Manhattan Midtown complete tour, New York

we are taking you for an in-depth walk through midtown Manhattan we'll be looking at the avenues we'll go to the Upper West Side Central Park Times Square some art museums and other attractions this decal visit is a practical guide that shows you how to get the most out of visiting New York you might be surprised to see how much Green Park space is available in the middle of Manhattan along with some tiny mid-block parks there's Bryant Park which is almost a whole city block one of the highlights will be showing you as we walk around through Midtown walking up 6th Avenue down fifth we'll take a look at Madison Park Avenue a grand boulevard scroll with many urban highlights like ice skating at Rockefeller Center and the tall huge office buildings of that complex find someplace to eat have a walk through Grand Central and admire the modern architecture of Midtown and be amazed by some huge public art works like this stabile by Alexander Calder taking you all the way to the Upper East Side let's go take a walk uptown we're gonna take a look at Madison Avenue Lexington Avenue move down Fifth Avenue all the great streets of the city starting out at Bryant Park located between 5th and 6th Avenue and 40th and 42nd Street one of New York's most popular and beloved spots complete with its chair of eccentric characters ready nice view of the Empire State Building the park is located right next to the main building of the New York Public Library and underneath the park or many of the stacks of the library so it's only appropriate that they have a reading room here free newspapers books magazines public readings coffee and it's been happening ever since 1935 but not in the winter this little oasis is named after a writer William Cullen Bryant who's immortalized in bronze it's a busy place visited by more than 6 million people every year open every day and all seasons it's a little bit different in the wintertime and there is something special going on you can go ice-skating for free or if you don't have skates you can rent them for a modest fee this land was purchased by the city way back in 1822 and initially used as a cemetery for poor people and then in the 1840s it became a huge reservoir holding most of New York City's water the impressive library building was completed in 1911 and the park itself opened in 1934 from here we are beginning our march up town along 6th Avenue very much into the heart of midtown Manhattan you'll see that New York is the place to go because it's the world's greatest and most important city it is just one of the most interesting places you could ever visit energized by a special diversity and intensity of life this massive row of corporate headquarters along the west side of sixth Avenue are built in that glass box international style standing shoulder to shoulder and one of the world's most impressive urban lineups formerly the headquarters of such global titans as Exxon and he'll Time Warner and Paine Webber that are now diversified office spaces and home to the New York Hilton leading us to Radio City and Rockefeller Center during winter the lower plaza features an ice skating rink looked over by the huge bronze statue of prometheus Rockefeller Center is one of the city's major Urban development's home to media companies and hundreds of other businesses these fountains called the Channel Gardens because they separate the British and French buildings here 1/4 million people passing through its 19 buildings daily when hunger strikes many of them hit the lunch wagon Midtown has a tremendous density of places people attractions and landmarks which await your discovery and the best way to experience it of course is on foot you'll never run out of interesting sights and while you're strolling along and a murder famous avenues don't just walk past the side streets they have got some fascinating things to check out such as West 46th Street packed with restaurants bars and stores you'll get souvenirs cheaper than a Times Square and you'll find some affordable places to eat we're a few blocks further north at the West 53rd Street gourmet deli open 24 hours they've got a huge buffet with cooked foods a salad bar there's deli sandwiches a noodle bar a quick snack or a big meal you can sit indoors or even outdoors at a sidewalk restaurant typesetting and with these kind of big tables maybe you'll get into a conversation with some New Yorkers or other tourists looking for a food bargain typical of New York delis the pace in here is pretty quick especially when you're ordering your food you want to know what to order or you'll quickly lose the clicks attention that's a bonus for everybody because you're not going to be wasting your time the self-service buffet is quickest of all and you just take what you want put it on the plate and they weigh the plate and bring you up at the cashier it's not a place with waiter service and even though they call it the gourmet deli don't expect too much it's just good decent food when you spot a small empty lot like this you can expect a 80 story needle tower to go up soon at multi-million crisis that scrape the stratosphere blind with prestigious shops Fifth Avenue is consistently ranked among the most expensive and elegant shopping streets in the world the Apple store on Fifth Avenue near Central Park is one of New York's most photographed buildings with its innovative glass cube in the mid-1990s this shopping district was ranked as having the world's most expensive retail spaces on a cost per square foot basis although many other streets worldwide have caught up with it Fifth Avenue was recently declared to be one of the greatest streets to visit in the country by the American Planning Association Fifth Avenue's commercial heartland is one of the world's great urban vistas always packed with pedestrians and lined with exclusive department stores and boutiques to numerous to fully mention it to give you some idea you've got all the usual luxury suspects including Vuitton Tiffany Gucci Prada Armani Hilfiger Cartier Omega Chanel Harry Winston Ferragamo buggery Pucci De Beers and of course Saks Fifth Avenue it's not all luxury here however on fifth you'll find many reasonably priced familiar stores that really make a nice part of the mix including some sketchy down market there's actually a lot of tacky tourist shops fake luggage stores going out of business signs and then you've got the side streets which really have some authentic old-fashioned New York