New York is often described as a city you must visit once in your life. Like London, Paris, Rio de Janeiro and Tokyo. Like Tangiers and Port Said used to be, although cultural shift has replaced them with newer locations. But New York has stood the test of time, thus far anyway.
It’s a city you see radiate glitz and glamour with celebrities living in lush upper east side apartments, attending the Met Gala, and billionaire investment bankers acting like they’re playing monopoly, but New York also has a seedier side that lives away from (and under) the fancy parts of Manhattan, you can see the neglected New Yorkers on every subway cart in the city, in the areas away from Wall Street and celebrities, is a New York of deprivation, neglect and violence.
Immediately prior to our trip, a woman was set on fire on the train and sadly passed away. During our week in the city, an innocent bystander was pushed in the path of an oncoming train, and 2 more were stabbed within the subway system, whilst 10 people were injured during a shooting at a Queens nightclub. Thankfully there were no fatalities in these incidents, but this is the reality of New York for lots of those not in plush neighbourhoods.
Despite the gnarly (perhaps underreported) underbelly of New York, it still remains one of those cities at the centre of the world. Countless movies and TV shows have been set within the big apple. There’s not just an array of musical artists to have come from New York, but they’ve written countless songs about the city, and countless comedians have hailed from the 5 boroughs. Whilst Dubai has claimed the “Worlds Tallest building” acclaim from New York, the big Apple still features prominently amongst the World’s most famous skyscrapers, and dominated the tallest building list for the majority of the 20th century.
Enough about New York, time to talk about me, in New York.
Our first day, we made our way from JFK airport to Williamsburg, and the subway was… gnarly. Passing through deprived neighbourhoods on our way from the airport, whilst gripping our luggage tightly before finally getting off at Marcy Ave, and deciding to get an uber for the last stretch of the journey rather than haul our luggage to the hotel.
We stayed at the Hoxton, which was brilliant. Friendly staff, lovely views of Manhattan over the river, without the hustle bustle (and prices) of Manhattan, but being a 20 minute subway journey from that hustle bustle. I don’t normally recommend the hotels I stay in, but I couldn’t recommend this hotel more.
We quickly freshened up, and then hit the City (explored our a few streets around Williamsburg close to our hotel). Our first stop was the famous Joe’s Pizza (featured in Tobey Maguire’s Spider-Man) for a slice.
After Joe’s, we embarked on a little pub crawl before taking in the stunning views of Manhattan from Domino Park.
I’d noticed a craft brewery right on the Park (Other Half Brewing) so we called in for one before heading further from the water, and I must admit it was a bit underwhelming.
We were getting peckish, as all we’d really ate in New York was a slice of pizza, so we went looking for food and stumbled across a Shake Shack (which I’d also heard good things about, but it was just good – not great)
We stumbled across a bar named The Gutter, not because it was a dive, but because it was also a bowling alley, and we opted for a few games of bowling before calling it a night, and the ambience of The Gutter just made it such a fun night.
There were no frills, just beer, bowling, and belly busting laughter. It felt like something from a movie.
We’d planned a super productive day exploring Lower Manhattan the next day, so we called it quits from bowling at a sensible time, and got some sleep.
And a super productive day, it was. We began early by venturing to DUMBO to see the famous bridge viewpoint, and then walk across the Brooklyn Bridge into Manhattan.
When you get to Manhattan, you arrive at the City Hall, close to Chinatown. And we decided to have a walk through Chinatown before opting to see Wall Street and the Financial District.
After seeing the Ultra-Capitalist side of New York, we opted for breakfast. Amy had wanted to try Liberty Bagels, so we ventured to the nearest one. The queue was manageable compared to videos of it online. But the bagel itself does not live up to the hype.
Leon‘s Bagels were much better priced, and tastier, with no queuing times.
After we refuelled; the next stop was the Staten Island Ferry to see The Statue of Liberty. Day trips to the island to see the statue up close can be pricey, and more importantly, very time consuming. We wanted to have a better look at it, but not commit half a day on a private tour, so we got the (free) ferry to Staten Island which bypasses the statue en route, and it allowed us to briefly visit Staten Island whilst disembarking and waiting for the next ferry…
The Ferry also offers a majestic view of Lower Manhattan as you depart for Staten Island.
Should you be short on time during your visit, I’d recommend this to see the Statue of Liberty over a private tour.
We disembarked the Ferry and called into the Dead Rabbit Bar, close to the Ferry terminal, founded by 2 men from Belfast, and now regarded as one of the best bars in the world, winning many accolades through the years to prove their pedigree.
