New York! New York! Night lights, big city

Author: By Gail Ravgiala, Globe Staff

Date: SUNDAY, June 16, 1996

Page: B1

Section: Travel

She laid her head on the pillow and gazed out the huge living room window. Above the pastiche of warehouses and apartment buildings, the Empire State Building, awash in electric lime-green light, stood like a shimmering confection.

``Never mind, Mom,'' came the tiny voice, ``I guess that can be my night light.''

It was a sweet ending to a day full of firsts for Hailey and her 9-year-old brother, Ian. This was their inaugural trip to what many adults consider one of the most grown-up cities in the world. Certainly, if you are looking for night life rather than a night light, you will see a different New York than they saw.

Rather than unwinding with the hip crowd, we said TGIF at FAO Schwarz. On Saturday night, we whooped it up with the prehistoric crowd at the American Museum of Natural History. And for the entire trip, we were remarkably able to adhere to my two cardinal rules of family travel: Keep it simple and avoid crowds and long, boring lines at all costs. I also invoked another standing guideline for successful adult/child holidays: If the trip involves more than a one-night stay, rent a condo, apartment, suite, house, cabin or whatever as long as it is at least twice as big and twice as private as your average hotel room. There is a definite correlation between space and sanity on intergenerational outings.

Our current accommodations fit my criteria and then some. A one-bedroom loft apartment on the top floor of an old warehouse building on West 23d Street, the space had been handsomely converted.

Architectural moldings and columns set off the white walls and richly stained wood floors. There were 12-foot ceilings; a greenhouse-sized skylight, original to the building; a full kitchen including, to the delight of my sister Barbara (a last-minute stand-in for my husband, whose bad knee was acting up), a washer and a dryer.

And then there was the view.

Through the bank of industrial windows that was the rear wall of the apartment, New York's architectural icon stood in regal glory just 11 blocks away.

We had booked the loft through City Lights Bed and Breakfast Ltd., an agency that finds private co-ops, apartments and condos for short-term stays. City Lights handles the deposit, usually one night's rental, via credit card, while the customer pays the balance -- by cash, certified check or money order -- directly to the homeowner. Our unit was $140 per night, and the host provided the fixings for coffee and continental breakfasts.

We had taken the 9:05 morning train from Boston. Having been warned by a regular commuter to New York that the run is usually crowded, we arrived at South Station early, promptly found a porter who took our baggage and got us comfortably settled in a four-seat section -- even making sure we were on the side of the train with the best views. It was worth the tip: The train was crowded, and after stops at the Back Bay and Route 128 stations there were few seats left.

It was a short cab ride from Penn Station to our loft, where we let the kids unwind for an hour or so before we headed for the subway and requisite visit to Rockefeller Center and Fifth Avenue. It was a balmy day in mid-April, but the ice rink was filled with skaters even as the gardens and planters were bursting with daffodils and hyacinth.

Adhering to my avoid-the-crowd maxim, we set our sights on Fifth Avenue and FAO Schwarz. On a Saturday afternoon, the best-stocked toy store in the country would have been jammed, but at 5 p.m. on Friday, we wandered freely through the incredible displays and watched the staff demonstrate toys with the aplomb of circus performers. We were even treated to a free magic show.

No purchase is necessary to enjoy the store, but, since this was the first day of our trip, I reasoned a new toy or two would go a long way to fill the free time that would be essential for a successful, whine-free vacation. Limits were set in advance: Ian and Hailey could each select one item ($15 price limit) on Mom and use their own spending money (each had saved for the trip) as they saw fit.

The mood stayed upbeat as a perfect spring evening beckoned us to walk along Central Park on our way to a friend's co-op on the East Side, where we were to have dinner. The kids ran along the sidewalks, jumping to reach the awnings that stretched out in front of the posh apartment buildings -- except when there were doormen about, in which case the children stared in awe at their natty uniforms.

My friend had assembled maps and guidebooks to help us through the next four days, but over dinner she and her family offered some truly practical tips for the non-native. Among them: The ubiquitous Korean grocer is a great neighborhood resource, street vendors sell fruit that is fresh and reasonably priced, and we should buy our half-price theater tickets at the indoor TKTS booth at 2 World Trade Center rather than the more-popular street outlet in Times Square.

