PlanetEye

Not up for spending hundreds of dollars on a tiny nondescript hotel room in Manhattan? Don't want to economize by staying the night in a closet?  Keep that wallet in your pocket, hop on the free Staten Island Ferry, and sit back for a 25 min. ride through New York Harbor grazing past the Statute of Liberty and Governors Island with continual views of lower Manhattan's skyline.  Upon disembarking into the Island's brand new glass walled terminal graced with 2 large aquariums teeming with colorful tropical fish, break through the wall of cabbies waiting to scoop you up at the exit door.  You my friend only have to walk 3 blocks until you reach 22 Fort Place, home of the Fort Hill Bed and Breakfast. Walk straight across Richmond Terrace up the stairs along City Hall and continue straight up the hill to St. Marks Place. Make a quick right and then a left onto Fort Place. You'll see the property's distinguishing white and green edifice to your left on the corner of Montgomery & Fort. 

Once inside this Victorian classic built in 1864, a large sun porch greets you perfect for lounging or cracking open that novel you always wanted to start. Ornate marble fireplaces in each room, multi-hued wood floors, tin ceilings, and 8 foot tall wooden carved doors may give you pause that perhaps you're on a historic home tour rather than checking in for the evening.  Industrial Designer and Artist Paul Gorlach along with his wife Patricia restored this gem in 2005 and have been running it as a B&B since 2006.  Paul's own colorful paintings hang on many of the walls beckoning for a closer look.  The downstairs room has a bed large enough to fit 4 people and the upper floor rooms feature a skylight bath with views of Verezano Bridge.  Don't expect a lavish breakfast but a continental spread including plenty of fresh bakery bread is delivered to you on a tray each morning. 

Unless you've been a hermit for the past couple decades, you're probably aware that the cost of living in Manhattan has been sharply rising.  In fact, the average price for a modest apartment is now well over $2000 per month.  So where do all the working stiffs live.....cubicle dwellers, police officers, teachers?  They've long since migrated out to the other boroughs and now the prices there are sky high!  New frontiers like Newark, Jersey City, and Yonkers await.  Gentrification is the catchword describing the effects of this continual exodus and many neighborhoods in Brooklyn haven't escaped it.  But not so fast in Bedford-Stuyvesant.  Get off at the Franklin St. C line station, walk down Fulton Street a half block with Crown Fried Chicken & Pizza on your left and take a left onto Spencer Place. To your right at # 15 is Spencer Place Bed & Breakfast, a recently renovated 1870's brownstone, offering three guest rooms sporting original historic detail.  10 foot high scrolled ceilings, ornate wooden floors, and generous pre-energy saving windows let the sunlight stream in.  The bathroom is shared and owners Nancye Good and Paul DiMartino leave out an organic continental breakfast of coffee, juice, cereal, muffins, and fresh fruit.   Here you don't feel as though you're a pampered guest as much a having your own pad.  The blocks around here are unvarnished and gritty.  But don't worry, the culture is authentic and your wallet will thank you.  Cheap ethnic eats and funky local music joints abound including Bistro Lafayette, Sistas' Place and Bush Baby Café. 

Travel deep into Brooklyn's interior on the elevated M train and get off at the 50 St. station. One block away on the corner of 12th and 48th sits the Park House.  You are now in the heart of Borough Park (spelled by locals as Boro Park), home to one of the largest Orthodox Jewish communities outside of Israel.  As far as NYC prices go, this hotel is a bargain especially if you want to be only a 30 minute subway ride to both Manhattan and Coney Island.  Perfect for the summer months when you can wake up and decide whether it will be a beach day or hitting the town.  You certainly won't go away hungry from the kosher breakfast buffet served in the downstairs dining room.  Rooms are spotless and amply sized with full baths.  In the hotel's guest information directory, you'll notice references to the Shabbos (Sabbath) meals that can be ordered from the front desk and that shuls (synagogues) are located nearby.  Out on the streets, you'll learn a little bit about Jewish culture just by just casually observing and picking up a neighborhood paper.  In addition to the many synagogues, differing markedly in style and appearance, you'll quickly discover that the Orthodox faith isn't all black top hats or yarmulkes but many distinct communities coexisting with differing beliefs.