in the neighbourhood
Find your way around these eastern cities and transform from tourist into local. Kristie Kellahan maps the neighbourhoods of New York, Washington and Boston.
New York, New York: a city so wonderful they had to name it twice. When most travellers refer to New York, they’re talking about Manhattan but, in fact, this is only one of five distinct boroughs – there is also Brooklyn, Queens, the Bronx and Staten Island.
Brooklyn has the cachet of a happening borough with an independent art scene, more than its fair share of the city’s young professionals and students, and some of the best bars and cafés in New York. The most populous borough of the five, it’s becoming more expensive by the day as rappers, artists and even Sex and the City’s Miranda and Steve reinvent its dowdy image to one of city cool. Don’t miss Coney Island amusement park and beachfront; Sunday gospel performances at the Brooklyn Tabernacle church; and live music and theatre performances at BAM (Brooklyn Academy of Music).
You can still find bargain places to stay in Queens, a folksy borough of largely immigrant neighbourhoods. It’s been labelled the most ethnically diverse county in the United States and is peppered with a fantastic range of restaurants and cafés serving all manner of cuisines. Watch The New York Mets on their home ground, and don’t stop until you find the best moussaka and Greek salad from Queens’ wide choice of Greek restaurants.
The Bronx, till recently, had a reputation as a rough-and-tumble district, better known for its brawling and crime than for its scenic attractions. That perception is changing rapidly as neighbourhoods are cleaned up and the local music scene (mainly rap and hip hop) goes mainstream. Don’t miss a visit to Yankee Stadium, home of the New York Yankees, and check out the Bronx Zoo, the biggest city zoo in the US.
Staten Island is a quiet suburban borough, popular with families. One destination you might end up visiting here is the St. George Ferry Terminal, as the free Staten Island Ferry connects the island to Manhattan and affords terrific views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the Manhattan skyline. Ride the ferry during the day and again in the evening, if time permits, for entirely different scenes.
Then there’s Manhattan, immortalised in countless films and TV shows. Most first-time visitors to New York will spend all their time in this skyscraper-laden city, ticking off Manhattan’s most famous landmarks – rushing giddily from Tiffany & Co. to the Empire State Building before hiring a ride through Central Park in a horse-drawn carriage.
Should you decide on a longer stay, you’ll have some big decisions to make: are you a downtown, midtown or uptown person? Upper West or Lower East Side? Even, dare we say it, a Harlem cool cat? New Yorkers identify strongly with their neighbourhoods and it pays to know your way around.
Manhattan’s downtown or lower region is where you’ll find Wall Street and the financial district; it’s also home to newly fabulous TriBeCa (made famous by the Tribeca Film Festival) and the converted-warehouse, grungey cool of the Meatpacking District. Artists and rebels have always loved the Village, a downtown neighbourhood of cobblestone streets and folksy charm made famous by its local rag, The Village Voice.
Midtown is the most popular area for tourists and office workers, with the greatest concentration of skyscrapers and landmark buildings in New York. It is also where you can catch a Broadway show or be showered with light from the neon wonderland that is Times Square. Tourist attractions here include the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), the Rockefeller Center, the United Nations building and the Empire State Building.
Walk north to 59th Street and you’ll reach the entry to Central Park, which stretches north for 50 blocks and links the east and west sides of the city. For a start, you’ll find swimming pools in summer and ice-skating rinks in winter; a zoo; an old-time carousel; the iconic Tavern on the Green restaurant; turtle and duck ponds pick-up baseball games; rollerskating disco dancers; a concert stage and a thousand spots for canoodling.
Exit on the Upper East Side and you’ll be treated to Museum Mile (The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Guggenheim and many other fine museums are located here), displays of Park Avenue wealth that will make your eyes water, a rarefied air of old money, early 20th-century architecture, and evidence all around of genteel pursuits and elegant living.
Exit on the Upper West Side and you’ll be in the thick of Amsterdam Avenue’s best bars, a mouth-watering range of kosher delis and a huge collection of bookstores catering to the diverse literary passions of book-hungry New Yorkers.
