New York Guide – H.S!I.I.N.Y Moments

So maybe you’re from London. Or Sydney. Or Chicago. Or one of a hundred other places in the world that is full of sky scrapers, museums, and lots of other people.

In which case, this page is not for you.

This page is dedicated to those who make their homes in the East Nowheres of the world – where the shops close at 6, the high schoolers smoke in the church parking lot, and everyone’s talking about the new Target, or how Mary and Ross’s son is going away to college.

It is you – the dwellers of suburbs, farm counties, and isolated towns around the globe – who can experience a special feeling that is lost on urbanites: a feeling best expressed as, “Holy Shit! I’m in New York!”

Sometimes this feeling is called up by the most over-visited, tour group exploited sites – the view from the top of the Empire State Building is pretty impressive, even if it is cliche.

Other times, you find yourself at some corner, surrounded by New Yorkers living their daily New York lives. And if these lives are different than the ones you are used to, that moment can be the most memorable and real experience of a trip.

Below is my in-progress list of places where you just might experience an H.S!I.I.N.Y. moment. It’s worth wandering for.

• Wall Street at 8:30 on a weekday morning.
  Take the 2/3 to the Wall Street stop and prepare yourself for the tide of business suits, in every color from charcoal grey to black. (Revisit Wall Street at 9 p.m. for eerie desertion).
• St. Mark’s Place (a.k.a. 8th Street) between 3rd Ave and 2nd Ave on a Friday or Saturday night.
  Stop for sushi amidst the underage Club Kids or swing over to Kiev (7th St & 2nd Ave) for a late night breakfast.
  
  (N/R to 8th St or the 6 to Astor Place)
• Sheep’s Meadow in Central Park on a warm weekend afternoon.
  See all the people you won’t catch on Wall Street.
• Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge early in the morning.
  An NYC mix of tranquility and traffic.
  
  (6 to Brooklyn Bridge or the N/R to City Hall)
• The corner of Bleeker and Christopher on Saturday night.
  Then walk south on Bleeker for a slice at John’s Pizzeria, or enjoy coffee and dessert at one of the 4 corner cafes on Bleeker and MacDougal.
  
  (1/9 to Christopher St.)
• The Grand Street fish markets and the assorted plastic/hardware/miscellaneous shops on Canal Street during the day.
  The place to go if you’re searching for PVC piping. And the bizarre thing is, lots of people are.
  
  (B/D/Q to Grand St.)
• Times Square after dark.
  See all the other tourists looking for the real New York.
  
  (1/9/2/3/N/R to Times Square)
• Brooklyn Promenade at sunset.
  Then try some of the best veggie Chinese food in NYC at Green’s on Montague St.
  
  (N/R to Court St or the 4/5 to Borough Hall)
• Washington Square Park on a weekend afternoon.
  Grab some falafel on MacDougal and watch the street performers in the empty fountain.
  (B/D/F/Q/A/C/E to West 4 ot the N/R to 8 St.)
• The newly renovated Grand Concourse of Grand Central Station on a weeknight rush hour.
  Have a beer at the Michael Jordan Steakhouse’s balcony bar overlooking the crowd.
  (4/5/6 to Grand Central)
• Lincoln Center’s fountain at around 10 on a performance night.
  Watch hundreds of NY’s Who’s Who pour out of the Metropolitan Opera House and into their waiting limosines.
  
  (1/9 to 66 St.) …That’s a start. I welcome your additions.
  
  
  General Info Section New York. The Big Apple. The City That Never Sleeps. Home of the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, the Village, Broadway. Hundreds of "Gap’s", thousands of suicidal taxi drivers, millions of residents, and – for those of you uninterested in any of the above – infinite places to get a cold beer. Pack light: you can buy anything you’ve forgotten at an exorbitant price. Longing for Milo or Vegemite? Try Chinatown. Unable to sleep without your foreign brew? Try Peculiar Pub. Looking for company? Just step outside… NYC is comprised of five boroughs: Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx, and Staten Island. Most travelers stick to Manhattan, but the more adventurous (and those with a few more days here) will find that exploring the outer boroughs is about as "off-the-beaten-track" as you can get here. Whatever your scene may be, you will not be disappointed: museum goers, fine diners, people watchers, tormented writers, sight-seers, all-night clubbers… this is the place. Descend into the smoky depths of a no-cover jazz club, retrace the steps of your favorite Seinfeld episode, enjoy lo mein while being serenaded by scantily clad transvestites. Be brave. Blend in. (it¹s hard to stand out). And don’t sleep too much… you’ll miss something. When you arrive, check out the tourist office in Times Square. Grab a subway map and get oriented. Figure out your priorities, drop off your pack, and set out. Some helpful sites on NYC: Try New York CitySearch.com for more mainstream current info. There’s always the Village Voice, although picking up an actual copy (free) would be better, because the real scoop is in the ads. The "Official" NYC site. New York related sites (museums, teams, etc). For listings of arts events in the city, try the front of The New Yorker magazine.