The cobblestone block where the Manhattan Bridge frames the Empire State Building between two brick warehouses.

A vaulted plaza tucked under the bridge anchorage that hosts flea markets, light installations, and free concerts.

Warehouse-sized coffee bar on Jay Street with burlap sacks stacked to the ceiling and long communal tables.

Two-floor food hall in Empire Stores with about twenty local vendors and a fifth-floor terrace facing the skyline.

Civil War-era coffee warehouse converted into design shops and studios, with an open-air atrium cut straight through the schist walls.

A small stony shoreline between the two bridges where you can stand at the waterline of the East River.

Coal-fired pies from Patsy Grimaldi at his original Old Fulton Street location; the No. 1 with buffalo mozzarella is the order.

The Brooklyn-side stairs onto the 1883 promenade; walking even a quarter of the span gives the full cable view.

A third of a mile of benches cantilevered over the BQE with an uninterrupted panorama of Lower Manhattan.

The Greek Revival hall on the site where Washington took the first presidential oath; free entry and rarely crowded inside.

Gothic Revival spire at Broadway and Wall Street whose churchyard holds Alexander Hamilton and Robert Fulton.

A pedestrian cobblestone lane of side-by-side taverns that fills with shared picnic tables in warm weather.

Calatrava's white-ribbed transit hall doubles as a mall; the main floor under the spine skylight is worth a look even without buying.

A one-acre lawn and boardwalk hidden a full escalator ride above 55 Water Street, with East River views and almost no foot traffic.

Waterfront gardens at the tip of Manhattan with perennial beds by Piet Oudolf and a clear line of sight to the Statue of Liberty.

Free public rooftop at the Seaport with the Brooklyn Bridge close enough to fill a wide-angle frame.

Australian-style espresso bar in the marble lobby of 70 Pine Street, a calm counterpoint to the trading-floor crowd outside.

The marble arch, the fountain, chess hustlers, and NYU students all sharing nine acres at the foot of Fifth Avenue.

MacDougal Street cafe open since 1927 that claims the first cappuccino in America; the original espresso machine sits by the door.

Christopher Park and the Stonewall Inn, where the 1969 uprising began; the small park holds the segregated-bench sculpture pair.

The Spring Street bakery that invented the Cronut in 2013; the frozen s'more and DKA are the locals' picks when Cronuts sell out.

A corner bar serving food on Prince and Mercer since 1847, with a tin ceiling and burgers that ignore every SoHo trend around it.

The densest run of cast-iron facades in the world, five blocks of Corinthian columns and Belgian-block paving.

Walter De Maria filled a Wooster Street loft with 280,000 pounds of soil in 1977; it is free, silent, and still there.

Donated-book shop on Crosby Street with a spiral-staircase mezzanine and a cafe; every dollar funds housing and health services.

A volunteer-run sculpture garden on a former school lot, scattered with salvaged stone lions and wrought-iron benches.

A quarter-mile riverfront park built on the old Domino Sugar refinery site, with salvaged factory cranes and syrup tanks as sculpture.

Saturday open-air market of around 60 food vendors on the East River lawn; go early or accept the ramen-burger line.

Weekend indoor market on North 7th where local makers sell vintage clothes, prints, and jewelry from about 40 stalls.

Grand Street roastery flying beans in weekly from Colombia, poured under a skylight and a living plant wall.

A short pier jutting into the East River that lines up the Empire State Building dead center over the water.

A storefront museum of New York ephemera: subway tokens, seltzer bottles, Statue of Liberty souvenirs, and burlesque relics.