Hamill's love for Downtown Manhattan is obvious. He speaks lovingly of "a city of daily irritations, occasional horrors, hourly tests of will and even courage, and huge dollops of pure beauty. He fills the book with tales of Peter Stuyvesant and John Jacob Astor, CBGB's and Delmonico's, but in the midst of this history, personal reminiscences are tossed in carelessly and this technique creates a schism in the narrative. It breaks the natural flow of his writing, which when on target create wonderful pictures of the Downtown that was. It's almost as if Hamill couldn't decide whether he was writing; history or memoir. I'm sure with careful consideration of approach this could have worked, but here style seems to be an afterthought, surprising for a newspaperman. Worth reading for his portraits of Old New York, but skip over the words when Hamill injects himself into the mix.

My attraction to this book was unexpected. As I got into it I became helpless to stop reading.

To reveal too much would be a kind of sin. You must read for yourself. You'll learn, you will chuckle, cry and, I promise, the historical facts will amaze you at times. The history of New York is the history of our country, and our known history goes back only so many years. Just looking at some of the buildings, the architecture, the streets, will bring old stories to life. As a native New Yorker, Pete Hamill has lived his life as journalist and reporter, soaking up the flavor and moods of the city. He has been editor in chief of the New York Post and the New York Daily News, as well as author of numerous books and many articles and stories for other distinguished publications.

New York IS history - and I think New York is Pete Hamill - and the natives live with it as they breathe. Pete Hamill will surprise and delight you, sharing his life and style while gently informing.

Coming to the end of this book is like having to say a reluctant goodby.

During Pete Hamill's lifetime, he has lived mostly in Manhattan which is usually the priciest and most expensive borough in the city. I live in New Jersey which is considered the poor sibling to the most exciting city in the world. Pete's right about writing about how much the twin towers' presence is missed alright. Where I live about thirty miles south of the city, you could have seen the twin towers. My grandfather's home was right across Manhattan where you could have seen the New York City skyline. He passed away before September 11, 2001. Every time I drive to Jersey City for school, I see the skyline without the twin towers and it's heartbreaking. It's just not the same without them there. Even though I didn't lose somebody I know, we all know people that did or survived the disaster with horrifying memories. Hamill's cynical but New York cynical, he writes about a city he loves so much, warts and all. Of course, most people just can't afford to live in New York City or they would not have moved away to the suburbs. People don't choose to run away from the city, they just have too because it's just expensive. Nobody unless you make six figures can afford to live decently in Manhattan or most of the five boroughs. The Village is not the same anymore since it has become so fashionable not just for gay couples but for straight couples with children. According to the times, the West Village has become family friendly. The East Village is following suit in becoming expensive and gentrified. It's all about money, who has it and doesn't that determines who gets to live there. Even Harlem has become gentrified like the rest of the city. Hamill doesn't talk much about the celebrity invasion that has determined who gets to live in the greatest city in the world. I love Manhattan! Would I live there? I don't know but it's got the best restaurants in the world, the best shopping, and the best sight-seeing of celebrities. In New York City, I feel so alive but it's still so expensive for the artists' population. Where do the artists like writers, artists, actors, and actresses go? The Village is no longer the place unless you're successful in your career. I wished the city well in the future and Hamill too. After September 11, 2001, there was a line in my church for confession which there never was or has been since. Many of the victims of 09-11-01 lived in New Jersey too. Commuters to New York City make up a lot of the foot traffic and business but they also contribute by spending the time to commute which can be difficult to do. If you want to see something in New York City, you should go to Penn or Grand Central Station and watch the commuters around rush hour. You'll see thousands of people waiting to find out which track their train is on and rush to get on board. I think of those stations as a place where I most likely run into people I know. New York City's great to visit, work, and even live if possible. I beg that the twin towers be rebuild but stronger because it's just not the same city anymore. I remember when I was in Warsaw where almost the entire city was destroyed about 90 percent I believe from World War II. After the war, the Poles rebuilt the city best as it was before the war and even added some Russian influence from the Soviet Communism. New York City should be rebuild those twin towers to make them stronger as well. There too busy concentrating on contracts and politics rather than remembering those lost their lives. If only, New Yorkers would stand up and demand the twin towers to be rebuilt and a memorial to honor those who were killed on that fateful day. By not rebuilding the twin towers, they are only cowering to the terrorists themselves.

being an ex-NYer and having been changed forever by the years I lived there this book was a whirlwind tour through my favorite city. Pete Hamill knows his history and takes you through the history of buildings, people and the vibrant city that it's always been. Parsing bits of his own life with the life of the city it's like being on personal guided tour by one of NY's finest writers. My only problem was it was too short, I wanted to read more.

Mr. Hamill takes on every bit of New York and discusses why he loves even the worst parts of it. He crafts a walk downtown thru the 1800's past buildings and men who shaped this city and produces a novel that inspires.

Mr. Hamill takes on every bit of New York and discusses why he loves even the worst parts of it. He crafts a walk downtown thru the 1800's past buildings and men who shaped this city and produces a novel that inspires.

This book was much more than I had expected. Thinking that it would be more autobiographical, I was pleasantly suprised to find that it was really the story of New York City, specifically the downtown area of Manhattan. Being a native New Yorker, Hamill gives great insight not only into the historical facts surrounding the city's origin, but also its lore, its people, its music, its drama, and its tradition. This book is so heaped with history, yet it reads so easily like a great love story. Like most New Yorkers, the names and faces of those who came before are soon forgotten, but Hamill brings them back to life again in a very real way. He leaves us with this feeling of connectedness to our past and a sense of longing nostalgia for old New York. However, he reminds us that New Yorkers do not live in the past and that self-pity is a mortal sin. The story of New York is very much one of constant difficult change, earned renewal, progressiveness, tolerance and optimism. These traits have been a part of the city since its origins and more important than ever as we see these traits come alive once again after 9/11. This book is a treasure to anyone who loves New York and wants to understand its history and its people without having to sift through textbooks that only gives facts. Put your vagabond reading glasses on and be a part of it.