Next, we‘d ventured to the site of Ground Zero, and observed the reflecting pools where the Twin Towers once stood, with the names of the 9/11 victims inscribed on the wall around it.
The size of the pools is humbling, you don’t quite realise how big the Twin Towers were, whilst the shiny new “One World Trade Centre” overlooks the pools where its’ predecessors once stood.
After paying our respects to the souls lost on 9/11, we ventured north, through TriBeCa, to the Fire Station used as the Ghostbusters HQ in the movies.
We grabbed some quick Tacos nearby before venturing through Canal Street, observing the sales, people openly selling Marijuana, and bustling Chinese Restaurants. Realising we’d come almost full circle back to Chinatown.
Chinatown isn’t the only ethnic enclave located off of Canal Street. Little Italy is also nearby.
We had regretted the tacos, as the food options in both Little Italy, and Chinatown would have been much more substantial. But it was what it was.
We had completed our itinerary of Lower Manhattan, and opted to sample some of the dive bars around the East Village/Ukrainian Village areas. Sophie’s and 12th Street Ale House were my favourites. We wanted to try Sly Fox in the heart of the Ukrainian Village, but it was closed.
We began to get hungry again, and conveniently had a 7th Street Burger nearby – so that was our pitstop before returning to Brooklyn, and it did not disappoint.
I had previously written about the best burgers I’ve had whilst travelling, and 7th Street’s delicious burgers have earned a deserved spot on the list amongst other greats.
We called it a night when we got back to Brooklyn, as although we’d planned a chill following day (which happened to also be New Year’s Eve) we didn’t want to spend it hungover.
When we got up on New Year’s Eve, we didn’t some thrift shopping around Williamsburg, which is inundated with thrift/vintage shops – a Hipsters paradise.
After the shopping, we wanted to do something quintessentially American: eat in a diner, because when we visited Vegas, Denny’s was horrible.
We ventured to Kellogg’s diner on the edge of Williamsburg, as it was a neighbourhood staple – with good reviews online, and we were not disappointed.
After breakfast, we ventured a little deeper into Brooklyn, towards the King of NY mural of Biggie Smalls. The area around the mural is a real melting pot of Hasidic Jewish people, African Americans, and Latin Americans. It’s cool to see the New York often shown on TV to really exist, with many ethnic groups existing in harmony, especially when where I live if so ethnically… undiverse.
Next to it, was the charming “Do or Dive Bar”, one of the many Dive Bars I visited during my time in the Big Apple, but mainly focused on Manhattan bars, as most visitors barely venture outside of Manhattan.
In addition to Do or Dive, we also stopped into Sharlene’s dive bar on Flatbush avenue. Another charming bar, and fun location to kill an hour or 2.
Eventually we realised we’d need to make treks back towards Williamsburg, as the city would be overcrowded on New Year’s Eve, and locals had warned us to avoid Times Square.
With New York’s transport centred around Manhattan, we had to travel into Manhattan to get back to Williamsburg as there are no direct train lines from the Barclay’s Centre to Williamsburg. The detour was okay though, as we scoped a guy dressed like a pimp on the subway.
We got back to Williamsburg as a thunderstorm erupted, accompanied by torrential rain, so we bought some beers from a bodega near our hotel, and watched the Times Square coverage on TV in the hotel room – where we had a view of Manhattan and some of the fireworks (when our view was not obscured by fog)
The weather on New Years Day was much better, where we picked up our Manhattan exploration, before returning to the Gutter for a comedy show we had bought tickets for.
We started at the Flatiron building, which was boarded up, joining the list with Prague‘s Astronomical Clock and Big Ben of buildings I had to see behind scaffolding.
The Empire State Building was up next, but it’s much more impressive from a distance than it is up close.
After looking through the stalls at the market set up Macy’s, we were put off entering Macy’s due to the crowds pushing through the doors – life is too short for that.
We then ventured towards West Manhattan, to Vessel, an attraction that’s been marred with controversy, it was closed on multiple occasions after some visitors jumped from it, most recently reopening in October 2024, with the top levels being closed off, which was underwhelming.
The view from the top of Vessel is rather lacklustre too. It’s an attraction I think you could skip should you visit New York.
After the disappointment of this, we ventured towards Rudy’s, one of New York’s famous Dive Bars where you get a hot dog with every drink ordered, and get to watch no-nonsense bar staff put manners on drunken customers.
Before we got too comfortable eating hot dogs and drinking $3 beers, we decided to resume our sightseeing. First up was the famous Times Square, and this place is hell on earth. Masses of people swarming everywhere, all to see giant screens. Why? I could not leave the area quick enough.
