SF Bay Area Version

Alright, time for city number two. Tons of New Yorkers here, so let's hear it.

I really don't even know where to start. There's an infinite amount of stuff to do in NYC. So much of what I love to do is just walk around the city. So many great bustling neighborhoods to experience, so many interesting people and things to see.

Bars, restaurants, museums, hotels, neighborhoods, galleries, stores, you name it, New York has every possible variety.

I'll start out with a recomendation for one of my favorite NYC activities. I've done this a number of years. Sept 29, 2007 is the date this year: Fifth Avenue Mile. A mile long race down Fifth Avenue. I do 5Ks from time to time and the occassional 10K, but I'm not a serious runner at all, so it's really fun doing a mile race - you just run really fast. The weather is usually beautiful for this. Just a fun way to start your Saturday in New York.

Please put in at least a little detail about what you post. Just listing random names of things/places is lame.

Le Pain Quotidien was recommended to me from 2p2 NY'ers and it is my favorite bakery in the city. There is about a dozen of them but I go to the one in Central Park.

I usually take my wife and kids once a year. One of our highlights is taking the subway to Brooklyn and walking the Brooklyn Heights Promenade.



We then eat lunch at Grimaldi's (get there early to avoid the line)


and walk back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge (yea nits, I know the picture is facing Brooklyn ).

Gotta see the revised MOMA. The inside space of the building itself is reason enough.

NY Philharmonic at Lincoln Center. Needs no explanation.

St. Patrick's Cathedral.

Brunch at a Sarabeth's location

Oh, and for the hip hop folk, visit the Big L memorial mural uptown

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan is up there on my list.

I love going to the turtle pond in Central Park. That one never ceases to amaze me; smack dab in the middle of the most urban city in the country is this raw piece of nature. I can sit and watch those turtles for hours, knowing that any time I feel like it, I can be in Times Square in ten minutes. It's the ultimate in contrasts.

I also love the Natural History Museum. I love these in general, but the one in New York is so....old school. It really has this air of 19th-century colonialism about it; a sense that it's stocked by the plunderings of eccentric rich explorers and self-taught anthropologists doing their own versions of 'eco-tourism' 150 years ago.

as a jazz guy, I love hitting up the jazz clubs when I'm in NYC.

i like the new iridium as you don't have to deal with the obstructed view that you used to when it was near the lincoln center.

The Village Vanguard is probably my favorite place to visit. Its in the west village off of broadway and can be easy to miss if you aren't paying attention. The atmosphere there is great and they usually put on great acts. I don't know what the current price per set is right now, but it shouldn't be more then 40. There is a two drink cover there

Upright Citizens Brigade theater has great improv, SNL guest appearances, even weekly free shows ... definitely check this out.

Also, Film Forum and IFC are great theaters to check out independent / foreign movies.

The Coffee shop (union square) and Jerry's (soho) for great casual food.

Ain't that the truth. As such, here are some great NYC resources:

Menupages is a website that lists menus of just about EVERY Manhattan restaurant. Its a priceless resource. As a caveat, the reviews they have should not be taken all too seriously b/c of the very small sample size.

Gothamist is a very handy NY blog that is updated every hour or two and covers local news, upcoming concerts, restaurant reviews, and other kinds of fun stuff. A similar site that is more geared to music news/concerts is Brooklyn Vegan.





Citysearch is like Menupages, but covers bars and clubs exclusively. Every neighborhood has something to offer. But every kind of scene can be found.

OK, time to go to the concert. specific questions as to things to do are welcome.

early weekend morning chess in washington square park in the summer. hot coffee, cool morning, quiet park and a handful of $5 speed games with a chess hustler/homeless guy. good times.

Katz's Deli -- best pastrami in the universe. it's basically a big pile of meat, between two flimsy slices of rye bread that have no purpose, and a plate of pickles. kosher-style (though not actually kosher), so mustard only.

1) Frick Museum, Brooklyn Art Museum/Botanical Gardens. Frick has 3 Vermeers in it, plus some other greats, and is just a stunning 'house,' see what rich guys lived like in the old days.

2) Met/NYC Opera. La Boheme/Magic Flute/Tosca, etc. Even if you just go once, at least go...once. You might like it.

3) Yankees game/Bronx zoo. Great spring/summer events also good 'date' things to do.

4) Qualifying rounds at US Open. Go early, you get to see the stars of tomorrow [and some of yesterdays/current recovering from injury] and see Federer/Roddick/Maria/Venus practice while sitting in the front row.

5) Shakespeare in the Park - another must-do, the talent there is usually quite high both on-stage and off.

6) Dim sum in Chinatown. Speaks for itself.

7) Go play Bethpage Black. If you are really, really good at golf that is.

8) Drinks on roof of Met Museum at the sculpture garden, best views in the City, always a good crowd up there, relatively little known.