Pete Hamill's "Downtown: My Manhattan" is part of the latest spate of books that combine personal New York City experience and New York City history, as do Colson Whitehead's "The Colossus of New York" (in a way) and Phillip Lopate's "Waterfront". However, Hamill's is as different from those two other books as those two books are different from each other. I don't know what is causing these authors to write such material--maybe the nostalgia brought about by the horrors of 9/11--but I'm glad they did.

Nostalgia is the key word for Hamill's "Downtown". And it is not just the strong, personal nostalgia that Hamill luxuriates in: it's also the nostalgia that every true New Yorker feels for his City. Whether it was the Dutch or British who longed for their roots in the "Old World", as did the Irish, Eastern Europeans, Italians, Asians, Latinos, etc., or the people born here who cherish the memories of people and places now locked forever in the past, New York's ever-changing "scene" quickly compels our present into history. Hamill's sensitivity to this is brilliantly conveyed on every page.

However, "Downtown" is by no means a treacly, misty-eyed glimpse backward. It is a studied and educational examination of several of New York's neighborhoods--some well-known, some not. The pieces about the Bowling Green area and Times Square were the most fascinating.

What, to me, is special about this history is how it intertwines with other histories: with America's history, with Hamill's history, with my history, and, if you are a New Yorker, your history. I could not put down "Downtown"; in fact, I read it cover to cover in two sittings (I had to go to sleep) and then read it again. It's that amazing a book.

Pete Hamill's "Downtown: My Manhattan" is part of the latest spate of books that combine personal New York City experience and New York City history, as do Colson Whitehead's "The Colossus of New York" (in a way) and Phillip Lopate's "Waterfront". However, Hamill's is as different from those two other books as those two books are different from each other. I don't know what is causing these authors to write such material--maybe the nostalgia brought about by the horrors of 9/11--but I'm glad they did.

Nostalgia is the key word for Hamill's "Downtown". And it is not just the strong, personal nostalgia that Hamill luxuriates in: it's also the nostalgia that every true New Yorker feels for his City. Whether it was the Dutch or British who longed for their roots in the "Old World", as did the Irish, Eastern Europeans, Italians, Asians, Latinos, etc., or the people born here who cherish the memories of people and places now locked forever in the past, New York's ever-changing "scene" quickly compels our present into history. Hamill's sensitivity to this is brilliantly conveyed on every page.

However, "Downtown" is by no means a treacly, misty-eyed glimpse backward. It is a studied and educational examination of several of New York's neighborhoods--some well-known, some not. The pieces about the Bowling Green area and Times Square were the most fascinating.

What, to me, is special about this history is how it intertwines with other histories: with America's history, with Hamill's history, with my history, and, if you are a New Yorker, your history. I could not put down "Downtown"; in fact, I read it cover to cover in two sittings (I had to go to sleep) and then read it again. It's that amazing a book.

Ex-newspaper editor of the New York Post and New York Daily News, Pete Hamill, was born in Brooklyn, moved around a bit, and returned to Manhattan where he lives and works. Having intimate knowledge of a city so revered, respected, and loved, but also scary and intimidating such as New York City, is surely grist for many a writer. Each time there are different aspects a writer will concentrate on, and many times one will not see what the other does, hence the many books on or about this awe-inspiring place. Mr. Hamill has a fluidity about his account which makes for easy, interesting, and page-turning reading about "his" downtown in Manhattan. It's a compelling read as Hamill tells the history of New York - easy to follow and it all fits into place - unlike other confusing "historical" accounts I've come across. From the late 1700s and through the 1800s and 1900s, so much exquisite change flourished in the then, and now, ever-growing city of New York. He not only covers the buildings and streets and avenues, but also the many peoples (the Dutch, the English, the Germans, Russians, Italians, Irish, and so many more) who so long ago had a huge hand in shaping the city.

Ex-newspaper editor of the New York Post and New York Daily News, Pete Hamill, was born in Brooklyn, moved around a bit, and returned to Manhattan where he lives and works. Having intimate knowledge of a city so revered, respected, and loved, but also scary and intimidating such as New York City, is surely grist for many a writer. Each time there are different aspects a writer will concentrate on, and many times one will not see what the other does, hence the many books on or about this awe-inspiring place. Mr. Hamill has a fluidity about his account which makes for easy, interesting, and page-turning reading about "his" downtown in Manhattan. It's a compelling read as Hamill tells the history of New York - easy to follow and it all fits into place - unlike other confusing "historical" accounts I've come across. From the late 1700s and through the 1800s and 1900s, so much exquisite change flourished in the then, and now, ever-growing city of New York. He not only covers the buildings and streets and avenues, but also the many peoples (the Dutch, the English, the Germans, Russians, Italians, Irish, and so many more) who so long ago had a huge hand in shaping the city.

Unlike this Native Son, I am not nor have I ever been a New Yorker. I go there when I want to unwind. With each book, Hamill proves his love for his City. Although I felt I knew this City after starting this wonderful book, I found I didn't know bupkis. This slim volume packs in so much history about the city itself, its evolution into the greatest City in the world, warts and all. Most books I tend to sell or give away once read, after taking notes so I don't forget the essence of the writing. This one, I plan to keep and take with me when I return, using it as a guide to areas I am not familiar with. Near the end, Hamill describes a scene in which he had tears in his eyes after watching the passing parade and reminising about the rejuvenation of a neighborhood. Suffice it to say, I was reading that passage through tears of my own.

Unlike this Native Son, I am not nor have I ever been a New Yorker. I go there when I want to unwind. With each book, Hamill proves his love for his City. Although I felt I knew this City after starting this wonderful book, I found I didn't know bupkis. This slim volume packs in so much history about the city itself, its evolution into the greatest City in the world, warts and all. Most books I tend to sell or give away once read, after taking notes so I don't forget the essence of the writing. This one, I plan to keep and take with me when I return, using it as a guide to areas I am not familiar with. Near the end, Hamill describes a scene in which he had tears in his eyes after watching the passing parade and reminising about the rejuvenation of a neighborhood. Suffice it to say, I was reading that passage through tears of my own.

