Along Broadway in Manhattan there are more things to do and see on one street than in many large cities. This long avenue runs north-south, mostly, and its deviations are appropriate to its role in the life of New York. For, Broadway is home to business, theater, dining, shops and a host of famous buildings.

Where Broadway intersects Fifth Avenue, at 23rd street, lies the turn-of-the-century Flatiron Building. Sited on a triangular plot, this wedge-shaped 21-story office building has attracted the curious since its completion in 1901. Even then, the unusual site produced wind gusts that lifted skirts, attracting male onlookers who were shooed away by the policeman’s once-famous phrase ’23 Skidoo’.

Only a little further up, at 233 Broadway, is the medieval-looking Woolworth Building. Completed in 1913, it was the tallest building in New York prior to the completion of the Chrysler Building. Even today its tall floors combine to reach the equivalent height of an 80-story skyscraper. Inside, its cathedral-like décor makes this massive tower an architectural marvel inside and out.

Only ten minutes further north is Times Square, recognized the world over as the home of New Year’s neon lights and nightly Broadway theater. Centered at 42nd Street, it runs roughly from 8th Avenue to Broadway and up to 46th Street. The boundaries are not exact – the theaters are housed as high as 53rd.

In the daytime, it’s just a busy mid-town area where taxis zoom through clothing designers carting their creations and the New York Times creates a daily newspaper. At night, the lights sparkle and the city begins to dance to the latest Broadway tune.

Inexpensive, last-minute tickets to a show can sometimes be had for those wishing to wait in line at TKTS in the heart of the area. 25-50% discounts are common, but availability is hit-or-miss. (And half of $100 still ain’t cheap!)

A rejuvenation in the 1990s made the once-seedy district safe and family friendly with a Disney store, Virgin Megastore, comedy clubs and much more.

But, there are also restaurants and shops and people watching to amuse and delight the traveler. Not least of the eateries is The Rainbow Room at Rockefeller Center just north of Times Square at 48th Street. Not to be outdone, though, is the famous deli: Lindy’s. Cheesecake isn’t the only thing famous at 1655 Broadway, where sooner or later all the celebrities come to eat.

Continuing past these landmarks one sooner rather than later reaches Columbus Circle at 59th Street, the site of several famous movie scenes along with the giant Paramount (Gulf & Western) Communications building atop the subway entrance. Wind gusts here can combine with the rain and polished plaza stone to actually push a pedestrian backwards!

Veering left at the corner of Central Park and continuing north a couple of blocks is the Lincoln Center music and dance complex. At 62nd. Home to the world-class American Ballet Theater, the Joffrey and other companies, the center also hosts the New York Philharmonic and the Metropolitan Opera. The famous performing school, Juilliard is also located here.

Whether your taste is theater, dining, shopping, or just plain looking Broadway offers something for every taste.

 

One of the world’s most famous bridges, who could think that a steel roadway could engender such controversy and passion? Yet, that’s the history of the Brooklyn Bridge since before its construction began to the present day.

Initiated by John A. Roebling, who by 1867 had already created other noted bridges, the project took years to even begin. As with most large-scale efforts, finance and politics struggled while the citizens of Brooklyn and Manhattan waited.

Finally, in 1870, construction began – sadly, without J.A. Roebling who by that time had died from an injury sustained earlier on the site. His son Washington, by now also an accomplished bridge engineer, immediately took over direction of the project.

He threw himself into the effort with such active participation that he too eventually suffered a debilitating injury. He became crippled from the bends. Excess nitrogen build-up in caissons, large airtight cylinders used to house men and equipment under the East River, produced the now-familiar ‘diving sickness’ when men moved back to the surface. At the time, the causes were poorly understood.

Though bedridden, after partial recovery Washington continued to supervise from his apartment. Active management of the project passed to his wife, Emily. Their joint efforts led – after many stalls from political interference and financial and construction difficulties – to the completed structure, in 1883.

On its first day the new roadway above the East River joining Lower Manhattan to Brooklyn Heights hosted 150,000 people and 1,800 cars. Each person paid one cent to cross, vehicles five cents. The bridge was a success – artistically, financially, and technologically.

