story by Kayte Deioma
A visit to American Girl Place was the primary reason for our trip to New York. My nine and seven-year-old nieces, Becca and Sarah had received American Girl dolls and books as gifts. When they learned that there was a place in New York exclusively devoted to American Girl dolls and products, they were dying to go. So their mother and I planned a trip to New York and dragged their 16-year-old brother, Derick, along.
History
If you’re not familiar with the American Girl brand, you probably don’t know any little girls. It started in 1986 as a series of books about eight fictional 9-year-old girls who lived at different important times in America’s history. In addition to creating an interesting way of introducing 
young girls to history, the books focus on issues of friendship, self-esteem and relationships. Each character has an accompanying 18-inch doll and accessories. The original books have expanded into a series about each character.
Since then, the “Just Like You” series of modern dolls and books was introduced to reflect the diversity of American girls today and the Bitty Baby series was introduced for younger girls. The company also publishes American Girl magazine and operates three American Girl Place stores in New York, Chicago and Los Angeles and American Girl Boutique and Bistro in Atlanta and Dallas.
American Girl Place
American Girl Place includes a store, historic exhibits, a doll hospital for repairing broken dolls, a doll hair salon, a café and a theatre. It’s possible to spend all day and several thousand dollars there in one visit and I spoke to several people who did just that.
We were on a budget, so the girls were allowed to pick out one outfit for their dolls and got a choice between having tea or dinner at the café or seeing the show. They chose to see Circle of Friends: an American Girls Musical.
For this special occasion the girls decided to dress up and dressed up their dolls as well. Dolls are welcome to participate in all the activities at American Girl Place.
The Store
We arrived at the store an hour before the show to have time to shop. We were disappointed in our search for doll clothes, because Becca’s and Sarah’s dolls, bought the year before, were from a limited edition series, the Hopscotch Hill Girls. Since they were a different size than the rest of the dolls, there were no clothes available to fit them. They were somewhat appeased to hear that their dolls were now “real collector’s items.” Becca did end up choosing accessories for the doll’s dog, Licorice.
The book section has areas where you can sit and read. In the area with the original historic characters, scenes from their stories have been created and life-size video clips create an additional dimension. So there’s plenty to look at even if you’re not buying.
The Doll Beauty Salon
Sarah decided to use her doll clothes budget to have her doll’s hair done in the Doll Beauty Salon. At $10, a dolly hair do is one of the most economical options available. The hairdresser gave the girls lots of tips for successful styling. Sarah was impressed with how much easier it was to work with the doll’s hair when it was wet, and the toothbrush was great for creating perfect bangs. My sister Ellie learned a couple new styles to use on the girls from the video that was playing in the background.
The Show
Circle of Friends: An American Girl Musical tells the tale of eight friends in an American Girls club who are planning a surprise birthday party for one of the girls at their club sleepover. As part of the club activities, the girls act out the stories of the historic American Girl characters, Kaya, Felicity, Josefina, Kirsten, Addy, Samantha, Kit and Molly.
From these stories, they learn lessons they can apply to mending relationships between each other. The friendship lessons hit close to home for some in our group who were going through similar experiences.
With it’s proximity to Broadway, it’s no surprise that the show has a top-notch rotating cast of 11 to 13-year-old girls with a few equally talented supporting adults. After the performance, the young actors came out to answer audience questions. Curious minds wanted to know how they each got into acting, as well as how many American Girl dolls they each owned.
Becca and Sarah absolutely loved the show. Ellie and I enjoyed it too. Sixteen-year-old Derick “didn’t hate it.”
The Café
The Café offers a proper, fine dining experience appropriate for girls and their dolls for brunch, lunch, afternoon tea or dinner. There are specific seating times for each and all are fixed-price three-course meals with a variety of main courses from which to choose. Despite our budget considerations, we considered having dinner in addition to the show, but our schedule didn’t leave us enough time beforehand and the Café isn’t open after the second show.
The Bottom Line
American Girl Place is a fun outing for young girls, especially if you have a chance to see the show or have a meal. You can spend a fortune, but you don’t have to. Despite the marketing and merchandizing aspects, the underlying themes behind the American Girl stories can contribute to the development of healthy attitudes in young girls.
American Girl Place
609 Fifth Avenue at 49th Street
New York, NY 10017
1-877-247-5223 (toll free in US)
www.americangirl.com
The studios available to tour vary depending on what shows are in production and what time of day it is. Early in the day, you might get to visit Studio 6A, the set of Late Night with Conan O’Brian (now Seth Meyers), and sit where the live studio audience sits during taping. Later in the day, if Seth is taping, you might see the Today Show or Dateline NBC set. On the 10:15 am tour, we got to sit in Conan’s (now Seth’s) audience seats and visit Studio 8G, where NBC Nightly News and NBC Sports are taped.
As someone who came of age with Saturday Night Live, the highlight was standing on the set of Studio 8H where comedians from John Belushi, Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner and Steve Martin to Eddie Murphy, Janeane Garafalo, Adam Sandler and Chris Rock went from unknowns to household names during their time on SNL. A myriad of Fresnels and other light panels are suspended above. Blue and yellow clap seats circle the back of the studio. Since the show was in hiatus, we got to stand in front of the actual dual Grand Central Terminal sets that have been the primary backdrop of the show since 2003.
Between studios, you traverse halls lined with photos of well-known and lesser-known faces of NBC. After a quick stop in the Green Room to see where make-up magic is done, the final stop is a studio used just for tours. Each guest or group is photographed at a news desk with the New York skyline in the background. Two lucky volunteers also have the opportunity to be on the closed circuit TV. One gets to sit at the News Desk and read the news from a teleprompter. The other will report the weather from in front of a Green Screen, trying to keep track of which way to point his or her arm so it appears in the right place on the map.