An unique, fun & social experience awaits you this winter and all year round: Dodgeball League!

Downtown Dodgeball helps bring teams of New Yorkers together for weekly games and social outings. You can join as an individual or small group and be placed on a team, or join as a full team.

Games are held Tuesday nights between 6:30 and 9:30 in the East Village. The winter 2010 coed dodgeball season begins January 19th and runs for 7 weeks with an 8th week of playoffs.
Registration deadline: 12/31/2009. For more info: visit their website

Watch this nicely made video to get a sense of what to expect

Free to watch, $60 to play:
* A full season of dodgeball officiated by Downtown Dodgeball refs
* The opportunity to network with cool ladies and gents in a fun atmosphere
* Access to exclusive drink specials at the league bar
* A Downtown Dodgeball team t-shirt
* And much, much more!

The High Line was originally constructed in the 1930s, to lift dangerous freight trains off Manhattan’s streets. Section 1 of the High Line is now open as a public park! When all sections are complete, the High Line will be a mile-and-a-half-long elevated park, running through the West Side neighborhoods of the Meatpacking District, West Chelsea and Clinton/Hell’s Kitchen. It features an integrated landscape, designed by landscape architects James Corner Field Operations, with architects Diller Scofidio + Renfro, combining meandering concrete pathways with naturalistic plantings. Fixed and movable seating, lighting, and special features are also included in the park.

See images of the architects’ vision for High Line Park: Design Gallery

Summer Events

July 12th – High Line Street Festival with Target
July 15th – Design Talk: Lecture with the Designers
Throughout the summer – Walking Tours of High Line
Throughout the summer – Family Events
Full schedule of events

The High Line is open from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM daily. Access to the High Line is possible via any of these access points: Gansevoort, 14th, 16th, 18th, 20th Streets. Dogs are currently not allowed on the High Line due to the limited area of the pathways and the fragility of the new plantings.

Summers in NYC would not be complete without visiting one of the city’s many rooftop bars and outdoor gardens. For many locals, this is a great escape from our tiny studio-side apartments with windows 3 feet away from the next building. Uh huh!

The Hudson’s New Sky Terrace
356 W. 58th Street; 212-554-6000
Located on the 15th floor of the Hudson Hotel, Sky Terrace is now open to the public! A large hammock-lined landscaped terrace with sweeping city and Hudson River views. Try the mango ginger margarita.

Salon de Ning
Peninsula Hotel, 700 5th Avenue, at 55th Street; daily 4:00PM – 1:00AM
Themes based on the tale of Shanghainese socialite Madame Ning and her travels. Expensive drinks, but the views and decor are worth it!

230 Fifth Rooftop Garden
230 5th Ave (& 27th St.), 20th floor; Open everyday 4:00PM – 4:00AM
Expensive drinks and a little cheesy, but 230 Fifth offers the city’s largest rooftop bar and best views of the Empire State Building

Cantor Rooftop Garden at Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 5th Avenue, at 82nd Street; 212-570-3820
This Art filled museum rooftop garden offers amazing views of Central Park and 5th Ave. Currently exhibiting Roxy Paine on the Roof. Past exhibits include amazing balloon sculptures by Jeff Koons.

A60 (Above 60) Rooftop
60 Thompson Street, between Spring and Broome Streets; Open everyday 6:00PM – 12:30AM
Hotel guests and members-only rooftop bar with stunning views of downtown Manhattan. Another Thompson hotel rooftop that is open to the public…
Above Allen Rooftop
190 Allen Street btw Houston and Stanton
This new rooftop has the usual expensive drinks but also has great music, great views of midtown & a popular Wednesday night.

Bohemian Hall Beer Garden
29-19 24th Avenue, Astoria; 718-274-4925
This Astoria Queens Beer Garden is the oldest and biggest for outdoor beer drinking, with $14 pitchers and picnic chairs and weekly Jazz and Comedy.

Plunge
Hotel Gansevoort, 18 Ninth Avenue, at 13th Street; 877-426-7386
Usually horribly crowded and cheesy, but if you are in the Meatpacking District, in need of a rooftop, and can’t get into the members-only SoHo House, this is it.
If this is not your style, you can always try
The Garden of Ono
The hotel’s ground level restaurant has a bamboo-filled outdoor garden and four cabanas. Call ahead for reservations at 212-660-6766.

