U Thant Island in New York

11 January 2023 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  8 minutes

© Pacific Coast Highway

© Pacific Coast Highway

U Thant Island (officially Belmont Island) is a small artificial island or islet in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. The 100-by-200-foot (30 by 60 m) island, created during the construction of the Steinway Tunnel directly underneath, is the smallest island in Manhattan. Mean sea level in the East River is sometimes measured in reference to the “Belmont Island Datum”, 2.265 feet (0.69 m) below that of Sandy Hook.   read more…

Lower Manhattan in New York

29 December 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  2 minutes

© flickr.com - Daniele Pieroni/cc-by-sa-2.0

© flickr.com – Daniele Pieroni/cc-by-sa-2.0

Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with over 8.8 million residents as of the 2020 census. Lower Manhattan is defined most commonly as the area delineated on the north by 14th Street, on the west by the Hudson River, on the east by the East River, and on the south by New York Harbor. The Lower Manhattan business district, known as the Financial District (FiDi), forms the main core of the area below Chambers Street. It is a leading global center for commerce, housing Wall Street, the New York Stock Exchange, and the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.   read more…

Tudor City in New York

30 July 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, Living, Working, Building, New York City Reading Time:  17 minutes

U.N. Secretariat Building and Dag Hammarskjoeld Library behind Prospect and Tudor Towers © April Anderson/cc-by-sa-4.0

U.N. Secretariat Building and Dag Hammarskjoeld Library behind Prospect and Tudor Towers
© April Anderson/cc-by-sa-4.0

Tudor City is an apartment complex located on the southern edge of Turtle Bay on the East Side of Manhattan in New York City, near Turtle Bay’s border with Murray Hill. It lies on a low cliff, which is east of Second Avenue between 40th and 43rd Streets and overlooks First Avenue. Construction commenced in 1926, making it the first residential skyscraper complex in the world. Tudor City was one of the first, largest, and most important examples of a planned middle-class residential community in New York City. It is named for its Tudor Revival architecture.   read more…

Smorgasburg in New York City

27 April 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  4 minutes

Dumbo © flickr.com - dumbonyc/cc-by-sa-2.0

Dumbo © flickr.com – dumbonyc/cc-by-sa-2.0

Smorgasburg is an open-air food market that originated in Williamsburg, Brooklyn next to the East River. It takes place every Saturday in an empty lot. The name Smorgasburg is a portmanteau of “Smörgåsbord” and “Williamsburg”. Dozens of vendors sell their food and wares. It initially was started in 2011, by Jonathan Butler and Eric Demby as an offshoot of Brooklyn Flea.   read more…

Turtle Bay in Manhattan

11 April 2022 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  9 minutes

Tudor City © flickr.com - Tony Hisgett/cc-by-2.0

Tudor City © flickr.com – Tony Hisgett/cc-by-2.0

Turtle Bay is a neighborhood in New York City, on the east side of Midtown Manhattan. It extends from roughly 43rd Street to 53rd Streets, and eastward from Lexington Avenue to the East River‘s western branch (facing Roosevelt Island). The neighborhood is the site of the headquarters of the United Nations and the Chrysler Building. The Tudor City apartment complex is to the south of Turtle Bay. Turtle Bay is named after a former cove of the East River. The neighborhood was originally settled as a Dutch farm in the 17th century, and was subsequently developed with tenements, power plants, and slaughterhouses in the 19th century. These industrial structures were largely demolished in the 1940s and 1950s to make way for the United Nations headquarters. Today, Turtle Bay contains multiple missions and consulates to the nearby United Nations headquarters.   read more…

Upper New York Bay

20 January 2020 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  7 minutes

Governors Island © Antony-22/cc-by-sa-4.0

Governors Island © Antony-22/cc-by-sa-4.0

Upper New York Bay, or Upper Bay, is the traditional heart of the Port of New York and New Jersey, and often called New York Harbor. It is enclosed by the New York City boroughs of Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Staten Island and the Hudson County, New Jersey, municipalities of Jersey City and Bayonne.   read more…

Dumbo in Brooklyn

11 March 2019 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  < 1 minute

Empire State Building framed by Manhattan Bridge, as seen from Washington Street © MusikAnimal/cc-by-sa-4.0

Empire State Building framed by Manhattan Bridge, as seen from Washington Street © MusikAnimal/cc-by-sa-4.0

Dumbo (short for Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) is a neighborhood in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Several other New York City neighborhoods are known by portmanteaus, including Tribeca, SoHo, NoHo, NoMad, and Nolita in Manhattan, and BoCoCa in Brooklyn. The area known as DUMBO used to be known as Gairville. It encompasses two sections: one located between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges, which connect Brooklyn to Manhattan across the East River, and another that continues east from the Manhattan Bridge to the Vinegar Hill area. The neighborhood is bounded by Brooklyn Bridge Park to the north, the Brooklyn Bridge to the west, Brooklyn Heights to the south and Vinegar Hill to the east. Dumbo is part of Brooklyn Community Board 2.   read more…

Harlem in New York

28 December 2018 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  20 minutes

Cotton Club © Gotanero/cc-by-sa-3.0

Cotton Club © Gotanero/cc-by-sa-3.0

Harlem is a large neighborhood in the northern section of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Since the 1920s, Harlem has been known as a major African American residential, cultural and business center. Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658, it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. Harlem’s history has been defined by a series of economic boom-and-bust cycles, with significant population shifts accompanying each cycle. Since New York City’s revival in the late 20th century, Harlem has been experiencing the effects of gentrification and new wealth.   read more…

Theme Week New York City – The Upper East Side

13 September 2017 | Author/Destination: | Rubric: General, New York City Reading Time:  10 minutes

Fifth Avenue © flickr.com - Alex Proimos/cc-by-2.0

Fifth Avenue © flickr.com – Alex Proimos/cc-by-2.0

The Upper East Side is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, between Central Park/Fifth Avenue, 59th Street, the East River, and 96th Street. The area incorporates several smaller neighborhoods, including Lenox Hill, Carnegie Hill, and Yorkville. Once known as the Silk Stocking District, it is now one of the most affluent neighborhoods in New York City.   read more…

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