FLUXEUROPA: NEW YORK

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FluxEuropa regular STEWART GOTT recently spent ten days in New York, at the end of it feeling very much like he'd been up to Lexington/125, good and proper. This snapshot of the visit comes complete with a selection of Stewart's own snapshots. He's the dude on the bridge wearing the dubious brown jacket and the evil-looking sunglasses, which puts the first sentence of his article into a proper perspective for you (two out of three ain't bad, so long as you take into account the word "relatively").

Being relatively young, astoundingly good looking and incurably pretentious I immediately felt completely at home in Greenwich Village, a beautiful place full of beautiful people, a bit like I always imagined California. The leafy avenues and picturesque squares, the little theatres and pavement cafes, the record shops on Bleecker Street mingle in with beckoning restaurants offering everything from authentic Italian to new wave Japanese. Men hold hands, and even kiss each other, openly. Women are uniformly skinny. Everybody looks contented, fulfilled and as if they've never done a day's work in their lives (to be fair, it was a Sunday). It's one of the few places in New York where you don't get a feeling of height and bustle, no skyscrapers, no tenements, not even very much traffic. People who've done more travelling than I have told me before I went that New York is not like the rest of America (an odd sort of statement, I wouldn't imagine that Portland, Oregon looks or feels much like Baton Rouge, Louisiana - certainly Alaska is a bit different from Hawaii). Greenwich Village is not typical New York either, but then again - in a city of such breathtaking contrasts and constant surprises - what is?

We stayed at the Radio City Apartments on 49th Street, between Sixth and Seventh Avenues. I am going to plug these like crazy, because they were great value, safe, clean, perfect to come home to after a full day on your feet. I've never met anybody who holidayed in New York and came back saying how good their hotel was, but the Apartments certainly made us happy. We booked an apartment because there were three of us, and it worked out substantially cheaper than two rooms at a standard three star hotel. They're in a great location, right on top of Times Square and Broadway proper, walking distance to the museums and the art galleries, 5th Avenue a block away. The staff are courteous and helpful - they even went so far as to arrange installing air conditioning in all the rooms when there was a sudden heatwave half way through the holiday (two days later it was wet and cold, and the central heating came on instead). Our apartment had a great view (rare enough in New York) over the backside of Times Square, but that was probably just lucky (ask for Apartment 10H). Two medium-sized comfortable bedrooms, lounge, kitchen, bathroom - perfect. The Apartments are also conveniently close to the best restaurant in New York, which is - of course - Ellen's Stardust Diner on Broadway and 51st. Those of you hungry for haute cuisine, subtle ambience and discreet, professional service can go book somewhere else. If burgers, malts and waiters who sing "New York, New York" and "Diamonds Are A Girl's Best Friend" from the floor in between bringing you your food are your scene then head for Ellen's. It's tacky, it's tawdry, it's camp and it's brilliant. Even a professional sourpuss like me was entranced with it. Other than that eating out in New York didn't really grab us that much (tends to be pricey, and there's too much else to do in the evenings). The self service restaurant on the top floor at South Street Sea Port offers a wide choice of different cuisines at decent prices, a bar with draft beer and a spectacular view from deck loungers on the balcony looking out over the Brooklyn Bridge. Casa Bella on Mulberry Street gave us a good Italian the one night we felt like sitting down and spending the night stuffing ourselves. The only other food place I feel like recommending is Cones, an ice cream parlour at 272 Bleecker Street, which brings us conveniently back to Greenwich Village.

