FOR MY (DEVALUED) pound, the best New York songwriter is Steve Merritt, who sings: "I'm the ugliest boy/on the Lower East Side." Merritt started my fascination with that shambolic, fast-changing part of the city, between the Bowery and the "alphabet" streets towards the old docks.
It's the backdrop to the smart teen film Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist in which the characters wander around in a Yugo in the middle of the night searching for an elusive indie singer, lasting love and (this is America after all) their true selv
es.
I cannot claim to have gained entrance to the legendary rock haven the Bowery Ballroom, being neither a gorgeous, pouting 19-year-old nor well connected with Lower East Side elites. But I've fallen for the mystique of this delightful, shabby part of Manhattan, which makes you feel you're discovering places rather than treading in the footsteps of every other pilgrim to Soho or the Village.
Really, New York is a divided city, 14th Street making up the border, but its social geography is changing fast. Where I used to go to warehouse parties in Soho or Tribeca, odds are the next generation has set up above a gallery around the Bowery or near Clinton and on "it's very fancy" Delancey Street.
The pound is not our best friend in the US these days so one obvious advantage of staying on the Lower East is that it is a benign mixture of quirky places to eat, sleep and shop without spending a fortune. Nose around the small side-street galleries, cheek by jowl with ethnic grocery stores and shops selling second, third or even fourth-hand furniture.
Don't stint on the hotel, though: it is your refuge from an intense city. Economise by using the subway and bring a pair of trainers. Splash out on the Bowery Hotel, one of the great New York sanctuaries: it has a roaring fire in the drawing room, a well-stocked bar and old books lying around, so jet lag has never been so pleasantly spent. There's a spontaneity to it that sets it apart from other places to stay. The waiter spotted me clutching my laptop in the lift in the early hours as he was delivering wine to a more leisurely guest. "I could do with some of that," I joked. Ten minutes later, up popped Sir Galahad with a glass of red.
Shuffle out to breakfast at the Clinton Street bakery (Leonard Cohen fans can hum along). Try the white salad with cabbage and hearts of palm or rosti potatoes and fried eggs with truffles, and take away the featherweight muffins.
Wander around Delancey and the vintage boutiques on Stanton and Essex Street to East Houston and Russ and Daughters, where every imaginable salted sea product is laid out lovingly. When Harry Met Sally fans will want to add in an homage to the Katz deli where Sally ... well, you know.
So attached did I become to "my" new neighbourhood that I had to be dragged away for a bit of smart life in the Meatpacking district. One advantage of avoiding uptown is that you see the city on a different lateral – side to side, rather than up and down, and the neighbouring quarters are very easy to reach. The Village is next door for book and style browsing (don't miss tea and perfume company NYC on Bleeker Street). It's all a lot quicker to get around than uptown if you're trying to pack a lot in.
These days, the Gansevoort is the place to stay among the bars and shops housed in the Meatpacking's industrial-size showrooms – a multiple-storey hotel with understated rooms and Blofeld memorial electric blinds, so you can party all night and sleep next day, which is what the rest of the district spends most of the time doing.
With Soho House, Gansevoort has helped transform the area – and there's nothing like sitting up late on the rooftop terrace with a cocktail for that excitement and well-being which is New York at its most welcoming.
Next day, as the effects of the night before took hold, we retreated to the spa, a womb-like place where visitors are popped straight into a fine bathrobe and sent to sweat out the damage before a massage. So you can detox after you retox, or the other way round, before you hit downtown and its unpredictable delights again. smFactfile NEW YORK
HOW TO GET THERE
- Flights from Scotland to New York start from £318 from Edinburgh or Glasgow, both with British Airways (0844 493 0787, www.ba.com).
Where to Stay- Rooms at the Bowery Hotel, 335 Bowery, New York start at £274 per night. (00 212 505 9100,
www.theboweryhotel.com).
And There's More- Clinton Street Bakery, 4 Clinton Street, New York (00 646 602 6263,
www.clintonstreetbaking.com).
n Russ and Daughters, 179 East Houston Street, New York (00 212 475 4880,
www.russanddaughters.com).
n Katz deli, 205 East Houston Street, New York (00 212 254 2246,
www.katzdeli.com).
n For other US holidays visit
www.holidays.scotsman.com