The Perfect New York City itinerary for Aussie Travelers

New York City itinerary for Aussie

Manhattan

Day 1

Carnegie Hall

Carnegie Hall (/ˈkɑːrnɪɡi/ KAR-nig-ee) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between 56th and 57th Streets. Designed by architect William Burnet Tuthill and built by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie, it is one of the most prestigious venues in the world for both classical music and popular music presents about 250 performances each season. It is also rented out to performing groups.

Carnegie Hall has 3,671 seats, divided among three auditoriums. The largest one is the Stern Auditorium, a five-story auditorium with 2,804 seats. Also part of the complex are the 599-seat Zankel Hall on Seventh Avenue, as well as the 268-seat Joan and Sanford I. Weill Recital Hall on 57th Street. Besides the auditoriums, Carnegie Hall contains offices on its top stories.

Carnegie Hall, originally the Music Hall, was constructed between 1889 and 1891 as a venue shared by the Oratorio Society of New York and the New York Symphony Society. The hall was owned by the Carnegie family until 1925, after which Robert E. Simon and then his son, Robert E. Simon Jr., became owner. Carnegie Hall was proposed for demolition in the 1950s in advance of the New York Philharmonic relocating to Lincoln Center in 1962. Though Carnegie Hall is designated a National Historic Landmark and protected by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, it has not had a resident company since the New York Philharmonic moved out. Carnegie Hall was renovated multiple times throughout its history, including in the 1940s and 1980s.

Famous Joke

Rumor is that a pedestrian on Fifty-seventh Street, Manhattan, stopped Jascha Heifetz and inquired, “Could you tell me how to get to Carnegie Hall?” “Yes,” said Heifetz. “Practice!”

Famous Acts

Tchaikovsky, Dvořák, Mahler, and Bartók, George Gershwin, Billie Holiday, Benny Goodman, Judy Garland, The Beatles, Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention, Pink Floyd, The Kinks, The Doors (without Jim Morrison), The Allman Brothers Band. Elton John, Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, The Byrds, Led Zeppelin, Steppenwolf, James Taylor, Jethro Tull, Neil Young, The Moody Blues, The Beach Boys, The Ike and Tina Turner Revue, Elton John, David Bowie and The Spiders from Mars, Bill Withers, The Doobie Brothers, Renaissance, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, Bruce Springsteen, Sting, David Byrne, Jefferson Starship, Björk, Cowboy Junkies, U2, Living Colour, Indigo Girls, The Flaming Lips, JAY-Z .

Central Park Carriage Ride

In the late 19th century, West and East Drives was a popular place for carriage rides, though only five percent of the city was able to afford a carriage. One of the main attractions in the park’s early years was the introduction of the “Carriage Parade”, a daily display of horse-drawn carriages that traversed the park. The introduction of the automobile caused the carriage industry to die out by World War I, though the carriage-horse tradition was revived in 1935. The carriages have become a symbolic institution of the city

Plaza Hotel

The Plaza Hotel (also known as The Plaza) is a luxury hotel and condominium apartment building in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is located on the western side of Grand Army Plaza, after which it is named, just west of Fifth Avenue, and is between 58th Street and Central Park South (a.k.a. 59th Street), at the southeastern corner of Central Park. Its primary address is 768 Fifth Avenue, though the residential entrance is One Central Park South. Since 2018, the hotel has been owned by the Qatari firm Katara Hospitality.

The 18-story, French Renaissance-inspired château style building was designed by Henry Janeway Hardenbergh. The facade is made of marble at the base, with white brick covering the upper stories, and is topped by a mansard roof. The ground floor contains the two primary lobbies, as well as a corridor connecting the large ground-floor restaurant spaces, including the Oak Room, the Oak Bar, the Edwardian Room, the Palm Court, and the Terrace Room. The upper stories contain the ballroom and a variety of residential condominiums, condo-hotel suites, and short-term hotel suites. At its peak, the Plaza Hotel had over 800 rooms. Following a renovation in 2008, the building has 282 hotel rooms and 181 condos.

A hotel of the same name was built from 1883 to 1890. The original hotel was replaced by the current structure from 1905 to 1907; Warren and Wetmore designed an expansion to the Plaza Hotel that was added from 1919 to 1921, and several major renovations were conducted through the rest of the 20th century. The Plaza Operating Company, which erected the current building, operated the hotel until 1943. Subsequently, it was sold to several owners during the remainder of the 20th century, including Conrad Hilton, A.M. Sonnabend, Westin Hotels & Resorts, Donald Trump, and a partnership of City Developments Limited and Al-Waleed bin Talal. The Plaza Hotel was renovated again after El Ad Properties purchased it in 2005, and the hotel was subsequently sold to Sahara India Pariwar in 2012 and then to Katara Hospitality in 2018. The hotel has been managed by Fairmont Hotels and Resorts since 2005.

Most of the 20th century’s biggest names stayed at The Plaza, including Greta Garbo, Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton, and Frank Sinatra. Others held spectacular galas, such Truman Capote and his famous “Black and White Ball.” Some went on to perform down in the hotel’s Persian Room, like Marlene Dietrich, Eartha Kitt, Miles Davis, Duke Ellington, and Peggy Lee. And a few—including actress Kay Thompson and architect Frank Lloyd Wright—even lived for a time inside the building’s luxurious suites. The Plaza has also hosted a number of high-profile weddings over the years. One of the earliest ceremonies to transpire at the hotel involved Patricia Kennedy marrying British film star Peter Lawford. Held in 1954, their nuptials featured a wealth of influential people, such as Patricia’s brothers Robert Kennedy (future Attorney General), Ted Kennedy (future U.S. Senator), and John F. Kennedy (future President of the United States).

Movies

NORTH BY NORTHWEST,1959,THE WAY WE WERE,1973,THE FRONT,1976, HOME ALONE 2,1992,SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE,1993,BRIDE WARS,2009,THE GREAT GATSBY,2013,Eloise at the plaza.

Weddings

Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michael Douglas (2000)

30 Guests $55,000 Eloise package

Shop Around The Corner

You’ve Got Mail is a 1998 American romantic comedy film directed by Nora Ephron, and starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan. Inspired by the 1937 Hungarian play Parfumerie by Miklós László (which had earlier been adapted in 1940 as The Shop Around the Corner and in 1949 as In the Good Old Summertime), the screenplay was co-written by Nora and Delia Ephron. It tells the story of two people in an online romance who are unaware they are also business rivals. It marked the third pairing of Hanks and Ryan, who previously appeared together in Joe Versus the Volcano (1990) and Sleepless in Seattle (1993), the latter directed by Ephron. The film takes its name from the greeting AOL users receive when they get a new email.

The Shop Around the Corner is located at 106 West 69th Street, Upper West Side, Manhattan, New York City, New York. The store in real life was a privately owned cheese and antiques shop; it was converted into Kathleen’s book store for the movie.

Grays Papaya

Gray’s Papaya is a hot dog restaurant located at 2090 Broadway at 72nd Street in New York City. It had other locations, all of which had closed by June 2020. Gray’s Papaya is famous for its inexpensive high-quality hot dogs, considered among the best in New York City. They once sold for 50 cents each and, as of 2023, sell for $2.95.

The “papaya” in the name refers to the papaya fruit drink sold at the establishment. They also sell orange, grape, piña colada, coconut champagne and banana daiquiri fruit drinks, all of which are non-alcoholic.

Besides You’ve Got Mail and Sex and the City, Grey’s also showed up in the movie, For Love or Money. It was also featured in Down to Earth, Crossing Delancy, and (very briefly) Die Hard With A Vengeance. How I Met your mother in a scene where Ted plans the perfect New Years eve: five parties in three hours. Between parties, they make a pit stop for hot dogs.

In Seinfeld Kramer told Elaine he was going to get a hot dog at Papaya King

Zabars Banksy – Hammer Boy

Zabar’s (/ˈzeɪ.bɑːrz/ ZAY-barz) is an appetizing store at 2245 Broadway and 80th Street, on the Upper West Side of Manhattan in New York City, founded by Louis Zabar and Lillian Zabar. It is known for its selection of bagels, smoked fish, olives, and cheeses. While considered a Jewish delicatessen, Zabar’s does not serve kosher food.

In 2011, Zabar’s briefly got nationwide attention from news outlets when a reporter for New Orleans’ Times-Picayune observed that the store’s product labeled “Lobster Salad” actually contained no lobster. The New York Times reported that the store “charged $16.95 a pound” for the seafood spread made mostly of salted crawfish and mayonnaise.

The only remaining Banksy artwork is known as the “Zabar Banksy” (or ‘Hammer Boy’). This can be found on the south wall of Designer Shoe Warehouse, located at the intersection of 79th Street and Broadway, and was first spotted on the tan brick wall of a shoe store on October 20, 2013. Banksy’s ‘Hammer Boy’ in NY.16 Oct 2023

The mural depicts a young child swinging a sledgehammer at a fire hydrant attached to a building on the corner of W. 79th Street and Broadway. The anonymous street artist painted it in October 2013 as part of a monthlong art spree that he called “Better Out Than In,” in which he created a new work each day.

The building it is painted on, 2220 Broadway, is owned by the Zabar family and Scott Goldshine, the manager of Zabar’s, has been among those at the company tasked with protecting the work since it went up. The building previously housed a DSW shoe store and will soon house a P.C. Richard & Son appliance store.

“We had no idea it was going to become as big a tourist attraction as it has become. But we felt it was art and we liked art, and it was special, so we immediately happened to have some materials in our basement and so we covered it up,” Goldshine said.
Zabars appears in You’ve Got Mail, Will & Grace, Dream On, How I Met Your Mother, Mad About You, Friends, Sex and the City, The Nanny, Seinfeld, Heart of Dixie, Law & Order, Gossip Girl.

