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Feature Article
NEW YORK THREE WAYS
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Here are three separate itineraries for a perfect day in New York City, based on differing ages and interests. Pick the category that suits you best, grab a good city map and head off on the town. And if you want to cross over to sample an item from another category, that's fine with us. The Apple is big enough to accommodate just about every taste.
by Clark Norton
1) YOUNG, ACTIVE
AND HIP
Walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and back Ever since it opened in 1893, the Brooklyn Bridge has been "sold" to unsuspecting visitors by local scam artists. But why "buy" the bridge when you can walk across it for free—and get great views and exercise to boot? Completed in 1893 after 23 grueling years' construction, the bridge spanning the East River remains one of New York's most—recognizable landmarks—an architectural masterpiece combining granite Gothic arches, webbed steel suspension cables and massive stone pylons. By crossing it on foot, you can take the time to fully appreciate both the bridge's own beauty and the views it offers of the Manhattan and Brooklyn skylines, from a vantage point 135 feet above the river. Start your walk in City Hall Park (off Centre Street and Park Row) in southeast Manhattan, and stroll east toward Brooklyn.
Unlike many bridges, where pedestrians are shunted off onto cramped, sometimes scary outside walkways, the 15-foot-wide wooden promenade on this span runs down the middle, with auto traffic passing a dozen feet below on either side. The result is that this is one of the country's most popular bridge walks, hosting some 3,000 pedestrians on an average day. The bridge runs a bit more than a mile from end to end, including approaches, so allow an hour or so for a leisurely roundtrip.
Access: Take 4, 5, or 6 subway to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall stop.
Explore TriBeCa and SoHo
When you return to Manhattan and exit the bridge, head west one block past City Hall to Broadway, then turn right (north). For the next several blocks, until reaching Canal Street, the area to the west of Broadway and over to the Hudson River is known as TriBeCa (short for "Triangle Below Canal"). And the next few blocks north of that, until reaching Houston Street, is called SoHo (short for "South of Houston"). Once dilapidated commercial districts filled with abandoned warehouses, both TriBeCa and SoHo have been revived and renovated into hip, artsy shopping and dining areas where cutting-edge boutiques, galleries, cafés, bars and restaurants abound. (Alas, the bohemian artists who first discovered and transformed the industrial spaces into lofts back in the 1970s have long since been driven out by skyrocketing rents.)
The best way to explore these small, walkable neighborhoods is to simply wander the streets, making your way slowly north as you go. Besides Broadway, among the more interesting streets are West Broadway and Greenwich in TriBeCa, and Spring, Prince, Broome, Thompson and Sullivan in SoHo. You'll find shops selling designer clothing, ethnic jewelry, Italian furniture and other upscale items. Stop for lunch at SoHo's Bistro Les Amis (180 Spring St., 212-226-8645) or Mezzogiorno (195 Spring St., 212-334-2112).
Circle Manhattan in a cruise boat
It's now time to take a load off your feet and watch New York drift by from the comfort of a boat. Grab a cab to Pier 83 on the Hudson River, where Circle Line ships depart on leisurely three-hour sightseeing cruises around Manhattan Island, offering a waterborne perspective of the city like no other. You'll get a sense of just how much more there is to this 13.5-mile-long island than relatively small but heavily touristed sections like Midtown and Greenwich Village.
The tour boats first sail south on the Hudson down the west side of the city, then north up the East River to the Harlem River and finally back down the Hudson again. Along the way, you'll be treated to an intriguing, ever-changing panorama, from world-famous sights (Statue of Liberty, the United Nations, Yankee Stadium) to seldom-glimpsed pockets of urban life spanning all five boroughs. While sometimes corny, the narration is informative. For the best views, arrive early and grab an upper-deck seat on the port (left) side of the boat, which faces Manhattan; indoor seating is available in bad weather. From April through August, Circle Line departs a half-dozen times daily from 9:30 a.m. to 3:30 or 4:30 p.m., with a more limited schedule the rest of the year.
Access: Pier 83 at W. 42nd St. and 12th Ave.; 212-563-3200. $26 adults, $20 seniors, $13 children.
Enjoy dinner and nightlife in Harlem
It's being called the second Harlem Renaissance. A wealth of new restaurants, clubs, shops and theaters are helping to restore this historic but long-blighted neighborhood to its former glory, making it one of the hottest nightlife destinations in Manhattan for locals and visitors alike. Grab a cab or catch the A Train, get off at or near 125th Street and check out the scene. Come for dinner and then follow it up with a show at one of the local theaters, such as the famed Apollo (253 W. 125th St.; 212-531-5305), which stages popular Wednesday Amateur Nights. Harlem's best-known restaurant remains Sylvia's (328 Lenox Ave., 212-996-0660), a sprawling tourist favorite that specializes in soul food. But plenty of trendier alternatives have emerged, such as Bayou (308 Lenox Ave., off 125th St.; 212-426-3800), a bastion of New Orleans cuisine, and the Sugar Hill Bistro (458 W. 145th St., 212-491-5505), which offers sophisticated American food and live jazz. (Both have attracted numerous celebs.)
