New York’s Top Power Spots Map

It’s autumn in New York. Saturday Night Live is broadcasting its 50th season. Film studios are cropping up all over town. The Knicks actually look good. Assuming you’ll have a reason to head to Hollywood on the Hudson soon enough, we’ve tapped a network of the city’s most fabulous to share insider dish on all the places you need to know, from dog runs to hotel bars to parking garages for the .01 percent.

1. DOG PARK

While walkers are the ones who squire most pooches, you’ll spy the owners occasionally on quick jaunts near home, says dog trainer Bash Dibra, who has worked with Jennifer Lopez and Sarah Jessica Parker, among others. “The real power hang is Central Park. It’s not an official dog park, but you can take your dog off leash before 9 a.m,” he explains. “And owners hang there in the evenings, because lots of them are Met museum donors. They want to be in the glow of ‘their’ museum.”

2. PARKING

“Paddock is parking at an elite level,” designer Melody Weir says of the private garages founded by erstwhile Ferrari employee Justin Lopez, with underground sites on East 86th and East 55th streets (a third will open soon).

3. PENTHOUSE SUITE (UPTOWN)

Travel agent Jason Squatriglia of Embark Beyond says the $75,000 per night for The Mark’s five-bedroom, 10,000-square-foot Penthouse is worth every cent — no wonder Drake calls it home away from home in NYC and Meghan Markle threw her baby shower there. “They’ll even put an ice-skating rink on your balcony during your stay if you’d like,” says Squatriglia. “That was a real client request the team gladly accommodated.”

4. PLAYGROUND

The Billy Johnson Playground in Central Park, just north of the Zoo at 67th Street, is “where networking meets playtime,” says concierge Benjamin Vaschetti of Maison Benjamin — you might spot more than just a nanny or two idling on the benches, for much the same reason it’s a dog-walking hotspot.

5. POWER TABLE (UPTOWN)

You don’t just need to eat at Sette Mezzo at Lexington and 71st, says socialite Gillian Miniter: You need to insist on where you’re seated, too. “Many people consider the tables as you enter the restaurant before you go down the steps to be the best, but certainly the front half of the restaurant is see-and-be-seen with many famous people and billionaires,” she says. “But it’s relaxed and not at all pretentious.”

6,16. PRIVATE DINING ROOM

Influencer Zach Weiss says it’s a toss-up between two distinctive PDRs. “Casa Cruz, on 61st Street and Madison, has two off-limits private rooms that feel as if you’re in someone’s home — I love them,” he confides. “But Emilio’s Ballato on Houston Street? The back room there feels very mobster in the best way.”

7. THERAPIST

Go-to for the elite? Psychiatrist Samantha Boardman, with an office on East 67th, has bona fides of her own (she’s a cum laude graduate of Harvard with two decades of practice), but it’s her marriage to prominent developer Aby Rosen that helps cement her status if you’re an anxious one percenter, says Melody Weir. “This is your gal.”

8,11. DERMATOLOGIST’S OFFICE

It’s a split decision for fashion writer Freya Drohan between Dr. Julie Russak’s place on 57th and Park and Dr. Dan Belkin on Fifth Avenue in Flatiron. “Get Fraxel from Dr. Russak — you’ll look like the elephant man for a while, but it’s worth it,” she says. “And Morpheus8 by Dr. Belkin, because of course you can trust the man behind Martha Stewart’s eternal glow.”

9. DIVE BAR

Legendary boxing trainer Jimmy Glenn opened Jimmy’s Corner in 1971 at the height of Times Square’s bad old days, and — though Jimmy died during the COVID pandemic at 89 — little seems to have changed. Robert De Niro shot Raging Bull here, and Evander Holyfield and Mike Tyson have been known to stop by (though not at the same time). Beers are still $3, thanks to a sweetheart deal from real estate tycoon Douglas Durst, the owner of the building and a Jimmy’s regular. Belly up at the bar for your next power bender. 

