Hidden Treasures in New York City

We know you have limited time for sightseeing while you are here and probably have made your plans. However, particularly for those of you who have been here before, we want to suggest some “Hidden Treasures” that you might want to visit.

The following list of suggestions comes from NYCWP teacher-consultants and spans beyond Manhattan. It does not necessarily include the most famous tourist spots or the museums everyone knows.

A Walking City

The best way to see the city is to walk, and sometimes it is faster to walk than to hail a cab or get on a bus. It takes about one minute to walk one north/south block in Manhattan. So, it takes no time at all to walk a 10 or 15 block north/south distance. On the other hand, east/west blocks are much longer in Manhattan and it takes longer to walk, say, from 7th Ave. to Lexington Ave.

From the conference hotels, you can take lovely walks to: the Upper West Side, Columbus Circle and the Time-Warner Building, Central Park, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Carnegie Hall, Rockefeller Center and 5th Avenue, and the newly renovated Museum of Modern Art.

SUGGESTIONS FOR MANHATTAN

Unique Bookstores

The Strand: (13th St. & Broadway, two blocks south of Union Square) This is a reader’s dream: the home of 18 miles of new, used, rare, and out-of-print books, most at discount prices. Take the downtown N or R train at Times Square to Union Square. Walk two blocks south to 12th St.

The Drama Book Shop: (250 W. 40th St., off 8th Ave.) A great place for scripts, books, and magazines on the theatre and the performing arts.

Bargain Shopping

Century 21: (22 Courtland St., between Church & Broadway) Often called “NY’s best kept secret,” this is the store for discount designer clothing for men and women. At Times Square, take the downtown 2 or 3 train to Fulton St./Broadway or Broadway/Nassau, or the downtown 1 or 9 train to Rector St. Located near Ground Zero.

Loehmann’s: (Two locations: 7th Ave. & 16th St., or Broadway & 73rd St.) You can combine a visit to other attractions with a stop at this unique clothing store featuring quality women’s wear at bargain prices. Items include shoes, handbags, and swimsuits as well as sportswear, suits, and dresses.

Special Food Stores

Zabar’s: (W. 80th St. & Broadway) This is the Upper West Side’s famous gourmet emporium, specializing in the finest coffee, smoked fish, caviar, cheese, deli meats, etc. It’s fun just to browse, and you can snack at its take-out store next door. At Times Square, take the uptown 1 train to 79th St.

Yonah Schimmel Knishes Bakery: (137 E. Houston St.) If you visit the historic Lower East Side, you may want to stop for a bite here. Located on Houston St. since 1910, this is the place for authentic Jewish knishes of all kinds.

Kalustyan’s Spices and Sweets: (123 Lexington Ave. & 28th St.) Opened in 1944, this specialty food store specializes in Indian spices and groceries. The inventory also includes food and ingredients for cooking from countries throughout Europe, Asia, and the Middle East. The range is astonishing!

Dean and DeLuca: A staggering variety of produce and foodstuffs, including many never previously sold in this country. Visit the flagship store in Soho.

Specialty Shops

Pearl Paint: Touted as “the world’s largest discount art supplier,” this shop carries a large selection of paper and pens for the discerning writer. Two locations: 207 E. 23rd St. for those visiting the Chelsea neighborhood, or 308 Canal St. for those who want to take a side trip to nearby Chinatown or Little Italy.

New York Central: (62 3rd Ave. at 11th St.) For amazing paper and art supply shopping, this store is near enough to connect to a stroll in and around Greenwich Village. Take the N, R, or W train downtown to 14th St./Union Square.

Lesser-known Museums

Cloisters/Fort Tryon Park: (193 & Fort Washington Ave.) Located on four acres overlooking the Hudson River in northern Manhattan’s Fort Tryon Park, the Cloisters house the Metropolitan Museum of Art’s collection of art and architecture from medieval Europe. Best known for the beautiful tapestries on display, the Cloisters also offer architectural installations, a series of special programs, and stunning views of the Hudson. From there you can walk down to Dyckman St. On Dyckman, one block east of Broadway on the north side of the street, is a Dominican buffet with good food. From the 42nd St. & 8th Ave. station, take the uptown A train to 190th St. Then take the M4 bus to Fort Tryon Park-The Cloisters.

Lower East Side Tenement Museum: (97 Orchard St.) Housed in a building constructed in 1863, this fascinating museum picks up where Ellis Island left off, showing what Manhattan’s Lower East Side was like when it was teaming with immigrants in the early part of this century. Tours are available for entrance into the tenement house. Tickets for adults are $17, available at the office at 108 Orchard St. Take a downtown F or J train to Delancey St. Go west on Delancey until you come to Orchard St. Go down Orchard until you reach the Tenement Building.

Museum of the City of New York: (105th and 5th Ave.) Right now baseball fans can see “The Golden Age of Baseball“ exhibit on ten years of NY Yankees, NY Dodgers, and NY Giants history. Exhibit is open until Dec. 31.