The Arconia

The 13-story building was originally constructed in a Beaux Arts style back in 1908 by architect H. Hobart Weekes of Hiss and Weekes. Since then, the building received the status of New York City landmark in 1966 and was added to the National Register of Historic Places 14 years later

The 13-storey structure now has 211 units, half of which are rentals and the other half are condominiums priced from USD 3.6 million to more than USD 13 million. There are multiple apartments for sale in the famous building, ranging in price from $4.15 million to $8.35 million and one rental of a 12 (yes, 12!!) bedroom apartment is available for $30,000 a month.

Only Murders in the Building is an American mystery comedy-drama television series created by Steve Martin and John Hoffman. The main plot focuses on a trio of strangers (played by Steve Martin, Martin Short, and Selena Gomez), all with a shared interest in true crime podcasts, who become friends while investigating a succession of suspicious murders in the Arconia, their affluent Upper West Side apartment building, and producing their own podcast about the cases, titled Only Murders in the Building. Its four ten-episode seasons premiered on Hulu in August 2021, June 2022, August 2023, and August 2024. The series was renewed for a fifth season in September 2024.

The series has received critical acclaim since its debut, with reviewers highlighting its comedic approach to crime fiction as well as the cast performances. It has received nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series and Golden Globe Award for Best Television Series – Musical or Comedy. For their performances, Martin, Short, and Gomez have gained acting nominations at the Primetime Emmy Awards and Golden Globe Awards.

Belvedere Castle

One of the most iconic features in Central Park, this miniature castle is located atop the huge rock outcrop known as Vista Rock, the second highest natural point in Central Park.

Designed by Central Park co-designer Calvert Vaux and architect Jacob Wrey Mould, the structure and adjacent terraces and pavilions were all called “the Belvedere,” which means “beautiful view” in Italian. The entire complex, completed in 1872, was designed as a place from which to enjoy views of the surrounding landscape; the building originally had no windows or doors, as it was intended as an open-air lookout tower.

Constructed out of Manhattan schist, the building was also designed as a focal point in the landscape, drawing visitors to it. It appears as if it emerges from the dramatic Vista Rock on which it is perched.

Like many of the Park structures, the use and purpose of the Belvedere Castle changed over time. In 1919 the U.S. Weather Bureau converted the building into a weather station, adding windows and doors, and creating offices inside the structure. When they moved out of the building in the 1960s, it fell into disrepair and became a target of vandalism.

In 1983 the Central Park Conservancy renovated the building and reopened it as a visitor center, once again drawing attention to this exceptional building.

In 2019, we completed a comprehensive project to restore and modernize the building and terraces.

Temperature, wind, and rainfall are still measured at the Belvedere, though primarily now from equipment housed in a fenced-in area just to the south of the building.

Famous Movies

Elf

Home alone 2

Strawberry Fields

Strawberry Fields is a memorial to the British rock musician and peace activist John Lennon (1940–1980). The memorial consists of a five-acre landscape near the West 72nd Street entrance and includes the Imagine mosaic, where many come to pay tribute to Lennon. The memorial’s name is a reference to the 1967 song Lennon wrote and performed with the Beatles, “Strawberry Fields Forever.”

Plans for a memorial to John Lennon began to take shape soon after his death. It began with the City’s decision to name the area of Central Park across from the Dakota building where he and his wife, Yoko Ono, lived and where he loved to walk, Strawberry Fields. Ono then began to conceive of a memorial in this landscape and invited countries from all over the world to contribute plants as well as stones to create an international garden of peace.

Sought to integrate the design of the memorial into the Park’s overall landscape, connecting it to the purpose of the Park as a place to find peace and respite. The design of Strawberry Fields incorporates a couple of small meadows lined with trees and shrubs and a path that winds through a small, wooded area. While focusing on the landscape, the design also includes a more formal design element, a mosaic installed into the pavement with the word Imagine in the center, donated by the city of Naples, Italy. Surrounded by benches, the area provides a focal point and gathering space for the many visitors that come to pay homage to Lennon. A plaque inset into a rock outcrop acknowledges the countries that made contributions.

Strawberry Fields was officially dedicated on October 9, 1985, the 45th anniversary of Lennon’s birth. When it opened, Strawberry Fields provided a rare alternative to traditional memorials, in the form of a living landscape that changes and grows over time.

Strawberry Fields is one of several memorials to musicians in the Park. Others include Duke Ellington, Victor Herbert, and Beethoven.

Bethesda Terrace

One of the most iconic and well-known features in Central Park is Bethesda Terrace, a large plaza consisting of two levels as well as an Arcade and a Fountain.

Located in the heart of the Park, Bethesda Terrace is found at the north end of the long, tree-lined promenade known as the Mall and overlooks the Ramble and the Lake. The Terrace is a popular destination for relaxing, people-watching, and admiring the architecture and the scenery. At the center of the Terrace stands Bethesda Fountain, also known as Angel of the Waters, one of the Park’s most beloved works of art.

Bethesda Terrace was intended as a gathering space for Park visitors. It was also conceived of as the Park’s most prominent display of art and architecture and one of its few formal landscapes, providing a contrast to the more naturalistic design of the rest of the Park.

As with all other parts of the Terrace, this interior space is heavily ornamented. Its most notable feature is the ceiling composed of nearly 16,000 tiles, which come together to form 49 panels creating an elaborate geometric pattern. It is the only ceiling in the world featuring encaustic or inlaid tiles, which were more typically used as flooring. They were manufactured by the Minton tile company in Stoke-on-Trent in England.

Over the decades, various factors, including the extraordinary weight of the ceiling, led to its deterioration. In 1983, the Central Park Conservancy removed the tiles and safely stored them until it raised the $7 million required to complete their restoration. Beginning in 2002, the Conservancy worked to clean, repair, and repaint the tiles, and in some cases replaced heavily damaged tiles with new ones manufactured by the Minton tile company. The project also involved new waterproofing, steel supports, and lighting. The work was completed in 2007.
Famous films

Spin Doctors: Two Princes

The Avengers – At the end of the film Thor takes Loki and the Tesseract back to Asgard and the rest of the Avengers team goes their separate ways.

Enchanted Giselle’s song ends in front of Bethesda fountain.

Stuart Little 2 -In the 2002 movie Stuart Little 2, the scene where Falcon and Stuart are in a high-speed air chase.

Home Alone 2: Lost In New York -When Kevin flees the wet bandits’ kidnapping outside The Plaza, he runs to Bethesda Terrace in Central Park. Mr. Deeds -Adam Sandler and Winona Ryder ride bikes to Central Park on a date and stop at Bethesda fountain.

Tavern On The Green

Tavern on the Green, the restaurant located in the historic building once known as the Sheepfold, has been a destination for fine dining in Central Park since the 1930s.

The Sheepfold was constructed in 1870 to house the flock of sheep that grazed the Sheep Meadow, along with its shepherd. The building was designed by architect Jacob Wrey Mould, who also had a hand in designing Belvedere Castle, Bethesda Terrace, and the Ladies Pavilion.

When the sheep were relocated in 1934, the Parks Department converted the building into a restaurant, which became immediately popular. After a series of renovations, expansions, and changes in management, it became a glamourous destination for upscale dining and events in the 1970s.

The restaurant underwent a years-long renovation during which some of its many additions were removed to expose more of the original structure and provide more variety of dining options. Tavern on the Green reopened in 2014.

Reinforcing its iconic status and cinematic style, Tavern on the Green has been prominently featured or mentioned in numerous films over the years including:

Arthur (1981) Ghostbusters (1984)

Wall Street (1987) Arthur 2 (1988)

Beaches (1988) Mr. Popper’s Penguins (2011)

Central Park Carousel

The Central Park Carousel, officially the Michael Friedsam Memorial Carousel, is a vintage wood-carved carousel located in Central Park in Manhattan, New York City, at the southern end of the park, near East 65th Street. It is the fourth carousel on the site where it is located.

The original 1871 carousel was powered by a mule or horse under its platform, signaled to start and stop by the operator tapping his foot. The two succeeding versions were destroyed by fires in 1924 and 1950. The current carousel is the fourth on the site, and is part of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission‘s “scenic landmark” designation for Central Park. The carousel was made by Solomon Stein and Harry Goldstein in 1908. It was originally installed in a trolley terminal in Coney Island, Brooklyn, where it operated until the 1940s. It was relocated to Central Park in 1951 with a new structure surrounding it. The carousel was renovated in 1982 by the Central Park Conservancy from a donation from Alan and Katherine Stroock, with the surrounding landscape restored in 1991.

In 2010, the city evicted the previous tenant who managed the Carousel. The Trump Organization, a prominent New York City conglomerate owned by Donald Trump that also operated the nearby Wollman Rink, was selected as the new tenant. In return for a lease until 2020, Trump promised to invest $400,000 in renovations over ten years and pay a yearly lease that started at $250,000 and scaled up to $325,000. In statements released as part of the Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign, the Carousel grossed $1.72 million between 2013 and the end of 2015. Central Amusement International, operator of Victorian Gardens and Luna Park, received a five-year franchise to operate the carousel in July 2021 and began operations there on October 16 that year.

The current carousel is one of the largest merry-go-rounds in the United States. It has 57 hand-carved horses — 52 jumpers and 5 standers — and two chariots. The carousel is open seven days a week when weather permits and serves around 250,000 riders every year. The carousel has a 52-keyless A. Ruth & Sohn Model 33 Band Organ playing waltzes, marches, and polkas. The organ was originally converted to play Wurlitzer 150 rolls, up until August 2013 when a MIDI-controlled interface replaced the roll system, though it still played in the same arrangement scale.

