Welcome to the Neighborhood: Manhattan

In the name of small scale adventure, I’m spending one day each month exploring an area in or around New York City that I’ve never been to before. Welcome to the neighborhood. 

When I came up with this year’s monthly challenge, I sourced my list of potential neighborhoods from friends, family, and Reddit. I knew I wanted to hit every borough at least once and was open to the commuter areas in New Jersey, Long Island, Westchester, and Connecticut. One area that I didn’t feel I could in good faith call “unexplored” was Manhattan. 

This certainly isn’t to say that I know every neighborhood. It’s more a reflection of how I moved here in 2016 and lived in Manhattan until I moved to Queens two-ish years ago. One of my brothers lives in Manhattan. Every job I’ve ever had has been based in Manhattan. I’ve run endless miles in Manhattan parks, could walk to my favorite library blindfolded, and have such an affinity for the applestand at one farmer’s market you would think they paid me to talk about them.

I thought I knew Manhattan and therefore banned it from my list. But then I spent May 2 walking around the entire perimeter of the island, tearing up my peroneal tendon in the process. A doctor’s visit later, I realized a day endlessly on my feet and exploring a truly new neighborhood wasn’t going to be in the cards this month. Once that disappointment faded, I realized maybe I could still hit my May goal. Maybe, I could share my Manhattan.

I moved from western Pennsylvania to New York City by way of Europe when I was 21. It was kind of an accident. I had accepted an internship with a travel company and, even as I boarded the flight on January 1, knew it probably wasn’t the right fit. About 10 days later, I sat down with the intern supervisor at a pizzeria in Florence and said I was leaving. I flew to Northern Ireland to visit my friend and his family. When I’d shared my hesitations about the role, he had reassured me that if wasn’t what I wanted, at least I could swing by Northern Ireland after I quit. 

I landed at JFK, jetlagged out of my brain and splurged on a cab to my brother’s apartment where I’d stay for a few days before finding a Craigslist room of my own. I never intended to stay more than a year. It was an experiment, mainly. The problem is, sometimes you like the way the hypothesis turns out.

I moved to Manhattan and despite living years in tiny apartments with multiple roommates, I found myself frequently hosting and playing tour guide. At the time I was in a long distance relationship and between my ex, my family, friends who were in town on school trips, and my general disposition to doing all things at all times, I became a pro at showing people around. 

I had a circuit that I ran in lower Manhattan and a route that took my guests and I through midtown. We’d enter all the Broadway lotteries and then I’d ask about food goals for the trip. From there, I’d begin itinerary building. Most of the time, and especially in my early 20s, my recommendations were things like the park (free) or bakeries (necessary). 

Despite still working in Manhattan, I now spend more time in Queens. But that doesn’t mean I can’t, for this month’s edition, welcome you to the borough of Manhattan. Here are some of my favorite places and things. Some of these things are touristy. Let this be a reminder that you’re allowed to like things that are popular.  

Let’s start with the aforementioned lower Manhattan tour. I always took people on the Staten Island Ferry. I encourage people to stand outside so they can see the view of the Statute of Liberty. But on the way back, I like standing on the bottom back/front of the boat so you are facing lower Manhattan as you return. The views of the skyline (especially at night) feel really unique and beautiful. 

In Battery Park (lower Manhattan) there’s also a Seaglass Carousel. It’s kind of silly and also kind of beautiful. While you’re in the neighborhood, stop at the National Museum of the American Indian. It’s a Smithsonian institution so it’s free to enter which means you can pop in/out and not feel like you have to stay for hours to get your money's worth.  

My midtown tour was busy but there’s a lot you can knock out in an afternoon. While I do everything in my power to avoid Times Square now, of course you have to go if it’s your first time in the city. To skip would feel akin to going to Paris and never looking at the Eiffel Tower. But a few blocks east of Times Square, across 42nd street is my favorite part of midtown. 

