"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
Yorkville
Yorkville is the slightly lackluster residential neighborhood, formerly of the working class. At this point with Manhattan real estate what it is, the working class bus themselves in from the outer boroughs and neighboring states. The area runs from 79th to 96th Street east of Third Avenue. Here you will find the practical and mundane: high-rise housing, dry cleaners, supermarkets, drug stores, and video rental shops. You will also find the little gem: Gracie Mansion, the official home of the mayor of New York--though not our current mayor who maintains his own larger jewel further southwest.