ROMPING THROUGH WHEELCHAIR-ACCESSIBLE MANHATTAN -- part 4

WHEELCHAIR-ACCESSIBLE MANHATTAN The world’s most famous skyscraper, on Fifth Avenue between W. 33rd and 34th streets, is 102 stories tall, plus a 16-story mooring mast. Tours of the Empire are wheelchair accessible. Elevators reach the breathtaking open-air observation deck, which has lowered telescopes and lowered viewing areas to serve wheelchair users. We decided it was time to head back for the hotel, but that we’d trek home via Sixth Avenue, so we would see the Midtown deco landmark -- Rockefeller Center. The expansive complex covers West 48th to 51st Streets between Fifth and Sixth avenues and includes Radio City Music Hall. Cutting down W. 50th Street, we admired buildings adorned in art deco medallions. Back at the Benjamin, a classic 1927 skyscraper, we noted the small lobby is easy for wheelchair users to negotiate and the doormen are quick to do their duties. Twenty of its 209 rooms are wheelchair-accessible one-bedroom suites, which have barrier-free bathrooms to serve disabled guests. The suites are huge by Manhattan standards and have baths equipped with grab bars, bath benches and shower wands for accessibility.