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The glittery Top of the Standard, where the views are best at sunset. Credit Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

Asking what’s new in Manhattan is like asking what’s old in Rome: too much for 10 visits, so don’t bother trying in one. The eight or so square miles of Manhattan south of Central Park sees more restaurant, hotel and shop openings per year than many nations. While some Manhattan residents lament skyrocketing rents and the demise of neighborhood institutions, visitors freed from nostalgia can focus on newfangled attractions and refangled improvements to the surviving classics. Sure, some tourists are venturing farther afield to other boroughs. Want dirt-cheap Tibetan momo dumplings? That’s Queens. Looking for hipsters and their locally sourced millennial angst? Head to Brooklyn. But the center of the world still radiates east and west from Broadway at Columbus Circle to the Battery.

  1. 36 Hours in Manhattan, Below 59th Street

    Explore street view, find things to do in Manhattan below 59th Street and sign in to your Google account to save your map.

    Friday

    1. Pic Two, 3 P.M.

    Confusing, overwhelming, unsettling — those words often describe visitors’ first hours in Manhattan anyway, so why not double down with a visit to the debut exhibition of the International Center of Photography’s new Lower East Side museum ($14). In “Public, Private, Secret” (through Jan. 8), artists try to make sense of the torrent of images unleashed by YouTube, social media, surveillance cameras and more, as older works from the 36-exposure era stand in contrast. Kim Kardashian’s selfies between works by Andy Warhol and Cindy Sherman? What hath digitalization wrought? A 10-minute walk away, the Morrison Hotel Gallery soothes with stunning, classic images of rock ’n’ roll heroes. Hidden in a second-floor space on Prince Street, the gallery represents 110 of the world’s best music photographers. You might find Hendrix and Springsteen, or Elton John in a sequined baseball uniform at one of his 1975 Dodger Stadium concerts. No need to look up archival footage on YouTube, though, of course, you could.

    2. Early Bird Special, 5 P.M.

    There’s no happy hour at the Top of the Standard, informally known as the Boom Boom Room, but getting there early makes it easier to slip in (fashionably dressed and with a reservation) before things get too velvet ropey. The glittery setting and live jazz appeal, but the attraction is the view: From this height even the Sanitation Department facility on the Hudson is picturesque. You’ll pay for it — cocktails are in the low $20s and appetizers are as dear as they are tasty — but it’s worth it, especially if you stick around for sunset.

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    Feinstein’s/54 Below supper club offers Broadway talent at a more affordable price. Credit Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

    3. Chicken Feed, 7 P.M.

    Manhattan’s ethnic enclaves have largely gone by the wayside, but the Koreatown business district, a stone’s throw from Macy’s, is still going strong. And you don’t have to know your galbi from your bulgogi to know what to order at Turntable Chicken Jazz, a hidden (but mobbed) spot up a blue-lit stairway from Fifth Avenue. The slow-fried, thin-crusted chicken wings in hot and spicy or soy garlic versions ($9.95 a half-dozen) are worth fighting the crowds for a table. The crunchy fried dumplings are also addictive, and you can get your fix for gochujang — the fermented spicy pepper paste ubiquitous in Korean street food — with an order of rice cakes.

    4. Intimate Broadway, 9:30 P.M.

    A few hundred bucks will get you a Broadway show — make it a thousand and you might even find a pair of cheap seats to “Hamilton” on StubHub. But there’s a more intimate and affordable theatrical affair to be had down the stairs and into the lush red lighting of Feinstein’s/54 Below supper club. The underground (literally) cabaret features solo shows by some of musical theater’s finest talents. You’ll either delight in the insider Broadway name-dropping or feel like an anthropologist documenting the rituals of a mysterious subculture. Reserve $45 bar rail seats for a still-excellent view and order stiff ($16) Manhattans with Grand Marnier.

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    Visitors can take a ferry to the Peopling of America Center on Ellis Island. The ride also includes admission to the Statue of Liberty. Credit Tony Cenicola/The New York Times
    Saturday

    5. Line-Free Brunch, 10 A.M.

    What’s worse, arguing over where to go for brunch or waiting in a line once you decide? Avoid both problems by patching together a glorious meal in one of Manhattan’s newest food halls, which are to mall food courts what Emirates business class is to Spirit Airlines. TurnStyle may be in a subway tunnel at Columbus Circle, but it’s bright and cheery, and like the subway itself, is mobbed on weekdays but runs on a slower weekend schedule. Stop at Bosie Patisserie for a Breton kouign-amann ($2.50) and a cortado — or perhaps a greens 3 (greens, celery, cucumber, apple, lemon and ginger, $6.50) from the Pressed Juicery. For more substantial fare try a grilled cheese from MeltKraft or a pork shoulder salteña ($8, don’t call it an empanada) from Bolivian Llama Party. You can also take it to go and head to Central Park, depending on how seriously you’re taking this “south of 59th Street” thing.

