You might be surprised to see how much green park space is available in the middle of Manhattan.
Along with some tiny midblock parks, there is Bryant Park, which is almost a whole city
block – one of the highlights.
We will be showing you as we walk around through Midtown.
Walking up 6th Avenue, down 5th, we will take a look at Madison, Park Avenue – a grand
boulevard stroll 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 artworks like this, stabile by Alexander Calder,
taking you all the way to the Upper Eastside.
Let's go take a walk uptown.
We're going to take a look at Madison Avenue, Lexington Avenue, we'll be on 5th 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 share of eccentric
characters.
"So you want to live inside Jesus.
You must be ready to suffer persecution, okay?
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 are many of these stacks of 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 six 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 uptown 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 6th Avenue are built
in that glass box International Style, standing shoulder to shoulder in one of the world's
most impressive urban lineups.
Formerly the headquarters of such global titans as Exxon and McGraw-Hill, Time Warner and
PaineWebber, they're 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 developments.
Home to media companies and hundreds of other businesses.
These fountains called the Channel Gardens because they separate the British and French
buildings here.
One quarter million people passing through its nineteen buildings daily.
When hunger strikes, m, any 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 sites.
And while you're strolling along, enamored by the 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 at 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 twenty-four
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-type setting 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 clerk's 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 ring you up to 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 an 80-story needle tower to
go up soon, at multimillion prices that scrape the stratosphere.
Lined with prestigious shops, Fifth Avenue is consistently ranked among the most expensive
an 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 the shopping district was ranked as having the world's most expensive
retail spaces on a cost per square foot basis, although many of the 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, too numerous
to fully mention.
To give you some idea you have got all the usual luxury suspects including Vuitton, Tiffany,
Gucci, Prada, Armani, Hilfiger, Cartier, Omega, Chanel, Harry Winston, Ferragamo, Bulgari,
Puccini, DeBeers, 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 downmarket.
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 and 42nd.
The cavernous space is always filled with bustling crowds, especially at rush-hour.
The huge central room is called the Main Concourse, 275 feet long, 120 feet wide and 125 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 him 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 they would from earth, other are reversed as if looking from god’s viewpoint above
us.
The enormous size and lavish use of marble on floors as well as will 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
of Grand Central and is 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 the size of the building
and in the number 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, blocked by the building, and rises to the second-story 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 façade featuring Hercules,
Minerva and Mercury.
At its unveiling in 1914, the 48-foot-high trio was considered the largest sculptural
group in the world.
In the middle of the grouping the 13-foot clock is the world's largest example of Tiffany
glass.
The PanAm Building, now called MetLife, towering above Grand Central Terminal, was completed
in 1963 . The space in front of Grand Central on the
42nd Street and Vanderbilt Avenue sides is occupied by stores along a block named Pershing
Square in honor of General John J. Pershing.
The Citi bike racks nearby make it easy for commuters to get around.
Take the bike right across town, like I will, a little over 1 mile.
It takes me about seven minutes instead of a fifteen-minute walk, and, you know you enjoy
it.
You can also do it on a weekly pass, and a daily pass.
All around the terminal sky-scraper 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 shopfronts and offices towering overhead.
You'll come across this large orange metal sculpture.
It's a stabile 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, will which is one of the most popular indoor plazas
in the city.
We are plunging into a very worthwhile twenty blocks which can be nicely enjoyed along Madison
Avenue with serious window-shopping, people watching and looking up at the buildings peaks.
The shops and sights 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 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 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
going to be blocking some speeding New Yorker coming up behind you.
The inevitable sidewalks scarf vendor 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, it is one big chain store after another.
Still very worthwhile to see.
We're in the Upper Eastside, entered that rarefied atmosphere of the blueblood territory.
The multimillion 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 superrich live.
You don't have to take out a second mortgage to dine in some of these restaurants, such
as Amaranth, with a delightful open-air 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 château
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 a national landmark, designed 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 Seagram's Building, designed in 1958 by
Mies van der Rohe and Philip Johnson.
Subsequent buildings were designed with similar open plazas to give them density and 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 yuppiefied and gentrified
as the other avenues that we been walking on, all of what you been lovely, but Lexington
is especially nitty-gritty and a fine place to end our walking tour of New York's grand
avenues.
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