1,000 Places to See in the U.S.A. & Canada Before You Die (39 page)

A hub of life in the Village, Washington Square Park always buzzes with activity.

South of the Village, the onetime manufacturing district (and later arts haven) known as SoHo is now a high-end retail district dominated by beautiful 19th-century cast-iron architecture, as exemplified by the Haughwout Store building at the corner of Broadway and Broome. East of Broadway from Houston to 14th, what’s now known as the East Village was originally part of the Lower East Side (see p. 179) until renamed by realtors in the 1960s. It extends all the way to the East River, offering a slowly subsiding grungier vibe left over from the 1970s–’80s punk scene, as well as a smattering of Polish and Ukrainian restaurants surviving from distant immigrant days.

W
HERE
: The Village is bounded by Broadway on the east, the Hudson River on the west, Houston St. to the south, and 14th St. to the north.
M
AMOUN’S:
Tel 212-674-8685;
www.mamounsfalafel.com
.
Cost:
lunch $9.
C
AFÉ
W
HA?:
Tel 212-254-3706;
www.cafewha.com
.
B
ACK
F
ENCE:
Tel 212-475-9221;
www.thebackfenceonline.com
.
T
HE
B
LUE
N
OTE:
Tel 212-475-8592;
www.bluenotejazz.com/newyork
.
Cost:
tickets from $25.
V
ILLAGE
V
ANGUARD:
Tel 212-255-4037;
www.villagevanguard.com
.
Cost:
tickets from $30.
S
TONEWALL
I
NN:
Tel 212-463-0950;
www.stonewall-place.com
.
O
SCAR
W
ILDE
B
OOKSHOP:
Tel 212-255-8097;
www.oscarwildebooks.com
.
C
HUMLEY’S
: Tel 212-675-4449.
W
HITE
H
ORSE:
Tel 212-243-9260.
S
POTTED
P
IG:
Tel 212-620-0393;
www.thespottedpig.com
.
Cost:
dinner $35.
H
OW:
Big Onion Walking Tours (tel 212-439-1090;
www.bigonion.com
) offers tours of the Village (as well as other neighborhoods).
B
EST TIMES
: late June for the annual Gay Pride March (
www.hopinc.org
); Oct 31 for the Halloween Parade (
www.halloween-nyc.com
).

The Spiritual Home of Black America

New York, New York

For the first 200 years of its history, Harlem was a tiny agricultural village first settled by the Dutch in 1658, but in the late 19th century, it began to grow rapidly, as subways and elevated railroads reached farther north
. Grand homes and apartment buildings began to rise, turning the area into a desirable alternative to the city’s more congested downtown. In the early years of the 20th century over-development meant rents were low enough for immigrant families and later for African Americans who arrived in huge numbers from the South. By the 1920s, Harlem was home to such towering figures as W.E.B. DuBois, Zora Neale Hurston, Langston Hughes, and Duke Ellington, who forged what became known as the Harlem Renaissance, the first great flowering of black arts and letters in the U.S. But by the late 1970s, overcrowding, neglect, poverty, drugs, and violence had degraded the neighborhood into a symbol of urban decay. But in the late 1990s, Harlem again turned a corner, with an explosion of new businesses and block after block of historic homes slowly restored to their earlier glory.

At the southern end is 125th Street, a vibrant retail corridor with national chains standing side by side with locally owned shops, restaurants, and offices—including those of former president Bill Clinton. Between Adam Clayton Powell and Frederick Douglass Boulevards is the landmark Apollo Theater, an icon in the black community since 1934, when the famous Amateur Night first debuted. Ella Fitzgerald, one of the first winners, led a parade of greats that’s included Billie Holiday, James Brown, Ray Charles, Marvin Gaye, and Richard Pryor. Amateur Night is still held every Wednesday, along with a variety of headliner concerts.

To get a glimpse of where the Harlem Renaissance was born, head north to the historic neighborhood of Sugar Hill, once home to notables like Justice Thurgood Marshall and prizefighter Joe Louis, and still full of dignified row houses. A little south, backing up to each other on 138th and 139th streets between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, is a group of 1890s town houses designed by McKim, Mead & White and others. In the 1920s and ’30s, when upwardly mobile black professionals began to move in, the streets became known as “Strivers Row.”

The
Peace Fountain,
sculpted by Greg Wyatt, stands in the gardens of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine.

On Sunday mornings, visitors are a common sight at many of Harlem’s gospel church services, famous for their energetic music, passionate preaching, and spiritual lift. Best bets are the Abyssinian Baptist Church, led by the influential Reverend Calvin Butts and renowned for its choir, and Mother A.M.E. (African Methodist Episcopal) Zion, the state’s oldest black church, founded in
1797 and with a history that connects it to the Underground Railroad.

Storied restaurants are also a big draw, including the family-run Sylvia’s on Lenox Avenue and West 126th. Since 1962, this Harlem institution has served up classic soul food like mouthwatering fried chicken and heavenly corn bread. Meanwhile, over on West 131st Street near the Hudson River, new restaurants like the biker-themed Dinosaur Bar-B-Que testify to Harlem’s increasing gentrification, serving ribs that make the trip worthwhile.

