New York, Off the Beaten Track, Trip Report
 

Well, I've decided to write a little report about my past weekend (June 8-10) in New York. If you're not interested, please read no further. But if you are interested in some of the "off the beaten path" things that I enjoyed, then please feel free to read, and comment.<BR><BR>Just so you know, I'm much more interested with experiencing the "real" parts of a city, seeing where people live and what people do with their lives than checking out the "sights" and other unimaginative tourist traps. <BR><BR>We spent two nights at my favorite "budget" hotel in New York. I'm almost afraid to tell you which one, because I don't want it to go upscale. Anyway, it's a red hotel right near Madison Square, a surprisingly quiet location (at night), if a little desolate. <BR><BR>Walking from the hotel, the first thing you notice during the day are all the guys selling the cheap sunglasses, watches, shirts, etc. Where else can you get a "Rolex" for $8? These guys are clustered near the 28th street station on the N/R Broadway BMT station. If i ever needed sunglasses in a pinch, this is where I'd come. <BR><BR>One of my favorite things about New York is the subway system. Maybe I'm just a transit geek, but I love the architecture, the sounds, the atmosphere of the whole system. It's one of the only places where people of all colors, classes, religions come together. Everyone is equal on the subway. Yes, some of the stations smell nasty and are falling apart, but at least gentrification hasn't hit the subway yet (I've never seen a Starbucks down there!!) Anyone who wants a taste of "real" New York, just go down the stairs. And at $4 for an entire day of travelling, it's the GREATEST bargain in the city.<BR><BR>DAY ONE (Saturday)<BR><BR>So, as usual, I started my weekend with a trip to Grand Central. Yes, it's a bit touristy, but it's so gorgeous, and it actually serves a real purpose (unlike, say, the Statue of Liberty or South Street Seaport). I always make a trip to the Transit Museum Annex/Store in grand Central. It's FREE, and always has an interesting display about something transit related (this time it was a history of the elevated trains, especially those that have been torn down in Manhattan (Sixth Ave, Third Ave, Second Ave, etc) there are also some great subway and transit related books and gifts (t-shirts, games, toys, postcards, etc)<BR><BR>From there, we took the 6 train down to Bleecker street and walked west along Houston. There was this store, which looked kind of like a junyard, selling all sorts of crazy stuff, like used furniture, those chairs you used to hate in school, and big-ass subway signage. We didn't think we could get any of that in the plane's carry-on, so we didn't dwell too long. <BR><BR>Up on Bleecker, right around Mercer, are a set of towers for NYU designed by IM Pei. My partner is a huge IM Pei fan, although I find it falls into the "bland, modernist" category. But more interesting is the genuine, 100% real Picasso sculpture in the plaza in front of the towers. It's kind of interesting to be able to walk up and touch a Picasso. <BR><BR>We continued along Bleecker into the West Village, which is always good for people watching and little taste of urban life. My biggest complaint with New York (especially after a super grande cup of coffee) is the lack of bathrooms. I don't expect public washrooms everywhere, but I'm almost forced into a Starbucks just to find one I can use.... Grrr. I guess the locals know "where to go".<BR><BR>Continued in next message......