style retail to enjoy a bit more down to earth than heavenly fifth if you really want to focus a lot of your attention here there are some hotels to pick from ranging in price from budget to ultra luxury continuing back down fifth we turn on 42nd Street to reach Grand Central Terminal one of the great railway stations of the world and perhaps New York's most famous interior space although the main entrance is in front along 42nd Street the entrance most used is at the corner of Vanderbilt on 42nd but cavernous space is always filled with bustling crowds especially at rush hour the huge central room is called the main concourse 275 feet long a hundred and twenty feet wide and a hundred and 25 feet high nearly the size of a football field the terminal is one of the world's top 10 most visited tourist attractions with 23 million annual visitors not even counting the train and subway passengers the main concourse has an elaborately decorated astronomical ceiling in which illuminated constellations of the zodiac twinkle the ceiling with 2500 stars is inaccurate due to an error in painting because some stars appear correctly as it would from Earth others are reversed as if looking from God's viewpoint looking down from above us the enormous size and lavish use of marble on floors as well as walls give the concourse an aspect of grandeur that's emphasized by shafts of sunlight pouring through the 75-foot windows ticket booths are along one wall although many now stand unused or have been repurposed since the introduction of ticket vending machines the distinctive architecture has earned it several landmark designations including as a US National Historic Landmark the four faced brass clock on top of the information booth is perhaps the most recognizable icon and it's often used as the meeting place construction began in 1907 and the terminal opened in 1913 at that time it was the biggest train station in the world both in size of the building and of tracks the terminal has restaurants as well as delis bakeries and a gourmet and fresh food market such as the Oyster Bar and various fast-food outlets including a Shake Shack surrounding the dining concourse on the level below the main concourse this commuter and intercity railroad terminal has 44 platforms which is more than any other train station in the world and an amazing 67 tracks on two levels Park Avenue is blocked by the building and rises to the second storey level by a highway bridge over 42nd Street then divides right and left to encircle Grand Central and returns to grade at 46th Street a sculptural group called glory of Commerce sits atop the terminal facade featuring Hercules Minerva and Mercury at its unveiling in 1914 the 40-foot high trio was considered the largest sculptural group in the world in the middle the 13 foot white clock is the world's largest example of Tiffany glass the Pan Am building now called MetLife towering above Grand Central Terminal was completed in 1963 the space in front of Grand Central on 42nd Street and bandar Bowl Avenue sides is occupied by stores along a block named Pershing Square in honor of General John J Pershing the city bike racks nearby make it easy for commuters to get around take the bike ride across town like I will a little over a mile it takes me about seven minutes instead of a 15 minute walk and you enjoy it you can also do it on a weekly pass and a daily pass all around the terminal skyscraper office buildings and large hotels have developed with clubs stores and restaurants in this grand central zone next we're walking one block over to Madison Avenue which leads north from here and goes for 30 charming blocks the Midtown section in the 40s and 50s has that Manhattan skyscraper look to it giant buildings many beautiful shop fronts and offices towering overhead you'll come across this large orange metal sculpture it's a stable by Alexander Calder created in 1975 it sits on a broad sidewalk out front of the IBM building enter the IBM public indoor garden atrium to see a bamboo forest while relaxing on their comfortable seats these giant buildings got density bonuses and many tax breaks by providing this kind of public space such as this atrium which is one of the most popular indoor plazas in the city we are plunging into a very worthwhile 20 blocks which can be nicely enjoyed along Madison Avenue with serious window shopping people watching and looking up at the building Peaks the shops and sites along the way will keep you thoroughly entertained however there is just too much ground to cover in New York and you cannot see it all if you go into every interesting shop or pause to analyze all the significant buildings see if you can move like a New Yorker in a high-speed to cover more territory or better yet spend at least one week on your visit to New York so that you can relax and be able to cover most of the important neighborhoods and there's a lot to see as we've been showing you in our video series on New York you've heard about the New York minute it's like a split second in which a lot of things get done New York is quick in fact when you're walking be sure not to take up the entire sidewalk because you're gonna be blocking some speeding New Yorker coming up behind you the inevitable sidewalks car fender is a reminder it's not all glitz and glamour here on Madison Avenue but this street is definitely upscale in fact it has really changed in recent decades in the previous century there were more little shops independent merchants and quirky little places that you could stop and poke around now it's really changed this one big chain store after another still very worthwhile to see we're in the Upper East Side entered that rarefied atmosphere of the blueblood territory the multi-million mansions and the nice side streets be sure to have a look as you walk along Madison and the other avenues down the side streets and see where the super-rich live you don't have to take out a second mortgage to dine in some of these restaurants such as I'm around with a delightful open-air and sidewalk ambience the former Whitney Museum on Madison has been taken over by the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a showcase for their contemporary collection we have another movie about the met and the new Whitney and the modern that you can find in our video series on New York Ralph Lauren's American flagship store is located in this Renaissance Revival Chateau at the corner of 72nd Street it's just as beautiful inside as out continuing our avenue stroll now south on Park Avenue and then up a little bit on Lexington Park Avenue most famous for its namesake landscape median that runs down the middle with beautiful trees and greenery nicely planted sometimes you'll see flowers there st. