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December in New York

A staycation in the Big Apple

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About this time each year, my colleagues, family and friends ask, “Where are you going for the holidays?” And each year I rattle off the name of some exotic location from the shores of Waikiki to the rocky coast of the Adriatic.  But alas, this year it’s time to give my traveling shoes a rest. So it’s a “staycation” for me. At first, the prospect of staying home in my tiny apartment in midtown Manhattan seemed fairly dim. Then I considered the concept: midtown Manhattan in December. People the world over would trade their eyeteeth to spend two glorious weeks in the Big Apple. And woe be me, my typical New York City apartment, where an eight-by-twelve area rug is considered wall-to-wall carpeting, is located a mere three blocks from Grand Central Station, and a short walk to anywhere NYC. 

So my December in New York began with a delightful stroll up Third Avenue, complete with (believe it or not) the transformative aroma of fresh pine needles. No, this isn’t Vail or even Breckenridge. It’s Third Avenue, and every second street corner revealed a magnificent stand of Christmas trees, Northern Pine and Blue Spruce, displayed and merchandised for the eight million other New Yorkers who are also spending the holiday season within the gloomy canyons of New York.

Did I say gloomy? There’s nothing gloomy about Christmas in New York. The iconic buildings that define the city canyons, from the Empire State Building to the Helmsley Building on 46th and Park, are all colorfully lit in magnificent splendor to celebrate the holidays. And retailers along Fifth Avenue are not to be outdone, from Harry Winston to Tiffany’s, in embellishing their façades with glorious illumination.

I eventually made my way to Bergdorf Goodman, where as usual, their holiday windows were a seasonal delight. Two things near and dear to my heart are integrating art into the retail environment, and retailers doing more than selling, but teaching as well. And the window gurus at Bergdorf’s did both. Dedicated to the arts, the windows projected visions of literature, architecture, theater, dance, painting, sculpture, music, photography, calligraphy – and even gastronomy.

Continuing down Fifth Avenue, the world’s most iconic shopping corridor, I reached Saks Fifth Avenue and their bank of six animated show windows, artfully transformed into “An Enchanted Experience.” Each window projected a scene from a beloved fairytale, portrayed with a brilliant stroke of art deco attitude. A few days prior, I was fortunate enough to have been invited to the unveiling of the Saks Fifth Avenue windows, where a fantastic showing of lights and projections on the building's façade, and an inspired performance by the famed Rockettes, kicked off the celebration. Yes, only in New York.

With today’s technology – the selfie explosion, Facebook, Instagram, and other social media platforms, it’s been said that more photographs are taken each hour than in the first 70 years of photography – 380 billion camera and smartphone shutters are pressed each year. And it seems that most of the captured images are taken by tourists standing in front of New York’s holiday windows or the grand tree at Rockefeller Center.

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My mid-December stroll continued along Fifth Avenue until I made my way to Bryant Park, adjacent to the world renowned New York Public Library with its regal lions standing sentry at the entrance. That by itself is a New York Instagram moment any time of year, but when the calendar strikes December, Bryant Park is traditionally transformed into a holiday wonderland. As I walked through the park's terraces and pathways, a European-inspired winter village seemed to appear before my eyes. The festive atmosphere was complete with an ice skating rink, a majestic Christmas tree and more than 125 boutique-like shops housed in custom designed fantasy kiosks.

So no warm breezes wafting ashore from the Pacific, and no expeditions up the steep and narrows of Diamond Head. Merely a fabulous staycation in my hometown, New York City, U.S.A

So what shall I do tomorrow? Broadway, the Met, MoMa, SoHo, the Village, Central Park, the United Nations, the Cloisters, the Brooklyn Museum (ah, Brooklyn), a game at the Garden, Saks  Fifth Avenue, Bloomingdales, Macy's, The Highline, dim sum in Chinatown or pastries at Ferrara's, Lincoln Center, the ballet, the opera…

Eric Feigenbaum is a recognized leader in the visual merchandising and store design industries with both domestic and international design experience.  He served as corporate director of visual merchandising for Stern’s Department Store, a division of Federated Department Stores, from 1986 to 1995. After Stern’s, he assumed the position of director of visual merchandising for WalkerGroup/CNI, an architectural design firm in New York City. Currently, he serves as the chair of the Visual Merchandising Department at LIM College (New York), and was also an adjunct professor of Store Design at the Fashion Institute of Technology. In addition to being the New York Editor of VMSD magazine, Eric is also a founding member of PAVE (A Partnership for Planning and Visual Education). Currently, he is also president and director of creative services for his own retail design company, Embrace Design.

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