Autumn in New York

Favorite views

If you want breathtaking views of Central Park in all its fall foliage glory, I recommend visiting during the last week of October or the first week of November. If your pockets aren’t deep enough to stay in a hotel on the park (most of these are on Fifth Avenue or Central Park South, and all of them are on the pricey side), don’t fret. The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Cantor Roof Garden Bar has lovely park views, as does the Mandarin Oriental’s MO Lounge.

For city-wide views, New York has an embarrassment of observation deck riches these days. I’ve been to all of them, but there’s still nothing like the original. The best 360-degree views of uptown, midtown, and downtown are still to be had at the Empire State Building Observation Deck. The only downside is that you can’t see the iconic Empire State itself from here. It’s otherwise jaw-dropping everywhere you turn.

Favorite museums

There is no more thorough institution documenting the history and heritage of NYC than the Museum of the City of New York. A must-visit.

Old New York means more than just Gilded Age mansions, Edith Wharton, and high society galas. The whole time uptown was uptowning, the Lower East Side was teaming with working class immigrants from every corner of the world, struggling to make a basic living. The Tenement Museum shows you how millions of immigrants from different backgrounds—with little to nothing in common with each other—lived and worked in extremely close quarters and, amazingly, not only managed to peacefully co-exist but also survived, thrived, and went on to invent the greatest city in the world. It was these people who built our skyscrapers, bridges, and subways and started small push-cart businesses that went on to become world-famous department stores. As I always tell visiting friends, if you want to know where New York grit comes from, visit the Tenement Museum, and be sure to do one of their walking tours, too.

Easily my favorite art museum in town, the Neue Galerie is housed in the stunning Beaux-Arts William Starr Miller Mansion. It showcases a great selection of Austrian and German art, including my favorite painting ever, Gustav Klimt’s "Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer I." Don’t forget to visit the museum’s adorable Viennese-style café, Café Sabarsky, for some sacher cake!

The elegant, stately Morgan Library & Museum, once the private library of banker J.P. Morgan, is all wow factor. If you love historic architecture and historic manuscripts, don’t sleep on this one.

Favorite theaters

• Modern dance: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater at New York City Center

• Ballet: American Ballet Theatre at David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center

• Independent film: Angelika Film Center

• Concerts: Carnegie Hall

• Comedy: Apollo Theater

• Naples-style pizza: Una Pizza Napoletana

• Pizza by the slice: Joe’s

• Bagels: Ess-a-Bagel

• Irish pub: McSorley’s Old Ale House

• Soul food: Sylvia’s Restaurant

• Chinese food: Congee Village

• Deli: Katz’s

• Brunch: Café Chelsea at The Hotel Chelsea (Order the Ravioles du Dauphiné and thank me later. And be sure to go inside the hotel to tour the renovated lobby for some sensational art!)

• Dive bar: 7B Horseshoe Bar (Godfather location alert! This is where the Rosato brothers make an attempt on Pentangeli.)

• Bar experience to write home about: Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle (For the martinis, the beautiful wallpaper, and the live music.)