A few places I would recommend in and around New York City, beyond the guide books.
Manhattan
MidtownAll the usual tourist spots...
Skip going up the Empire State - you get a good view of it and miss the queues by going up the Rockerfeller Tower instead (and you can go ice skating there in the winter too!)
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| View of Empire State building from Rockerfeller Tower |
Bryant Park - free films in the summer. Actors learning their lines at all other times... A lovely, small park, next to the New York Public Library, surrounded by sky scrapers.
There is a great walk from Times Square along 42nd Street in a westerly direction, past Bryant Park, the New York Public Library (a gorgeous building if you go inside for a wonder around), then past Grand Central Station with its stunning ticket hall, shops (including a New York Transit Museum Store - great for postcards) and places to eat.
I also recommend the diner under the bridge just opposite the station on 42nd St for a big breakfast, then head on past the art deco Chrysler Building (pop in for a peak in the lobby) and along to the UN building on 1st Avenue. I really recommend a tour - it really made me think and feel the values of the UN.
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| Watching James Bond in Bryant Park |
I also recommend the diner under the bridge just opposite the station on 42nd St for a big breakfast, then head on past the art deco Chrysler Building (pop in for a peak in the lobby) and along to the UN building on 1st Avenue. I really recommend a tour - it really made me think and feel the values of the UN.
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| UN Building |
The Max Brenner chocolate restaurant near Union Square is fun too! (Well I thought so on one of my first visits to NYC)
I love this neighbourhood, it has a really nice feel to it. It is quite like Soho in London and it is less built up than the rest of Manhattan. There are lovely tree lined streets with houses, rather than tower blocks, here.
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| Bus Stop Cafe |
Bus Stop Cafe - a great, affordable little restaurant - good for brunch and dinner and you can sit outside. If you are missing home you can visit Tea and Sympathy. There are some great expensive restaurants in this neighbourhood and you need to book ahead - for example The Little Owl (or just do a web search for more reviews...) Also wonder down Bleeker Street and that general area for shops and cafes.
If you are interested in the gay community:
Christopher Street - the Manhattan equivalent of Old Compton Street, although the lovely Oscar Wilde bookshop has now closed, and it is a bit less busy. There is a park with gay and lesbian statues outside the famous Stonewall Inn at 53 Christopher Street. Try Hudson Street for more of the gay bars and life.
The LGBT Community Center - A great range of events, information and unusual toilet signs.
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| The LGBT Community Center |
SoHo (Downtown)
Like Oxford Street or Covent Garden. Head there for some great shopping in stores like Brooklyn Industries and Urban Outfitters, which is so much better here than in the UK. Try streets around Spring Street, Lafayette Street and Broadway. Avoid at weekends if you don't like crowds. I had the best ever white chocolate lavender hot chocolate at Vosges Haut-Chocolat, 132 Spring Street.
Financial District (Downtown)
Worth a wonder to see Wall Street, the former World Trade Center site and boats go from here to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty and you can catch the free Staten Island Ferry from here to get great views of Manhattan (don't get off in Staten Island though... not much to see.) Very dead around here at the weekend, at bit like the City in London.
Slightly edgy feel. Great independent small shops, cafes and bars. Traditionally a poorer area. Not the most pretty area now.
Bluestockings - Feminist Bookstore.
Tenement Museum (tour of to see the living conditions of working class immigrants who traditionally lived in this area)
If you like to eat meat, you might also like to go to the famous Katz's Deli for a pastrami sandwich, as seen in When Harry Met Sally. Not the greatest experience for a vegetarian though and I even passed out here on a very hot July day...
East Village
A spacious neighbourhood, with popular bars and restaurants. I had an amazing cheese and apple omelette with home fries at the B&H Dairy, a small Jewish diner recommended to me that we loved.
Upper West Side
Family orientated neighbourhood, feels a bit like North London (Islington, Crouch End...). Broadway, Columbus and Amsterdam Avenue. Chilled out restaurants, cafes and shops. Don't miss the independent supermarket, with amazing, good, cheap food and the best deli counter: Fairway (Broadway at 74th Street). The tastiest cupcakes in town can be found at the famous Magnolia Bakery at 200 Columbus Avenue. Take your kids to the Alice in Wonderland cafe. Sneak into Apple Bank at Broadway at 73rd to see an amazingly preserved old style American bank. Watch a concert at the Lincoln Center, which is a bit like the South Bank.
