When I first rolled into New York City on a Greyhound from the Martha's Vineyard ferry terminal back in 1981, I never dreamed I would spend at least the next 26 years of my life here. I was crashing on the floor of my former college roommate's studio apartment in the far West Village and I hoped, as I meandered about those maze-like streets, that downtown Manhattan would someday be my home. After protracted periods of life on the Upper East and West sides, I finally settled in Greenwich Village with my family of five. With an office in Soho, downtown is pretty much my full-time stomping ground.
Mornings are perfect at Balthazar in Soho, where the locals meet for blazing hot coffee, bread, and pastries baked at the Balthazar Bakery next door. Farther west on 12th Street, the new Cafe Cluny has a quiet neighborhood feel and plenty of free newspapers to peruse while ... [more]
Andy Arons, Gourmet Garage
Carnegie Hill
Carnegie Hill is the area between 86th and 96th Streets, and between Third and Fifth Avenues that is home to many of the city’s private schools and the families whose children attend them. The neighborhood derives its name from the Carnegie Mansion, former home of Andrew Carnegie and current home of the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, well worth a visit at 91st Street and Fifth Avenue. In this neighborhood you will find wonderful shops: clothing and shoes for women and children, gourmet food and wine stores, bookstores and toy stores--each with its own personality and fine service, as they are often proprietor owned and operated.