New York City (Fodor's, 2012) - Fodor's [295]
For the last 28 years of his life the famed jazz musician lived in this modest three-story house in Corona with his wife Lucille. Take a guided 40-minute tour and note the difference between the rooms vividly decorated by Lucille in charming midcentury style and Louis’s dark den, cluttered with phonographs and reel-to-reel tape recorders. Although photographs and family mementos throughout the house impart knowledge about Satchmo’s life, it’s in his den that you’ll really understand his spirit. | 34–56 107th St., at 37th Ave., | Corona | 11368 | 718/478–8274 | www.louisarmstronghouse.org | $8 | Tours hourly Tues.–Fri. 10–5, weekends noon–5 | Subway: 7 to 103rd St.–Corona Plaza.
Queens Botanical Garden.
Adjacent to Flushing Meadows–Corona Park, these 39 acres include rose and herb gardens, an arboretum, and plantings especially designed to attract bees and birds. An environmentally friendly visitor center uses solar energy and recycles rainwater. | 43–50 Main St., | Flushing | 11355 | 718/886–3800 | www.queensbotanical.org | Free | Apr.–Oct., Tues.–Sun. 8–6; Nov.–Mar., Tues.–Sun. 8–4:30 | Subway: 7 to Main St.–Flushing.
QUICK BITES: If you’re looking for authentic Queens experiences, there are few as true as eating an Italian ice from the Lemon Ice King of Corona (52–02 108th St., at 52nd St., | Corona | 11368 | 718/699–5133) while strolling by a nearby bocce court on a hot summer day. There are no seats and the service can often be gruff at this neighborhood institution of more than 60 years, but none of that will matter after your first taste.
Previous Chapter | Beginning of Chapter | Next Chapter | Table of Contents
Previous Chapter | Next Chapter | Table of Contents
Exploring The Bronx | Where to Eat in The Bronx | Shopping in The Bronx
Many tourists feel as if getting up to the city’s northernmost borough is a schlep because it looks so far away from midtown Manhattan on the map. But in actuality, travel time from Grand Central is no longer than taking the subway from the Upper West Side to the Financial District.
That said, if you’re looking to spend the better part of a day outside at the Bronx Zoo or New York Botanical Gardens—considered top sites in all of New York, not just in the Bronx—and want to sample what some call the city’s most authentic Italian food on Arthur Avenue, it’s well worth a visit.
Previous | Next Map | NYC Maps Contents
EXPLORING THE BRONX
TOP ATTRACTIONS
Fodor’s Choice | The Bronx Zoo.
When it opened its gates in 1899, the Bronx Zoo had only 843 animals. But today, with 265 acres and more than 4,000 animals (of more than 600 species), it’s the largest metropolitan zoo in the United States. Get up close and personal with exotic creatures in outdoor settings that re-create natural habitats; you’re often separated from them by no more than a moat or wall of glass.
Don’t miss the Congo Gorilla Forest ($5) a 6.5-acre re-creation of a lush African rain forest with two troops of lowland gorillas, as well as white-bearded DeBrazza’s monkeys, okapis, and red river hogs. At Tiger Mountain an open viewing shelter lets you get incredibly close to Siberian tigers, who frolic in a pool, lounge outside (even in cold weather), and enjoy daily “enrichment sessions” with keepers. As the big cats are often napping at midday, aim to visit in the morning or evening. In the new $62 million exhibit Madagascar!, the formality of the old Lion House has been replaced with a verdant re-creation of one of the most threatened natural habitats in the world. Here you’ll see adorable lemurs and far-from-adorable hissing cockroaches.
Go on a minisafari via the Wild Asia Monorail ($4), open May–October, weather permitting. As you wend your way through the forest, see Asian elephants, Indo-Chinese tigers, Indian rhinoceroses, gaur (the world’s largest cattle), Mongolian wild horses, and several deer and antelope species. TIP Try to visit the most popular exhibits, such as Congo Gorilla Forest, early to avoid lines later in the day. In winter the outdoor exhibitions have fewer animals on view,