			NET PERSON'S GUIDE TO
			    NEW YORK CITY
				 -or-
		       The Hitch-Hiker's Guide
			   to the Big Apple

			 *** Introduction ***

New York City is an immense resource with a large number of net users
residing in or within a short distance of it.  However, it can be
downright impossible for someone who knows little about the city or is
on a small budget to gain anything from a visit.  Published guides do
not always contain the information one needs to survive in the Big
Apple; and often we would rather have peer suggestions rather than
those from some stuffy restaurant reviewer.  So a different kind of
Guide is needed...

		     *** Goal of the project ***

We would like to create a guide to various sites and things to do in
New York City.  Guides to NYC Bookstores and NYC/Greenwich Village
record stores already exist, authored by various net folk.  I would
like to add to this information about museums, sights, attractions,
off-the-beaten-path things to do, restaurants recommended by net
people, etc.  We would especially like to list things that are free or
inexpensive, suitable for a net.tourist-college student budget.  So by
using the Internet to solicit comments and suggestions, I have started
to assemble the Net Person's Guide to New York City.

			 *** Current info ***

The project currently consists of the following information.

NYC Bookstores Guide   	maintained by Evelyn C. Leeper
			(ecl@cbnewsj.cb.att.com) and frequently posted
			to Usenet.  This guide contains information
			about a large number of Manhattan and other
			city bookstores.
NYC Recordstores Guide	maintained by Bob Gajarsky
			(gajarsky@pilot.njin.net). This guide
			concentrates primarily on Greenwich Village
			record stores but is expanding.

[For the above two guides, suggestions can be sent to the respective
maintainers.] 

Restaurants		Restaurant suggestions broken down into the
			following classifications (which will be
			changed if necessary):
			african, american, bbq-wings, chinese, classy,
			continental, cuban, deli-bakery, diners-cafes, 
			eastern-european, french, greek, indian,
			italian, japanese, mexican, misc, pizza,
			russian, seafood, spanish, steakhouses, sushi,
			swedish, thai, vegetarian, vietnamese

Places to Go		Guide to city museums, tourist attractions,
			shopping, parks, tours, etc, broken down into
			the following classifications:
			misc, museums, parks-gardens, shops-stores,
			sights, tours, unusual, zoos-aquaria

Both of these have had large additions made recently and have been
broken up into seperate files (or menu items if you use Gopher) for
ease of retrival.

In addition there are files concerning: Broadway Theater info, Night
Clubs and other such places, Misc. facts about New York City, List of
various NYC hotels, Survival Guide to NYC/Theater Info, and a Subway
Tour of interest to Railfans.

Suggestions for just about anything can be mailed to me at
pirmann@cs.rutgers.edu for inclusion in the files.  However...


			 *** Help Wanted ***

This project is immense! Help is needed to make it flourish.  More
suggestions are needed for the lists; fact-proofing is needed,
addresses and phone numbers, directions, etc, as well.  If you'd like
to assist with any part of this I'm sure the net folk would appreciate
your time and effort.


			 *** Future Ideas ***

Here are some ideas I have floating around and have not had time to
devote to working on:

1. An expanded "Survival Guide"
2. PostScript maps of city streets and subway/bus routes.  (Does the
	MTA make such available??)
3. A PostScript or other typset document containing all of the lists
	in a standard format, which would require first the text
	documents to be in a standard format.

By all means please send suggestions!


		    *** Where to get the Guide ***

All of the information resides on an ftp and gopher site.

If you are using gopher, retriving the files is very easy.  Point your
gopher client to host

	quartz.rutgers.edu

Look under menu option "NYC-The Net-Person's Guide to New York City"
and all should become clear. 

For FTP users, the files are also on quartz.rutgers.edu, in the
directory /pub/nyc.  Filenames should be relatively self-explanatory.
This file is: /pub/nyc/INFO

			*** How to contact ***

Simply send me email: pirmann@cs.rutgers.edu. If you are gong to
suggest a restaurant or place to go or anything, please give as much
information as you can, i.e. Street address with nearest cross street.
Phone number with area code. For a restaurant, type of food and approx.
cost for a meal. Short summary of your experience with the place.  A
few minutes of your time will help make the Guide as complete as
possible. 


			    *** Thanks ***

My thanks to all who have responded to date!






