Marvelous Manhattan

In this diverse and richly informative collection, author (and lifelong New Yorker) Reggie Nadelson introduces readers to 40 New York institutions that have defined cool for decades, from time-honored restaurants to unsung dives. Entries span the length of Manhattan, from the beloved appetizing shop Russ & Daughters and dim sum parlor Jing Fong downtown to the Three Lives bookstore and Julius’ bar in the West Village, German food shop Schaller & Weber on the Upper East Side to the Minton’s Playhouse jazz club in Harlem.

The essays weave together Reggie’s own experiences of these beloved shops—from her childhood in the West Village to her present-day Soho haunts—and the histories of these storied institutions and their owners. The book is at once dripping in nostalgia and celebratory of the modern-day incarnations of these locations, many of them family-run, that continue to mean so much to the residents of this city.