10. MSG SEATS

At a concert, don’t sit anywhere other than sections 108, 109, 115 and 116, says developer Mitchell Hochberg. “It’s the late, great Ahmet Ertegun’s personal recommendations. They’re the Industry seats.” Courtside for the Knicks? Watch who’s sitting next to Spike Lee — that’s Al Palagonia from Apollo Jets. “He gives tickets to his closest celebrity friends or best clients,” says Tony Abrams of Four Hundred, a concierge service.

12. SUPERMARKET

“Citarella is highway robbery but still the best act in town,” says Mitchell Hochberg. The shopping bag’s a statement to tote around town — try the West Village outpost on Sixth Avenue for max flex (and Seth Meyers browsing the fish counter).

13. WORKOUT SPOT

At the Continuum Club, inside the West Village’s Archive Building, 250 members pay $10,000 a month to sweat it out under Jeff Halevy (below), the former Today show fitness guru. His destination sweatbox combines a gym with longevity protocols (such as tracking health data on Oura devices; an in-house flotation tank) and includes on-staff PTs. “Unique in all ways,” says interior designer Melody Weir. Rowing Blazers designer Jack Carlson disagrees: “Forget the fancy gyms. Running on the West Side Highway in a T-shirt emblazoned with your college and your sport — Harvard Fencing, maybe, or Trinity Squash? That’s the biggest flex of all.”

14. PENTHOUSE SUITE (DOWNTOWN)

You can’t find the penthouse at De Niro’s Greenwich Hotel on its website, and it’s only available by request, per Four Hundred concierge Tony Abrams. That’s probably why one of the Olsens moved in semi-permanently a while back. “I had the privilege of going on a bender there, and no other penthouse has compared,” adds door guru Frankie Carattini.

15. POWER TABLE (DOWNTOWN)

You can’t find the penthouse at De Niro’s Greenwich Hotel on its website, and it’s only available by request, per Four Hundred concierge Tony Abrams. That’s probably why one of the Olsens moved in semi-permanently a while back. “I had the privilege of going on a bender there, and no other penthouse has compared,” adds door guru Frankie Carattini.

17. STREET CORNER

The intersection of Bond and Lafayette streets, says Alexandra Polier, who works for the design agency Journey, “has come to define a new downtown and a new Noho.” She adds, “Paparazzi don’t know which door to perch on” as they try to snap Gigi Hadid or Jeff Bezos — she lives nearby, and he’s a regular at Zero Bond, the latest boîte from nightlife legend Scott Sartiano, where Mayor Eric Adams is regularly spotted, too. “It’s a 24-hour cycle of style and power.”

18. HOTEL BAR

Go hang out on one of the sofas at The Bowery Hotel, says nightclub czar Frankie Carattini. “It’s a who’s who of entertainment and fashion. If you’ve ever wanted to overhear Chris Rock talking shop with Sarah Silverman or Karen Elson floating by on her way to the Met Gala, this is the place to witness it.”

19. GAY BAR

“You have to arrive late and stay late,” says Alexandra Polier of Club Cumming in the East Village, a postage-stamp-sized dive with an outsized impact on the city’s bar scene. “Honestly, you never know what’s going to happen. [Co-owner] Alan [Cumming] sometimes graces us with his presence, which fills up the 500 square feet pretty quickly.” 

20. PIZZA JOINT

Ever since Kendrick Lamar mentioned Lucali in a Drake diss track earlier this year, lines at the Carroll Gardens staple have gotten even longer. Even Ed Sheeran has had to wait for 45 minutes. Regulars like Beyoncé and Jay-Z presumably don’t. The ultimate sign of clout? Having owner Mark Iacono’s number.

21. K-12 SCHOOL

With a mass of Hollywood celebs raising families in Brooklyn, competition for exclusive private schools has become cutthroat — nowhere more than at the nepo-baby magnet that is Saint Ann’s, the Harvard-Westlake of the East (for pre-K and up). Alumni include Jennifer Connelly, Lena Dunham, Zac Posen and Maya Hawke. 

This story appeared in the Sept. 19 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine. Click here to subscribe.