The next morning, we heeded her advice. TKTS sells half-price day-of-performance tickets for evening performances. Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday matinee tickets are sold the day before the show. The booth opens at 11; we arrived at 10 and waited for the shows to be posted. Barbara grabbed a place in line while the children and I explored the outdoor plaza off the mezzanine. There we discovered another outdoor skating rink that even my Manhattan friend was not aware of and watched as spring skaters glided along in sweaters or shirtsleeves.

On weekdays, these two office buildings employ enough people to populate a small city, but on Saturday morning, we had the run of the place. Not even the tourists had arrived to take in the view from the observation deck on the 107th floor.

The available matinees went on the board at about 10:45. ``State Fair'' seemed the most child-appropriate offering. As my sister, who has a thing about heights, waited in line, the children and I took the quarter-mile, 58-second elevator ride to the ``Top of the World.''

It was another nearly perfect spring day, and after soaking up the view, we emerged from the twin towers and headed north, on foot, to SoHo, where we found a cafe that served sandwiches fancy enough to statisfy my sister and me and burgers basic enough to satisfy the kids.

The area is known for its hip shops, restaurants and galleries, not the usual fodder for a 9-year-old boy who favors large motor activities. But even Ian was enthralled by some of the offerings in this upbeat part of town. There was SoHo Books (351 West Broadway), which offers an eclectic mix of tomes on art, science, crafts, cooking, etc., many at discount prices -- including a generous assortment of children's books. Up the street is Animazing Gallery (415 West Broadway, 2d floor), which features animation cels from Disney, Warner Brothers and 20th Century Fox. The artwork depicting the Flintstones, Pocahontas and Bugs Bunny brought the realization to their young fans that an artist actually created these characters.

Perhaps the most surprising find was Evolution Nature (120 Spring St.), a tiny store that is as fascinating as any museum, chockablock as it is with human skulls, freeze-dried snakes and scorpions embedded in lucite. It sounds gorier than it is, and my children left with a chunk of South American agate and a seashell, naturally colored in beautiful spirals of pastels.

By now it was after 3 p.m., so, tired and loaded down with books and bags, we grabbed a cab back to Chelsea. While we took the subway frequently, it was more because I didn't want to pamper my little tourists than to save money. In fact, most cab fares were less than, or close to, the $6 it took for the four of us to take the subway or bus.

We rested, had a snack and waited until after 5 to head out to the American Museum of Natural History on Central Park West (also known as Museum Row), which is open Friday and Saturday evenings until 8:45. Again, a weekend afternoon is guaranteed to present a crowd at this major attraction, but nights are hubbub free.

The recently renewed dinosaur collection is a must-see, but both children were drawn by the Native American galleries and the spectacular special (a fee of $5 for adults, $2.50 for children is required to enter) exhibit, ``Amber: Window to the Past,'' which runs through Sept. 2. The exhibit has its scientific appeal as it presents an array of fossil specimens trapped in ancient tree resin, but the decorative objets d'art, including a replica of a corner of the magnificent Amber Room presented by King Frederick William I of Prussia to Russian Czar Peter the Great in the early 1700s left us staggering.

In the morning, we were off to the Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum at Pier 86 (at West 46th Street and 12th Avenue). The private museum is the vision of Zachary Fisher, a wealthy businessman who saved the World War II and Vietnam War aircraft carrier Intrepid from the scrap heap.

Pioneers and Technologies halls, both onboard the carrier, give an overview of flying history as well as space and sea exploration. There are also dioramas and film clips depicting Intrepid's role in World War II. On the flight deck, more aircraft can be explored. Best of all, for the adults at least, are the volunteers -- some of whom actually served aboard the ship -- who act as museum guides, providing details of shipboard life and the workings of ship and crew. Also part of the museum are Growler, a guided missile submarine, and Edson, a Vietnam-era destroyer. To see it all requires more than the two hours we allotted.

In fact, there was not even time for lunch before our 1 o'clock matinee, so we grabbed some snacks at a Korean grocer en route to the Music Box on West 45th Street, a manageable walk from the ship.

