"As soon as I was old enough (1964), I got myself to New York. I learned the subway, went to (now long gone) little movie theaters, sketched in the Bleecker St. Café, and saw everything at the Museum of Modern Art. I was going to college in Brooklyn and found the best free thing to do in New York was to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge, and it still is, although now I usually do it from Manhattan and then stroll along the Brooklyn Heights Promenade. The two best movie theaters in NY are now the Film Forum on West Houston St. and the Paris on 58th St. just west of 5th Ave. (You'll understand why when you go.) If you're walking around Midtown, you'll appreciate the bathrooms at the fabulous Japanese department store, Takashimaya, on 5th Ave. between 54th & 55th. The best place for breakfast is the Dining Room at the Neue Gallery, 5th Ave. & 86th, home to the world's most ... [more]
Lloyd Ziff, Photographer
Theater District
The Theater District has good bones but it’s a bit shabby and uneven--our euphemism for "don’t go it alone after dark". The famous old theaters are gorgeous from the inside, and some from the outside as well, and they share their sidewalks with neon and glittering storefronts. Many fine restaurants wedge themselves behind small entries to offer theater-goers quickly delivered meals pre-theater, and a relaxed evening for post-theater diners. Recently the area has welcomed big business with grand shiny new buildings, most notably Reuters and The New York Times. Consequently, we suspect, the area will soon be posh: even the Port Authority, which in the 1980s was home to a large number of the city’s homeless men and women, now has a restaurant with linen service.