Title: Long Lines of New York City
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Brian Lehrer: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. As we head to our last 15 minutes or so this morning and head toward the weekend, we will lighten it up a little bit for our last few minutes. We're going to open up the phones with a call-in on what you've stood in line for. Do we say online or in line? If you're on the internet, it's definitely online, but if you're waiting for something, depending on what part of the country you're from, it could be either. We're going to say in line. Call in on what you've stood in line for and whether it was worth it. 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
Why do we ask? Maybe you saw the New York Times' recent update of its list of the best pizza places in New York, and they had to follow it up with why one Brooklyn establishment failed to make the list despite the fact that many people think it's worth standing in hours-long lines for. We'll do a best pizza call in again, I'm sure, someday. Today, the question is, did you ever stand in line for hours for pizza or for a relatively long time for the slice of your choice because so many other people wanted one too? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
What have you stood in line, online for? Not so much to pay a fine, maybe you have to do that sometimes too, if you go to one of the city offices or finally get your real ID at the DMV, but something you expected to be good. How long was the line, and after the fact, at the end of the day, was it worth it? 212-433-WNYC, 212-433-9692.
I'll tell you a quick story about myself, a contrast with the old days and now. Just this morning, I went online to buy tickets for one afternoon at the US Open tennis tournament coming later in the summer, something I like to take my kid to once a year for his birthday, because he's a big tennis fan. When I got on the website, I was told I was number 2,200-something in line. Eventually, I got there, and I got my tickets just by looking back at my computer periodically.
When I was in high school, I wanted to go to a Knicks playoff game, which I had never done. Can you imagine the lines this year if you had to do that in person? A friend of mine and I, we got up at 6:00 in the morning, probably earlier than that, we were probably at Madison Square Garden at 6:00 in the morning to wait in line physically for when Knicks playoff tickets went on sale at, I think it was nine o'clock. Nobody does that anymore because that's not how they sell tickets anymore. What are you waiting in line for?
Social media, ironically, seems to play a part in building these lines. You go online to find out where to go to be in line. Have influencers influenced you into waiting in a long in-person line? 212-433-WNYC. Remember when New York City and long lines didn't need Instagram to get them together? I just told you one story. Remember the webcam to monitor the line at the first Shake Shack in New York? Who remembers that? Madison Square Park.
Maybe you slept in Central Park to see Meryl Streep at the Delacorte in Shakespeare in the Park, or Cronuts. Did you ever stand in line for Cronuts? Sometimes the line is part of the fun. There's a certain camaraderie among those waiting, or you get a sense of accomplishment for waiting. Maybe you have a long line meet cute or made-a-friend story. Tell us your worth the line story at 212-433-WNYC or when it was anticlimactic and a big letdown. 212-433-9692. Your stories of waiting in line right after this.
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Brian: Brian Lehrer on WNYC. Now, your stories of waiting in line for something in person, and was it worth it? Luca in Williamsburg, you're on WNYC. Hi, Luca.
Luca: Hi, Brian. Long time, first time. Fun to talk to you.
Brian: [unintelligible 00:04:54]
Luca: I recently waited in line for dinner at the Four Horsemen in Williamsburg. It was one of those things where we woke up early a month in advance to try and get a reservation, but couldn't get in. We just went for a walk in, waited about 45 minutes, and thankfully got to have dinner. It was a great time.
Brian: Did you have fun at all on the sidewalk while you were waiting?
Luca: I did. It is Williamsburg, so there are definitely a lot of people with stunting outfits. A lot of fun to hang out and goof around on the sidewalk.
Brian: Luca, thank you for your call. Beth in Ossining, you're on WNYC. Hi, Beth.
Beth: Hi. I have two. First, in 2015, first online, the lottery to get tickets to get into Central Park for Pope Francis. Amazing. Just the community, and I'm Episcopalian, not Roman Catholic, but the community was the best of New York. Equally, more recently, I have done the Polar Plunge the past few years. There's a line to get in to get to the beach, also the best of New York. Those are two of my favorite, and I'm smiling ear to ear at-- It was worth the wait both times.
Brian: Thank you very much. Lynn in Delray Beach in Florida, you're on WNYC. Hi, Lynn.
Lynn: Hi. A longtime listener, once been in a while caller. The two that are most memorable for me was my senior year at Rutgers. Bruce Springsteen, born in the USA, had just become a hit, and he played at the barn. I stood on line for five hours to get one ticket. Then the second one was when we heard about the Hurricane Carter concert at Madison Square Garden. A bunch of us hopped in the train, went into the city at around eight o'clock in the morning. Since there were so many people on the streets, Madison Square Garden opened up the box office at like 4:00 in the morning, and we got our ticket.
Brian: Lynn, thank you very much. Just because 2 of our 10 lines are people who waited for tickets to Bruce Springsteen. Marie in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hello.
