Walking Tour 1--Greenwich Village Literary Tour
Start:Bleecker Street between La Guardia Place and Thompson Street.
Subway:Take the 6 to Bleecker Street, which lets you out at Bleecker and Lafayette Streets. Walk west on Bleecker.
Finish:14 West 10th St.
Time:Approximately 4 to 5 hours.
Best Time:If you plan to do the whole tour, start fairly early in the day (there's a breakfast break near the start).
The Village has always attracted rebels, radicals, and creative types, from earnest 18th-century revolutionary Thomas Paine, to early 20th-century radicals, such as John Reed and Mabel Dodge, to the Stonewall rioters who gave birth to the gay liberation movement in 1969. Much of Village life centers around Washington Square Park, the site of hippie rallies and counterculture demonstrations, as well as the former stomping ground of Henry James and Edith Wharton.
Many other American writers have at some time made their homes in the Village. As early as the 19th century, it was New York's literary hub and a venue for salons and other intellectual gatherings. Both the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art came into being here, albeit some 60 years apart.
The 20th century saw Greenwich Village transformed from a bastion of old New York families to a bohemian enclave of struggling writers and artists. Though skyrocketing rents made the Village less accessible to aspiring artists after the late 1920s, it remained a mecca for creative people--so much so that almost every building is a literary landmark--though I promise not to take you to every one. Nonetheless, this tour is a long one, and you may want to break it up into two visits.
Walking Tour 2--Midtown: The Concrete Jungle
Start:Grand Central Terminal.
Subway:Take the 4, 5, 6, 7, or the shuttle to 42nd Street/Grand Central.
Finish:The Plaza Hotel.
Time:Approximately 4 hours, not counting time for browsing in shops and galleries.
Best Time:Weekdays, when Midtown is bustling but the attractions aren't as packed as they tend to be on weekends.
Worst Time:Rush hour (weekdays 8:30-9:30am and 4:30-6pm).
If there's one area that defines New York in the popular imagination, it's Midtown. Concentrated here are the dozens of the towering skyscrapers that are so closely identified with the city and its skyline. Lining Fifth Avenue and 57th Street are blue-chip art galleries, high-toned boutiques, chic department stores, and, increasingly, theme restaurants such as the Hard Rock Cafe that make New York the consumer capital of the world. Midtown is Manhattan at its most glamorous.
Walking Tour 3--The Upper East Side
Start:The southeast corner of Central Park, at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue.
Subway:Take the N or R to Fifth Avenue.
Finish:91st Street and Fifth Avenue.
Time:Approximately 3 hours.
Best Time:Weekday afternoons, when museums and restaurants are open but not as crowded as on Saturdays.
Worst Time:Sundays, when most stores and galleries are closed and the streets seem deserted.
Over a century ago, society watchers predicted that the wealthy and fashionable would settle permanently on the avenues bordering Central Park. Time has proven them right. Fifth Avenue north of Grand Army Plaza, which lies at the southeast corner of the park, is officially called Museum Mile. But the magnificent private mansions built here in the first few decades of this century by some of America's wealthiest industrial tycoons also earned it the title of Millionaires' Row. Judging from old photos, it was something to behold.
Today, patrician mansions still stand along the avenue, though others have ceded their coveted real estate to large apartment houses. But the age of imperial living isn't over by any means. Some of the buildings on Fifth Avenue (as well as on Park Ave. and elsewhere on the East Side) contain apartments every bit as palatial and sumptuous as the vanished mansions. Even New Yorkers are surprised to hear of apartments with 20, 30, or even 40 rooms, but they do exist in this neighborhood.