The carousel that burned down in 1950 was notably mentioned in J. D. Salinger‘s novel The Catcher in the Rye. It had the traditional feature of a brass ring for the rider to grab, used by Salinger in the story. The ring feature was not replaced when the current carousel was built. This one is featured in the Marvel TV series The Punisher (though filming took place at the Forest Park Carousel in Queens).

Wollman Rink

Wollman Rink is a public ice rink in the southern part of Central Park, Manhattan, New York City. The Pond’s western section was drained and backfilled during the mid-20th century. It is named after the Wollman family who donated the funds for its original construction. Philanthropist Kate Wollman (1869–1955)[6] donated $600,000 for the rink’s construction to commemorate her family. She is the great-aunt of Henry and Richard Bloch, co-founders of H&R Block. The rink is open for ice skating from late October to early April. From 2003 until 2019, Victorian Gardens, a seasonal amusement park for children, was operated on the site from late May to September.

Wollman Rink opened in 1950, having been proposed four years earlier. The rink was closed for renovations in late 1980 and reopened in November 1986. Following the renovation, The Trump Organization operated the rink under contract with the New York City government until 1995 and again from 2001 until 2021, when control was given to Wollman Park Partners, a joint venture formed between Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, The Related Companies, and Equinox Group.

Wollman Rink has been featured in several films, including Love Story (1970), Carnal Knowledge (1971), The Devil’s Own (1997), Serendipity (2001), Night at the Museum (2006), Limitless (2011), Mr. Popper’s Penguins (2011), and Home Alone 2: Lost in New York (1992), as well as the television show Impractical Jokers (2015).

Until 1980, the rink was the venue for annual summer rock, pop, country, and jazz concerts. Initially the “Wollman Theater” or “Wollman Skating Rink Theater” had 4,400 seats; bleachers were added in 1972 to increase the capacity to 8,000. In 1957, WOR radio personality Jean Shepherd hosted a series of “Jazz under the stars” concerts on 15 consecutive nights, featuring Billie Holiday, Bud Powell, Lionel Hampton, Dave Brubeck, Dizzy Gillespie, Buddy Rich, Dinah Washington, Stan Getz, and others. From 1966 to 1980, music festivals consisting of 30 to 50 concerts each were held at the rink. The festivals were named after their main sponsors, Rheingold Beer in 1966 and 1967, F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company from 1968 to 1976 when the festival was called the Schaefer Music Festival, and Dr Pepper from 1977 to 1980 when it was called the Dr Pepper Central Park Music Festival. Todd Rundgren’s Utopia, The Jimi Hendrix Experience, The Who, Mothers of Invention, Led Zeppelin, The Beach Boys, and the Patti Smith Group were some of the biggest rock groups who played at the rink; country, blues, rhythm & blues, and jazz artists included Earl Scruggs, John Lee Hooker, The Supremes, and Buddy Rich.

Temporary pickleball courts were installed at Wollman Rink between April and October 2023, as part of a short-term agreement with CityPickle, which operated the courts. The courts attracted 56,000 players during 2023. NYC Parks subsequently announced in April 2024 that it would install 14 permanent courts at the rink, under the ice.

Bloomingdales

Bloomingdale’s Inc. is an American luxury department store chain founded in 1861 by Joseph Bloomingdale and Lyman Bloomingdale. It was acquired by Federated Department Stores in 1930, which acquired the Macy’s department store chain in 1994, when they became sister brands. Ultimately, Federated itself was renamed Macy’s, Inc. in 2007.

As of 2024, the chain had a total of 32 owned department stores in the U.S. and 3 franchised stores in Dubai and Kuwait; 21 outlet stores (all in the U.S.), and 3 Bloomie’s by Bloomingdales concept stores.

Its headquarters and flagship store are located at 59th Street and Lexington Avenue in the New York City borough of Manhattan.

The first Bloomingdale’s was founded in New York City by Benjamin Bloomingdale and his son Lyman Bloomingdale in 1861 in its Lower East Side area, originally under the name Bloomingdale’s Hoopskirts, initially focused on selling hoop skirts and European fashions. In 1872, Lyman and his brother Joseph opened a second location called Bloomingdale’s Great East Side Bazaar in Midtown Manhattan at 965 Third Avenue, between 56th & 57th Sts. The Bazaar later moved into three adjacent buildings further up the block before finally moving into a building at 59th St. and Third Avenue, where its flagship store remains today. In 1872, the store changed its name to “Bloomingdale’s”, reflecting the family name but also symbolized the flourishing and growth of their business. Bloomingdale’s embraced innovative retail practices. The introduction of the department store window display in the late 19th century set a trend, making the store more visually appealing and attracting attention from passersby.

By 1902, the store grew to occupy 80 percent of the city block between 58th St. and 59th St. to the north and south, and Third Avenue and Lexington Avenue to the east and west. Given that the U.S. was involved in World War I, Samuel Bloomingdale gave the American Red Cross free use of an entire floor there until the war ended. By 1927, after acquiring all the remaining portions along it, Bloomingdale’s controlled 100 percent of the block, expanding the store’s size to 84,000 square feet (later nearly quadrupled via newly added floor space).[5]

In the film “Serendipity,” the lead characters meet for the first time, while shopping at Bloomingdale’s, Bride Wars, Jennifer Aniston’s character worked at Bloomingdale’s one season of “Friends.”, Darryl Hannah’s character goes to Bloomingdale’s in the film “Splash.”

Mcgees Pub

McGee’s Pub, aka the watering hole that MacLaren’s Pub from How I Met Your Mother was based upon. Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor), Marshall Eriksen (Jason Segel), Robin Scherbatsky (Cobie Smulders), Lily Aldrin (Alyson Hannigan) and Barney Stinson’s (Neil Patrick Harris) favorite hangout was actually modeled after four different Manhattan bars. McGee’s is the only one still in operation today (well, in its original state, at least) and the one most often associated with the show

How I Met Your Mother was the brainchild of producing partners Craig Thomas and Carter Bays, who, like main characters Ted and Marshall, met while attending Wesleyan University. After graduation, the duo moved to New York together and landed a gig writing for the Late Show with David Letterman in 1997. During their five-year stint there, they would often grab drinks at McGee’s, located right around the corner from the Ed Sullivan Theater where Letterman was lensed. In 2002, the two headed to Los Angeles with the hopes of helming a television series. They pitched How I Met Your Mother to CBS in 2005 and the rest is history.

Bay and Thomas named their fictional watering hole after Bay’s production assistant, Carl MacLaren.

McGee’s Pub and Restaurant, christened in honor of Ed Sullivan Show cameraman Willie McGee, was originally founded in a small space on the bottom floor of the Ed Sullivan Theater at 1697 Broadway in 1983. You can see what it looked like at the time here. (That site is now home to Angelo’s Pizza.) When Letterman moved into the venue, the theater was extensively renovated and, in conjunction, McGee’s was forced to vacate in July 1995 in order to make way for a more high end restaurant. Owner Pete Fitzpatrick subsequently found a new, larger space right around the corner at 240 West 55th Street.

While the bar’s exterior looks nothing like the exterior of MacLaren’s Pub (which was just a façade on the 20th Century Fox Studios backlot in Century City) . . . . . . the interior of McGee’s is very reminiscent of its onscreen counterpart. While not exactly carbon copies, MacLaren’s and McGee’s have a decidedly similar atmosphere.

For those location purists me who think a visit to McGee’s is a waste of time being that How I Met Your Mother never actually filmed on the premises, there are countless photos displayed of the cast hanging out at the bar (like the one below which comes from the restaurant’s Facebook page), autographs and clippings galore, as well as a myriad of HIMYM-inspired menu items, such as The Accidental Curly Fry Basket, The Bro Code Combo, and the Suit Up Sandwich, to satisfy any true fan.

Soup Nazi
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“The Soup Nazi” is the 116th episode of the NBC sitcom Seinfeld, which was the sixth episode of the seventh season. It first aired in the United States on November 2, 1995

The Soup Nazi is also the nickname of the eponymous character, Yev Kassem, played by Larry Thomas. The term “Nazi” is used as an exaggeration of the strict regimentation he demands of his patrons. Elaine in particular comes into conflict with Kassem.

The Soup Nazi was portrayed by Larry Thomas. Thomas, who did not realize that the character was based on a real person, received the inspiration for his portrayal from watching Lawrence of Arabia and studying Omar Sharif‘s accent.

The Soup Nazi has a cameo in the Seinfeld series finale, in which his true name is revealed. He is a witness in the case against Seinfeld, Elaine, George and Kramer. He tells Hoyt about how he banned Elaine from his shop, only for her to return and ruin his business, forcing him to move to Argentina (paralleling the Ratlines used by the real Nazis). Elaine angers him by smugly claiming, “His soup wasn’t all that good anyway.”

The restaurant Soup Kitchen International was the inspiration for this episode of Seinfeld. The restaurant closed in 2004, but has since reopened. The character was inspired by Ali “Al” Yeganeh an Iranian American soup vendor who ran Soup Kitchen International in New York City, eventually turning it into the chain The Original Soup Man. Yeganeh was offended by the portrayal.

