New York City
The five boroughs
New York City is one city, five counties, and a rulebook of its own. Start here when the local answer depends on borough, neighborhood, property class, rent rules, co-op boards, transit, or city agencies.
The places
Manhattan
The dense island core: co-ops, condos, Class 2 property tax, landmarks, offices, and neighborhoods stacked block by block.
Open the place page ->Brooklyn
Brownstones, waterfront, Prospect Park, rent-stabilized buildings, and the city's most populous borough.
Open the place page ->Queens
Airports, Jamaica Bay, Flushing, Astoria, Rockaway beaches, and a borough where language and neighborhood matter.
Open the place page ->The Bronx
The mainland borough: hip-hop history, Pelham Bay Park, Yankee Stadium, co-ops, rentals, and city services.
Open the place page ->Staten Island
The ferry, the Greenbelt, beaches, detached homes, and a suburban feel inside New York City.
Open the place page ->Almanac notes from this shelf
Short, sourced notes tied to this part of New York.
The Staten Island Ferry is a free ride past the Statue of Liberty
The orange boats between St. George and Lower Manhattan have run free since 1997, and they pass close to the Statue of Liberty along the way.
Read the note ->Why So Much of Brooklyn Is Rows of Brownstones
Brooklyn's stoops and four-story row houses came from a huge building boom, and the city has protected whole neighborhoods of them since the 1960s.
Read the note ->Prospect Park: Brooklyn's Big Backyard, Built on Purpose
The same two designers behind Central Park made Prospect Park, with a long meadow, a 60-acre lake, and woods, opening to crowds back in 1867.
Read the note ->A 12,000-Acre Bird Refuge Inside the City Limits
The Jamaica Bay Wildlife Refuge in Queens is one of the Northeast's great bird-watching spots — saltmarsh, ponds, and migrating flocks, all reachable by subway and part of Gateway National Recreation Area.
Read the note ->Hip-hop was born at a Bronx back-to-school party
On August 11, 1973, DJ Kool Herc spun records at a rec-room party at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue and helped start hip-hop. New York State marks the building as the music's birthplace.
Read the note ->Other regional shelves
More ways through the New York map
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