Although I keep my Amazon.com profile location as being in Hawaii (I used to live there), I currently work in lower Manhattan. Pete Hamill's book was a joy to read. I was able to read a chapter in the book and then take the subway to the location Hamill described so beautifully and view the area through a different lens. Downtown is half New York City history and half autobiographical. Yet, because Hamill has spent his whole life in New York and has come to know it so well, the autobiographical parts of the book become a history of New York described by one of the City's most respected residents. This book is excellent and should be read by those interested in New York City as well as those merely looking for a fascinating story. The history and story of New York City is largely the history of the United States. And for that reason, this book is for everyone.

Part memoir, part social history, part guidebook, this work by Pete Hamill is a must read for anyone who loves to wander around Manhattan taking in the sights and sounds of the city. Hamill perfectly captures the sensations that make NY the world's greatest city.
In addition to sharing his obvious love of the place he uses historical epsiodes that occurred in the various neighborhoods to both inform and entertain.
As a transplanted NYer who visits as often as I can I completely related to the feelings evoked by this book. I'm never quite as happy as I am wandering around the streets of NY and reading Hamill's book made me realize it's time to jump on that plane and get back home for a visit.
Great Book.

bought more copies because friends ought feel the awe
and shed the tears ending the reading caused. But then
I also ordered Drinking Life and Loving Women because
more of Hamill is better than not enough. Had read
his Snow in August and Forever ago, but Downtown was
different, showing more of his many sides and reporter's
art. Ah, the details, the history lessons and the being
there... Am a non-fiction reading politico, but stories
from Hamill's hand and heart are simply page turners.
Went looking for a way to the publisher to thank him,
got lost, of course. My thrifty self had bought his paperback.
Then, I tripped over his photographer-daughter's site
and could not bear to go beyond the falcons in a B/W shot
without returning to buy more copies for friends, etc.,
Pete Hamill is a helluva writer. After I finished the book
I found the map, but his word pictures had already painted
the paths through each neighborhood. Neat touch, that map.

In thinking about how I'd describe this book, I was influenced by a previous reviewer who found fault because there are no pictures in the book. I would counter that by saying this book has hundreds of pictures, the only difference is they are mental pictures shaped by the evocative writing style of Pete Hamill.

What I think Hamill has created is a book that vividly describes past events, people and places the way most of us would remember events in our own lives. Our memory doesn't function like a photo album, it functions based on visualizing partial images with emphasis on the subject at hand. I think that's what Hamill has done. He doesn't describe in minute detail Battery Park, he describes it in glimpses that evoke a sense of the place. Providing pictures of Times Square would help in the detail, but it wouldn't fit with a narrative offered by someone remembering the place as it was for a 10 year old child.

I had been eagerly waiting for the arrival of my order. However, I was very disappointed that there was no pictoral history of Broadway included. One and a half thumbs down!

excellant loved this book! Pete Hamil as an excellent historian especially when it comes to old New York. I recommend this book for anyone who hangs out or travels "downtown" .

He gives you a real feel for, the city, which he knows like the back of his hand.

While I live in Detroit, I love to visit New York every chance
I get. My niece and nephew are students at NYU and I bone up on New York history so that I know where to visit. They even buy me books about NYC because they know about my love of it. My nephew bought me Downtown last year for Christmas. I love Hamill's book because he has written about many places that I love. I envy him that he has had the opportunity to grow up in
New York and can tell wonderful tales of his experiences. I
watched a documentary on jazz in New York and saw him tell his
tales of visiting venues when he was young. How lucky for him.
His stories of Battery Park, 42nd Street, Times Square, etc.
make me want to get on the plane right now. I am just now
finishing Ken Burns' New York 14 hour DVD and can't wait until
I visit my favorite city in the world...Pete, you've made my day. My nephew made a great choice.

Pete Hamill is the Greatest Storyteller ever! Downtown My Manhattan is truly magical! Mr. Hamill gives us a history of the beauty that is Manhattan! Wheather he is talking about Battery City Park, Union Square, The Statue Of Liberty. You can just feel the exitement of New York all around you.

Mr. Hammil even talks about that dark day in our history, the attack of The World Trade Center, two of the most beautiful buildings ever built. If you love history, or if you love Manhattan this book is for you! Thank You, Mr. Hamill

I grew up in New York reading newspaper articles by Pete Hamill and always imagined him as a rather gruff and cynical newspaper man. In Downtown: My Manhattan, Hamill reveals not only an incredible knowledge of the history of New York, but a tender and affectionate heart towards this most incredible city. Hamill serves up personal stories along with the people and places that once made up and, in many cases, still make up, downtown Manhattan.

He takes us on the journey that so many immigrants took, leaving the Old Country and arriving, and often staying, in New York, that amazing melting pot of so many different cultures and peoples. He reminds us of the gifts we now take for granted such as free schools and libraries which were crucial in helping the children of poor immigrant families build new lives for themselves. We learn the history of the Battery, how Wall Street got its name, the development of skyscrapers, stories of the Bowery, Park Row and the Rialto. Hamill takes us along with him to learn about the first newspapers and the men who ran them. He tells us the stories of familiar names such as Peter Stuyvesant and John Jacob Astor, as well as less familiar names including Alexander Stewart who wrought radical change to New York City. We are taken to Times Square and the impact of the subway on transforming this intersection of roads into one of the most famous and influential pieces of real estate in the world. He takes us back to the neighborhoods when the diverse immigrant groups were struggling to make their way in this new world. We go to the villages, including Little Italy, Chinatown, and that most famous of villages, Greenwich Village. Hamill also pays tribute to the World Trade Center and the horrific events of September 11th in a personal and moving reaction to the terrors of that day.

Hamill discusses the fact that New York City is always changing, sometimes for the better, but not always. Early on, he explains the difference between sentimentality and nostalgia for things that no longer exist: Irreversible change happens so often in New York that the experience affects character itself. New York toughens its people against sentimentality by allowing the truer emotion of nostalgia. Sentimentality is always about a lie. Nostalgia is about real things gone. Nobody truly mourns a lie.

