Ozier Muhammad/The New York Times Opening day at the Prospect Park rink. Updated 10:18 a.m.
Happy foggy Friday morning.
Good skating weather is coming this weekend, with a possible flurry and temperatures in the reasonable range.
Where can you sip butternut squash and coconut milk bisque during Zamboni breaks?
Brooklyn, of course.
Prospect Park’s new ice-skating complex, Lakeside, is part of a small wave of new rinks that opened up around the city this winter.
The Prospect Park rink has drawn 35,000 visitors since it opened in late December, according to its manager, Upsilon Ventures.
The ice skating rink at McCarren Park in Williamsburg, which closed already after its inaugural season, also drew legions, some 23,000 skaters.
The Prospect Park rink overlooks a lake and is actually two rinks.
One is open air, the other covered by a midnight blue ceiling reminiscent of the starry dome of Grand Central Terminal.
It also has a somewhat enhanced snack bar, the Bluestone Cafe.
The skating rinks will remain open until March, when the 2½-inch-thick ice will disappear, leaving a roller-skating rink and a water play area.
For now, skating is $6 on weekdays, $8 on holidays and weekends. Rental skates are $5.
It’s one of the most affordable rinks in the city.
Here’s a guide to the city’s rinks.
And here’s what else you need to know for Friday and the long weekend.
(Note: We won’t be publishing on Monday, Martin Luther King’s Birthday.)
WEATHER
After early patchy fog, a sunny day ensues, with a high of 46.
Saturday: a chance of light snow or rain, then clearing up. Sunday similar, but a bit cloudier and cooler. Sun and clouds on Monday.
COMMUTE
Subways: Check latest status.
Rails: Check L.I.R.R., Metro-North or New Jersey Transit status.
City Buses: Some Manhattan routes still rerouted because of the water main break on lower Fifth Avenue. Check status.
Roads: Check traffic map or radio report on the 1s or the 8s.
Alternate-side parking is in effect today but suspended Monday.
Weekend Travel Hassles: Check subway disruptions or list of street closings.
DE BLASIO WATCH
- The mayor makes two announcements, one at a restaurant in Bushwick, Brooklyn, at 1 p.m., one at City Hall at 4 p.m.
- Mr. de Blasio and Speaker Mark-Viverito reached a deal on expanding the city’s paid sick leave law. [New York Times]
- The first poll of the de Blasio era finds New Yorkers optimistic about the mayor and his chances of implementing his policies. [New York Times]
- Mr. de Blasio named a former Bloomberg administration official his new health commissioner. [New York Times]
COMING UP TODAY
- Sharpen your needles. Vogue Knitting Live, at the Marriott Marquis in Midtown, features more than 175 technique and design classes. Through Sunday. [Prices vary]
- The Black Comic Book Festival opens at the Schomburg Center in Harlem with a 5:30 p.m. reception and a panel discussion at 7 p.m. Continues Saturday. [Free]
- New York Encounter, a three-day cultural festival organized by the Catholic movement Communion and Liberation, begins at the Hammerstein Ballroom on 34th Street. 6 p.m. [Many events free]
- Perhaps you thought the holidays were over. Not on Staten Island, where there’s a Jingle Bell Rock dance party at the Greenbelt Recreation Center. 7 p.m. [Free]
- The two-day Zlatne Uste Golden Festival, featuring live Balkan and Roma music and dance filling four stages, kicks off at Grand Prospect Hall in Brooklyn. 7:30 p.m. [$35]
- Closing weekend for “Girl With a Pearl Earring†at the Frick and four photo shows at the I.C.P.
IN THE NEWS
- Human remains found on the shoreline in northern Queens may be those of Avonte Oquendo, the autistic 14-year-old who disappeared in October. [New York Times]
- Gov. Chris Christie hired Randy Mastro, once a deputy mayor in the Giuliani administration and now a defense lawyer, to help handle Bridgegate. [New York Times]
- The M.T.A. made half a billion dollars off riders’ unused MetroCard value over the course of a decade. [New York Times]
- A state assemblyman from Manhattan wants to lower the city speed limit to 20 miles an hour from 30. [DNAinfo]
- New York State is allocating $67 million to build bike and pedestrian paths. [Gothamist]
- Korean leaders in Queens are urging a boycott of McDonald’s because one of its restaurants there has been kicking out older Korean patrons who hang out all day. [New York Times]
- Police officers in every precinct are given a list of places they’re not allowed to go â€" mostly because they can’t be trusted not to take naps there. [New York Times]
- Scoreboard: Nets beat Hawks â€" in London, 127-110. Pacers lap Knicks, 117-89. Rangers top Red Wings, 1-0. Islanders over Lightning in shootout, 2-1. Devils fall to Avalanche in shootout, 2-1.
THE WEEKEND
Saturday
- A winter hike through the forested heart of Staten Island starts at the Greenbelt Nature Center. 10 a.m. [Free]
- More knitting madness: a free workshop at Brooklyn Craft Company in Greenpoint. 11 a.m. to 4 p.m.
- Learn about Fort Greene’s role in the Revolutionary War on a walking tour of Fort Greene Park. 1 p.m. [Free]
- Broadway singers and Olympic skaters sing and skate, respectively, at a benefit for breast cancer research at the rink in Bryant Park. 5 p.m. [Free, but V.I.P. seats are $50 and up]
- New short films from Israel at the Film Society of Lincoln Center. 6:30 p.m. [Free, no advance reservations]
- Opening of “Not Yet Real,†an installation on critical theory applied to video games, at the Goethe-Institut Wyoming Building in Midtown. 6 p.m. [Free]
- Celebrate David Bowie’s 67th birthday (it was last week, but who’s counting) at Grand Victory in Williamsburg. 11 p.m. [$6, includes Ziggy Stardust face-painting station]
Sunday
- Another natural history hike on Staten Island, this one to Moses Mountain â€" named for Robert, of course, so don’t expect any stone tablets up there. 1 p.m. [Free]
- A discussion for kids about Martin Luther King at Kingsland Homestead (named for a British sea captain, Joseph King, not Martin Luther), in Queens. 2 p.m. [Free]
- Brian Lehrer of WNYC and the radio journalist Farai Chideya discuss “the immediate future of New York City through the lens of Dr. King’s moral compass†at the Apollo Theater. 3 p.m. [Free]
- A spirituals sing-along in honor of Dr. King at the Park Avenue Christian Church on the Upper East Side. 3 p.m. [Free]
- Eat $1 oysters and learn about the past, present and future of oysters in New York, at the Diamond in Greenpoint. 5 p.m. [Free, except the oysters]
Monday, Martin Luther King’s Birthday
- Another discussion for kids about Dr. King, this one at Lefferts Homestead in Prospect Park 1 p.m. [Free]
- Days of service in honor of Dr. King are being held at seven parks across the city on Monday morning. See volunteering guide.
- An evening devoted to the Muppet Gonzo the Great, including rare video clips, at Union Hall in Park Slope. 7 p.m. [$8]
- For more events, see The New York Times Arts & Entertainment guide.
- And if you’re looking for fun out of the city, The Times’s Metropolitan section has listings for Westchester, Long Island, New Jersey and Connecticut.
AND FINALLY…
New York rock history: Here’s an insistent, inane but ultimately indelible piece of fluff by an Elvis-besotted 22-year-old from Astoria, Queens.
His name was Kenny Dino, and the song, “Your Ma Said You Cried in Your Sleep Last Night,†was at No. 61 this week in 1962.
If you’ve never heard it, listen at your own risk â€" it may get stuck in your head all day.
Joseph Burgess contributed reporting.
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