The weekly, free outdoor movies summer in Bryant Park is also a ton of fun, get there early, bring food & drinks + blanket, invite some female friends, can't go wrong. The piers on the West side highway have cool sand volleyball courts, mini-golf, batting cages, trapeze school, lotsa outdoor concerts + dance stuff.

i haven't picked up much interesting stuff living in NYC for 8 months now, but i did recommend le pan quotidien to darko, so i'll take credit there.

one restaurant i would feel pretty good about recommending is poke , on the upper east side. very good, very fresh sushi, reasonably priced, and i've gotten great service all three times i've gone. i was checking out the reviews on the linked site and apparently a lot of people have not been happy with the service - felt rushed or didn't like the BYOB policy. i didn't have any problem with this and i went there on some pretty busy nights, but YMMV.

i really liked the red dragon roll and pretty much any hot appetizer you order - last time i was there they had this raw tuna pizza on a sort of scallion pancake with melted cheese that was f'in sweet.

This is a hike out of the city and usually to get on over the summer you need to get there really early/even stay overnight.

On the theme of useful websites for those unfamiliar with parts of New York, hopstop (subway/walking directions/estimated cab time and fare) is just about the best resource out there for traveling within the city (boroughs too). I use it myself at least once/week just to double check how long it will take to get somewhere. The estimated travel times are extremely accurate in my experience.

Also, Citysearch is alright but I think Yelp has better content and is much easier to navigate.


I'm sure Daver would have posted this had he been here before me, but Barcade is a very cool bar that isn't a "typical NYC place." It's got 20 or so old school arcade games and about an equal amount of beers on tap. It's in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

I might as well steal Egg from Daver too. It's a cool little diner just a couple blocks from barcade, so if you wake up hungover in some hipster chick's loft it's a great way to start the day.

Just about anything in Central Park is a good time when the weather's nice. Unfortunately I don't go nearly as often as I wish I did.

Everyone should hang out in the southwest corner of Washington Sq. Park and play chess with crazy old guys then chat up some girls at the dog run. If the pick up lines Bruiser taught you from his Vegas camp end up working there's some pretty cool places to eat/drink in the area. I like Town Tavern for cheap drink specials and great burgers (chef used to work at Corner Bistro, also close by).

I think the Cloisters is one of my favorite places to go on a nice spring day. The Cloisters is essentially several European monasteries that were taken apart, shipped to New York, then reconstructed by the Metropolitan Musuem and turned into a Medieval art gallery. The most famous work housed there is the Unicorn Tapestries:





Even if you are not that into art or museums, the Cloister is still definitely worth a visit on a nice day because of its atmosphere. Its definitely a money place to go on a more sophisticated date or a good place to take people who are visiting New York. Rather than describing it myself I found a very good review from New York Magazine:

One other cool but likely completely irrelevant idea. A couple weeks ago my buddy read about a place in Coney Island (read: FAR) called Sahara and decided we were going. So three of us head out there around 7:30 on a Friday night. It's a really cool Turkish (I think) place. It's got all kinds of really tasty roasted meats (chicken, beef, lamb, etc.). It works really well as a family style place; two entres would probably do three people very nicely.

We had a bunch of some Turkish beer (called Efez I think) at diner and didn't really know what to do when we left. We saw a liquor store just down the block and each picked up a bottle of champagne to drink while we walked around. This neighborhood was completely empty, I wouldn't advise walking around Manhattan gulping champagne out of the bottle.

Eventually we saw a sign for the Beach and decided to go check that out. It ended up being kind of a hike but it was a lot of fun being basically lost in what feels like a completely different city from your own, all the while getting wasted. We walked around the boardwalk for a a bit and talked to some random crazy guy that was also on the beach.

On the way to the beach we had passed a club called Rasputin. There were no reviews for it on Yelp and they both describe it as a caterer/restaurant. I'm pretty sure the address is right but it definitely isn't a restaurant. There were hot chicks and a red carpet outside...IN THE MIDDLE OF BUMBLE****, BROOKLYN!We had to check it out. What it turned out to be was a dance club full of the most beautiful Russian women I've ever seen. I usually am not that into Eastern European chicks but these girls were drop dead gorgeous and the girl/guy ratio was probably 2 or 3. That being said, we were the only people there that weren't obviously Russian. We walked around getting shot down by lots of chicks and then snuck into the second floor VIP area to hang out for a little while. It was an awesome time.



Anyway, the point, I guess, is that one of the most fun things to do in NYC is basically get lost and not really know where the hell you're going to end up. There's tons of cool/crazy stuff/people here and you're going to run into some of them no matter what you do.

All I can say about my very limited experiences with New York City is that it really does live up to the hype. I haven't been anywhere that I haven't enjoyed. Even the dank-ass subway terminals are awesome.