John Davidson's affected performance notwithstanding, ``State Fair'' is the kind of big, easy Broadway musical I wanted my children to have as their first New York theater experience. The story line and dialogue are simple, the songs hummable and the humor within the reach of kids who aren't accustomed to sitting still for two-plus hours.

After the show, we headed for the All Star Sports Cafe, just a half-block away in Times Square. A congenial waiter offered a private tour of the Charlie Sheen baseball room to an overly hungry Red Sox fan. The fare is predictable -- burgers and Buffalo wings -- but no matter. Here, ambience is all.

For the sheer schlock of it, we ventured across the street to Xanadu, the best-stocked kitsch souvenir shop in the city. From postcards to posters to replicas of the Statue of Liberty and the Empire State Building in 10 sizes, it is worth a stop just to see the lengths to which the souvenir industry will go. We even bought -- what else? -- a 10-inch Empire State Building.

Luckily, we passed on the Statue of Liberty. The next day, we found the gift shop on Liberty Island far more reasonably priced. By now, we had the drill down. We'd gotten the first boat to the statue to beat the crowd. It left Battery Park at the tip of Lower Manhattan at 9:30. There was a short wait to climb the 354 steps to Miss Liberty's crown. Reaching the tiny windows atop her head seemed anticlimactic compared with the fun of trying to figure out if we were climbing through her knee, her waist or her throat.

The ferry ticket includes passage to both the statue and Ellis Island, a short hop from Liberty Island.

The exhibits at Ellis Island held my sister and me spellbound. I'm sure my children were tired of hearing us say that their grandfather and his sisters and brothers had come to this country as children on one of the very ships talked about in the movie presentation at the beginning of our visit. My father was younger than Hailey when his family left Lithuania with their few possessions and came to make a new life in the factories and tenements of Lawrence, Mass.

How could we explain to Ian and Hailey that when we looked at the photographs, we saw the faces of our parents and grandparents and their neighbors and friends? Did my children know what a miracle it was that our family was standing here together that day?.

Before we left the harbor islands, Hailey purchased a Statue of Liberty night light. That evening we plugged it into the wall. The Empire State Building was gleaming white against the darkening sky, but it was this little green light that she would take home to illuminate her nights.

TKTS, 2 World Trade Center, mezzanine, (212) 768-1818, is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The TKTS booth at West 47th Street (between Seventh Avenue and Broadway) sells day-of-show tickets from 3 p.m. to 8 p.m., and same-day matinee tickets on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Operated by the Theater Development Fund, these outlets sell whatever tickets happen to be left for various shows. They accept only cash or traveler's checks.

The Observation Deck at the World Trade Center, (212) 435-7377, is open daily from 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Admission is $3.50 for adults; $1.75 for senior citizens and children 6 to 12.

American Museum of Natural History, Central Park West at 79th Street, (212) 769-5000, is open Sunday through Thursday from 10 a.m. to 5:45 p.m and Friday and Saturday from 10 a.m. to 8:45 p.m. Admission is $6 for adults, $4 students and senior citizens and $3 for children 12 and under. IMAX films are shown in the Naturemax Theater daily. Tickets for single features are $6 for adults; $3.50 for children and $5 for students and senior citizens. Double feature tickets are $1.50 more for adults; 50 cents more for children. The museum also includes the Hayden Planetarium. Admission to its Sky Shows are $5 for adults; $2.50 for children and $4 for students and seniors.

Intrepid Sea Air Space Museum, Pier 86 at West 46th Street, (212) 245-0072, is open daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $7 for adults; $6 for seniors and $4 for children 6 to 12.

Both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are operated by the National Park Service. Ferries to these attractions leave from Clinton Castle in Battery Park. Fares, which include admission to both the statue and Ellis Island, are $6 for adults, $5 for seniors and $3 for children 3 to 17. Hours are 9:15 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. in summer; 9:15 a.m. to 5 p.m. in winter. For ferry information call (212) 269-5755. For information on the Statue of Liberty call (212) 363-3260. For Ellis Island information, call (212) 363-7620.