Native's Guide to New York Cover

From the best soul food above 110th Street to the best knish on the Lower East Side, from Upper West Side bars where you can play board games to places in Queens that will entertain the kids, the 15th anniversary edition of Richard Laermer’s NATIVE’s GUIDE TO NEW YORK: Advice with Attitude for People Who Live Here and Visitor’s We Like (W.W. Norton & Company; $17.95; July 8, 2002; Paperback Original) celebrates the unflagging energy and community diversity of the City of New York. Completely revised and updated to reflect the changes in downtown Manhattan after September 11, 2001, Laermer’s quintessential guide, in its fifth revisit to the city we love and respect, is the perfect companion to discovering the landmarks that make New York a world capital, as well as the secret hideaways that only the real natives know about.

NATIVE’s GUIDE TO NEW YORK is organized into categories such as “Daytime,” “Nighttime,” and “Food for Food’s Sake.” These categories provide a easy-to-follow framework for Laermer’s inspired and well-researched suggestions, guiding New York explorers to the best restaurants with garden seating, the street corners where famous movies have been filmed, and the safest places to ride a bike (and avoid getting run over). NATIVE’s GUIDE TO NEW YORK is also arranged geographically, so finding a hip bar in the East Village, Grant’s Tomb in Morningside Heights, or even a Thai restaurant in Brooklyn is simple even for an impatient city dweller.

Laermer’s conversational voice and helpful, quirky sidebars make reading the NATIVE’s GUIDE TO NEW YORK like getting great advice from a savvy cab driver. How do you get tickets to see John Stewart? Where are the best jukeboxes (and why)? Where can you get a really good bagel in the middle of the night? When can you get into art museums for free? Laermer has researched these and countless other unusual entertainment possibilities so that reader have straightforward, interesting information at their fingertips. And then there are the sidebars: dozens of commentaries set apart from the main text run through the book and include how to become Mayor, the quietest spots, where to find doughnuts and peanut butter, and the best places to smell the scents of the City, included in the NATIVE’s GUIDE since the first edition. Be sure to read how civility campaigns have changed the City’s course, and find out the terms you need to blend in with the natives.

If you can’t get around in the outer boroughs, you’re hardly a real New Yorker. Want the best Russian food? Don’t look to Manhattan, but to Brighton Beach, Brooklyn. Looking for live music? Laermer suggests the Brooklyn Academy of Music, even laying out how to navigate the seating chart. Want a great view of midtown? Try the roof of P.S. 1 in Jackson Heights (and the museum is fabulous, too, of course. Laermer proves what many natives suspect there are a lot of great things to do and see far from the annoying tour buses and velvet ropes of Manhattan.

The aftermath of September 11th has made people realize what a treasure it is to live in New York. With NATIVE’s GUIDE TO NEW YORK, Richard Laermer extends a funny and engaging directive to all New Yorkers and visitors get out and stop the curse of being bored or boring! Readers will find that this is an excellent guide to do just that.

Title NATIVE’s GUIDE TO NEW YORK: Advice with Attitude for People Who Live Here and Visitors We Like

Publication Date: July 8, 2002
Pages: 352
ISBN: 0-393-32288-2