This is New York • 10th November 2017

The pleasures of the harbor

In the thick of the city, among the mountainous skyscrapers and valleys of avenues, it's easy to forget that New York is, in fact, an island flanked by two major rivers with its southernmost tip hemmed in by one of the most important ports on the East Coast.

This is New York • 8th October 2007

Around Washington Square

Every spring the sidewalks, stoops, fence posts and fire escapes surrounding Washington Square blossom with eye-catching canvases, wild watercolors, still lifes and sculptures.

The Hour • 29th July 2007

Wine season: A tradition in the making

These men of few words stood blowing into their frozen, cupped hands, puffing on cigarettes, and bouncing in place on a sidewalk sticky with blotches of juice and squashed skins that would sometimes end up on the soles of their shoes . . . .

This is New York • 9th May 2001

Hidden streets of New York: Grove Court

Dusting off the bookshelf, you might come across a dog-eared copy of O. Henry’s short stories. In it you’re bound to find “The Last Leaf,” a charming story about a lovely young woman who is lying in her sickbed waiting out the days until the last leaf on the vine outside her window falls to the ground.

This is New York • 15th February 1991

Celebrating the Chinese New Year

The Chinese New Year starts on the eve with the release of silken lions to ward off evil spirits. This is the prelude to the longer sustained greeting and dancing of the lions on New Year’s Day when, at about noon, a first high spattering of firecrackers is heard on Mott Street.

This is New York • 11th August 1990

Inside an iconic old deli

Walking down Houston Street, it's hard to miss the big, lit-up sign above Katz's Delicatessen, one of New York's most historic delis.

This is New York • 27th January 1990

4 a.m. at the old fish market

You turn eastward now, toward the East River, and continue south toward Fulton and South Streets. The streets will seem empty and waiting as the early dawn slowly brings dimensions to the black cardboard buildings, but you will never be quite alone.

The Hour • 16th December 2004

Martha Stewart cooks up a lesson

Dozens of well-dressed women and a handful of stiff-looking men sit at long tables beneath tulip chandeliers for a holiday dinner Monday night.

The Hour • 27th January 2005

Cultivating a taste for the 'bizarre'

"Look out!" Two agile teens whiz by on skateboards across the cavernous hall. Club crawlers dance to funk music vibrating through the floor. The totally-tattooed man shows you his chest and then bares his soul. And a few dim-eyed, aging hipsters look like circus roustabouts as they smoke in the shadows before the urge to guzzle beer tugs them back to the bar.

The Hour • 24th October 1994

Exploring the nature of art at Weir Farm

As an early-morning light filters through scarlet and russet-colored trees, and a whisling autumn wind fills the air above Weir Farm with flickering, spiraling leaves, various local painters make their pilgramage to the top of the meandering Nod Hill Road to capture some of the scenes on canvas.

The Hour • 9th December 1994

Artists at work in their Sono lofts

Anyone who ever wonders about the relationship between the artist's creative act and the vision of reality seen daily before his or her eyes has to only enter the old factor building near the seaport at 18 Marshal Street.

The Hour • 27th August 2017

Spinning the story of Gray on Gray

"Does anyone know what I'm supposed to be doing tonight?" The actor-monologist Spalding Gray walks tentatively out to center stage inside the Norwalk Community College theater Saturday night.

The Hours • 10th February 2005

Cigar rituals and smoke-filled rooms

Corporate heavy-hitters in their 40s or 50s, retirees in dark grey flannel suits sagging over their shoes, and young stylish professionals hold cour at Restaurant 540's long mahogany bar Monday night, wrapped in the blue-grey fog of hundreds of lit cigars.

The Villager • 4th September 1994

Ginsberg is back to read in a Village bar

Poet Allen Ginsberg stood waiting in the wings on the downstairs stage at the Village Gate--one of a handful of city night spots that has an historic link to the oral tradition.

This is New York • 21st August 2001

Only history changes at Chumley's

There is no music so that conversation is possible. The room is square, absolutely simple, with little tables set against walls that are decorated with old book jackets.