hidden treasures in NYC
 

Hello.<BR><BR>I've recently stumbled across some parks and museums I had never seen in NYC....i.e. Fort Tyron Park, other little parks in the city, Roerich Museum on the West Side. I'm looking for other 'hidden treasures' that are not well known of in the city, especially museums, parks, gardens, walks, etc....<BR><BR>Cheers,<BR><BR>gtrekker

You might enjoy the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum &amp; Garden (formerly the Abigail Adams Smith Museum) on East 61; it dates back to around 1800, when 61st St. was a good locale for a countryside retreat! The place is a tiny gem of a museum, the docents are charming.<BR><BR>http://www.mountvernonhotelmuseum.org/<BR>http://www.ny.com/museums/abigail.ad...th.museum.html

Hi,<BR>Wave Hill in the Bronx is a magnificent public garden.<BR>www.wavehill.org<BR>

One of my favorite places in Manhattan is the Promenade @ Battery Park City. <BR>It surely should be a 'must-see' in any tourist's agenda for Lower Manhattan. There are many elements to the various parks, gardens, fountains, sculptures and statutes. There are wonderful lawns that you can have a picnic on and enjoy the breezes and views. The WinterGarden is a glorious indoor atrium with towering PALM!!! trees.

The Frick Museum on the Upper East Side. Housed in Henry Clay Frick's mansion.

I assume you don't live here? If you do you'll know some of these.<BR><BR>*Tribeca - if you love historic buildings with architectural detail and funky design shops.<BR>*Riverside Park &amp; the 79th St Boat Basin - grab a bite or a drink at this hidden restaurant under the highway, then walk along the river, watching the boats and the kids playing ball<BR>*Free kayaking on the Hudson at Chambers Street (watch the trapeze classes there too!)<BR>*The Woolworth building. Interior is spectacular! Tourists at Ground Zero don't realize how close they are to this gem - once the world's tallest building<BR>*Dumbo, Brooklyn - an old industrial cobblestone neighborhood between the Brooklyn &amp; Manhattan Bridges, now filled with galleries, shops, restaurants, a chocolate factory (!!!)and the most scenic park in the city<BR>*The 6th Street and Avenue B community garden - all I can say is...you've got to see it. <BR>*Walking the Manhattan Bridge. What a view!! Hardly anyone seems to know it's now open to pedestrians and bikes. Start from the Brooklyn side and walk west to get an interesting view of Chinatown. It ends right on Canal St.

I'm also a big fan of the woolworth building. I show it to people every chance i get. The entire city hall area has some great buildings. On Wall street go inside Federal Hall, another treasure and some great history.<BR><BR>Also, the Forbes gallery is a greta little stop when visiting the village area. It's free and exhibits M. Forbe's various collections (Fabrege Eggs, historical docs, monopoly boards, toy ships and soldiers and more). Also the Pierpont Morgan library is lovely. For a picnic lunch, pickup treats on Bleecker St between 6th and 7th avs, there Murray's for cheese, Zitos for bread, Brunos for canoli's, and some, all on 1 short block.

Fraunces Tavern and museum. Awesome history lesson about GW and the Revolution.

i'm a huge fan of gramecy park...<BR><BR>the pen top hotel (55 &amp; 5th) is one of the best views in the city at dusk<BR><BR>

You may be interested to know about a book called &quot; Secret New York: The Unique Guidebook to New York's Hidden Sites, Sounds &amp; Tastes &quot; by Robert Sietsema. It lists a ton of these sorts of things. You can pick it up at any major bookstore.<BR><BR>On one trip to New York, I stayed wityh a friend and she ended up reading the book going &quot;wow, I've lived here for x number of years and I never knew about that&quot;. So I bought her a copy ;-) <BR><BR>It's about $18, paperback and small enough to carry in a bag/purse with you. You can get it on amazon too. <BR>

My favorite treasure is the Cloisters, hidden in Ft. Tryon Park, it is one of the best museums in the world of art from the 1500's the &quot;treasures&quot; area on the lower level is wonderful.<BR><BR>Also some of the early tapestries are there as well. Remember the picture of the unicorn surrounded by a picket fence seen everywhere a few years ago, that original tapestry is there.<BR><BR>The Little Church Around the Corner is also a favorite on 29th St just east of 5th Ave is a beautiful little church and chapel in a small park.<BR><BR>There are also some special part of Central Park that you can find, like the Brambles and the formal garden. Central Park is a true New York gem.<BR><BR>Enjoy your trip.

I love the idea of walking the Manhattan Bridge; can anyone give me more details about this? Suzanne?<BR><BR>How far is the entrance to the bridge from the subway in Brooklyn? How long of a walk is it? Are the views as good as from the Brooklyn Bridge? Does it literally end on Canal Street in Chinatown? <BR><BR>I hate to ask &quot;basic&quot; questions, but I looked at a map and it shows the bridge as a major highway once you get to Manhattan. <BR><BR>We're going with some first-timers next month, and I thought this might be a great way to combine a bridge walk with a trip to Chinatown.<BR><BR>Thanks for any advice.

