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Uptown

Central Park | Upper East Side | Yorkville | Upper West Side
Morningside Heights | Harlem | Washington Heights & Inwood

Above 59th Street, the frenetic pace of the city slows considerably. The Upper East Side and Upper West Side—neighborhoods bordering Central Park—and areas further north are brimming with culture: Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim and the Studio Museum in Harlem all call Uptown home.

Central Park

Central Park

In 1853, the newly formed Central Park Commission chose landscape designer Frederick Law Olmsted and architect Calvert Vaux to turn an 843-acre of rocky swampland into a rambling oasis of greenery, making this the first man-made public park in the U.S. The commission, inspired by the great parks of London and Paris, imagined a place that would provide city dwellers a respite from the crowded streets. A noble thought, but one that required the eviction of 1,600 mostly poor or immigrant inhabitants, including residents of Seneca Village, the city’s oldest African-American settlement. But clear the area they did, and the rest is history.

The park celebrated its 150th anniversary in 2003, and it has never looked better, thanks to the Central Park Conservancy, a private, non-profit civic group formed in 1980 that has been instrumental in the park’s restoration and maintenance. A horse-drawn carriage is still the sightseeing vehicle of choice for many tourists (and even a few romantic locals, though they’d never admit to it); plan on paying $40 for a 20-minute tour. (You can usually hail a carriage on Central Park South, where they line up between Fifth Avenue and Columbus Circle.)

The park is dotted with landmarks. Strawberry Fields, near the West 72nd Street entrance, memorializes John Lennon, who lived in the nearby Dakota building. Also called the International Garden of Peace, this sanctuary features a mosaic of the word imagine, donated by the Italian city of Naples. More than 160 species of flowers and plants from all over the world bloom here (including strawberries, of course).

In winter, ice skaters lace up at Wollman Rink (midpark, at 62nd Street), where the skating comes with a picture-postcard view of the fancy buildings surrounding the park. A short stroll to about 64th Street brings you to the Friedsam Memorial Carousel, still a bargain at $2 a ride.
Come summer, kites, Frisbees and soccer balls fly every which way across Sheep Meadow, the designated quiet zone that begins at 66th Street. The sheep are gone (they grazed here until 1934), replaced by sunbathers working on their tans and scoping out the throngs. East of Sheep Meadow, between 66th and 72nd Streets, is the Mall, where you’ll find volleyball courts and plenty of in-line skaters.

East of the Mall’s Naumburg Bandshell is Rumsey Playfield—site of the annual Central Park SummerStage series, an eclectic roster of free and benefit concerts held from Memorial Day weekend to Labor Day weekend. One of the most popular meeting places in the park is the grand Bethesda Fountain & Terrace, near the midpoint of the 72nd Street Transverse Road. When it was completed in 1869, the ornate passageway that connects the plaza around the fountain to the elm-lined promenade to the south boasted a stunning Minton tile ceiling. In the 1980s, after decades of weathering, the intricately patterned clay tiles were put into storage, but they have recently been restored to their former glory. Angel of the Waters, the sculpture in the center of the fountain, was created by Emma Stebbins, the first woman to be granted a major public-art commission in New York.

North of the fountain is the Loeb Boathouse (midpark, at 72nd Street), where you can rent a row boat or gondola to take out on the lake, which is crossed by the elegant Bow Bridge. The bucolic park views enjoyed by diners at the nearby Central Park Boathouse Restaurant (midpark, at 72nd Street, 1-212 517 2233) make it a lovely place for brunch or drinks, with an outdoor terrace and bar that’s idyllic in summer.

Further north is the popular Belvedere Castle, a restored Victorian building that sits atop the park’s second-highest peak. It offers excellent views and also houses the Henry Luce Nature Observatory. The open-air Delacorte Theater hosts Shakespeare in the Park, a summer tradition of free performances of plays by the Bard. The Great Lawn (midpark, between 79th & 85th Streets) is a sprawling stretch of grass that doubles as a rally point for political protests and a concert spot for just about any act that can rally a six-figure audience. Free shows here by the Metropolitan Opera and the New York Philharmonic during the summer are a beloved New York tradition. At other times, the Great Lawn is the favored spot of seriously competitive soccer teams and much less cut-throat Hacky Sackers and their dogs. Several years ago, the Reservoir (midpark, between 85th & 96th Streets) was renamed in honor of the late Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, who used to jog around it.