Randomly, both my long-term, in-person, NYC-based jobs had offices within 2 blocks of Grand Central. And while Grand Central is “just a subway station” in many ways, it’s also objectively beautiful and worth sticking your head into. But before you get there, you’ll hit Bryant Park. Bryant Park is classic urban green space and while I’ve spent a lot of time there, I’ve spent far more time at the Whole Foods across from Bryant Park. When I participated in NaNoWriMo (National Novel Writing Month), I would leave my office, purchase a cookie from the bakery, and sit in the upstairs cafe, writing with a view of the park until my computer died or until I hit my self-imposed word count. Those were some of my favorite evenings. 

Next to Bryant Park is the main branch of the New York Public Library. I make a point to go every year around the holidays and as often as I can otherwise. My favorite thing is the lions that stand guard outside the library. The lions are named Patience (southern lion) and Fortitude (northern lion) and I am always looking for excuses to tell people that. There are also a couple great bookstores in the area that I recommend—Books Kinokuniya (next to the aforementioned Whole Foods) and BookOff (a used book, movie, music, etc. store with great deals). My last midtown recs are to pop up to St. Patrick’s Cathedral and Rockefeller Center mainly because you’re so close you might as well. 

Moving north to the Upper West Side, there’s a stretch I enjoy with Zabars, the “gourmet emporium” (and deli) that’s nearly 100 years old, the Nuts Factory, and Westsider Rare & Used Books. I hold fondly the memory of my college roommates visiting, getting way too caffeinated at Zabars, and then buzzing through the bookstore and American Museum of Natural History. It would be hard to not love the Natural History Museum. Thanks to the NYC ID, I had a year’s free membership once and would drop in on my way home from work for an hour or on the weekends just to poke around. Once, in a deeply challenging time, I stumbled into the Davis Family Butterfly Vivarium and now unintentionally associate that space with mandatory resilience.

If you have the desire to watch the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in person, I recommend watching from near the Natural History Museum, where the route begins. It’s less crowded and you get to see the same floats that eventually make it down to Herald Square. I recommend grabbing a hot chocolate, leaving after Santa goes past, and then getting home in time to stream the end of the parade from your sofa. 

I lived for the longest about 10 blocks north of Columbia University. My final stop on the tour would often be “my neighborhood” tour. In those years, you could walk through the Columbia campus and because I was in my early and mid-twenties, I could blend in with the students well enough. I went to many free concerts and events and basically once a year since I moved here I’ve gone to a Columbia basketball game. 

I used to stop at the farmer’s market across from Columbia every Sunday. I’d buy seven apples, one for every day of the week until I would next see them. So spoiled I became that I began to turn my nose up at grocery store apples. My other frequented farmer’s market was the one at Union Square. I also briefly worked in that neighborhood. I’d call my dad on the walk from the train to the office and give him the “day’s prediction,” aka, what kind of day it would be based on the dogs I saw at the Union Square Dog Park. Also on 14th street, just much further west is my favorite donut spot, Donut Pub. Open 24/7, they make the very best vegan blueberry cake donuts. 

But back north. My favorite dinner spot in my old neighborhood is Massawa, an Eritrean and Ethiopian place. When my friends and I—a ragtag group of artists, college students, nonprofit professionals, and freelancers in our early 20s—wanted to celebrate, that was where we went for our big, exciting, splurge-worthy night out. Some of my fondest memories from those years are laughter filled conversations and joking about how good the (tap) water was at the restaurant. I suspect what was really good was our togetherness. And probably their air conditioning. 

But beyond Columbia, I would show people Riverside Church and Grant’s Tomb and Sakura Park. St. John the Divine, and the Hungarian Pastry Shop. But my favorite place to take people was Riverside Park. Don’t get me wrong, I love Central Park. I’ve put in many miles on those hills. But Riverside Park was different. Riverside Park felt like coming home. Sure, I’ve trained for 2 marathons in Riverside Park. But more than that, I’ve watched little kids sledding in winter. I’ve seen college students passing a frisbee back and forth. I’ve watched families post up for picnics and dogs trotting casually next to their humans. I’d be hard pressed to find a place that more resembles peace and hope and energy and joy.

