My favourite part of New York City
was the fact there are just so many areas to explore. Having arrived at our
amazingly homely Air B&B apartment
in East Village (highly recommend!) we found ourselves feeling very
comfortable in our surroundings.
So here are the highlights of our
favourite areas of NYC:
East Village:
East Village used to be part of the Lower East Side of NY but since the 1960s in began to develop its own identity and is now very much a gentrified area and a great alternative to the more expensive West / Greenwich Village as a place to stay. ‘Typical’ New York apartment blocks with fire escapes line the streets and it is also home to some of the most highly recommended coffee and bagel shops as well as the most popular speak-easy’s in Manhattan; Beauty & Essex, Death & Co. and Please Don’t Tell. It was a great place to base ourselves for our trip.
East Village used to be part of the Lower East Side of NY but since the 1960s in began to develop its own identity and is now very much a gentrified area and a great alternative to the more expensive West / Greenwich Village as a place to stay. ‘Typical’ New York apartment blocks with fire escapes line the streets and it is also home to some of the most highly recommended coffee and bagel shops as well as the most popular speak-easy’s in Manhattan; Beauty & Essex, Death & Co. and Please Don’t Tell. It was a great place to base ourselves for our trip.
West Village:
Known as ‘Little Bohemia’ in 1916 West Village is primarily residential with small cafes, markets around small landscaped squares and shops dotted amongst this leafy area of Manhattan. If you imagine Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment you’d be in West Village - stone fronted staircases leading up to large wooden doored town houses. It’s a great area to wander through and dream of which street you’d choose to live on if you re-located to NYC! It’s also home to a few more of Manhattan’s great secret bars; Employees Only and Little Branch.
Greenwich Village:
Straddling West Village, Noho and
Soho Greenwich Village residents and
preservation groups have fought to preserve the architectural and historic integrity
of the village ethos. This was most noticeable as we strolled through
Washington Square Park which it’s dominated by its arch; built to celebrate the
centennial of George Washington's inauguration as president and modelled after
the Arc de Triomphe.
Chelsea & Meatpacking District:
Noticeably different from the residential
areas of the ‘villages’, Chelsea and the Meatpacking districts have become one
of the most hip areas of NYC. Its buildings once slaughterhouses, packing
plants and market places are now renovated into bars, cafes and food courts. It
was the perfect place to pick up a delicious lunch of fresh Sushi – we spent
ages watching the culinary professionals at work with the amazing array of
Lobsters, Shellfish and Smoked Salmons at Lobster
Place in Chelsea Market.
The other highlight of this area
is the ‘Highline’ Park running from Gansevoort Street – three blocks below 14th Street – in the Meatpacking
District, through Chelsea, to the northern edge of the West Side Yard on 34th
Street.
In 1847, the City of New York authorized street-level railroad tracks down
Manhattan's West Side to ship freight. For safety, the railroads hired men
called the "West Side Cowboys" to ride horses and wave flags in front
of the trains. However, so many accidents occurred between freight trains and
other traffic that Tenth Avenue became known as "Death Avenue". After
years of public debate about the hazard, in 1929 the city, the state of New
York, and the New York Central Railroad agreed on the West Side Improvement
Project which included the construction of the West Side Elevated Highway.
Artistic views
The repurposing of this now unused elevated railway
line to an urban park began in 2006 and opened to the public in 2009. The park
is a 1.45mile stretch of botanical artwork. Grasses and flowers run between the
old railway tracks and the route is dotted with iconic works of art and places
to just sit and watch the world go by.
Wall Street and the southern tip:
Since 9/11 this southern area of
Manhattan has probably seen the most change and is now one of the most poignant
and spectacular areas of the city. After 9/11 the financial services industry went through a downturn,
and this area focused around the infamous Wall Street saw the most tumultuous
of years. Now as you walk down Wall Street and to the location of the Twin
Towers this area is repairing and healing from the wounds of the fateful day
with a very clear reminder of the impact that this had shown by the Memory
Foundations – poignant caverns lined with flowing waterfalls dropping into the foundations,
with the names of all those who lost their lives engraved around the outside.
The new One World Trade Centre (dubbed the Freedom Tower) had just opened
to the public two weeks before our trip. Towering over the landscape it fills
the gap left in the skyline with its 104 floors.
Taller than the Empire State Building, the architects really had thought about
the Observatory experience. Rising to the top in an elevator outlined in
digital screens that showed you how the area had developed from swamps to
present day, directing you through to watch a short film and then making a big
reveal of the incredible sight of Manhattan from 1,776 feet high. The photos say it all…
The final highlight of this area is the
ferry over to Liberty and Ellis Islands, where you really get to see the One
World Trade Centre in all its glory within the Manhattan skyline.
Many people we spoke to before going to NYC recommended
the Staten Island Ferry which is free to get a view of the Statue of Liberty. But
in my opinion this really didn’t give you any idea of the impact of her
positioning. As the ferry got closer to Liberty Island we could completely
appreciate what it must have felt like as an immigrant as they saw her standing
tall upon their approach to Ellis Island to be processed over a hundred years
ago. After taking in the close up details of her intricate design we continued
to Ellis Island which is a must to really understand the full story behind the
history of this area.
Brooklyn:
We sadly didn’t have enough time
to explore more of this busy borough of New York, but we took in the most
important highlights which seem to appear in every film based in New York – the
Brooklyn Bridge and its surrounding area.
Walking over the Bridge is definitely
the best way to experience it, as you walk by the hustle and bustle of the New
York yellow taxi’s, pausing to take in the views half way and not forgetting to look up at the structure of this iconic
bridge.
A big yellow taxi
We walked through the Brooklyn
Bridge Park to get the ‘typical’ view back at Manhattan with the bridge,
strolling through the old cobbled streets of the dockside. And popped over to
take a look at the residential architecture of the ‘fruity’ name streets ‘Pineapple
Street’, ‘Orange Street’ and ‘Cranberry Street’ in Brooklyn Heights.
Williamsburg:
Located North of Brooklyn, this area
is well worth a visit if you have a bit of extra time to explore more than the
top sights. This ‘alternative’ area is a hub of artistic outlets – flea
markets, record shops, community
art brightening the ends of empty buildings all give this area its hipster feel.
It
was the low rents in the early 1990s that were a major reason for artists first
settling in the area, and despite rents now sky rocketing luckily this area has
held onto its bohemian culture. If you want to escape from the sophistication of
Midtown Manhattan then this a great place to wander through at your own pace and
just soak up the atmosphere.
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