Zinester's Guide to NYC: The Last Wholly Analog Guide to NYC

by Ayun Halliday

In the tradition of our DIY city guide The Zinester's Guide to Portland, we're proud to announce our brand-new New York City version! The Zinester's Guide to NYC is a top-to-bottom, on-the-cheap, warts-and-all exploration of the city that never sleeps. Whether you're looking for scam-able coffee or a place to grab a Japanese breakfast, art supplies, volunteer opportunities, or a 4-story Korean bathhouse, the ZG2NYC has it all. Anecdotal and opinionated, the ZG2NYC has listings from over twenty New York-based zine publishers, toiling under the benevolent umbrella of Ayun Halliday (Chief Primatologist of The East Village Inky zine, author of No Touch Monkey!) “The best way to experience the city is to really participate in it," Halliday says. "Why watch the parade when you can march in it? People should know that they can guest bartend, play bike polo in Sara Roosevelt Park, create a public park in a parking space on National Park(ing) Day, and submit the 5-minute movies they shoot on the boardwalk to next year's Coney Island Film Festival.” Like our Portland guide, the pocket-size NYC book is divided into illustrated, user friendly sections (Bars! Pizza! Historic buildings! Veggie options! Open mics! Craft supplies! The keys to low-budget NYC romance!) that give up the goods for first-timers and native New Yorkers alike.

Genres: Travel, Nonfiction, New York

256 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2010

About the author

Ayun Halliday is the Chief Primatologist of the long running, award-winning East Village Inky zine and author of the self-mocking autobiographies No Touch Monkey! And Other Travel Lessons Learned Too Late, The Big Rumpus  Dirty Sugar Cookies: Culinary Observations, Questionable Taste, and Job Hopper. She collaborated with illustrators Dan Santat on the picture book Always Lots of Heinies at the Zoo, and Paul Hoppe on Peanut, a graphic novel for young adults. Luddite vagabonds may remember her as the author of the analog guidebook, The Zinester's Guide to NYC.  She is a regular contributor to Open Culture, and freelances both articles and illustrations to a variety of other publications.

Ayun's latest books are Creative, Not Famous: The Small Potato Manifesto and its interactive companion Creative, Not Famous Activity Book: An Interactive Idea Generator for Small Potatoes & Others Who Want to Get Their Ayuss in Gear

She lives in East Harlem with the playwright Greg Kotis.

Reviews

[Janet Brisson · Rating 5 out of 5]

If only all travel guides could be this informative, entertaining and accessible.

[Karla Keffer · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this book and would marry it if woman-book marriage were legal in NYC. :)

A funny, smart, and above all, friendly guide to off-the-beaten-path NYC attractions. Reading it is like hanging out with a down to earth friend who just happens to know a bunch of incredibly cool places to hang out. And, much like your dream spouse/significant other, you can bring it home to the parents and all your friends will fall in love with it, too. (Don't let them steal it, the greedy tramps! Buy 'em their own copies!)

[kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably going to keep this on my person for quite a while after moving. Excited about the food and all the activities like riding horses in queens, boating, doing art, museums, dodgeball, biking, punk shows! I feel 15!

[Twyla · Rating 4 out of 5]

tons of tips - finally a NY tour book that skips all the touristy crap and just leads me to $1 dumplings, cute little book stores, and amazing happy hours! will definitely accompany me on my next trip!