Where an Adult Can be a Kid

As a awaited the refund from my latest round of student loans for the semester I still wanted to be able to have fun on my last weekend before classes started again. As I was brainstorming on cheap or free things one can do in New York City that also doesn't involve being outside, since it was like 12 degrees outside. One option that came to mind was FAO Schwartz. I've always wanted to check it out, especially since whenever I think of it that giant piano scene from Big comes to mind. For lack of better ideas that's how I ended up spending part of my last Saturday of freedom for the next couple months. Also I convinced Brian to come with me, even though I'm not sure he was as excited as I was.

As we walked into this wonderland of children's toys an actor dressed as a Nutcracker welcomed us and instructed us to 'feel free to act like kids'. This is something I need no instructing to do. The store greeted me with giant dino stuffed animals and bright colors everywhere. There were rows and rows of stuffed animals stacked neatly on shelves. Two foot tall Ugly Dolls were on sale for $10 a piece! I really wanted to buy one, but couldn't figure out what I would do with a two foot tall Ugly Doll. Looking at the stacks of stuffed toys was almost mesmerizing. Here is a group of harp seals dressed up for Christmas.


My favorite part of the description introducing the customer to the harp seals is that it specifically listed it's favorite hobby as sleeping. But aren't they adorable?

One thing that FAO Schwartz does to add to the atmosphere of the store is that every brand or type of toy has it's own little section. Some of these sections are extra special and get actors or some sort of toy specialists to either demonstrate the toys or create a special world within which the toys exist. Here I am watching an Ugly Doll play soccer with some little kids:



One of the 'worlds' I was anxious to see was the Leigh Middleton Doll Collection. One of the actresses who had played a nurse in the orphanage was recently featured on This American Life sharing a story about the latent racism shown through a bunch of Upper East Side moms buying over-priced dolls for their children. I won't recount the story here, but if you're interested in knowing what I'm talking about just go to thisamericanlife.org and listen to Act 3 of episode 347: Matchmakers, aired on 1/9/2009. After hearing the show and then seeing the place where it all went down, I felt a kind of awkwardness. Like I'd been let in on some secret of the world that the average person looking at these actresses in costume and babies in incubators wouldn't pick up on. The story added a kind of sinister edge to something that would otherwise seem completely innocuous. That's why I don't have any pictures of the Leigh Middleton Doll Collection; I felt too awkward.

When I got to the giant piano, I had almost forgotten that was one of the main things I was there to see since there were so many other wondrous, colorful things on the way to the piano tucked in a corner on the second floor. I refrained from dancing on the piano myself since it was occupied by toddlers with their parents and I didn't want to be the big mean kid taking up all the space. The toddlers seemed to be enjoying it though. The piano was in the same area as the Legos, so I entertained myself by meeting Lego Batman.



He had a firm butt.

After all this I was feeling a little over-stimulated and started to make my way back out. My sentiments were echoed in a kid I overhead asking their parent 'Can we just go?' in a tired overwhelmed tone. On the way out I got to see the rubix cube guy solve a cube in under a minute and discovered that a German toy company still makes Smurfs.




Overall, I enjoyed my time at FAO Schwartz and my brief regression into childhood. I was also happy to head next to the MoMA store, where I could look at grown-up toys and pretend to be an adult for awhile.