In the 1955 picture book "Eloise," by Kay Thompson, it serves as the home and playground of the titular man character, Eloise. She spends her days riding up and down the elevator and hiding in the marvelous ballroom.

In J.D. Salinger's "Catcher in the Rye", when Holden Caulfield is overwhelmed by the rapid changes occurring in his adolescent life, he takes comfort in imagining the Musem of Natural History, where nothing changes. The museum has gained many more additions since originally opening, contrary to Holden's belief that it never changes.

In "The Cricket in Times Square", author George Selden depicts the famous Times Square through the eyes of Chester. Just a small country cricket, Chester is humbled by the bright lights of Times Square which are "too terrible and beautiful".

In E.B. White's "Stuart Little", the mouse-like protaginist captains one of the tiny sailboats often seen floating on the surface of Conservatory Water. Boats like these have been popular sources of amusement in Central Park throughout the 20th century.

‘Anything can happen now that we’ve slid across this bridge,’ I thought. ‘Anything at all.'” F. Scott Fitzgerald captures the excitement and anticipation that surrounds New York City through The Great Gatsby's narrator, Nick Carraway.

On a sticky subway, "Invisible Man"'s nameless narrator arrives in Harlem for the first time. For many who took part in the Great Migration and joined the Harlem Renaissance, the elevated rails of the subway would serve as their introduction to New York.

Esther Greenwood's patent leather shoes from Bloomingdale's would be the envy of any other girl of the time, but she can't seem to enjoy them. In "The Bell Jar", Sylvia Plath uses the description of a casual lunchtime trip to Bloomingdale's to represent Esther's unfazed reaction to New York.

Upperclass lawyer Newland Archer, of Edith Wharton's "The Age of Innocence", grew up in Washington Square. As he prepares to marry at the turn of the 20th century, Archer observes the changing demographic of the neighborhood. He represents the new generation of the social elite moving uptown, leaving the Village to the artist it will become famous for.

Francie Nolan from "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn," by Betty Smith, grows up in a Williamsburg tenement. Her experiences represent the common poverty among many Williamsburg residents in the early 20th century.

In "From the Mixed-Up Files of Ms. Basil E. Frankweiler", by E. L. Konigsburg, Claudia and Jamie Kincaid are inspired by the extrodinary Metropolitan Museum of Art to run away from their monotonous life in the suburbs.

In E. L. Doctorow's Ragtime, the Morgan Library is invaded and filled with explosives by Coalhouse Walker. In the novel, the historical archive survives thanks to the intervention of other characters, including Booker T. Washington.

The 21 Club began as a Prohibition-era speakeasy in the Greenwich Village. Its later location, on West 52nd Street, is featured in Bret Easton Ellis' "American Psycho."

In the second story, “Ghosts,” from Paul Auster’s “The New York Trilogy,” private detective Blue often visits the Henry Ward Beecher statue in Cadman Plaza. As Blue begins to doubt the parameters of the case and his own freedom, his view of that statue changes. Blue’s gaze shifts from the regal stance of Beecher, and he begins to see is own desperation encased in the permanent anguish of the female slave at Beecher’s feet.

Society girl Holly Golightly, of Truman Capote's "Breakfast at Tiffany's", finds solace in the proud structure of the Tiffany and Company Building.