This National Historic landmark now provides a path for over 140,000 vehicles daily across its 1,595 foot (486m) span. The bridge is recognized the world over for the two Gothic towers 276 feet (84m) high, which support the at-the-time innovative suspension cables. The distinctive red paint and numerous designs add to the beauty that’s perfectly integrated into the brilliant engineering.

Still today thousands stand far away to get a breathtaking view, then walk the bridge to see both the view of Manhattan and to experience the structure itself.

The breezy walk can take as short as half an hour, to an hour or more. Along the way there are several plaques that provide interesting historical tidbits about the construction, the participants, and the views one might have seen in 1883.

They provide descriptions of Ellis Island, the first stopping point for many of the immigrants arriving in America at the time, as well as Governor’s Island (a former Coast Guard installation).

From the bridge, pedestrians can look out and see the Statue of Liberty off the southern tip of Manhattan as well as the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge connecting Brooklyn to Staten Island to the south.

Getting there is easy from either the Brooklyn or Manhattan side. In Manhattan, just take the 4,5,6 to Brooklyn Bridge or the J/M/Z to Chambers St. In Brooklyn just take the A to High St. The walkway entrance is near the Federal Court Building.

Be sure to take a jacket and guard your hat. The wind over the East River can be cold and strong.

For over 100 years, Carnegie Hall has been the mutual destination of musicians seeking the highest level of their profession and those who want to experience their efforts.

Whether your taste runs to classical or jazz, folk or pop, Carnegie Hall has hosted them all. Tchaikovsky guest conducted the first performance in 1891, but the decades after saw performances by Benny Goodman, Frank Sinatra, The Beatles, Judy Collins and many others.

The building gained its name as a consequence of being yet another offspring of the great industrialist and philanthropist, Andrew Carnegie. Completed in 1897, just over 100 years later Carnegie Hall offers not only the three original auditoriums but also a museum, tours, and (since 1990) an adjoining office tower.

The main hall is the main attraction. Enormously tall, visitors can climb as many 105 steps to the top. Elevators exist for the less hardy.

The acoustics are world class, especially since the removal in 1995 of a concrete slab that some insisted altered the original sound. The late violinist Isaac Stern is said to have remarked: ‘It takes what you do and makes it larger than life.’

Thanks to his efforts the building was saved from demolition in the 1950s and achieved Landmark status in 1964. Stern Hall, the main hall named in his honor, seats 2,800.

The smaller auditoriums are also actively used.

Zankel Hall, which seats 599, has seen various uses since 1898. Converted to a movie theater in 1959 it reopened as a music venue in September 2003. Weil Recital Hall named for the renowned investment banker, Sanford Weil is the newest facility, opening in 2004. It seats 268.

The building also houses the Rose Museum and Carnegie Archives where visitors can find artifacts and memorabilia on display covering the history of the famous site.

The exterior of the building, while less interesting than the architecture and activity of the interior, is well worth a look. Done in Italian Renaissance-revival style, the brown terra-cotta gives the arena a look appropriate to its function.

And just next door was, until just a few years ago, the famous Russian Tea Room. Founded in 1926 by former members of the Russian Imperial Ballet, the restaurant was host to many movers and shakers over the decades.

Within its Russian red walls and samovar-decorated halls were fed some of Carnegie Hall’s stellar performers. Alas now closed, there are ongoing efforts to re-open the restaurant in some form.

Also, just around the corner is Steinway Hall – housing the maker of exquisite instruments often used by Carnegie’s pianists. Here are displayed some of the finest pianos in the world.

Carnegie Hall still holds over 100 performances a year, yet tickets are expensive and often hard to obtain for certain performances. Be sure to book well in advance to hear some of New York’s, and thereby the world’s, finest musical artists practice their craft.

Carnegie Hall is located just off the corner of 57th St and 7th Avenue in Manhattan.