Marie: Hi. Back in the day, I waited in line overnight with many other excited people at Jack's Music in Red Bank for when their Ticketmaster machine opened and got tickets, and that was amazing. Then full circle moment last year when he headlined the Sea.Hear.Now Festival in Asbury Park, which is where I'm originally from. I got on the online line and just kept refreshing and refreshing, and everything was selling out by the second, and somehow, miraculously, I got two tickets. Then side bonus note, got there and saw him in my hometown and snuck into the VIP section, so got to be pretty close on the beach in Asbury Park, which was awesome.
Brian: Very nice. Good story. I just saw a concert in Red Bank last week. They have that wonderful performance space, the Count Basie Performing Arts Center-
Marie: Oh, yes.
Brian: -and the theater, the Vogel, within that. These days, I was able to just go online and buy those tickets a few weeks ago when I knew that particular artist was coming to town. Do you remember, since you talked about the Ticketmaster machine, the venue? Because I know in Manhattan, I think it was off in Tower Records when that was a thing. They would have that machine, and people would line up outside Tower Records, not just to buy records or CDs or whatever they were buying, but to get tickets. Do you remember where the venue was?
Marie: I don't remember the venue because the first time I saw him was when he opened the Brendan Byrne Arena, and my mom got me tickets. I don't even know how she got them as a surprise because it was all, at the time, mail-in at that point. It must have been there. Again, I also, side note, snuck into the Stone Pony to see him as well.
Brian: I won't tell. Marie, thank you very much. Here is a pizza line story. Gabriel in Brooklyn, you're on WNYC. Hi, Gabriel.
Gabriel: Hey, Brian. How you doing?
Brian: I'm doing okay.
Gabriel: I got this story about waiting for four hours at Lucali in Brooklyn, which I think is the pizza place that maybe you were talking about.
Brian: It is by the way.
Gabriel: My girlfriend has this rule where she won't wait in line. She won't wait in line. I went and I waited in line for four hours at Lucali to get a seat, and then coincidentally, it was the night that Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce came and had pizza at Lucali. Then it was just crazy. The streets were mobbed. There were people everywhere, photographers. That's my story about waiting in line four hours. It was really good pizza, but I don't know if I would wait in line again.
Brian: Four hours for a slice of pizza. What even motivated you to do it once?
Gabriel: It's because everyone says it's the best pizza in New York, and it's just one thing that you got to do once.
Brian: Can you characterize the pizza now that you've had it? Was it the tomato sauce? Was it the cheese? You know what I mean?
Gabriel: Honestly, it was like the char. It reminded me very much of a New Haven-style pizza, which is probably my favorite. It's like the char on the bottom. It's very simple pizza. I also like that it's BYOB. They don't serve any alcohol, and you can come with a bottle of wine. It's pretty fun.
Brian: New Haven-style pizza, no less. Have you seen the subway poster? I was looking at this the other day on the train. It's an ad for one of those real estate places, maybe StreetEasy, that has a photo of a couple that's moved out of New York, presumably because they couldn't-
Gabriel: Oh, yes.
Brian: -find an affordable place to live. They're sitting at their dining room table with a box that says New York-style pizza, and they're looking all glum.
Gabriel: Nowhere else outside of New York is it the same, except for New Haven, I have to say. A few places in New Haven, the famous places, but other than that, it's New York or nowhere for pizza.
Brian: Gabriel, thank you very much. Phil in Manhattan, you're on WNYC. Hi, Phil.
Phil: Hi, Brian. The Broadway box office rush tickets, general rush tickets. I always get into good conversations, find out information about other shows, and they find out from me. 5 or 10 years ago, I went to see The Band's Visit, and there was someone on the line who was seeing it for the 47th time. He said he got something new from it every time he saw it. He saw other shows a lot, too. The next time I saw him, he was at Duffy Square. He was one of the people who imparts information to the tourists.
Brian: I know now you can go online and enter a lottery for discounted Broadway tickets. When's the most recent time--
Phil: It depends on the show. Some you can do only the lottery. Some you can only do general rush tickets. It depends on the show. If I can do the lottery, I choose to do that first, but sometimes you can't.
Brian: Phil, you get the last word. Thank you, everybody, for your waiting in line stories. Hopefully, we don't have to wait too much for good weather this weekend. We'll have to probably wait one day and get it on Sunday if the forecasts are right. Thanks for your calls. That's the Brian Lehrer Show for today, produced by Mary Croke, Lisa Allison, Amina Srna, Carl Boisrond, and Esperanza Rosenbaum. Zach Gottehrer-Cohen produces our daily politics podcast. We had Juliana Fonda and Milton Ruiz at the audio controls. Have a great weekend, everyone, and stay tuned for All Of It.
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