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New York Minute

I’ll meet you at the Bat.

…under the Big Board.

…next to Alice.

…under the Button and Needle.

…sitting near the Fountain.

…at Love.

“At the Bat” and “Under the Big Board” (at Penn Station) have backfired repeatedly, yet I still use them all the time.

Where do people meet you?

16 comments

1 Alex Belth   ~  Aug 30, 2011 9:09 am

I think it's great that the bat is still there. Now, with cell phones, I find that my meeting points are more lax. "I'll meet you by the Hard Rock and call you when I'm there."

2 Jon DeRosa   ~  Aug 30, 2011 9:17 am

Yeah, 10 years ago, we relied on these landmarks all the time. And waited around a lot more too

3 ms october   ~  Aug 30, 2011 9:20 am

"under the big board" drives me crazy.
a couple of times a year my department has to go to albany together.
we meet "under the big board" and where that is changes depending on who gets there first. it's maddening on top of penn being the waiting room to hell.

i guess i usually meet someone at an intersection and then walk to the destination - meet me at the corner of 22nd and park on the se side.
or if not an intersection something smaller like in front of the newstand at columbus circle.

4 Jon DeRosa   ~  Aug 30, 2011 9:52 am

[3] yep, that's how I get screwed up too. But I'm too stubborn to change. The big board is clearly the one near the stairwells to the tracks. Any one waiting at the other one has it wrong.

5 Alex Belth   ~  Aug 30, 2011 9:57 am

"I mean, he'll see everything...he'll see the big board!" George C Scott, "Strangelove."

6 BronxToCT   ~  Aug 30, 2011 10:38 am

My favorite is the information booth at Grand Central.

7 Alex Belth   ~  Aug 30, 2011 10:43 am

This also depends on the person I'm hooking up with. If they are close friends, and New Yorkers, I'm apt to say something like Albert Brooks said to Holly Hunter in "Broadcast News":

"Okay, I'll meet you at the place near the thing where we went that time."

8 krad   ~  Aug 30, 2011 12:52 pm

There's the information desk at the center of Grand Central, which still works despite the crowds. Until very recently, I met people at Penn, not at the big board, but at the Borders, because it was an excuse to wander a bookstore. That won't be happening anymore. *sigh*

9 briang   ~  Aug 30, 2011 1:53 pm

on a slightly different note, when i'd go to games with my dad when i was a kid he'd pull out ten bucks and say "you fly, i buy" and i'd go get some pretzels and mustard.

otherwise, it's the bat for me. haven't been to the new park though. glad to hear the bat is the spot still.

10 Alex Belth   ~  Aug 30, 2011 2:03 pm

9) It's not really, though cause now it is so far from the Stadium it seems like a pain in the ass unless you are getting off the Metro North train.

11 weeping for brunnhilde   ~  Aug 30, 2011 4:07 pm

Alice is my favorite.
At the information booth in Grand Central, of course.
On the steps (of the Met, of course).
Hmm...where else...

12 weeping for brunnhilde   ~  Aug 30, 2011 4:08 pm

[1] Yes, that's exactly right. Kind of sad, really. Obviously more convenient, especially if it rains or whatever, but infinitely less romantic.

Oh, Columbus Circle, at the fountain and Lincoln Center, at the fountain.

13 weeping for brunnhilde   ~  Aug 30, 2011 4:09 pm

On the steps of NYPL.

14 weeping for brunnhilde   ~  Aug 30, 2011 4:11 pm

Bethesda Fountain.

15 Mr OK Jazz Tokyo   ~  Aug 31, 2011 12:21 am

Grand Central..yikes.
Boatzilla will appreciate this, once I said I'd meet this fine lady "outside Shinjuku station". This was when I was new to Tokyo..and yet to discover Shinjuku station has 200+ exits spread out over a massive area..D'oh!

16 Boatzilla   ~  Aug 31, 2011 5:19 am

[15] Dude I once told my parents I'd meet them IN Shinjuku station, which is like saying, I'll meet you in the City. I remember madly running up and down train platforms, sweating, panting, nearly crying....but I found them.

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