New York City Travel Blog
Five Points
The corner of Baxter and Worth Streets behind government buildings seems like an ordinary intersection, but on closer inspection one might notice the street sign also says âFive Pointsâ. In the 19th century, this intersection…
Stone Street
Stone Street in the Financial District of Manhattan is a lively little block, filled with outdoor tables of the bars and restaurants that line it. It received its name because it was the first street…
Peter Minuit’s Purchase of Manhattan
Peter Minuit was the third director of the colony of New Amsterdam, which later became known as New York. He is most famously known for the 1626 purchase of the island of Manhattan for $24…
John Gotti & The Ravenite Social Club
In the trendy neighborhood of NOLITA (North of Little Italy) a stylish clothing boutique with a glass storefront resides at 247 Mulberry Street. If you had come here 40 years ago, you would have seen…
The Hanging Tree and Rose Butler
In the Northwest corner of Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village stands an English Elm tree that is much taller than the trees around it. At over 300 years old, the Parks Department has declared…
The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan
In February 1963, Bob Dylan was about to release his second album, The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan. He was living at the time in a studio apartment at 161 West 4th Street near the corner of…
Café Wha?
On the corner of MacDougal Street and Minetta Lane in Greenwich Village is CafĂ© Wha?, one of the most important clubs in rock history. It was opened in 1959 by Manny Roth in a former…
The Jefferson Market Library
On the corner of Sixth Avenue and West 10th Street sits one of the most beautiful buildings in the city, now called The Jefferson Market Library. It looks like a church or castle, but it…
Nighthawks by Edward Hopper
The 1942 painting Nighthawks by Edward Hopper, which depicts four people in a small triangular restaurant late at night, is one of the most iconic American works of art. Hopper was a realist known for…
Minetta Creek
Near the entrance of the apartment building at Two Fifth Avenue there is a small plaque which reads: A BROOK WINDS ITS ERRATIC WAY BENEATH THIS SITETHE INDIANS CALLED IT MANETTE OR DEVIL’S WATERTO THE…
Patchin Place
Patchin Place is a little dead end street in Greenwich Village across from the Jefferson Market Library off West 10th Street. The buildings on it were originally built in 1848 to house lower-class hotel workers….
Staple Street Skybridge
Staple Street is a narrow lane, only two blocks long, bordered by old brick buildings in the lower Manhattan neighborhood of Tribeca. It’s charming enough on its own, but what makes it especially Instagram worthy…
The Hess Triangle
When passing the corner of 7th Avenue and Christopher Street, one might be drawn to a vintage-looking shop named Village Cigars. Indeed, it is a picturesque little shop with signage unchanged since the 1920s. But…
The Manhattan Bridge from Dumbo
One of the most iconic images of New York City is a suspension tower of the Manhattan Bridge framed by the old factory buildings in the Dumbo neighborhood of Brooklyn. The Bridge was completed in…
Second Cemetery of Shearith Israel
Walking down West 11th Street near 6th Avenue, one may notice a small triangular cemetery which seems out of place surrounded by apartment buildings. How did this little cemetery come to be here? As a…
Washington Mews
Just north of Washington Square Park between Fifth Avenue and University Place is one of the most charming streets in the city, Washington Mews. It seems out of time from the busy streets around it…