New York

Throughout New York City’s history, New Yorkers have always been ready for business, and ready to take action at a moment’s notice. That swaggering confidence must have been a result of so many dramatic events, big scale and local, since the region that was to be the city was settled by the Dutch at the southern tip of Manhattan in 1614.

Even before the Europeans came, the area has sheltered about 5,000 Native Americans, the Lenape, for thousands of years. According to anecdotal accounts, the Lenape traded Manhattan for $24 worth of glass beads to Peter Minuit, director of the Dutch West India Company. First called New Amsterdam, the town was renamed New York in 1664 by its new conquerors, the British. By 1700, the population of the Lenape was greatly diminished, numbering only 200.

Under British rule and as trading port, the city hustled and bustled, becoming important in the world order, despite its lack of cultural sophistication, which at that time belonged to another important American city, Philadelphia. During the American Revolutionary War, it was the staging area for a series of major battles. In 1789, the first president of the United States was sworn in at Federal Hall on Wall Street. The following year, New York lost its status as capital of the new republic, when Congress transferred to the District of Columbia, describing the city as uncouth.

In the 19th century, dramatic changes took place in New York. Immigration and lax oversight of industry enriched and empowered the city’s culture and coffers; the city was developed according to a grid plan; and the Erie Canal opened up the agricultural markets of North America to the city. By 1835, more people were living in New York than Philadelphia; the population more than doubled to 1.1 million in 1880.

As New York’s “Gilded Age” peaked, Millionaires Row on lower Fifth Avenue shot up with grand mansions while along Broadway from City Hall to Union Square, multi-storied buildings sprouted. Thanks to public-minded merchants, greenery and open space were also prioritized; the creation of Central Park, the first landscaped park in an American city, in 1857 proved this. So that the city’s burgeoning population will not overwhelm the city’s resources, nearby districts—Queens, Staten Island, the Bronx, and Brookly—voted to become 'boroughs' of New York City in 1898. The New York City Subway threaded this new city together.

On the other side of the historical coin, chaos brewed.  As the American Civil War (1861-1865) raged, the poorer citizens of the city were also raging—against the provision that allowed wealthy men to get off the mandatory conscription. In one of the worst incident of civil unrest in American history, the Drafts Riots of 1863 saw black citizens lynched and a black orphanage burned to the ground. The Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire, which took the lives of 146 garment workers (mostly teenaged girls and women) underscored the plight of poor laborers and the need to improve factory safety standards.

As African Americans moved northward in a great migration in the 1920s, New York City was a popular destination. The Harlem Renaissance was a result of this diaspora; African-American literature, art, and drama flowered up to the 1930s, during the Prohibition and alongside an economic boom that transformed the city skyline to that of competing skyscrapers. Despite the Great Depression, New York City went on to become a world center for industry, commerce, and communication in the first half of the 20th century.

Unscathed by World War II, the city benefited from an influx of veterans and European immigrants, enjoying another set of boom years. As abstract expressionism became popular, the city displaced Paris as center of the art world. But as crime rates rose, race riots became common, and white New Yorkers fled to more homogenized suburbs, the city suffered a decline in the 1960s. This unfortunate tide started to reverse in the 1980s, with more waves of new immigrants arriving from Asia and Latin America. From drug pit and pick up center, Times Square was made over to Disney-like tourist attraction in the late 1990s. Silicon Alley, the offspring of tech-savvy entrepreneurs, further enriched the city’s economy.

On September 11, 2001, New York City was a major target in a series of terrorist attacks. Almost 3,000 people died in the destruction of the World Trade Center. Gritty as ever, New York City quickly recovered. Rebuilding is underway for Ground Zero’s rebirth as a Freedom Tower in 2010.

It’s hard to put a finger on what gives New York City such an edgy kind of energy. Once you are exposed to it long enough, you seem to acquire a distinct New Yorker vibe; there are even nuances to this sizzle that natives are born to recognize: urbane Manhattan, Brooklyn grace, Bronx grit, close-knit Queens, and down-to-earth Staten Island.