Lovin it so far~

DAY ONE (Continued)<BR><BR>Now, we decided to get a little adventurous. We jumped on the A train up to Washington Heights to check out a few subway stations I'd heard were interesting and to see what the neighborhood was like up there. I love the one-stop trip from Times Square to 125th street. And even from W 4th to 168th, it's only like seven stops. At the 168th stop, we changed to the 1 train (West Side IRT) to see the station. It's in a little bit of disrepair, but its elegance is clearly apparent, huge tiled arched ceiling covering the entire station (no supports in the way), and beautiful victorian style lamps. We took the 1 train one stop north to 181st to another grand old station. It's in worse condition than 168th, and not as grand, but still a very interesting station with a big vaulted ceiling. <BR><BR>We exited onto St Nicholas Ave, which appears to be the center of the heavily Latino populated Washington Heights neighborhood. The walk north along St. Nicholas was extremely interesting, with hundreds of people streaming past the markets, restaurants, and discount stores. Almost everything that was spoken was in Spanish. The busy reatil area extended up to about 192nd, where we turned (somewhat erroneously) onto Fort George/Amsterdam Ave. The area overlooks the East River through the thickly-treed High Bridge Park. The were tons of teen-aged latinos playing basketball in the park's public courts, and a lot of parents with their younger children in the playgrounds. And don't forget the "sno-cone" carts. <BR><BR>At about 184th, we headed west over to Bennett, which lies at the bottom of a large cliff to the west. There are some gorgeous apartment buildings in the area, leading up to the A train subway entrance, carved out of the exposed bedrock, just north of 190th. We waited for the A train and travelled up to the last stop (207th/Inwood). From here, we walked up Broadway (yep, it keeps going) through a varied landscape of car repair shops, groceries, restaurants, past the Columbia University Athletic Field, under the IRT elevated, over the lift bridge and into Marble Hill. <BR><BR>I'd wanted to see Marble Hill, because, although it's north of the Harlem River, it's still in Manhattan!! The river used to curve north, but many years ago, the current path pf the river was cut through, isolating Marble Hill on the Bronx side of the river. Anyway, the area is full of small scale apartment buildings, and amazingly, large detached single family homes (although many have since been subdivided). The curving streets (Marble Hill, Ft. Charles, Terrace View), hilly ladscape and interesting housing stock make you feel a million miles from Times Square and the rest of Manhattan (I'm sure there are many Manhattanites who have never been any closer than a few miles to this part of Manhattan). <BR><BR>We walked back to the 225th street stop on the 1 train (but not before comtemplating taking Metro North at Marble Hill) for the loooooooong local ride down to the Upper West Side. Exiting at 79th, we checked out a couple of hotels that we may stay at in the future (On The Ave and Hotel Beacon) and had a little break at Cosi. Walking down Broadway is another strip teeming with life and people watching opportunites (although the demographics are so different than on St. Nicholas Ave). The views of Lincoln Center, Central Park South and the developments around Columpus Circle are wonderful. <BR><BR>Continued in next message.....

DAY ONE (still continued....)<BR><BR>Later in the day, we again ended up on the A train, this time toward Brooklyn for some dinner at a little Trinidadian Roti shop on Fulton Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant. My partner was born and raised in Trini, and always appreciates some good roti, and a glass of sorrel. Billy's at 1285 Fulton (formerly Shala's) was the place. Right at the Nostrand stop on the A train, it was everything we had hoped for. I've heard Ali's at 1267 Fulton is very good too (we'll try it next time). <BR><BR>That was pretty much the end of Day One for us. We did take a bit of a walk along Eigth Avenure through Chelsea later, and finished off the day with some mint tea at the Big Cup (yummy), a great spot for people watching in Chelsea (if that's your sort of thing).<BR><BR>Day Two in next message.....

James, thanks so much for your report, I'm going to NYC for a few days next month and I love off-the-beaten-track stuff. I'm definitely going to check out the Transit Museum.<BR><BR>Please post your next installment as a reply on this thread, rather than as a new post, so all the pieces will stay together. Thanks again.