Hamill is the kind of writer who makes it look easy, who makes it sound like he is having a conversation with you about the most everyday of topics when he is actually weaving complex and often obscure historical facts and characters into a most readable, fascinating history of downtown Manhattan. While most of us have heard bits and pieces of this story, few have delved into the truth of it with the gusto and affection of this author. This is a most enjoyable read and one that takes us on a nostalgic, but never sentimental, journey into another time. This is one love letter meant to be shared and savored by us all.

I am absolutely shocked that this book has received so many good reviews. I think that Mr. Hamill had extra "left over" material from his novel "Forever" and decided to crank out another book. The material, though interesting, was arranged is a scattered manner and did not flow. All in my (NYC) book club agree that this book put them to sleep.

What a wonderful and spellbinding book. Although we know how everything ends up, this book takes us on a pleasant stroll uptown from the battery all the way to the Great White Way of Broadway.

In his loving prose, Hamill offers the reader a history of lower Manhattan (his definition of lower Manhattan is a bit stretched, but you will understand why when - not if - you read the book), seamlessly combining the architecture with the people, the politics, and the conflicts that created the World's Greatest City.

Whether you grew up in the outer boroughs, Manhattan itself, the suburbs or someplace else, you will find yourself walking astride of Peter Stuyvesant, Alfred Ochs, and Walter Winchell. You will be there with all of the Dutch and British aristocracy that shaped this city alongside of the huddled masses of Irish, German, Jewish, Italian, African American, Latin and Asian immigrants that made and continue to make New York City, and Downtown in particular, the crossroads and financial capital of the world.

There are books I fall so helplessly in love with, I fear the last page because it means having to leave the special world the author has made. DOWNTOWN: MY MANHATTAN, an amalgam of history and memoir, is one of those books. It brings to mind all the "E" words: elegant, electric, extraordinary, exquisite, etc. Up to now, V.S. Pritchett's excellent LONDON PERCEIVED was my benchmark for a trip through a beloved city's neighborhoods, pushing aside the layers of time to plumb origins and connections to the present. DOWNTOWN exceeds it, at least in my affections. Here's why:

Hamill is a New Yorker's New Yorker. The child of Irish immigrants settled in Brooklyn, he crossed the river to attend art school and never looked back, except for sojourns in the service and abroad. The former editor-in-chief of both The New York Post and The Daily News, he covered the city's politics, crime, commerce, art and people. Those he did not know personally or professionally he has tirelessly researched back to the first European settlers on the island. He brings them wrigglingly alive with masterful vision and carefully torqued prose while gazing upon a contemporary site that offers up some material connection to the past or at least its ghosts. He moves, as the settlement did, from the tip northward to Times Square and the edge of Central Park. Hamill's description of the architectural topography is peerless. On the streets, he can see the origins of the iconic New York personality, the accent ("like a fist") and enduring cultural icons. He celebrates the gains and mourns the losses, the latter epitomized by the 11th of September 2001. That day does not dominate the book but informs it with a quiet tension, empowering the terms "velocity" and "nostalgia" that are woven through as counterpoint leitmotifs.

Others have written great reviews for this book, so I will keep this short and sweet. I had never read a Pete Hamill book - fiction or nonfiction - but I love NYC history, so I figured I would give it a shot. I was not disappointed at all. Hamill's writing is so inviting and he has so much knowledge of the place he lives and loves, he draws you into a wonderful journey. I am not from the city, but I visit as often as I can. One doesn't need to be from the city to enjoy this book. Hamill gives you information that you can't find anywhere else in the warm manner he provides. This is one book I am keeping on my bookshelf to return to again and again. I am also now a Pete Hamill fan who is going out to read everything else he has written.

IF YOU'RE A NEW YORKER (LIKE ME FOR 60 YEARS) AND THINK YOU KNOW ALL ABOUT YOUR CITY, BE ASSURED YOU DON'T (WHICH IS EXACTLY WHAT I DISCOVERED AFTER READING THIS INCREDIBLE BOOK)!
IF YOU'RE NOT A NEW YORKER BUT THINK YOU HAVE AN IDEA OF ITS EVOLUTION AND WHAT ITS LIKE TODAY,YOU KNOW NOTHING! THAT IS, UNTIL YOU'VE READ "DOWNTOWN: MY MANHATTAN."
THERE MAY BE SOME HISTORIANS WHO KNOW THE FACTS CONTAINED IN "DOWNTOWN," BUT NONE WHO COULD PRESENT THE INFORMATION WITH THE FASCINATION, EMPATHY, NOSTALGIA, PERSONAL KNOW-HOW, LOVE OF THE CITY AND ITS PEOPLE, AND THE FEEL AND BEAT OF THE CITY (PAST AND PRESENT), AS ONLY MR. HAMILL CAN AND DOES.
LIKE MANY OF THE OTHER REVIEWS THAT TELL YOU ABOUT THIS BOOK, I TOO COULD GO ON AND ON TALKING ABOUT IT - BUT, I WON'T. DON'T MISS THIS BOOK AND THE ANTCIPATION YOU'LL EXPERIENCE LOOKING FORWARD TO EVERY NEXT SENTENCE WITHIN IT.
JUST KNOW THIS - MR. HAMILL IS MR. NEW YORK, AND THIS BOOK SHOULD BE ON EVERYONE'S BOOK SHELF FOR MANY, MANY DECADES TO COME.

My initial reaction to starting this book (it was a gift from a relative who misses living in Manhattan) was that it would be heavy in the nostalgia that my aunt felt. And it was initially. However, Hamill creates an amazing tale of the incredible, and often little known, people that made downtown the place that it is today. He weaves his own life into a brilliant story that is supplemented by the history of a city that is as rich as any others. I read 'Downtown' immediately following 'The Island at the Center of the World: A History of Dutch Colonial Manhattan' by Russell Shorto, and the two books helped to paint a beautiful picture of the greatest city in the world.

I am a displaced New Yorker. I grew up and always lived in Brooklyn, worked in lower Manhattan most of my life, sold real estate in Queens and spent my Sundays exploring the various cultures and cultural hot spots New York has to offer. I've even taken my vacation in New York City. After 43 years of living there, I moved out of the city, but my heart is always there.