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| Magnolia Bakery |
Riverside Park - lovely, long park running down by the Hudson River. Grab lunch with amazing view over the river at the Boat Basin Cafe, at West 79th Street.
For an amazing experience of the senses - check out Zabar's. A legendary Jewish independent food store, famous for selling coffee, cheese and fish. It can be found on Broadway at 80th Street.
You can also see the site where John Lennon was shot outside the Dakota, on Central Park West at 72nd Street. Enter Central Park here to see Strawberry Fields.
Upper East Side
Museums (go on to the roof of the Metropolitan Museum of Art - great views of Central Park), boutiques, restaurants, cafes. Think Kensington.
Candle 79 - best, upmarket vegan restaurant ever.
Harlem
Churches - White Rock Baptist Church: Great gospel singing, very welcoming to visitors. Service starts at 11am on Sundays. Be prepared to get up and join in the singing. Very small, genuine and friendly.
West Harlem Piers Park is just a short walk from International House (where I lived in New York) with some really great views of the Hudson River and Manhattan from the piers (and a huge Fairway is under the bridge... buy your food here!)
Also highly recommended by my friends is Jazz at Marjorie Eliot's, 555 Edgecombe Avenue, Aprt 3F @ 106th Street, New York, NY 10032, 212-781-659. This is a musical event in someone's own apartment every Sunday afternoon.
Other places
Central Park - of course. Go to the boating lake and hire a boat.
Spot the famous Bethesda Fountain from Angels in America and many other films. Look out for the free outdoor shows in the summer - we got to see Al Pacino perform in The Merchant of Venice for free (bidding for the tickets online.)
The High Line - a park along a disused railway line in Chelsea and the West Village. You can exit or join at the Chelsea market to get some great food at stalls or cafes. I seem to recall a lot of lobster being eaten there. There is also a great flea market in there where I bought some retro glasses frames.
Central Park - of course. Go to the boating lake and hire a boat.
Spot the famous Bethesda Fountain from Angels in America and many other films. Look out for the free outdoor shows in the summer - we got to see Al Pacino perform in The Merchant of Venice for free (bidding for the tickets online.)
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| Bethesda Fountain, Central Park |
The High Line - a park along a disused railway line in Chelsea and the West Village. You can exit or join at the Chelsea market to get some great food at stalls or cafes. I seem to recall a lot of lobster being eaten there. There is also a great flea market in there where I bought some retro glasses frames.
The Piers - at the bottom / west side of Manhattan.... See here - the Hudson River Park. Get a bike and cycle on the cycle lanes down the site of the river at the bottom of the island. Or walk out on a Pier and get a great view of Manhattan and even the Statue of Liberty.
Get the free Staten Island Ferry to get a great view of the Statue of Liberty. (It goes from Manhattan to Staten Island and it is free because it is a commuter service.)
A trip to Ellis Island to learn about the immigrants to the US is a great experience too - you can see a list of everyone who came into the country during certain periods. (Not sure if this is classified as Manhattan, but you get the boat from Manhattan).
City Hall - I don't think you can go in, unless you know someone who works there, but have a look at the building and then walk over the Brooklyn Bridge.
Brooklyn
Brooklyn Heights
When you have crossed the Brooklyn Bridge and have had a sit in the Brooklyn Bridge Park admiring the views of Manhattan from across the river, I would recommending heading up to the nearby Brooklyn Heights. It is one of the most affluent and pretty neighbourhoods in Brooklyn. Get yourself up to the romantic Brooklyn Heights Promenade for the best views of Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge.
If you have come over the Bridge, you can access the Promenade by walking up Columbia Heights from the Brooklyn Bridge Park. I would then recommend exiting the Promenade at Clark Street and heading up to Henry Street. If you are up for more walking - head down Henry Street to Carroll Gardens (see below).