According to writer Spike Feresten, Jerry Seinfeld and several members of the production team went to Soup Kitchen International for lunch weeks after “The Soup Nazi” aired. Upon recognizing Seinfeld, Yeganeh “did a triple take” and went into a profanity-filled rant about how the show had “ruined” his business, demanding an apology. Seinfeld allegedly gave what Feresten describes as “the most sarcastic apology I’ve ever seen anyone give.” Feresten has also said that some of the episode’s encounters in the soup line, such as Elaine slapping her hands on the counter and telling the Soup Nazi he looks like Al Pacino, were based on scenes he witnessed at Yeganeh’s real-life soup outlet.

The first pop culture reference to Yeganeh (though not by name) seems to have come years before the Seinfeld episode, in the 1993 movie Sleepless in Seattle. In the film, a character playing a writerpitches a story for the lifestyle section of The Baltimore Sun to their editor: “This man sells the greatest soup you have ever eaten, and he is the meanest man in America. I feel very strongly about this, Becky; it’s not just about the soup.”

Thomas’s portrayal of the Soup Nazi earned him a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actor in a Comedy Series in 1996.[14]

Like Jackie Chiles, the Soup Nazi character (played by Thomas) has appeared in commercials after the end of the series.

Thomas was hired by Yeganeh’s company in July 2015 to portray the Yev Kassem character as promotion for Soupman products.

In an advertisement by the corporate lobbying group Center for Consumer Freedom, he denies food to people he considers to be too fat.

In June 2015, Thomas collaborated with Pepsi Max to promote their Top Street Food Project in Israel. According to the website, “US actor Larry Thomas, the notorious Soup Nazi from the hit series “Seinfeld,” roams the streets of Tel Aviv in a new Pepsi Max commercial, striking fear into the hearts of Israeli salesmen and women as he searches for the perfect meal and demands a suitable beverage to quench his thirst.”[15]

Thomas appeared, in character, along with Jerry Seinfeld in a television commercial for Acura that aired during the 2012 Super Bowl. In the advertisement, Seinfeld is trying to bribe an ordinary guy to get an Acura, offering him soup from The Soup Nazi, who happily offers “Soup for you!”. After Jay Leno beat Jerry Seinfeld in bribing the ordinary guy, the Soup Nazi was seen with Jerry, an alien, and a “Munchkin” at a restaurant where they are angered at Jay Leno’s actions.

Larry Thomas appeared as himself in the Scrubs episode “My Self-Examination.” He denies he is the Soup Nazi when asked by J.D. (Zach Braff), who then tricks him into saying the catchphrase “No soup for you!” by asking him “What is [the catchphrase] again? It’s like, ‘You’re out of luck in the soup department…'”

In the sitcom Arrested Development, the crooked housing entrepreneur George Bluth Sr. is charged with signing a development deal with Saddam Hussein, despite the embargo against Iraq. Bluth claims that he acted in good faith, mistakenly believing that Hussein was Larry Thomas because of his resemblance to the Soup Nazi. This gets referenced in a later episode, where Thomas appears in the role as a political decoy for Saddam Hussein who has lost his job because of the American invasion of Iraq.

Larry Thomas has used the character to promote soup kitchens for the homeless.

In July 2012, the “Seinfeld Food Truck” embarked on an eight-stop United States tour. The truck, driven by Larry Thomas, handed out free soup along with other Seinfeld-related food items: Snapple, Twix, Junior Mints, black and white cookies and muffin tops.

Gordon Ramsay Fish and Chips

The first Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips opened on the Linq Promenade in Las Vegas in 2016. It’s fun, simple and classic; delicious British Fish & Chips with the Gordon Ramsay quality and style.

“Fish & Chips is a really important dish to me, not only is it quintessentially British but it was part of my upbringing. I’ve found a way to elevate that classic dish, dress it up and really modernize the experience. I’ve had 3 stars in Chelsea for over 2 decades, 2 stars in France, restaurants around the globe – but my mum is most proud of the chippy.”

Chef Gordon Ramsay

In late 2022, a Gordon Ramsay Fish & Chips restaurant opened in 1500 Broadway

Times Square

Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in the Midtown Manhattan section of New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent Duffy Square, Times Square is a bowtie-shaped plaza five blocks long between 42nd and 47th Streets.

Times Square is brightly lit by numerous digital billboards and advertisements as well as businesses offering 24/7 service. One of the world’s busiest pedestrian areas, it is also the hub of the Broadway Theater District and a major center of the world’s entertainment industry. Times Square is one of the world’s most visited tourist attractions, drawing an estimated 50 million visitors annually. Approximately 330,000 people pass through Times Square daily, many of them tourists, while over 460,000 pedestrians walk through Times Square on its busiest days. The Times Square–42nd Street and 42nd Street–Port Authority Bus Terminal stations have consistently ranked as the busiest in the New York City Subway system, transporting more than 200,000 passengers daily. As of 2013, it had a greater attendance than each of the Disney theme parks worldwide, with 128,794,000 visitors between March 2012 and February 2013, versus 126,479,000 for the Walt Disney World theme parks in Bay Lake, Florida, in 2012. Even excluding residents from the visitor count, Times Square is the world’s second most visited tourist attraction, behind the Las Vegas Strip. The high level of pedestrian traffic has resulted in $4.8 billion in annual retail, entertainment, and hotel sales, with 22 cents out of every dollar spent by visitors in New York City being spent within Times Square.

Formerly known as Longacre Square, Times Square was renamed in 1904 after The New York Times moved its headquarters to the then newly erected Times Building, now One Times Square. It is the site of the annual New Year’s Eve ball drop, which began on December 31, 1907, and continues to attract over a million visitors to Times Square every year, in addition to a worldwide audience of one billion or more on various digital media platforms.

Times Square, specifically the intersection of Broadway and 42nd Street, is the eastern terminus of the Lincoln Highway, the first road across the United States for motorized vehicles. Times Square is sometimes referred to as “the Crossroads of the World”and “the heart of the Great White Way“.

Times Square is the official name of the southern triangle, below 45th Street. The northern triangle is officially known as Duffy Square and was dedicated in June 1939 to honor World War I chaplain Father Francis P. Duffy of the 69th New York Infantry Regiment. A statue by Charles Keck was dedicated in May 1937 as a memorial to Duffy.

By 1872, the area had become the center of New York’s horse carriage industry. The locality had not previously been given a name, and city authorities called it Longacre Square after Long Acre in London, where the horse and carriage trade was As more profitable commerce and industrialization of Lower Manhattan pushed homes, theaters, and prostitution northward from the Tenderloin District, Longacre Square became nicknamed the Thieves Lair for its rollicking reputation as a low entertainment district. The first theater on the square, the Olympia, was built by cigar manufacturer and impresario Oscar Hammerstein I. According to Gotham: A History of New York City to 1898, “By the early 1890s this once sparsely settled stretch of Broadway was ablaze with electric light and thronged by crowds of middle- and upper-class theatre, restaurant and cafe patrons.” In 1904, New York Times publisher Adolph S. Ochs moved the newspaper’s operations to a new skyscraper on 42nd Street at Longacre Square, on the site of the former Pabst Hotel, which had existed on the site for less than a decade since it opened in November 1899. Ochs persuaded Mayor George B. McClellan Jr. to construct a subway station there, and the area was renamed “Times Square” on April 8, 1904. Just three weeks later, the first electrified advertisement appeared on the side of a bank at the corner of 46th Street and Broadway. The north end later became Duffy Square, and the former Horse Exchange became the Winter Garden Theatre, constructed in 1911.

Times Square now boasts attractions such as ABC‘s Times Square Studios, where Good Morning America is broadcast live; competing Hershey’s and M&M’s stores across the street from each other, and multiple multiplex movie theaters. Additionally, the area contains restaurants such as the Bubba Gump Shrimp Company, a seafood establishment; Planet Hollywood Restaurant and Bar, a theme restaurant; and Carmine’s, serving Italian cuisine. It has also attracted several large financial, publishing, and media firms to set up headquarters in the area. A larger presence of police has improved the safety of the area. The theatres of Broadway and the huge number of animated neon and LED signs have been one of New York’s iconic images as well as a symbol of the intensely urban aspects of Manhattan. Since 1987 such signage has been mandated by zoning ordinances that require building owners to display illuminated signs, the only district in New York City with this requirement. The neighborhood has a minimum limit for lighting instead of the standard maximum limit. The density of illuminated signs in Times Square rivals that in Las Vegas. Officially, signs in Times Square are called “spectaculars”, and the largest of them are called “jumbotrons“. This signage ordinance was implemented in accordance with guidelines set in a revitalization program that New York Governor Mario Cuomo implemented in 1993.Notable signage includes the Toshiba billboard directly under the NYE ball drop, the curved seven-story NASDAQ sign at the NASDAQ MarketSite at 4 Times Square on 43rd Street, and the curved Coca-Cola sign located underneath another large LED display owned and operated by Samsung. Both the Coca-Cola sign and Samsung LED displays were built by LED display manufacturer Daktronics. Times Square’s first environmentally friendly billboard powered by wind and solar energy was first lit on December 4, 2008. On completion, the 20 Times Square development will host the largest LED signage in Times Square at 18,000 square feet. The display will be 1,000 square feet larger than the Times Square Walgreens display and one of the largest video-capable screens in the world.

