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The Intimate City: Walking New York
“‘ The Intimate City ’ is a joyful miscellany of people seeing things in the urban landscape, the streets alive with remembrances and ideas even when those streets are relatively empty of people.” —Robert Sullivan, New York Times Book Review
From the New York Times architecture critic, his celebrated walking tours of New York City, now expanded, covering four of the five boroughs and some 540 million years of history, accompanied by some of the people who know it best
As New York came to a halt with COVID, Michael Kimmelman composed an email to a group of architects, historians, writers, and friends, inviting them to take a walk. Wherever they liked, he wrote—preferably someplace meaningful to them, someplace that illuminated the city and what they loved about it. At first, the goal was distraction. At a scary moment when everything seemed uncertain, walking around New York served as a reminder of all the ways the city was still a rock, joy, and inspiration. What began with a lighthearted trip to explore Broadway’s shuttered theater district and a stroll along Museum Mile when the museums were closed soon took on a much larger meaning and ambition. These intimate, funny, richly detailed conversations between Kimmelman and his companions became anchors for millions of Times readers during the pandemic. The walks unpacked the essence of urban life and its social fabric—the history, plans, laws, feats of structural engineering, architectural highlights, and everyday realities that make up a place Kimmelman calls “humanity’s greatest achievement.”
Filled with stunning photographs documenting the city during the era of COVID, The Intimate City is the ultimate insider’s guide. The book includes new walks through LGBTQ Greenwich Village, through Forest Hills, Queens, and Mott Haven, in the Bronx. All the walks can be walked, or just be read for pleasure, by know-it-all New Yorkers or anyone else. They take readers back to an age when Times Square was still a beaver pond and Yankee Stadium a salt marsh; across the Brooklyn Bridge, for green tea ice cream in Chinatown, for momos and samosas in Jackson Heights, to explore historic Black churches in Harlem and midcentury Mad Men skyscrapers on Park Avenue. A kaleidoscopic portrait of an enduring metropolis, The Intimate City reveals why New York, despite COVID and a long history of other calamities, continues to inspire and to mean so much to those who call it home and to countless others.
From the New York Times architecture critic, his celebrated walking tours of New York City, now expanded, covering four of the five boroughs and some 540 million years of history, accompanied by some of the people who know it best
As New York came to a halt with COVID, Michael Kimmelman composed an email to a group of architects, historians, writers, and friends, inviting them to take a walk. Wherever they liked, he wrote—preferably someplace meaningful to them, someplace that illuminated the city and what they loved about it. At first, the goal was distraction. At a scary moment when everything seemed uncertain, walking around New York served as a reminder of all the ways the city was still a rock, joy, and inspiration. What began with a lighthearted trip to explore Broadway’s shuttered theater district and a stroll along Museum Mile when the museums were closed soon took on a much larger meaning and ambition. These intimate, funny, richly detailed conversations between Kimmelman and his companions became anchors for millions of Times readers during the pandemic. The walks unpacked the essence of urban life and its social fabric—the history, plans, laws, feats of structural engineering, architectural highlights, and everyday realities that make up a place Kimmelman calls “humanity’s greatest achievement.”
Filled with stunning photographs documenting the city during the era of COVID, The Intimate City is the ultimate insider’s guide. The book includes new walks through LGBTQ Greenwich Village, through Forest Hills, Queens, and Mott Haven, in the Bronx. All the walks can be walked, or just be read for pleasure, by know-it-all New Yorkers or anyone else. They take readers back to an age when Times Square was still a beaver pond and Yankee Stadium a salt marsh; across the Brooklyn Bridge, for green tea ice cream in Chinatown, for momos and samosas in Jackson Heights, to explore historic Black churches in Harlem and midcentury Mad Men skyscrapers on Park Avenue. A kaleidoscopic portrait of an enduring metropolis, The Intimate City reveals why New York, despite COVID and a long history of other calamities, continues to inspire and to mean so much to those who call it home and to countless others.
