East Side West Side (1973)

With its forest of towers, where else but New York? Impressive, sprawling, first city of America. 350 years ago, when Europe was the center of civilization, the island of Manhattan was a barren wasteland inhabited by a few red Indian natives. A Dutchman called Peter Minuette arrived with the first settlers and bought the island from the Indians for beads and trinkets worth about £10. The settlement was named New Amsterdam. 40 years later, when the British captured it from the Dutch, it was renamed New York. Since then, millions of words have been written about it. It's been called the big city, the melting pot, the place where you can buy anything. It's the home of the United Nations, the Empire State, the Statue of Liberty, and over 8 million Americans. It's the symbol of the new world. The speed and pattern of modern travel have brought America and New York closer to everyone. When you get here, wherever you go, whether it's uptown, downtown, east side, west side, there's a lot to do and a lot to see. [Music] Heat. Hey, heat. Hey, heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. N. [Music] New York is Brooklyn, the Bronx, Coney land. It's Chinatown, Harlem, Carnegie Hall, and a thousand other places. But above all, New York is its people. Its extraordinary mixture of races, languages, and creeds. New York is unique because of the New Yorkers, and the best place to meet them is on the streets. [Music] Down. Heat. The Manhattan skyscrapers dominate the streets. [Music] finding your way around New York is easy. The avenues run north and south. The streets east and west. Sixth Avenue, the avenue of the Americas, is the dividing line. There is a tremendous turnover in the city's visiting population. Travelers, businessmen, conventions, and tourists all need hotels. New York has them on practically every block in every district. New York has more hotel rooms than some countries have people. If you want to settle for the best, you'll find the hotel is a self-contained city. Restaurants, bars, shopping arcades. [Music] You can spend all your time in the hotel quite happily without ever moving outside. But it's a big city and as we said, there's a lot to do and a lot to see. No, not the fountains of Rome, but the Metropolitan Museum of Art. You'd need a week to do justice to the paintings [Music] inside. If you don't like stairs, this is the museum for you. The Guggenheim. The museum is circular and you move from floor to floor in gentle slopes. It contains the finest collection of modern art to be found anywhere in the [Music] world. From a little culture to grand history, this is Grant's tomb. You could read all about it, but why not ask a cop? Well, yeah. He was a Union general back in the uh Civil War and after he defeated the Confederates led by General Lee, he went on to become president in 1869. See, thank you very much. Okay. Have a nice day [Music] now. They're tough. They're armed, but they're friendly. New York's police force is like its population, [Music] multi-racial. Among those who have helped to write New York's history was John D. Rockefeller. This is his monument, the Rockefeller Center. [Music] It's a collection of buildings, a privately owned city within a city. Its showpiece is the Plaza. This beautiful garden and restaurant in the heart of Manhattan. [Music] If eating is for you, whatever your taste, New York can provide it at any time of the day or night. More often than not, the people that run the eating places are as colorful as the food they serve. Well, as a matter of fact, I came here 1959 with a Japanese wrestling team and I went to school here uh in New York City. [Music] We cook everything right on the table, right in front of customers eyes. And uh we have a special chef uh one chef for each two tables and uh cooks up through entre. I think today's restaurant we have to have a showmanship. [Music] By the way, um we are going into London to open up a Benihana. So we'll see you [Music] there. Here's an experience for the gourmet who thinks he's tasted everything. A kosher Chinese meal. It's at Bernstein's on Essex Street, where east meets [Music] east. A curious, unlikely mixture. Yes, but it seems to work. Maybe that's the secret of New York. [Music] [Music] This is Fifth Avenue, Main Street, New York. Just about everything in the city starts or ends on Fifth. The big stores, the Empire State Building, Central Park, and Washington Square are all here. This is where the city's parades march. Like the famous Easter parade, where Broadway meets 7th Avenue, you'll find Time Square, the crossroads of the world. Amongst the signs, names and places made famous by a million movies, the people of New York work. [Music] The world of Time Square. Noisy, brash, larger than life. Some people have seen it all before. The streets may not be paved with gold, but the cellars surely are. [Music] Outside the Treasury building where he took the oath of office as first president of the United States stands George Washington. Probably best remembered as the man who could not tell a lie. In less than 200 years, America has become the world's greatest industrial power. The stock exchange is its nerve center. Its dealings are with all countries, in all currencies, and in all languages. It even has a language of its [Music] own. Deals worth countless millions of dollars are made each day. No money changes hands. It's only [Music] paper. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] through a midsummer haze. A bird's eyee view of Manhattan. It's difficult to see how they managed to find room for an open space down there, but they did. Central Park. Where else for New Yorkers and visitors? Of course, a place to relax in, to walk in, sail, ride, or to take a drive-in. If you're looking for a castle, here's one. The Belvadier on the banks of the New [Music] Lake. You'll see no knights in shining armor. I'm afraid it's a weather station. [Music] [Music] Downtown through Washington Place onto Washington Square. It's the setting for a kaleidoscope of activities. Everyone has a place in the square. All kinds of sounds mingle. Way out and way in. Square or hip, anything goes. [Music] Basketball needs concentration and fitness. Man, the Globe Troters are nothing compared to this team. [Music] sound completely [Music] out. Nighttime in New York is fun time. If you prefer your music with an eastern beat, try this. All [Music] [Applause] [Music] right. How many Heat. [Music] Heat. [Music] Remember our name. Funny boy. [Music] As bright as day, the great white way. It was the neon lights that gave the well-known tag to Broadway in the 30s. [Music] Catching the nightlights is as much a popular pastime of native New Yorkers as it is for visitors. [Music] And for the bizarre, the unusual, the downright puzzling, Greenwich Village takes some beating. [Music] [Applause] Your father's mustache. Your father's mustache. [Applause] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Applause] Nighttime in Chinatown, New York is fascinating. It's busy, vibrant, and full of restaurants. M I can smell the sweet and sour from here. [Music] [Applause] [Music] The dancing, the singing, the fun goes on right through the night to the early hours. Concrete blocks, dominating, overpowering. [Music] There is one way to get away from the eternal skyscraper. Rise above it. Manhattan Island. On one side, the East River, on the other, the Hudson. They merge at the southern tip and flow on to the [Music] Atlantic. This skyline is one of the modern wonders of the world. [Music] Bridges and tunnels, subways and feries link the island with New Jersey, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and of course the rest of America. In addition to everything else that New York is, it is one of the world's busiest seap [Music] ports. [Music] Yeah. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] when are rounding the southern tip of Manhattan Island. [Music] This is the Staten Island Ferry. It flies between Manhattan and the island. It's where you can see what is perhaps America's best known landmark, the Statue of Liberty. [Applause] And for the biggest, brightest, loudest, largest amusement park in the world, as the Barkers tell us, there is no place to equal Coney [Music] Island. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. Heat. [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] Well, it's time to go. I can't pretend you've seen it all. You could live here all your life and never do that. Tell you what, though. Anytime you're back in town, I'd be happy to show you some more. [Applause] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music]