At 38 stories, the CBS building in New York isn’t anywhere near the tallest. Its location at 52nd St and 6th Avenue isn’t special. Even its design and construction were not – as buildings go – controversial. But, for what it offers both inside and out, CBS is a destination of choice for visitors of New York.

The Eero Saarinen designed edifice is at the apogee of the International Style. Saarinen, a Finnish born architect of world-renown, also designed the elegant Washington DC airport terminal. The CBS building is his only skyscraper.

The building’s dark gray exterior is formed by straight-to-the-sky concrete pillars clad in Canadian black granite alternating with darkened glass. It appears almost as a modern version of a medieval castle, with an inviting plaza substituted for a drawbridge.

Completed in 1965, the building still houses the CBS corporate headquarters where decisions affecting billions are made and the structure is as serious as its purpose. Yet its stark beauty is undeniable.

It was the first skyscraper to use a reinforced concrete support frame rather than steel. Departing aesthetically as well as technologically it deviates boldly from the strict International Style. It is not just another flat glass and metal box. It has panache.

CBS in New York has a lighter side, though.

Down the block at 524 West 57th St are the headquarters of CBS News and the main broadcast facility for both radio and TV. Here the outrageous and the serious share office and broadcasting space.

Inside the building the glitzy gossip show ‘Inside Edition’ is taped. Just around the corner, CBS News intones its views to the world. Popular soap operas weep daily from the studios here.

CBS owns two other major studio centers in Manhattan: Studio 58 inside the General Motors building at 58th St and Fifth Avenue, and the Ed Sullivan Theater (Studio 50) at 1697 Broadway.

The Early Show is taped daily at the Studio 58 facility and David Letterman airs nightly from Studio 50. Outside the Ed Sullivan theater the David Letterman Show sign is prominent.

Whether world-class architecture is to your taste, or you just want to sit in on one of the tapings for The Early Show or David Letterman, CBS has something to offer every tourist.

Tours and tickets are available for those who plan in advance. But, if your visit is spur-of-the-moment, you might still be able to pick up tickets at the Times Square discount booth TKTS.

Selling tickets primarily for Broadway shows, the booth sometimes has spare tickets for TV shows. Also ticket scalpers tend to hang around the area, so keep your ears open and you just might be able to get something on the sly.

And, if you just want to enjoy a stellar meal at the base of one of the world’s finest examples of architecture, the restaurant inside the CBS building plaza is first rate.

Completed in 1873, Central Park is among the world’s great urban innovations. Bound by 5th and 8th avenues on the east and west respectively, and from 59th Street on the south, 110th Street on the north, these 843 acres encompass a lot to see and do.

With two skating rinks, horseback riding, and skating and bicycle trails, the athletic won’t want for anything that suits their taste. For those who enjoy a more leisurely pace, the many sculptures, lakes and bird species provide ample opportunities for just gazing.

Largely grass dotted with trees and shrubs, there are nonetheless sidewalks all around and through the park for strolls and people watching. Plenty of that can be had, since the park is visited by some 25 million annually. Even so, the once fearsome crime rate has dropped to at or below every other urban park in the world.

Winding through the park is a 6mi (10km) road along which travel cars as well as the occasional horse-drawn cart. The romantic ride is still a favorite activity more than a hundred years after the service began. It makes for an especially relaxing treat during the Fall when the leaves turn to red and gold.

Several other roads cut through the middle of the park, though with restricted hours, to make cross-town car travel more convenient. Beware the zooming taxis!

The Central Park Zoo is modest cost and houses Tamarin monkeys, large cats and a wide variety of other animals, not the least of which is Gus the Polar Bear. Long one of the lesser zoos in the US, it enjoyed a renaissance in the 1990s and now joins Prospect Park Zoo in Brooklyn and Queens Zoo in Queens as one of the city’s major attractions.

Along the edges of the park there are several museums, including one of the world’s great storehouses of art: The Metropolitan Museum of Art at Fifth Avenue and 82nd Street. Low-cost and varied, art lovers should be prepared to spend a day or two if they wish to see the entire 6,000 year collection.

The Natural History Museum is sited on the west side of the park at 79th Street and Central Park West. Here the collection is, ahem, somewhat older than 6,000 years with artifacts dating back, in some cases, millions.

