Hidden New York: A Guide to Places That Matter

by Steven J. Zeitlin, Steven J. Zeitlin, Marci Reaven

Despite its innumerable tourist attractions, New York City still has many secrets, hidden in the most unlikely places. There is the Edison Hotel in Times Square, where magicians gather 'round the Magic Table to socialize and compete. There is Hua Mei Garden in the Lower East Side, where elderly Chinese men meet to display exotic birds. And there is Sahadi's in Brooklyn, where the culinary arts thrive, and New Yorkers go for just the right ingredients for a Middle Eastern meal. This book details thirty-two unusual locations such as these and enhances them by including a cluster of additional, related spots. Hidden New York shows you why these places matter and guides you through the historical and cultural significance of each one.

Many of them matter because of the opportunities they provide for socializing, such as the Empire Roller Disco in Brooklyn that attracts a community of skaters and the Cube sculpture on Astor Place, which is a meeting spot for homeless youth. Others matter because they are focal points for communities and the spaces are intertwined with how people share in each others' lives. Still others have been lost, like the house under the roller coaster in Coney Island, made famous by Woody Allen in Annie Hall.

This book is not just about Manhattan, but covers all five boroughs in New York City. It is an invitation to visit, revisit, learn, and enjoy all that you didn't know the city has to offer. It will show you what's there, what used to be there, and why it will be there for years to come. The chapters, illustrated with appealing black-and-white photos, include first-person remembrances and commentaries from New Yorkers themselves. Each entry functions as a small travel essay, evoking how certain destinations are experienced. As a guide to the New York City that is less traveled, this unique book shows that some of the best places to visit are ones that you never even thought existed.

The 32 Places That Matter
Hua Mei Bird Garden
Russian and Turkish Tenth Street Baths
Bohemian Hall and Beer Garden
The Magic Table at the Edison Hotel
The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesman
Webster Hall
The Cube
Stickball Boulevard and the Stadiums of the Street
Thomas Jefferson Park Pool
Empire Roller Skating Center
Chess Havens
Coney Island
The Lemon Ice King of Corona
Coney Island Bialys and Bagels
Sahadi's Specialty and Middle Eastern Foods
Arthur Avenue Market
Union Square Greenmarket
The Village Vanguard
Casa Amadeo Record Shop
Richmond Barthé's Frieze at Kingsborough Houses
Quirky Features of the Landscape
Art in the Subways
Governors Island
Casita Rincón Criollo, Magnolia Tree Earth Center, Liz Christy Bowery-Houston Community Garden
The Flower District
Fishing around New York
Kehila Kedosha Janina Synagogue and Museum
Masjid Al-Taqwa
Ganesha Hindu Temple
Our Lady of Mount Carmel Grotto
The Memorials of the Battery
Strawberry Fields

Genres: Travel

381 pages, Paperback

First published October 4, 2006

Reviews

[Viridian5 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Although the writing sometimes had a tone that put me off from trying too hard to be poetic, I’m glad I persevered because it introduced me to some places I wasn’t aware of it and their histories, some of them existing only in memory at the time of publishing, such as the site of the Tic Tac Toe Chicken that had once been in Chinatown. (Spoiler: at best, people tied with the chicken; they never defeated it. The chicken retired in 1998 and was never replaced.)

Of course, a problem of reading about locations in New York is that some that existed at the time of publishing might no longer be there and that’s true for this book written in 2006. For example, Empire Rolling Skating Center no longer exists: despite its decades of history and fond memories it was demolished in 2007 to make way for a self-storage warehouse. The Flower District was destroyed by rising rents and a large influx of new residents who complained about the noise of the delivery trucks, not caring that these workers had been there doing this for decades. It’s sad seeing something interesting in this book only to check the internet and find out you missed it.