When F. Scott Fitzgerald penned The Great Gatsby, he may not have approved of the roaring excess to be found in 1920s New York, but the era did leave behind stunning architecture, delicious cocktails and a vintage shopper's dream. Here, DK Eyewitness Travel Guides and DK travel author AnneLise Sorensen have donned their fedoras to bring you the best spots in New York City to walk in Jay Gatsby's wing tips.
1. The Plaza (768 Fifth Ave.)
This lavish hotel figured prominently in Fitzgerald's life, prompting Ernest Hemingway to advise him to "give his liver to Princeton and his heart to the Plaza." Fitzgerald and wife, Zelda, were Plaza regulars, and key scenes in the novel played out here. The hotel has embraced the Jazz Age with an Art Deco-style Fitzgerald suite and 1920s treats, such as curried lobster salad, served at the Palm Court. Toast the night with a Moët Imperial Gatsby cocktail at the Rose Club, which also hosts Gatsby Hour on Wednesday and Thursday nights, featuring a Jazz band.
2. 21 Club (21 W. 52nd St.)
The 21 Club has appeared in so many films that it could practically apply for its own Actors' Equity card. As a speakeasy, the bar was equipped with a set of levers and chutes, and a secret vault held the private wines of the famous, from John F. Kennedy to Hemingway and Marilyn Monroe. In a nod to its history, the 21 Club is celebrating The Great Gatsby film with special cocktails, including the Beautiful Fool, named after a Gatsby quote, and made with gin, chamomile syrup, lemon juice and grapefruit.
3. Empire State Building (350 Fifth Ave.)
The Great Gatsby pays homage to the grand style of Art Deco. One of the finest examples in Manhattan is the soaring Empire State Building. Take a ride to the top or, if you want to skip the lines, head instead to the bar on the ground floor, the Empire Room, which is also done up in Art Deco style, with brushed steel, velvet banquettes and vintage cocktails like the Prohibition Punch, with rum, passion fruit and champagne.
4. Tiffany & Co. (5th Avenue & 57th St.)
Tiffany & Co. created most of the jewels for the film The Great Gatsby, from sparkling headpieces to silky strands of pearls. The celebrated store also launched a Great Gatsby collection, which includes a Tiffany Jazz diamond bracelet, a Ziegfeld Collection silver daisy ring and a Great Gatsby Collection headpiece in platinum with diamonds and freshwater pearls. The price tag: $200,000.
5. Minetta Tavern (113 Macdougal St.)
Hemingway, Dylan Thomas, Ezra Pound and F. Scott Fitzgerald all once warmed the barstools here. Relive those days (and nights) over a stiff cocktail and juicy strip steak at this clubby restaurant, which has lots of gleaming dark woods, black-and-white checkered tiled floors and murals of the West Village through the eras.
6. Mansfield Hotel (12 W. 44th St.)
The dashing bootlegger and bachelor Max von Gerlach was supposedly the inspiration for Jay Gatsby. He lived at the Mansfield Hotel for a time, and the hotel offers a Live Like Gatsby package, which includes classic cocktails for two at M Bar, like the Gatsby-inspired Owls' Eyes gimlet, made with gin and lime juice, plus your own copy of The Great Gatsby.
7. Bathtub Gin (132 9th Ave.)
Gin was the alcohol of choice during the Gatsby era, and at this low-lit speakeasy, you can try it in a rainbow of cocktails, from the Slow Gin Ginger Sling (gin, cherry heering, apricot liqueur, lime juice and ginger) and the Clover Club (gin, vermouth, lemon juice, egg white and raspberry liqueur). Like all good speakeasies, Bathtub Gin is hard to find. Look for the unassuming facade of the Stone Street Coffee Company, and then walk through the secret door to a bar crowned with chandeliers, with a giant copper bathtub in the center of the room.
8. Prohibition Era Cocktail Cruise (departs Chelsea piers; during BEA, the cruise sails on Saturday, June 1)
The only thing better than kicking back with a potent Gin Rickey is doing so under the stars. Classic Harbor Line invites you to "channel your inner bootlegger and live the life of the Great Gatsby" on this Hudson River Cruise. Learn how to mix classic cocktails, like the Vesper, made with gin, vodka and lillet, while shimmying to Jazz Age tunes.
9. Grape & Wine (52 W. 13th St.)
The Jade Hotel opened earlier this year, but the decor looks out of 1923. This swank Greenwich Village hotel, inspired by 1920s Paris, features an Art Deco lounge, a library stocked with books by Greenwich Village scribes like Kerouac, cozy rooms with the cute amenity of old-fashioned rotary phones and the Grape & Vine bar, named after a former local speakeasy. Bartenders serve up 1920s-themed cocktails with a flourish, including Bee's Knees (gin, honey, lemon) and the Prankster (gin, absinthe, soda and lime).
10. Vintage Shops
Go back to the days when men wore fedoras and women were called dames at New York City's superb array of vintage stores, including the Family Jewels in Chelsea and Old Hollywood in the Lower East Side and Brooklyn, with wonderfully retro jewelry, from 1920s cufflinks to a ring in the shape of the NYC cityscape. Their motto is a good one to live by: Get moxie, kid.