Courtesy of the Morgan - Alfred Bryan's Caricature of Charles Dickens.
There is only one day left of regular hours for cultural institutions and purveyors before the holiday weekend hits. Find out more about Charles Dickens to impress your friends at the feast, all before you spruce up that beard and procure a warming spirit. On Christmas Day, celebrate by strolling the streets with a hot beverage, paying respect to Lower East Side’s history and nearly antique outdoor boutique.
Friday, 12/23 until 9PM
The Morgan Library Museum is free on Friday from 7-9PM. This admission will give you access to the library and the exhibitions. If you have not read a Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens (1812-1870), this experience is a worthy alternate. Charles Dickens at 200 celebrates the bicentennial of his birth with manuscripts of his novels and stories, letters, books, photographs, original illustrations, and caricatures.
The Morgan Library
225 Madison Avenue @ 36th Street
Holiday hours: Friday open until 9PM, Saturday open until 4PM. Closed Sunday.
Note: Dames, reading a literary classic in transit during the holiday season can look and read much more. Pulp Lab is honored to feature STRANGEBEAUTIFUL Library of Color by Jane Schub, a graduate of the Rhode Island School of Design. This holiday season Jane has created the ultra-chic “Dickensian Volume” library of color. Click here to view the set online in Pulp Lab’s e-Boutique.
Tuthilltown Spirits - Hudson Baby Bourbon Whiskey
Saturday, 12/23
Attention men with facial hair, get a clean shave or tidy your beards at F.S.C. Barber. Get the handsome treatment before attending that holiday party as a dashing stag or as a prized beau.
F.S.C. Barber
8 Rivington Street
Holiday hours: Saturday open until 5PM, please call them after 2PM at 212.673.3209. Closed on Sunday.
Sometimes our presence is enough, because we’re great guests. Maintain the reputation and gift a baby bourbon to the familiar and unfamiliar guests by Tuthilltown Spirits, New York. Their distillery is located near New Paltz which is about 2 hours north of NYC. They will not be hosting any tours this weekend, but their Distillery Store will be open with a tasting from 9AM-1PM on Christmas Eve. For those of you who can not make it to New Paltz and back, September wines in the Lower East Side carries this whiskey and is much closer.
September Wines
100 Stanton Street & Ludlow Street
Holiday hours: Saturday open until 6Pm. Closed on Sunday.
Photo courtesy of DerekW
Sunday 12/25
Pick up a hot chocolate at a local bodega and stroll to the North side of Houston Street and relish these moments at Billy’s Antique & Props on a holy patch of NYC as the “dirty old town”. Please read the New York Times article by Lower East Resident and Writer, Colin Moynihan about its pending close on January 1, 2012. It will be closed on Sunday, but you can see the “storied” sign.
Billy’s Antiques & Props
76 East Houston Street & Bowery
Holiday hours: If it’s not raining. Saturday, 3-10PM. Closed Sunday. Please call 917.576.6980 to double check.
Note: If you still feel like strolling on Sunday, join the Lower East Side History Project to learn more about seedy New York City; The Bowery, Jewish mobsters and Chinatown’s Five Points, led by local historians Eric Ferrara and Rob Hollander. The Bowery: A history of grit, graft and grandeur was written by Eric Ferrara and is available for purchase in store at The East Village Visitors Center and The Strand (online).
Title Cover - The Bowery by Eric Ferrara
Most stores will be closed on this day. Rightfully so. If staying indoors with your hot beverage makes more sense, take a break and enjoy Charlie Chaplin’s film, Gold Rush (1925) for FREE on YouTube. If you change your mind or get cabin fever, you can see this 95 minute silent film at the Film Forum. “The Tramp goes to the Klondike in search of gold and finds it more.” – IMDB Synopsis.
Film Forum
209 West Houston Street & Varick Street
Screening: Friday 12/23 – Thursday 12/29 (1PM, 4:30PM, 6:15PM, 8PM, 9:45PM), Monday (1PM, 4:30PM, 6:15PM, 9:30PM)
Cover image: Andrew Ingalls for WWD
