20| A BITE OF OUT OF THE BIG APPLE
New York : A Bite of the Apple
November/December 2024
By Tom Adair
OK, so you fancy a trip to New York. It could be expensive. Fasten your seat belt, prepare to spend big. A pad in midtown, or somewhere decent offering comfort and convenience, such as Chelsea or Brooklyn Heights, could threaten most budgets. The view from your window might be of back streets, played out to a soundtrack of speeding cop cars day and night. You’re in the city that never sleeps. Four or five days could explode the wallet, melt your credit card, leave you sleepless. Want to save a mini-fortune? Don’t lodge in Manhattan.
My recent trip bucked the usual trend.
I stayed in the city’s southernmost,
least
populated borough, Staten Island, on the leafy edge of the village of old St. George, a historic tree lined, charming suburb, boasting a stunningly beautiful theatre, decent restaurants, and a deli across the street from my bedroom window that did great takeaways for breakfast. The precinct was quiet and just a stroll from the round-the-clock Staten Island Ferry,
which
plies the 25 minute crossing to Manhattan completely free.
I stayed at Fort Place B&B, a genuine clapboard Victorian gem with period furnishings. I had the middle floor to myself for a knockdown $90 a night (that’s £68).
From my Staten base, I sailed every morning towards the iconic New York skyline, veering close to the Statue of Liberty, enthralled by the city skyline bathed in sunrise, the self-same view you’d enjoy from the deck of every opulent ocean liner approaching its berth on the Hudson River. Awed by the spectacle, I felt wealthy. So, here’s my guide to making your New York stay affordable and fun: First, I bought an unlimited, 7-day subway Metro card for just over $30, (you’ll find machines in every station), cheaper than paying for single rides and far more convenient. Once you’ve decided where to go, get a decent Subway app and starting figuring.
Every morning I’d sail towards the fast approaching high rise, stream through the ferry port, heading north on one of the punctual, frequent trains to explore a slew of popular precincts along Line One: Wall Street, Ground Zero, Greenwich Village,
Union Station, Broadway, Times Square, skirting the edge of Central Park West. Familiarity hits you at once when
New York’s parks are among its great glories and each comes free. Do not miss Prospect Park in Brooklyn; stroll by its boathouse, head for the lake, the bosky walking trails, the café, the sheer tranquillity. Then there’s Riverside Park, a green ribbon alongside the mighty Hudson River, and the Daddy, bang in the middle, the must-visit magnet, Central Park. Trouble is, you can’t properly see it in all its glory in less than a day; I love its boating lake (it isn’t just for lovers seeking escape!), the zoo, the nostalgia hit of the carousel where I’ve sat on previous visits, watching the high rise spin around me. It’s where New Yorkers go, they say, to escape the city.
you come up for air. This city is known to us from the movies: the Empire State
Building,
Central Park, Grand Central Station,
Rockefeller
Plaza, each stuffed with moments of déjà vu. My comedy favourite-‘When Harry Met Sally-lured me directly to Washington Square and its famous Arch. It was abuzz with serious chess players, skate boarders, bench-bums sleeping, or delving into waste bins, people picnicking, feeding pigeons. I spent an hour there among the crowds enjoying a jazz quintet, all busking for their lives, all giving freely.
Nearby is the tiny, quirky museum of American Folk Art, uniquely free among New York’s museums, but always lively with its changing exhibitions. Other museums have freebee ‘windows’. MoMA (the Museum of Modern Art), offers free entrance on Friday evenings from 4 until 8. The architecturally striking Guggenheim, from 5pm on Saturdays, until closing, lets its visitors pay what they want. I love the Impressionists, so the MoMA deal was a must as was my Lincoln Center visit to see and hear the world class New York Philharmonic, performing rehearsals on the morning of a concert. For a fraction of evening admission, I had the entirety of the show. With the dollars I saved, I dined in style, before heading to Broadway’s ‘The Book of Mormon’ (disappointing—though the audience went bananas), then two nights later I saw the side-splitting ‘Play That Goes Wrong’. Both shows were half price from the Times Square ticket booth, (look for the queue from mid-afternoon). And be sure to go shopping. The great department stores— Macy’s, Bloomingdales and Saks—are destinations in themselves, part of New York’s indelible brand, whether you’re hunting out bargains or not. You’ll find them in Midtown; enjoy the original interiors, sip a latte, relish the patter-staff versus customers, Noo York accents, pure cut and thrust. Fashionistas, your bank before you go),
(call should sashay to Barney’s or Bergdorf
Goodman, heaven for shoe devotees and voyeurs. What they lack, though, is sunlight, fresh
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