Central Park Zoo
830 Fifth Avenue, between 63rd & 66th Streets (1-212 439 6500/www.centralparkzoo.org). Subway: N, R, W to Fifth Avenue-59th Street. Open Apr-Oct 10am-5pm Mon-Fri; 10am-5:30pm Sat, Sun. Nov-Mar 10am-4:30pm daily. Admission $8; $4 seniors; $3 3-12s; free under-3s. No credit cards.
This is the only place in New York City where you can see a polar bear swimming underwater. The Tisch Children’s Zoo has been spiffed up with a series of tot-friendly play areas, and the roving characters on the George Delacorte Musical Clock delight kids every half-hour.

Charles A Dana Discovery Center
Park entrance on Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue), at 110th Street (1-212 860 1370/www.centralparknyc.org). Subway: 2, 3 to 110th Street-Central Park North. Open 10am-5pm Tue-Sun. Admission free.Stop by for weekend family workshops, environmental and cultural exhibits, and outdoor performances on the plaza next to the Harlem Meer. From April to October, the center lends out fishing rods and bait (to those 16 and over with photo ID).

Dairy
Park entrance on Fifth Avenue, at 65th Street (1-212 794 6564/www.centralparknyc.org). Subway: N, R, W to Fifth Avenue-59th Street. Open 10am-5pm Tue-Sun. Admission free.
Built in 1872 to show city kids where milk comes from (cows, in this case), the Dairy is now the Central Park Conservancy’s information center, complete with interactive exhibits, videos explaining the park’s history and a gift shop.

Henry Luce Nature Observatory
Belvedere Castle, midpark, off the 79th Street Transverse Road (1-212 772 0210). Subway: B, C to 81st Street-Museum of Natural History. Open 10am-5pm Tue-Sun. Admission free.
During the spring and autumn hawk migrations, park rangers discuss the various birds of prey found in the park and help visitors spot raptors from the castle roof. You can also borrow binoculars, maps and bird-identification guides.

Upper East Side

Along Fifth, Madison and Park Avenues from 61st to 81st Streets you’ll see great old mansions in pristine condition, many of which are now foreign consulates. The structure at 820 Fifth Avenue (at 64th Street) was one of the earliest luxury apartment buildings on the avenue. New York’s ultimate gingerbread house is 45 East 66th Street (between Madison and Park Avenues). Stanford White designed 998 Fifth Avenue (at 81st Street) in the image of an Italian Renaissance palazzo. Some wonderful old carriage houses adorn 63rd and 64th Streets. Fifth Avenue from 82nd to 104th Streets is known as Museum Mile because it is flanked by the numerous museums listed below.

Madison Avenue from 57th to 86th Streets is New York’s world-class ultra-luxe shopping strip, where you’ll find deluxe department store Barneys New York and the usual lineup of international designer flagships.

Asia Society & Museum
725 Park Avenue, at 70th Street (1-212 288 6400/www.asiasociety.org). Subway: 6 to 68th Street-Hunter College. Open 11am-6pm Tue-Thur, Sat, Sun; 11am-9pm Fri. Admission $10; $7 seniors; $5 students; free under-16s. Free 6-9pm Fri. No credit cards.
The Asia Society sponsors study missions and conferences while promoting public programs in the US and abroad. The headquarters’ striking galleries host major exhibitions of art culled from dozens of countries and time periods—from ancient India and medieval Persia to contemporary Japan—and assembled from public and private collections, including the permanent Mr and Mrs John D Rockefeller III collection of Asian art. A spacious, atrium-like café, with a pan-Asian menu, and a beautifully stocked gift shop make the society a one-stop destination for anyone who has an interest in Asian art and culture.

China Institute

China Institute
125 E 65th Street, between Park & Lexington Avenues (1-212 744 8181/www.chinainstitute.org). Subway: F to Lexington Avenue-63rd Street; 6 to 68th Street-Hunter College. Open 10am-5pm Mon, Wed, Fri-Sun; 10am-8pm Tue, Thur. Admission $7; $4 seniors, students; free under-12s. Free 6-8pm Tue, Thur. Credit AmEx, Disc, MC, V.
Consisting of two small galleries, the China Institute is somewhat overshadowed by the nearby Asia Society. But its rotating exhibitions, such as works by female Chinese artists and selections from the Beijing Palace Museum, are compelling. The institute offers lectures and courses on myriad subjects, from calligraphy to cooking.

Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum
2 E 91st Street, at Fifth Avenue (1-212 849 8400/www.cooperhewitt.org). Subway: 4, 5, 6 to 86th Street. Open 10am-5pm Mon-Thur; 10am-9pm Fri; 10am-6pm Sat; noon-6pm Sun. Admission $15; $10 seniors, students; free under-12s. Credit AmEx, Disc, MC, V.
The Smithsonian’s National Design Museum was once the home of industrialist Andrew Carnegie (there is still a lovely lawn behind the building—his former garden). Now it’s the only museum in the US dedicated to domestic and industrial design, boasting a fascinating roster of temporary exhibitions, including selections from its permanent collection, curated by individual contemporary designers.