272 pages, Hardcover
Published November 29, 2022
90 people are currently reading
2010 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 88 reviews
December 31, 2023
“To walk the city is to invite the serendipity of coming upon a community garden or the wooden piles of a decrepit pier or spring crocuses pushing through cracked pavement. It is to experience the endless juxtaposition of this with that, which is New York’s calling card.”
If I close my eyes, click my heels together three times, and imagine myself somewhere else in this world other than where I’m currently planted and wilting, I would be in the middle of a big, vibrant city. It would be the sort of place where I can walk out my door and reach the local library and bookstore, stop by the art museum, grab a coffee, pick up a loaf of bread, a tin of sardines, a jar of olives, and a bottle of wine, all without jumping into the car. I’d get my exercise without even having to make the effort to set aside extra time at the end of a long, satisfying day. The author of this book, the architecture critic for the New York Times, took me on a virtual walk and left me hungering to get back to New York City once again. Through a series of short essays, which were essentially conversational interviews with architects, historians, urban designers, and landscape architects among others, the reader is taken on a journey by foot through eighteen neighborhoods across four of the five New York City boroughs. The experience was wholly invigorating.
“The Germans say “spazierengehen,” the French “promener” or “flaner,” all of which imply more than simply getting by foot from one place to another. They suggest a journey, a lark, an excuse to wander, to get some air, escape the house, consume an ice cream cone or a podcast while pretending to exercise. To walk New York, as opposed to experiencing it through, say, a car window, is to expand time.”
During these walks, we are dipped in and out of the past and the present. Tidbits of the history of the city and its neighborhoods are interspersed with the current skyline, the architectural marvels, and the people that inhabit these places. I learned quite a lot along the way. The tone is fun and engaging, and the love for the city shines through the words of the author and his interviewees. The city’s democratic spaces and its culturally diverse population are emphasized and celebrated.
“… New York… is inseparable from the memory of the parents who raised me to love the city in all its chaotic, crowded, imperfect, precarious, diverse, humane glory and democratic ambition.”
It’s also important to point out that the book is loaded with exquisite photographs highlighting many of the buildings, bridges and parks noted on these strolls. The book itself is a treat to hold. It’s one that I plan to refer back to during the many, future visits I hope to make to the city. I even had a resourceful coworker cover the book for me at the library in order to extend its shelf life, if you will. That way, if I happen to stop for a slice of thin crust pizza on Bleecker Street, grab some dumplings in Chinatown, or eat an ice cream cone at Morgensterns, I won’t risk spoiling the beauty of this gem!
A resounding thanks to Justin whose review and contagious enthusiasm for the city helped make my end of year reading land on such a positive note!
“The philosopher Immanuel Kant associated cosmopolitanism with hospitality and a common understanding that human beings are members of a universal community with a shared right of humanity. By this definition, New York City just might be humanity’s greatest achievement.”
If I close my eyes, click my heels together three times, and imagine myself somewhere else in this world other than where I’m currently planted and wilting, I would be in the middle of a big, vibrant city. It would be the sort of place where I can walk out my door and reach the local library and bookstore, stop by the art museum, grab a coffee, pick up a loaf of bread, a tin of sardines, a jar of olives, and a bottle of wine, all without jumping into the car. I’d get my exercise without even having to make the effort to set aside extra time at the end of a long, satisfying day. The author of this book, the architecture critic for the New York Times, took me on a virtual walk and left me hungering to get back to New York City once again. Through a series of short essays, which were essentially conversational interviews with architects, historians, urban designers, and landscape architects among others, the reader is taken on a journey by foot through eighteen neighborhoods across four of the five New York City boroughs. The experience was wholly invigorating.
“The Germans say “spazierengehen,” the French “promener” or “flaner,” all of which imply more than simply getting by foot from one place to another. They suggest a journey, a lark, an excuse to wander, to get some air, escape the house, consume an ice cream cone or a podcast while pretending to exercise. To walk New York, as opposed to experiencing it through, say, a car window, is to expand time.”
During these walks, we are dipped in and out of the past and the present. Tidbits of the history of the city and its neighborhoods are interspersed with the current skyline, the architectural marvels, and the people that inhabit these places. I learned quite a lot along the way. The tone is fun and engaging, and the love for the city shines through the words of the author and his interviewees. The city’s democratic spaces and its culturally diverse population are emphasized and celebrated.