So, it is only natural that I look for various little things to remind me of my home. I have a little lucite cube of lower Manhattan with the World Trade Center clearly visible. I have books, maps, posters of Central Park and Times Square all around my house. And I visit when I get the chance.

I also grew up in the "age of newspapers". Before computers and before television news anchors there were newspapers. Names like Jimmy Breslin and Pete Hamill were as well known to me as to any New Yorker. As I rode to work in the morning I read The Daily News, in the evenings it was the New York Post. Sunday morning it was The New York Times.

So, sitting on-line one morning recently reading The New York Times Book Reviews, I saw a review of a new book by Pete Hamill called Downtown My Manhattan and just knew I had to read this book.

Pete Hamill is about 20 years older than I am and he has been a main stay in the newspaper world as long as I could read newspapers. He has worked for The Daily News, the New York Post, The New York Times, Newsday, and The New Yorker. Anyone who reads New York newspapers recognizes his name. He has worked as a reporter and earned the position of Editor. His beat has always been New York and he knows it like no one else can because of his unique perspective.

This book is the history of that part of The City commonly called lower Manhattan, which is everything south of 59th Street, or south of Central Park. No one here calls Manhattan by its borough name, it is simply The City and lower Manhattan is Downtown.

This book is part biography, part history, part geography. It is a study of cultures, cross streets, music, art and food. It is a blend of everything New York expertly woven together to make a beautiful patchwork of what is the essence of New York City.

Mr. Hamill covers the underlying history of lower Manhattan, from the Dutch founding through the progressive movement of the population north to Central Park. He covers the politics and the changes brought about by wave after wave of immigrants finding their place in this City. He covers the laying out of the neighborhoods, the building of the landmarks, the effects of culture and religion on the peoples who came here.

But it is done in a style that can only be executed by a skilled newspaper reporter. The facts, the scandals, the news and the views all blended together to give the reader the most information in the least amount of space. No wasted words that would lead to boredom. No unnecessary details. This is headline news from a few hundred years that is blended together to make some fascinating reading. This is a collection of little bits of history as only found in the tabloids and hunting through the history books, dating back over the centuries that Mr. Hamill ties together to make a story that would grab any reader's attention.

He discusses the who's who with the sordid facts. He gives us little tidbits of "gee, I didn't know that" that uncover the roots of our fair city. He includes sidebars of information that give a well rounded look at what drove the original settlers as well as the waves of those who came after.

The Knickerbockers, Bowling Green, Tammany Hall, the three and a half ton bull, Five Points, Trinity Church, The Jewish Theatre, Zsa Zsa Gabor and Louchow's, the Rialto, the nightclubs, the theatres, the smell of the streets; it is all here to learn, remember and enjoy. Mr. Hamill leaves no stone unturned; these are the truths and the lies, the tender moments and the violent turns, the men and the money that made New York what it is today.

Mr. Hamill includes an insiders look into the newspaper industry in New York, how it impacted the City as a whole and helped to make history as well as preserve it for future generations. There are also bits of Mr. Hamill's life here as he relives some of the most important events to occur during his lifetime in this City, to give that personal appeal that Pete is so well known for.

There is so much more. For a book of 281 pages, it is packed with more information about New York City and its history than any book you could get from the library. From the founding of The City to today, it is a well written, in depth overview of what New York is about. All of this is done in the Pete Hamill style of writing that made him the household name we New Yorkers recognize and enjoy: short, sweet and to the point with just the right amount of newspaper intrigue that we crave to keep us interested. This is New York as it could only be told by someone who has lived and worked here all his life. It shows the love and respect that most New Yorkers have for their City.

My only observation is that this book could have used a small photo section. For me, many of the locations discussed in the book are burned permanently in my mind. And those who live here or have lived here all their life will know exactly the buildings and locations spoken about. But like most folks, I appreciate pictures with my news. This book could have benefited from a small section of photos highlighting of some of the locations discussed. For those not familiar with the locations or buildings mentioned (there is a map in the front of the book) you may want to find a tourist book or a picture book of Manhattan to truly appreciate the verbal descriptions of some of the locations and architectural details discussed by Mr. Hamill in this book.

However, there is an excellent "Suggested Reading" section at the back of the book for those who want more. I found this to be an excellent addition to the book.

If you are a native New Yorker, a displaced New Yorker, new to the area or just curious about this city, this book is an essential part of your library. I would like to recommend this book for anyone who has a love of New York City, especially Downtown. boudica

To appreciate Manhattan to its fullest author Pete Hamill states you have to walk the streets. Since Hamill has "paid rent" in various locations on the island he is qualified to tell us what changes various parts of "downtown" have undergone over the past several decades. Downtown to Hamill runs from Battery Park at the southern tip of the island to approximately 60th Street. Hamill provides us with the history of the various parts of Manhattan and the changes that have taken place in areas such as Union Square, Herald Square, Washington Square, in "the Village", and Times Square, formerely Longacre Square. A huge victory for the city has been reclaiming Times Square from the druggies, feral children, porno parlors, and other seedy characters that inhabited the area mainly from the 1960's through the 1980's. Since my experiences in New York City have been limited to brief visits in 1958, 1973, 1978, and 2004) I don't have the necessary background to visualize all the places that Hamill tells us about. I did, however, find the book fascinating to read and picked up some historical tidbits I wasn't aware of. From my own limited observations the difference in the Times Square area in 2004 was a tremendous improvement from what it was like in the 1970's. Whether you are a veteran New Yorker or just interested in learning about this fascinating island, you will find Pete Hamill's "Downtown" to be an interesting and informative read.

This is an extremely well-written, insightful and poignant piece of writing about one of the greatest cities in the world. Anyone who has ever lived, or wanted to live in New York should read this book... however ... the title is extremely confusing! I was recently on vacation in Seattle and picked up this book in a bookstore I happened to stroll into, thinking it would help me find my way around downtown Seattle! I was halfway through chapter 3 before I figured out what was going on!

. . . the greatest men and women. If it be a few ragged huts it is still the greatest city in the whole word." Whitman's words from his Song of the Broad-Axe never left me as I read Pete Hamill's wonderful book of his city, actually my city, Downtown.