El Museo del Barrio
1230 Fifth Avenue, between 104th & 105th Streets (1-212 831 7272/www.elmuseo.org). Subway: 6 to 103rd Street. Open 11am-5pm Wed-Sun. Admission $6; $4 seniors (free Thur), students; free under-12s (accompanied by an adult). Credit AmEx, MC, V.
Located in Spanish Harlem (which is also known as El Barrio), El Museo del Barrio is dedicated to the work of Latino artists who reside in the US, as well as Latin American masters. The 8,000-piece collection ranges from pre-Columbian artifacts to contemporary installations, but the galleries are closed for renovation until September 2009 (the theater and workshop space remains open).

Frick Collection
1 E 70th Street, between Fifth & Madison Avenues (1-212 288 0700/www.frick.org). Subway: 6 to 68th Street-Hunter College. Open 10am-6pm Tue-Sat; 11am-5pm Sun. Admission $15; $10 seniors; $5 students, 10-18s (under-16s must be accompanied by an adult; under-10s not admitted). Pay what you wish 11am-1pm Sun. Credit AmEx, Disc, MC, V.
The opulent structure that houses this private collection of great masters (from the 14th to the 19th centuries) was originally built for industrialist Henry Clay Frick. The firm of Carrère & Hastings (which designed the New York Public Library) created the 1914 building in an 18th-century European style, with a beautiful interior court and reflecting pool. The permanent collection boasts world-class paintings, sculpture and furniture by the likes of Rembrandt, Vermeer, Renoir and French cabinet-maker Jean-Henri Riesener.

Jewish Museum
1109 Fifth Avenue, at 92nd Street (1-212 423 3200/www.thejewishmuseum.org). Subway: 4, 5, 6 to 86th Street; 6 to 96th Street. Open 11am-5:45pm Mon-Wed, Sat, Sun; 11am-9pm Thur. Closed on Jewish holidays. Admission $12; $10 seniors; $7.50 students; free under-12s (accompanied by an adult). Pay what you wish 5-8pm Thur, Sat Credit AmEx, MC, V.
The Jewish Museum, situated in the 1908 Warburg Mansion, contains a fascinating collection of more than 28,000 works of art, artifacts and media installations. A two-floor permanent exhibit, ‘Culture and Continuity: The Jewish Journey’, examines the survival of Judaism and the essence of Jewish identity. The museum’s Café Weissman serves contemporary kosher fare.

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 Fifth Avenue, at 82nd Street (1-212 535 7710/www.metmuseum.org). Subway: 4, 5, 6 to 86th Street. Open 9:30am-5:30pm Tue-Thur, Sun; 9:30am-9pm Fri, Sat. No strollers Sun. Admission suggested donation (incl same-day Admission to the Cloisters) $20; $15 seniors; $10 students; free under-12s. Credit AmEx, DC, Disc, MC, V.
Many locals shuddered in anger in summer 2006, when the Met announced that its suggested fee would be jumping up to $20. We say, chill out—it’s only a suggested amount, after all. And thank heavens it is, since it would take many, many visits to cover all of the Met’s two million square feet of gallery space. Besides the enthralling temporary exhibitions, there are excellent collections of African, Oceanic and Islamic art, along with more than 3,000 European paintings from the Middle Ages up to the fin-de-siècle period, including major works by Titian, Brueghel, Rembrandt, Vermeer, Goya and Degas, as well as the controversial Madonna and Child (stop by and decide whether you think the $45 million piece is the handiwork of medieval master Duccio, or some latter-day forger, as one historian recently claimed). Egyptology fans should head straight for the glass-walled atrium housing the Temple of Dendur. And the Met certainly isn’t resting on its laurels: the Greek and Roman halls reopened in 2007 after receiving an elegant makeover, followed by renovated and expanded galleries for 19th- and early 20th-century European paintings and sculpture. The incomparable medieval armor collection—a huge favourite with adults and children—was recently enriched by gifts of European, North American, Japanese and also Islamic armaments.

The Met has also made significant additions to its modern-art galleries, including works by American artist Eric Fischl and Chilean surrealist Roberto Matta. Contemporary sculptures are displayed from spring to late autumn (weather permitting) in the Iris and B Gerald Cantor Roof Garden. If you’re in town for a long holiday weekend, don’t despair. The Met opens on Monday holidays, including Martin Luther King Day, Presidents’ Day, Memorial Day, and the Monday between Christmas and New Year’s Day.

