There are certainly exceptions (which we will get to later), but I wouldn’t recommend planning a full day around activities that rely on these kinds of establishments being open.Īs far as establishments that are a safe bet to remain open and provide a wide variety of things to do on Christmas Day in NYC–some Broadway shows, Radio City Music Hall (of course), transportation hubs like Grand Central and the Oculus, the Empire State Building, and nearly every restaurant in Chinatown will be open on Christmas Day in NYC. Generally speaking, it’s a safe bet to assume that most museums, restaurants, shops, and tourist attractions are closed on Christmas Day in NYC. Let’s start with the basics: what kinds of things are open on Christmas Day in NYC, and what kinds of things are not? So don’t fear, regardless of your religious inclinations–there is something for everyone on Christmas Day in New York. You’ll just have to experience it for yourself. The city takes on a calmness rarely found during the rest of the year, and as hard as I’ve tried, any description I could share of what it’s like would not do it justice. Well, as a proud heathen, I’ll start with this: Christmas is my favorite holiday, despite the fact that I have never personally celebrated–and that is in large part due to the magic of Christmas season in New York. Other notable restaurants taking advantage of the block's new seating areas, or offering tables on closed-down Doyers Street, include Hop Kee, Nom Wah Tea Room, Tasty Hand-Pulled Noodles, and Ping's.Looking for things to do on Christmas Day in NYC? If you’ve found yourself here, trying to figure out your holiday plans while you visit New York (or if you’re a New Yorker just looking to get ~festive~), you may be thinking: how can I make the most of Christmas in a city of secular heathens? And everything is served in takeout containers, which is not only safe but also efficient when you're ready to leave and still have like three more meals worth of food still to be eaten. Also on the table was a container of sticky Cold Sesame Noodles for old time's sake, and Wo Hop's decent Fried Rice, in this case with shrimp.Īs far as pandemic protocols go, there's a comically large bottle of sanitizer at every setting, the staff is 100% masked, those plexiglass shields between tables mostly provide a secure feeling, though the tables are close together. Sesame Chicken with Broccoli wasn't really "hot spicy" as the header promised, but the meat was tender and the dish had some kick. Roast Pork with Chinese Mushrooms featured large chunks of butter-soft fungi and a glutinous sauce. Not wanting to hog my precious four-top, I chose quickly. And although the hours are truncated, the Wo Hop menu still runs more than 250 items long. There's a certain nostalgia at play when eating here, with all those delightfully borderline sweet dishes that dominated the scene when I first started coming to Chinatown in the 1970s. The project also has a long list of corporate sponsors.Īfter a fifteen minute wait I secured a seat at Wo Hop and ordered up a feast. The materials were all contributed by the Rockwell Group, whose participation is part of their larger effort to help NYC restaurants survive the pandemic, working here with the New York Hospitality Group, the Chinatown Partnership, and the Department of Transportation. New tables and chairs, plexiglass shields, barriers thick with plant life, bright coloring, plenty of umbrella coverage - these are among the most pleasant such dining areas I've seen in the Covid era. You can get takeout of course, or delivery, but the real move is to come down here to Chinatown and stretch out in one of the handsomely designed outdoor seating spaces that now line the block. You may not be able to stagger down the staircase at 2:30 a.m., nor gawk at the vast collection of fading photos that cover the basement restaurant's walls, but the original Wo Hop (the neighborhood's second oldest restaurant, behind Nom Wah) and the younger Wo Hop City, are now back in action, serving their classic, Americanized Chinese fare on Mott Street.
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