In between these two jewels are several other sites and activities to interest the culture-lover. During the summer, Shakespeare in the Park attracts thousands of devotees of the bard, and the Metropolitan Opera puts on two concerts per year, as well. The New York Philharmonic often gets into the act, traveling a block from Lincoln Center to put on an open-air concert.

Before the concert, a glass of wine or a fine meal can be had at the renowned Tavern on the Green restaurant. Be sure to make reservations several months in advance, though.

While you’re at the park, looking at things new and old, don’t miss seeing the ancient Egyptian Obelisk. It isn’t often you see centuries old sculptures in the middle of the world’s most modern cities.

Enjoy!

The Empire State Building in mid-town Manhattan has justifiably been called the eighth wonder of the world. No longer the tallest building in the world, it remains one of the largest office buildings and is currently the tallest in New York at 102 stories.

This engineering marvel was built in record time at the depths of the Depression between 1930 and 1931, when it was completed in May. In some periods, more than two floors per week were being added at a time before many modern construction techniques.

It occupies a city block at 5th Avenue between 33rd and 34th Street, but can be seen from several blocks away (or several miles, at higher elevations). Art Deco in style, the building houses a visitor’s museum in the lobby and a viewing platform near the top. Security is strict and prices are relatively steep, but a great bargain for a two-hour tour and a stunning view.

In the lobby museum a visitor can learn all about the history of the building, and the New York of the period generally. Also there are displays of interesting visuals discussing the ancient wonders of the world with which it’s often compared.

The lobby itself is something of a museum, too, with its large Art Deco golden wall friezes and lovely polished stone. Old-movie buffs will particularly appreciate the ambiance, which makes it easy to imagine living in the period.

The long elevator ride to the viewing platform is a good time to think about the accident in 1945 when a B-52 crashed into the middle of the building. Causing relatively minor damage, the fire was extinguished in less than an hour. However, the crash caused the elevator to fall. Not to worry, the elevator operator survived a 75-floor drop without a bruise. Thank you Mr. Otis, master elevator designer.

At the 86th floor, on one of the frequent clear days, a visitor can stand on the outdoor platform over 1,000 feet above the street. From there he or she can see the Statue of Liberty off the southern tip of the island, or all the way up to the top of Central Park at 110th Street.

The panoramic view also includes the shining aluminum-and-green-glass Citicorp, the post-modern AT&T, the steel-gargoyle-topped Chrysler, and several other prominent landmark buildings.

If you get hungry, there are two restaurants and a sushi bar, as well as three coffee shops. Security rules forbid bringing in bottles, so make use of these instead.

And, in case you decide you never want to leave, you can rent one of the many offices and build a shower in the bathroom. You can use the Post Office or one of the two banks when you just can’t do business electronically. There’s even a drug store, for those days you got rained on using the viewing platform.

Once back down on street level again, be sure to stand across the street looking up. Imagine the many iron-workers who stood in the high winds and cold weather tossing red-hot rivets across the uncompleted floors. Then marvel at the completed work, both a feat of engineering and masterpiece of art.

The center of Manhattan in a dozen ways, Fifth Avenue bisects the city from below 23rd Street to the north end of Central Park and beyond.

Home to some of the most expensive real estate on earth (over $600 per square foot in some cases), the street featured in dozens of films deserves its acclaim. Whether south to the Flatiron Building at 23rd Street (the first cast iron ‘skyscraper’) or up to midtown to north of 88th, there’s more to see and do here alone than in all of most cities.

Take a tour of the New York Public Library at 42nd street and say ‘Hello’ to the stone lions outside, Patience and Fortitude. Enjoy the park in the rear, where outdoor markets are held. Walk through the hallowed halls inside and take in one of the world’s great libraries.

Wander up to midtown to the ‘city within the city’: Rockefeller Center. A dozen high rise buildings, a skating rink and dozens of shops and restaurants compete for attention.

