By Olivia Scheck
DNAinfo Reporter/Producer
MANHATTAN — If navigating the throngs of St. Patrick's Day Parade revelers doesn’t strike your fancy, never fear — there are plenty of other ways to commemorate the patron saint of Ireland in the Big Apple.
DNAinfo has compiled a list of the five best alternative St. Patrick's Day destinations in Manhattan.
1. The Old St. Patrick's Cathedral
While the modern-day St. Patrick's Cathedral is besieged by a sea of green, bask in the serenity of the city's first cathedral church, the Old St. Patrick's Cathedral. Nestled in between the bustling neighborhoods of SoHo, Chinatown and Little Italy, the nearly 200-year-old building was once the seat of the New York Archdiocese. Today, the parish continues to serve the neighborhoods' Catholic residents and houses an original-condition Henry Erben organ, which dates back to 1852. Members of the public are free to stop by throughout the day to check out the historic building or to attend mass, which will be held at 8:30 a.m. and 12:10 p.m. on St. Patrick's Day.
The Cathedral is located at 263 Mulberry Street between Houston and Prince Streets.
2. "The Moores: An Irish Family in America" at the Tenement Museum
Experience life as an Irish American immigrant in the 1800's and feel slightly better about your shoebox Manhattan apartment by taking "The Moores: An Irish Family in America" tour at the Lower East Side's Tenement Museum. The hour-long tour, which takes you inside the restored home of an Irish-Catholic immigrant family from the 1860's, features recordings of traditional Irish music and discussion of medical practices from the period. Reserve tickets for the 1:45, 2:45, 3:45 and 4:45 p.m. start times on the Tenement Museum website or show up for first-come, first-served start times at 10:30 , 11:15 and 12:00 noon. Tickets cost $20 for adults and $15 for students and seniors.
Tours start at The Museum Shop, located at 108 Orchard Street on the South East corner of Delancey Street.
Even if you can't make it to Ireland for St. Patrick's Day, you can still touch a piece of the Emerald Isle at the Irish Hunger Memorial in Battery Park City. The half-acre memorial area includes a 300 million-year-old Limestone plinth and a ruined fieldstone cottage that were imported from the land of saints and scholars. It is meant to commemorate the Irish potato famine, which sent hundreds of thousands of immigrants to New York City between 1847 and 1852. Fittingly, both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island are visible from the site's 25-foot cantilevered overlook.
The memorial is located on the corner of Vesey Street and North End Avenue.
4. Irish Whiskey Tasting at Chelsea Wine Vault
If pub crawling isn't your style, savor the flavors of Ireland with the gang at Chelsea Wine Vault. They'll be hosting a rare Irish whiskey tasting from 6:30 to 8 p.m. on St. Patrick's Day. The tasting, which will include selections from the Middleton, Powers and Knappogue Castle distilleries, costs $75 per person. Space is limited so book your spot now online or by phone at (212) 462-4244.
Chelsea Wine Vault is located at 75 Ninth Ave. at West 16th Street.
Once you've got some whiskey in you, you might feel better about immersing yourself in a sweaty mosh of your everybody's-Irish-on-St.-Patrick's-Day countrymen. If not, grab a seat at the bar and enjoy the musical stylings of Celtic punk rockers The Pogues for what could be their last concert for a long while. The reunited band, which once included Joe Strummer and still includes an Irish tin whistle, will perform a three-night set of gigs at Terminal 5 that ends on St. Patrick's Day. Tickets for the Thursday night show, which features Titus Andronicus, can still be purchased online.
Terminal 5 is located at 610 West 56th St. between Eleventh and Twelfth Avenues.
