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Writer's pictureJin Watanabe

Being a Tourist in Your Own City

Jin Watanabe


Tourists in New York City come to experience the hustle and bustle of Manhattan. They marvel at the skyscrapers, the lights, and the crowds. For residents of the city, the novelty of midtown and downtown have worn off, but that doesn’t mean there isn’t more to explore. One of the great tragedies of New York is that very few residents have taken time to experience the city’s full diversity of cultures, cuisines, and communities. I do not claim to be a definitive expert on the city, but I do believe I can recommend some trips within the city based on my own experience that any tourist or resident-tourist interested in seeing more of the city should try.


New York’s outer boroughs are surprisingly rich with attractions that warrant visits on their own. However, the true beauty of a trip to a new part of the city comes in pairing a visit to an attraction with a visit to the surrounding neighborhoods. You can’t understand New York’s diversity until you’ve visited its many neighborhoods, many of which retain distinct ethnic and cultural identities. New York’s many waves of immigration have rippled out from downtown Manhattan, settling down in the outer boroughs where communities have established deep roots. One can not develop a proper understanding of New York without seeing its many diverse neighborhoods.



Citi Field and Flushing


One of New York’s most famous ethnic neighborhoods is Flushing Queens. The neighborhood, about 7 miles from midtown Manhattan, is practically a city in its own right. It is the largest of New York’s three Chinatowns (the others being Chinatown in Manhattan and Sunset Park in Brooklyn). The neighborhood is home to countless Chinese and Korean restaurants and food courts. Right next door, Citi Field is home to New York Mets baseball. Pairing a baseball game, a quintessential New York experience, with a trip to Flushing makes for an excellent day trip for tourists and New Yorkers alike.


Coney Island and Brighton Beach


Many tourists and residents are drawn to Coney Island in the summer. Home to one of the world’s earliest amusement parks and some of the city’s most accessible beaches, Coney Island is a natural day trip destination. Few know that right next to the beaches, lies an amazing ethnic neighborhood, Brighton Beach, which is home to many groups who fled the former Soviet Union. The neighborhood is a hub of authentic Russian, Ukrainian, Uzbek, and other cuisines. 


The Met Cloisters and Inwood/Washington Heights


The Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of the world’s greatest art museums and draws millions of tourists every year. However, few venture to the northern tip of Manhattan to see the Cloisters, a branch of the Met which specializes in Romanesque and Gothic art. Housed in a medieval-style monastery, the museum is a hidden gem. The Cloisters sits in a beautiful park overlooking Washington Heights and Inwood, two predominantly Dominican neighborhoods. Here you can find some of the city’s best Dominican food, as well as restaurants run by New Yorkers from across Latin America and the Caribbean. As the city gentrifies, Washington Heights stands as one of the few remaining affordable neighborhoods in Manhattan.


Peter Luger’s Steakhouse and Hasidic Williamsburg




For most of these trips, I suggest visiting a famous or semi-famous attraction before eating in the local community. Here, I’ll suggest the opposite. Peter Luger’s is considered the finest of New York’s famous steakhouses. Surprisingly though, Luger’s isn’t located in Manhattan, but rather in Brooklyn, right outside one of New York’s most fascinating ethnic enclaves. Along with Israel itself, New York is a center of the Orthodox Jewish community worldwide. There are many Orthodox Jewish communities in New York, but the largest is Williamsburg. This is a fascinating neighborhood to walk around in. Nowhere else in North America, will you see streets densely packed with such a concentration of large families and strollers. It’s a truly tight knit community, reminiscent of the New York of ages past.


New York is so much more than just midtown and downtown. Tourists and New Yorkers alike can benefit from branching out and experiencing the full diversity of our great city.



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