A large, round desk in the Great Hall (staffed by volunteers who speak multiple languages) is the hub of the museum’s excellent visitors’ resources (foreign-language tours are available; call 1-212 570 3711 for information). Once you’ve had an eyeful of the type of art that interests you most, from Greek kouroi to colourful Kandinskys, we recommend making the most of the Met’s various tranquil spots. The Engelhard Court is closed for renovation, along with much of the American wing, until spring 2009, so head for Astor Court, on the second floor, a garden modelled on a Ming dynasty scholar’s courtyard. The nearby Asian galleries, full of superb bronzes, ceramics and rare wooden Buddhist images, seldom get heavy foot-traffic. At the western end of the museum, rest on a bench in the Robert Lehman Wing, then commune with Botticelli’s Annunciation.

Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Avenue, between 103rd & 104th Streets (1-212 534 1672/www.mcny.org). Subway: 6 to 103rd Street. Open 10am-5pm Tue-Sun. Admission suggested donation $9; $5 seniors, students, children; $20 families. Credit AmEx, MC, V.
Located at the northern end of Museum Mile, this institution contains a wealth of city history and includes paintings, sculptures, photographs, military and naval uniforms, theater memorabilia, manuscripts, ship models and rare books. The extensive toy collection, full of New Yorkers’ playthings dating from the colonial era to the present, is especially well loved. Toy trains, lead soldiers and battered teddy bears share shelf space with exquisite bisque dolls (decked out in extravagant Paris fashions) and lavishly appointed dolls’ houses. Don’t miss the amazing Stettheimer Dollhouse, created during the 1920s by Carrie Stettheimer, whose artist friends re-created their masterpieces in miniature to hang on the walls. Look closely and you’ll even spy a tiny version of Marcel Duchamp’s famous Nude Descending a Staircase. Don’t miss the museum’s Timescapes, a 25-minute multimedia film that tells NYC’s glorious story from 1624 to the present. The film is free with Admission and plays throughout the day.

Neue Galerie
1048 Fifth Avenue, at 86th Street (1-212 628 6200/www.neuegalerie.org). Subway: 4, 5, 6 to 86th Street. Open 11am-6pm Mon, Thur, Sat, Sun; 11am-9pm Fri. Admission $15; $10 seniors, students, 12-16s (must be accompanied by an adult); under-12s not admitted. Credit AmEx, MC, V.
This elegant museum is devoted entirely to late 19th- and early 20th-century German and Austrian fine and decorative arts. The creation of the late art dealer Serge Sabarsky and cosmetics mogul Ronald S Lauder, it has the largest concentration of works by Gustav Klimt and Egon Schiele outside Vienna. There’s also a bookstore, a chic design shop and the Café Sabarsky, serving updated Austrian cuisine and ravishing Viennese pastries.

Solomon R Guggenheim Museum
1071 Fifth Avenue, at 89th Street (1-212 423 3500/www.guggenheim.org). Subway: 4, 5, 6 to 86th Street. Open 10am-5:45pm Mon-Wed, Sat, Sun; 10am-7:45pm Fri. Admission $18; $15 seniors, students; free under-12s (must be accompanied by an adult). Pay what you wish 5:45-7:45pm Fri. Credit AmEx, MC, V.
The Guggenheim is as famous for its landmark building as it is for its impressive collection and daring temporary shows. After restoration, the dramatic spiral structure, designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, is gleaming for its 50th birthday in 2009. In addition to works by Manet, Kandinsky, Picasso, Chagall and Bourgeois, the museum owns Peggy Guggenheim’s trove of cubist, surrealist and abstract expressionist works, along with the Panza di Biumo Collection of American minimalist and conceptual art from the 1960s and ’70s. In 1992, the addition of a ten-story tower provided space for a sculpture gallery (with views of the park), an auditorium and a café.

