New York City Almanac and Planner, 2024

For New Yorkers, New Yorkers at heart, anyone who has ever visited New York, anyone who is longing to visit New York…be assured, you don’t have to be a resident of the five boroughs to appreciate the Almanac of New York City.

Much like the city itself, the Almanac is packed, overflowing, and brimming with wit, whimsy, humor, frustration, optimism, irony, affection, and all the rest.  Not only is it an event calendar and planner, but it’s much, much more—one might say a daily dose of adrenalin with a side of municipal pride.  

Yes, it’s a day-by-day guide to the coming year in NYC: cultural events, holidays, historical anniversaries, weather predictions, the night sky.  Each week gets its own page, with enough space to record your own appointments.

But that’s just for starters. Each month opens with an essay that sets the mood for the coming weeks—a panoramic sweep across the month’s events: June brings the open-air singalong at the Tony Awards watch party in Times Square, the Jazz Age Lawn Party on Governor’s Island and the Mermaid Parade on Coney Island, among others; in September, a nudge to catch a Mets game, the perfect excuse to take a trip on the 7 train (the “International Express”) and take that long-overdue walk down Roosevelt Avenue for a taste of Queens’ street food (tamales, elotes, empanadas, birria tacos).  In addition, you’ll find recommendations for a Gotham-related Book of the Month and Movie of the Month, with a brief description of each.

Each week opens with a quote about the city by a notable person, from Kurt Vonnegut (“Manhattan Island, at its center inspires utterly baseless optimism—even in me”) and John Updike (“The true New Yorker secretly believes that people living anywhere else have to be, in some sense, kidding”) to Toni Morrison, Joan Didion, Edward Hopper and more. 

The daily notations range from factual to lyrical.

A sampling of daily entries:

January 7: Last chance to see Manet/Degas at the Metropolitan Museum of Art

February 14: Name a cockroach for your loved one at the Bronx Zoo 

March 12 (1963): Cassius Clay recites boxing-themed poetry at the Bitter End on the eve of a fight at Madison Square Garden. 

March 25: Curbside composting begins in the Bronx and Staten Island

April 9: Eid al-Fitr

            (2000) The New Yorker publishes “One Day—and One Night—in the Kitchen at                Les Halles” by Anthony Bourdain. 

June 8: Celebrate Ghostbusters Day at Hook and Ladder 8—the firehouse that served as the exterior of Ghostbusters HQ.

July 5 (1989): Seinfeld debuts on NBC

September 1: New York Tugboat Race

November 10 (2009): U. S. Marshals Service previews 400 pieces of jewelry and antiques seized from Bernie Madoff that are set to go to auction. 

Paperbound, 7" x 4.25", 1/4" thick.