Maybe it’s the diversity, the multitude of influences that enrich and empower the city’s culture and way of life. There are countless shows, parties, and other events celebrating this diversity in the city.

Theater culture is a mainstay in Big Apple’s lifestyle. In Broadway are 39 large theaters where musicals, plays, and other productions of the highest caliber draw in hordes of theater-lovers the world over. The city is also home to the largest performing arts center in the United States, The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, occupied by Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Opera, The New York Philharmonic, the New York City Ballet, the Vivian Beaumont Vivian Beaumont Theatre, The Juilliard School, and Alice Tully Hall.

At Central Park during the Summer Stage event, free plays and musicals are staged. Also in summer, the city holds over a thousand free concerts, dance, and theater events all across the five boroughs.

New York City’s cultural scene also highlights over 50 official parades along with more than 400 street fairs happening year round. Here are a few:

-    Times Square's New Year's Eve festivities
-    Three Kings Parade (January 5), a Fifth Avenue procession of children, sheep, camels, and donkeys
-    Patrick's Day Parade (March 17) down Fifth Avenue
-    Tribeca Film Festival in May
-    PuertoRican Days’s salsa fiesta in Mid-June
-    June’s JVC Jazz Festival
-    Mermaid Parade (last weekend of June) on Coney island Boardwalk
-    Independence Day fireworks (July 4) on the East River
-    Harlem Week in August
-    Labor Day’s West Indian American Day Carnival Parade in Brooklyn
-    New York Film Festival in September
-    Halloween Parade on October 31
-    Macy's Thanksgiving Parade in November
-    Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree Lighting.

The Big Apple also has some of the finest museums in the world, such as the Metropolitan Museum, Brooklyn Museum of Art, The Cloisters, International Center of Photography, and Museum of Modern Art. There are hundreds of small museums and galleries scattered across the city.

New York City is one of the most cosmopolitan cities in the world, though the savage still does lurk in corners and the gap between have and have-not has gaped even wider in recent years. So be sensible and don’t go looking like a tourist, especially late at night. Be alert for pickpockets and read up on scams that are rampant in the city.

Tipping seems also mandatory in this city. Tip waiters at least 15% of your meal price, but make sure that your bill does not include a service charge—because if it does, then you don’t have to tip.

Be aware of certain New York idiosyncrasies, like galleries and museums being closed on Mondays; no right turns on red lights (this is illegal), except where otherwise posted; no talking on hand-held cell phones while driving; no smoking in public places (strictly enforced!); and no drinking alcoholic beverages on the streets.

Fashion capital of the United States, New York City is a place you know has everything an obsessive-compulsive shopper will ever desire. It’s breadth and scope is unmatched—department stores, boutiques, and specialty shops selling clothing, cameras, computers and accessories, music, musical instruments, electronic equipment, art supplies, sporting goods, and all kinds of foodstuffs and kitchen appliances.

But before anything else, we suggest you get an extra luggage ‘coz what you have may not be enough given all the temptations lurking within this bargain paradise. Constantly buzzing around The Big Apple are the words “bargain” and “sale.” Best buys are on Orchard Street and Grand Street on the Lower East Side.  The thrill of the hunt is also strong at the trendy Garment District, in the area between Sixth and Eight Avenues, and fervent at the Fashion (Seventh) Avenue, Broadway, and Fifth Avenue, where sometimes designers put up sample sales… Keep your eyes peeled for signs announcing these sales.

New York’s sales seasons are much anticipated events usually running from mid-June to late July, December 26 into February. For a taste of NYC free-spirited selling and shopping, go look for the artists at SoHo and near the Metropolitan Museum of Art on 81st Street: original artworks such as paintings, prints, photographs, sculptures, DVDs, CDs, T-shirts are on display on the streets and parks.

