Rex Stewart , a trumpet player for Duke Ellington, wrote an autobiography of sorts , mostly about 1930s NYC . It's hard to tell from the title that it's about his adventures, more than it is about the academic topic of jazz.
It's a truly great book, whether you like jazz or not.
It's about NYC in the 30s, mostly.
"Jazz Masters Of The 30s (Macmillan Jazz Masters Series): Stewart, Rex: 9780306801594: Amazon.com: Books" https://www.amazon.com/Jazz-Masters-30s-Macmillan/dp/0306801590
Duke Ellington's autobio is also great as fuck, no matter if you like jazz or not.
I'm not an expert but I don't know that anything about NYC would have been recognized internationally until later in the 19th century. My gut feeling is that it would be something pretty far downtown in Manhattan, like Trinity Church. Possibly the most recognizable thing about it would just be the port, like this? If you're in the US, the Ric Burns New York series is streaming on Amazon Prime, you could probably dig something up from that.