Welcome to New York

By Tony Robins

Inside the Hyatt Regency Hotel, the ASJA conference weekend is packed with events. Outside, New York's multiple charms beckon far and wide. But don't overlook the landmarks that abound within a few short blocks of the hotel-including the landmarks of journalism.

Our hotel: The Hyatt Regency itself may look like a soulless modern construction - okay, it is one - but its mirror glass skin hangs on the bones of the elegant old Hotel Commodore, named for Commodore Vanderbilt, creator of neighboring Grand Central Terminal. Back in the day, honeymooning F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald moved in after being thrown out of the nearby Biltmore Hotel for raucous behavior.

Grand Central Terminal: Threatened in the late '70s with demolition, the city's secular cathedral was rescued by a Supreme Court decision upholding the local landmarks law, and then by a $150-millon restoration. Today, the Grand Central Partnership sponsors a free tour of the Terminal every Friday at 12:30 (no reservations required; meet at the sculpture court of the Whitney Museum, across 42nd Street from the Terminal). Visit the lower Concourse (the "Dining Concourse") for inexpensive ethnic/fast-food stands - or the much more expensive, but very romantic, Oyster Bar.

From here, you can walk to three of Gotham's major attractions - and on your way, pass some of the city's journalistic landmarks.

To Times Square: Walk westward along 42nd Street, and at Fifth Avenue you'll find the vast New York Public Library. Its many treasures include the DeWitt Wallace Periodicals Room-restored thanks to grants from the eponymous founder of Readers Digest (who started digesting articles in this very room), and adorned with Richard Haas's wonderful murals of old New York newspaper headquarters (if you need to scan back issues before pitching a new market, this is the place to come). Turn right (north) up Fifth Avenue, then left on West 44th Street, and you'll pass by No. 25-former home of The New Yorker. Further down the block, at No. 59, stands the Algonquin Hotel, where the wits of the Round Table - George S. Kaufman, Heywood Broun, Dorothy Parker, Ring Lardner and Robert Benchley - spent the Roaring Twenties trading barbs. Cross Sixth Avenue, walk one long block further, and you'll find yourself in Times Square-named for the New York Times back in an era when journalism commanded a little more respect. The Times Tower has been defaced, but the giant crystal ball still drops here every December 31 to welcome the New Year. The Times moved out long ago - you'll find its offices a little to the west, at 229 West 43rd Street. To see Times Square in all its glory, come back after dark, when-thanks to the lights and billboards - it's actually brighter than at full noon.

To Rockefeller Center: From the Hyatt, walk to Madison Avenue, then turn right and head uptown. This is the Madison Avenue, synonymous with the advertising industry, but also once home to the industry's life-blood: magazines. At 49th Street you'll find the old Newsweek Building, 444 Madison, now home to New York Magazine. One block up and across the avenue is the grand Renaissance-style courtyard of the Villard Houses, serving today as an entrance court for the ominous glass tower of the New York Palace Hotel. In the mid-20th century, the wing on the courtyard's north side housed Bennett Cerf's Random House. (If you love cities and architecture, walk inside what is now called the Urban Center to find Urban Center Books. Bring your wallet.) One block further north, on the opposite side of Madison between 51st and 52nd streets at No. 488, rise the sleek, curving white brick walls of the Look Building. Life Magazine's only true photo-journalistic rival, Look rented six stories here in the 1950s and cut a deal with the owner to attach its name to the building - outraging fellow tenant Esquire, who sued unsuccessfully to stop it from happening. Walk one block east on 51st Street, cross Fifth Avenue, and you'll be in Rockefeller Center. Past the skating rink, on the far right, you'll find the Associated Press building, with Isamu Noguchi's stainless steel representation of "News" over the entrance.

To the United Nations: From the Hyatt, walk east along 42nd Street. At Lexington you'll pass the spectacular Art Deco style Chrysler Building (take a quick peek at the gorgeous restored lobby). Continue on past Third Avenue, and you'll come to No. 220, built in 1929 to house the New York Daily News. The red-and-white-striped early modern skyscraper starred in the Superman movies, playing the Daily Planet. Don't miss its lobby - sort of a miniature planetarium, part of the News's campaign to educate the masses. Continuing east on 42nd Street, you'll pass the enclosed botanical garden that houses the Ford Foundation. Walk up the stairs in the sidewalk to Tudor City - a 1920's new-town-in-town - find your way to the easternmost railings, and take in the grand view of the United Nations complex, a reminder that New York is the capital of the world. Okay, I'm a New Yorker. Sue me.

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Tony Robins is an historian who writes about, lectures on, and leads walking tours of, New York City's history and architecture. Web site: http://trob.home.pipeline.com.