KOSTAS and the yummy world

The first day NYC welcomed us with snow. But, that was brief and next morning nothing indicated what happened.

Arriving in JFK

We arrived at Terminal 1 of JFK airport on a Lufthansa Boeing 747.  After hours of waiting to take our luggage and to go thru immigration, we took a taxi.  The taxis have a flat rate of 52$ to any destination in Manhattan, which means around 70-80$ in total, after adding taxes, tolls and tip.  Most taxis accept credit cards.

Moving around in NYC

Entrance to a metro station at Midtown.

The buses are cleaner, on time (that's questionable), efficient and compliment the subway by moving not only in north-south directions, but also in east-west directions (crosstown).  Personally, when in NYC, I prefer to travel on the buses. They may be much slower than the metro, but you can enjoy the view _when the windows are not so dirty and you can see outside.

All together the transport system is very well-organized and easy to use.  As I have mentioned for other destinations, electronic maps and transportation applications (e.g. Moovit) for telephone help a lot to move around in the city, in the most efficient and hassle-free way. 

Buy a MetroCard at one of the ticket machines at any of the stations, or from a station agent at a ticket booth. The machines accept both credit cards and cash, but sometimes the credit card machine doesn’t work, so be prepared to have some cash on you.

If you’re only going to use the subway once, purchase a $3 single-ride ticket from the machine only. But, if you are taking multiple rides, buy a pay-per-ride card that allows you to put a specific amount of money on it and get some discount per ride. You just need to put $5.50 or more on before using it. 

On our way to Manhattan from JFK.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is responsible for public transportation in New York State. It provides local and express buses, subway, and regional rail service in Greater New York.

Most tourists do not get out of Manhattan as they do not spend in NYC more than 4-5 days.  The easiest way to move around in Manhattan is the subway which moves in North-South directions (uptown-downtown). 

The NYC metro is cheap and reliable (most of the time), but alas, a filthy “scary” place.  There are very few elevators (as the stations are very old and haven’t been renovated for ages) and the worse is that these very few ones smell urine ...just keep your breath and soon you'll be at the surface.  The carriages are old, noisy and dirty, while the stations have more rats than passengers.

To get off the bus, wait till the green lights go on and push the yellow bars open.

MTA MetroCard.

Ticket machines at a SBS bus stop.

The Upper West Side—bracketed by Central Park and Riverside Park, and distinguished by noble, two-towered apartment buildings along Central Park West—is a place where you can frequently see families pushing strollers, walking dogs and, on weekends, settling in for brunch at mainstays like Sarabeth's.  Moreover, it is here where the word and philosophy around “brunch” was born. 

Of course, it's not all residential. There's culture, in the form of the American Museum of Natural History, the Beacon Theatre and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. And plenty of shopping, eating and nightlife as well. 

The Upper West Side extends from 59th to 110th Streets, though most of the sights are below 96th Street. 

Morningside Heights on the map.

Subway lines 1, 2 or 3 folow Broadway Ave and A, B, C or D trains run along Central Park West.  Buses M96, M86 and M79 cross the area from west to east through Central Park and to the Upper East Side.

The most famous street in America, Broadway Avenue, runs through the whole area from north to south.  Broadway is the only street that confounded even Randel, the creator of the famous NYC grid.  Its survival is responsible for the creation of many triangular open spaces like the Verdi Square & the Straus Park in Upper West Side, the Times Square & Union Square downtown, and furthermore, it is responsible for Manhattan's most distinctive triangular building: the Flatiron Building. 

Broadway avenue, follows a path forged a thousand years ago by the Lenape Indians.  A trail starting from the camps in the island’s northwest to the southern shore. All for one life-sustaining purpose: oysters.  New York harbor once boasted half the oysters in the entire world. Some of the largest beds were found on a small island off the tip of Manhattan, known as Oyster Island.  For hundreds of years, oysters were a primary source of food for native Americans and settlers alike. Broadway's unconventional path is testament to that history.  Oyster island got a new name later: Ellis island.

Verdi Square, the 72nd street hub.

Upper West Side on the map.

Many consider Upper West Side to be indistinguishable from Morningside Heights, just to the north of it.

Morningside Heights is extended from the 110th street to the 125th street and it is bracketed by Riverside Park and Morningside Park.

Columbia University is the true heart and the brains of the area and thanks to it, Morningside Heights is un upscale neighborhood. 

Manhattan's most distinctive triangular building: the Flatiron Building.

