Neighbourhood sights in New York City
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Roosevelt Island
Not exactly part of the Upper East Side but floating in the East River between Manhattan’s eastern edge and Queens, New York’s anomalous, planned neighborhood sits on a tiny island no wider than a football field. It was once known as Blackwell’s Island after the farming family who lived here; the city bought the island in 1828 and constructed several public hospitals and a mental hospital. In the 1970s, New York State built housing for 10,000 people along Roosevelt Island’s Main St (the only street on the island). The planned area along the cobblestone roadway resembles an Olympic village or, as some observe more cynically, cookie-cutter college housing.
Zipping a…
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City Island
About 15 miles and a world away from midtown Manhattan, City Island is one of New York’s most surprising neighborhoods. Founded by the English in 1685, the 1.5-mile-long fishing community juts into the Long Island Sound and Eastchester Bay, connected to the mainland by a causeway. The Victorian clapboard houses here definitely look more New England than the Bronx, and the island is filled with boat slips, half a dozen yacht clubs and some rowdy seafood restaurants – notably Tony’s Pier (1 City Island Ave), which fries everything but the cocktails. If you’re serious about diving, sailing or fishing, head to City Island. Island Current leads fishing tours all year (from $65…
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Arthur Avenue/Belmont
Called New York’s ‘real Little Italy,’ the Belmont area – on the blocks south of Fordham University between Bronx Park (to the east) and Third Ave (to the west) – is clearly marked with ‘Little Italy in the Bronx’ banners. Here you’ll find pizzerias, trattorias, bakeries, fishmongers and butchers with bunnies in the window – many working without breaking into English. Many New Yorkers claim that Roberto Restaurant offers the finest Italian eating in the city.
The famous scene in The Godfather – where Al Pacino gets the gun from behind ‘the toilet with the chain thing’ and blasts his way into the family business – supposedly takes place at Mario’s (2342 A…
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Garment District
Try the specialty districts that make NYC unique: the famed Garment District, sometimes called the Fashion District – an unremarkable-looking stretch of designers’ offices and wholesale and retail shops both on and off the avenue, where you’ll find a huge selection of fabrics, buttons, sequins, lace and more. Look at the sidewalk when you hit Seventh at 39th St and you’ll see the cool Fashion Walk of Fame, honoring Betsey Johnson, Marc Jacobs, Geoffrey Beene, Bill Blass, Halston, Calvin Klein and other fashion visionaries. It’s on the same corner as Claes Oldenburg’s sculpture of the world’s largest button, held upright by a 31ft-tall steel needle; it hovers over the …
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Strivers’ Row
Also known as the St Nicholas Historic District, Strivers’ Row is so named because it was where the folks aiming to be the most successful in Harlem resided in the 1920s and ’30s. Its prized row houses and apartments, many designed by the ubiquitous McKim, Mead and White firm in the 1890s, were distinguished additions to the neighborhood; when white residents moved out of the area, Harlem’s black elite moved in. Among them, at some point or another, were architect Vertner Tandy, composer WC Handy, jazz pianist Fletcher Henderson and heavyweight contender Harry Wills. Today it’s one of the most visited blocks in Harlem, so lay low, as the locals are a bit sick of gawking t…
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Jackson Heights Historic District
Spread out in a 50-block area to the north of the subway is one of the nicest NYC neighborhoods that few New Yorkers know about. Following the 1909 opening of the 59th St-Queensboro Bridge, the Jackson Heights Historic District was set up in 1917 as a ‘garden city’ (popular in England at the time), with six-story, chateau-style brick apartment buildings sharing long, well-landscaped, (still) private gardens. There are a few good vantage points – try 80th or 81st Sts from 37th to 34th Aves.
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Mott Haven
More of New York is talking about the Bronx these days, and pondering a move to enormous loft spaces at (relatively) cheap rents. In ‘SoBro’ (or South Bronx), Mott Haven is starting to attract its share of artists and folks looking for more elbow room. Bruckner Blvd is lined with industrial shops, red-brick loft spaces and nearly a dozen antique shops between the Third Ave and Willis Ave Bridges.
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Stuyvesant Heights Historic District
Near Bedford-Stuyvesant’s southern reaches, Stuyvesant Heights Historic District vies with Brooklyn Heights for the best late-19th-century brownstones – something house-buyers are catching on to (prices now break $1 million). Head west from the Fulton St subway for a block and wander up Lewis Ave, then left and right on Decatur and MacDonough Sts; Lewis Ave has a cafe or two.
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Diamond District
Try the specialty districts that make NYC unique: the frenzied Diamond District, packed with newly engaged couples shopping for rings and folks in the biz buying wholesale. It’s home to more than 2600 independent businesses selling all manner of diamonds, gold, pearls, gemstones and watches, and offering engraving and repair services.
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Orchard Street Bargain District
Back in the day, this large intersection was a free-for-all, as Eastern European and Jewish merchants sold anything that could command a buck from their pushcarts. The 300-plus shops you see now aren't as picturesque, but it's a good place to pick up some cheap shirts, tees and jeans. If you like to haggle, take a shot at bargaining over the price.
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Weeksville Historic Center
A block east of the Fulton St subway, Rochester Ave leads south into Crown Heights to the Weeksville Historic Center, in a black community built (mostly) by freed slaves after New York abolished slavery in 1827. Three wooden houses (aka the Hunterfly Road Houses) can be visited.
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