Change is in the air in this flourishing section of Manhattan. Union Square, once a hangout for drug dealers and scene of protest rallies, has been renovated and transformed. A Greenmarket fills the square with fresh produce four times a week, drawing patrons from all over the city, and the neighborhood around the square is attracting an increasing number of new apartments, shops, and restaurants. The shops and lively eating places now extend up Fifth Avenue into the once-neglected Flatiron District, named for the building at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street. Quiet Madison Square, opposite the Flatiron Building, recently became the site of two of the city’s hottest restaurants and is receiving its own restoration. No change was needed in Gramercy Park, the most European of the city’s neighborhoods.
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Danny Meyer has made 11 Madison Square chic with his imaginative New American cuisine in an elegant Art Deco setting.
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This Beaux Arts building was used as the drill hall and offices of a military unit privately formed in 1848. In 1913, the controversial exhibition of modern art known as the Armory Show was held here, including works by Van Gogh, Duchamp, and Brancusi. The show was widely panned in the press, but it brought modern art to New York on a large scale and had a profound and lasting effect on American art.
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The city’s most eclectic emporium, two landmark buildings that are part flea market, part antiques fair, and part Middle Eastern bazaar. Offerings include fancy French or rugged Mexican furniture, antiques and reproductions, fabrics and accessories, linens, bedding, flowers, foods, and a whole building for rugs. There are two dining places: Lucy and Pipa.
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This pensive figure by Henry Kirke Brown was commissioned shortly after the president’s assassination in 1865.
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Arthur became the 21st President when James Garfield was assassinated. George Edwin Bissell sculpted him in 1898, standing in front of an elaborate chair.
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Tom Collichio’s scaled-down version of Craft next door still gives diners the chance to create their own menus but at cheaper prices.
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The founder of the Players Club is shown in his most famous role, about to give Hamlet’s soliloquy. The 1917 statue faces his former house.
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Morning
Book-lovers should start on 12th Street, where the city’s biggest used book-store, the Strand, is located at No. 828. From here, head north up Broadway to Union Square, visiting the Greenmarket (see Union Square Greenmarket). Continuing up Broadway brings you to the Paragon Sports superstore, 867 Broadway at 18th Street, and Fishs Eddy, 889 Broadway at 19th, selling all but indestructible vintage and new china. The fascinating ABC Carpet & Home awaits at No. 888 (see ABC Carpet & Home).
At the Flatiron Building, turn east to Madison Square , then have lunch at Tablaor the gourmet 11 Madison Park . Several restaurants on “Curry Hill” also offer inexpensive lunches, Including Pongal, No. 110, and Cardamomm at 100 Lexington Ave.
Afternoon
While you are in the neighborhood, check out the intriguing spices at Kalustyan’s, 123 Lexington Avenue.
More shops can be found on Fifth Avenue between 14th and 23rd streets, including Emporio Armani, No. 110, between 16th & 17th and Daffy’s, No. 111, a discount store offering designer finds.
End your day in the civilized oasis of the Gramercy Park neighborhood. Be sure to stroll East 19th Street, known as the “Block Beautiful,” for its hand- some 1920s houses.
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Greg Wyatt’s 1983 smiling sun and moon flanked by dancing giraffes, from whose mouths water flows in warm weather.
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This 1880 memorial to a naval hero established Augustus Saint-Gaudens as the nation’s foremost sculptor; Stanford White designed the base.
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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.
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