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church commonly called st. Bart is celebrating its 100th anniversary it's been named national landmark design with the mix of Romanesque and Byzantine features especially with that towering dome looking south we see the Helmsley building and behind it the MetLife Tower once again one of the most famous buildings in New York is the lever house that green glass box structure very innovative in its day one of the first ever built in the international style and just across the street another early modern architectural landmark the Seagrams building designed in 1958 by Mies van der Rohe and Phillip Johnson subsequent buildings were designed with similar open plazas to give them density in height bonuses but these are less successful giving us these empty urban spaces a place that office workers can smoke lexington is one of the most interesting of New York avenues it still retains a lot of its earlier character and quality not quite so yuppified and gentrified as the other avenues that we've been walking on all of which have been lovely but Lexington is especially nitty gritty and a fine place to end our walking tour of New York's grand avenues New York Central Park is a beautiful pleasure ground of meadows ponds forests and trails nature at its best surrounded by the great wall of Manhattan the park is one of the world's most visited places with an amazing 42 million annual visitors putting it into the planets top three most popular destinations along with Times Square and the Las Vegas Strip and although it is the most filmed area in the world we are presenting you yet another movie about it with our own personal interpretation describing the sights filling you in on the history and showing the beauties both summer and winter when it sometimes becomes a wonderland covered in a white blanket we'll share more winter scenes with you later in the movie the map shows the route that will take you on walking around stopping at a clock continuing on to the Central Park Zoo New York's oldest down to the pond where we see ducks and a stone bridge and beautiful walkways continuing our walk over to the west side and then turning around and doubling back coming out to the main entrance which is at the Grand Army Plaza Fifth Avenue forms the entire eastern border of the park so that makes a convenient route to get into the park through various gates in the wall there are numerous pedestrian pathways or you can take a horse carriage tour the pedestrian paths go beneath several roadways through these attractive under passes you'd never know there's automobile traffic through the park Delacorte clock is one of the most beloved monuments in all the parks of New York City it features six whimsical bronze sculptures depicting concertina playing elephant the kangaroo playing horns a bear with a tambourine and a hippo playing the violin a goat playing the pipes a penguin on drums as well as two monkeys with hammers that strike the Bell it's always a big hit with the kids the clock was conceived as a modern version of musical clocks found in Europe and belfries in churches and city halls dating back to the Middle Ages Central Park Zoo is next to the clock on the east edge of the park at Fifth Avenue face seeing East 64th Street next to the Arsenal the zoo contains a varied collection of wild animals and there's also a casual restaurant here you can watch the sea lions from the public walkway without paying admission to go inside other animals include penguins Snow Leopard snow monkeys grizzly bear red panda cranes and lemurs the zoo began in the 1860s as a menagerie thus making it the first official zoo to open in New York the zoo was modified in 1934 with some expansion and then it was completely rebuilt in the 1980s to create more naturalistic animal habitats in the southeast corner of the park just below the zoo is the pond a calm oasis with pleasant walkways and benches around it an area of three and a half acres the pond is located near one of the busiest entrances to Central Park at Grand Army Plaza and always has people around admiring it but still it provides an atmosphere of serenity and solitude this pond has a special endearing quality because it's one of the first things that you might see when you're entering the park from midtown Manhattan a beautiful touch of nature right next to the skyscrapers of the city and the pond looks perfect like something out of a painting because well it was created to look that way by careful landscape planning I had a chance to talk to a couple of the park employees who were there feeding the Ducks and monitoring conditions for the habitat we have ducks you have fish in there we have Turtles that's three Turtles right there look one two three the park employs 250 people and there are another 3,000 volunteers who help with the maintenance and the gardening and generally taking care the very picturesque gap stobridge is a stone bridge built from the local schist it's one of the most iconic landmarks in the park we'll have a slightly different kind of look at the bridge coming up in a few minutes in the winter time surrounded by snow if the pond is all you see in your visit to Central Park you're doing quite well if you don't have much time to walk around and see the rest of the park at least get here to the southeast corner and enjoy some time at the pond you don't have to worry about getting lost in the park because you can generally see the city landmarks around and maybe you'll be offered a map by one of the information guides of course you can find maps easily online of Central Park but just follow your nose wander along the pathways and relax and enjoy the visit sections of Manhattan bedrock are visible on the surface throughout the park the original Manhattan schist we've made our way around to the southeast corner of the park which is the major entrance by Grand Army Plaza where you're going to run into some traffic there's some vehicles you've got your hot dog stands and kiosk set up a sudden contrast some culture shot bringing you back into the city proper the plaza also has the Pulitzer fountain of abundance designed by Carl bitter and financed by Joseph Pulitzer at the top of the fountain is a bronze statue of a Roman