    6. Coming to America II, Noon

    Ellis Island accepted 12 million immigrants between 1892 and 1954 (and rejected a couple hundred thousand), but the story of American immigration started well before and continues today (in case you haven’t been paying attention this election season). In 2015, the National Park Service site opened the Peopling of America Center, which recounts immigration back to Native Americans, Pilgrims and slaves and forward to Cubans, Hmong and Somali girls who play basketball in Minnesota in traditional dress. The $18 ferry includes admission to the Statue of Liberty, but you can just admire it from the boat; after all, that’s what the 12 million immigrants did.

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    Le Coucou, Stephen Starr’s French restaurant, opened this year. Credit Tony Cenicola/The New York Times

    7. Rabbit Whole, 7 P.M.

    Critics have gone — what’s the word? — nuts over Le Coucou, Stephen Starr’s French restaurant that opened this year under the helm of the American-born, Paris-famous chef Daniel Rose. There are a few surprises: The space is cavernous (forget about eavesdropping on the celeb at the next table), and the expected French formality is on the plate, but not in the service, which has an American-style, I’m-your-buddy vibe. Servers may refuse to suggest a favorite dish, but “tout le lapin” (“the whole rabbit”) is first among equals, a three-part entree of rabbit loin under crumbled rabbit kidney, a front-leg pot au feu and deboned hind legs marinated in Dijon and white wine and slow baked for four hours. Reserve in advance. Dinner for two without wine, about $200.

    8. Up in Arms, 9:30 P.M.

    Suffolk Arms may look like an English pub but strives to be a very New York cocktail bar, from Streit’s matzo ball soup, short rib steamed buns and bone marrow to its walls covered with sketches of local personalities, from Ed Koch to Sonia Sotomayor, and Grandmaster Flash to the leonine library guardians Patience and Fortitude. Eyes over 25 years old may have trouble making out the 0.01-point-font-size menu in dim light, but eyes under 25 may have trouble appreciating the expertise behind the drinks (around $15): a classic New York Sour (with egg white and a splash of malbec); recipes borrowed from New York cocktail royalty like Brian Miller of Death & Co. (the rye-bourbon-Calvados-cognac Conference); and the passion fruit, lime and vanilla Porn Star Martini.

    9. I Love the ’80s, 11 P.M.

    Where to dance in New York is a question for the ages — specifically, your group’s ages. But people young and old, or at least young and middle-aged, agree: The ’80s were a glorious decade for popular music. That explains the Saturday night, age-diverse crowd at (Le) Poisson Rouge. Named for the 1981 Rick Springfield hit, the (Karma) chameleonlike cover band Jessie’s Girl makes choreographed costume (and wig) changes to perform very danceable impressions from Cyndi Lauper to Dexys Midnight Runners. Their version of Wham!’s 1984 classic, “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,” will put the jitterbug into your brain, going bang bang bang till your feet do the same. (I said the music was glorious, not the lyrics.)

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    The West Village has charming, narrow streets, filled with restaurants and shops. Credit Tony Cenicola/The New York Times
    Sunday

    10. Latkes to Like, 9 A.M.

    The deli-diner décor at Russ & Daughters Cafe might seem kitschy if it weren’t for its Lower East Side pedigree — the original 1914 Russ and Daughters deli is still hawking smoked fish and noodle kugel (alongside modern interlopers like wasabi-infused flying fish roe) a few blocks away. The same ingredients make for a great New York brunch. Skip the matzo ball soup in favor of the rich smoked whitefish chowder; add a herring variety plate to share. For dessert, the challah bread pudding is a wild ride, as if a Jewish grandmother and a Six Flags amusement park had a son.

    11. Snack and Shop, 11 A.M.

    You probably can’t afford to live in the West Village, but you can pretend by wandering its elegant streets, crookedly unhinged from the orderly Manhattan grid. Even if some of the shops are too pricey — yes, that T-shirt costs more than your cable bill — others are only mildly overpriced. First, pacify your shopping-averse companion with a bag of bulk Swedish candy from Sockerbit. Then you’re off — ’50s and ’60s glass and ceramics in riotous color at the End of History; quirky cards ($5) at Greenwich Letterpress; and bow ties and 1980s bar mitzvah shirts at Star Struck Vintage Clothing, on Greenwich Street since 1980.


  4. Lodging

    Manhattan has too many attractions to spend much time in your hotel, unless your hotel is an attraction itself. Rooms at the Beekman (thompsonhotels.com/the-beekman) in the Financial District wrap around an astonishingly restored nine-story atrium topped with a pyramidal skylight in what used to be called the Temple Court. It had been closed to the public since the 1940s until September, when the hotel opened its doors. Unlike the atrium, where you can almost imagine top-hatted bankers plotting financial conquests, the rooms themselves have an elegant yet homey feel, and start at $399 a night.

    For those more interested in location than luxury, who want to be surrounded by the sights and sounds of life in one of the few holdout areas that recall Manhattan’s grittier days, the Leon Hotel (leonhotelnyc.com) near the foot of the Manhattan Bridge brings you quiet, uncramped rooms (from $170) inside and the clatter and bustle of Chinatown outside. There are no services to speak of, unless you count the park across the street, filled with local tai chi practitioners, as a gym.

  5. Flight and Hotel information provided by Google.
    Prices represent a snapshot of low fares and rates for weekend trips.