“… New York… is inseparable from the memory of the parents who raised me to love the city in all its chaotic, crowded, imperfect, precarious, diverse, humane glory and democratic ambition.”
It’s also important to point out that the book is loaded with exquisite photographs highlighting many of the buildings, bridges and parks noted on these strolls. The book itself is a treat to hold. It’s one that I plan to refer back to during the many, future visits I hope to make to the city. I even had a resourceful coworker cover the book for me at the library in order to extend its shelf life, if you will. That way, if I happen to stop for a slice of thin crust pizza on Bleecker Street, grab some dumplings in Chinatown, or eat an ice cream cone at Morgensterns, I won’t risk spoiling the beauty of this gem!
A resounding thanks to Justin whose review and contagious enthusiasm for the city helped make my end of year reading land on such a positive note!
“The philosopher Immanuel Kant associated cosmopolitanism with hospitality and a common understanding that human beings are members of a universal community with a shared right of humanity. By this definition, New York City just might be humanity’s greatest achievement.”
December 5, 2023
Not since E. B. White's 1948 classic Here is New York has this city been represented so well between two covers. In keeping with the pugnacious tone of this most sensory of cities, you wanna argue, youse better be ready to step outside, pal.
This book oozes substance. Printed on some sort of high-quality photo paper, it's dense and hefty as a gold brick, and the photos within, heavily tilted towards architecture, are just gorgeous. Who better to write a book about New York than the architecture writer for the New York Times? Architecture is arguably both the most aspirational as well as the most immersive of art forms, and Kimmelmann knows his facades and spandrels and knows how to write. Most of all, though, he knows a lot of really cool people who collectively know the city inside and out.
The book is written as a series of interviews with artists, historians and art historians while they're walking around different neighborhoods. The experts talk and Kimmelmann provides side notes and context. This concept works brilliantly.
You want balance? Okay, there's one chapter about the South Bronx that had a little too much revolutionary jargon for my tastes. That's about it for downsides.
Some advice: Don't read this in December. Read it in April or September so that, once you've finished, you can jump on a plane right now and go wander the city's streets in more accommodating weather.
Highly, highly recommended.
This book oozes substance. Printed on some sort of high-quality photo paper, it's dense and hefty as a gold brick, and the photos within, heavily tilted towards architecture, are just gorgeous. Who better to write a book about New York than the architecture writer for the New York Times? Architecture is arguably both the most aspirational as well as the most immersive of art forms, and Kimmelmann knows his facades and spandrels and knows how to write. Most of all, though, he knows a lot of really cool people who collectively know the city inside and out.
The book is written as a series of interviews with artists, historians and art historians while they're walking around different neighborhoods. The experts talk and Kimmelmann provides side notes and context. This concept works brilliantly.
You want balance? Okay, there's one chapter about the South Bronx that had a little too much revolutionary jargon for my tastes. That's about it for downsides.
Some advice: Don't read this in December. Read it in April or September so that, once you've finished, you can jump on a plane right now and go wander the city's streets in more accommodating weather.
Highly, highly recommended.
January 14, 2024
During Covid lockdown Michael Kimmelman, architecture critic for the New York Times, connected to architects, architectural historians, chroniclers of New York, and community organizers. His goal was to walk through parts of the city and explore what makes New York special. He shares fascinating pieces of history that highlight the city's resilience. The conversations had on these walks were published in the Times. (Some of the things that made it to this book did not end up in the paper, and some of the pieces that made the paper did not make it to the book.) The series is very Manhattan-centric, but there are fun pieces set in Brooklyn, Queens, and the Bronx too. (Nothing in Staten Island other than a passing reference in the introduction, and that is fine with me.) It was great to see my own neighborhood get its due! The wanderings included a walk down my sidestreet. I also loved getting the history of neighborhoods I frequent like Jackson Heights, Brooklyn Heights (my home for a time many years ago) the Lower East Side, Chinatown, and Harlem. Also fun was the piece on East Midtown. I would have identified East Midtown as the most charmless and least interesting neighborhood in Manhattan, but it turns out to be fascinating from an architectural history perspective. I look out on the hideous 432 Park Ave from work, and it was fun to hear architectural experts explain why I find it such an eyesore, and also what a nightmare it is for its residents. It was also fun to hear the love for 500 Madison and 270 Park which are favorites of mine. (They say bad things about One Vanderbilt, which I kind of love. I am in offices near the top of that building frequently for work-related reasons, and I think it has the single best east-facing view in the city.)