Downtown is part history, part-memoir. It is not a history of New York City as much as it is a history of Pete Hamill's New York City. It is at once a very personal piece of writing but in its own way Pete's story is one immediately familiar to any New Yorker. The streets we grew up on may be different but each of our individual and distinct stories must share more than a small amount of DNA with every other New Yorker for the last 300 years.

I've never met Pete (calling him Hamill just doesn't sound right) but I've known him all my life. Pete is the child of immigrants. His family was part of the great wave of immigration that took the wretched refuse of those teeming shores and carried them not-that-gently to New York since the days of the earliest Dutch settlers. From the famine and oppression of Ireland (Hamill) to the pogroms of Russia (my family) they came. They came from everywhere. Like thousands of other immigrants or children of immigrants, Hamill's family struggled but made a life for itself. My father found his way to one of New York's lower east side settlement houses and learned a trade (music) that served him and his family well his entire life. Like Hamill, I remember the trips as a kid from Brooklyn and, in my case, Queens, New York to that city of proud towers known as Manhattan.

"Downtown" is something of a walking guided tour. Hamill describes the building of lower Manhattan and its early history. He plots the expansion of the city north up beyond the original walled street that became Wall Street. He traces the expansion of what he calls downtown up through to 14th Street and Union Square and then on up to 42nd Street and Times Square. Along the way we read of his first trip to the city, the story of his parents' early life and hard times, and Hamill's own life and development. Along the way a few things become obvious. Hamill loves his city even when he is remarkably candid about its shortcomings. In China, the term for one's hometown is `native place'. It is a word soaked with more meaning than home and as I read through Downtown it was clear to me that New York, downtown particularly, was Hamill's native place.

For me, it was fascinating to read Hamill's descriptions of life and the development of lower Manhattan through the years. Like Hamill, I spent a good portion of my life working `downtown'. I spent more than a few years in the shipping industry, when that industry shared downtown with the Wall St. crowd. I was a messenger and ran documents to and from every building Hamill describes with accuracy and fondness. From the Old Customs House to 17 Battery Place, 1 Broadway, 25 Broadway 90 West Street and all points in between. I walked to work from my first apartment on 12th street and 2nd avenue downtown every day. And, after taking dates home to Staten Island, I'd place myself at the front of the ferry so the breeze could keep me awake in the wee hours of the morning, and stand in awe as we glided quietly past the Statute of Liberty and watched the city's skyline loom bigger and bigger. Pete's childhood vision of `the City' as Oz is singularly appropriate.

Although Pete spends a lot of time describing the geography of downtown and the architecture of the buildings that became a part of his New York experience, Downtown is not simply an architectural digest. At its heart is the story of the people that built those houses and lived in them. It is said that "men make the city, and not walls or ships without men in them" and Pete is keenly aware of that. His feeling for the men and women that made his city is palpable.

You do not need to be a New Yorker to love this book. Hamill knows, as did Whitman, that the place where a great city stands is not the "place of the tallest and costliest buildings or shops" but, rather, stands in the hearts of people like Hamill's parents that arrive from distant shores to build those buildings and live their lives. They continue to arrive today and Pete rejoices in it. Pete Hamill's Downtown is a wonderful piece of writing.

If you ever lived in NY City, as I have; you know Pete Hamill from his newspaper column.

Pete is a great writer and Downtown : My Manhattan is a captivating book.

Guaranteed to please every reader.

Downtown

New York is such a remarkable city with such a great history. Perhaps, therefore, its history can only be chronicled by a native with Big Apple blood running through his veins. Pete Hamill is such a man. Born and raised in Brooklyn, journalist/writer Hamill, in his simple yet poetic style chronicles the life and times of Manhattan, the city he loves and in which he has spent his life.

Hamill begins by explaining that this book will be about "his" Manhattan, which consists of "downtown." He explains that by "downtown" he means not just the section that New Yorkers today call "downtown" but all those parts of the city that have a historical resonance to him. Thus, Times Square is downtown although today we refer to it as "mid-town." Harlem is downtown although it is far uptown (and Hamill does not feel competent to write about it in detail not having neither lived in it nor absorbed its essence as the rest of the city)

New York's history is as old as the history of the New World. But Hamill's narrative is not strictly chronological. Rather it is geographical. He begins with the oldest part of the City, the battery and writes of the Dutch and the British and Colonial times. He moves on to describe the Wall Street area as it existed in Colonial times. Although unrecognizable today, obviously, important structures from the period exist. He spends much time discussing the Trinity Church, where Alexander Hamilton is buried, a mere block from where the World Trade Center once stood. As the City expanded northward with the passage of time, so Hamill expands his narrative northward, explaining how the "Knickerbockers", the offspring of the unions of old Dutch and English, moved northwards into elegant houses on fifth avenue outside the increasingly teeming streets of downtown. As early as the early 19th Century, old New Yorkers were already pining for the good old days. And this is the ongoing theme of the book as Hamill describes the growth of the dangerous neighborhoods of the Five Points and later the Tenderloin, precursors of the Forty Second street/times square district that would threaten the city in the seventies and eighties and the other neighborhoods that developed, Greenwich Village, The Flat Iron district, the lower west side that is today called Tribeca. That theme is constant change coupled with nostalgic longing for a vanished past. Sometimes the nostalgia is warranted, sometimes as in the case of the old Times Square, it is not.

Hamill's writing is at its finest when he describes the Manhattan of his own youth, in the late fifties, early sixties. He writes of the great jazz musicians he saw, of the writers he drank with at the Lion's Head tavern. He brings the period to life but he never seems to imply that the future is not something to look forward to as well. Indeed, Hamill does not shy away from the squalor that overtook the City in the seventies and eighties, when rampant crime and drug abuse threatened to take New York down permanently. He marvels at the revival that has made New York one of the safest most pleasant large cities in the world today.

The reader of this book will learn many interesting facts about New York's past, about its architecture and about its street life. Revealed are the buried layers of the past, still visible among the skyscrapers to those willing to take the time to look. This is a marvelous book and a great companion to "Forever", Hamill's fantasy novel about New York's history.