goddess Pomona a celestial spirit who watched over Gardens forests and orchards and now the same Plaza in the winter the Sherman statue is the monument of special interest here it was the last major work about justo son Godin one of the advantages of coming to New York in January is you might run into some snow and if you do by all means come up to Central Park to really enjoy it even if it's a light snowfall that disappears from the city street right away the snow is going to be covering the beautiful hills and rocks and you'll see the pond frozen over it's really like a picture postcard comes to life in our case we were staying at Times Square in January and there was a light snowfall overnight that was sticking a little bit at Times Square it was lovely to see in the pre-dawn darkness the white snow on tattoos and railings and chairs and tables all around a rather empty Times Square at that hour of the morning but the snow was not sticking on streets where it just melted as it was landing so we wanted to get up to Central Park to see if it was going to be covered and fortunately it was by the time we got back to midtown later in the morning all the snow seemed to have melted down there if you should happen to be in Manhattan when there is a snowfall even if it's a light snowfall head up to Central Park where the snow and much of the rest of the city is going to melt right away on the black asphalt you'll find that Central Park can become a magical Wonderland as you might imagine there is quite a complicated history to the creation of Central Park prior to becoming a park in mid 19th century this land was occupied by Irish immigrants and free blacks who had purchased the land where they raise livestock built churches and cemeteries and lived as community for over 50 years from 1853 to 1857 about 1600 residents were evicted under the rule of eminent domain to make way for the park the Park Commission paid off the owners of 7,500 private different Lots within the park area and dealt with many owners of the adjacent properties construction began in 1858 when the contract to design and Bill was awarded to Fred instead and his partner Calvert veau and by later that year some parts were already open to the public the park was finished by 1873 some years employing 4,000 laborers using picks and shovels along with sophisticated large earthmoving machinery by the end more than 10 million cartloads of material had been transported out of the park including soil and rocks and more than four million trees shrubs and plants representing about 1,500 species were transplanted into the park homestead was not only our foremost 19th century landscape architect but a great writer and philosopher as well who made extensive travels in Europe to study parks there in his proposal Olmstead said that quote the primary purpose of the park is to provide the best practicable means of healthful recreation for the inhabitants of all classes it is of great importance he said as the first real Park made in this country a democratic development of the highest significance on which much of the progress of art and culture in this country is dependent in describing the need for such a huge park unprecedented in American history Olmsted correctly predicted that quote the island would soon be occupied by buildings and paved streets that millions upon millions of people were to live their lives upon this island and that its inhabitants would suffer from these crowded conditions the time will come he said when New York which at that time had only half a million residents will be built up and converted into formations for rows of monotonous Street streets and piles of erect buildings then the priceless value of this picturesque crown will be more perceived and more fully recognized thanks to Olmstead and the farsighted brilliant politicians of the 1850s we now have a place where everybody rich or or young and old a city resident or a visitor can find pleasure and health within its boundaries right next to Central Park at the southwest corner you'll find Columbus Circle which is the location of the Time Warner Center one of the largest multi-purpose complexes in the city 750 feet high these twin towers have a mix of residential commercial and retail spaces including this deluxe ultra luxury shopping mall that's really a lot of fun to have a walk through you've even got several affordable cafes in with this mix of high-end shops and there's a very large Whole Foods down in the basement a supermarket for the neighborhood the Time Warner Center was constructed between the year 2000 and 2003 and by 2006 it became the most valuable commercial property in the city at one point 1 billion dollars there's a penthouse apartment that rents for a hundred and twenty five thousand dollars a month highest price in the city and around the corner you can get breakfast for two and a half bucks amidst all these high-end properties like another skyscraper needle going up on West 55th it's a neighborhood in transition we are taking you on a quick subway ride to the Upper West Side one of New York's most popular high end residential neighborhoods we'll take you up Broadway starting from 72nd Street and walk on up to Z bars one of the great food stores of the city and then continue over to Amsterdam Avenue for a few blocks the two main streets of the Upper West Side the say bars food store is a legend it's the most famous store on the Upper West Side that's for sure it's been here in the same location for 80 years a combination of New York Jewish deli and expanded specialty food store we'll bring you on an extensive tour inside say bars a little bit later in the program the side streets up here are mostly residential with very expensive apartments there is very good bus service up here for example if you want to go all the way over to the east side through Central Park you take the m86 on West 72nd you can also catch a bus that will take you across Central Park to the Upper East Side and you can get up here by subway lines 1 2 & 3 go through the 72nd Street Station it's a beautiful entry structure built in 2002 of steel and glass in the old style [Music] the entrance across the street is an original structure that was built in 1904 just to the north you'll find Verde Square with a statue of that great Italian composer this stretch of Broadway were showing you between 72nd and Idiot's streets is really a lovely place to stroll it's the heart of the Upper West Side shops restaurants cafes lovely sights