New York New York

RMJ

I'm off to NYC in a few weeks for a 4 days. Looking for recommendations for things to do (including any must-visit guitar stores )

Go!

Handsome_Chris

Check your smoke alarms before you leave.

Bebopper

Guitar shops:
Rudy's Music in Soho. A stunning display of vintage D'Angelico and D'Aquisto arch tops on the upper level. http://rudysmusic.com
Retrofret in Brooklyn. http://www.retrofret.com
Carmine Street Guitars. Home of luthier Rick Kelly and his awesome reclaimed pine guitars. http://www.carminestreetguitars.com
TR Crandall Guitars. https://trcrandall.com
Rivington Guitars. https://rivingtonguitars.com
Matt Umanov Guitars. https://www.umanovguitars.com

If you like jazz,
Smoke. Uptown. Check out Mike LeDonne's Groover Quartet on Tuesdays for some of the best Hammond organ playing. It's guitarist Peter Bernstein's regular gig when he's at home. If he's not on the gig, it'll be another monster like Dave Stryker or Paul Bollenback.
Bar Next Door at La Lanterna. Intimate room that books great guitarists most nights. Can't go wrong with anyone there, but Jonathan Kreisberg and Peter Mazza are both there regularly.
55 Bar. Legendary bar with a couple of bands every night. Mostly leans towards jazz, fusion and blues. Popular room with guitarists. Wayne Krantz and Mike Stern both have regular gigs there if they're in town.
Smoke and Mezzrow are both run by the same team and across the street from each other. Two of the best rooms for jazz in the world.
The Village Vanguard. Legendary jazz venue.

Jim Campilongo plays every Monday night at Rockwood Music Hall. If he can't do it on a Tele, it can't be done!

Nitefly

Start spreading the news.

stickyfiddle

Umanov's is gone, but there's a BRILLIANT pizza place next door (Keste) so it's all good. Ludlow Guitars is also good, though I haven't been since they moved to Brooklyn.

HAL9000

Ellis Island

Empire State Building but spend the extra on a fast pass to save queuing for two hours. If it doesn't have to be the ESB then the view from the Top of the Rock is just as good but less crowded.

If you plan to use the subway a lot then an unlimited MetroCard could be worthwhile. Can also be used on SOME other local transport systems.

Gray Line bus tour of the city.

Grand Central Station. Look out for the 'whispering' arches.

Grimaldi's Pizza - a bit of a local institution. You will queue though.

boogieman

A friend of a friend is the photographer at the Iridium club on Broadway. They usally have some great guitarists and bands on there, worth checking out. 
https://www.theiridium.com/

benmurray85

But yourself a City Pass. Value for money and at some places you can cut the queues. 

I much preferred Top of the Rock to the ESB. Plus if you go up the ESB at night do not expect to get a decent view or to be able to move, it was ridiculously busy when we went up around 7pm. 

Guitar wise I only went to Sam Ash and Rudys. Sam Ash was brill, much like what we have over here with a lot of high end stuff. Rudys was amazing but I never really got to look at anything properly, asked a few questions of the staff and was given short shrift. I’d still go and have a look though!

stickyfiddle

Top of the Rock beats ESB because you can see the ESB from it. Go 30 mins before sunset. It's awesome.

Not mentioned yet is the huge Guitar Center in Times Square. I've not been but it looks awesome. Just be prepared for a thousand tourists and teenagers all widdling at once. 

Obviously check out Central Park. It's huge and beautiful and peaceful, right in the middle of the city. While you're there, stop at the Metropolitan Museum of Art ("the Met") and/or the Natural History Museum. Both are up there with the very best museums in the world.

If you're into food, some of the top restaurants do great lunch offers - you can get michelin-star food WAY cheaper than in the evening. 

Also Chelsea Market and the Highline are brilliant for an afternoon of shopping, eating and wandering in a nature-ish reclaimed railway sort of way

HAL9000

Nitefly said:

Start spreading the news.

So good they named it twice (a bit like Cous-cous).

spark240

Check the Weather dude, last time I went in Feb it was minus lots !

RMJ

spark240 said:

Check the Weather dude, last time I went in Feb it was minus lots !

Yeah I'm expecting it to be cold!

CarpeDiem

Helicopter tour, taking Central Park and Ellis Island. It's not cheap, but it's unforgettable.

RMJ

Thanks all for the tips. Really helpful. I got a guidebook for Xmas so will look up what has been suggested above and put a plan together

PC_Dave

Check the smoke alarm first thing when you get to the hotel.

CHRISB50

It’s a stretch on a guitar forum, but if you’ve any interest in hip hop or vinyl culture check out Turntable Lab.

The shop itself is pretty small but their stock is huge. Great place. But in (at least when I went) a really shitty part of the city.  

Logie

Make sure you have money with you when and if you go for a wander. For a place like Manhattan there are surprisingly few public toilets and cafés and bars tend to refuse access to their facilities if you don't buy something. Most expensive piss I had there was $23 ( 4 coffees ) but I got away once with a $1 choc bar. This sounds like I'm joking but I'm not. Katz Deli is a popular tourist haunt ( where they shot the orgasm scene in When Harry met Sally ) but I'd recommend saving the $17 you'd pay for a sandwich there and walk over the Brooklyn Bridge with the commuters late afternoon and treat yourself to an ice cream at The Brooklyn ice cream factory instead. Fantastic ice creams and the view back over to Manhattan is worth the walk. You can check out Brooklyn Heights while you're over the water. The lower east side has a really interesting tenement building museum if that's your bag and it's close to Little Italy and Chinatown. SoHo has some really interesting cafés and bars. Battery Park is worth a look for the view over the water to Ellis Island and Statue of Liberty and it's just a walk to Wall street and the Twin Towers memorial ( recommended ). The subway is cheap and fast and essential to get the most out of NYC.

RMJ

Wow I love this place!!!! 

Flipping cold mind. Tomorrow is meant to be minus 12 in the day!!

HAL9000

RMJ said:

Wow I love this place!!!! 

Flipping cold mind. Tomorrow is meant to be minus 12 in the day!!

Pah! Just back from Vuokatti in Finland. Minus 20 yesterday.

RMJ

HAL9000 said:

RMJ said:

Wow I love this place!!!! 

Flipping cold mind. Tomorrow is meant to be minus 12 in the day!!

Pah! Just back from Vuokatti in Finland. Minus 20 yesterday.

Christ!!

There are quite a few people living on the streets here that I have noticed. Not as many as some cities, but I can't imagine what it will be like for them tonight here. 

HAL9000

Yes. New York does seem to have more than its fair share of homeless. As you say, I can’t even begin to imagine what it is like for them when it gets properly cold.