Resources

Find all the NYCity info you need to know with these websites, blogs, and mobile apps. Ditch the print guidebooks and use your computer, tablet, or smartyphone to explore the best digital NYCity info & take advantage of crowdsourced info & location based services.

This section is getting a little old in the tooth and is due for an update.
I plan a major redesign by Summer 2021. Wait until you see it.

If you are pressed for time, try these (the “SuperSix”):
NYCGO.com – top events from NYC & Company (NYCity’s official tourism org)
NYTimes – Arts
(esp. “Arts and Entertainment Guide”, daily guide to noteworthy cultural events)
TimeOutNY (things to do in NYCity this week)
ThoughtGallery.org (a carefully curated guide to cultural events in NYCity)
the Skint (free & cheap NYCity, with attitude)
NewYorkMag – Best of NewYork (picks for 2017)

If you are a serious planner with more time, try these:

The best things to do in the summer in NYC – TONY Mag
Readings & Signings – NY Mag
MUG – Manhattan Users Guide

Eating & Drinking
Serious Eats: New York
Village Voice: Fork in the Road
Eater NY
The 19 best waterfront restaurants in NYC – TONY mag
New York’s Best Bars for Cocktails – NY Mag

CrowdSourced & Location Based Info
YELP NYCity
Chowhound – Manhattan Q&A
ThornTree TravelForum NYC

Mobile Apps
HopStop (NYCity transit directions)
Subway Time (MTA next train departures; real time service status)
Exit Strategy (find subway stations aboveground; right car to exit underground)
the Scoop (NYT guide to what’s happening – eating, drinking, doing)

NYCity Print Media Online
NYT
AMNY
Metro
New Yorker
NewYork

Neighborhood News Online
Chelsea Now
Tribeca Trib
The Villager
West Side Spirit
The Broadsheet – Lower Manhattan
Downtown Express

For good advice on how to act like a NewYawker and not a pilgrim from Dubuque:
(I couldn’t have said it better myself)

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14 Essential NYCity Movies

If you want to get in the mood for your visit to NYCity, then make yourself some popcorn and pick up a copy of one of these great films at your local Netflix.
(and if you have seen any of these before, remember Director Robert Altman’s advice: “It’s better to see a great movie again than an average one the first time. Because even though the movie hasn’t changed, you have. And you’ll see something new.”)

The Naked City (1948)

On the Waterfront (1954)

Sweet Smell Of Success (1957) — “I love this dirty town!”, says Burt Lancaster — and so do we, in one of his signature films — a sour, caustic tale about a twisted gossip columnist, partly modeled on the legendary Walter Winchell. Lancaster is superb, and guess what, so is Tony Curtis.

West Side Story (1961)

Midnight Cowboy (1969) — Two drifters meet in a mutual attempt to survive in, then escape from, Manhattan’s grimy underbelly. Hoffman is incredible as Ratso. The kind they don’t make anymore, this “Cowboy” still packs a hefty wallop.

The French Connection (1971) — Maybe the best cop movie ever, portraying one of the city’s bigger drug busts back in the day. Gene Hackman won as Oscar and became a bankable star with this movie — and it’s easy to see why.

The Godfather (1972)

Mean Streets (1973) — Scorsese’s breakthrough about a conflicted small-time crook and his wacko, self-destructive cousin in Little Italy. Rich in emotion, immediacy, and atmosphere, this film set the pungent, propulsive Scorsese style we’d see again in movies like 1990’s Goodfellas.

The Godfather, Part 2 (1974) — Coppola managed to improve on a masterpiece with this one, which paints on a broader canvas and offers even richer period flavor. And for the price of Brando, we get a young Robert De Niro, who’s equally brilliant.

Annie Hall (1977) — Inveterate New Yorker Woody Allen’s best film ever, with some hilariously dead-on insights about the bi-coastal dilemma: New York vs. Los Angeles. I’m with Woody: give me Gotham every time. This turned Diane Keaton into a star, and it’s still her signature role.

Manhattan (1979)

Broadway Danny Rose (1984)

Three Woody Allen films in a row may seem a bit much, but for me Woody is the quintessential NYCity film auteur. Heck, I could have added “Hannah and Her Sisters” (1986), “Crimes and Misdemeanors” (1989), and “Bullets Over Broadway” (1994).

Moonstruck (1987) — This love letter to Brooklyn is full of charm and humanity, though some disagree… worth the price of admission for Vincent Gardenia and Olympia Dukakis alone. And look for an unusual early turn from Nic Cage as a mooning, eccentric baker.

A Bronx Tale (1993)

Half of this list is from the wonderful film critic John Farr.
The other half (films without the write up’s) are my additional personal faves.

Heck, there are too many great NYCity movies.
Need some Honorable Mentions:

• King Kong (1933)
• On the Town (1949)
• Marty (1955)
• On the Bowery (1956)
• Shadows (1959)
• The Cool World (1964)
• Klute (1971)
• Shaft (1971)
• Superfly (1972)
• Serpico (1973)
• The Taking of Pelham 1-2-3 (1974)
• Dog Day Afternoon (1975)
• Taxi Driver (1976) (great movie, but nycity at it’s worst)
• Saturday Night Fever (1977)
• Raging Bull (1980)
• Once Upon a Time in America (1984)
• Ghostbusters (1984)
• The Pope of Greenwich Villlage (1984)
• When Harry Met Sally (1989)
• Do the Right Thing (1989)
• Goodfellas (1990)
• Man on Wire (2008)x

Let’s not forget some of the great Broadway Musicals set in NYCity:

• West Side Story
• Guys and Dolls
• On the Town
• A Chorus Line
• Mame
• The Producers

And we all loved these TV shows set in NYCity:

1• Seinfeld  ‘89-‘98

2• Sex and The City  ‘98-‘04

3• Law and Order  ‘90-‘10

4• Friends  ‘94-‘04

5• All in the Family  ‘71-‘79

6• NYPD Blue  ’93-’05

7• Mad Men  ‘07-present

8• Honeymooners   ‘55-‘56

9• 30 Rock  ‘06-‘13

10• Naked City  ‘58-‘61

11• The Odd Couple  ’70-‘75

In case you missed this the first time, I’ll finish with this good advice on how to act like a NewYawker and not a pilgrim from Dubuque:
(I couldn’t have said it better myself)