Street occasionally a little bit noisy stand on any corner long enough and you're gonna hear the sirens going by it's lots of people out very safe place characteristic of the high level residential neighborhoods of the city you're reminded this is mostly a place for locals who are out shopping for groceries among other things there's not that many tourists up in this neighborhood nothing like Times Square or say down in Greenwich Village this is a little bit more of the authentic slice of the city did somebody say slice oh yeah you can get pizza by the slice and a lot of these neighborhood eateries and now for the finest of all foods in the neighborhood we are bringing you back into Zabar's as promised earlier along with the famous food store they also have a cafe that makes a great place for a light meal a place for a quick bite breakfast on the go maybe or some grilled paninis and homestyle soup with a cup of Zabar's famous coffee sit down at the big communal table and you'll strike up a conversation with some New Yorkers no doubt you'll find fresh baked goods of course the New York bagel or how about a ham and cheese sandwich on a croissant at the back left corner on unmarked door leads to the public toilet we're going to take a leisurely stroll now through the main food market it's almost like a Google Earth view as we walk along you'll see these shelves are just stocked with great items many of them with the say bars brand on the wrapping so that makes some convenient presents to bring home some of their specialties are cheese's smoked fish and worm a black peppercorns for a retail store Zabar's has a remarkable and long history 80 years in business three generations operating it and the family business is still going strong among their principles they say never ever stint on quality offer fair value and last but not least keep searching for the new and wonderful for example they have introduced to New York's very later famous products such as brie sun-dried tomatoes and yoky they were able to expand the store in the 1970s stretching nearly the entire length of the block making Zabar's one of the largest supermarkets in Manhattan of course Manhattan has several Whole Foods and we've shown you Eataly in our lower Manhattan episode that's a large Italian chain but Zabar's was the original their deli counters have a good variety of prepared foods dinner cooked already for these busy New Yorkers who are on the run heading from work back to the apartment late in the day and of course for those who do cook all of the gourmet items are available right here their cheese department is the unique Emporium offering over 600 different types of cheese from around the world selling over seven tons every week the other Street of the Upper West Side you must visit is one block over Amsterdam Avenue it seems to come more alive at night rather than daytime when the locals are out taking a stroll looking for dinner in one of the many restaurants along Amsterdam or perhaps just a beer at the neighborhood pub there are not many hotels in this neighborhood but it's a fine place to get a air B&B or some kind of vacation rental van you can live like a local and easily get around with all of the public transit to a subway and bus no problem you can get all over Manhattan from here for example going accross Central Park to the Upper East Side from 80 Street on the public bus we have other episodes about Central Park and the Upper East Side so take a look for them in our collection for now you're getting a quick taste of that journey I'd like to finish with a look at the newest subway line the second Avenue really quite spectacular to see how beautiful these stations are so modern and clean escalators take you down to a concourse you can choose your direction north or south and continue on down to the tracks it took a tremendous amount of work originally proposed in 1919 but construction only began in 1972 then it was halted then continued and finally it was opened in 2017 at a cost of five billion and the next phase is planned to finish in 2030 extending to 125th Street crossroads of the world or perhaps its center of the universe whatever you call it Times Square is one amazing and busy place we're gonna bring you now on a detailed exploration of this unique intersection in the middle of Manhattan electric heart of the city packed with honking taxis pedestrian mobs giant billboards lighting the sky Broadway shows all around and some hundred places to eat and drink but a constant stream of street theater performers of all kinds out on the sidewalk putting on a show and drawing big crowds 350,000 people passing through every day many of them locals on their way to work how busy is it Times Square is the most visited place in the world packed with over a hundred and thirty-one million people each year a mix of locals and visitors that's according to the official organization the Times Square Alliance 22% of all money spent by visitors in New York is spent within Times Square totaling five billion in annual retail entertainment and hotel sales not surprising considering how many hotel rooms are available in this neighborhood and how all the Broadway theaters are right here a ticket will cost you two hundred and fifty dollars but there is a way you can buy it for half price as we're gonna show you right now get the tickets for half price on the day of performance at the TKTS booth here at 48th Street there's normally a long line of bargain hunters which you can minimize by showing up when they open or just before closing their hours are 11:00 to 7:00 if you are coming back to purchase for a second show during your visit you can cut to the front of the line by speaking to the agent and showing your old ticket so be sure to hang on to that ticket you're in the heart of theater district so take advantage and go to a couple of shows steps above the booth are a great place to sit and enjoy the perfect view and come back again in the evening for the dazzling light show we'll show you a lot more of Times Square at night coming up in a few minutes nearly all of the theaters are within three or four blocks of Times Square so it makes it very easy to get there on foot I can't show you any theater scenes here because photography is not allowed during the performance so you'll have to go there in person musicals and comedies are always the popular favorites another fun activity is a city tour on an open-top bus you'll notice there's a large pedestrian area here it used to