It's autumn in New York. Saturday night live airs its 50th season. Movie studios are popping up all over town. The Knicks are looking really good. Assuming you’ll soon have a reason to head to Hollywood on the Hudson, we tapped a network of the city’s most fabulous to share insider information on all the places you need to know, from dog parks to hotel bars to parking for the .01 percent.
Map by Remie Geoffroi
1. DOG PARK
While dog walkers are the ones who handle most of the pooches, owners can occasionally be spotted taking quick jaunts near their homes, says dog trainer Bash Dibra, who has worked with Jennifer Lopez and Sarah Jessica Parker, among others. “The real hangout is Central Park. It’s not an official dog park, but you can take your dog off the leash before 9 a.m.,” he says. “And owners go there in the evenings, because a lot of them are donors to the Met. They want to be in the spotlight of ‘their’ museum.”
2. PARKING
“Paddock is an elite parking garage,” says designer Melody Weir of the private garages founded by former Ferrari employee Justin Lopez, with underground locations on East 86th and East 55th Streets (a third is opening soon).
3. PENTHOUSE SUITE (UPTOWN)
Travel agent Jason Squatriglia of Embark Beyond says the $75,000 per night price tag for the 10,000-square-foot, five-bedroom Penthouse at The Mark is worth every penny—no wonder Drake calls it his New York home away from home and Meghan Markle threw her baby shower there. “They’ll even put an ice rink on the balcony during your stay if you want,” Squatriglia says. “That was a genuine client request, and the team was happy to accommodate.”
4. PLAYGROUND
Billy Johnson Playground in Central Park, just north of the zoo on 67th Street, is “where networking meets leisure,” says concierge Benjamin Vaschetti of Maison Benjamin—you might see more than one or two nannies lounging on the benches, for the same reason it’s a gathering place for dog walkers.
5. POWER TABLE (UPTOWN)
You don’t just have to eat at Sette Mezzo on Lexington and 71st, says socialite Gillian Miniter: You also have to be particular about where you sit. “A lot of people think of the tables at the front of the restaurant before you go down the stairs as the best, but definitely the front half of the restaurant is a see-and-be-seen spot with a lot of famous people and billionaires,” she says. “But it’s relaxed and not at all pretentious.”
6.16. PRIVATE DINING ROOM
Influencer Zach Weiss says it’s a head-to-head between two distinct PDRs. “Casa Cruz, on 61st and Madison, has two private rooms that are off-limits and feel like someone’s home—I love them,” he confides. “But Emilio’s Ballato on Houston Street? The back room feels very gangster in the best sense of the word.”
7. THERAPIST
The go-to guy for the elite? Psychiatrist Samantha Boardman, with an office on East 67th, has her own bona fides (she graduated magna cum laude from Harvard with two decades of practice), but it’s her marriage to famed developer Aby Rosen that helps cement her status if you’re an anxious 1 percenter, says Melody Weir. “This is your girl.”
8.11. DERMATOLOGIST'S OFFICE
It’s a tough decision for fashion writer Freya Drohan between Dr. Julie Russak’s house on 57th and Park and Dr. Dan Belkin’s on Fifth Avenue in Flatiron. “Get Dr. Russak’s Fraxel—you’ll look like the Elephant Man for a while, but it’s worth it,” she says. “And Dr. Belkin’s Morpheus8, because you can obviously trust the man behind Martha Stewart’s eternal splendor.”
9. DIVE BAR
Legendary boxing trainer Jimmy Glenn opened Jimmy's Corner in 1971, at the height of the bad old days of Times Square, and — though Jimmy died during the COVID pandemic at age 89 — little seems to have changed. Robert De Niro shot Raging Bull here, and Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson have been known to drop by (though not at the same time). Beers are still $3, thanks to a lucrative deal from real estate mogul Douglas Durst, who owns the building and is a Jimmy's regular. Grab a seat at the bar for your next booze-fest.
