When we talk about Halloween in NYC, we have to say that the Greenwich Village Halloween Parade is so 20th century. A Brooklyn haunted house showcasing professional scarers is what you'll really want to check out this season.

The Gravesend Inn Haunted Hotel is a yearly production by the New York City College of Technology as a departmental project in "entertainment technology"—the kind of training that would prepare you to work on a Cirque de Soleil show in Vegas or be a Disney Imagineer. The hotel is designed to "sense" and respond to visitors; for more on that, check out an engineer's inside take on what makes it run. Last year's production imagined a hotel buried over a sailors' graveyard haunted by vengeful pirate ghosts; will it be zombies (or zombie Michael Jacksons this year? ]]> egw 2009-10-19T17:33:40-05:00 40.6987270 -73.987100 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/8/11/10216/1983

Julia Roberts is spending the summer in the hot heat of New York City where she is filming Eat, Pray, Love. The movie is based on Elizabeth Gilbert's best-selling memoir of the same name, in which she retraces her soul-searching, one year journey through Rome for pleasure, Mumbai for spirituality, and Bali for "balancing."

Today, Julia along with Javier Bardem and James Franco, is filming at a home on Pacific Street in Brooklyn. The movie will continue filming throughout the city through the end of the month.

If you're spending the summer in the city as well, the New York City Explorer Pass has just been extended to included a ten attraction package for $209. The pass lets you choose from over forty popular attractions like the NBC Studio Tour, The Statue of Liberty and Empire State Building for a savings of up to 45%

On to India ... ]]> cmb 2009-08-11T12:29:56-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/7/18/152748/014

For the past ten years or so, the north Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg has been identified primarily with avant-garde art galleries, stylish bars, and of-the-moment restaurants, but every summer, residents are reminded of a much deeper history. Each July, the neighborhood hosts the Feast of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, a festival that honors a Catholic saint named Saint Paulinus with music, food, parades, and the famous dancing of the giglio. For those who don't know, giglio is the Italian word for lily, and in this case it refers to an 80-foot tall, three-ton statue (pictured) that is carried and "danced" along Havemeyer Street by about 130 thick-necked men known as the Giglio Boys. ]]> Victor Ozols 2009-07-18T15:27:48-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/7/13/18746/9248

As you’ve most likely read in about 10,000 articles over the past five years, the once-overlooked NYC borough of Brooklyn has experienced an artistic renaissance, giving birth to an independent art, music, and literary scene that now rivals Manhattan’s. But here’s something you didn’t know: the newest quirky Brooklyn hotspot is set inside Manhattan’s stuffiest museum.

This summer, the Guggenheim Museum launches It Came from Brooklyn, a new monthly concert series that pays tribute to the accomplishments of the inner-est outer borough, with Brooklyn-based artists, bands and writers performing inside the museum’s famed Frank Lloyd Wright-designed rotunda. The series gets going on August 14 with Brooklyn band the Walkmen (two-fifths of whom now live in Philadelphia), and novelist Colson Whitehead (who is Internet-famous for writing about how he’s so over the Brooklyn writer thing).

So to summarize, two Brooklyn artists who both appear quite often in Brooklyn itself, and who are both at least somewhat tired of Brooklyn, will celebrate Brooklyn’s quirky, independent spirit at Manhattan’s snobbiest museum. And don’t forget the Manhattan-sized price tag: $45 a ticket. Is it just us, or is this the most ironic spin on Brooklyn yet?

Related Stories:
· It Came From Brooklyn [Official Site]
· Buskers in a Dangerous Time: Win The Chance To Play At JFK's Terminal 5 [Jaunted]
· Baltimore's Virgin Mobile Festival Drops Ticket Prices To Free [Jaunted]

[Photo: cultureclashem] ]]> BS 2009-07-14T11:24:18-05:00 40.7831290 -73.959242 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/16/92053/3254

As far as New York City tourism goes, we're starting to think this whole outer-boroughs-are-the-new-inner-borough thing might be for real, because even one of Manhattan's stodgiest tourist attractions is getting in on the Brooklyn and Queens love.

Circle Line, the iconic green-white-and-red cruise line that has been shuttling visitors on circumnavigations of Manhattan since 1945, is adding two new ships to their fleet this week: Circle Line Brooklyn and Circle Line Queens. The ships will still take the same route—no full circles of Long Island or anything—but the company is acknowledging that visitors are now just as excited about seeing Brooklyn and Queens from the outdoor deck as they are for the Manhattan skyline.

On Saturday, June 20, Circle Line is welcoming the new ships by throwing a block party on the river. Starting at 10:30am, Circle Line will transform Pier 81 (at West 41st street) into a 1940s-style carnival, complete with jugglers, stilt-walkers, a dunk tank, and—most enticing to us—free cruises to the Statue of Liberty.

When they launch a Circle Line Staten Island, then we'll know Manhattan is really in trouble.

Related Stories:
· Circle Line [Official Site]
· Race You To The Top: Statue of Liberty's Crown Tickets Available Saturday [Jaunted]
· The Simple Pleasures of Life: Pedal Boating in Prospect Park [Jaunted]

[Photo: lemoncat1] ]]> BS 2009-06-16T11:57:12-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/6/11/91719/0373

As the reigning indie music capital of the world, you'd think Brooklyn would have a long-running music festival to rival Austin's SXSW and Manhattan's CMJ, but the ragtag borough has never quite put it together.

But Brooklyn is amping up its game this weekend with the first annual Northside Music and Arts Festival, which will be taking over much of Williamsburg and Greenpoint tonight through Sunday. The blogistas will be out in full force to catch dozens of the borough's up-and-coming bands, along with a couple of A-list indie acts like The Hold Steady, Bishop Allen, and Sunset Rubdown.

The festival has also teamed up with the Williamsburg Gallery Association to offer an evening of music in the galleries tonight, along with a bunch of artsy events throughout the weekend.

All-access badges for the four-day event are a pretty reasonable $45, and shows take place at many of Williamsburg's most popular bars, including Barcade, t.b.d., and the Gutter, with just a few events across the river in—gasp—Manhattan.

Related Stories:
· Northside Festival [Official Site]
· Brooklyn travel coverage [Jaunted]
· Music travel coverage [Jaunted]

[Photo: kenyee] ]]> BS 2009-06-11T12:22:09-05:00 http://www.jaunted.com/story/2009/5/14/161420/775

Home to what must be the world's highest concentration of dark, tiny drinking dens, New York's nightlife scene has never been known for roomy outdoor drinking space. But that could be starting to change: NYC is slowly but surely becoming the biergarten capital of the country, with hip drinkers trading in their martini glasses and secret door passwords for picnic tables, ale-filled boots, and lederhosen (Well, we haven't seen any lederhosen yet – but we can hope!)

For many years, NYC had just one truly great biergarten, the legendary Bohemian Hall in Astoria, Queens. This century-old mega-garden is a long-time hangout for Eastern European ex-pats, although the 20-something set clearly got word about the cheap-cheap Czech beers in recent years and the place has become a bit of a zoo lately.

But that's OK, because imitators eager to suck up that overflow crowd have been popping up all over the five boroughs. We've got the hipster take on beer gardens, Radegast Hall, in Williamsburg, and the hard-party version, Loreley, on the Lower East Side. ]]> BS 2009-05-15T11:26:55-05:00 Search Jaunted string http://www.jaunted.com/search/