Stylecity New York

Part of a fashionable new guidebook series, this guide to New York City pulses with energy. The photo-heavy book features two main sections, the first of which is arranged by neighborhood and covers each district's cafes, shops, restaurants, museums, performance spaces and bars; the second section reveals""the city's best"" places to sleep, eat, drink, shop and relax. Equal attention is given to well-known institutions and hidden oddities, so the pages on the East Village suggest McSorley's Old Ale House (which opened in 1854) along with Decibel, a basement sake bar where patrons are""submerged in a Japanese netherworld,"" and the Community Garden on East 6th Street, a""lush and magical"" oasis. Embracing old and new New York and venturing to Williamsburg, Long Island City and other borough 'hoods, this is an excellent guide for discovering Gotham. 379 photos, 7 maps.