Broadway avenue, follows a path forged a thousand years ago by the Lenape Indians.  A trail starting from the camps in the island’s northwest to the southern shore. All for one life-sustaining purpose: oysters.  New York harbor once boasted half the oysters in the entire world. Some of the largest beds were found on a small island off the tip of Manhattan, known as Oyster Island.  For hundreds of years, oysters were a primary source of food for native Americans and settlers alike. Broadway's unconventional path is testament to that history.  Oyster island got a new name later: Ellis island.

Famous films shot in Upper West Side.

“You've Got Mail” poster.

The Eldorado Apartments seen from the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir in Central Park.

The San Remo seen from the Central Park.

The Majestic Apartments.

The Century Apartments.

The Dakota Apartments

The Dakota Apartments.

The Century apartments building is located on the site of the Century Theatre. The theatre was demolished in 1930–31 to make way for the apartments which kept the name of the former theatre. The Century, along with its one-year older sister building, The Majestic, was among the first residential buildings to use what had been predominantly an office building style of architecture. Both The Century and The Majestic stand 30-stories and their Art Deco motifs stand in contrast to the Beaux-Arts buildings that surround them.

The Century features art deco "machine-inspired" towers and cantilevered floor slabs. The floor slabs prevent the necessity of corner columns thus allowing the building to be fitted with large corner windows.

The Dakota Apartments on the Central Park West avenue is located between the Langham and the Majestic.  It was built in 1884 and is considered to be one of Manhattan's most prestigious and exclusive cooperative residential buildings; most probably the most famous and notorious building in NYC.  It took its name from the state of Dakota, even though historians do not agree on the exact reason this happened. High above the 72nd Street entrance, the face of a Dakota Indian keeps watch.

Dakota is the building that has connected its history with the glamour of showbiz, as the celebraties  lived or still live here are countless. 

The building was reportedly fully rented before it even opened, thanks to a glowing New York Times review. The Steinway family, of Steinway piano fame, was one of The Dakota's first residents. Though he died in 1883, Peter Tchaikovsky is said to have lived there (perhaps he lived in it before its completion). Actress Lauren Bacall owned a nine-room apartment for 53 years that recently sold for $23.5 million.  Here's just some of the other showbiz people who lived in the Dakota: Leonard Bernstein (his former apartment was the building's most expensive sale), Rosemary Clooney, Judy Garland, Roberta Flack,  Boris Karloff, Rudolf Nureyev and Jason Roberts. 

The south entrance of Dakota, where John Lennon was shot.

The Big Five on Broadway

The Ansonia.

The Dakota facade.

Although historically home to many creative or artistic people, in 2005, the building and its co-op board of directors rejected the pass of one of the apartments to actors Melanie Griffith and Antonio Banderas.

In Roman Polanski's 1968 film "Rosemary's Baby", the Dakota was used for exterior shots of "The Bramford", the apartment building where several of the characters live.  This probably was not an arbitrary location choice, as stories of ghost sightings have loomed around the building for years.  In fact, when John Lennon was alive, he told Ono he saw a 'crying lady ghost' roaming the halls.  Later Ono herself saw her husband's ghost sitting at his white piano: he told her, "Don't be afraid. I am still with you [sic]".

The Ansonia, the Apthorp, the Astor Court, the Dorilton and the Belnord Apartments on Broadway, are the "big five" apartment buildings in the heart of Upper West End.

"The Ansonia"

When The Ansonia finished in 1904, it was the largest residential hotel of its day. Legend has it that the owner (William Earl Dodge Stokes) wanted The Ansonia to be much taller but stopped at the 17th floor because he liked the view.

Architectural details of the Ansonia.

The Dorilton.

The Apthorp courtyard.

There are more architectural riches in Upper West Side than just the above mentioned buildings: elegant row houses, especially in the West 70s and 80s near Riverside Drive; the neoclassical Shearith Israel Synagogue, beaux-arts First Church of Christ Scientist, and art nouveau New York Society for Ethical Culture; the majestic Beacon Theatre; the former Central Savings Bank (now an Apple Bank along with luxury condo building);

The extravagant West Side YMCA

Central Savings Bank (now an Apple Bank).

the extravagant West Side YMCA; the ABC studios NYC, the highly decorated Pythian next to the Church of the Blessed Sacrament on the 70th, the Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church; the Ukrainian Orthodox Cathedral of St. Volodymyr; the west park Presbyterian Church; the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in Morningside Heights, and countless others—even museums like the American Museum of Natural History and the New-York Historical Society are notable for their architecture alone, as well as the Columbia University Complex further uptown in Morningside Heights.