Schomburg Center for Black Culture: (515 Malcolm X Blvd. & 135th St.) This site provides the richest collection in the city of books, manuscripts, documents, art, and film reflecting all aspects of the African American experience. Take the 2 or 3 train uptown to 135th St.

New-York Historical Society: (170 Central Park West at 77th St.) Houses a treasure trove of materials relating to the founding of our country, the history of art in America, and the history of New York and its people. The exhibit “Slavery in New York” is now part of their permanent collection. Take the C train uptown to 81st St. and walk along Central Park West.

Museum of Television and Radio: (25 W. 52nd St., off 5th Ave.) This museum is dedicated to audio-visual artifacts with a collection of over 50,000 TV and radio shows. Pick your selection from the library and watch it at one of the many video consoles. You can walk from the conference hotels.

Frick Collection: (1 E. 70th St.) Some of the best known paintings and works of sculpture by the greatest European artists.

Merchant’s House Museum: (29 E. 4th St.) New York City’s only family home preserved intact—inside and out—from the 19th century.

Morgan Library: (Madison Ave. & 36th St.) A newly enlarged, midtown Manhattan campus designed by Renzo Piano, houses one of the world’s greatest collections of artistic, literary, musical, and historical works.

National Museum of the American Indian: (1 Bowling Green) Down near Battery Park, this museum actively strives to find new approaches to the study and representation of the history, materials, and cultures of Native peoples.

Theatre Tickets

The conference is being held in the heart of the theatre district. Be aware that you do not need to pay full box office price for tickets to most Broadway and off-Broadway shows. Except for two or three very popular musicals (“Wicked,” “Jersey Boys,” and “Lion King”), nearly everything else is usually available at half-price at the TKTS ticket booth on 46th St., right near the Marriott, between Broadway and 8th Ave. There are fewer tickets available on Saturday night than for weekday evenings and weekend matinees. Many—but not all—shows give Sunday afternoon performances, and curtain times for Sunday performances vary. Check first.

• You can only buy tickets for that day’s performance; no advance sales.
• You must purchase tickets in cash or with travelers’ checks ($3 per ticket service charge).
• The line forms by the Marriott Marquis Hotel. Wednesday and Saturday matinee tickets are on sale from 10 a.m. – 2 p.m.; Monday through Saturday evening performances are on sale from 3 – 8 p.m.; Sunday performances are on sale 11 a.m. – 3 p.m. The line is usually long when the ticket windows first open; when it is long, it usually takes about 45 minutes to reach the front.
• Most people in line want to see musicals. Sometimes there is a separate window for tickets for non-musicals. Check with some of the officials up near the ticket windows to see if there is a separate line/window that day for plays. If so, you may not have to wait in the long musical line.
• The available shows are listed on a board by the ticket windows. You might want to check what is available before getting in line. Keep in mind that as curtain time nears (2 p.m. and 8 p.m.), some shows send over more unsold tickets. You can often get good seats for an evening performance as late as 6 p.m., when the line is quite short.
• There are always scalpers trying to sell tickets to people waiting in the TKTS line. Avoid them! Most of those tickets are bogus or overpriced.

Note: There is another TKTS booth at the South Street Seaport. Since the conference is in the Times Square area, it seems unnecessary to travel down there. For more information about both TKTS booths, check the Theatre Development Fund website.

Theatre Websites
Theatremania.com and Broadwaybox.com are two websites that always offer discount tickets to many Broadway and off-Broadway shows. These discounts can be purchased in advance, but the savings are not as large as the TKTS booth and there are usually fewer shows available.

Libraries

NY Public Library Main Library: (5th Ave. & 42nd St., a short walk from the conference) It’s free and worth the trip just to see the vaulted ceilings and wood finishing on the third floor reading room. Tours of the building are offered Monday through Saturday at 11 a.m. and 2 p.m., and at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Exhibition tours are separate.

Donnell Library: (20 W. 53rd St., across the street from MOMA) This library houses a superb collection of reading materials for young adults. Visit their Nathan Straus Young Adult Center and the Central Children’s Room to view their amazing collections. A walk from the conference hotels.

A Literary Map of Manhattan: You might have fun with this link to an interactive map of literary Manhattan that was in the Times Book Review years ago.

A Mini-tour of the Upper West Side of Manhattan

1. Take the C train to 81st St. and Central Park West. Say “Oooh Ahhh” to the outside of the Museum of Natural History, especially the glass structure that houses the Rose Center.
2. Walk to 77th St. and Central Park West for the New-York Historical Society (a little gem with lots of facets).
3. Stroll into Central Park at 72nd St. and sit near Strawberry Fields at the Imagine Memorial. When you come out, you can walk past the Dakota, the famous apartment building where John Lennon lived and where “Rosemary’s Baby” was set.
4. Stroll over to Broadway and 80th St. to Zabar’s. Browse and pick up something interesting for lunch.
5. Walk west to Riverside Park. Enter at 79th St. and walk down to the river. If it isn’t cold, sit and rest a while in sight of the 79th St. Boat Marina. Then stroll down along the river to 72nd St. You’ll encounter Eleanor Roosevelt’s statue as you exit the park.
6. Shoppers could take a quick detour into the new Loehmann’s or visit Fairway, the bustling fruit and vegetable market. Both are on Broadway just north of 72nd St. (Or, as educators, you might want to hop the 104 bus up Broadway to visit the campuses of Columbia University and Barnard on 116th St.)
7. From 72nd St., if you walk south on Broadway, you can’t miss Lincoln Center: home of opera, dance, theatre, and symphony. Walk even further south and there’s Lincoln Center Jazz housed in the Time-Warner complex opposite Columbus Circle. A trip inside the Time-Warner building offers beautiful views of Central Park.
8. At this time, you will be ready for a bus back to your hotel.