I'm a Manhattanite and can't think of another city where I'd rather live than this melting pot mix of a metropolis. To my mind, Pete Hamill is the quintessential New Yorker. A lifelong resident, former editor-in-chief of both the New York Post and New York Daily News, author of eight books, among them the best selling memoir, "A Drinking Life," and "The Subway Series Reader," Hamill knows more than most about the five boroughs, especially downtown Manhattan. He has certainly paid his dues, or rent, with 14 different residences during his lifetime. (unusual, as New Yorkers usually hold on to their apartments, forever). A cynical newspaperman, from the old school more than the new, Hamill was born in Brooklyn, the son of Irish immigrants. He is struck by those who, like his parents, fought for a brighter future while remembering what they left behind. "That rupture with the immediate past would mark all of them and did not go away as the young immigrants grew old. If anything, the nostalgias were often heightened by the coming of age. Some would wake up in the hot summer nights of New York and for a few moments think they were in Sicily or Mayo or Minsk. Some would think their mothers were at the fireplace in the next room, preparing food. The old food. The food of the Old Country." As a child, looking with wonder for the first time at the gilded spires of Manhattan, from the pedestrian ramp of the Brooklyn Bridge, Hammil asked his mother in an awed voice, "What is it?" "Sure, you remember, Peter," she said. "You've seen it before." And then she smiled. "It's Oz."

Hamill's fast paced, fascinating narrative meanders with readers on a tour of lower Manhattan. His view of the city is a pedestrian's - which is the best view, if one doesn't need to be in the driver's seat. Hamill never learned to drive until he was 36. I have to laugh. How typical! What Manhattanite drives their car in NYC?? From the tony haunts of the "Knickerbockers" to the "lost cities" of Five Points, we travel with a most worthy guide. We are still able to see remnants of the British colony, the mansions of the robber barons, and the speakeasies of the 1920s. We wander with the author along the winding streets of Greenwich Village, to the grimy alleys of the meatpacking district, to the cobblestones of South Street Seaport, where the Fulton Street Fish Market and Dock once stood. I was surprised at how far uptown Mr. Hamill's "downtown Manhattan" ventures. But hey, it's his city too....to redefine or define. The author defends himself, "Broadway in my mind is an immense tree," Mr. Hamill explains, "with its roots deep in the soil at the foot of Manhattan, which is why I insist so stubbornly to my friends that the uptown places I cherish on Broadway are actually part of downtown." And if the old Thalia movie theater, at Broadway and 95th Street, is also part of his "downtown" experience, well, he's not the only one who got a first glimpse of Fellini, Kurosawa and Bergman there. So...that counts enough to place the old cinema below 14th street. Right??

In this extraordinary book, which is both a personal and historical portrait, Hamill pays tribute to fellow New Yorkers like: Alexander Hamilton, who was shot dead in a duel with Aaron Burr across the North River in Weehawken, NJ, in 1804. Hamilton's grave graces gothic Trinity Church's centuries' old cemetery; Pearl Street's Captain William Kidd, who was hanged for piracy in London in 1701, "would not be the last New Yorker whose friends insisted he was framed;" John Jacob Astor, who emigrated from Germany in 1784 and became America's first millionaire; architect Stanford White, who designed the Washington Square arch and was the victim of New York's "murder on the rooftop garden" as a result of his love affair with the infamous Gibson Girl, Evelyn Nesbit; and authors like Henry James and Edith Wharton, who chronicled their times from a New York perspective.

Nostalgia is a major theme that runs through the book. "Nostalgia," proclaims the author, "is the city's ruling passion, after greed, anger and resistance to authority." (I smile). He says, and it's true, that New York changes so quickly. "That every generation watches its own past being demolished" - a very acute observation! The Dodgers left us. Penn Station is gone...and so are so many small, neighborhood restaurants, cafes, movie theaters, that were important in an intimate way to our individual lives. Hamill is at once awed by the city's energy and haunted by her losses. As with all New Yorkers, September 11, 2001, weighs heavily on his heart. He lives in Tribeca, in the shadow of the former Towers, and witnessed the horror of that day and its terrible aftermath up close and personal. Hamill explains that the New Yorker's version of nostalgia is much more than a remembrance of lost buildings or the presence of those who lived in these places years ago. "It involves an almost fatalistic acceptance of the permanent presence of loss." "This makes New Yorkers tougher," he argues, "less sentimental. It has helped them move on after the attacks on the World Trade Center."

Mr. Hamill covers much ground in this wonderful biography of a city. He is able to give us a first hand impression of the abstract expressionists who thrived here in the 1940s and 50s, as well as bebop, jazz, the Beats who made Greenwich Village the "Village," and many other old landmarks and legends. He integrates personal recollections along with historical observations for an outstanding mix of a memoir...and make no mistake, this is a memoir, of a city and a man who lives and breathes the city. While he waxes nostalgic, Hamill also believes that the city's changes make her stronger.

The author's prose is sharp, clear - beautifully written. His plain-spoken narrative vibrates with life. And it is obvious how heartfelt the writing and observations are. Mr. Hamill is not an objective observer - no way! He is heart and soul a New Yorker, writing about the hometown he loves. And I loved every minute I spent reading "Downtown: My Manhattan."
JANA

Who knows New York better than former editor-in-chief of the New York Post and the New York Daily News, Pete Hamill? Few, I'll wager. Who possesses a better reportorial eye, or greater ability to spot just the detail that will bring his comment into sharp focus? None, I'll bet.

Manhattan has been home to Mr. Hamill for some 70 years, and he seems to have loved every minute of it. There's also a bit of the historian in him as "Downtown" takes us on a journey back in time to some folks and events that have made the Big Apple what it is today. We go from the Bowery of the 1860s to the bohemian enclaves of the 1960s. Night spots are on tap as are remembrances of John Jacob Astor, William Randolph Hearst, and others.

The author's personal memories are intertwined with events of the past resulting in a fascinating collage of thoughts and ideas. Mr. Hamill has referred to this work as a grouping of "essays." It's so much more than that, especially when we hear it in his voice.

