Lena Dunham fans, rejoice: The Unofficial Girls Guide to New York is coming in November, plus the official wall calendar is out now

Updated

On November 19, Smart Pop Books will publish The Unofficial Girls Guide to New York by Judy Gelman and Peter Zheutlin.



Here's the official blurb:

HBO’s Girls, created by and co-written by its star Lena Dunham, is the most talked about new show of the last few years. Its original voice, refreshingly frank treatment of friendship and sex, and snapshot of its particular subculture in present-day New York, have made it don’t-miss television for millions across demographic lines.

Now, hang out in Hannah, Marnie, Jessa, and Shoshanna’s favorite spots with The Unofficial Girls Guide to New York. Judy Gelman and Peter Zheutlin, authors of The Unofficial Mad Men Cookbook, provide an insightful guided tour of Girls’ physical and cultural landscape, from Brooklyn bars and Bushwick warehouse parties to the Foundry (where Jessa tied the knot) and Coney Island Beach (where Hannah had leftover wedding cake the morning after).

Visit Café Grumpy and learn how to make a French press coffee the way Ray and Hannah would. Go behind the scenes at Greenhouse, the hot Manhattan club where Hannah and Elijah go to see AndrewAndrew. Choose your own add-ons for an Oberlin burrito, get authentic cupcake recipes from prominent NYC bakeries (eating them in the bathtub with friends is optional), and discover what makes Peanut Butter & Co.’s Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Hannah and Adam’s favorite.

It’s the best way to visit Girls’ New York (and beyond) without paying for a plane ticket—or a perfect complement to a sightseeing trip.

The Unofficial Girls Guide to New York is full color and photo illustrated.

The blad the publisher is sending out for review includes part of the book. This is from the introduction:

We wanted to provide an authentic experience for readers, so we interviewed locals, establishment owners, bartenders, website editors, DJs, bakers, chefs, and staff at various New York attractions. It gave us the opportunity to revisit famous spots such as Staten Island and Washington Square Park, and to discover lesser-known places such as Spoonbill & Sugartown, Booksellers in Williams- burg, where Hannah and Sandy frolic, and the Little Cupcake Bakeshop in the Nolita section of Manhattan. Sometimes, where it wasn’t obvious, we did some digging to figure out where scenes were shot, such as Bamonte’s, an Italian restaurant in Williams- burg that served as a stand-in for Peter Luger Steak House, where Jessa and Thomas-John have dinner with his parents.

...Many Girls fans asked us to include the White Russian recipe from Tom & Jerry’s, the Manhattan bar where Jessa stops for a drink before her scheduled abortion, and the owner was happy to provide it.

Many cultural references in the show are intertwined with the locations, and they intrigued us, too. When we realized the Galactic Safe Sex Ball at Oberlin was based on a real event at the college, we connected with the students at Oberlin who run it to find out more. We spoke with the deputy editor of xoJane, the online news magazine parodied as JazzHate in Girls. We talked to AndrewAndrew, the “iPad DJs” that make an appearance at Greenhouse, the West Village nightclub where Hannah and Elijah have a wild night.

The book includes, among other recipes, one for CHristina's Polish Restaurant's potato and cheese perogies. The book has Facebook, Twitter and Instagram accounts.

This is fitting, given the popularity of WNYC's Girls hotpots map, covered in The New York Times and many other venues. In June Lena Dunham posted a photo on Instagram of a sign touting an unofficial Girls tour, though many, including Brokelyn, said it probably wasn't real. But many have done their own personal version of such a tour: Crushable, Time Out New York, Brooklyn Exposed and others have offered up their own guides. The newyork.com details The Williamsburg Edge, Peter Luger Steak House, the Bedford Avenue L station, Royal Oak, Fada, Coney Island, the Jane Hotel, and even Queens, location of The Foundry in Long Island City, where Tessa and Thomas John got married. In February, Rebecca Nicholson traveled to Brooklyn for The Guardian, staying at Williamsburg's Wythe Hotel, and wrote about Brooklyn's appeal as she hit Café Grumpy, Beacon's Closet, Bushwick restaurant Roberta's, Bushwick Country Club, Brooklyn Bowl and other locales, concluding:

Girls' New York doesn't suit a bus tour, to be honest – looking at facades and coffee shops makes a strange pilgrimage – but the spirit of it is entirely within reach, and neon string vests are, thankfully, optional.

Vulture visited some of the sites and offers up a video, in which a Café Grumpy barista says a guy came from Canada because he'd seen it on the show:



Deadline reports that the Season 2 Girls finale drew 632,000 viewers, "down from the 1 million who watched the show’s Season 1 finale June 17," but buzz is already building for Season 3.

HBO is also courting Girls fans with a range of official products, from Deborah Lippman nail polish to t-shirts with sayings like "Deflowered not Devalued" and "I Am Unfit for Any & All Paying Jobs" to an iPhone and iPad case and a 2014 Girls wall calendar. "Girls 2014 features photos from the first two seasons of the HBO show." What else? 11X17 posters of characters and resolutions: Hannah ("I Resolve To Not Let Guys Treat My Heart Like Monkey Meat"), Jessa ("I Resolve To Not Flirt With My Boss"), Marnie ("I Resolve To Be Less Uptight") Shoshanna ("I Resolve To Meet A Young Financial Planner"), Adam ("I Resolve To Wear A Shirt") and Ray ("I Resolve To Stop Dating Younger Women").