As big and diverse as the Big Apple is, maybe you’re not biting if you’re actually going hungry. Gluttons are at risk of going bust from New York City’s over 20,000 eateries—from far-out gourmet creations to street-food slurp. There are so many restaurant that you can live your entire lifetime in New York and not run out of new restaurant to dine in every night. On the run? Grab that hot-rated hot dog from that parked food stall on 54th and Fifth. Yearning for a glam dinner? Reserve a place at Cordon Bleu or Masa. Delis, bodegas, grocery stores, hot dog stands, middle-eastern carts are fixtures of every street corner.

In fact, street food or carted food is typically New York. In Spring, expect fruit stalls selling ready-to-eat strawberries, bananas, apples, and grapefruit to spring up at intersections. Many carts serve breakfasts—coffee, croissants, bagels, and danish pastries, etc.—and lunches—from the famous arepas of Jackson Heights in Queens, freshly cooked Indian dosas in Washington Square Park, Trinidadian/Pakistani trinipak on 43rd and Sixth, to halal offerings in midtown; all so cheap but so varied and filling.

Vegetarians are not left out of this glutton’s paradise as macrobiotic food, Ayurvedic thalis, and Asian Buddhist food among others have gone beyond mere postscripts of conscientious restaurateurs. Vegetarian dishes are sought after and enthusiastically offered at every price range in New York City.

Bite into The Big Apple for a spell of luxurious sleep. There’s no wicked stepmother in the picture, though, as the world’s grandest hotel only have your best interest at heart. They will treat you like princes or princesses on your coming-out ballroom dance—as long as you splurge in return, that is. High-end hotels may charge you $350 and higher per night. But if you’re more interested in a Cinderella-like stay, New York—as big and diverse as it is—can accommodate.

Choose from flea-ridden stacks or budget rooms with decent beds and baths; you will have little trouble finding one that meets your preferred setting for good value. Business travelers will find New York especially friendly, as, these days, hotels often offer corporate rates. Many moderately priced hotels are located midtown, lining Lexington Avenue near Grand Central Terminal. Or you may find the relative quiet of Murray Hill Area more to your liking. If you like a trendy neighborhood, why not pick a place at Herald Square, SoHo or the meatpacking District.

Explore New York City up close or by air: Check out Times Square, Greenwich Village, Soho, Wall Street traders, and Staten Island alone, with friends, or via organized tours. Or hop on to a helicopter for nonstop thrills from close-up views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis and Governors Island, the South Street Seaport, the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges, and the Wall Street Financial Center.

Again, experience it from extreme perspectives—from inside the top of the Empire State Building or the bottom of a Manhattan nightclub glass. In New York, the list of entertainment happenings runs as long as a full-fledged novel; thousands of venues—from Eat Village bars to sizzling mega-clubs or plush late-night lounges—are devotees to the cause of great fun.

Take a bite of the Big Apple as it’s meant to be. It’s a mortal sin to leave the city without even nibbling at quintessential “delicacies”—the New York Bagel (warm and straight from the oven on Broadway), The New York Hot Dog (choose your topping; vendors are everywhere), The New York Pizza (typical New Yorker on-the-go meal), and The New York Cheesecake.

Or feed your mind at the New York Public Library, the largest non-academic library in the United States and also an excellent specimen of Beaux Arts architecture.

Oppressively hot in summer, so chilly in winter that you can barely gasp without choking, with mushy weather in spring and autumn, New York may be temperamental in terms of weather but constantly sizzling in terms of fun and excitement.

Year round, it is the city that never sleeps, always delivering attractions with aplomb. King of the hill, top of the heap, home of first-class international events and gallery openings, the city isn’t likely to dry up your calendar, whichever time of the year you visit. There are always best and worst months, of course: summer is too popular and the melting pot that is New York also becomes too soupy for comfort; spring months are the nicest but hotel prices at this season are not.