NY Confidential

Downtown Manhattan came to life in 1626, and now areas such as Soho, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, and Chinatown are household names. These districts represent the cosmopolitan condensation of NYC and have been influenced by the various waves of immigration and generations of off-beat film lovers, writers and artists. Skyscrapers have sprung up amid old buildings and tiny tree-lined streets.

Queens is New York's largest borough in area and has over two million inhabitants. It is a little-known area that is often neglected by tourists, who prefer the bordering districts of Manhattan and Brooklyn. But Queens possesses a wealth of 150 nationalities, cultures, languages and religions. Here, communities from all four corners of the globe live together in utmost respect.

Brooklyn is the most densely populated borough, but despite the fact it is undergoing a process of gentrification, it still remains a vibrant melting pot. It is a patchwork of neighborhoods with their own local atmospheres that are very different from those of Manhattan, like the hype and evolving, environmentally aware 'hoods of Williamsburg, Brooklyn Heights and Park Slope.

Harlem, the cradle of jazz, gospel and Afro-American culture, is currently undergoing transformation. The Harlem of today is searching for identity in an elusive neighborhood, between retrospection and restless activity, between its mythical past and an indeterminate present.

For a long time, The Bronx was considered one of the most deprived, dilapidated and dangerous places in the U.S. but the reality of the latest decade has been proving somewhat different. Not only is The Bronx the birthplace of hip-hop and the most tree-lined neighborhood of NYC, it is today its most mysterious and least-known borough.

Downtown Manhattan came to life in 1626, and now areas such as Soho, Greenwich Village, Chelsea, and Chinatown are household names. These districts represent the cosmopolitan condensation of NYC and have been influenced by the various waves of immigration and generations of off-beat film lovers, writers and artists. Skyscrapers have sprung up amid old buildings and tiny tree-lined streets.