Whitney Museum of American Art

Whitney Museum of American Art
945 Madison Avenue, at 75th Street (1-212 570 3676/1-800 944 8639/www.whitney.org). Subway: 6 to 77th Street. Open 11am-6pm Wed, Thur, Sat, Sun; 1-9pm Fri. Admission $15; $10 seniors, students; free under-12s. Pay what you wish 6-9pm Fri. Credit AmEx, MC, V.
Like the Guggenheim, the Whitney is set apart by its unique architecture: it’s a Marcel Breuer-designed grey granite cube with an all-seeing upper-storey ‘eye’ window. When Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, a sculptor and art patron, opened the museum in 1931, she dedicated it to living American artists. Today, the Whitney holds about 15,000 pieces by nearly 2,000 artists, including Alexander Calder, Willem de Kooning, Edward Hopper (the museum holds his entire estate), Jasper Johns, Louise Nevelson, Georgia O’Keeffe and Claes Oldenburg. Still, the museum’s reputation rests mainly on its temporary shows, particularly the exhibition everyone loves to hate, the Whitney Biennial. Held in even-numbered years, the Biennial remains the most prestigious (and controversial) assessment of contemporary art in America. There are free guided tours daily and live performances on select Friday nights. The small midtown branch in the Altria headquarters closed in January 2008, as the corporation is relocating, but the Whitney recently announced plans to open a separate museum outpost along the new High Line park.

Yorkville

Not much remains of the old German and Hungarian immigrant communities that filled Yorkville—the Upper East Side neighborhood between Third Avenue and the East River—with delicatessens, beer halls and restaurants. One flashback is the 73-year-old Heidelberg (1648 Second Avenue, at 85th Street, 1-212 650 1385), where dirndl-wearing waitresses serve steins of Spaten and platters of sausages from the wurst-meisters at nearby butcher shop Schaller & Weber.

Henderson Place Historic District (at East End Avenue, between 86th & 87th Streets), one block from Gracie Mansion, consists of two dozen handsome Queen Anne row houses, which were commissioned by furrier and real-estate developer John C Henderson. Twenty-four of the original 32 houses remain, with the original turrets, double stoops and slate roofs.

Gracie Mansion Conservancy
Carl Schurz Park, 88th Street, at East End Avenue (1-212 570 4751). Subway: 4, 5, 6 to 86th Street. Tours Mar-mid Nov 10am, 11am, 1pm, 2pm Wed (tours last 45mins). Admission $7; $4 seniors, students; free under-12s. Advance reservations required. No credit cards.
At the eastern end of 88th Street sits the only Federal-style mansion in Manhattan, and it’s been New York’s official mayoral residence since 1942. The current mayor, billionaire Michael Bloomberg, famously eschewed this traditional address in favor of his own Beaux Arts mansion at 17 East 79th Street (between Fifth & Madison Avenues). The green-shuttered yellow edifice, built in 1799 by Scottish merchant Archibald Gracie, was originally constructed as a country house for the wealthy businessman. Today, the stately manor is the focal point of tranquil Carl Schurz Park, named in honor of the German immigrant who became a newspaper editor and US senator. In 2002 Gracie Mansion’s living quarters were opened to public tours for the first time in 60 years. Advance reservations are essential.

Sotheby’s
1334 York Avenue, at 72nd Street (1-212 606 7000/www.sothebys.com). Subway: 6 to 68th Street-Hunter College. Open 10am-5pm Mon-Sat; 1-5pm Sun (hours change seasonally, call ahead). Admission free.
Sotheby’s, with offices from London to Singapore, is the world’s most famous auction house. The New York branch regularly holds public sales of antique furniture and jewelry in one lot, and pop-culture memorabilia in another. Spring and autumn see the big sales of modern and contemporary art. Public viewings are held prior to each auction; call or visit Sotheby’s website for details of dates and times.

Upper West Side

Columbus Circle

The gateway to the UWS is Columbus Circle, where Broadway meets 59th Street, Eighth Avenue, Central Park South and Central Park West—a rare rotary in a city of right angles. The architecture around it could make anyone’s head spin. A 700-ton statue of Christopher Columbus, positioned at the entrance to Central Park, goes almost unnoticed in the shadow of the Time Warner Center across the street, which houses the offices of the media conglomerate, along with luxury apartments, hotel accommodations, upscale restaurants and shops and Jazz at Lincoln Center’s stunning Frederick P Rose Hall.

The Upper West Side’s seat of highbrow culture is Lincoln Center, a complex of concert halls and auditoriums built in the 1960s. It is home to the New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet and the Metropolitan Opera, along with a host of other arts organizations. The big circular fountain in the central plaza is a popular gathering spot, especially in summer, when amateur dancers converge on it to dance alfresco at Midsummer Night Swing.

