DK Travel : New York

With its skyscrapers, great museums, and bright lights of Broadway, New York is a city of superlatives. There are countless sights that have to be seen, but a handful are truly definitive of the city. These highlights illustrate the very best.

Beth Hamedrash Hagadol Synagogue

Artists can often be seen sketching this small, picturesque building. It was constructed in 1850 as the Norfolk Street Baptist Church, but as the neighborhood changed, the membership moved uptown, and in 1885 the structure was converted to a synagogue by America’s oldest Russian, Orthodox Jewish congregation. Gothic woodwork and the iron fence from the original church remain.
Bialystoker Synagogue

Built in 1826 as a Methodist Episcopal Church, the fieldstone building was acquired in 1905 to house a congregation from the Polish community of Bialystok. A recent two-year restoration has revealed an interior of glowing beauty, painted in bold colors, with Moorish motifs, biblical scenes, and the signs of the zodiac, which are found in some Jewish scriptures. As in all Orthodox synagogues, only men are allowed on the main floor; women are seated in the gallery upstairs.
Big Cup

The coffee house hangout to meet and greet, day and night.
Birdland

Another legend, although no longer in the location opened by Charlie Parker in 1949. After ups and downs, the club is ensconced near Times Square in new quarters built in three tiers to ensure good sightlines. The food is decent, and big bands play from Tuesday to Sunday.
Blakely New York

The cosmopolitan mood begins in the Art Deco lobby with clocks showing the time around the world. Contemporary rooms have red lacquer furnishings and kitchenettes.
Bleecker Street

The present line-up of ordinary shops and restaurants belies the history of this street. James Fenimore Cooper lived at No. 145 in 1833, Theodore Dreiser stayed at No. 160 when he came to New York in 1895, and James Agee lived at No. 172 from 1941 to 1951. The café at No. 189, the corner of Bleecker and MacDougal, was the San Remo bar, the favorite gathering place for William Burroughs, Allen Ginsberg, Gregory Corso, and Jack Kerouac, leading lights of the beat generation.
Bloody Angle

The name for this sharp curve on Doyers Street was coined by a newspaper because this was the site of so many gangland ambushes during the 1920s. It was a period when the Hip Sing and On Leong tongs , groups similar to criminal gangs, were fighting for control of the opium trade and gambling rackets in Chinatown. The tong wars continued off and on until at least the 1940s, and their rivalries continue in the present-day youth gangs.
Bloomingdales

Really great place to shop til you drop. Real must see.
Bloomingdale’s

After Macy’s, this is New York’s best-known department store, re-nowned for high fashion for men and women. The main floor with cosmetics, jewelry, and accessories is a mob scene, but don’t be discouraged; upper floors are more manageable.
Blue Fin

One of the coolest places in the area, this restaurant is dedicated to serving seafood dishes including sushi.

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Restaurant price categories

For a three-course meal for one with a glass of house wine, and all unavoidable charges including tax.
- under $25
- $25-$50
- $50-$80
- over $80
Hotel price categories

For a standard, double room per night (with breakfast if included), taxes and extra charges.
- under $150
- $150–$250
- $250-$350
- $350-$450
- over $450