Different conversations were more or less interesting to me, but I learned a ton listening to all of these and had a lot of fun doing it. This may be best suited to people who really know the city. I think a lot of this would be boring to people who don't have memories linked to it all, but for me and others who love (and also sometimes hate) this place, it is a joy.
Different conversations were more or less interesting to me, but I learned a ton listening to all of these and had a lot of fun doing it. This may be best suited to people who really know the city. I think a lot of this would be boring to people who don't have memories linked to it all, but for me and others who love (and also sometimes hate) this place, it is a joy.
November 29, 2022
This is an endlessly surprising, joyful, deeply illuminating book about the meaning and making of a great city. It’s wonderful. I read some of these walks when the first appeared in The New York Times during lockdown. They were a solace then, a reminder of the resilience of a city I love. But they are so much more when I read them together and with a few new walks and a thoughtful introduction. It’s not just that I learned about places I know or thought I knew—a law professor’s explanation of how the law shaped 42nd Street, for example, or an engineer’s perspective on the famous skyscrapers of Midtown. I also found myself moved by the most personal walks —by native New Yorkers who offer elegies of the neighborhoods of their childhoods like Jackson Heights or Brooklyn and by those who came to New York looking for, and finding, welcome in a whole range of neighborhoods, from Mott Haven to Chinatown to Greenwich Village.
As is fitting for a book of this sort, it is also incredibly beautiful, with a ton of gorgeous photographs.
As is fitting for a book of this sort, it is also incredibly beautiful, with a ton of gorgeous photographs.
January 24, 2023
I bought this while visiting New York as a way to learn about the boroughs I didn’t get to see.
There are so many facets to NYC, and I believe this book did a great job of revealing each one. The conversational style of each chapter, conducted while walking through the neighborhood being discussed, fits the character of New York perfectly.
The thing I love about this city is that each building, park, and resident has a story, and is part of a broader narrative going back hundreds of years.
Michael Kimmelman and his interviewees have given me a much deeper understanding of this place than I could have ever gained in a single visit. I can’t wait to go back again!
There are so many facets to NYC, and I believe this book did a great job of revealing each one. The conversational style of each chapter, conducted while walking through the neighborhood being discussed, fits the character of New York perfectly.
The thing I love about this city is that each building, park, and resident has a story, and is part of a broader narrative going back hundreds of years.
Michael Kimmelman and his interviewees have given me a much deeper understanding of this place than I could have ever gained in a single visit. I can’t wait to go back again!
November 20, 2023
For anyone in need of an audiobook for your morning commute, no matter where you live, this is the one you need! (Support Indie and check it out on Libro.Fm!)
The Intimate City was written for New York lovers, city connoisseurs, architect buffs, or just someone curious about the infinite routes you can take on its streets. Compiled during the pandemic, Michael Kimmelman talks with various New Yorkers about their favorite walks throughout the city-- ranging from history on the land itself, to the buildings and their owners, all the way to a beaver named Justin. It covers 4 of the 5 boroughs and gives incredibly insight to the history this city continues to make as the biggest urban center in the country. When you think of New York, you can imagine the amount that it has to offer to its citizens and tourists.
This book is both incredibly well written, as well as respectful to every single culture and nationality that calls New York its home-- including the original tribes and their names for the land before anyone else had even thought about the new world.
I was particularly surprised at how much ecology and geology was mentioned. With the return of native wildlife to the Bronx River, to the schist underneath the buildings, and the rolling topography no one even thinks about when walking the concrete streets.
