Stephen Millar - New York Offbeat Walks

2023 Stephen Millar

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be copied or transmitted in any form by any means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, except brief extracts for the purpose of review, and no part of this publication may be sold or hired without the express permission of the publisher.

Published in the United States and Canada by:

Museyon Inc.

333 East 45th Street

New York, NY 10017

Museyon is a registered trademark.

Visit us online at www.museyon.com

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data available.

ISBN 978-1-940842-55-4

Printed in China

Dedicated to the memory of Oney Judge and Jane Jacobs

I dedicate this book to all the wonderful people in New York who have made this Scot feel welcome over the years. I first visited in 1990 and decades later still remain of the opinion that New York is the most exciting city in the world. It never stands still, even though that can often infuriate many of even its most loyal residents who prefer the past.

Most specifically, I would like dedicate this book to Monica, who let me stay at the wonderful Ansonia (that certainly beat the hostel with no ceiling), and my dear American friends Rachel and Nicole who I met by chance in Edinburgh while researching another book.

My thanks also to Akira and Janice at Museyon who helped me get this book over the line

W hen I set out to write this book, my goal was to provide walkers with an alternative view of Manhattan. The book is not the typical guide to trendy restaurants or the most well-known attractions, but instead is a vision of New York City seen through a rather personal blend of history, architecture, and popular culture.

Along the way, you will visit the locations of lost canals, slave markets, and where mobsters were assassinated. You will pass pencil-thin towers where billionaires live in the early 21st century and where the citys elite rub shoulders in anonymous, exclusive clubs that have existed for generations. You will see where the Beat poets used to live and drink, where jazz reached its zenith and Elvis and the Beatles changed the world. In this book, the Westies gang and Jane Jacobs are as worthy of inclusion as George Washington, Andy Warhol, or Jackie Kennedy.

For simplicity, each walk concentrates on a particular district, or sometimes districts, but they do not attempt to be definitive guides in each case. For example, there is a single Upper East Side walk, but given its size and diversity, it would have been possible to include several walks covering that district.

I encourage you to take your time and take a few hours just to meander. Look up and down and resist the pressure most New Yorkers feel to get from A to B as quickly as possible. These walks should take hours, and you should take detours of your own. Try a new bar, restaurant or caf you have never been to before, and talk to localseveryone has their own fascinating story if you try and find it. If you see someone wandering the streets with this bookI would hope with a smile on their facesay hello or wave.

Over the past few years, I have written other walk books, including four covering London. I have always encouraged walkers to get in touch and let me know how they have got on. My contact email is . Inevitably the city changes, so if you find things that need to be updated, or a direction is unclear, please let me know.

1COLONIAL NEW YORK

2CIVIC CENTER, CHINATOWN & LITTLE ITALY

3TRIBECA

4SOHO

5THE BOWERY

6WEST VILLAGE

7CHELSEA

8HELLS KITCHEN

9MIDTOWN

10UPPER EAST SIDE

11UPPER WEST SIDE

12HARLEM

The Purchase of Manhattan Island by Peter Minuit in 1626, William T. Ranney, c. 1855