Summer Friday: Out of the Fire 🔥 and Into Frying Pan 🍳 4 miles

Okay, it’s hot. But let’s beat the heat, put in a few miles, and reward ourselves with lunch and refreshing beverages at Frying Pan, the historic lightship/maritime café in Chelsea at Pier 66A.

“The US Coast Guard used lightships as floating lighthouses to guard other ships from running aground on shoals (or submerged rocks) that were too far from land to be served by a lighthouse on shore. Many were also used to mark the entrances to harbors. …Built in 1929, Lightship #115 "Frying Pan" guarded its namesake Frying Pan Shoals, 30 miles off Cape Fear, NC, from 1930 to 1965. She is 133-feet, 3-inches in length, with a 30-foot beam, a draft of 13-feet, 8-inches, and she weighs in at 632 gross tons.”

Meet: 9:30 a.m. Friday, June 27, 2025, Staten Island Ferry Terminal, Whitehall Street. Please use the restrooms in the ferry terminal before we begin the walk. Other restroom stops in Tribeca and Chelsea.

Bring: Hat, sunblock, water and snacks.

Lunch: For purchase at Frying Pan. Here’s a link to the lunch menu. No reservations needed. Your choice of tables on the lightship itself, umbrella tables next to the retired FDNY fireboat, or the Lackawanna railroad barge, veranda and upper sundeck—feel free to explore.

Frying Pan is on the National Register of Historic Places. You can read more about its history at this link.

Return: M23 crosstown bus at Chelsea Piers/12th Avenue for access to all subways.

[Rain cancels, but there will be another Frying Pan Friday in July.]

Guests: Guests are permitted on this walk, but in order o participate, all guests must sign our waiver and release via this link.

Contact: (day of walk only) Christine 646-491-0764 and Maureen 718-954-1581