Gotham
Aha , coming to town eh ?
Agreed on taking the bus in Manhattan ( up and downtown it's good , easy ride - when it's not crowded , can be a bit slow depending ... )
ditto Rock And Soul Records @ 35th & 7th. Ave. , Kim's worth a look upstairs and down.
Pizza , I dunno 'Best' or what but Stromboli's on 8th & 1st. Ave. is not bad , got that trad flavor
even Two Boots (LES Ave. A -Corner of 3rd St.) for some different varieties , some named for characters from Tarantino films
Books. If you've never been , The Strand (12th & Broadway) has done some redo inside , stacks of books , half price downstairs can be real crowded on wkends but you might see Tom Verlaine roaming(he used to work there bk in the days when NY was wild).
Gallagers (sp.?) on corner of 12th. St. & 4th Ave. is an interesting place to check out , it's a ref/ for style & fashion -y types, stylists , glammists , if Walter's at the front desk he's usually a cheerful help.
Wall to wall with old magazines , photos of Nico and VU , H Newton stuff , G Bourdin, there was a cool little new mag by photog at the front (B&W w/ a splash of red I believe) with vintage Warhol, Iggy, Bowie . Lou Reed action . Forget the title but it's new , quite 'that period' NY vibe -y , worth a look at least.
G's also has a bigger archive around the corner that's sometimes open to public.
Forbidden Planet up from The Strand
Same area has the mega Whole Foods where you can load up a container of hot Indian/Mex/variety of foods in the back there and go eat in Union Sq. Park across the street , avoid peak times , not super expensive (maybe for some)
In gen , Union Sq.(14th & B'way) became a real hang out area for many kinds ,
East Vill. ain't what it used to be , LES can be fun , Chinatown subsuming Littler Italy (but you can still find a good meal there ) , Harlem works for some , West Village hey cruise if you want it .
Just looking at some stuff happening round this part of town:
Sensory - get a nice sack of sense by delivery from one of the services (50 -60$ per)
Vitalic @ Avalon Thurs. night
Ellen Allien /SleepArchive @ Avalon (the old Limelight club) Sat.
St. Patty's Death Disco w. Shane Macgowan @ Southpaw (Park Slope , Brooklyn) (35$ ! toofless in B'lyn )
Annie @ Mercury Louge on the 20th
opening @ Giant Robot
Whitney Biennial "Night for Day" still going on through 28th
'Canadian Front' Films series by MOMA @ Roy & Titus Theaters on West 53rd in midtown
"C.R.A.Z.Y" (' from his premature birth through his sexually ambiguous adolescence as a David Bowie fanatic, Zac B is the lens through which ..'),
"Whole New Thing" today through the 20th
If you are here on Sunday and if you haven't done it , you could do worse then picking up a (weighty) Sunday NY Times with your AM coffee , all kinds of stuff is there, listings ,
Zizek wrote for last Sunday's Op -Ed page .
Flavor Pill for listings online and The ol' Village Voice free on almost every corner box for weekly shows/art Galleries / concerts/listings
Restaurants - depends on what you like ... it's here no problem ($ maybe tho ...)
Unfortunately , it looks like we just slipped out of 60 -63 F weather and by this AM are bk to winter ,
but what can you do ... !
For you that are coming here , feel reasonably free to PM me with questions, etc.
Cheers