Page 86 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - USA

84  NE W Y ORK CIT Y & THE MID-A TLANTIC REGION

j Times Square Reservoir, it opened in 1911
to immediate acclaim, despite
Map D3. q 42nd St–Times Square.
n 1560 Broadway (46th St), having cost the city $9 million.
8am–8pm daily. 8 noon Fri. The architects’ genius is best seen
∑ timessquarenyc.org in the Main Reading Room, a vast
paneled space as majestic as a
Named for the New York Times cathedral, extending almost two
Tower, Times Square is the city’s city blocks. Below it are 88 miles
most famous intersection. (140 km) of shelves, holding over
Although the New York Times seven million volumes. It takes
has moved from its original only minutes for the staff or a
headquarters at the square’s computerized dumbwaiter to
southern end, the crystal ball still supply any book. The Periodicals
drops at midnight on New Year’s Room holds 10,000 current
Eve, as it has since the building periodicals from 128 countries.
opened with fanfare in 1906. On its walls are murals by Richard
Since 1899, when Oscar Haas, honoring New York’s great
Hammerstein built the Victoria publishing houses. The original
and Republic theaters, this has library combined the collections
also been the heart of the city’s of John Jacob Astor and James
theater district. The district’s The New York Public Library’s atmospheric Lenox. Its collections today
trans formation in the 1990s led Main Reading Room range from Thomas Jefferson’s
to the renovation of many handwritten copy of the
theaters, such as the New Victory k The New York Declaration of Independence
and the New Ams terdam. Their Public Library to T.S. Eliot’s typed copy of “The
produc tions, as well as the area’s Waste Land.” More than 1,000
bars and restaurants, attract Map E3. 5th Ave & 42nd St. Tel (212) queries are answered daily, using
theatergoers each evening. 930-0830. q 42nd St–Grand Central. the vast database of the CATNYP
Old-world Broadway glamor Open 10am–6pm Mon, Thu–Sat, and LEO computer catalogs.
rubs shoulders with modern 10am–8pm Tue & Wed, 1–5pm Sun. This library is the hub of a
Closed public hols. 7 8 Lectures,
entertainment in Times Square workshops, readings: = ∑ nypl.org network of 82 branches, with
(see p98). MTV has its studios nearly seven million users.
here, and E-Walk is a vast Architects Carrère and Hastings Other well-known branches
entertainment and retail won the coveted job of include the New York Public
complex. Exciting structures, designing New York’s main Library for the Performing Arts
such as the Bertelsmann public library in 1897. The white at the Lincoln Center (see p93)
building and the minimalist marble Beaux Arts edifice they and the Schomburg Center
Condé Nast offices, sit alongside designed fulfilled the library’s in Harlem. The latter is recog-
the classic establishments, such first director’s vision of a light, nized as one of the leading
as Sardi’s, the Paramount Hotel, quiet, airy place, where millions institutions focusing exclusively
and the Baroque Lyceum Theater. of books could be stored and on African-American, African
A lovely addition to Times yet be available to readers as Diaspora, and African
Square are the pedestrian plazas, promptly as possible. Built on experiences. It hosts panel
dotted with tables and chairs. the site of the former Croton events and movie screenings.
Midtown Manhattan United Nations, founded in 1945, has its
impressive headquaters on an 18-acre
Midtown Manhattan’s skyline is
graced with some of the city’s (7-ha) site on the East River (see p86).
most spectacular towers and Empire State Building
spires – from the familiar beauty (see p83)
of the Empire State Building’s Art The
Deco pinnacle to the dramatic Tudor
wedge shape of Citigroup’s Highpoint
modern headquarters. As the City
shoreline progresses uptown, so
the architecture becomes more
varied; the United Nations
complex dominates a long stretch,
and then Beekman Place begins a
strand of exclusive residential
enclaves that offer the rich and
Elevator door at the famous some seclusion.
Chrysler Building
For hotels and restaurants in this region see pp122–4 and pp125–7

084-085_EW_USA.indd 84 11/2/16 2:43 PM
Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
(Source v2.6)
Date 12th July 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm