Video at Apart, and I am here
00:08live, as you can see, in Times Square, center of the universe.
00:12Times Square may be some of the most controversial three acres on the planet.
00:16Tourists plan entire trips around it, many New Yorkers won't touch it with a ten-foot
00:19pole, but today we're on a mission to prove that Times Square can be fun and interesting
00:24and even elevated, so long as you know the right places to look.
00:28And we're going to spend 24 hours here to do it.
00:36Here are the rules.
00:371.
00:38The boundaries.
00:39Technically, Times Square is the five blocks between 42nd and 47th Streets from Broadway
00:44to 7th Avenue, but we're going to allow the theater district since those two often go
00:47hand in hand.
00:492.
00:50Our headquarters is the beautiful Civilian Hotel just five minutes from the center of
00:53it all, but besides a few hours of sleep, our goal is to spend the majority of our time
00:57exploring.
00:59And 3.
01:00There will be absolutely no pictures with the Times Square Elmo or any costume characters
01:04on our itinerary, nor should there be on yours.
01:09Before we get started, today's video is sponsored by the Broadway Collection.
01:13No visit to New York City is complete without seeing a Broadway show.
01:15From the groundbreaking Hamilton to timeless classics like The Lion King, there's a show
01:19for everyone.
01:21Get tickets through the official sellers at broadwaycollection.com, book ahead for an
01:24unforgettable experience, and make Broadway the highlight of your NYC adventure.
01:30And that's it.
01:3124 hours starts now.
01:35My partner and I arrived in Times Square just after 3pm, just in time for a late lunch.
01:40Since it wasn't quite time for check-in, we dropped off our bags at the hotel and headed
01:43for Margon, an almost 40-year-old, hole-in-the-wall Cuban restaurant known for its sandwiches.
01:50Since we were all fueled up, we took the first of many strolls through the center of
01:53Times Square.
01:54Since it was the end of October, there was a massive Diwali celebration happening in
01:58the middle of it all, which was a very New York moment.
02:01By 4 o'clock, it was officially time to check into our hotel.
02:04We stayed at The Civilian on West 48th and 8th Ave, and not just because it's close
02:08to the main drag.
02:09I'd heard from other afar staffers that this is a special place to stay if you love
02:13Broadway shows, and I have to agree after staying there.
02:16They've got these light, airy communal spaces that feel nice and secluded if you need a
02:20break from the chaos of the neighborhood, but the real highlights are the original
02:23set models and props from the last century of Broadway they've got inside their downstairs
02:27bar and restaurant.
02:29So cool.
02:30We went upstairs and dropped our bags in the room, and then it was off to our first stop
02:34of the night, Valerie.
02:35Now, if you love a cool cocktail bar or a great gin and tonic, as much as I do, you'll
02:40fit right in here.
02:41The main bar is such a statement piece, and it casts this golden glow over the entire
02:45room.
02:46There's also a restaurant in the back if you want to sit and stay a while.
02:49We kicked off our night with a gin cocktail, an espresso martini, and some people watching
02:53from the second-story bar.
02:55We would have hung out all evening, but we had a dinner reservation to make.
02:59Okay, the time is now quarter past six.
03:05We are on our way to Din Tai Fung.
03:08When Din Tai Fung first opened in New York, it was one of the city's most difficult
03:11to nab reservations.
03:13In fact, you still need to make a res bar in advance.
03:16This Taiwanese restaurant is extremely famous throughout Asia and is known for introducing
03:20soup dumplings or xiaolongbao to the United States.
03:23Naturally, we ordered pork xiaolongbao plus cucumber salad, spinach with garlic, spicy
03:27wontons, and shrimp fried rice.
03:29As we were wrapping up our meal, it was getting close to seven, so the time had come for the
03:33main event, The Lion King, on Broadway.
03:35As you can see, the evening crowds were really starting to pick up here, so we had to hustle
03:39to make the show on time.
03:40The Lion King has been running since November 1997, making it the third longest-running
03:45show in Broadway history.
03:46As a former theater kid myself, I was ashamed to say that I had never seen this show on
03:50stage before, so thank you to our friends at the Broadway Collection for helping to
03:54remedy that.
03:55Naturally, no photography was allowed during the show, so we'll see you after the curtains
03:59close.
04:00Again, I have to use a little microphone because it's so loud, but in the light of the billboards,
04:03we just came out of The Lion King and it was fabulous.