Rose Center for Earth & Space

American Museum of Natural History/Rose Center for Earth & Space
Central Park West, at 79th Street (1-212 769 5100/www.amnh.org). Subway: B, C to 81st Street-Museum of Natural History. Open 10am-5:45pm daily. Admission suggested donation $15; $11 seniors, students; $8.50 2-12s; free under-2s. Credit AmEx, MC, V.
Home to the largest and arguably most fabulous collection of dinosaur fossils in the world, AMNH’s fourth-floor dino halls have been blowing people’s minds for decades. Roughly 80% of the bones on display were actually dug out of the ground by Indiana Jones types. The thrills begin when you cross the threshold of the Theodore Roosevelt Rotunda, where you’re confronted with a towering barosaurus that’s rearing high on its hind legs to protect its young from an attacking allosaurus—an impressive welcome to the world’s largest museum of its kind. During the museum’s mid 1990s renovation, several specimens were remodelled to incorporate discoveries made during that time. The Tyrannosaurus rex, for instance, was once believed to have walked upright, Godzilla-style; it now stalks prey with its head lowered and tail raised parallel to the ground.

The rest of the museum is equally dramatic. The recently opened Hall of Human Origins boasts a fine display of your old cousins, the Neanderthals. The Hall of Biodiversity examines world ecosystems and environmental preservation, and a life-size model of a blue whale hangs from the cavernous ceiling of the Hall of Ocean Life. The impressive Hall of Meteorites was brushed up and reorganised in 2003. The space’s focal point is Ahnighito, the largest iron meteor on display anywhere in the world, weighing in at 34 tons (more than 30,000kg).

The spectacular $210 million Rose Center for Earth & Space—dazzling to come upon at night—is a giant silvery globe where you can discover the universe via 3-D shows in the Hayden Planetarium and light shows in the Big Bang Theater. An IMAX theatre screens larger-than-life nature programmes, and you can always learn something new from the innovative temporary exhibitions, an easily accessible research library (with vast photo and print archives), several cool gift shops and friendly, helpful staff.

General Grant National Memorial
Riverside Drive, at 122nd Street (1-212 666 1640). Subway: 1 to 125th Street. Open 9am-5pm daily. Admission free.
Who’s buried in Grant’s Tomb? No one, it appears—the crypts of Civil War hero and 18th president Ulysses S Grant and his wife, Julia, are in full above-ground view, however. The memorial is closed on Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day.

Museum of Arts & Design
2 Columbus Circle, at Broadway (1-212 956 3 535/www.madmuseum.org). Subway A, B, C, D, 1 to 59th Street-Columbus Circle. Open 10am-6pm Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri-Sun; 10am-8pm Thur. Credit AmEx, Disc, MC. V.
Formerly the American Crafts Museum, this is the country’s leading museum of contemporary crafts in clay, cloth, glass, metal and wood. It changed its name to emphasize the harmonious relationships between art, design and craft. In autumn 2008, the museum moved from West 53rd Street into a much larger Columbus Circle site, where it can finally display a sizable portion of its permanent collection of more than 2,000 objects. The ten-floor building (originally designed by modernist architect Edward Durell Stone to house the Gallery of Modern Art) has a restaurant, glassed-walled artists’ studios and the first contemporary-jewelry gallery in the US. And what of the imposing edifice’s notorious lack of windows? Architect Brad Cloepfil has made vertical and horizontal cuts in the structure to allow more natural light to flow in.

New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West, between 76th & 77th Streets (1-212 873 3400/www.nyhistory.org). Subway: B, C to 81st Street-Museum of Natural History. Open 10am-6pm Tue-Sat; 11am-5:45pm Sun. Admission $10; $7 seniors; $6 students; free under-12s (accompanied by an adult). No credit cards.
New York’s oldest museum, founded in 1804, was one of America’s first cultural and educational institutions. Highlights in the vast Henry Luce III Center for the Study of American Culture include George Washington’s Valley Forge camp cot, a complete series of the extant watercolors from Audubon’s The Birds of America and the world’s largest collection of Tiffany lamps. The society also hosts interesting temporary exhibitions.

New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
40 Lincoln Center Plaza, at 65th Street (1-212 870 1630). Subway: 1 to 66th Street-Lincoln Center. Open noon-8pm Mon, Thur; noon-6pm Tue, Wed; 11am-6pm Fri; 10am-6pmSat. Admission free.
One of the world’s great performing-arts research centers, the library houses a seemingly endless collection of films, letters, manuscripts, video—and half a million sound recordings. It also stages concerts and lectures.

Riverside Park
This sinuous stretch of riverbank starts at 72nd Street and ends at 158th Street, between Riverside Drive and the Hudson River. The stretch of park below 72nd Street, called Riverside Park South, includes a pier and beautiful patches of grass with park benches. You’ll see yachts, along with several houseboats, berthed at the 79th Street Boat Basin; in the summertime, there’s an open-air café in the adjacent park where New Yorkers unwind with a beer and watch the sun set over the Hudson River. Several sites provide havens for reflection.