Other hot spots combining food and entertainment include the 1940s-era Lenox Lounge (288 Lenox Ave., 212-427-0253), whose art deco-style Zebra Room showcases jazz artists, and Jimmy's Uptown (2207 Seventh Ave., 212-491-4000), where jazz and comedy performers complement the upscale dining.
2. PARENTS WITH KIDS
Tour the American Museum of Natural HistoryWith some 36 million items in its collection spread over four sprawling floors, the American Museum of Natural History—the largest in the world—should keep your kids busy, at least until lunchtime. They'll probably be hooked when they walk in the front entrance to encounter the world's tallest freestanding dinosaur exhibit, a Barosaurus rearing up toward the top of the rotunda. Dinosaur fossils fill two huge halls, and the size keeps on coming: the 563-carat Star of India sapphire and a 34-ton, 4.5 billion-year-old meteorite are among other treasures. Kids ages 5 to 12 can also check out the new Discovery Room, where they can get down and dirty with fossils and a dinosaur dig. Then head over to the adjoining Rose Center for Earth and Space, whose state-of-the-art Hayden Planetarium presents high-tech space shows that whirl you to the farthest corners of the universe and back again. You can also stroll leisurely through 13 billion years of history along a 360-foot spiraling Cosmic Pathway that measures the evolution of the universe at a pace of 3 million years-per-inch. Even a toddler can knock off all of human history with less than a step—no small feat for such tiny feet.
Access: Central Park West and 79th St.; 212-769-5100. Open daily 10 a.m.-5:45 p.m. $12 adults, $9 students and seniors, $7 ages 2-12; space shows are additional.
Visit the Central Park Wildlife Center and environs
When you exit the Space Center, you'll find New York's favorite outdoor recreation mecca, Central Park, directly ahead of you. Stroll south along the pathways to the 65th Street Transverse and then east to the park's Wildlife Center, located near Fifth Avenue and 64th Street. Stop along the way, if you'd like, to ride the antique carousel (just off the Transverse) and to grab a hot dog or other sandwich from one of the park's many lunch-cart vendors—it's a New York midday tradition. The 5.5-acre zoo itself is small enough to cover in an hour or so, but offers plenty of sheer animal attraction: polar bears, sea lions, penguins, monkeys and more.
The nearby Tisch Children's Zoo, where the tree-trunk passages, turtle ponds, talking birds and goat-feeding areas are designed with young kids in mind, is accessible on the same ticket. Next, take your children to marvel at the Delacorte Music Clock, located between the two zoos. Every half-hour, six bronze animal figures play nursery rhyme tunes while parading in a circle atop a red brick arch. Then let the kids run off steam at the nearby Billy Johnson Playground at 67th Street and Fifth Avenue, where a tree house with slide, a sandbox and a stone bridge await.
Zoo: 212-861-6030. $6 adults, $1.25 seniors, $1 ages 3-12. Open daily 10 a.m.-4:30 p.m.
Go to the top of the Empire State Building
King Kong climbed it, and so can your family—with the aid of some fast elevators (1,200 feet per minute!) that the great ape could only dream about. Following an afternoon in Central Park, catch a cab or a bus down Fifth Avenue to the Empire State Building, a majestic skyscraper that was the world's tallest structure when completed in 1931. You can't miss it; it stands 102 stories and, including its TV tower, stretches 1,454 feet. With millions of visitors per year, long lines (for security, tickets and elevators) are common, though by midafternoon, congestion should ease a bit. Once you board one of the elevators that whisk you to the 86th floor observation deck, the views of the New York City area and beyond (including neighboring states on a crystal-clear day) are unforgettable. Ask your kids if they can pick out local landmarks like the Statue of Liberty, the Chrysler Building and Central Park. At night, the art deco tower is usually lit in multicolored splendor. The hues, which vary throughout the year, are often geared to holidays—such as red, white and blue on the Fourth of July, or red and green at Christmas.
Fifth Ave. at 34th St., 212-736-3100. $10 ages 18-61, $9 ages 12-17 and seniors, $5 ages 6-11. Open daily 9:30 a.m. -midnight (last elevator at 11:15 p.m.).
Tour Chinatown by night
Visiting Chinatown can be a magical experience for kids, especially at night, when neon signs create an alluring glow. This is America's largest Chinatown—upwards of 150,000 residents cram into a continually expanding area now reaching three square miles—and a stop here is like making a mini-trip to Asia. The neighborhood is alive with restaurants, bakeries, tea houses, bazaars, temples, produce stands, fish markets, herb shops and clothing stores, with an array of exotic foods and imported goods. Many kids like to stop to hunt for inexpensive items in souvenir shops where the wares are stacked in buckets that spill out onto the sidewalks or dangle from awnings. The widest and often most crowded thoroughfare is Canal Street between Broadway and Bowery, but the narrower side streets can be more fun to wander. The most colorful commercial stretch is Mott Street from Grand Street south to Chatham Square, a twisting road lined with restaurants where crispy roast ducks and well-stocked fish tanks beckon diners. For family-friendly eats, check out the offerings at Ping's (22 Mott St.; 212-602-9988) or Sweet 'N' Tart (20 Mott St.; 212-964-0380). Both serve delicious Cantonese-style food.