04:07The costumes actually made me tear up in the first 30 seconds.
04:11The night has only just begun.
04:13It is 10.30, I think, right now, so we're off for a night out.
04:18We ventured up to West 46th for this next one, technically putting us out of bounds,
04:22but it was unskippable.
04:23If you want to feel like you're in New York City in the most classic sense, hit the Carnegie
04:28Club during their Sinatra Saturdays.
04:30We sat sipping drinks, listening to a singer who sounded exactly like Frank Sinatra, and
04:35chatting with his fabulous wife, who was born in the Bronx, about whether the Yankees were
04:39going to make it to the World Series this year, which they did that very night.
04:43It really doesn't get more New York City than that.
04:47The time is now 1.15, and we're going to karaoke.
04:54Afterward, we figured, what's a late night out without some karaoke?
04:58We headed to RPM Underground, a bar and vinyl record shop on West 54th with private karaoke
05:03rooms for rent.
05:05We'll spare you the singing, lucky you, not only because we don't want you to hear that
05:09we're tone deaf, but also because we don't own the rights to these songs anyway.
05:12After one too many Oasis tracks, we decided to call it a night and headed through the
05:16silent streets of the Theater District back to our hotel.
05:20And now after almost two hours of karaoke, we've arrived at almost 3.30 in the morning,
05:25so we're about halfway through our 24 hours, and it's time to go to bed.
05:34The Theater District is best suited to night owls.
05:36They stay open late, and there's not much open before 9 in the morning, which in our
05:40sleep-deprived case was a great thing.
05:42Good morning.
05:43As you may be able to hear, the karaoke hit pretty hard last night, but we are on hour
05:5017 at this point, and we are off to get some very much-needed coffee.
05:56After a quick stop at Bibble and Sip on West 51st for coffee, we quickly packed up our
06:00hotel room so that we didn't miss our checkout time and then headed off to yet another must
06:04visit for theater lovers and one of my favorite stops, the Museum of Broadway.
06:08What may surprise you about the Museum of Broadway is that it is massive.
06:13The staircase to the top is designed to look like the backstage stairs in a theater with
06:17old photos lining the walls.
06:19The museum itself is a maze of memorabilia with the history of Broadway's most famous
06:23shows and talents, costumes and props from across the decades, and even a section on
06:27how a production comes to life.
06:29Noon came around, and I decided it was time to make a quick stop just for me.
06:33I cannot resist the allure of the line store.
06:36There are just too many cute Korean knickknacks to pass up on it.
06:39There's also a little photo booth in the back, so we popped in for a picture.
06:42One hour, two photo strips, and a $10 back purchase later, we were headed into the final
06:46leg of our adventure.
06:48After a bit of a stroll around, we headed to the Drama Bookshop, which, again, is technically
06:53just one block outside of the theater district but should not be missed out on if you're
06:56a theater fan or a history buff.
06:58This bookstore has been around for more than 100 years.
07:01It almost shut down in 2019, but Lin-Manuel Miranda himself saved it from closing.
07:05Inside, they've got everything from scripts to theater memorabilia and books on costumes,
07:10tech, Broadway history, and more.
07:12It was 1pm, and the time for lunch had come around yet again.
07:15I figured the last few hours would be the most difficult to get through, and I was right.
07:20Frankly, we were exhausted by this point, but luckily, I knew the cure.
07:25Boqueria is my go-to restaurant recommendation in the theater district, especially if you're
07:29catching a matinee.
07:31The tapas here are exactly what one needs after navigating chaotic crowds, whether for
07:35one hour or, in our case, almost 24.
07:38We admittedly went a little nuts.
07:40We had mushroom croquettes, patatas bravas, flatbread with caramelized onions and black
07:45garlic, and seafood paella to top it all off.
07:48I'm still thinking about all of it.
07:51That was our congratulatory meal, but our legendary final stop was still to come.
07:57What more fitting place to end a journey through Times Square than Margaritaville,
08:01which is so uncool, but ironically glorious at the same time.
08:05Sure, it was only 3pm, but as they say here, it was 5 o'clock somewhere.
08:09We slid up to the bar, put in our order, and with that final drink, our 24 hours was complete.
08:15Well, we're headed back to Brooklyn, but thank you guys so much for joining us on this quest.
08:20If there's anything else in Times Square or the theater district that we missed, let us
08:23know in the comments.
08:24Otherwise, don't forget to like and subscribe, and we'll catch you next time.
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