be different Broadway was open to traffic 7th Avenue also lots of cars trucks and buses going by and you just had the sidewalks but in 2009 Mayor Bloomberg decided with careful planning to shut down Broadway keep the cars off the road and turn it over to the pedestrians a bold move that was originally opposed by local businesses and traffic interests who thought that it would hurt business and create gridlock on adjacent streets which were already over capacity but the mayor persisted and it became a big hit immensely improving the experience success of this pedestrianised project has become a model for other cities around the country if it can happen here it can happen anywhere even before this pedestrian transformation a lot of efforts were made in cleaning up Times Square now it's clean and safe loaded with family entertainment Times Square is the antithesis of what it once was yet still bursting with raw urban energy the merchants got together and formed an association that has revitalized this area as one of the major commercial and entertainment districts of the world in the 1980s the clothing chain gap was one of the first businesses to set up a brand new retail shop recently expanded to become that chains largest outlet and it's open every day until 2:00 a.m. the first gap the rejuvenation off to a great start followed by Disney who bought out the Amsterdam theater on 42nd Street in the mid-1990s and put in Lion King transforming a seedy rundown block into a family festival another of the prime events in this rebirth was the construction of the Marriott Marquis Hotel in 1985 with 1900 rooms in a 50 story tower you can stop and have a look inside and ride the glass elevator use the facilities have a drink enjoy the huge atrium there are some who say Times Square has gone too far in this direction they criticize it as being more of a theme park rather than a gritty urban neighborhood that it once was these costume characters can be a lot of fun for some visitors maybe get your picture taken as the Statue of Liberty but for others they're a pain in the neck they can be a little annoying pestering huge take pictures for which you pay them of course and so the city has restricted where they can stand into one set area used to be they could walk around on the sidewalk anywhere in Times Square but no longer so it's a lot better now in the 1980s things had gotten so bad at Times Square with the drugs and the crime problem and deteriorating buildings and lack of city funding that it had reached a point that urban planners gave up on saving Times Square and came up with a nightmare plan to replace it completely with gigantic sterile office towers fortunately those misguided plans fell through and new wholesome businesses began spontaneously opening rediscovering this prime spot as the city's goldmine filled with pedestrians looking for fun and ready to shop the city's biggest subway station is right here so get a 1-week MetroCard for cheap riding and save some more money at the little food wagons the map shows Times Square's location in a busy tangle of streets at the intersection where Broadway and 7th Avenue come together between 42nd and 47th streets you see it's not a square it looks more like a bowtie two triangles put together along with many blocks of sight streets it's easy to just meander and wander any which way with this big pedestrian zone but one trick you might try is do a circumnavigation walk all the way around the perimeter it's just one kilometer you could do it in the morning afternoon and do it again at night you'll be bombarded with visual stimuli that you could never catch in one passing you'll get a lot out of repeat visits to this spot night and day it's another good reason for staying at a hotel that's nearby makes it more convenient each time you come you're going to see something different such as the naked cowboy who's here just about every day right before noon this guy has gotten rich with his appearances he's been at it for 20 years performances don't only happen inside these Broadway theaters you're gonna find it all around you on the streets there are entertainers and just a simple fact of urban street life is entertaining in itself especially here even the construction trucks can provide a little amusement for you the city is always growing with so many millions of people living here one of the occasional downsides is places get a little crowded you might have to wait on line you also want to come back here at night to appreciate the blazing lights perhaps that's when it's at its best so that's a great time to stroll through the neon Gulch and feel the electric pulse of the city brightening up the sky like noon don't worry this is one of the safest neighborhoods in town there are a large number of artistic and cultural events that take place here in Times Square and generally they're free they can draw some big crowds look at all these people what could they be gathered for it's the season opening of the Metropolitan Opera which has been broadcast live up on the big screens in Times Square for the past 12 years [Music] [Music] [Applause] they set up 2,000 seats and you don't need a ticket it's all free and first-come first-served it takes place at the north end of times square between 46th and 47th Street on what's called Duffy Square and Broadway plaza between 43rd and 44th there's also standing rooms all around for at least another thousand people and generally there's plenty of space to enjoy it during intermission there are food and drinks for sale from the Times Square market food kiosks Times Square is an outdoor festival with many other events happening throughout the year coordinated by an organization called Times Square arts who collaborates with contemporary artists with singers painters sculptors actors poets electronics digital arts of all kinds shapes and forms [Music] you can find the complete schedule of entertainment online just google their website Times Square art perhaps you'll be surprised by a snowstorm we got up early one morning and stepped out before breakfast before the crowds got there and the place was covered in snow this could happen anytime between late October and early April but if it's a light dusting it's probably gonna disappear pretty quickly so get out there and take a look while you can we decided to go up to Central Park to have a look in hopes that the snow would still be there and covering more of the ground as we've shown you in another movie in our series on New York