Only a few blocks up from this 52nd Street marvel is 57th where the visitor can take in Tiffany’s. Upstairs is where they keep the really good stuff. Bergdorf Goodman’s is right next door if you simply must have one of the world’s most expensive raincoats. Cartier’s is not far away.

And don’t forget to take a photo by the huge red ’9′ at 9 West 57th, in front of the spectacular curved glass building there. Former headquarters of Avon, from the cafeteria on the 33rd floor you can see all the way up Central Park and downtown to the former World Trade Center site.

Nearby, at 59th Street, is the world renowned Plaza Hotel across the street from the bottom of Central Park. Have a drink in the bar and imagine Cary Grant – who used to have a suite at the hotel – walking through and sitting down.

Sit on the steps and look at the fountain and the white stone tower of GM Plaza. Stop in at FAO Schwarz, the world’s most interesting toy store.

Board one of the horse-drawn carts and take a trip up 5th Avenue alongside or through the park. Or, if you’re in a hurry, hail a cab and zoom up to 82nd Street and the Metropolitan Museum. Here’s a treasure trove of 6,000 years of art in a 19th century setting inside and out.

After your tour, sit outside on the steps and have a hot dog while you people watch. Through these Greek columned doors pass thousands from all over the world, often in fascinating native dress.

And for poetry lovers, just up and across the street is the Goethe Institute, dedicated to the 19th century dramatist and poet. Here you can rest and see films, hear small concerts and lectures, and enjoy the ambiance.

Just up the street is the famous Frank Lloyd Wright-designed Guggenheim. A work of modern art itself, the spiral layer-cake building houses late 20th century works along the walls of a spectacular atrium.

On your way back down, catch The Frick Collection at 70th Street. One of the world’s great small museums. A medium-sized mansion, but every room is itself a work of art and the collection rivals that of any in New York or Paris.

Enjoy the street that was famous long before Fred Astaire sang and danced on it. When you’re done, you’ll be dancing too.

 

Few museum buildings can justifiably claim to be works of art in their own right. Frank Lloyd Wright’s Solomon R. Guggenheim museum of modern art is in that sparsely populated class.

Built between 1956 and 1959, the museum still serves its original purpose – the display of works from the 20th century, primarily painting and sculpture.

The unusual spiral design has been controversial since before the first stone was laid. In part, because there were no stones to lay. The building is a continuous concrete pour in the shape of a sand-colored ribbon that winds from bottom to top, widening as it goes. The net effect is organic, but unlike any analogy one could draw. It’s simply sui generis.

This makes for lack of window light around the exterior, but this is partly made up for by the large, open cylindrical atrium that runs through the center. From every angle, this skylight-fed area illuminates the walls within, though the works are somewhat shadowed by the continuous walkway ramp that curves around the interior.

Despite Lloyd’s original intention, in which a visitor would take an elevator to the top and walk leisurely down the ramp to view the displays, most visitors walk UP the ramp. Something about the design makes the effort more than worthwhile.

Along the walls can be found examples of most of the famous names of the 20th century: Picasso and Pissaro, Giacometti and Kandinsky. Even a Lichtenstein or two. Both sculpture and paintings compete for flat wall space – most of the surfaces follow the gentle curve of the building.

As a result of the lack of level floors and flat wall space, complaints about the difficulty of proper display have been frequent since the building’s birth. Several years ago a partial solution was reached when a 10-story tower was erected behind the original, once free standing, building. The conventional tower now holds many of the paintings with more of the sculpture finding a home in the original museum.

The building itself is best viewed from across the street on the west side of 5th Avenue. From this vantage point, the visitor can get a variety of views of the architectural crowning point of Wright’s career.

There are fewer of Wright’s more typical structures in this example, but there are some moderate-sized cantilevers that betray the work of the master. Not least is the large one several feet above eye level that runs the length of the site. And inside, standing in the center of the atrium at the bottom or top, one can clearly see hints of the equally well-known Johnson Wax Building completed many years earlier.

Located a few blocks north of the Metropolitan, the 88th Street location is easily accessible by cab up Fifth Avenue, or from the Lexington Avenue subway station at 86th Street.