In a brief, rapturous section of Woody Allen's Hannah and Her Sisters, an architect shows two women some favourite buildings in New York City. This huge and gloriously entertaining book is like that snippet extended to 1000 pages. It encompasses Allen's selection of the Dakota Apartments on Central Park West ("a prestige address since this part of the City was thought as remote as Dakota Territory"), the Waldorf-Astoria ("grand and sedate art deco"), the Chrysler Building ("stainless st...