"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
Drive by
You're driving in the city? Quelle dommage. To avoid skyrocketing blood pressure, come expecting that cars will cut you off, that double parked vehicles dot every street, that pedestrians will wander heedlessly into your path, and that cabbies will veer across four lanes in ten meters to pick up a fare. If you expect it, it will come as no surprise when it happens. Driving in New York is doable, and it is made easier by knowing a few simple guidelines. First: no right on red. Hear that, New Jersey? Second, find the streets with lights in synch. On the west side, for instance, that's Amsterdam going north, and Columbus going south. Third, remember the highways: if you have to go from uptown to downtown--or vice versa--make your way to the FDR (on the east side) or the West Side highway. Even with traffic, it's usually faster than in the heart of the city. Fourth, 1010 AM: remember the ...