We made our way to see the nearby Radio City Building, decked out in the festive lights with the tree taking centre stage. The crowds were a bit more bearable here, but this part of Manhattan was very pedestrian heavy.
The plaza in front of the Rockefeller building was nearby, with the ice rink and tree from Home Alone out front.
It was beginning to get dark, and we were conscious of the comedy show we had booked, so we squeezed in a glimpse of the Chrysler Building, and headed towards Grand Central Station.
Grand Central Station is incredibly elegant. And I could just feel my brain recounting all the TV Shows/movies that have featured a scene in the frantic foyer of the building.
We arrived at Gutters’ with a little time to kill before “Comedians You Should Know” started, and had a spectacular night. I’d recommend attending a local/small comedy night whilst travelling. Yes – you won’t get all the jokes, but it’s a cheap and cheerful way to pass an evening, and mingle with locals.
We may have socialised a little too much the night before, and were rough for wear the following morning, so what we wanted most of all was some fresh air, and Central Park was on our list and contained plenty of fresh air…
Located close to Central Park is the Herbert N. Strauss House, which was topical, and notorious, given that infamous associate of the rich and famous (and pedofile sex trafficker) Jeffrey Epstein lived there when he wasn’t on his island.
Morbid curiosity got the better of me, so we went for a gawk at his house from the outside as we were walking northwards towards the Metropolitan Museum of Art – I could never resist some Dark Tourism.
The Met Gala is hosted here, so a different type of curiosity took us to get a glimpse of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Getting a brief insight into a different aspect of the lifestyles of the rich and famous.
The fresh air, mixed with the cold, made us start to feel hungry, and thankfully Burger Joint, which we wanted to try (hidden inside the lobby of the Thompson Hotel). The whole concept of a hidden fast food joint inside a hotel is very cool – the waiting times, not so much. The burger was very tasty, and the concept was just as cool but due to the waiting times, I’d probably recommend 7th Street Burger as the must try New York burger, but if you’re not pressed for time on your Big Apple Expedition, definitely check out Burger Joint.
After refuelling, we decided to visit another topical New York location: Trump Tower. There was a police presence preventing people from getting close to the tower after Trump’s Casino in Vegas was bombed the day prior, so the far side of the street was as close to Trump’s house as we were going to get… though I suppose it’s closer than you can get to the White House.
Beyond the crazy police presence, at the crazy US President’s luxurious New York Residence (and my hesitant attempt to rhyme like Dr. Seuss for a handful of sentences), we opted to check out another institutional New York Dive Bar; Jimmy’s Corner.
Jimmy’s is a bar filled with boxing heritage and memorabilia. The old proprietor was Jimmy Glenn, who passed away during the COVID pandemic. He was a boxer, turned boxing trainer who was friends with Mohammed Ali, and trained with him when Ali was in New York. The bar was often filled with fighters, and is still a pilgrimage for Boxers when they visit New York.
We spent the remainder of this day window shopping and lounging around Manhattan before going back to Brooklyn, with the remainder of our trip completed at a slower pace.
We wanted to experience another American style diner, so, we checked out Court Square Diner, in Queens. And like Kellogg’s above, it felt like the authentic diner experience. The food was delicious and very reasonably priced.
We slowly made our way to the Yankee Stadium for a nosy, thus ticking a visit to Bronx off our to-do list too, our 5th and final borough.
After finishing , we talked about what else we could do, and opted to shop a little, and visit Washington Square Park in Manhattan. WSP’s arch is something you’ll know from New York TV shows, without ever knowing what Washington Square Park is… but it’s here.
At this point, we kinda wanted to go back to Brooklyn. We’d heard from locals that L’industrie pizza was better than Joe’s, so we had to see if there was any truth to that – and what better way to travel from the subway stop to somewhere than to pub crawl it.
The favourite of my stops that night was Banter. A friendly sports bar that isn’t in your face about sports. It seemed like a place I would frequent if I lived in New York.
I’m unsure if L’industrie was nicer than the slices from Joe’s, but what is certain, is that Joe’s is relying on Spider-Man for cool points, whilst L’industrie just oozes cool. They’ve converted a school bus into an eating area outside the store, but yeah – the food itself is probably just slightly below Joe’s.
The next morning, we ended our trip to New York in real New York style (bagels), and I can tell you, there was no competition between Liberty bagels and Leon’s, Leon’s wins hands down.
I guess, having stepped foot in all 5 boroughs, I’ve done more than most who visited New York, but the lack of sports show, or ascending a skyscraper makes me feel like I haven’t done it properly. And I’d love to dine in both Little Italy and Chinatown. Perhaps I’ll be back one day, I liked New York, I wouldn’t be against visiting again.
