Discovering the Best of New York City
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Chapter 1 Discovering the Best of New York City In This Chapter ▶ Celebrating the most festive parades and seasons ▶ Finding rooms in the best hotels ▶ Enjoying all kinds of cuisine at all kinds of restaurants ▶ Visiting Lady Liberty and other top attractions ▶ Giving the credit card a workout at the top shops ▶ Choosing the spots with the best nightlife elcome to New York, New York, the city so nice they had to name Wit — oh, you know. No matter when you visit, there’s sure to be something of interest going on. In this chapter, I list my choices for the best events, hotels, restaurants, attractions, shopping, culture, and nightlife. Whether you’re looking for a world-class hotel, exotic cuisine to enjoy, or the view from the Empire State Building, I have no doubt you’ll soon compile your own “best of” list. But here’s a good place to start! Best Events Best Parade: West Indian–American Day Carnival and Parade. Held on Eastern Parkway in Brooklyn, this is the biggest parade in New York. The musicCOPYRIGHTED (calypso, soca, reggae, and Latin), MATERIAL the amazing costumes, and the incredible Caribbean food make this an unforgettable experience. If you’re lucky enough to be in town on Labor Day, don’t miss it. See Chapter 3. Best Time of Year to Come to New York: Late spring. Many people adore summer, when free outdoor cultural events abound, and I agree that it’s a fun time to visit. But late spring is even better: New Yorkers are ecstatically trading their winter coats for summer dresses and shorts the minute that temperatures are consistently in the 60s, the 005_618257-ch01.indd5_618257-ch01.indd 9 99/23/10/23/10 99:36:36 PMPM 10 Part I: Introducing New York City Downtown Orientation E. 13th St Greenwich Ave. Broadway Little W. 12th Fourth Ave. St. W. 12th St. W. 11th St. Gansevoort St. Waverly Pl. E. 11th St. W. 10th St. First Ave. Horatio St. Eighth Ave. W. 4th St. E. 10th St. Third Ave. Jane St. University Pl. W. 9th St. Fifth Ave E. 9th St. Wanamaker Stuyvesant E. 9th St. Bleecker Tompkins W. 12th St. M Sixth Ave. E. 8th St. W. 8th St. M St. Mark’s Pl. Square Bethune St. Waverly Pl. Lafayette E. 7th St. Park WashingtonWashington Waverly Pl. Astor Pl M E. 6th St. Bank SquareSquare ParkPark Washington E. 5th St. W. 11th St. M W. 4th St. Pl. Perry Grove Jones E. 4th St. W. 3rd St. Second Ave. Commerce Seventh Ave. S. Bedford Cornelia Gt. Jones Charles E. 3rd St. Bond W. 10th St. E. 2nd St. Hudson Bleecker Hudson River Christopher M Barrow Carmine E. 1st St. Sullivan La Guardia Thompson MacDougal Morton M E. Houston M Downing Allen Bowery Chrystie Leroy Forsyth M Clarkson Varick St. Prince Elizabeth Greenwich St. W. HoustonKing M Mulberry Mott Washington Rivington Charlton M msburg Spring M Willia Vandam Spring Bridge Delancey Sixth Ave. M Dominick Wooster Greene Kenmare W. Broadway Broome Eldridge East Broome Crosby Canal River Grand Broadway M Park M Elizabeth Watts Lafayette M Howard Desbrosses Canal Mercer Holland Tunnel Hester Vestry Lispenard M Baxter West St. Laight Walker M M Mott Canal Mulberry Bowery White Hubert Beach Cortlandt Bayard M Franklin Leonard Centre N. Moore FranklinHudson Division Worth Harrison Henry Jay Thomas Madison M Catherine Subway stop Duane W. Broadway Duane GreenwichReade St. M Closed indefinitely HudsonHudson Reade Chambers M RiverRiver M Chambers M ParkPark Warren 0 1/4 mi Murray M CityCity HallHall Robert F. N Park Pl. Wagner Pl. 0 0.25 km ParkPark Spruce Frankfort Barclay M Park BeekmanRow Dover Vesey Ann M Pearl World Trade M M M BeekmanWater Center Fulton Front M Church As Little Italy has shrunk, Chinatown South End Ave. John site M Cortlandt has grown. Canal street is mobbed daily Liberty Maiden Cliff Greenwich Platt Pier 17 with seafood, fruit and vegetable, and BBatteryattery John PParkark Cedar Liberty Fletcher DVD, CD, and sunglass vendors compet- Albany Cedar Maiden Trinity Pl. Nassau Pier CCityity Carlisle Broadway Pine ing for very little sidewalk space. Get Rector Pl. M William 16 M M Wall St. Rector M Water lost in the maze of side streets for a Exchange Pl. Front W. Thames South M more interesting stroll. J.P. Ward South Street Viaduct Green New Morris Bowling S. William 2nd Pl. M Beaver Battery Pl. VVietnamietnam 1st Pl. Narrow streets are lined with skyscrapers Stone Pearl VVeteranseterans Whitehall SSouthouth Bridge Broad PPlazalaza here and during the week the activity is GGardensardens Battery Pl. State relentless. You’ll also find some of the BatteryBattery M Pier 6 city’s oldest and most historic structures ParkPark M here. At night and on weekends the area, however, tends to be desolate. Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel 005_618257-ch01.indd5_618257-ch01.indd 1010 99/23/10/23/10 99:36:36 PMPM Chapter 1: Discovering the Best of New York City 11 E. 12th St. East River The once-famous bohemian enclave where off-beat Szold Pl. became the Beats is still a great people- TTompkinsompkins watching neighborhood. You won’t find any high- SquareSquare rises here, just quaint, narrow streets and beautifully Washington ParkPark Square Park preserved brownstones and townhouses. Ave. C Ave. Ave. D This once-tiny stretch of furniture stores, boutiques, and a few restaurants Ave. B Ave. A Mangin Baruch Pl. is thriving since the opening of the New Museum. E. Houston The formerly derelict Bowery is becoming a Columbia Attorney restaurant row. Pitt Ridge Clinton Stanton Suffolk Norfolk Essex Delancey liamsburg A Kazan WWilliamsburgil The East Village now is home to some of the city’s Bialy- New stoker Lewis dge M BBridgeri most interesting restaurants and despite its counter- Broome EEastast culture reputation, real estate prices are very Grand RRiveriver “establishment.” Willet Jackson PParkark Essex Orchard Ludlow Cherry Mont- Gouverneur Allen FDR Dr. gomery Here’s another neighborhood that has a cute Jefferson acronym (North of Little Italy). This is really old Little Canal M Clinton Water Front Italy in architecture, but there is nothing old about Rutgers Gouv Slip the very hip boutiques and cafes that are sprinkled E. PikeBroadway throughout the relatively small enclave. Monroe Rutgers Market Slip Pike Slip East River Dr. What once was an artist’s destination has become a very affluent tourist destination. You’ll find just Cherry Hudson about all the top designer names in retail here River Water East River housed in historic cast-iron buildings. Park South Manhattan Bridge City Hall Park This is where so many immigrants, especially Jewish, settled as their first home in America. And there is BROOKLYN still some of that old-world feel to the neighborhood, Brooklyn Bridge but it has faded as the area has become a hot spot for restaurants, bars, and edgy shops. Battery Park In the 1980s TriBeCa (Triangle Below Canal), with its City sprawling lofts and hip restaurants, became one of Upper the most desirable places to live. After September 11, Manhattan 2001 and its close proximity to the World Trade Uptown Center, the area lost a bit of its luster, but that was only temporary. TriBeCa is thriving once again. Vietnam Veterans South Plaza Midtown Gardens Sadly, this once unique and charming neighborhood, squeezed by the expansion of Chinatown, has shrunk Battery Park Downtown to a mere block or two. And what’s left, with very few exceptions, is nothing like what it once was. You can’t even get a good plate of pasta here anymore. 005_618257-ch01.indd5_618257-ch01.indd 1111 99/23/10/23/10 99:36:36 PMPM 12 Part I: Introducing New York City Midtown Orientation W. 64th St. Lincoln W. 63rd St. CCENTRALE N T R A L P A R K Center The heart of corporate Manhattan, W. 62nd St. W. 61st St. The Midtown East is also where you’ll find such W est D Pond Columbus Ave. rive Central Park W. landmarks as Grand Central Station, the Amsterdam Ave. W. 60th St. Empire State Building, St. Patrick’s W. 59th St. M Central Park Queensborough Bridge South West End Ave. Columbus Cathedral, the Chrysler Building, and the W. 58th St. United Nations. Circle W. 57th St. W. 56th St. This bustling sprawl of an area includes W. 55th St. B r o many of the city’s best hotels, the Art Deco Ninth Ave. W. 54th St. a d DeWittDeWitt w masterpiece, Rockefeller Center, and a Tenth Ave. W. 53rd St. a M ClintonClinton y neighborhood called Hell’s Kitchen where ParkPark W. 52nd St. you’ll find some of the city’s most ethnically W. 51st St. diverse restaurants. W. 50th St. M M Seventh Ave. W. 49th St. M W. 48th St. In the truly American tradition, everything E W. 47th St. here is big and gaudy and, as a result, the E W. 46th St. B streets here are constantly crammed with r o a Eleventh Ave. W. 45th St. Twelfth Ave. people who have come to gawk at the big d W. 44th St. w a and the gaudy — meaning the neon y wonderland of Times Square. W. 43rd St. Eighth Ave. W. 42nd St. M M Bryant This is a quiet, mostly residential neighbor- W. 41st St. Port Park Tenth Ave. Authority hood. On its southern fringe is the Indo- W. 40th St. Pakistani enclave known as Curry Hill. Lincoln W. 39th St. Tunnel W. 38th St. Seventh Ave. Javits W. 37th St. The heart of this neighborhood is the Convention W. 36th St.