and sure enough Central Park was all blanketed in white by the time we got back to midtown the snow was all gone Times Square extends beyond Broadway and 7th Avenue for a few blocks in each direction in the Times Square district and there you'll find many more shops including some pop-ups like this temporary shopping center portable kiosks packed with affordable merchandise on an empty lot there are hundreds of places to eat around Times Square and many of them are really fantastic we enjoyed PS kitchen they have richly artisinal foods that engages all of your senses and it's all vegan prepared in classic French style with finest quality ingredients on West 46th between 7th and 8th all profits are donated to charity you'll gain a good viewpoint looking down at the city from Gulliver's gate where you can travel the world in miniature seeing hundreds of famous sights all in one place located on West 44th between 7th and 8th just half a block off of Times Square Gulliver's gate is the largest interactive Museum of miniatures in the world it occupies a full city block wide 50,000 square feet with highlights from more than 25 cities spread out across five continents it's proven quite popular on TripAdvisor where it's already gotten 1600 reviews in its opening year and 91% of those reviews are either excellent or very good the exhibit features some thousand buildings and a hundred bridges there's a couple of hundred cars that buzz around there's trains that move boats cable cars merry-go-rounds windmills it's a kinetic display kids love it but maybe adults appreciate it even more especially for those who have done some traveling it's really all kind of silly with the juxtaposition and the buildings that don't really belong right next to each other but there it is it's all part of a stage set in miniature London st. Petersburg Moscow oh and the trains eventually they're gonna have a thousand different trains with 12,000 cars all set to H o scale it's gonna be like the world's biggest and most elaborate Train Set they feature a mix of natural settings and historic buildings and some modern marbles this is a high-tech operation with so many moving parts it's controlled almost like an airport or a major train station they assemble and create many of the pieces right here in their laboratory and there's artists around the world who have also contributed their works he'll discover Angkor Wat there's a big Asia section that winds through India Cambodia Singapore Malaysia and on into China they're open every day from 10:00 a.m. till 8:00 p.m. last entry is one hour before closing so it makes a nice evening activity it does get kind of busy around midday so early or later in the day is best for your visit you'll find there informative website at Gulliver's gate calm and that tells you all about the and background information of course it's named after Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift about the miniature world of the Lilliputians and other strange places there up on the second floor with the inconspicuous doorway at street level that you would never dream leads into such a vast experience the creators call it their love letter to the world you are going to discover the top four art museums in New York in this brief summary starting out with the met our nation's best art museum then we'll bring you inside the Frick a small private art museum with nothing but masterpieces then we'll move along to the Museum of Modern Art take you out in the sculpture garden and bring you to Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night and many other famous modern paintings finally heading down to lower Manhattan to see the new Whitney with a superb modern and contemporary collection starting out with the met we'll work our way down south along Fifth Avenue to the Frick down to the MoMA and lower Manhattan the Whitney the grand facade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is along Fifth Avenue between 80th Street and 84th Street the museum is four blocks long extending for 300 meters one of the world's largest art museums has got two million square feet and 2 million works of art so it would take quite a while to see everything try and come back a couple of times most people start in the Great Hall which is a wonderful first impression where you buy your tickets you can check your bags it leads to classical sculpture on one side Egyptian on the other and medieval in the back Impressionism is always a favorite loving Renoir Monet Pissarro and much more the Met has one of the largest collections in the world so you might want to head there first while you're fresh through the gallery with some Rodin statues featuring some of his most famous bronze and marble works including Balzac altogether the museum has 50 statues by that French master including the thinker hand of God and The Tempest the history of Impressionism begins in Paris in 1874 when the first exhibit was held and that's about the same time that the Met was beginning to form its collection the museum opened at this location in 1880 and has been expanding ever since the museum gets over 7 million annual visitors which makes it the second most popular art museum in the world just behind the Louvre if you are not one of those people fortunate enough to visit the museum you can see the collection on their website they have a phenomenal service available to you with 400,000 works of art available for free for digital download and these are public domain just go to their website its met museum dot o-r-g slash art slash collection and you will find the works there you can easily search and enjoy your favorites according to the museum's website you are welcome to use images of artwork in the public domain for any purpose including commercial and non-commercial use free of charge without requiring any permission from the museum at the end of this video will present you a 3-minute slideshow with dozens of more beautiful paintings stick around the collection is vast covering all major styles of art for thousands of years a Spanish courtyard was shipped over from Europe and reassembled in this quiet space just next to the Great Hall from the second floor there's a nice view looking down into that front lobby you can also look down into the medieval weapons gallery famous for its band of knights on horseback all covered in armor this courtyard with it's wonderful steel and glass canopy gives the feeling of being outdoors while you're inside connecting to the American collection