New York, No More

When I was growing up in Manhattan, I thought New York City was the only place in the world to live. These days, I wonder what virtues I saw in the place.  Especially, I wonder how New Yorkers manage to afford to live there.

If Washington, with all its free cultural activities and excellent mass transit, is a city to be enjoyed by everyone, New York is a city to be enjoyed by the rich. People living on average incomes in NYC have to endure the grubby Subway, incessant street noise, and crowds pressing from every direction.

I must admit I had one delightful free experience when I relaxed in renovated Bryant Park, behind the NY Public Library on 42nd Street. When I was young, Bryant Park was full of derelicts and criminals. Today, it is full of tourists and New Yorkers on lunch breaks or resting from shopping excursions. People in Bryant Park are actually "invited" by signage to sit on chairs on the grass or stretch out on the lawn for a nap. The central lawn is bordered by trees, plants, spring flowers and a marble fountain; beyond the park's borders are slick, glass highrises. I recommend Bryant Park for a restful break, picnic, or lunch in its lovely cafe. It's a place where you can almost tune out the roar of traffic.

Where Not to Stay

I confess that I am accustomed to staying at friends' homes when I travel. When, however, I was unable to stay with New York friends, I looked for an inexpensive hotel room through Hotels.com. (I couldn't bear the idea of spending several hundred dollars on a room for one night.) Don't ever book online in Manhattan. The place I found for $125 per night looked good on the Web -- 71st Street and West End Avenue, moderately high rankings from former clients. I booked without reading the small print about shared bathrooms.

The reality was depressing. The rundown studios catered to students and backpackers. We were given a room on the fourth floor but the elevator was broken. Pleading a sore leg, I insisted on a first floor room; conveniently, the bathroom was directly across the hall. The room was tiny and the radiator wasn't working. When the pleasant Albanian handyman came to fix the radiator, he mistakenly pulled off the blinds and it was a production to get them back up. When the room finally got warm enough, we had to sleep on a mattress of stone. My husband was an incredible good sport and he agreed to leave very early the next morning.

Coincidentally, the Travel Section in the Sunday New York Times on May 4, 2008, ran a piece entitled "A Room with a View (Maybe) in Gotham."  The article named 7 no-frill, low cost hotels in NYC -- the Lucerne, Econo Lodge Times Square, Pod Hotel, Mansfield Hotel, Inn on 23rd Street, Cosmopolitan Hotel and Bryant Park Hotel (right across from my newly discovered park). I tried to check the prices of the latter on the Web but the web site was not working -- not a good sign. While I am not recommending any of these places because I don't know them or their rates, I suspect they are better than a "bargain" hotel on Hotels.com.

When a Library is a Museum

I was fortunate to be given a free tour of the Morgan Library by a friend who works there -- otherwise, I would have had to pay $12 to get in, a high price for a relatively small place. Small, but definitely worth it. The Library at 37th and Madison once housed the private collection assembled by financier J. Pierpont Morgan in the 19th century. In 1924, Morgan's son transformed the private library into a public institution. In recent years, the space was expanded by architect Renzo Piano who integrated the Morgan's three historical buildings with three new glass pavilions. These provide exhibit space and make the library into a museum.

I saw two shows at the Morgan. First, an exhibit of a medieval treatise on the "noble" hunt drawn from the "disbound" pages of a gorgeous illuminated manuscript. The curator provided a marvelous explanation of the hunt and its many social conventions. In contrast, the Morgan was also showing the drawings of twentieth century artist Philip Guston whose work varied from abstract to figurative and who characterized himself as "inspired by anxiety." When you add to the exhibit space two grand baroque rooms in one of the historical buildings that belonged to J. Pierpont and contain some of his treasures, the Morgan has an embarrassment of riches in a compact space.

To be honest, I have to say New York is still worth visiting for a day or two -- if you can afford it. To me, that means finding a decent hotel room for under $150.

I would only consider again living in New York if I won the lottery -- the super lottery. And since I'm too cheap, or wise, to play the lottery, I have to concede that, for me, it's "New York, no more."