Aargh, I got excited about the idea, then clicked over to read the rest of the piece and was promptly put off by Cohen's precious prose style. I had not noticed this is the same guy who writes The Ethicist. Reckon I will participate but less enthusiastically.

Yeah, I have that problem too -- I've never liked his Ethicist column. But Manhattan is bigger than all of us.

Not specifically literary, but the following site is a nice one, a Virtual Walking Tour of Manhattan.

http://home.nyc.rr.com/jkn/nysonglines/

".......... New York has its own giants, heroes and monsters who left their marks and their names on the land around us. If we learn their stories which are written on our streets and avenues, we'll have a much better chance of knowing where we've been, and where we're going.

To this end I offer these as the New York Songlines. An oral culture uses song as the most efficient way to remember and transmit large amounts of information; the Web is our technological society's closest equivalent. Each Songline will follow a single pathway, whether it goes by one name or several; the streets I plan to follow from river to river, while the avenues will at least at first be read only in part, focusing on the upper Downtown/lower Midtown part of the island I know best. As I continue to expand, I'll be mapping areas with which I have less personal acquaintance; any info on these areas shared by readers will be especially appreciated.

I applaud Hat's noble self-sacrifice. Far, far better, etc.