Now if I'd had gone to New York three years ago I'd have gone to Greenwich - to the East Village in particular - just for the music stores. I'd heard all about these little independent places stacked high with everything a noise fiend could dream of: Merzbow CDs by the dozen, Fushitsusha, Masonna, Aube, the cream of Europe, row upon row of US stuff. Then I got 'net access, and the stores I'd dreamt of were suddenly there in front of me: Cheap Thrills and Alien8 in Montreal, Ground Fault in Downey, CA, Staalplaat, Mego, Forced Exposure, Red Eye in Sydney. There are some great record stores in New York, in the East Village in particular, but if you've already bought all you could possibly want long distance then their attraction is a little diminished. I thought Mondo Kim's in St. Mark's Place the pick of the bunch, probably because they have a separate "Noise" section. Other Music on East 4th Street is pretty good too. There's a whole bunch of others nearby that run them close: I wouldn't bother with the "flagship" Tower and Virgin stores: gargantuan they are, alternative they ain't. If you want to go to a big store that rocks, check out Strand Books at Union Square (Broadway and 12th) - not a music recording in sight, but instead literally millions of second hand books, spread over a mouth-watering eight miles of chaos and confusion. When I got back to the UK a lot of people started on about New York being the "Shopping Capital of the World", and what did I bring back? Answer - a stack of Koji Asano discs from Other, a suitcase full of grubby old books from Strand...and half the contents of the Metropolitan Museum of Art bookshop.

The Met is quite simply the most exciting museum and art gallery I have ever been in. The size of the place is awe-inspiring enough, but it's the quality and the variety of the stuff there that's truly breathtaking. I can't believe that anybody could go to New York for a week and not spend at least one day in the Met (you could spend a month and still be nowhere near seeing everything), but it seems people don't. This means that there is an incredible feeling of space - even emptiness - about the place, even in showcase areas like the Astor Court, the American Wing and the Temple of Dendur. There is a phenomenal modern art collection, treasures from the near, middle and far East, stained glass, armour, rooms stuffed full of European treasures (although the great bulk of the Met's European medieval stuff is housed upstate at The Cloisters), a big collection of Roman and Greek material, American period rooms, a decent café to eat in and a whole heap of other things - many of which I still missed, even having spent two whole days there. The Michael C. Rockefeller Wing, dedicated to The Pacific Islands, Africa and the Americas, was a favourite for me. "Primitive Art" may not be everybody's idea of fun - whatever it might have meant to Pablo Picasso - but the material exhibited here, ranging from huge Asmet memorial poles made by the headhunters of Irian Jaya, to jade sculptures of the Olmecs and other priceless artefacts of pre-Colombian America, to Kongo power figures, ivory masks from Benin and an exquisite Dogon sculpture of a seated couple (he carries the hunting gear, she carries their baby) is surely enough to excite anybody. A nice lady took me on a tour of this fascinating collection, which I'd recommend - not least because there's so much to see that it helps to have someone give you direction and force you to focus on things one at a time. Before I forget I must also mention the Smithsonian (which is nothing to do with the Met), as a must for anybody with even the faintest interest in Native American history, if only to see a ceremonial shirt worn by Crazy Horse, but be quick, the collection is about to relocate to a new museum in Washington (2003).

Just up the road from the Met is the Cooper-Hewitt Design Museum, which is an interesting place in itself, but benefits most from having a deliciously peaceful garden where you can sit in the shade, drink juice and gobble wraps from the café. Back down Fifth is The Frick Collection, a remarkable art collection in a remarkable house, cool and calming (the day we went there it topped 100 degrees outside). By contrast The Whitney, a stones-throw away, pulsates with the modern. The darkened room playing a sound installation by Maryanne Amacher was a big highlight for me, as was sitting listening to Richard Chartier on big headphones while staring at a canvas totally saturated with white paint. Most of the collections shift continually, so don't blame me if neither of these are available when you get there. The Edward Hoppers will be though, and are well worth a trip to the top floor. If it's a choice between the Whitney and MOMA I'd go for the Whitney, if only because MOMA is so frustratingly busy. We didn't get to the Guggenheim, sorry.

New York is such a city of contrasts, with such a variety of things to do that everybody will find their own place there. Of the more obvious tourist attractions I'd say the Staten Island Ferry trip and the top of the Empire State Building are pretty essential (if you can then do both twice, day and night). A walk over the Brooklyn Bridge, following a stroll along the promenade at Brooklyn Heights comes pretty much recommended too. I never felt even remotely threatened in New York, and despite what people will tell you, New Yorkers are polite and friendly to strangers, even strange ones like me. Have a nice day now.

STEWART GOTT - 24 May 2002