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
Midtown
Midtown extends from 59th Street to 34th Street, from the Hudson River to the East River, and includes many smaller neighborhoods: Clinton, the newly gentrified Hell’s Kitchen (including Alvin Ailey's new digs), the Theatre District, the Garment District, Murray Hill, Turtle Bay, and Sutton Place. Midtown itself is often divided into East Midtown and West Midtown, but the heart of Midtown is Fifth Avenue. Street addresses project east and west from Fifth Avenue.
Midtown is congested with buildings famous, grand, modern, enormous, or lackluster. Here you will find the Chrysler Building, the Empire State Building, Grand Central Station, The Museum of Modern Art, The New York Public Library, Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, and the Seagram Building. You will also find the areas of Bryant Park, the Jacob Javits Convention Center, Times Square, and the United ...