New York City (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [23]
Woolworth Building.
Until 40 Wall Street stole the title in 1930, the 792-foot Woolworth Building, opened in 1913, was the world’s tallest building. Make a quick stop in the lobby to check out the stained-glass skylight and sculptures set into the portals to the left and right: one represents an elderly F. W. Woolworth counting his nickels and dimes, another depicts the architect, Cass Gilbert, cradling in his arms a model of his creation. | 233 Broadway, between Park Pl. and Barclay St., Lower Manhattan | 10279 | Subway: 2, 3 to Park Pl.; R to City Hall.
Bowling Green.
This oval greensward at the foot of Broadway became New York’s first public park in 1733. On July 9, 1776, a few hours after citizens learned about the signing of the Declaration of Independence, rioters toppled a statue of British king George III that had occupied the spot for 11 years; much of the statue’s lead was melted down into bullets. In 1783, when the occupying British forces fled the city, they defiantly hoisted a Union Jack on a greased, uncleated flagpole so it couldn’t be lowered; patriot John Van Arsdale drove his own cleats into the pole to replace the flag with the Stars and Stripes. The copper-top subway entrance here is the original one, built in 1904–05. | Whitehall St., Lower Manhattan | 10007 | Subway: 4, 5 to Bowling Green.
World Financial Center (WFC).
The four towers of this complex, 34–51 stories high and topped with different geometric ornaments, were designed by Cesar Pelli and serve as company headquarters for the likes of American Express and Dow Jones. The sides of the buildings facing the World Trade Center towers were damaged during the September 11 attacks, but have been fully restored. The glass-dome Winter Garden atrium is the main attraction here; it’s a pleasant open space that’s the site of music and dance performances, as well as a display of architectural plans for the WTC site and a selection of stores and restaurants. At the south end of the WFC complex, the South Bridge footbridge connects One WFC to the intersection of Liberty and Washington streets. The windows on the north side of the footbridge provide a view of the World Trade Center site. | West St. between Vesey and Liberty Sts., Lower Manhattan | 10281 | www.worldfinancialcenter.com | Subway: R to Cortlandt St.
CHINATOWN AND TRIBECA: TOP TOURING EXPERIENCES
A STREET THAT DEFINES THE COMMUNITY
For a quick taste of Chinatown, head to Mott Street, Chinatown’s main thoroughfare. This is where the first Chinese immigrants (mostly men) settled in tenements in the late 1880s. Today the street is dense with restaurants, hair salons and barbershops, bakeries, tea parlors, and souvenir shops, most of them lying below Canal Street.
If you plan it right, you can create a movable feast, starting with soup dumplings, a specialty from Shanghai, and continuing with Peking duck, a yellow custard cake, and a jasmine bubble tea, each at a different place. Or, you can have it all come to you at Ping’s Seafood (22 Mott St. | 212/602–9988) with dim sum for lunch. The few blocks above Canal overflow with food markets selling vegetables and fish (some still alive and squirming). Walk carefully, as the sidewalks can be slick from the ice underneath the eels, blue crabs, snapper, and shrimp that seem to look back at you as you pass