Time Warner Center
10 Columbus Circle, at Broadway. Subway: A, B, C, D, 1 to 59th Street-Columbus Circle. Open 10am-9pm Mon-Sat; 11am-7pm Sun (hours vary for some shops & restaurants).
The Shops at Columbus Circle takes up the first seven levels of the enormous glass complex and includes dozens of retail shops, including Aveda, Bose, Borders, Coach, and Whole Foods. Among the numerous bars and gourmet restaurants are Thomas Keller’s Per Se, and the world-renowned Masa, and its $500 omakase menu.

Morningside Heights

Morningside Heights runs from 110th Street (also known west of Central Park as Cathedral Parkway) to 125th Street, between Morningside Park and the Hudson River. The Cathedral Church of St John the Divine and the campus of Columbia University exert considerable influence over the neighborhood. One of the oldest universities in the US, Columbia was chartered in 1754 as King’s College (the name changed after the Revolutionary War). It moved to its present location in 1897. If you wander into Columbia’s campus entrance at 116th Street, you won’t fail to miss the impressive Low Memorial Building: it’s modeled on Rome’s Pantheon. The former library, completed in 1897, is now an administrative building. In warm weather, the student body is often sprawled out on its steps (or the lawns out front), catching rays between classes.

Cathedral Church of St John the Divine

Cathedral Church of St John the Divine
1047 Amsterdam Avenue, at 112th Street (1-212 316 7540/www.stjohndivine.org). Subway: B, C, 1 to 110th Street-Cathedral Parkway. Open 7am-6pm daily. Admission suggested donation $5; $4 seniors, students. Credit MC, V.
The delay-addled construction on ‘St John the Unfinished’ began in 1892 in Romanesque style, was put on hold for a Gothic Revival redesign in 1911, then ground to a halt in 1941, when the US entered World War II. It resumed in earnest in 1979, but a fire in 2001 destroyed the church’s gift shop and damaged two 17th-century Italian tapestries, which has delayed completion further. In addition to Sunday services, the cathedral hosts concerts and tours. It bills itself as a place for all people—and it means it. Annual events include both winter and summer solstice celebrations; the Blessing of the Animals during the Feast of St Francis, which draws pets and their people from all over the city; and, would you believe it, the Blessing of the Bikes, which kicks off the bicycle season each spring.

Harlem

Harlem is not just a destination on Manhattan island—it’s the cultural capital of black America. West Harlem, between Fifth and St Nicholas Avenues, is the Harlem of popular imagination, and 125th Street is its lifeline. Harlem’s historic districts continue to gentrify. The Mount Morris Historic District (from 119th to 124th Streets, between Malcolm X Boulevard [Lenox Avenue] & Mount Morris Park West) contains charming brownstones and a collection of religious buildings in a variety of architectural styles.

These days, new boutiques, restaurants and sidewalk cafés dot the walk down the double-wide Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue). Another area with a historic past is Strivers’ Row, also known as the St Nicholas Historic District. Running from 138th to 139th Streets, between Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) and Frederick Douglass Boulevard (Eighth Avenue), these blocks of majestic houses were developed in 1891. East of Fifth Avenue is East Harlem, sometimes called Spanish Harlem but better known to its primarily Puerto Rican residents as El Barrio.

Abyssinian Baptist Church
132 W 138th Street, between Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue) & Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) (1-212 862 7474/www.abyssinian.org). Subway: 2, 3 to 135th Street. Open 9am-5pm Mon-Fri. Admission free. One of Harlem’s most famous churches, the Abyssinian was where Harlem’s charismatic and controversial congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr preached in the 1960s. It harbors a small museum dedicated to Powell, the first black member of New York’s City Council.

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
515 Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue), at 135th Street (1-212 491 2200/www.schomburgcenter.org). Subway: 2, 3 to 135th Street. Open noon-8pm Tue, Wed; 11am-6pm Thur, Fri; 10am-6pm Sat. Galleries 10am-6pm Mon-Sat; 1-5pm Sun. Admission free.An extraordinary trove of vintage literature and historical memorabilia relating to black culture and the African diaspora is housed in an institution founded in 1926 by its first curator, bibliophile Arturo Alfonso Schomburg. The center also hosts art exhibitions, jazz concerts, films, lectures and tours.