10. MSG PLACES
At a concert, don’t sit anywhere other than 108, 109, 115 and 116, says developer Mitchell Hochberg. “They’re the personal recommendations of the late, great Ahmet Ertegun. They’re Industry seats.” Courtside for the Knicks? Look who’s sitting next to Spike Lee: It’s Al Palagonia of the Apollo Jets. “He gives tickets to his closest celebrity friends or his best clients,” says Tony Abrams of Four Hundred, a concierge service.
12. SUPERMARKET
“Citarella is highway robbery, but it’s still the best show in town,” says Mitchell Hochberg. The tote bag is a statement to carry around town: Try the West Village outpost on Sixth Avenue for maximum flexibility (and Seth Meyers browsing at the fish counter).
13. TRAINING PLACE
At the Continuum Club, inside the West Village's Archive Building, 250 members pay $10,000 a month to sweat it out under the guidance of Jeff Halevy (below), the former Today fitness guru show. His sweatbox destination combines a gym with longevity protocols (like health data tracking on Oura devices; an indoor flotation tank) and includes on-staff PT. “Unique in every way,” says interior designer Melody Weir. Rowing Blazers designer Jack Carlson disagrees: “Forget high-end gyms. Running down the West Side Highway in a T-shirt with your college and sport on it—Harvard Fencing, maybe, or Trinity Squash? That’s the biggest downturn of all.”
14. PENTHOUSE SUITE (CITY CENTER)
De Niro’s Greenwich Hotel penthouse can’t be found on his website, and it’s only available by request, according to Four Hundred concierge Tony Abrams. That’s probably why one of the Olsens moved in semi-permanently a while back. “I’ve had the privilege of getting drunk there, and no other penthouse has come close,” adds door guru Frankie Carattini.
15. POWER TABLE (CITY CENTER)
De Niro’s Greenwich Hotel penthouse can’t be found on his website, and it’s only available by request, according to Four Hundred concierge Tony Abrams. That’s probably why one of the Olsens moved in semi-permanently a while back. “I’ve had the privilege of getting drunk there, and no other penthouse has come close,” adds door guru Frankie Carattini.
17. STREET CORNER
The intersection of Bond and Lafayette streets, says Alexandra Polier, who works for the design firm Journey, “has come to define a new downtown and a new Noho.” She adds, “Paparazzi don’t know which door to perch on” as they try to snap Gigi Hadid or Jeff Bezos: She lives nearby and he’s a regular at Zero Bond, the latest boîte of nightlife legend Scott Sartiano, where Mayor Eric Adams is also regularly spotted. “It’s a 24-hour cycle of style and power.”
18. HOTEL BAR
Head to The Bowery Hotel to relax on one of its couches, says nightclub czar Frankie Carattini. “It’s the height of entertainment and fashion. If you ever wanted to hear Chris Rock chat about work with Sarah Silverman or Karen Elson walk past you on her way to the Met Gala, this is the place to be.”
19. GAY BAR
“You have to come late and stay late,” says Alexandra Polier of Club Cumming in the East Village, a postage-stamp-sized venue with an outsized impact on the city’s bar scene. “You honestly never know what’s going to happen. [Co-owner] Alan [Cumming] sometimes he graces us with his presence, which fills the 500 square feet quite quickly.”
20. PIZZERIA
Since Kendrick Lamar mentioned Lucali in a Drake diss track earlier this year, lines at the Carroll Gardens staple have gotten even longer. Even Ed Sheeran had to wait 45 minutes. Regulars like Beyoncé and Jay-Z presumably didn’t. The ultimate sign of clout? Having owner Mark Iacono’s number.
21. K-12 SCHOOL
With a slew of Hollywood celebrities raising their families in Brooklyn, competition for exclusive private schools has become fierce, nowhere more so than in the nepo kid magnet that is Saint Ann's, the Harvard-Westlake of the East (for preschool and beyond). Former students include Jennifer Connelly, Lena Dunham, Zac Posen, and Maya Hawke.
This story originally appeared in the September 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter. Click here to subscribe.