Times Square is the site of the annual New Year’s Eve ball drop. About one million revelers crowd Times Square for the New Year’s Eve celebrations, more than twice the usual number of visitors the area usually receives daily. However, for the millennium celebration on December 31, 1999, published reports stated approximately two million people overflowed Times Square, flowing from Sixth Avenue to Eighth Avenue and back on Broadway and Seventh Avenue to 59th Street, making it the largest gathering in Times Square since August 1945 during celebrations marking the end of World War II. On December 31, 1907, a ball signifying New Year’s Day was first dropped at Times Square, and the Square has held the main New Year’s celebration in New York City ever since. On that night, hundreds of thousands of people congregate to watch the Waterford Crystal ball being lowered on a pole atop the building, marking the start of the new year. It replaced a lavish fireworks display from the top of the building that was held from 1904 to 1906 but stopped by city officials because of the danger of fire. Beginning in 1908, and for more than eighty years thereafter, Times Square sign maker Artkraft Strauss was responsible for the ball-lowering. During World War II, a minute of silence, followed by a recording of church bells pealing, replaced the ball drop because of wartime blackout restrictions. Today, Countdown Entertainment and One Times Square handle the New Year’s Eve event in conjunction with the Times Square Alliance. A new energy-efficient LED ball debuted for the arrival of 2008, which was the centennial of the Times Square ball drop. The 2008–09 ball is larger and has become a permanent installation as a year-round attraction, being used for celebrations on days such as Valentine’s Day and Halloween. The New Year’s Eve celebrations are usually overseen by thousands of police officers. Aluminum barriers are erected to accommodate spectators; for the 2020 celebration, attended by a million people, barriers were erected from 38th to 59th Street and from Sixth to Eighth Avenue. Typically, the celebrations create large amounts of waste. The waste includes the 3,000 pounds of biodegradable confetti dropped at midnight, a tradition of which started in 1992. The New York City Department of Sanitation estimated that by 8 a.m. on New Year’s Day 2014, it had cleared over 50 short tons (45 long tons; 45 t) of trash from the New Year’s celebration, using 190 workers from their crews and the Times Square Alliance.

The seediness of the area was featured prominently in such films as Midnight Cowboy (1969), Born to Win(1971), and Taxi Driver (1976). The area was shown in the 1980 film Times Square, which featured a punk rock/new wave soundtrack. It was also depicted in the 2011 movie New Year’s Eve. The area also appeared on The Amazing Race as the starting location in a race around the world in the first episode of the show’s 25th season, as well as on the sixth season of the Israeli edition of The Amazing Race with teams finishing their second leg in Times Square. Times Square has been fictionally attacked and destroyed in several movies, including Knowing, when a solar flare destroys New York City; Deep Impact, when a tsunami created from a meteor impact destroys New York City; the 1998 film Godzilla, where Godzilla is chased through the square; the Ghostbusters movies; Stephen King’s The Stand, where the intersection is overcome by total anarchy; Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs. It was also seen in the festival battle scene in the 2002 film Spider-Man, and a stand-off in the later film The Amazing Spider-Man 2. Films and TV shows have also employed the opposite tactic, depicting the typically bustling area as eerily still, such as in Vanilla Sky, as well as the post-apocalyptic I Am Legend, in which Will Smith and his dog go hunting for deer in the deserted urban canyon. In the pilot episode of the TV series Blindspot, Times Square is completely emptied due to an abandoned bag being suspected to be a bomb.

Times Square also has featured prominently in video games. For instance, in Grand Theft Auto IV, a recreation of the Times Square area referred to in-game as “Star Junction”, is included in the game’s fictional “Liberty City” setting. Times Square is also shown in Battlefield 3, where the final fight with the main antagonist takes place, where the player must stop him from detonating a nuclear bomb in the square; and Crysis 2, in which player must fight off attacking alien forces to assist U.S. Marines in evacuating the area. Gran Turismo 4 also features Times Square both as a photo spot and as a part of the New York city circuit which also includes Central Park.

Day 2

Created on TraveledMap

Pemrose Corporation – Secret of My Success

The Secret of My Success (sometimes stylized as The Secret of My Succe$s) is a 1987 American comedy film produced and directed by Herbert Ross and starring Michael J. Fox and Helen Slater. The screenplay was written by A.J. Carothers, Jim Cash and Jack Epps Jr. from a story written by Carothers. It was filmed on location in Manhattan.

Plot

Brantley Foster is a recent graduate of Kansas State University who moves to New York City, where he has accepted an entry-level job as a financier. Upon arriving, he discovers that the company for which he is supposed to work has been taken over by a rival corporation. As a result, Brantley is laid off before even starting work.

After several interviews for other jobs, he is unsuccessful due to over- or underqualification, or having no experience. Brantley ends up working in the mailroom of the Pemrose Corporation, directed by his “uncle” Howard Prescott, a distant relative he’s never met. Pemrose was founded by Howard’s father-in-law. Howard achieved the presidency by marrying his boss’s daughter, Vera Pemrose.

After inspecting company reports, Brantley realizes that Howard and most of his fellow “suits” (executives) are making pointless or damaging decisions. He notices an empty office in the building due to one of Howard’s frequent firings. Using his access to the mailroom and his understanding of the company, he creates and assumes the identity of Carlton Whitfield, a new executive.

While handling two jobs (switching between casual apparel and business suits in the elevator), Brantley sparks romantic interest from Christy Wills, a fellow financial wizard who recently graduated from Harvard. He meets Vera by driving her home in a company limo at his employer’s request. She persuades him to stay for a swim and seduces him before he realizes that she is his aunt.

Seeing Howard arrive, Brantley and Vera realize they are related by marriage. She had seduced him out of revenge against her husband for having an affair with a woman at the office. Brantley changes as fast as he can and narrowly escapes the mansion without being spotted by Howard.

Howard, unbeknownst to Brantley, is having an affair with Christy. When Howard asks her to spy on Carlton Whitfield, whom he suspects is a corporate spy for Donald Davenport, she falls in love with “Whitfield”, not knowing he is actually Brantley. The Pemrose Corporation is preparing for its impending hostile takeover by the Davenport. If Davenport Corporation absorbs Pemrose in this merger, all workers will get fired.

Howard, unaware that Whitfield and Brantley are the same person, suspects “Whitfield” is a spy for corporate raider Davenport. Mostly Howard believes the company should cut every area, but that would ruin the company and make Davenport begin his hostile takeover. Brantley pitches the idea with Christy to expand the business to prevent the takeover.

Brantley’s double identity is discovered when he, Christy, Vera and Howard end up in the same bedroom after a party at Howard’s home that all four are attending. Brantley and Christy end their blossoming relationship. He gets fired from his job as Whitfield, as does Christy for refusing to continue her affair with Howard. Vera is divorcing Howard, since she found out about his affair with Christy and his plan to propose to her.

While both Christy and Brantley are moving out of their offices, they end up in the same elevator and reconcile, conceiving a revenge plan together with Vera. They raise enough cash, bonds, and stocks to take control of the Pemrose Corporation, and to proceed with a hostile takeover bid of Davenport’s corporation.

Vera, already hating Howard for his inept business practices which were driving her father’s empire into the ground, tells the board about his affair with Christy. She promptly replaces him with Brantley, with Jean (Carlton’s secretary), Christy and Melrose (Brantley’s mailroom colleague) at his side to prevent the takeover and keep everyone’s jobs safe. While security guards escort Howard and his aide Art Thomas from the Pemrose Building, Brantley and Christy start planning their future together, personal as well as professional.

Christy Wills: [Groans in frustration] Why do you keep saying the exact opposite of what I say?
Brantley Foster: Because you keep saying such stupid things.
Brantley Foster: No! No exceptions! I want this job, I need it, I can do it. Everywhere I’ve been today there’s always been something wrong, too young, too old, too short, too tall. Whatever the exception is, I can fix it. I can be older, I can be taller, I can be anything.
Unnamed employer: I’m sorry, Mister…
Brantley Foster: Foster.
Unnamed employer: I’m sorry, Mr. Foster. We need someone with experience.
Brantley Foster: But how can I get any experience until I get a job that GIVES me experience?
Unnamed employer: If we gave you a job just to give you experience, you’d take that experience and get a better job. Then that experience would benefit someone else.
Brantley Foster: Yeah, but I was trained in college to handle a job like this, so in a sense I already have experience.
Unnamed employer: What you’ve got is college experience, not the practical, hard-nosed business experience we’re looking for. If you’d joined our training program out of high-school, you’d be qualified for this job now.
Brantley Foster: Then why did I go to college?
Unnamed employer: [laughs] Had fun, didn’t you?

Marilyn Monroe’s Subway Grate

The moment Monroe’s dress was lifted by a breeze from a New York City subway grate in “The Seven Year Itch” helped to cement the 29-year-old actress as the prototypical Hollywood goddess.

Plot

In the midst of a summer heat wave, New Yorker Richard Sherman (Tom Ewell) ships his wife, Helen (Evelyn Keyes), and their son off to Maine for vacation. Left alone to work back in Manhattan, Richard encounters a gorgeous blonde model (Marilyn Monroe) who has moved into the apartment upstairs, and becomes immediately infatuated. While pondering infidelity, Richard dreams of his beautiful new neighbor — but will his fantasies about her become a reality?

Sixty years ago, on 15 September, 1954, Marilyn Monroe stood on a subway grate in New York City wearing a little white dress and fought an upward breeze. The scene from the Seven Year Itch, went on to become one of the most iconic moments in movie history. But a lot more went into to the scene than what’s portrayed in director Billy Wilder’s film. And its consequences rippled far beyond making young moviegoers blush.

The scene allegedly played a role in Monroe’s divorce from Joe DiMaggio. Despite the roar of approval from fans, DiMaggio was less than pleased with what he felt was an “exhibitionist” scene. Photographer George S Zimbel recalled everything going deathly quiet as Monroe’s disapproving husband stormed across the set and very publicly left the scene. After returning to California, Monroe filed for divorce from the baseball player on grounds of “mental cruelty” following a violent fight at their hotel after the shoot.