3. OLDER AND WISER
Visit Ellis Island Immigration MuseumBegin your day at Battery Park on the far southern tip of Manhattan, where you can buy tickets for the ferry that goes to both Liberty and Ellis islands in New York Harbor. Arrive early to beat the worst of the crowds. The boat's first stop is Liberty Island, but stay on board—you'll get perfectly good views of the Statue of Liberty from on deck, and the statue itself is now closed to visitors anyway. Instead, continue to nearby Ellis Island and visit the national immigration museum there, which honors the 12 million immigrants from around the world who were processed on the island from 1892 to 1954—and are related to an estimated 100 million current Americans. The restored buildings include the Great Hall where a variety of galleries display photos, maps, artifacts and temporary exhibitions. One gallery houses poignant treasures (such as children's shoes and teddy bears) that new immigrants brought with them from home. If you have ancestors or relatives who came through Ellis Island, you can check to see if their names are memorialized on the outdoor American Immigrant Wall of Honor, and then head to the American Family Immigration History Center to research your ancestral heritage.
Ferry tickets at Castle Clinton, 212-269-5755. $10 adults, $6 seniors, $3 ages 4-12. Boats run daily every 45 minutes from 9 a.m. (9:30 in winter) to 3:30 p.m.
Visit Fraunces Tavern Museum and Restaurant
Upon your return from Ellis Island, continue your history explorations at venerable Fraunces Tavern, a short walk from Battery Park. Said to be the oldest continuously operated tavern in America, this renovated Georgian-style brick building (which dates from 1719) was a meeting place for the Sons of Liberty and other revolutionaries during the Revolutionary War period. And while George Washington may or may not have slept here—rumors are he dozed off over an ale or two—it's established that this is where he bade farewell to his officers following their triumph against the British in 1783. (Samuel Fraunces, who had opened the tavern 20 years previous, served as Washington's chief steward.) Head upstairs to the museum, where several rooms—including the Long Room, where General Washington met with his officers for the last time—are decorated in period style and are home to war mementos and changing exhibits. Then head downstairs to lunch, where contemporary-takes-on-classic-American dishes are served in two colonial-style dining rooms or in a more casual tavern area.
54 Pearl St. at Broad St. Museum: 212-425-1778; $3 ages 7 and up, students/seniors $2; open Tues., Wed., Fri. 10 a.m.-5 p.m.; Thurs. 10 a.m.- 7 p.m.; Sat. 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Restaurant reservations 212-968-1776; open for lunch and dinner Mon.-Sat.
Take a horse-drawn carriage ride through Central Park
After lunch, take a cab north to Grand Army Plaza at the intersection of Central Park South (59th Street) and Fifth Avenue, the far southeastern corner of Central Park. The park extends north for some 50 blocks, but you can tour at least part of it in style by boarding one of the dozens of horse-drawn carriages that line up along the street here. Touristy? Sure, but plenty of New Yorkers like to take these atmospheric jaunts, too. The drivers—some of whom dress in top hats—steer carriages that are bedecked with flowers and offer plush velvet-like cushions for seating. The carriages differ in color and detail—some are open, some covered—so pick one to your liking and settle on a price for the length of ride you'd like before setting off. (A half-hour ride should run $34, with $10 for each additional 15 minutes.) Then climb in, sit back and enjoy the scenery with the clip-clop of horses' hooves serving as soundtrack. After the ride, if you like, stop in at the Plaza Hotel just across the street for a drink at the Oak Bar or tea at the Palm Court—two classic New York venues.
Attend a Broadway show and have dinner in the Times Square area
From the Plaza it's a relatively easy walk or short cab ride west to Broadway and Times Square for dinner and a show. Stroll down Broadway from 59th Street to 42nd Street, checking out the flashing neon supersigns and the lights and ornate theaters of the Great White Way. (Actually, only four "Broadway" theaters remain on Broadway itself, with most others scattered on side streets.) Shows come and go, but discounted seats go on forever (we hope).
The New York City visitor information center at 810 Seventh Ave. (212-484-1222) distributes discount coupons, or you can wait in line for same-day, half-price tickets at the Theatre Development Fund/TKTS booth in Times Square at 47th Street and Broadway (212-768-1818). Don't expect to find bargains on megahits like "The Lion King" or "The Producers"; if there's a certain show you just have to see, order your tickets well in advance and expect to pay premium prices. For ticket and show information, call The Broadway Line: 888-276-2392 or 212-302-4111. For dinner, before or after the show, head for one of two oldtime theater hangouts. For a quick, casual meal, try the Edison Café (228 W. 47th St., 212-840-5000), a Polish deli featured in playwright Neil Simon's show, "45 Seconds from Broadway." For a more stylish meal, head for Sardi's (234 W. 44th St., 212-221-8440), where celebrity caricatures plaster the walls.
Freelance writer Clark Norton divides his time between New York City and the Catskills, and is currently working on a guidebook to the Hudson River Valley.
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