DAY TWO (Sunday)<BR><BR>Breakfast was at a familiar haunt for us, the Cosi (formerly Xando... R.I.P.) on Broadway just south of Union Square. We are more than happy to have a coffee and bagel or muffin as breakfast before setting off exploring. It sounds sacreligious in a city like New York, but I would recommend the bagel (they call them squagels) at Cosi. Dense and chewy. And the coffee is strong, like the California coffee I'm used to :-)<BR><BR>To begin the exploring, we headed down the Bowery toward Houston. This a very interesting area, that's obviously it a state of transformation right now, from a traditionally neglected, run down district, to a hot new hip area with skyrocketing rents and new condo construction (there's so much less new construction in New York than in San Francisco, so any area with a few condos going up in the middle of the city is somewhat surprising). At Houston, we got on the F train to head under the river to Brooklyn......<BR><BR>Exiting at York Street, the first F train stop in Brookyln is quite an experience. The station is very deep underground, very small, and has massive support columns, seemingly holding up all of Brooklyn above us. The station's small island platform and bored tunnel construction reminded me of a lot of the deep-tube stations in London. And of course, this being New York, there ain't no escalator to the surface. The landscape as you exit the station is quite interesting. you're located under the Brooklyn Queens Expressway (BQE) and the gorgeous Manhattan bridge (in my opinion, the BEST of all New york bridges). The streets in this area are cobbled, indicating a very low usage rate, which is clear from the area surrounding you. It's all warehouses, some which have been turned into lofts/condos. Heading north along Jay St, you walk past a couple of little stores, and hit the river, certainly not at it's most interesting point.<BR><BR>From there, we headed east along John through a jungle of electrical transformers and other brain-cancer inducing machines. Near the interesection og Gold and York is one of the most interesting tiny neighborhoods I've ever seen. Only a handful of houses remain, most having been replaced with industrial uses, but the streets are cobbled, trees line the streets and it feel like a very tiny little village street almost. Apparently, this area is known as Vinegar Hill. Check out this link: [http://www.forgotten-ny.com/STREET%2.../vinegar.html] You would never know you are barely half a mile from the center of downtown Brooklyn's Metrotech campus. <BR>Now, if you are planning to follow our tracks, I might suggest you not follow what we did next. We walked south along Hudson/Navy, past a housing project development, under the BQE again and past a larger housing project. Admittedly, neither of these projects seemed as uninviting and forbidding as many I've seen, in fact the second set looked almost friendly. Still, if I were you, I might avoid this area. At Myrtle we turned east until we came to the gorgeous Fort Green Park. It's was designed on a hill, and it one of the nicest medium-sized parks I've ever seen. We headed up the big steps, and at the top there are some limited views of the surrounding area (mostly the massive Broklyn Hospital). <BR><BR>Continued in next message.....

DAY TWO (Continued)<BR><BR>East along Dekalb, the streetscape is beautiful. The park is to your left, and some beautiful brownstones and other buildings lone the right side of the street. At one point, one of the streets off to the right looked so inviting, we headed down. Lined with incredible brownstones and big leafy trees, this is the "classic" brownstone Brooklyn street (I think it was Portland, but there are a few similar streets). Reaching Lafayette, this is the heart of Fort Greene. From what I understand, this has become a fairly diverse community, attracting a number of upper-middle class African-Americans, but also a fair number of whites and latinos, due to (fairly) affordable rents. Heading east down Lafayette is another incredible Brooklyn streetscape. It feels like Brookyln Heights, but with people walking about and life on the street (sorry, I find Brooklyn Heights to be a little too stale. Beautiful, but stale), people eating brunch, relaxing in the cafes and all those great urban activities. <BR><BR>As we continued east along Lafayette, crossing Vanderbilt, the neighborhood changes to Clinton Hill. At least along Lafayette, it's a little more run down, and the housing projects loom on the north side around Classon. Still, it didn't feel unsafe. After a lot of walking, we took the G train towards Smith-9th Street station for a tour of South Brooklyn.<BR><BR>The Smith-9th stop is the highest in all of New York (as I understand) and the views back to Manhattan are incredible. Exiting the station, you're in the middle of kind of a no-man's land. South Brooklyn and Red Hook are to the west, Carroll Gardens to the north along Smith, and the Gowanus canal to the east (the elevated goes over the canal). <BR><BR>Being the adventurous sort, we walked up Smith until 3rd St and headed right (east) to see what the Gowanus was all about. Supposedly, it's been cleaned up immensely in the past few years. Certainly the piles of floating trash in the canal did not testify to this fact, and I can only imagine what it was like before. The area around the canal is filled with warehouses, and light industrial uses. Still, there were a lot of people riding bikes in this area. I can only guess it's because there isn't too much traffic and it's only a half a mile to a mile bike ride between Carroll Gardens and Park Slope/Prospect Park. <BR><BR>3rd Street leads into the heart of Park Slope, and the condition of the residential streets tells you why this is such a desirable "family" neighborhood. Seventh Avenue is the very lively commercial center of Park Slope, filled with cafes, restaurants, everyday services, baby clothes stores, and the ever-present real estate offices (a sure sign of a HOT neighborhood). Walking south along 7th ave is pleasant (if you can avoid the strollers). A side strip down any of the sidestreets will show you the reason people pay top dollar to live here. The neighborhood changes fairly dramatically when the brownstone construction ends (around 12th Street or so). The retail strip ends, and the neighborhood becomes much more diverse and "blue-collar". After all that yuppiness, it's a nice change. Still, I'm sure the rents ain't cheap here, with easy access to Prospect Park, the Park Slop retail area and F train subway service to Manhattan.<BR><BR>Continued in next message....<BR>