My favorite thing to do in New York is to just WALK! This is an incredibly foot-friendly city and I can hardly think of a better way to spend a spring afternoon than strolling around downtown with my girlfriend. My favorite stops along the way:

-SoHo shopping (Apple store = Mecca, obv)
-Angelika theatre and Sunshine cinema
-Battery park (there are many nice sunny lawns to lay out on and enjoy)
-Menchanko-Tei ramen restaurant: an unbelievably big and delicious meal for $10... (in the 50s, near the Apple store that actually LOOKS like Mecca)
-The new West Side parks downtown are awesome.

My main suggestion is to just GO... walk around and enjoy the city. You will find tons of places on your own, wether you have lived here forever or are just visiting. Summer in New York is one of my favorite times/places in the universe...

Go to tartine on w 4th and w 11th and get the croque monsieur for brunch. Unbelievable piece of food. Seriously... made differently than any other croque i've seen and is what i would want for my last meal...

Bond st for sushi.

bagels and pizza all over.

I miss ny so much god damnit...

I love new york... but I would switch places with you until April for sure.

Where was this thread in January when I went to NYC. Damn you Diablo and your forum.

This is a great thread idea El D. I've been living in New York (Little Italy, above an Italian restaurant) for about six months now. Here are some of my reflections:

-The main reading room at the New York Public Library: I "stumbled" in here about a year and a half ago when looking for a place to do some thesis work while in New York to see the Breeder's Cup. It has a uniquely "great library" feel to it (probably better than Widener in Cambridge MA but a step behind the British Library), but feels even more ominous and majestic because it is right in the middle of midtown and across from a Sean John store. Definitely worth spending a few hours there if you have something to read...

-Lower East Side, about 2am: I've really fallen in love with the LES since moving to New York. It has a kind of grainy vibrance that few drinkin' haunts I've been to have. There are tons of great bars, quirky but excellent restaurants (some of which stay open very late), and a characteristically "New York" feel that you don't get in a lot of other areas. The LES is great for every way it is NOT like the Meatpacking District. A favorite bar is Iggy's, at Ludlow between Rivington and Stanton.

-Poker: Oddly enough, New York is one of the few places I've been where playing poker takes on a kind cultural resonance. I have encountered the greatest cross-section of New York personalities at various games, and the "honor among thieves" ethic that prevails means that I get suprisingly frank insight into a lot of different New Yorkers who I would never encounter otherwise. I have often cited poker as one of the most "definitely New York" experiences I've had since living here, and I recommend it to anyone who both enjoys poker and wants to see New York at it's seedy best.

Some great stuff in here. #5 is an excellent recommendation. I only started going 3 summers ago, but Shakespeare in the Park is fantastic. The 2004 production of Much Ado with Jimmy Smits, Sam Waterson, and Kristen Johnson was fantastic. I saw it like 4 or 5 times, each time on stanby tix...once getting the front row center seats.

my list:

1) brooklyn botanic gardens, this is obv best in spring but laying around in the cherry tree fields after walking around the garden is one of my favorite things to do.

2) I counted once that I own around 27 albums recorded live at the village vanguard. the vanguard is easily my favorite top level jazz club in the city. not at all touristy or overpriced, and some of the best jazz musicians in the world.

3) another music thing, tuesday nights at smoke (bway and 103rd) is hammond b3 organ night and it usually features peter bernstein on guitar, one of my favorite guitarists ever. once in a blue moon george benson stops by to sit in!

4) the nyc marathon. if you're going to run just one, run nyc. nothing beats seeing tons of different neighborhoods all over the city, and having people cheering you on the entire race. for added fun, wear a shirt with your name on it and the entire way people will cheer for you by name!

Terra Blues on bleeker has free, live blues. The house band is good. I don't get around to that neighborhood much anymore though.

Right around there is the only place in that neighborhood I actually go to a lot - Minetta Tavern. It used to be a speak-easy. The current owner is a young guy who started there as a bus boy. The old owner wanted to retire/sell the place and he sold to him under the condition that he kept the place exactly the same. Food is great, atmosphere better. The final scene of "Sleepers" was actually filmed there. After i came to school it was the 1st restuarant i went out to with my dad, and we go back often.

Also, 4am Korean BBQ on 31st and 6th is jackpot.

I will sheepishly admit I like to shop around Prince and West Broadway. People in those stores are so nice. But I hate the Mac store, too crowded.

Final note - A haircut and a shave from Antonella's Barber Shop down by city hall is probably my favorite thing to do in the city. On your worst of worst days, go and get one. You will walk out feeling better. Get the big guy with the Mullet though, not the old guy. You will know what I mean when you go. The haircut is great - bet in the city though I haven't ever paid more than like $30 for a haircut, but the shave is where it's at.