NYC offers much to do on Thanksgiving

Q. Friends from Britain, along with my friends and me from Canada, plan to rendezvous in Manhattan. We arrive early on Thanksgiving Day. For all of us, Nov. 27 has no special significance. We have been having some difficulty determining what we can do on this day and evening. Many restaurants and shows will be closed on the holiday. Any suggestions? -- S.B., Ottawa

A. Yes, it's true that most of the museums and Broadway shows will be closed on Thanksgiving, but you can make a great day out of it, especially if you choose to embrace this food-centric, nontheistic holiday, which has been celebrated with a day off for most New Yorkers for nearly 150 years.

Since you are arriving early that morning you can drop your luggage off at your hotel and head straight to Midtown for one of the biggest annual events in Manhattan: the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, which starts at 9 a.m. and runs along Central Park West and Broadway between 77th and 34th streets. If you want more Americanized extravaganza, one show that is not dark on Thanksgiving is the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, with three performances on Nov. 27.

In addition, there are other ways to spend the day, with free and year-round options like exploring Central Park, walking across the Brooklyn Bridge and taking a Staten Island ferry through the harbor and past the Statue of Liberty.

As for dinner, many restaurants are closed, but you won't have trouble finding food throughout the city. If you want to have a fine dining experience that will even offer traditional holiday fare like turkey, read a New York Times dining-section article by Florence Fabricant, "Cook in Zero Minutes: Make a Reservation" (Nov. 16, 2005). It included restaurants like Becco (355 W. 46th St.; 212-397-7597; www.becco-nyc.com) and Molyvos (871 Seventh Ave.; 212-582-7500; www.molyvos.com), both of which are serving Thanksgiving meals this year; reservations are required. In an e-mail message to me, Fabricant also added Telepan (72 W. 69th St.; 212-580-4300; www.telepan-ny.com) to that list.