South of 125th on the west side, the neighborhood of Morningside Heights encompasses Columbia University and its grand main campus, as well as the incredible Cathedral of St. John the Divine, the world’s largest gothic cathedral, with a nave as long as two football fields. Under continuous construction since 1892, it is now two-thirds done, with no completion date in sight. Along with lack of funds the use of traditional gothic building techniques accounts for the slow pace of construction, but it may also contribute to the cathedral’s powerful spirituality, which has made it a favorite of everyone from the resident Episcopal congregation to musicians such as Tibet’s Gyuto Tantric Choir and New Age saxophonist Paul Winter, who performs a winter solstice concert here annually.

W
HERE
: Harlem starts around 125th St. on the west side and around 96th St. on the east. It extends north to 155th St., and east-west from the Harlem and East Rivers to the Hudson.
A
POLLO
T
HEATER:
Tel 212-531-5301;
www.apollotheater.com
.
Cost:
from $18.
A
BYSSINIAN
B
APTIST
C
HURCH:
Tel 212-862-7474;
www.abyssinian.org
.
M
OTHER
A.M.E. Z
ION
C
HURCH
: Tel 212-234-1545;
www.motherafricanmethodistezchurch.com
.
S
YLVIA’S
: Tel 212-996-0660;
www.sylviasrestaurant.com
.
Cost:
dinner $20.
D
INOSAUR
B
AR
-B-Q
UE:
Tel 212-694-1777;
www.dinosaurbarbque.com
.
Cost:
dinner $25.
S
T
. J
OHN THE
D
IVINE:
Tel 212-316-7540;
www.stjohndivine.org
.
H
OW:
Harlem Spirituals (tel 800-660-2166 or 212-391-0900;
www.harlemspirituals.com
) offers bus tours focused on Harlem history, landmarks, gospel music, and jazz.
Cost:
4-hour Sun gospel tours $49.
B
EST TIME
: late July–Aug for Harlem Week (
www.harlemweek.harlemdiscover.com
), a month-long celebration of black and Hispanic culture that includes the Harlem Jazz & Music Festival (
www.harlemjazz.harlemdiscover.com
).

If You Can Make It Here, You Can Make It Anywhere

New York, New York

Located in the heart of the largely residential Upper West Side, 16-acre Lincoln Center is the largest arts complex in the world and the centerpiece of New York’s performing arts scene, providing a sort of one-stop-shopping
opportunity for high culture since 1962. The center’s three main theaters—the Metropolitan Opera House, the New York State Theater (home to the New York City Ballet and New York City Opera), and Avery Fisher Hall (home to the New York Philharmonic) surround a large central plaza, inspired by Michelangelo’s Campidoglio piazza in Rome,
and a fountain designed by Philip Johnson. In summer, dance bands playing swing, salsa, and more perform in the plaza as part of the Midsummer Night Swing series. Look up from your dancing to view
Source of Music
and
Triumph of Music,
two enormous Marc Chagall murals hanging behind the Opera House’s glass facade. Off the main plaza are several smaller theaters and rehearsal spaces; the Juilliard School, the country’s foremost college for the performing arts; the School of American Ballet, established in 1934 by George Balanchine; the Film Society of Lincoln Center, with showings throughout the year; and Damrosch Park, a park and band shell for outdoor performances. Five blocks down Broadway, the home of Jazz at Lincoln Center at the new Time Warner Center (see p. 170) maintains the 1,233-seat Rose Theater as well as an intimate jazz club and the amphitheater-style Allen Room, where the stage backdrop is an enormous glass wall offering magnificent nighttime views across Columbus Circle and straight down Central Park South.

At 57th Street and Seventh Avenue, Carnegie Hall is without a doubt the most famous performance venue in the U.S., if not the world. Built in 1890–91 through the largesse of industrialist Andrew Carnegie, the hall quickly became one of the most important stages anywhere, and over the decades it has seen a who’s who of the world’s greatest musicians, including Sergei Rachmaninoff, Leonard Bernstein, Maria Callas, Miles Davis, Isaac Stern, Ravi Shankar, and Pete Seeger. Behind the building’s Italian Renaissance brick and terra-cotta facade are three halls: the main 2,804-seat auditorium, where remarkable acoustics have made it a favorite of performers and audiences for more than a century; the smaller Weill Recital Hall; and Zankel Hall, presenting classical, jazz, world, and pop music, plus family concerts and education programs.

The lower reaches of the Upper West Side hold several wonderful options for pre- and post-theater dining. Picholine is a longtime favorite of the Lincoln Center crowd, offering French and Mediterranean cuisine in a sophisticated ambience of crystal chandeliers, European paintings, fine service, and a justly famous cheese cart. Nearby, Rosa Mexicano is famous for upscale Mexican cuisine (including fresh guacamole prepared tableside), killer pomegranate margaritas, and a fun, lively atmosphere.

L
INCOLN
C
ENTER:
Tel 212-546-2656;
www.lincolncenter.org
.
When:
Most companies’ seasons run from Sept or Oct–May or June.
C
ARNEGIE
H
ALL:
Tel 212-247-7800;
www.carnegiehall.org
.
When:
generally closed July–Aug.
P
ICHOLINE:
Tel 212-724-8585;
www.artisanalcheese.com
.
Cost:
dinner $75.
R
OSA
M
EXICANO:
Tel 212-977-7700;
www.rosamexicano.info
.
Cost:
dinner $40.
B
EST TIMES
: at Lincoln Center, July for Midsummer Night Swing and the Lincoln Center Festival, with performances of music, dance, theater, and opera from around the world; Aug for the Mostly Mozart festival; late Sept–Oct for the New York Film Festival.