Filming took place at 1am, while thousands of fans looked on. An hour after midnight on the corner of New York’s Lexington Ave and 52nd Street, Monroe stood atop a subway grate and created movie magic – 14 times. Taking around three hours to film, the scene took 14 takes to get right, while 100 male photographers and between 2,000 and 5,000 spectators (who all loudly reacted whenever her skirt blew up) looked on. But the final version was actually filmed in California Despite 14 takes, the crew still couldn’t get it right, due in part to the incessant noise created by the droves of fans on set. Later that year, the scene was re-shot on the Fox lot in California though the original location shots were used for ads and promos.

Marilyn was careful to make sure she wasn’t showing too much. While she caught the dress before it blew up over her head, she still took precautions to make sure anyone watching didn’t see too much: she wore two pairs of white underwear, so that once the fan blew upwards, nobody got an actual glimpse.

The dress was recently sold for $4.6m

Designer William Travilla created The Seven Year Itch’s white dress and he dreamed up the pink and gold gowns from Gentlemen Prefer Blondes – all famous Monroe getups. Although the designer never paid much heed to his creation (once dismissing it as “that silly little dress”) it has paid off, and was sold at a 2011 auction for $4.6m.

The auction resulted from Debbie Reynolds’ need to sell off assets to avoid bankruptcy. Those assets included her collection of Old Hollywood memorabilia (that she hoped to eventually house in a museum of her own), among which was Monroe’s dress – which Reynolds said she only paid $200 for in 1971.

The scene’s been commemorated, and copied across the world

Not much, just a giant Marilyn Monroe statue face down in a garbage dump in China. http://t.co/SA6sozumnM @Reuters pic.twitter.com/wl3Apnz9YO

— J. Freedom du Lac (@jfdulac) June 19, 2014

The $4.6m price tag makes more sense when you think about its cultural impact. In Japan, villagers paid homage with a 140 x 100-meter image of Monroe in a rice field (made from nine species of rice),

while earlier this year, New Jersey acquired a 26ft-tall, 34,000lbs statue of Marilyn in her iconic pose. Called “Forever Marilyn,” the statue was previously in Chicago and Palm Springs, and a copycat was recently dumped in China – which experts assure American artist Seward Johnson did not design.

So much for it being just a “silly little” dress.

Waldorf Astoria

The Waldorf Astoria New York is a landmark luxury hotel and former residence in Midtown Manhattan, located at 301 Park Avenue. Completed in 1931 and designed in the Art Deco style by Schultze and Weaver, the 47-story building was the world’s tallest hotel until 1957 and remains an enduring symbol of glamour and prestige. Both its exterior and interior are protected New York City landmarks.

The original Waldorf-Astoria began as two rival hotels built by members of the Astor family along Fifth Avenue in the 1890s. Renowned for innovation, luxury, and high society events, it became the largest and most famous hotel in the world before being demolished in 1929 to make way for the Empire State Building. The current Waldorf Astoria rose on Park Avenue in the early 1930s, incorporating cutting-edge technology, lavish materials, and vast public spaces.

Over the decades, the hotel became a center of global politics, business, and culture, hosting heads of state, royalty, and countless celebrities. Its Presidential Suite housed former U.S. president Herbert Hoover for more than 30 years, while famous residents and guests included Frank Sinatra, Cole Porter, Marilyn Monroe, Winston Churchill, and Elizabeth Taylor. The Waldorf also played a major role in entertainment, hosting galas, debutante balls, and serving as a filming location for numerous films and television shows.

Owned at various times by Conrad Hilton and Hilton Hotels, the Waldorf Astoria underwent major renovations in the late 20th century. In 2014, it was purchased by China’s Anbang Insurance Group for $1.95 billion, then the most expensive hotel sale in history. After closing in 2017 for redevelopment, the building was converted into a mix of luxury condominiums and a smaller hotel. Following Anbang’s bankruptcy, ownership passed to Dajia Insurance Group, with the hotel portion now expected to reopen no earlier than 2025.

Beyond its architecture and history, the Waldorf Astoria is also famous for its culinary legacy, including the creation of iconic dishes such as the Waldorf salad, Eggs Benedict, and red velvet cake, cementing its place as one of the most influential and celebrated hotels in the world.

Radio City Music Hall

Radio City Music Hall is a historic Art Deco entertainment venue located at Rockefeller Center in Midtown Manhattan. Opened on December 27, 1932, and designed by Edward Durell Stone with interiors by Donald Deskey, it was originally planned as part of a complex that included a never-built Metropolitan Opera House. Nicknamed “The Showplace of the Nation,” it is the headquarters of the Rockettes and one of New York City’s most iconic theaters.

With nearly 6,000 seats, Radio City housed the world’s largest auditorium at the time of its opening. Although first envisioned for live stage performances, it soon became a premier movie palace featuring elaborate film-and-stage presentations and major movie premieres. By the late 20th century, its focus shifted to concerts, live shows, and televised events, including the annual Radio City Christmas Spectacular.

After declining attendance in the 1970s nearly led to its closure, Radio City was designated a New York City Landmark in 1978, ensuring its preservation. A major renovation in 1999 restored the theater while modernizing its facilities. Since then, it has remained a central hub of entertainment, hosting concerts by major artists, awards ceremonies such as the Tony Awards, Grammy Awards, and MTV Video Music Awards, and televised events including the NFL Draft, game shows, and reality competitions.

Beyond entertainment, Radio City has also hosted sports events, boxing matches, WNBA games, graduations, and cultural specials. Its long history of adaptability and cultural significance has secured its place as one of the most important and recognizable performance venues in the United States.

Rockerfeller Centre

Rockefeller Center is a complex of 19 commercial buildings covering 22 acres (89,000 m²) between 48th Street and 51st Street in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The 14 original Art Deco buildings, commissioned by the Rockefeller family, span the area between Fifth Avenue and Sixth Avenue, split by a large sunken square and a private street called Rockefeller Plaza. Later additions include 75 Rockefeller Plaza across 51st Street at the north end of Rockefeller Plaza, and four International Style buildings on the west side of Sixth Avenue.

In 1928, Columbia University, the owner of the site, leased the land to John D. Rockefeller Jr., who was the main person behind the complex’s construction. Originally envisioned as the site for a new Metropolitan Opera building, the current Rockefeller Center came about after the Met could not afford to move to the proposed new building.

The core of the complex was completed by 1939. Described as one of the greatest projects of the Great Depression era, Rockefeller Center became a New York City designated landmark in 1985 and a National Historic Landmark in 1987. The complex and associated land has been controlled since 2000 by Tishman Speyer, which bought the property for $1.85 billion.

The current complex is a combination of two building complexes and a standalone building: 13 of the original Art Deco office buildings from the 1930s, one building across 51st Street built in 1947, and a set of four International-style towers built along the west side of Avenue of the Americas during the 1960s and 1970s.The center spans 22 acres (8.9 ha) in total, with some 17,000,000 square feet (1,600,000 m²) in office space.

FAO Schwarz

FAO Schwarz is an American toy brand and retail chain. The company is known for its high-end toys, life-sized stuffed animals, interactive experiences, brand integrations, and games.

FAO Schwarz claims to be the oldest toy retailer in the United States, founded by its namesake, Frederick August Otto Schwarz, in 1862 in Baltimore before moving to New York City, where it has moved between several locations since 1870. The dance-on piano, made famous by the 1988 Tom Hanks film Big, brought international attention to the brand. FAO filed for bankruptcy twice in 2003 before temporarily shuttering the Fifth Avenue location in January 2004. In May 2009, Toys “R” Us Inc. acquired FAO Schwarz, but in 2015, it permanently closed the Fifth Avenue location. ThreeSixty Group then acquired the brand, who opened the new FAO Schwarz location at 30 Rockefeller Plaza in November 2018. In 2019, ThreeSixty opened locations in Chicago, Beijing, London and Dublin.

The “FAO Schwarz” brandname and trademarks are owned by the FAO Schwarz Family Foundation and exclusively licensed to the ThreeSixty Group who own and operate the retail locations.

Now serving within the store is the Jelly Cat Diner. Stop by for some fun and a great gift

Early history

1910 F.A.O Schwarz Advertisement

FAO Schwarz was founded in 1862 in Baltimore under the name “Toy Bazaar” by German immigrant Frederick August Otto Schwarz.

In 1870, Schwarz opened a New York City location known as the “Schwarz Toy Bazaar” at 765 Broadway, which moved to 42 E. 14th Street in Union Square in 1880 and operated at that location until April 28, 1897, when it took over two vacant store locations at 39 and 41 W. 23rd Street. That year, The New York Times declared Schwarz as “the largest dealer in toys in this city.”^[8]

Beginning in November 1869, the Schwarz Toy Bazaar held an exhibition of toys that would be available for the Christmas season. In 1896, Schwarz proclaimed the store as the “Original Santa Claus Headquarters” in New York. The FAO Schwarz holiday catalog has been published annually since 1876.
Movies – The godfather, john wick, final destination, Annie, Elf, Rocky 3, TMNT.

Grand Central Station Terminal

Grand Central Terminal is a major commuter rail hub located at 42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Opened in 1913 and built by the New York Central Railroad, it serves as the southern terminus for Metro-North Railroad’s Harlem, Hudson, and New Haven Lines, with connections to the New York City Subway and the Long Island Rail Road via the new Grand Central Madison terminal. It is the third-busiest train station in North America and one of the world’s most visited tourist attractions.

Renowned for its Beaux-Arts architecture and monumental scale, Grand Central occupies 48 acres and contains 44 platforms and 67 tracks—more than any other rail station globally. Its iconic Main Concourse, featuring the four-faced brass clock and celestial ceiling, is a popular meeting place and a frequent setting in films and television. The terminal also includes extensive passageways, underground tunnels known as Grand Central North, and a two-level track system that separates commuter and long-distance rail traffic, a design innovation that improved passenger flow.