OUTER BOROUGHS

You haven’t really seen New York City until you step out of Manhattan. A trip to one of the other four boroughs may take a bit longer (40 minutes to an hour and a half), but if you have the time and the inclination, you will have an experience that most tourists don’t get. For the more adventurous, choose one or more of the following:

Suggestions for the Bronx

The Bronx Zoo and Bronx Botanical Gardens: (Within walking distance of each other) One of the world’s greatest zoos. With exhibits featuring over 4,000 animals, there is no other zoo in the world that offers such diversity and superb viewing. Take the 2 or 5 train uptown to East Tremont Ave./West Farms Square. At street level, walk straight ahead (follow train uptown) on Boston Rd. 2½ blocks to the Zoo’s Asia gate entrance (Gate A). If visiting the zoo or gardens, stroll over to Arthur Ave. for lunch or dinner in the Bronx’s Little Italy.

Wave Hill Public Garden and Cultural Center: (675 W. 252nd St.) This 28-acre public garden and cultural center overlooks the Hudson River and the Palisades. It offers programs in horticulture, environmental education, landscape history, and the visual and performing arts. Spectacular views on a clear day. A safe walk from the 252nd St. bus stop, served by the BX7 and 10 buses. The bus connects to the 1 and 9 train at 231st St. and Broadway in Riverdale in the Bronx.

Woodlawn Cemetery: (Webster Ave. & E. 233rd St.) This beautiful cemetery is the final resting place of Countee Cullen, Thomas Nast, Joseph Pulitzer, Herman Melville, Irving Berlin, Oscar Hammerstein, Nelly Bly, and Duke Ellington. And those are just some of the writers! Take the 4 train (Lexington Ave. Express or Local) to the end of the line—Woodlawn Station. At the base of the station, walk about ½ block. Or take the 2 train to 233rd St. Station. Walk 3 blocks downhill along 233rd.

Suggestions for Brooklyn

Brooklyn Heights Promenade: Offers some of the most beautiful and famous views of the Manhattan skyline as well as one of the oldest and loveliest city neighborhoods. Great for picture taking on a clear day. Good Mediterranean restaurants line nearby Atlantic Ave. Take the 2 or 3 train for a short trip to Clark St. in Brooklyn or, even better, join other New Yorkers who walk and cycle there over the Brooklyn Bridge.

Brooklyn Museum: (200 Eastern Parkway within walking distance of Prospect Park) The permanent collections include art from ancient Egypt and the Middle East and works of noted European and American artists. It is also home to the Elizabeth A. Sackler Center for Feminist Art (which houses Judy Chicago’s ’The Dinner Party’). Take the 2 or 3 train to Eastern Parkway/Brooklyn Museum. You can also stroll through Prospect Park or the beautiful Brooklyn Botanical Gardens while you are there.

Suggestions for Queens

Socrates Sculpture Park: (3205 Vernon Blvd.) American sculptor Mark di Suvero built this park in Long Island City around 1986 from a former landfill. Today it is an outdoor museum and artist residency program. Eclectic international art exhibits. Down the block is the Noguchi Museum featuring a collection of works by this famous sculptor. Take the N or W train to Broadway in Queens, then walk downhill for 10 blocks (or take the Q104 bus). The park entrance is at the end of Broadway, at the waterfront, just north of Costco.

PS 1 Contemporary Art Center: (22-25 Jackson Ave. at 46th Ave. in Long Island City) Affiliated with the Museum of Modern Art, this is the 2nd largest non-profit arts center in the United States solely devoted to contemporary art. It recognizes emerging artists and alternative movements and endeavors. Take E/V train to 23rd St./Ely Ave. in Queens. Follow signs to the 7 train to exit onto Jackson Ave., or take the 7 train to 45th Rd./Courthouse Square in Queens and exit onto Jackson Ave.

Museum of the Moving Image: (35th Ave. at the corner of 36th St. in Astoria) Located on the site of the busiest motion picture and television production facility between London and Hollywood, the Astoria Studio, this is NYC’s only museum devoted to film. On weekdays, take a short trip on the R or V train to Steinway St. On weekends, take R or G.

Suggestions for Staten Island

Take a ferry ride over to “the forgotten” borough. The view from the harbor alone is worth the trip. Check out www.siferry.com. It includes links to places of interest in Staten Island, if you dare to venture further.