Patsy’s, famed for its 900°F coal-fired pizza, still thrives in Spanish Harlem, gritty, iconic, and sublime. Thin crust, no tables, just pure NY history.

"The Dublin House" in NYC has been around since Prohibition and it still is neighborhood-sized. By the end of the night, everyone speaks Irish here...

"Pain d' Epices" is a French bakery in NYC that makes croissants so flaky & buttery, the only way to avoid the crumbs is to 'put your back to the wind...'

"Django" in NYC is proof that the city's jazz club world is recovering. I celler/cavern is intimate enough that after performances I walk over to engage...

"Pastrami Queen" in NYC has if not the best, among the very best pastrami sandwiches in the city. It's the kind of American excess you just can't miss...

I stumbled across a store about which I had read but never visited—the very inviting and colourful playground of Dawn Harris-Martine), retired teacher, now famous—named Grandma’s Place.

"Sisters Uptown Bookstore" in NYC is a hidden shop/cultural center w/ an eye-opening trove of books by African diaspora authors. A true neighborhood spot!

Color World sets up on the corner of 116th and 2nd Avenue, rain or shine. There they serve beef, pork, goat, oxtail, and chicken for $10 a plate.

Their prices are in keeping with the neighborhood: a plate of two eggs, two pancakes, 'home' fried potatoes and your choice of sausages or bacon, is $12.

There are three houses not far from each other in NYC of three icons: James Dean, James Baldwin, and Dorothy Parker...

"Heckscher Field" in Central Park, New York, is used for softball. Here you can see games played for the Broadway Show League. Celebrity stars may be seen.

Among its offerings are a $10 breakfast special and its enormous $15 lunchtime hamburger, a price unobtainable anywhere else within walking distance.