3/8/04
I'm not trying to be a lazy blogger, but my buddy Daniel from Prince Edward Island is coming to New York City with his girlfriend, and he wanted recommendations on where to stay and what to do. In these cases, I try to give specific advice (no lengthy laundry lists) so that people know exactly where to go, and they can freelance from there. I had enough fun writing back that I thought I'd post my response here, and you hipster kids can fill in the blanks.
So here's the deal - getting housing in Manhattan can be cost-prohibitive, but here are a few ideas:
The Incentra Guest House
The Abingdon Square Bed and Breakfast
These two are in our old neighborhood, right in Greenwich Village, near all the subways, and the rates are reasonable by NYC standards. Tessa also said to check the Gershwin Hotel and Washington Square Hotel, but we haven't heard their prices lately. A lot of young soy latté-holding backpackers seem to be in attendance.
If you're going to be in the Village, you should eat pizza at John's (b/w 6th and 7th on Bleecker), Thai food at Pad Thai (8th Ave. and roughly 16th St.), and cupcakes at the Magnolia Bakery (Bleecker and W. 11th). You can't go wrong with any Italian eatery in this neighborhood.
Hop over to the East Village for a night and get a drink at Karma (1st Ave. and roughly 3rd St.), eat at the Yaffa Cafe (1st Ave. and St. Mark's Place), and get Indian food at Haveli (2nd Ave. and 6th Street). Find a hole-in-the-wall sushi place, as they are all terrific.
Wandering neighborhoods: Soho. You can start at the Apple Store (Mercer and Prince) and wander east until you hit Little Italy. Along the way, Broadway has some great shopping. Any side streets in Soho are fun (Mulberry, Thompson, etc.) for outlandish fashions you'll never, ever buy.
Chelsea: 20th-22nd Street and 26th Street between 10th and 11th Ave. is probably the aorta (or the duodenum) of modern cutting-edge art in the world. You'll have to explore a little, but some of the stuff therein is batshit-crazy enough to tell stories back home.
Way Downtown: take the 2 or 3 subway to Park Place, and you'll be right at City Hall and the Woolworth Building (the world's tallest structure in the early 20th century). Across City Hall Park is J & R, one of the biggest, best computer/stereo/every gadget on earth emporiums in America. I spend hours in there, maybe you will too. A few blocks away from there is Ground Zero, if you want to have the slice-of-modern-history experience. Walk from there toward the southern tip of the island and hit Battery Park, where you can picnic, or take a boat over to the Statue of Liberty (more fun than you might think - NYC's waterways are quite dramatic).
Quick side note: If you really crave an hour or two of pure techie ambrosia, go to B & H Photo Video on 9th Ave. between 33rd and 34th Streets. It is run by Hassidic Jews and thus has screwy hours, but that place is simply amazing. I get high in there on the fumes of the future.
Things to do: go to the TKTS booth in Times Square and get cheap seats to a fun musical. You owe it to yourself.
Also, the Met (80s and 5th Ave) [corrected - see comments] and the Museum of Natural History (81st and Central Park West) are totally awesome, the latter featuring the Rose Planetarium if you are an astronomy geek like me.
See a movie at one of the big, crappy, googleplex theaters on 42nd Street. Buy a large popcorn and find yourself gradually becoming complacent like us Americans. Then go to the Film Forum (Houston b/w Varick and 6th) and see a brilliant indie that will never make it to Prince Edward Island.
To sum up, don't go above 14th Street unless you're seeing museums, plays or B&H. Stay downtown, and you'll have more fun. Wander Greenwich Village. Take the subways. Use cabs if it's after 10pm. Treat yourself to one really nice dinner (Balthazar or Pastis). Download Vindigo for your Palm, and you'll never be lost. Blog all about it!
Posted by irw at March 8, 2004 09:59 PMI can't find an email address on your site, so I'll have to address this issue here... I quoted from and linked to your January 15th entry about Spalding Gray and depression... It has since occured to me that I should have asked for your permission to do so. I don't want to step on any toes... Please let me know if you disapprove, and I will remove the quote and link. Thank you for your time.
Here's my advice... anyone who tells you not to go above 14th street is a jerk, so don't take their advice about *anything*.
Ian, you're a jerk.
If you start at the Empire State Building, which you have to go up, and travel north on the East Side, you will get the shopping that New York is actually famous for (not the trendy pseudo-gaps of downtown) and if you travel north on the west side, you'll get the theater district and restaurant row.
Stay on the west side of the park, and you will be in the "best neighborhood in the world" according to our friend Billy Strong. Here's the New York Historical Society, the Museum of Natural History, and that big ass Space Museum. Not to mention Tavern on the Green and all of Central Park.
Keep going to 125th and see something at the Apollo. You won't get that at PEI.
My advice is this: don't go south of 14th street unless you want to hang out with aging hipster drunks who kvetch about how the neighborhood isn't what it used to be in 1998.
Okay, so maybe I'm the jerk...