This book has a little of something for everyone, and is a keeper on my favorite nonfiction books list!
The Intimate City was written for New York lovers, city connoisseurs, architect buffs, or just someone curious about the infinite routes you can take on its streets. Compiled during the pandemic, Michael Kimmelman talks with various New Yorkers about their favorite walks throughout the city-- ranging from history on the land itself, to the buildings and their owners, all the way to a beaver named Justin. It covers 4 of the 5 boroughs and gives incredibly insight to the history this city continues to make as the biggest urban center in the country. When you think of New York, you can imagine the amount that it has to offer to its citizens and tourists.
This book is both incredibly well written, as well as respectful to every single culture and nationality that calls New York its home-- including the original tribes and their names for the land before anyone else had even thought about the new world.
I was particularly surprised at how much ecology and geology was mentioned. With the return of native wildlife to the Bronx River, to the schist underneath the buildings, and the rolling topography no one even thinks about when walking the concrete streets.
This book has a little of something for everyone, and is a keeper on my favorite nonfiction books list!
August 26, 2023
The one thing this missed was maps of the walks taken and captions for the photos. I wanted to see everything they mentioned and had to stop to research locations very often. Otherwise, a wonderful collection of dialogues
June 17, 2024
I liked the idea of this book more than the book itself. Honestly, I think it would have been better off as a short series, documentary or even YouTube videos.
Kimmelman selects a good range of New York neighborhoods, and the experts he gathers have both knowledge and passion. But the way the conversations are structured, it gives you very little context of where you are (the placement of the admittedly beautiful photos do not help much) or what route is being followed. And thus, fail to bring to life what both the interlocutors clearly deeply care about.
In abstract, it does gives you a good history and the development trajectory of the neighborhood. But then, so can Wikipedia.
Kimmelman selects a good range of New York neighborhoods, and the experts he gathers have both knowledge and passion. But the way the conversations are structured, it gives you very little context of where you are (the placement of the admittedly beautiful photos do not help much) or what route is being followed. And thus, fail to bring to life what both the interlocutors clearly deeply care about.
In abstract, it does gives you a good history and the development trajectory of the neighborhood. But then, so can Wikipedia.
April 26, 2023
As much as I wanted to hate this book because of how soaked it is in rich New York property-owning liberal affectation, it was quite a delightful read. Made me feel very appreciative of local spaces in general and the specific ones described in NYC. However, the crowd interviewed is entirely intelligentsia or bourgeoisie and starts to grate; oh yes tell me more about your Greenwich Village apartment that you live in when you’re visiting from London. Oh wow your parents owned the architecture firm you now direct?? So predictable. And yet. I enjoyed it. Does a lot to show how cool NY really is. Also, and finally: it wasn’t particularly organized or narratively arranged. Didn’t do much to tie the discrete parts of the city together, which would have benefitted the lasting value of a piece like this.
September 30, 2025
2.5⭐️ - 2 feels too harsh but i feel like 3 is also a bit generous. it was an absolute chore to get through though.
some of the interviews were far more lively and compelling than others. the highlights for me were definitely the chapters on the south bronx, jackson heights, and greenwich village.
as someone from the city and someone who studies urban planning, i learned more details about architects and designers that i thought was interesting. using interviews to talk about neighborhoods sounded good in theory but it really fell flat. a lot of the interviewees were just not interesting to read about nor were the questions asked by the author that thought provoking. if anything it just felt like an info dump.
would love to hear more from Monxo López, who was interviewed for the south bronx section. by far the best chapter of the book.
some of the interviews were far more lively and compelling than others. the highlights for me were definitely the chapters on the south bronx, jackson heights, and greenwich village.
as someone from the city and someone who studies urban planning, i learned more details about architects and designers that i thought was interesting. using interviews to talk about neighborhoods sounded good in theory but it really fell flat. a lot of the interviewees were just not interesting to read about nor were the questions asked by the author that thought provoking. if anything it just felt like an info dump.
would love to hear more from Monxo López, who was interviewed for the south bronx section. by far the best chapter of the book.