DAY TWO (Still continued)<BR><BR>I'd heard some rumors about Ditmas Park being an up and coming, affordable neighborhood, so we took the F train two stops Church, and caught the B35 bus east a few stops to Coney Island Ave (we could have walked, but we were lazy, and we saw the bus coming). Now, the first area we walked through is NOT Ditmas Park (Brooklynites are very protective of their neighborhood boundaries). Walking down Albermarle, this area is known as Prospect Park South and is a recognized historic district. It's easy to see why. MASSIVE mansions line the streets on huge lots. We sure ain't in brownstone Brooklyn anymore, Toto. As grand and massive as these houses area, I got the feeling that the area had fallen into disrepair when everyone fled to the suburbs and only fairly recently was being revived (I may be completely wrong here). <BR><BR>South along Marlborough, you head into Ditmas Park around Courtelyou. Still more large detached houses line the leafy streets. This area isn't quite as grand as Prospect Park and it's clear that some houses have been refurbished, while others are still solidly "blue-collar' in appearance. It's a great mix. After wandering the streets for a while, we ended up at the Newkirk Avenue station on the Brighton (Q) line, tired and ready for the relaxing ride back to Manhattan. By the way, Newkirk station has been restored and the views down the open-cut trackway are unique, with overhanging trees and yards backing up to the subway cut. An added bonus to the Q train ride into Manhattan is the ride over the Manhattan Bridge. It's slow, but that lets you appreciate the views :-)<BR><BR>Continued in next message.....<BR>

DAY TWO (Still still continued..)<BR><BR>Looking for some food, we got off at Canal, and tried to find a restaurant called "Bread" that we'd heard about. It's on Spring, near Elizabeth. However, I thought it was at the west end of Spring, near Tribeca. So we ended up walking west along Canal, past all the crazy cheap nick-nack shops. It's an interesting area, but I get the feeling a lot of tourists come here and say they've been to Chinatown. Just like walking along Grant Street in San Francisco. Why must everything for tourists be so "dumbed-down", tacky and souvenir-filled. I mean, I can get every single one of those little statues of liberty or magents ate the airport. Why not experience the city??? Anyway, sorry for that little rant.<BR><BR>The restaurant (Bread) was almost too hip for us. Still, we were very hungry and managed to get the flaky waitress' attention and get a table. Of course, she forgot to put in our order.... I also saw, on two separate occassions, two girls head into the bathroom together. We're talking about a single toilet, single sink, no divider bathroom here. I guess I'm just not hip enough to understand. Anyway, when we finally got the food, it was amazing. The spinach salad was yummy, if not terribly interesting. But the sandwich was OUTSTANDING!! The bread was crisp yet not solidly crunchy. I understand the bread is actually from Balthazar, down the street. Apart from the flighty service, I'd totally go back. <BR><BR>The rest of the day was not too interesting. Went for a bit of a walk along christopher in the village, for some people watching (it was insanely busy, apparently due to it being Puerto Rican Day). The hotel beckoned for some rest. After a nap, we did the quintesential tourist thing and headed to Times Square. I kind of hate to say it, but I actually like walking through Time Square, and always make a point of doing it at least once per trip. More than anything, it's fun to see all the middle America (and Europe, and Asia, etc) tourists gawking and thrilled and kind of scared all at the same time. We also walked over to Rockefeller Center to see Radio City Music Hall all lit up (I HIGHLY recommend taking the tour inside if you have the chance, I did it on a previous trip). <BR><BR>That was pretty much the end of Day Two (Sunday). <BR><BR>Day Three in next message.....

DAY THREE <BR><BR>We were leaving the afternoon of the Monday, which gave us a chance to do a bit of walking in the morning. Our coffee and muffin breakfast was at Grey Dog Coffee, on a cute little village street (Carmine), between 7th Ave South and Sixth Ave, near Bleecker. According to some, it has the best coffee in New York (and truth be told, in New York, that ain't saying much). It's good for "east coast" style coffee. But I do prefer Cosi/Xando or Oren's (Third Ave at 30th/31st, though many other locations). The Grey Dog is the PERFECT place to just sit and drink coffee on a lazy morning. <BR><BR>On our way over to the subway, we had walked along 28th Street, which is home to what can only be called the "flower district". Dozens of flower vendors and thousands of flowers line the street. I'm not 100% sure if it's all wholesale, or if some of the places are retail. I imagine a bit of both. I'm sure they aren't going to say no if you want to buy a rose. There was also a crazy little place along the way where things in boxes (I have no idea what they were) were being bartered. About a dozen people, from seemingly all walks of life were all yelling, as if on a mini-trading floor. It's these things rather than the "sights" that define New York to me. <BR><BR>Our morning concluded with a tour of a couple of hotels we'd heard about: Metropolitan and Thirty-Thirty. The Metropolitan location (right near the Waldorf-Astoria) was too busy for me... Thirty-Thirty looked recently (VERY recently) refurbished, but the rooms were tiny (that's what you get for $99 in New York). The bathroom was sizable, and everything was in great condition. I'd recommend it for sure. But knowing of my favorite "cheap" place with larger rooms, a great bed and nice location, it's hard for me to think of switching. <BR><BR>It was time to head to Penn Station for the NJ Transit train back to Newark airport. It's a VERY easy way to get there, although at $11/person, it's more expensive than I'd like. And getting to and from the trains with much luggage would be a pain (lots of stairs at Penn Station). I only have shoulder and a rolling carry-on, so it's fine by me. <BR><BR>Anyway, I hope you weren't all bored to death by my trip report. If you were, you won't be reading this anyway :-) Let me know what you thought of my trip. Maybe there's something I should try next time that you've done that looks like it might be my sort of thing. Maybe you've tried some of the stuff I did and didn't like it, or liked it better. Anyway, feel free to comment or use any of my ideas. Travelling should be fun, enlightening and spontaneous, not scripted and the same as everyone else. <BR><BR>THE END

James,<BR>I have lived in NY for 30 years and you went to so many places that I have never been too!<BR>It was a pleasure to read about the places you saw and your take on them.<BR>You are a hard taskmaster when it comes to coffee:o) but I am glad that you enjoy the City and have written this delightful report.<BR>I agree with you wholeheartedly that this is what travel is about, and you have shared your travels here with us in an excellent way~

Suzy:<BR><BR>The transit museum store and annex in Grand Central is open. However, the REAL transit museum (the one in Brooklyn, located in the Court Street station at Schermerhorn/Boerum) is closed for renovation until at least December, I believe. I'm not sure if that's the one to which you were referring. Just a head's up. Here's a link to the museum:<BR><BR>http://mta.info/museum/index.html<BR><BR>Enjoy :-)

My Dad grew up on St. Nicholas Avenue, of course, that was when the neighborhood was strictly German. Thanks for the memories.

What a great report! Thanks so much for a unique and well written view of my city! This is exactly the kind of thing this site should be for. Thanks again!

WOW, you walked through some areas of Brooklyn that I would only have ventured into on foot in my younger days. <BR><BR>NEXT trip, visit Borough Park-brooklyn for a REALLY STRANGE NY experience. You'll think you're in Poland in 1930. Then walk only 4 avenues west, and you're actually in Brooklyn's own mini-china-town.<BR>Then you can keep going towards the BQE, and you're into Sunset Park, the Barrio - an interesting place to say the least. <BR> Glad to hear you made it Park Slope, I love it their. <BR>Just some more ideas for -off-the-beaten- path people.<BR>JK

A joke among people that live near the "A" train line is: "I live near the "A" hole"

James:<BR><BR>Thanks for that outstanding report! I used to work back in college on 207th and Broadway(Inwood) Back when it was pure IRISH! You have seen what most tourist never see in a million visits to NYC..and that is a shame!<BR>Next trip get over to Arthur Ave, zoo Yankee Stadium, Riverdale and Wave Hill all in the Bronx<BR>JOHN

James - EXCELLENT report! it's always nice to hear about someone's adventures, but when it's "off the beaten path" it is really interesting and helpful! Thanks for posting

Great report. Next time you have to do the Bronx and Queens.

Outstanding! Thank you.