Beyond transportation, Grand Central functions as a vibrant public space with restaurants, bars, markets, retail shops, event venues, and unique amenities such as the Oyster Bar, Vanderbilt Hall, the Campbell Bar, a tennis club, and offices and control centers for rail operations. It has also housed television studios, theaters, and cultural installations, and features one of the most efficient lost-and-found operations in the world.

Designated a National Historic Landmark, Grand Central has played a significant role in New York’s cultural life, appearing in numerous films and hosting public events, exhibitions, and markets. Its preservation—championed in the 1970s by figures such as Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis—ensured its survival as both a functional transit terminal and an architectural and cultural icon of New York City.

Chrysler Building

The Chrysler Building is an iconic Art Deco skyscraper located at 42nd Street and Lexington Avenue in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Completed in 1930, it rises 1,046 feet (319 m), making it the tallest brick building in the world with a steel framework. It briefly held the title of the world’s tallest building and was the first skyscraper to surpass 1,000 feet, symbolizing the ambition and innovation of early 20th-century New York.

Commissioned and personally financed by automobile executive Walter Chrysler and designed by architect William Van Alen, the building was created as a real estate investment for Chrysler’s family rather than as the Chrysler Corporation’s headquarters. Its construction was marked by a famous rivalry with 40 Wall Street and the Empire State Building to claim the title of tallest building. An annex was added in 1952, and the property later passed through multiple owners.

Architecturally, the Chrysler Building is celebrated as a masterpiece of the Art Deco style. Its steel-framed structure is distinguished by decorative metal cladding, stainless-steel detailing, and automotive-inspired ornamentation, including radiator-cap gargoyles and eagle motifs. Initially met with mixed critical reception, it later gained widespread acclaim and is now regarded as one of America’s most admired buildings.

The building’s exterior and interior were designated New York City landmarks in 1978, and it became a National Historic Landmark in 1976. Once home to a public observation deck, the Chrysler Building has also appeared in numerous films and television shows, cementing its legacy as one of New York City’s most recognizable and beloved architectural icons.

Daily Planet

Daily Bugle

2 Avenue & 39 St, New York, The Daily Bugle building was formerly the Goodman Building, established on 39th Street and Second Avenue until John Jonah Jameson purchased and used it to establish his entire editorial and publishing facilities there, principally his newspaper the Daily Bugle. From now on called the Daily Bugle Building, the office complex is forty-six stories tall, and is capped by the Daily Bugle logo in 30-foot letter on the roof. There are loading docks in the rear of the building, reached by a back alley. Three floors are devoted to the editorial office of the Daily Bugle, two sub-basement levels for the printing presses, while the rest of the floors are rented.

New York Public Library

The New York Public Library (NYPL) is a public library system in New York City. With nearly 53 million items and 92 locations, the New York Public Library is the second-largest public library in the United States behind the Library of Congress and the fourth-largest public library in the world. It is a private, non-governmental, independently managed, nonprofit corporation operating with both private and public financing.

At the behest of Joseph Cogswell, John Jacob Astor placed a codicil in his will to bequeath $400,000 (equivalent of $14.1 million in 2023) for the creation of a public library. After Astor’s death in 1848, the resulting board of trustees executed the will’s conditions and constructed the Astor Library in 1854 in the East Village.

Famous movies

Spiderman 3

13 going on 30

Day After Tomorrow

Maid In Manhattan

Quiz Show

Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is a 102-story Art Deco skyscraper in the Midtown South neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. The building was designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon and built from 1930 to 1931. Its name is derived from “Empire State“, the nickname of the state of New York. The building has a roof height of 1,250 feet (380 m) and stands a total of 1,454 feet (443.2 m) tall, including its antenna.

The Empire State Building was the world’s tallest building until the first tower of the World Trade Center was topped out in 1970; following the September 11 attacks in 2001, the Empire State Building was New York City’s tallest building until it was surpassed in 2012 by One World Trade Center. As of 2022, the building is the seventh-tallest building in New York City, the ninth-tallest completed skyscraper in the United States, and the 54th-tallest in the world.

The site of the Empire State Building, on the west side of Fifth Avenue between West 33rd and 34th Streets, was developed in 1893 as the Waldorf–Astoria Hotel. In 1929, Empire State Inc. acquired the site and devised plans for a skyscraper there. The design for the Empire State Building was changed fifteen times until it was ensured to be the world’s tallest building. Construction started on March 17, 1930, and the building opened thirteen and a half months afterward on May 1, 1931.

Famous tenants LinkedIn, Shutterstock Famous Movies Sleepless in Seattle, King Kong, An Affair to remember, Superman, Independence Day, James and the Giant peach, how I met your mother and gossip girl.

Gimbel’s Bridge

Gimbel Brothers, commonly known as Gimbels, was a major American department store chain that operated from 1842 until 1987. Founded by Adam Gimbel in Vincennes, Indiana, the company expanded to Milwaukee in 1887, Philadelphia in 1894 (which became its headquarters), and New York City in 1910. Under the leadership of later generations of the Gimbel family, the business grew into one of the most powerful retail chains in the United States.

Gimbels became nationally known as the creator of the oldest Thanksgiving Day parade, first held in Philadelphia in 1920, and as the longtime rival of Macy’s, a feud that became part of American popular culture. By 1930, Gimbels had grown to 20 stores and was the largest department store corporation in the world by sales. The chain reached its peak in 1965 with 53 stores, including ownership of Saks Fifth Avenue and Saks 34th Street locations.

Despite its scale, Gimbels declined in the late 20th century. In 1986, its parent company BATUS determined the chain was no longer profitable and decided to close the division. Gimbels officially ceased operations in 1987, with remaining stores sold or transferred to other department store chains. Many former Gimbels locations were later repurposed, including its historic Milwaukee flagship, which ultimately closed in 1997.

The New York City flagship store at Herald Square was one of the chain’s most famous locations. Opened in 1910 and designed by Daniel Burnham, it featured extensive subway access and once encompassed 27 acres of retail space. After Gimbels closed, the building was converted into a shopping mall and later into office pace, reflecting the broader transformation of urban retail. Today, Gimbels is remembered as a pioneering force in American department store history and retail culture.

Madison Square Garden

Madison Square Garden (MSG) is a world-famous multi-purpose indoor arena located in Midtown Manhattan above Pennsylvania Station, between Seventh and Eighth Avenues. Opened in 1968, it is the fourth venue to carry the Madison Square Garden name and is the oldest major sports arena in the New York metropolitan area. MSG is home to the New York Knicks (NBA) and New York Rangers (NHL) and has long been a central venue for sports, concerts, and major public events.

The Garden hosts hundreds of events annually, including basketball, hockey, boxing, mixed martial arts, professional wrestling, concerts, college sports, and special events. It has been the site of historic moments in sports—such as championship games, legendary boxing matches, UFC milestones, and record-breaking performances by athletes like Stephen Curry and Coach Mike Krzyzewski. MSG has also hosted major political events, award ceremonies, and conventions.

MSG is equally iconic in music history, hosting more high-profile concerts than any other New York venue. Legendary artists such as Elvis Presley, Led Zeppelin, Billy Joel, Elton John, the Grateful Dead, The Who, and many others have performed there. Billy Joel holds the record for the most performances at MSG, while the venue is often described as one of the most prestigious stages in the world for live music.

The arena has undergone major renovations in 1991 and again between 2011 and 2013, modernizing its seating, technology, concourses, and amenities at a total cost exceeding $1 billion. Despite its success, MSG has been controversial due to its location atop Penn Station, which complicates plans to expand and modernize the transit hub. As a result, the arena operates under time-limited permits from New York City.

Today, Madison Square Garden remains a global landmark and cultural institution—known as “The World’s Most Famous Arena”—celebrated for its history, versatility, and lasting influence on sports, entertainment, and New York City life.

The Big Button

Needle Threading A Button is a public sculpture in the Garment District neighborhood of Manhattan, New York, located on 191 W 39th St. It is owned buy the Garment District Alliance. It is the district’s first permanent art installation, being made out of stainless steel and aluminum.

The kiosk, which previously accompanied the sculpture and was a resource for information, was created in the 1970s by James Biber, on the Seventh Avenue Plaza of 1411 Broadway. It was renovated in 1996, adding the button and needle sculpture, with the purpose of attracting attention to the kiosk. In 2021, the Garment District Alliance realized that a physical kiosk was no longer necessary due to the prevalence of cell phones, and covered it up, making it a pincushion, later fully replacing the kiosk in 2022. Thus, the small building was removed, allowing people to be able to walk underneath the sculpture, also improving mobility.^[3] In addition to the removal of the kiosk, a new sculpture with a yellow button was created, and it officially opened on February 16, 2023, in a celebration with custom Big Button cookies.

Carlos Bakery

Carlo’s Bakery was founded in 1910 by Italian pastry chef Carlo Guastaferro and was purchased in 1964 by Bartolo “Buddy” Valastro Sr. Today, the bakery is run by his son, Buddy Valastro, alongside many members of the Valastro family. A longtime employee, Sal Picinich, became a beloved figure at the bakery and worked there until his death in 2011.

The bakery gained international fame through the TLC reality series Cake Boss, which premiered in 2009 and showcased the creation of elaborate custom cakes. The show transformed Carlo’s Bakery into a major tourist attraction and a cultural landmark in Hoboken, New Jersey. Its popularity led to expanded production capabilities, including a factory space in Jersey City that enabled nationwide shipping of baked goods.