Travel even farther uptown and you reach Harlem, a predominantly African-American neighbourhood that’s been marked for urban renewal since President Bill Clinton set up office here after leaving the White House. It was at Harlem’s famous Apollo Theater that mourners flocked for a candlelit vigil the night Michael Jackson died. Harlem has always been about spirit, soul, music and Afro-American culture: it’s a neighbourhood to watch.
North of New York, Boston has been described as a city of neighbourhoods. With 21 official (and diverse) districts, it’s easy to play pick’n’mix. Start any tour in the Downtown district: it’s the centre of business and government, and you’ll find the best shopping here – everything from major department stores to quirky boutiques.
Hungry for tasty Italian nosh? Check out North End. In the market for some cool or kitsch art? Head to South End. Those who love history will want to make a beeline for Beacon Hill, one of Boston’s oldest neighbourhoods. Lined with decorative brick row houses and cobblestone paths, it’s full of antique shops and history museums.
Baseball fanatics will want to check out the suburb of Fenway Kenmore, home to the Boston Red Sox. It’s also a neighbourhood of great cultural institutions including the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. With plenty of college students calling Fenway Kenmore home, it’s also a great place to seek out happy hours: try the bars and clubs along Lansdowne Street.
In most large cities around the world you’ll find a Chinatown alive with the sights, tastes and smells of China: Boston is no different. One of the largest Chinese neighbourhoods to be found anywhere in the USA, Boston’s Chinatown is a gourmand’s delight, offering a wide selection of Asian restaurants and bakeries as well as unique shopping opportunities.
Known as the heart of Afro-American culture in Boston, Roxbury is becoming one of the coolest pockets of the city. Roxbury Center for Arts at Hibernian Hall, run by ACT (Arts, Culture & Trade) Roxbury, is the place to watch innovative live shows from experimental visual and performing artists, who are encouraged to let their creativity flow. Blue Hill Avenue, once a dodgy succession of vacant lots, has been transformed to a vibrant shopping and dining strip.
The third in an excellent east-coast trio, Washington DC has an inimitable buzz, an energy that exists only in the USA’s decision-making hub. It is an orderly city, easily navigable by subway system. Most tourists will want to spend at least one day at the National Mall. This tree-lined boulevard between Constitution and Independence Avenues extends from the Washington Monument to the US Capitol building. West Potomac Park and the Tidal Basin, adjacent to the mall, incorporate national monuments and memorials including the famous Jefferson and Lincoln memorials and moving tributes to fallen servicemen and women. The area really comes alive on public holidays, in particular on the fourth of July, Independence Day, when flag-waving Americans gather here to watch a spectacular fireworks display.
Not far from the National Mall and also on most visitors’ must-see lists is The White House, at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. The oldest public building in DC, it is also the stateliest. Contact the Embassy of Australia in Washington DC for information on self-guided tours, which can be arranged on request.
All good sightseeing trips must include an element of dining and night-time fun. Adams Morgan is Washington DC’s liveliest nightlife precinct and is popular with young professionals, who frequent the area’s restaurants, nightclubs, coffee houses, bars, bookstores, art galleries and unique specialty shops.
Cool cats also head for Georgetown on the Potomac River. Upscale shops, bars and restaurants mark out this district, a popular place to live for senators, entrepreneurs and professors at nearby Georgetown University. And Dupont Circle has a cosmopolitan flair befitting the throbbing heart of DC’s nightlife district. By day, the neighbourhood bustles with the discreet comings and goings of many foreign embassies along Embassy Row; by night, bars and clubs play host to a diverse crowd of diplomats, college grads and travellers. It’s an area that’s also popular with DC’s gay and lesbian community.
If time permits, DC has plenty more neighbourhoods to explore, and a slew of exciting daytrips keep longer-term visitors entertained. •
Photography courtesy New York, Boston and Washington tourism offices.
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