with cafes in the middle they have five paintings by Vermeer for many the Egyptian collection will be a major highlight there are some paintings there's a lot of jewelry there are statues of course sarcophagi and mummies all sorts of items that illustrate the religion of the Egyptians and the daily life the rooms housing in the Egyptian collection on the ground floor of the north wing contained a documentary as well as an artistic record of the ancient culture of the Nile Valley from prehistoric times to the introduction of Christianity tombs of nobles and figures of gods in which the religion and metaphysics of Egypt find expression are surrounded by painted bow reliefs wooden funeral models alabaster renderings household and farm implements small bronze statues of ket gods and murals illustrating the life of the common people but the main attraction is the temple of dunder it's the only ancient Egyptian temple in North America and it's housed in this spectacular glass gallery it was donated to America by Egypt in 1968 in appreciation for our help with the rescue of sites affected by construction of the Aswan Dam the medieval galleries take you back to the Middle Ages almost as if you'd entered an ancient Cathedral surrounded by gothic statues and paintings and fabrics and textiles from the era contrast that with the contemporary art of David Hockney it was a special exhibit that was on when we were there you won't find it now but here's a visual summary of all the wonderful paintings and video installations by that great living artist David Hockney you see the Met collection spans history from 5000 years ago right up until tomorrow although now in his 80s Hockney is so innovative he's creating paintings on an iPad that you can see being created in this video display at the same time the Met was putting on a blockbuster exhibit of works by Michelangelo including his sculpture of the young Archer and many many drawings by that greatest of all Renaissance artists the Met assembled works from 50 different collections to put together this amazing exhibit it will be gone now by the time you're watching this show but at least we give you a visual summary of what was once there and there are always other special exhibits amazing displays happening at the Met every day the collection of classical sculpture features great works from ancient Greece and Rome the Met has been ranked the best Art Museum in the world for the last three years by the readers of TripAdvisor who are an experienced group of people they list the Met as their number one destination in New York continuing ten blocks south along Fifth Avenue we reached the Frick Collection at East 70th Street a much smaller Art Museum in a former mansion built for Henry Clay Frick the indoor Garden Court is the spectacular centerpiece of this small Museum with the art galleries all around it designed in a way to respect the original mansion and give you the feeling that you are visiting as a guest in a palatial house rather than a museum officially called the Frick Collection it's the world's finest small art museums with a high quality collection of old master paintings and fine furniture there are so many masterpieces you'll want to take your time and spend at least a couple of hours here located in a upscale residential community that has a friendly neighborhood feeling to it we're on Fifth Avenue facing central parks so you might want to cross the street and take a little stroll through the garden if you like or just walk on down the Avenue in our case we're going to hop on the city bus traveling down to 53rd Street to visit yet another Art Museum the Museum of Modern Art also called MoMA is America's premier exhibition space for Modern and Contemporary Art founded largely by the Rockefeller family it opened in this location in 1939 and it's been growing larger ever since in 1983 it doubled in size and then in 1997 it doubled again a recent expansion by famous architect Jean Nouvel and another 25% to its exhibit area along with cafes and a gourmet restaurant starry nights by van Gogh is one of the favorite paintings along with many more throughout all of the building expansions and construction the museum has managed to hold on to the open space of its outdoor sculpture garden a place to relax and gather your thoughts after being surrounded by what many consider as the best collection of modern Western masterpieces in the world Matisse Monet Picasso Mondrian Rousseau van Gogh Pollock Warhol Rauschenberg Gauguin Cezanne Dali from the modern were heading to lower Manhattan for our final Museum the Whitney located at the beginning of the High Line its new building designed by Renzo Piano opened in 2015 the collection includes over 600 works by some 400 artists along with regular special exhibits there are four different outdoor observation decks which is a lovely feature it gives you a fantastic view looking out in all directions at Greenwich Village the Meatpacking District over to the river up the High Line which we showed you in great detail in our Chelsea movie that you can find in our New York collection after that nice outdoor break you'll be ready to plunge back into the galleries which contain some pieces from the regular collection and also many special exhibits what you're seeing in the video now might not be there when you visit but there are certain to be stimulating and provocative items that will tickle your artistic sensibilities you can see many of the previous exhibits on the Whitney's website which has a very extensive presentation of the permanent collection and a listing of the special exhibits going back to 2006 as promised earlier we're closing with a slideshow of some highlights from the Metropolitan Museum of Art as a little music video for you [Music] [Music] we have many more movies about New York look for them in our collection we upload a new movie every week so please subscribe to our channel then you'll be notified and if you enjoyed the movie how about a thumbs up and we always welcome comments down below it really helps us spread the word thank you

Channel: denniscallan

Views: 65,870

Rating: 4.8880181 out of 5

Keywords: travel, denniscallan, travel videos, travel movies, dennis, callan, New York, Manhattan, Manhattan New York, New York City, Midtown Avenues 5th, 6th, Park, Madison, Lexington, Central Park, Upper West Side, Times Square, Metropolitan Museum, Frick, MoMA, Whitney

Id: lvQ_Yw1XbPA

Length: 65min 33sec (3933 seconds)

Published: Thu Oct 18 2018