Studio Museum in Harlem
144 W 125th Street, between Malcolm X Boulevard (Lenox Avenue) & Adam Clayton Powell Jr Boulevard (Seventh Avenue) (1-212 864 4500/www.studiomuseum.org). Subway: 2, 3 to 125th Street. Open noon-6pm Wed-Fri, Sun; 10am-6pm Sat. Guided tours by appointment. Admission suggested donation $7; $3 seniors, students; free under-13s. Free 1st Sat of mth. No credit cards. When the Studio Museum opened in 1968, it was the first black fine-arts museum in the country, and it remains the place to go for historical insight into African-American art and that of the African diaspora. Under the leadership of director Lowery Stokes Sims (formerly of the Met) and chief curator Thelma Golden (formerly of the Whitney), this favorite has evolved into the city’s most exciting showcase for contemporary African-American artists.

Washington Heights & Inwood

The area from West 155th Street to Dyckman (200th) Street is called Washington Heights; venture north of that and you’re in Inwood, Manhattan’s northernmost neighborhood, where the Harlem and Hudson Rivers converge. A growing number of artists and young families are relocating to these parts, attracted by the art deco buildings, big parks, hilly streets and (comparatively) low rents. The area’s biggest claim to fame is the Morris-Jumel Mansion, a stunning Palladian-style mansion that served as a swank headquarters for George Washington during the autumn of 1776.

Inwood stretches from Dyckman Street up to 218th Street, the last residential block in Manhattan. Dyckman buzzes with streetlife and nightclubs from river to river, but, north of that, the island narrows considerably and the parks along the western shoreline culminate in the wilderness of Inwood Hill Park, another Frederick Law Olmsted legacy. Some believe that this is the location of the legendary 1626 transaction between Peter Minuit and the Native American Lenapes for the purchase of a strip of land called Manahatta—a plaque at the south-west corner of the ballpark near 214th Street marks the purported spot. The 196-acre refuge contains the island’s last swathes of virgin forest and salt marsh. Today, with a bit of imagination, you can hike over the hilly terrain, scattered with massive glacier-deposited boulders (called erratics), and picture Manhattan as it was before development. In recent years, the city’s Parks Department has used the densely wooded area as a haven for newly hatched bald eagles.

The Cloisters
Fort Tryon Park, Fort Washington Avenue, at Margaret Corbin Plaza (1-212 923 3700/www.metmuseum.org). Subway: A to 190th Street, then take the M4 bus or follow Margaret Corbin Drive north, for about the length of 5 city blocks, to the museum. Open Mar-Oct 9:30am- 5:15pm Tue-Sun. Nov-Feb 9:30am-4:45pm Tue-Sun. Admission suggested donation (includes Admission to the Metropolitan Museum of Art on the same day) $20; $15 seniors; $10 students; free under-12s (must be accompanied by an adult). Credit AmEx, DC, Disc, MC, V.
Set in a lovely park overlooking the Hudson River, the Cloisters houses the Met’s medieval art and architecture collections. A path winds through the peaceful grounds to a castle that seems to have survived from the Middle Ages. (It was built a mere 70 years ago, using pieces of five medieval French cloisters.) Be sure to check out the famous Unicorn Tapestries, the 12th-century Fuentidueña Chapel and the Annunciation Triptych by Robert Campin.

Hispanic Society of America
Audubon Terrace, Broadway, between 155th & 156th Streets (1-212 926 2234/www.hispanicsociety.org). Subway: 1 to 157th Street. Open 10am-4:30pm Tue-Sat; 1-4pm Sun. Admission free.
The Hispanic Society has the largest assemblage of Spanish art and manuscripts outside Spain. Look for two portraits by Goya and the lobby’s bas-relief of Don Quixote. The collection is dominated by religious artifacts, including 16th-century tombs from the monastery of San Francisco in Cuéllar, Spain. Also on display are decorative art objects and thousands of black-and-white photographs that document life in Spain and Latin America from the mid-19th century to the present.

Morris-Jumel Mansion
65 Jumel Terrace, between 160th & 162nd Streets (1-212 923 8008/www.morrisjumel.org). Subway: C to 163rd Street-Amsterdam Avenue. Open 10am-4pm Wed-Sun. Admission $4; $3 seniors, students; free under-12s. No credit cards.
Built in 1765, Manhattan’s only surviving pre-Revolutionary manse was originally the heart of a 130-acre estate that stretched from river to river (on the grounds, a stone marker points south with the legend ‘New York, 11 miles’). George Washington planned the Battle of Harlem Heights here in 1776, after the British colonel Roger Morris moved out. The handsome 18th-century Palladian-style villa offers fantastic views. Its former driveway is now Sylvan Terrace, which boasts the largest continuous stretch (one block in total) of old wooden houses in Manhattan.

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