If you haven't walked over the bridge, get the subway to Clark Street. Walk up Henry Street to see the art deco Brooklyn Heights Cinema and have lunch at Siggy's Good Food. Then back to Clark Street, walk down Clark Street towards the river - then you will get the Promenade.
You can also visit the the New York Transit Museum, which is near Borough Hall.
DUMBO (Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass)
Quite a nice, industrial area. Good views of the bridges and some interesting bars / stores.
Cobble Hill and Carroll Gardens
Walk down Henry Street from Brooklyn Heights through gorgeous tree lined streets and come to the gorgeous neighbourhood of Cobble Hill, with a distinctly 50s retro feel. Step back in time and stop off for a soda or ice cream float at the Brooklyn Farmacy.
Williamsburg (L train to Bedford Avenue)
Trendy neighbourhood, think Shoreditch meets Berlin meeting the Netherlands. Lots of cheap and good places to eat, some great bars, little clothes and jewellery shops on Bedford Avenue and it is also near the river - with a great view of Manhattan from Bushwick Inlet Park, especially at sunset (see photo above). There is a really lovely independent bookshop: Spoonbill and Sugartown Booksellers. I love the architecture in this neighbourhood and there are some great places for brunch (the menu at the Bedford looked good).
Check out Brooklyn Industries here and in stores throughout the city. Neighbouring Greenpoint is also a fun neighbourhood to check out too for places to eat and drink.
Check out Brooklyn Industries here and in stores throughout the city. Neighbouring Greenpoint is also a fun neighbourhood to check out too for places to eat and drink.
Park Slope
Think Stoke Newington. Lovely neighbourhood. Include the Park Slope Coop (The People's Supermarket is based on this idea). Some great places to shop, drink and eat (including many places that do brunch with unlimited free breakfast cocktails) on 4th and 5th Avenues, but everything is fairly spread out. Lots of great brunch spots (brunch with all-you-can-drink bellinis and mimosas for $10). Artists selling their T-shirts on the street late into the night. A traditionally gay and lesbian (family?) area - with the Herstory (lesbian history archives), although I didn't manage to fit in a visit here...
Coney Island
A sunny Blackpool - retro fun galore. Brooklyn's seaside.
Other places to go in Brooklyn...
The Farm on the Adderley - recommended to me for the best weekend brunch by a former Brooklyn resident.
Enid's (was good for brunch, but apparently not so much any more...)
The Brooklyn Museum (Great art gallery)
Brooklyn Library (the exterior is amazing - see photograph below)
Brooklyn Botanical Gardens
Brooklyn Library (the exterior is amazing - see photograph below)
Brooklyn Botanical Gardens
Prospect Park
Fort Greene (quite like Brighton, apparently...)
The big Target store (cheap, cheap everything..) on Atlantic Avenue.
The big Target store (cheap, cheap everything..) on Atlantic Avenue.
You can also get the free Ikea boat over from Manhattan....
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| The Brooklyn Public Library |
Queens
PS1 is a contemporary art gallery, and run by MoMA. Last year you could get in here free with a ticket from the Manhattan MoMA. They have parties going on in the outdoor space as well as several floors of art.
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| PS1 |
Trips Out of Town
Fire Island
This is an amazing island where there are no cars that is a train ride away along Long Island, and then a shot hop on the ferry. Fire Island is famous as a (partly gay) party, summertime resort with plenty of beach and I first heard of it when reading And The Band Plays On about the origin of the AIDS epidemic. We visited Cherry Grove, but you can also go to the Pines.
Catskill Mountains, Upstate NYC
Only a coach trip away (from Port Authority Coach Station on Trailways coach) - I would recommend going to the Catskills. You can visit the lovely little town of Woodstock or even stay in the amazing vegetarian raw food Turquoise Barn B&B run by a lovely family of former Brooklyn artists, near Delhi (pronounced Del-hi), NY - volunteers can stay in the barn / hostel for free! You can also get the Trailways coach to Woodstock - a lovely little town in the Catskills.
Upstate NYC / New England
I would also recommend the Adirondack Mountains in NY, Lake Champlain and Vermont. You can also do day trips from Central Station up to places in upstate New York - along the Hudson River Valley.
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