Tips For A Sherlock Holmes Birthday Weekend In New York City

With plans being made for January by many a Sherlockian in the months ahead, it seemed like a good time to post some practical tips for going to the Sherlock Holmes Birthday Weekend in New York City from someone who knows very little about anything involved. (Hey, it's the internet! Go read a book if you want expertise.) 

The "Christopher Morley Walk" is a tour and not an affected gait. There is no need to practice it before going to New York, especially if you saw how to do it on TikTok. (Also, be prepared to explain TikTok to older Irregulars if you forget and they ask why you are walking funny.)

If you hear the familiar voice of Rich Krisciunas seeming to come from thin air, look upward. He is probably towering over you and the owner of that belt buckle you thought was a subtle advertisement for something.

The Mysterious Bookshop has an actual street address. We don't live in Harry Potter's world and you don't have to find "Conundrum Alley" or some other area unseen by muggles.

The annual dinner of the Baker Street Irregulars does not allow the playing of "Pokemon Go" during their dinner meeting, even if there is a nearby gym with a deerstalkered Pikachu as the raid boss or you have a "lucky friend" at the next table.

The S.P.O.D.E. (Society for the Prevention of Oysters Destroying Earth) society of Sherlockians has become so prolific that even Sherlock Holmes cannot think why the whole of New York is not one solid mass of S.P.O.D.E. members, so prolific the creatures seem. They are even rumored to have their own brand of plates. Take care to stand near the exit of any room that begins to fill with S.P.O.D.E. members.

If the Doily Ann awards coincide with the week of the Sherlock Holmes festivities, be sure to ask anyone you hear talking about them to spell what they're talking about, lest you wind up at a crocheted doll display, rather than the ACD Society event.

The William Gillette Luncheon is seventy-four years old, and in all that time, William Gillette has never attended. It is said his ghost still wanders the streets of New York in January, hoping someone will buy him lunch. However, if you see a raggedy version of William Gillette in Time Square that is solid to the touch, do not take them to lunch without having them perform a monologue from their play Sherlock Holmes first to prove their identity.

And, lastly and most importantly, if you can't go to New York, come to the Friday night Zoom hangout for the rest of us, Pub Night at the Dangling Prussian. It's a Zoom, and you know how those work.