Spooky NYC

Spent a day last week in New York with Ms. Misantropia, visiting from Sweden! She is amazing, and I wish she lived closer. Our mission for the day was to see and shop as much spookiness as possible.

I had never been to NYC before, and I didn’t take nearly enough pictures. I loved the hell out of it. We never ate the same place twice, and nearly every bite was delicious. After breakfast, our first stop was Gothic Renaissance. It was filled with mind-blowing clothing and accessories, many of them handmade, and very high quality. Which, of course, put them out of our budget. But soooo tempting. We both got a few small trinkets.

Katarina and yours truly with the resident guardian at Gothic Renaissance.

Right next door, and run by the same folks, is Halloween Adventure, a bogglingly large costume shop. I swear it went on forever. Did I mention I didn’t take enough pictures? In my defense, it was raining, so I was busy looking for a hat. A hat with a point.

They didn’t think this name through.

Katarina had never heard of Victorian hair work, so the first stop after lunch was Obscura of Oddities fame. Because of the show, I knew they’d not only have some, but that one of the proprietors, Evan, was an expert. We were able to see several examples, but the most amazing one was around Evan’s neck: less than an inch tall, the two-sided pendant had the tiniest, most lovely palette worked scene. Also, as a reminder to myself–she is working with another collector to organize a large hair work show in PA. Planning on keeping an eye on their facebook page for that.

I actually forgot to take a picture, and walked back for a selfie in front of the store. I’m a crappy fangirl.

At loose ends until dinner, we cabbed over to Chelsea Market, since we heard they do good Halloween. Indeed, spooky props hung from the ceiling all along the mall. Did I take a picture of any of them? NoooOOOOoooo. But I didn’t leave empty handed.

Li-Lac Chocolates had a lot of good Halloween treats.

Pumpiggies!

Dinner was at the spooktacular Jekyll & Hyde Club. Hint: you do not need reservations on a Monday night. I say this because reservations come with a meal package, and can be spendy, so if you want to be thrifty, just head on over on off nights. The food was fantastic, and interrupted frequently by Dr. Horrible, an axe-wielding guy in a fez, and many interesting characters festooning the walls. A frisky rhinoceros head decided to pick on the Spousal Unit. He was a good sport about being called a sexy hobo. And yes, they really do make you figure out the hidden door to the bathrooms.

Yep, the bar was the only thing I got a decent pic of.

Just one non-spooky thing to mention: the next morning, we had breakfast at Big Daddy’s, and boy howdy, that was deeelish.

Big Daddy’s. Do have some pancakes.

We had to roll home after breakfast, leaving Katarina to have more adventures. After only one day, NYC is definitely one of my favorite places in the world, and I’m looking forward to going back.