Offbeat New York

Like delegates, sightseers fall into two categories: the committed and the uncommitted. The committed pledge their free time to playgoing, concerts, exhibitions, etc. For the uncommitted, the city is an amalgam of gallery, stage and recital hall. Herewith a few suggestions for the unconventional delegate:

STAGE WHISPERS. Hard by the upper-level entrance to the Oyster Bar in Grand Central Station is a stone arch. By stationing themselves at one corner and partners some 50 ft. away, visitors can articulate messages sotto voce--and have them delivered with the fidelity of a CB receiver.

SMALL TIME. Much has been logged about the tall ships, but what about miniature ones? Builders of tiny boats--and trains and planes and rockets--can find a model world at Polks Hobbies Store at Fifth Ave. and 32nd St. Miniaturists of another persuasion can find doll-house furniture of all periods at B. Shackman at Fifth Ave. and 16th St. Railroad buffs should be prepared to meet their mecca at the Model Railroad Equipment Corp., 23 W. 45th St.

GREEN THOUGHTS. Air conditioning is the second-best weapon against the equatorial heat of the city. The best is a walk on the mild side--in the vest-pocket parks (among the most refreshing: Paley Park, a few steps east of Fifth Ave. at 53rd St.; Greenacre Park, 212 E. 51st St.; McGraw Hill Park, 48th St. west of Sixth Ave.), ambling across the footpaths of the 59th Street, Triboro and Brooklyn bridges, or riding one of the shaky, alpine cable cars that wobble across the length of the Bronx Zoo.

READING MATTER. There are some 400 bookstores in Manhattan. There are a few emporiums whose wares cannot be duplicated anywhere else: the Supersnipe Comic Book Art Emporium at Second Ave. and 84th St. stocks bygone comic books; rarer ones, like the first Captain Marvel Adventures, retail for $800 and up. The Science Fiction Shop, 56 Eighth Ave., is a space capsule in the guise of a library; its posters, Little Nemo postcards and Arthur Clarke first editions provide July's most dazzling sci-fireworks. Readers with kinkier inclinations can find New York's only semirespectable X-rated bookshop at 251 W. 42nd St. G&A Books has the kind that used to be banned in Boston. Given today's moral alterations, its clientele is now a band that could be booked there.

STREET ENTERTAINMENT. New York has enough street musicians to people--and entertain--a convention hall. Their fare is gratis--and sometimes worth even less. Yet a few rate an earing and eying--among them, the Wretched Refuse, a conglomerate of nine fine instrumentalists who specialize in asphalt bluegrass. Sugar Blue, a black harmonica player who plies his tunes in Greenwich Village, may be the best itinerant musician in New York. Around Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, less prominent and more indigent fiddlers than those indoors make Brahms burst in midair, usually by tuning their violins up a tone to make the sound more brilliant.

Perhaps the wittiest street entertainer is a magician. Jeff Sheridan, specialist in levitation, prestidigitation and coin tricks, can usually be found baffling audiences at Sir Walter Scott's statue at 72nd St., just inside Central Park.

DO-IT-YOURSELF MAGIC. Prospective magicians can find all they need in illusions at Lou Tannen's, 1540 Broadway, or at the Hornmann Magic Co., 304 W. 34th St. Once equipped, amateurs may attempt to turn pro by booking themselves into the Improvisation, 358 W. 44th St., or Catch a Rising Star, 1487 First Ave., nightclubs catering to the debuting entertainer. Or they may try out their acts at the convention, on national television. The audience amounts to millions. After all, Jimmy Carter can't go on forever--or can he?

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.