The Manhattan side of the bridge lets you off at Bowery and Canal Street. They're both busy streets, but not major highways. <BR><BR>I spend a lot of time in Chinatown and the streets east of Bowery (towards the river and Brooklyn) are less touristy and in my opinion, more fun. My current favorite CHEAP restaurant is East Corner at 70 East Broadway at the corner of Market Street, almost directly under the Manhattan Bridge. We have a good meal for two for $15.00.<BR><BR>Let me know if you want more info about c-town.

The distance from the subway to the bridge on the Brooklyn side is about a 5-10 minute walk, tops. You would take either the A or C train to High St Brooklyn Bridge stop and walk northeast towards the bridge, or the York St stop on the F train and walk west. Under the overpass is where the entrance begins to get onto the bridge walkway. Before you do that, you may want to check out Washington Street which is right there and is the site of where many films and videos were shot. There is a also a good small italian deli a block down which serves amazing pasta. Enjoy!

Take the F train to Brooklyn and get off at the fist stop, York Street. The one and only subway exit is on Jay Street. Walk UP the hill (south) on Jay street, passing under the Manhattan Bridge and the Expressway. The stairs to the walkway are just a couple blocks up, on the left side of Jay street. Yes, the MB lets off right on Canal Street - a major cross-street in Manhattan, but definitely NOT a highway! <BR><BR>I personally think the views are better from the MB than the Brooklyn Bridge. Though the view is only on the south side...the best side of course. But you're on the outside of the bridge, while on the BB you're walking down the middle, so lots of cables block your view. On the MB you get the most amazing view of the Brooklyn Bridge!! One of the thrills of crossing the MB is that the subway runs right next to you, so you really feel it!

I love BargeMusic. www.bargemusic.org Wonderful chamber music on a restored barge on the East River under the Brooklyn Bridge. Spectacular skyline views, amazing talents, and inexpensive.

Suzanne, I am a great a walker, but due to asthma, I have trouble with lots of stairs or hills. The walk that you describe from the subway to the MB, steep, level, lots of stairs??? I'll do it anyway, but wanted to know in advance. Thanks.

Nina, <BR>The walk from the subway to the MB walkway is only a couple blocks at a slight incline. HOWEVER...the only exit to the F train station brings you up a set of 20 or so stairs, a lonnnnngggg ramp and then another 20 stairs before you even make it outside. I often see people huffing and puffing coming up that ramp, but at least there's a railing on the side to hold onto. Doesn't bother me much because it's a part of my everyday work&quot;out&quot; routine.

One of my favorite NYC spots is the Conservatory Garden, it is beautiful there especially in mid-late spring or early summer. <BR>Its at 5th Ave and 104th/105th?Street. <BR>http://www.nycvisit.com/content/index.cfm?pagePkey=224<BR>On this website you can also read about The Cloisters and Wave Hill which other posters have written about. They're all beautiful.<BR>Its pretty far uptown, but if you were going to go to the Metropolitan Museum of Art (a must see in my opinion) its about 20 blocks up 5th Ave, which seems far, but isn't a bad walk on a nice day. The Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum is also up near the Gardens on 91st off of 5th Ave, which is a nice museum.<BR> http://ndm.si.edu/

Suzanne, thanks for the warning. I may be one of those huffers and puffers that you sprint by, but the end result will be worth it. It's funny, but I can walk for hours and not feel a thing, it's just hills and stairs, but that hasn't stopped me yet, except the pyramids in Mexico, plus those teeny weeny stairs coming down, scared me to death.

I loved the New York Historical Society Museum, just across 77th St from the Natural History Museum. I particularly wanted to see the Audubon watercolours, which were magnificent (only 4 on display at any time) but was also really impressed by the other exhibits such as the Tiffany lamps, and the early American portraits. And there is an excellent temporary exhibition of Jules Feiffer's work (one of my favorite cartoonists). It's not really &quot;hidden&quot; but there were hardly any other visitors when we were there.

FYI, the Cloisters is a branch of the Metroplitan Museum, and if you visit them both in the same day you only have to pay admisison once.

Yes, allan_b, and anyone else--I want to hear your thoughts about Chinatown! What makes the area you suggest (east of Bowery) &quot;better?&quot; We've wandered up and down Canal Street and a few side streets on two other occasions to NYC; this time we're coming with relatives who have never been, and I want to show them the best time possible (as if our few trips makes us experts! hardly...)<BR><BR>thanks.<BR><BR>

Most of the restaurants we like are along East Brodway or Division Streets which are east of Bowery.