A Landmark of Modernity in SoHo As unlikely as anyone visiting the island of Manhattan is going there purely to experience the Holland Tunnel (which leads from Jersey City, N.J. to New York) and all the concomitant traffic-ridden pleasure such an experience can bring, a city’s infrastructure—even some of the less glamorous sorts—can be pretty…
Category: New York City
Flatiron ABC
Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Casual Cocina at Union Square Once dismissive of restaurants situated in strip malls (so suburban!) and those located in department stores (crustless cucumber sandwich, anyone?), I keep expectations for ABC Cocina, located in the same building as the store I love to love, ABC Carpet & Home, low, especially when, arriving three minutes…
Central Park: Enter through the Vanderbilt Gate
Nature in New York City Fresh from a visit to the Museum of the City of New York, the Brawny Sherpa and a Youthful Adventurer and I cross Fifth Avenue to admire the Vanderbilt Gate at 105 Street. Although the Youthful Adventurer and I lived in the city for a number of years, there are…
Melting-Pot Museum Full of New York City History
The Bashful Adventurer heads to the Museum of the City of New York. Will her visit be fun, or will she feel like she’s snooping in Grandma’s attic?
Grand Central Secrets
What to Look for in the Manhattan Train Station To visit New York City’s Grand Central Station with the eyes of a tourist, rather than the blinders of a daily commuter, look for what is memorable. Of course, we’ve all made arrangements to meet at that Grand Central clock at some point in time, but…
Finding Ulysses in the Big Apple
Who knew that Civil War General and, later, President Ulysses S Grant had ties to New York beyond West Point? The Bashful Adventurer investigates.
Overthinking the Algonquin
Dorothy Parker Is Long Gone I sit down at the Round Table restaurant in the Algonquin Hotel in New York City with no one but long-dead writer and wit Dorothy Parker spinning through my head. Who wouldn’t admire what might have been the original tough woman, a hard-living writer who would blow past deadlines, drink…
A Visit to Manhattan’s Churchill Tavern
History for Hungry Adventurers in the Flatiron District When, shortly after we place our food orders, one of the Youthful Adventurers returns from the restroom at Manhattan’s Churchill Tavern quoting Winston Churchill (whose recordings are apparently running on a continuous loop in the bathrooms), I begin to wonder whether taking the kids to a tavern…
Le Penseur Two Ways
In New York or Paris, Rodin’s Sculpture Charms What sculpture might be as well-known as the Statue of Liberty? Could it be Auguste Rodin’s Le Penseur (The Thinker), accessible at the Musée Rodin in Paris and, with a contemporary twist (Le Penseur avec Smartphone) on the streets of New York City in the form of…
Art and Bustle in Little Italy
More than Pasta and People-Watching in Lower Manhattan Why head to the touristy and ever-shrinking Little Italy in lower Manhattan? The neighborhood is a great place for people-watching, for sitting at an outdoor table on a sunny day and sipping some Prosecco, or a bellini, or some white-wine sangria, or for critiquing different types of…