John's? You can do better. Walk the Brooklyn Bridge and eat at Grimaldis'. Run, don't walk, to Chinatown and eat until you can't walk. Take the PATH train from Christopher to WTC and see ground zero from the bottom of the pit. Don't go above 14th St? To paraphrase Reinhold Messner, "Life begins above 14th street". Go to Grand Central Station, drink a $15 g&t at Campbell Apartments and smoke a cigarette because you can. Rent a bike and ride up the Hudson River path. Hope the train to Inwood and the Cloister and see the best view of Hudson river.
I think that you will be disappointed if you go to MoMA at 53rd. They have been closed since 2002 for a complete renovation and expansion. All the current exhibits are being held at the extension they opened in Queens. If you have any interest in design, I would suggest the Cooper Hewitt instead: http://ndm.si.edu/ It is way above 14th Street --- on the corner of 91st and Fifth. While you are up there you could also check out the Guggenheim on Fifth Ave at 89th.
I second Chris' comments about the Bridge/Grimaldi's, and also about the PATH (being a Jerseyan, I know). Even though I avoid taking that one. It's good to do once.
I second Chris' comments about the Bridge/Grimaldi's, and also about the PATH (being a Jerseyan, I know). Even though I avoid taking that one. It's good to do once.
No NYC advice from me, but I am so excited about quickly browsing and commenting Ian's site from my new Kyocera 7135 Smart Phone, that I just had to see if it would post. This Verizon data service is FAST.
Hey - there's a cool band from Brooklyn now - Bishop Allen - just saw them in Vermont and they are tremendous - website is www.bishopallen.com
They are playing in Brooklyn on March 11 at Southpaw and in Manhattan on the 12th at Lit - club details are on thier website. I saw them without ever having heard them and loved it, even bought a CD - go check them out and then thank me.
Uh, excuse me, but, like, the Metropolitan Museum of Art? "As in," the most infuckingcredible museum in all of New York City (ie. the entire United States)? On 5th Avenue at 88th St.? The Egyptian Wing? Please? Excuse me?
Also, the Lower East Side Tenement Museum is pretty darn cool, too. For those of us who love All Things Jewish. Open weird hours as well.
Yeah, MOMA moved to Astoria, actually, right down the street from here. We went there one day expecting to spend the afternoon, but there are only about three rooms worth of stuff.
Also, don't visit Astoria. We like Astoria because no-one from outside Astoria comes here. Plus, right now, MOMA sucks.
Yes, I meant to say the "Met" but instead wrote "MOMA" because I'm a moron. However, I'm not enough of a moron to know you should never go above 14th Street if you're going to wander around.
I second the trip to Southpaw in fabulous Park Slope, Brooklyn (Q,2,3,N,R,F, I think you can get there). But go get dinner at al di la on 5th Ave before the show and you will have had some of the best New York has to offer. Do it! Do it! And, yeah, if Spring has sprung, go to Sheep's Meadow in Central Park and bare your white skin to the sun. Follow it with a drink at Tavern on the Green where they will eventually kick you out of the bar to make room for the tourists. I mean, the tourists willing to spend too much money on dinner.
Thanks for all of the advice Ian and everyone else. All very contradictory and helpful.
I just have to say that this post gave me so many pangs of missing my hometown! It's a wonder I never ran into you and Tessa when I lived in NY. I grew up in Chelsea and after leaving Chapel Hill in 93, I moved back to the West Village for three years and frequented many of the places you listed.
Couple of things I'd add:
Go get a Ceasar salad at Elephant & Castle (68 Greenwich Avenue) http://www.elephantandcastle.com/
Go the GLBT Community Center (W. 13th St. ) http://www.gaycenter.org/ and wander the place checking out the art (you won't want to miss the men's upstairs bathroom, done by the late Keith Haring).
See if there are any shows going on at P.S. 122, my favorite place to catch new works. (1st. Ave. @ 9th Street) http://www.ps122.org/ Matt & Ben has gotten interesting reviews, although I haven't seen it.
If the Film Forum isn't showing anything that interests you, try seeing what's playing at the Quad Theater (34 West 13th Street) and wander over afterwards to Taste of Tokyo (54 West 13th Street) for some great sushi.
If you do make it over to Chelsea, you might want to pop into the famous Empire Diner (22nd St. @ 10th Ave.) for some over-priced diner fare. So many movies and videos have been shot here. It's worth stopping by just to say you did. Then hit the galleries between 10th and 11th.
P.S. Just about any meal at Elephant & Castle is great. (I was just drooling over their brunch menu). And also, the Empire Diner has been often photographed and painted. See: http://www.johnbaeder.com/Oils/1976-EmpireDiner.htm Ah, memories. I spent my youth on 22nd between 9th and 10th and all this New York linkage makes me think it's time to plan a trip back home.
Not go above 14th Street? Did you, like, just move here and are still trying to be all downtown cool? Nevermind that the world's most fabulous museums are way above 14th Street, so are some of the most famous, weird and wonderful department stores - Saks, Bendel's, the original Tiffany. You could walk the old Ladies Mile from Union Square to Madison Square and see where all the old, turn of the century stores were. And Grand Central Station is one of the most beautiful landmarks in this country - it really reminds you of the heydey of New York and is reminiscent of beautiful, old European termini. I have to agree with Sean pretty much on everything he said.