It must have been 2016 that my colleague and I walked down to the water at the 125th Street Piers one day and ran into a boat. The man on board told us he was going to turn the decommissioned U.S. Navy vessel into a restaurant. He invited us on and, trusting as ever, we got a private tour. “This is where the kitchen would be. This is where we’d set up the bar.” I didn’t think too too much more of it until one day, my brother mentioned going to the Baylander. Our friend for the afternoon had done it. Baylander is a wonderful little spot on the water for drinks and food and I’ve spent many (for someone who doesn’t drink) pleasant nights on its deck with loved ones.  

When it comes to museums, it’s hard not to love the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I could (and have) spent hours in there and left feeling like I’d barely scratched the surface. Beyond the Upper East Side location, a fun fact is that that ticket also gets you entry to the Met Cloisters on the same day. I lived close to the Cloisters for 2 years and would run by there multiple times a week. The Cloisters sit in Fort Tryon Park, a wildly underrated place to walk, run, sit, and daydream. And, while you’re up in Washington Heights, I recommend one of my favorite Indian places in the city, Kismat. When I lived up there, they hosted live jazz on Tuesday nights which was always a cozy time.  

Also in upper Manhattan is the Little Red Lighthouse. Situated in Fort Washington Park (which, by the way, Riverside Park connects all the way up to). The lighthouse holds sentimentality for some of my friends (because of a book, The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge, which, eek, I still need to read!!) but for me, it was just a reliable sign that my run was almost done. But that “great bridge,” the George Washington Bridge, feels really special. Many, many workouts were ran across the Hudson to New Jersey. And while I’m running other bridges now, I still hold a lot of love for that route. 

One of my favorite museums is the Museum of the City of New York. When I hit my one year anniversary of living in New York, I took myself on a date to the museum and marveled. I honestly don’t know if it would hit in the same way as a tourist but I will forever be grateful for that intentional time spent appreciating and loving on the place I was learning to call home. 

When I first moved here, I would exclusively go back and forth from Pittsburgh on the overnight Megabus. At that time, the Megabus picked up across from Jacob Javits Convention Center and it was no man’s land over there. I’d wait by the water—because the Pittsburgh bus parked furthest west and fight the wind at 10:00 pm, waiting to get on the bus so I could sleep for eight hours home. Now, Hudson Yards has the Vessel and a bougie mall and feels more alive, especially being the start/end point of the High Line. I hardly go to the neighborhood except around the holidays. I really like how they decorate with their lights.

Randall’s Island and Roosevelt Island are both administratively part of Manhattan. I love them deeply. Years ago, I was a volunteer race director organizing a 5k on Randall’s Island. The first 5k I ran after having to pause running for a couple years for health reasons was on Roosevelt Island. Now, I frequently both islands for long runs and quiet walks. Roosevelt Island has the added bonus of being accessible from Manhattan via sky tram which is just kind of a fun thing. (Of course, my preferred mode of transportation remains the ferry… which you can also take!)

I love Absolute Bagels (now known as 2788 Bagels) and the AMC movie theatre in the Upper West Side. I think Two Boots Pizza is great for vegan and standard options. I could spend hours in Book Culture. Little Island is cute, even when it’s busy and Plantega is a vegan’s favorite thing to happen to bodegas. But my favorite Manhattan might be the nights I spent talking with friends on the (not-really-allowed-to-be-up-here) roof of my old apartment. Or the leisurely strolls simply because walking for an hour often feels better than taking the train for 15 minutes. 

When I sat down to write this blog, I jotted down a couple restaurants I liked and a couple bookstores. But the longer I sat, the more the list grew. What about that bar where I played Scrabble on a really good second date? Fat Cat, West Village, closed. Or the dorky 50s–styled diner where my friends and I would play Trivial Pursuit? Big Daddy’s, Upper West Side, closed. Or the vegan bakery with super delicious treats? Innocent Yesterday, Upper East Side, closed. 

Perhaps that is part of loving something so dynamic. It will forever be growing and changing and evolving. I wonder how many more versions of it I will be lucky enough to live through. I wonder how many more versions of myself will unfold here.