April 25, 2023
Good histories of the city, would’ve appreciated more pictures of the buildings they described 🙃
February 12, 2023
A walker in New York registers topography bodily, feeling the length of avenue blocks, the slopes of hills and valleys that even the Manhattan grid does not entirely flatten and erase. Walkers grasp the relative height of curbs versus tall buildings, the way sound and smells - halal carts, garbage trucks, steam pipes and salt air - scent the streets and shape space. To walk the city is to invite the serendipity of coming upon a community garden or the wooden piles of a decrepit pier or spring crocuses pushing through cracked pavement.
June 30, 2024
A great book about the history, architecture, culture and layout of different New York City regions. The author brings in different people to go on a narrative walk through each region - and the discussions are quite enlightening for someone like me who has only been a visitor in NYC.
The only things that were missing from this book were maps. It would have been a great addition to see, in space, where the author and his interviewees were taking the walk and the locations of the major landmarks being talked about.
The only things that were missing from this book were maps. It would have been a great addition to see, in space, where the author and his interviewees were taking the walk and the locations of the major landmarks being talked about.
July 23, 2024
this took me FOREVER, and it’s finally done. the concept was great; i, too, want to walk around new york with the experts on new york. but everything felt so disparate. i wish there had been a little more editorializing to see where it all came together and/or comparisons that would have taught me a little more about architecture, or city planning, or new york. the interviewees were very interesting and full of knowledge, but i’m just not sure interviewing was the best format here.
August 15, 2023
I really liked reading about the history of the different areas and landmarks. However, having never been to NY I was hoping for the inclusion of more visuals. There are some, scattered throughout the text, but their explanation is in the back of the book. I found that a little frustrating. I would have to take a break from the historical back and forth to flip to the back and read about what I was seeing. I think someone native to the area would probably enjoy the book a bit more.
August 31, 2023
This heavily-architectural urban walk/memoir of New York City might not be in everyone's wheelhouse...but being a man who loves cities and who has visited NYC, I adored this psycho-geographical tour. A book where history, geography, architecture and nostalgia are all whipped together into an enjoyable froth.
March 4, 2025
A fun, interesting read that explores some special NYC neighborhoods.
February 23, 2024
Wonderful walking-tours of my Old Hometown.
This collection of essays satisfied on a number of levels. I was born in New York City and left it over fifty years ago, so Kimmelman’s wanderings over so many of the streets of my childhood and youth stirred many memories.
But so much more than that, his tales didn’t just point out the highlights of the neighborhoods, he peppered each walk with the Geological, Historical, and Architectural characteristics of the sights and sounds he passed. Introducing the Reader to the voices of the residents let us hear the real stories that brought the streets to life. I knew these folks, having shopped in those stores and ate in those restaurants.
I recommend this book to Native New Yorkers, visitors, and armchair Travelers. It’s worth your time.
Four Stars. ****
This collection of essays satisfied on a number of levels. I was born in New York City and left it over fifty years ago, so Kimmelman’s wanderings over so many of the streets of my childhood and youth stirred many memories.
But so much more than that, his tales didn’t just point out the highlights of the neighborhoods, he peppered each walk with the Geological, Historical, and Architectural characteristics of the sights and sounds he passed. Introducing the Reader to the voices of the residents let us hear the real stories that brought the streets to life. I knew these folks, having shopped in those stores and ate in those restaurants.
I recommend this book to Native New Yorkers, visitors, and armchair Travelers. It’s worth your time.
Four Stars. ****
March 25, 2023
Getting excited about our trip to the City. This “walk” through the city’s diverse neighborhoods and architecture peaked my interest greatly. Now I have way too many places to explore and not enough time. Lots of architectural history… love it.
Want to read
February 23, 2023Hmmm. I enjoy this book's premise. But all I want to do when I listen to it is pull up Google Maps streetview.
This does not bode well for someone who listens to audiobooks only when driving.
I had to give this up, as You Just Need To Lose Weight came up on a lucky borrow. Might get back to it, but without a map, I'm not hopeful.
This does not bode well for someone who listens to audiobooks only when driving.
I had to give this up, as You Just Need To Lose Weight came up on a lucky borrow. Might get back to it, but without a map, I'm not hopeful.
November 29, 2022
As a New Yorker I loved this series when it first ran in the New York Times. It was such a consolation when the city was in lockdown and now it is just a joy. I re-read it recently and was impressed by the breadth of perspective, learning more with each walk--including the new ones-- about the city I thought I knew.
August 20, 2025
Best to be read when from New York, living in New York, or with in-depth knowledge of New York. With just the few holiday-spirited stays under the belt, I lack everything that’s required to enjoy this more. While walking the streets of Seoul, the thought of inviting locals with specific knowledge (e.g. architectural, historical, sociological) on these walks to create a document about the city, has popped up a few times. Hence my interest in reading this. I now realise that, should this ever come to fruition, it would either need a whole different angle, or it will be a very niche document. Nothing wrong with the latter, it’s just hard to read without relevant knowledge or the possibility to pop out the door and visit one of the described places.
The original Yankee Stadium was on the edge of the marsh; the new one, a little farther upstream. Mickey Mantle used to complain about the old center field getting mysteriously wet. It was wet because of all the groundwater from the ancient stream. The bedrock underlying the field runs downhill, meaning it captures water flowing from upstream. You can try to cover up bedrock all you want with concrete or whatever, but water will follow gravity. It flows out from the stadium to the Harlem River.(from the chapter ‘Mentipathe’)
May 16, 2023
For so long I’ve wanted a history of New York book that dives into why different neighborhoods were originally established and how they’ve shifted over time, and boy did this book satisfy that desire! It was equally as much of an architecture book as it was a history of the cultural shifts that happened in different neighborhoods. The author included interviews with people who intimately know the neighborhoods he highlighted which I loved as well.
Would recommend for anyone in New York or has an interest in NY architecture and culture. It’s a great book to own instead of rent, because I can see myself referring back to it when in different neighborhoods or planning out a day of walking tours based on the chapters.
I did this as an audiobook, which was nice to walk and listen to, but it’ll be more difficult to go back and find the specific addresses he references or starting points for walks, so that’s a bit of a bummer.
Would recommend for anyone in New York or has an interest in NY architecture and culture. It’s a great book to own instead of rent, because I can see myself referring back to it when in different neighborhoods or planning out a day of walking tours based on the chapters.
I did this as an audiobook, which was nice to walk and listen to, but it’ll be more difficult to go back and find the specific addresses he references or starting points for walks, so that’s a bit of a bummer.
August 5, 2022
Review forthcoThis book comes out on November 29, 2022. Penguin Group Press provided an early galley for review.
I love New York City. I always have. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to go there. I saw it in movies, on TV shows, in comic books. It seemed mythical and magical to me. When I was 21 years old, I had the opportunity to visit the city three times in the course of six months; it was a dream come true.
Reading The Intimate City brought everything back from those three brief visits. The sights, the smells, the energy, the anticipation, the wonder of it. It was a rush to experience those sensations again. Thank you, Michael Kimmelman and his various walking cohorts, for renewing that in me again. I also got exposed to a number of areas of the city I've not been before, and that just makes me want to plan another trip back there someday.ming
I love New York City. I always have. Ever since I was a kid, I wanted to go there. I saw it in movies, on TV shows, in comic books. It seemed mythical and magical to me. When I was 21 years old, I had the opportunity to visit the city three times in the course of six months; it was a dream come true.
Reading The Intimate City brought everything back from those three brief visits. The sights, the smells, the energy, the anticipation, the wonder of it. It was a rush to experience those sensations again. Thank you, Michael Kimmelman and his various walking cohorts, for renewing that in me again. I also got exposed to a number of areas of the city I've not been before, and that just makes me want to plan another trip back there someday.ming
March 26, 2025
Nice photographs, highlight of the book is definitely the South Bronx chapter; which is what I thought the entire book would be when I first picked it up from the library. This is definitely only something I would recommend to architecture buffs. I was a bit lost at times at all of jargon used and it took me out of the experience a bit. I really would have enjoyed something more about the communities and the history of this city in the midst of the reckoning that was 2020. After a few chapters everything starts to feel like information overload with a lack of intimate detail on why this is important. However I’m sure others will get more out this than I did, and I do value some of the information retained after reading this. Never knew about the Lenape before this book, or the Bronx fires, cholera outbreaks; now I do!
February 26, 2023
Intimate City is an absolutely exquisite book, especially for those of us who spent Covid times in the city. Beyond packed with interesting facts mixed with personal anecdotes from a wide swath of very smart NYers. I was worried it might be dry reading, but instead it was, in fact, intimate and warm. My only complaint and what is keeping me from buying a copy for my library….the design. A book that is so much about the design of the city is a failure at its own. I have almost perfect vision and the typeface is so tiny I need to use reading glasses, and even with them it was still a bit of a chore to read the text. The 4 color paper stock is really heavy, perhaps they were trying to save on weight? Whatever the reason, it doesn’t work for the reader at all.
January 17, 2023
EXCELLENT BOOK! Actually I didn't want it to end. Years ago when I lived in the suburbs of Philadelphia a trip to New York was always so exciting. The energy of the city is papable and I just felt that I could totally be my crazy self and feel accepted. This book is a stroll through every fascinating section of the city. History, architecture, personal stories, all of it accompanied with terrific photos. It is a stimulating, exciting, fun read, and a great visual look at the complete city. I just cannot say enough wonderful things about it. So after going through all the neighborhoods there is no doubt in my mind that I would choose to live in Greenwich Village.
November 24, 2023
My running book for the last week. I really enjoyed Kimmelman's stories of his walks - IRL or Virtual around the five boroughs. Also, an interesting mix of items Kimmelman had published in the Times and new or new to me material in these chapters.
An interesting mix of current events and NYC history, and I enjoyed the range of information his walking partners shared - whether science (Sanderson), art/design (Rockwell, Weisz) or history-the bulk of the others. I also enjoyed the mix of personal life stories with New York City/American history.
Where Kimmelman editorialized on what his guests were saying was sometimes interruptive in the audio edition but would be fine in writing.
An interesting mix of current events and NYC history, and I enjoyed the range of information his walking partners shared - whether science (Sanderson), art/design (Rockwell, Weisz) or history-the bulk of the others. I also enjoyed the mix of personal life stories with New York City/American history.
Where Kimmelman editorialized on what his guests were saying was sometimes interruptive in the audio edition but would be fine in writing.
January 4, 2023
4.5
I had been looking forward to this for a while and it lived up to my hopes.
Walks through a range of NYC neighborhoods with architects, historians, and more. Struck a good balance between teaching me things and mentioning things that I decide to look up later, which tends to be a good sign for me with nonfiction. I would have listened to even more. (I read a review on here that said the author kept correcting the folks he went on the walks with and then I couldn't stop noticing it. So that could be mildly annoying, but not a dealbreaker for me)
I had been looking forward to this for a while and it lived up to my hopes.
Walks through a range of NYC neighborhoods with architects, historians, and more. Struck a good balance between teaching me things and mentioning things that I decide to look up later, which tends to be a good sign for me with nonfiction. I would have listened to even more. (I read a review on here that said the author kept correcting the folks he went on the walks with and then I couldn't stop noticing it. So that could be mildly annoying, but not a dealbreaker for me)
March 8, 2023
3.5 stars
I really like the premise of this book. It is very well written (based off the conversations that the author had — i presume they were recorded).
I listened to the audiobook and I am presuming that the recordings of the actual conversations weren’t top quality, as the audiobook used professional narrators to replace the friends of the author. The author himself is a great speaker, but conversing with the “staged” narrators sometimes felt fake.
All things considered, I learned a lot about the city, in general.
I really like the premise of this book. It is very well written (based off the conversations that the author had — i presume they were recorded).
I listened to the audiobook and I am presuming that the recordings of the actual conversations weren’t top quality, as the audiobook used professional narrators to replace the friends of the author. The author himself is a great speaker, but conversing with the “staged” narrators sometimes felt fake.
All things considered, I learned a lot about the city, in general.
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