Rise at the Ritz-Carlton, Battery Park
2 W. Street, 14th fl, 917-790-2626
Located on the 14th floor of the Ritz-Carlton in Battery Park, this award-winning and aptly named bar boasts one of the most dramatic views in the city, perfect for July 4th fireworks!

The Park – Garden & Penthouse
118 Tenth Avenue, between 17th and 18th Street; 212-352-3313
Steps away from the elevated High Line Park, The Park features a lower level garden with Japanese maple trees and atop level Penthouse. This place has something for everyone!

Highbar Rooftop Lounge
251 West 48th Street; 212-229-0010
The breezy sixteen stories Highbar terrace is sprinkled with sprawling day beds, plush love seats as well as a UFO chair. Try the Drunken Watermelon: a scooped out melon rind, filled with the liquor of your choice.

Notable Mentions

B-Bar & Grill – 40 E 4th Street
The Delancey – 168 Delancey Street, at Clinton Street
Local West – 1 Penn Place, Eighth Avenue at 33rd Street
Studio B – 259 Banker Street
AVA Penthouse Garden – 210 W 55th Street
Brass Monkey – 530 W. 27th Street
Empire Hotel Rooftop – 44 West 63rd Street

Ella (Fitzgerald) sings “Autumn in new york…Why does it seem so inviting…” Louis (Armstrong) follows “On the benches in central park…Great autumn in new york…Its good to live it again…”

What makes Central Park so inviting in the Fall months?
There are many obvious reasons including breath-taking fall colors of the elms, pine, oaks and locusts; artfully placed benches, terraces, lakes and ponds (think reflection – double the foliage) leaving you to appreciate every moment and every step you take in the park. For me, it’s the immediate stress relief from the day to day life in NYC and unless you live close to the park, it is likely you will experience some form of stress just getting to the park.

The Science
Bill Berliner is the Central Park Conservancy’s Associate Vice-President of Horticulture and knows the facts about fall. “Three factors influence leaf color — leaf pigments, length of day, and weather. As days grow shorter and nights grow longer and cooler, biochemical processes in the leaves take place. Leaves lose their green when chlorophyll production slows and finally breaks down, allowing other pigments in the leaf to show through.” Which is why November is the best month to see fall foliage in Central Park this year.

The Players
Maples, Oaks, Pine, Elm, Gingkos are just a few of the diverse tree types in Central Park. Keep this in mind as you walk through the park.

The Locations – Top 3 Best Places
1. Great Hill and the Ravine in the North End – 103rd to 105th Street on the West side of the Park
The North End is the considerably more rugged area of the park north of the Reservoir. Covered in acres of woodlands, Great Hill is a rare meadow sitting amongst a true deciduous forest of elm, oak, hickory, maple, and ash. Walk down the slope to the Ravine where you’ll find arches and streams and some of NYC’s hidden waterfalls. With the city’s skyline no where to be seen and surrounded by vast natural beauty, this fall foliage experience is as good as being in the Adirondacks!

2. The Mall – 66th to 70th Street on the East side of the Park
The Mall is the grand promenade of Central Park, a 40-foot-wide walkway surrounded on each side by quadruple rows of American Elm, providing a living cathedral ceiling high over the walkway. These giant Elms offer a lime green shade in the summer and as autumn’s yellow and gold leaves fall, they reveal the bold architecture of the trees’ skeletons. Directly east of Sheep Meadow and stretching north to Bethesda Terrace, the Mall is breathtaking in any season. Benches line the mall for strollers to relax or socialize and let go of the hustle and bustle of the big city.

3. Bow Bridge & The Lake – 74th Street in the middle of the Park
Our last location to experience fall foliage in Central Park is the surrounding area around the Lake. In particular by the handsome cast-iron suspending bridge is the shape of an archer’s bow. Connecting the areas of the Ramble and Cherry Hill, the bow bridge is a famous romantic setting in NYC and a signature design feature of Central Park. The lake provides such beauty in reflection of the bridge and the foliage.

With only one month left before the leaves fall and the freezing winds of winter around the corner, I prescribe to you the medication for curing the headaches from your high-stress job and the rush of your every day life – take a walk through Central Park and enjoy autumn in New York!