"Downtown" is an intriguing armchair visit to the city that has become emblematic of America. Our visit, while absorbing and enjoyable, is just too brief.

- Gail Cooke

This beautifully written walking tour of lower Manhattan was an absolute pleasure to read, and halfway through, I knew I would be reading it again.
Mr. Hamill brings to life the part of Manhattan from Battery Park to Times Square, in a way where you somehow visually experience the change from the Dutch settlement to the sky-scraping metropolis it is today. It's like a time-lapse film, in prose.

I am one of those people who have only recently discovered New York. My wife and I have gone twice this year (traveling from SoCal), to simply spend two or three days soaking up that city buzz. Broadway, fine meals, touristy sight-seeing, casual walks...we have fallen in love with the city. This book puts my feelings into words.

There are historical facts you were aware of, yet have never considered in quite such a manner, and there are historical facts you had no idea ever existed. You will find a host of both here.
Hamill's prose is simple yet beautiful; a reporter with an eye for art.

When the Queen Mary pulled into the harbor in the mid-40's, every inch packed with returning WWII GI's, Hamill writes how the roar from the city could be heard in heaven. He allowed me to hear that.
He allowed me to visit the squalid Times Square, the one I'll never have to see, safely from the comfort of my recliner. He invited me into buildings that I'll never be able to explore anymore, since they've now long gone.
Better yet, he has exposed me to places I've surely walked by, but never considered. I feel the need to go find them; I need to give those places the respect and attention they deserve.

When I return to NYC, I'll have this book with me. I'm going to re-read it on the plane flight over, and I'm going to carry it with me as my wife and I stroll along those glorious avenues.
This time, I'm going to reach out and touch those buildings and monuments I never "considered", and see them with new eyes, Hamill's.

You don't buy Pete Hamill for experimental prose or hard-hitting scholarship--it's more like sitting down in a bar with a great old neighborhood character. Hamill's really in his element in "Downtown," displaying his considerable journalistic chops along with some quite moving and exhilirating turns of phrase. He travels from the tip of Manhattan to Times Square, pulling out nuggets of trivia, historical highlights and vivid memories of his own, quite entertaining past as he goes. If only I could go along with him in person!
If anyone writing today has "the gift of the gab," it's Hamill.

For anybody who was born there or grew up in its immense shadow, there can be, no matter how far away you travel in life, only one place forever known as "The City."

And that city is the real life Oz known as New York. Bestselling author and journalist Pete Hamill knows this city well. He was born in Brooklyn and has spent the last four-plus decades exploring the streets of New York as both a newspaperman and resident.

DOWNTOWN: My Manhattan, is Hamill's brilliant tribute to the city he loves. It is part history, part memoir, and part elegy.

The book follows the growth of Manhattan from its roots as a Dutch trading post on the lower tip of the island to its inevitable expansion uptown to Times Square and upwards to the sky.

The geographic scope of this book is no accident. It mirrors the area where Hamill has paid rent on 14 different apartments over the years and where he now lives. On these streets, he tells us, "I am always a young man."

Besides being one of America's most famous journalists, Hamill is also one of our greatest living writers. He is a master of the craft. He brings to this book both the journalist's eye for detail and the poet's gift for language. The writing is sharp and clear, and as tough as a street vendor on Canal Street during lunch hour.

There is much here to delight the reader. Hamill reveals little known aspects of the city's history, from the first Dutch colonial governor, who was also the first to cook the city's books, to British Governor Lord Cornbury, who enjoyed strolling around in drag after 1702 and once had himself painted as Queen Anne.

But we also learn how an African American named Master Juba joined with an Irish American named John Diamond in 1844 to create tap dancing. And then there is the first Broadway musical in 1866, which prompted 31-year-old Marc Twain to exclaim: "the scenery and the legs are everything."

Hamill introduces us to a city where "the present becomes the past more rapidly than in any other world city." This is a place where the velocity of change is so great that it seems the entire city is rebuilt every ten years. But there are still many wonderful places you can visit today, such as Trinity Church in lower Manhattan, which, he explains, "asserts a sense of pheonixlike triumph, rebirth and enduring faith" while nestled among skyscrapers.

The engine for this perpetual growth has been the immigrants, who still arrive daily in search of a better future. Hamill tells us the great enduring gift that the Dutch gave New York was tolerance. For New York was a city built on pragmatic concerns; commerce, not religion or political ideology, ruled its history. The only true religion of New York, we learn, is real estate.

New York is a city that should not work. Today there are more than 100 languages spoken on its streets, including at least 10 dialects of Chinese. But it does work because, despite its fair share of crooks and scoundrels and disasters, the tradition of tolerance holds.

Each new generation of immigrants becomes part of the alloy on New York. Lower East Side settlement houses that once helped Jewish immigrants now provide aid to Latinos and Asians.

The immigrants also brought with them nostalgia, which would become the one thing permanent here. Hamill calls New York "the capital of nostalgia." The immigrants endured a double dose of it. They felt the loss of the land of their birth. But as they assimilated into America and watched new waves of immigrants transform New York, they carried inside them the memories of the now vanished New York where they once lived and struggled.

All New Yorkers carry this nostalgia. Even after Times Square and 42nd Street were rescued and cleaned up with the help of corporations like Disney in the 1990s, many of us find ourselves missing the old "Deuce" with its edge of danger and forbidden excitement.

In describing this longing for the past, Hamill's writing becomes almost lyrical. On the long lost and much missed old Penn Station, he writes, "For generations, young men had waited near the clock for young women arriving for a night together on the town. I was one of them. We could look at the ruins of the station and remember girls in polo coats with snow melting in their hair...We could remember a time when we were so young that we thought the things we loved would last forever."

What lasts forever is New York. This book is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand this great city or is planning a visit.

Follow Hamill down these streets and into the parks. Stop and look up at the marvelous Beaux-Arts buildings that now house Starbucks and Kinkos on their ground floors. Stand in Grand Central Terminal during rush hour and feel the energy flowing around you. Gaze out at New York Harbor from Battery Park and imagine ships filled with immigrant dreams. You will find a magical place that will make you want to live forever.

--- Reviewed by Tom Callahan