times square

What’s Hot in N.Y.

Feb 10, 2010 by Ted Botha Leave a Comment

If people ask me what they should see in New York City, I tell them that there are two routes you can take…

The route I suggest skips out Times Square and lots of lower Broadway (too many T-shirt shops) and Chinatown (nightmare crowds), although there are probably elements in all three places that are worth seeing – just to say you’ve been there. But here’s a couple of places to go and things to do that might not always be apparent. Bryant Park (42nd and Sixth Avenue): Just go hang out there, buy a coffee from wichcraft and people-watch. The Staten Island Ferry: It comes free with your Metrocard (another essential, either daily or weekly) and is best taken across to Staten Island and back, viewing the Statue of Liberty along the way. The small coffee shops: 9th Street Espresso, Joe, Gimme!, Third Rail (Google them for addresses). Rent a bicycle at Columbus Circle and go through Central Park (it’s a six-mile loop in total) or along the Hudson River. Check tripadvisor.com for cheaper hotels. Get some takeout lunch at Whole Foods, the wholesome supermarket, and go sit and eat it in a nearby park. For a couple of my local favorite cheap eateries: Gazala Place (Middle Eastern, Hell’s Kitchen), Sapporo East (East Village), El Paso Taco (Mexican, East Harlem). And that’s a start!

Broadway on Two Wheels

Oct 11, 2009 by Ted Botha Leave a Comment

So, lo and behold, there I was walking down Broadway the other night when I saw, smack in the middle of the road, an island of greenery. This is unusual for an area of Manhattan known more for cars, flashing lights, theaters, hot-dog vendors, and honking horns.

In part of his effort to make the city more pedestrian and cyclist friendly, Mayor Bloomberg has started shutting down some of the major thoroughfares, Broadway especially, for cars and trucks. Great, I thought, I’m going to cycle this. And I did. The following day I got on my bike and rode all the way from 57th Street, through Times Square, to Chelsea. That’s several kilometers that now has a cycling lane dedicated to YOU. In a city where the taxi cab is king, queen, and mostly jester, this is a godsend. Until recently bikes in the city meant those horrendous messengers on two wheels who disobeyed red lights and traveled at 100kph. Deaths sometimes happened (I kid you not). For the rest of us, we had to stick to the sidewalk and endure the looks only New Yorkers know how to give. But now it’s all changed.

Ride the City!

And believe me, there is nothing quite as exhilarating as being able to take in the famous buildings of Manhattan with the wind blowing through your hair, a 360-degree view. Along the way, especially around Times and Herald squares, and near the Flatiron Building, there are newly added little tables and chairs (the kind you find in the Tuileries in Paris), all for visitors to park out on.

So anyone coming to New York, think of renting a bicycle and heading down one of the many new bicycle routes or along the river (you can virtually circumnavigate the island on bike tracks now). Most bike shops rent, as do the guys hanging around Columbus Circle. Go ahead, freewheel it!

Ted was born in New York and grew up in Japan, South Africa, and Washington, D.C. He has written for numerous publications, including The New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, Condé Nast Traveler, and Outside. His books include Apartheid in my Rucksack, a personal account of discovering Africa as a white African; Mongo, Adventures in Trash, where he follows the people in New York City who collect what others consider garbage; and, with Jenni Baxter, The Expat Confessions, about South Africans abroad. His latest book, a nonfiction thriller about a forensic sculptor titled The Girl with the Crooked Nose, comes out in January 2012. His novel, The Animal Lover, is on Kindle. He is a swimmer and a runner, and has done his share of triathlons as well as long-distance swims in South Africa and New York’s Hudson River.