Must See Places

Kerri · Post by **Kerri** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 2:09 pm

Hiya,

My wife and I have just booked a trip of our lifetime to New York for December 2006. This is to celebrate 25 years of marriage.
Would any of my friends out there in USA like to suggest places to eat; and must see locations missing from the tourist brochures.
We will be staying on E 29 St in Midtown NY for a week.

We will want to do all the normal tourist things,which probably wont leave much time for anything else.

Where can I find out if there is a game, and be able to get tickets for the Yankee Stadium?

Kerri wont be going but Jim would be very grateful for any information you can supply.

Cheers

Kerri

Amelie-Laveau · Post by **Amelie-Laveau** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 8:02 pm

First of all Keri, the Yankees won't be playing in December. The season is over in the fall. You can go to an ice hockey or basketball game, if you like sports.

I go to the East Village part of NYC, for shopping and eating. SOHO, has some shops, but they are expensive. I saw a really cool pair of shoes in a shop on West Broadway in SOHO, but the price, 400.00, which might be reasonable to some, but way out of my league. I also used to shop the shoe stores along 8th st. between 6th ave and Broadway. I bought some nice shoes there.

Also if you are on 8th and Broadway, if you went south on Broadway, there are some decent shops down towards Houston st.

If you are on 8th st and Broadway, go the other way on 8th st, not towards 6th ave, but the other way. Here you will come to St. Marks Pl. I used to go here often, Trash and Vaudville was my favorite punk shop.

For NYC style eating, I would go to Katz Deli on Houston st. near Ave A. This is an old NYC eatery. You have to eat a NY hot dog, no one knows what they are made of but they taste great.

Some things have changed since I've been there, so I gave you a rough idea of the areas that I liked, maybe Lorna can supply a better up to date list of places.

Carol B · Post by **Carol B** » Mon Jan 23, 2006 9:07 pm

There are so many places in so many price ranges and a lot of it depend upon what you are looking for.

I grew up and lived in NYC for 32 years. I can make recommendations on my three favorite things to get in NYC: jazz, food and beer in no particular order...

Food:

Try Sinatra's favorite Italian place:
Gino's
Lexington Ave between 60th and 61st
Cash Only - Try their "Special Marinara Sauce"

Or my favorite:
La Mela's
In what's left of Little Italy
http://www.lamelarestaurant.com/
Go HUNGRY! Get the four course Italian dinner.
They have a five course that includes desert!

Beer:

60 beers on tap and fresh from around the world many more in bottles:
The Ginger Man
36th St between 5th and Madison
Very close to where you are staying

Jazz:

The Blue Note
131 W. 3rd St (Near 6th Ave)
http://www.bluenote.net/newyork/index.shtml

The Jazz Standard
27th St beween Park Ave & Lexington Ave
http://www.jazzstandard.net
Very close to where you are staying

Smoke
http://www.smokejazz.com/
2751 Broadway
(Way uptown 106St)

And you are staying very close to Madison Square Garden. The Knicks for basketball and the Rangers for ice hockey.

Kerri · Post by **Kerri** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 3:45 pm

Hi Amelie & Carol,
Thank you for sharing that with me. I appreciate it. I have copied the text and pasted it into a Word file for use later.

I am not a sports fan, I just think that there are some things which are typically American which we must experience. We must try a NYC Hot Dog, as long as its not made by MacDonalds. Mind you in Venice three years ago MacDonalds had the only public loo we could find.

$400 is a lot of money for a pair of shoes in our book too. Where should we shop for clothes and Christmas gifts? We might never be able to do a trip like this again. We want to make the most of it.

I would appreciate any tips, like where not to go. I am a city boy, albeit with a strange hobby, but I know not to venture out in a brit city after a certain time, or in a certain area. What should we be aware of in NYC?

I like Blues, beer and food. We are partial to nice wine and Malt Scotch too. We will definitely be trying out the local food and drink, thats what travelling is all about.

When we went to the Algarve a few years ago apart from eating at different local restaurants we spent our time talking about last nights meal or planning the one for that evening. We have a one track mind.

Thanks for your help,

Kerri

Carol B · Post by **Carol B** » Tue Jan 24, 2006 5:16 pm

For the Blues, you will need to check as your travel date get closer to know what's playing.

A general website for a list of Blues clubs is:
http://www.mary4music.com/ClubsNY.html

I've been to BB King's Club many times:
http://www.bbkingblues.com/

Food and wine are everywhere in NYC so you should have no problem.

Fancy a singlemalt do you? The Gingerman Pub that I previuosly mentioned is a good choice and its close to your hotel. As far as areas to avoid, there are pockets of places here and there to avoid, but generally if you stay in tourist areas you should be fine. You'll be in staying in Midtwon and that's a good thing.

Central Park at night is a big no-no. The Lower East, you need to know exactly where you are going. There's a good place for Scotch on 1st Ave and 3rd Street called DBA, but once again, its not a tourist area. Harlem can be good or really bad if you don't know it well.

Chelsea has good and bad areas (that's lower west side of Manhattan) Just uptown from there is Hell's Kitchen. That's to be avoided for tourists especially at night.

If you're not out really late and use common sense, you'll have a great time. I've done London that way and love visiting there. Its the only city that I've found that compares to NYC although I love San Francisco.

Lorna · Post by **Lorna** » Sun Jan 29, 2006 6:55 pm

Hi Kerri,

You will love it!! Amelie & Carol provided some excellent links for you; here's another: http://newyork.citysearch.com

Shopping: if you're looking for great deals without breaking the bank, I would recommend the midtown/downtown area. There are countless stores along 34th Street. But if you really want some hot deals, you can also try further downtown: 23rd Street (Chelsea area) 14th Street, or even around 8th Street & St. Marks Place.

Dining: Depending on your pleasure, there's a restaurant to satisfy every ethnic craving! Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Indian, Italian, you name it! And don't rule out the classic New York hot dog straight from the street vendor, with all the fixins! Those are the best hot dogs in the world.

Sports: You can go check out a Knicks game at Madison Square garden.

Nightlife: If you like Blues, check these out:

http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/7 ... ndard.html

http://newyork.citysearch.com/profile/7 ... malls.html

Speaking of nightlife....

I would also recommend at least one night en femme. NY is the place to do it!! There are several TG parties and TG friendly spots here in New York.

There's The Silver Swan
http://www.geocities.com/ina_at_silver_swan/

Karalyn's Oasis
http://www.karalynsoasis.com/

Not to mention a few other bars around the area that also serve food that are TG friendly as well.