Well I guess that's what rehabs for. I too lived in Manhattan for about ten years, and I really have to admit that it is the single worst place for an alcoholic to live in. Endless avenues filled with strangers and bars.
For some, like me, I used to rotate across a dozen bars or so. I would visit one everyday for a month until I got sloppy drunk, created a disturbance, and was either thrown out or too embarrassed to return. For a year at least, and then it would repeat.
There is something to be said for being able to change one's environment, either voluntarily or involutarily. Of course, you may be able to run from Joe the Bartender, but you cannot run from your own shadow. At some point, it seems that you just have to make a series of stands and confront the issue.
For those of us who are cursed with this disease, many often find such involtunary times when we lose our jobs or get thrown out of our residence by our girlfriends/spouses and so forth.
But, all things considered, it seems reasonable to take the stand in a venue other than the disease's home turf.