Following its success, Carlo’s Bakery expanded beyond its original Hoboken location, opening branches across New Jersey, New York City, Las Vegas, Orlando, and internationally in São Paulo, Brazil. While some locations later closed due to lease expirations or strategic changes, several others remained open. Overall, Carlo’s Bakery is recognized as a historic family-run business that evolved into a global brand through television exposure and expansion.

Hells Kitchen

Hell’s Kitchen is a neighborhood on the West Side of Midtown Manhattan, generally bordered by 34th or 41st Street to the south, 59th Street to the north, Eighth Avenue to the east, and the Hudson River to the west. Formerly known as Clinton, it has historically been a working-class area, particularly associated with Irish American communities, and long carried a gritty reputation that kept rents lower than in much of Manhattan.

Beginning in the late 20th century, especially from the 1980s onward, Hell’s Kitchen experienced significant gentrification due to its proximity to Midtown, leading to rising rents and changing demographics. Today, the neighborhood is known for its cultural diversity, including strong Irish American, Hispanic American, and LGBTQ communities, as well as a vibrant nightlife and a wide range of affordable, multiethnic restaurants.

Hell’s Kitchen has also been closely linked to the performing arts, serving as a home for actors and housing institutions like the Actors Studio, with Broadway theaters nearby. The origin of the name “Hell’s Kitchen” is debated, but it is commonly traced to the late 19th century and was used to describe the area’s reputation for crime and poverty. The neighborhood has since become a popular filming location, featured in movies such as Taxi Driver and television shows like Daredevil and Criminal Minds.

Schmackarays

Schmackary’s is a New York City–based cookie company founded by Zachary “Schmackary” Schmahl, a Nebraska-born actor who moved to New York with dreams of performing on Broadway. After struggling to break into theater, he began baking inventive cookies in his small apartment as a side hustle, which quickly gained popularity within the Broadway community. In 2012, he opened his first storefront in NYC’s theater district, and Schmackary’s became an overnight success, earning the nickname “the hottest show on Broadway.”

Known as a modern take on the classic American bake shop, Schmackary’s specializes in creative, rotating cookie flavors that blend comfort with originality. The brand emphasizes quality, offering cookies with crisp edges and soft, chewy centers, while maintaining a welcoming, nostalgic atmosphere inspired by Midwestern hospitality. With over 100 rotating flavors, Schmackary’s celebrates diversity, inclusivity, and choice.

Beyond cookies, Schmackary’s is deeply rooted in community and kindness. It is widely recognized as “The Official Cookie of Broadway,” partners with local organizations, supports the arts, and promotes a culture of generosity and inclusiveness. Today, Schmackary’s cookies are sold throughout New York City, shipped nationwide, and featured in major media, making it one of the most in-demand cookie brands in the country.

Winter Garden Theatre Broadway Theatre

The Winter Garden Theatre is a historic Broadway theater located at 1634 Broadway in Midtown Manhattan. Originally opened in 1911 and redesigned in 1922 by architect Herbert J. Krapp, it is one of Broadway’s largest venues, seating about 1,600 people. Operated by The Shubert Organization, the theater is especially well suited for large-scale musical productions, and its auditorium interior is designated a New York City landmark.

The theater was adapted from the former American Horse Exchange building and features Adam-style interior detailing, a single balcony, stacked box seating, and a ribbed ceiling. Over its history, the Winter Garden has hosted a wide range of entertainment, including early 20th-century revues, periods as a movie house, and long-running Broadway musicals. Notably, from 1982 to 2013, it housed only two productions: Cats and Mamma Mia!. The theater underwent major renovations in 2000 and was temporarily renamed the Cadillac Winter Garden Theatre from 2002 to 2007.

In recent years, productions associated with the Winter Garden have expanded internationally. A musical connected to the venue premiered briefly in Manchester in 2020 before closing due to COVID-19, later opening in London’s West End in 2021, followed by a Broadway run beginning in 2023. A further production is scheduled to debut aboard Royal Caribbean’s Star of the Seas in summer 2025, highlighting the theater’s continued influence on major musical theater productions.

Rays Pizza

Ray’s Pizza refers to a large group of independent New York City pizzerias using similar names such as Ray’s Pizza, Original Ray’s Pizza, Famous Ray’s Pizza, and World-Famous Original Ray’s Pizza. Despite their similar branding, most of these establishments are not connected and operate independently, though they often share similar menus and signage. Well-known locations historically included sites in Little Italy and Greenwich Village.

The original Ray’s Pizza was opened in 1959 at 27 Prince Street in Little Italy by Ralph Cuomo, who named it after his nickname “Raffie.” Over the following decades, ownership changes, competing claims, and new pizzerias adopting the “Ray’s” name led to widespread confusion over which was the “original.” By the 1970s and 1980s, multiple owners—including Rosolino Mangano, Mario Di Rienzo, and Joseph Bari—had opened or renamed pizzerias using variations of the Ray’s name.

By the early 1990s, dozens of “Ray’s” pizzerias existed across New York City and beyond. Attempts were made in the 1980s to unify some locations into a franchise, but the name largely remained decentralized. Today, Ray’s Pizza is best known as a uniquely New York phenomenon, symbolizing both the city’s pizza culture and its famously chaotic branding traditions.

Day 3

Flatiron Building

The Flatiron Building, originally called the Fuller Building, is a 22-story, 285-foot-tall steel-framed triangular skyscraper located at 175 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, New York City. Designed by Daniel Burnham and Frederick Dinkelberg, it opened in 1902. Its triangular shape, formed by the intersection of Fifth Avenue, Broadway, and 22nd Street, resembles a cast-iron clothes iron, hence its name. It was built as the headquarters for the Fuller Company, and originally had 20 floors, later adding a “cowcatcher” retail space and penthouse.
The lot was bought at auction by William Eno, one of Amos’s sons, for $690,000 in April 1899. This was more than 20 times what had been paid for the property four decades earlier. The Flatiron Building is designed to withstand four times the amount of wind force it could ever be expected to endure. In theory, the frame would remain standing even if the rest of the building were to tip over.

The site measures 197.5 feet (60.2 m) on Fifth Avenue, 214.5 feet (65.4 m) on Broadway, and 86 feet (26 m) on 22nd Street. Above the ground level, all three corners of the triangle are rounded. Despite the building’s name, the site is shaped like a scalene right triangle, rather than an isosceles triangle (as flatirons are shaped). The four stories of the northern face was rented out to advertisers, including The New York Times, which installed a sign made up of electric lights. The sign, the first of its kind in New York City, was a precursor to the Great White Way near Times Square. Later there was a canvas screen on the wall, projecting images from a magic lantern atop one of his smaller buildings, where he alternately presented advertisements and interesting pictures.

The Building features in shows such Late Show with David Letterman or in scenes of New York City that are shown during scene transitions in the TV sitcoms Friends, Spin City, and Veronica’s Closet. In 1987, the building was used as the scene of a murder for the TV series Murder, She Wrote, in the episode “No Accounting for Murder”. In the 1998 film Godzilla, it is accidentally destroyed by the US Army while in pursuit of Godzilla. It is depicted as the headquarters of the Daily Bugle, for which Peter Parker is a freelance photographer, in Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man trilogy, and once again in The Spectacular Spider-Man animated series. It is shown in the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles TV series as well.

Highline

Due to a decline in rail traffic along the rest of the viaduct, it was effectively abandoned in 1980 when the construction of the Javits Center required the demolition of the viaduct’s northernmost portion. The southern portion of the viaduct was demolished in segments during the late 20th century. A nonprofit organization called Friends of the High Line was formed in 1999 by Joshua David and Robert Hammond, advocating its preservation and reuse as public open space, an elevated park or greenway. Celebrity New Yorkers joined in on fundraising and support for the concept. The administration of Mayor Michael Bloomberg announced plans for a High Line park in 2003. Repurposing the railway into an urban park began in 2006 and opened in phases during 2009, 2011, and 2014. The Spur, an extension of the High Line that originally connected with the Morgan General Mail Facility at Tenth Avenue and 30th Street, opened in 2019. The Moynihan Connector, extending east from the Spur to Moynihan Train Hall, opened in 2023.Since opening in June 2009, the High Line has become an icon of American contemporary landscape architecture. The High Line’s success has inspired cities throughout the United States to redevelop obsolete infrastructure as public space. The park became a tourist attraction and spurred real estate development in adjacent neighborhoods, increasing real-estate values and prices along the route. By September 2014, the park had nearly five million visitors annually, and by 2019, it had eight million visitors per year. The park is open daily from 7:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. in winter, until 10:00 p.m. the rest of the years. It can be reached through eleven entrances, five of which are accessible to people with disabilities. The wheelchair-accessible entrances, each with stairs and an elevator, are at Gansevoort, 14th, 16th, 23rd, and 30th Streets. Additional staircase-only entrances are located at 18th, 20th, 26th, and 28th Streets, and 11th Avenue. Street-level access is available at 34th Street via the Interim Walkway, which runs from 30th Street and 11th Avenue to 34th Street west of 11th Avenue. The New York City government committed $50 million to establish the proposed park. Mayor Bloomberg and City Council speakers Gifford Miller and Christine C. Quinn were among the major supporters. Fundraising for the park raised a total of over $150 million (equivalent to $213,029,000 in 2023). The Surface Transportation Board issued a certificate of interim trail use on June 13, 2005, allowing the city to remove most of the line from the national rail system. Ownership officially passed from CSX to the city that November.

Pier 54

Pier 54 at 40°44′29″N 74°0′36″W, part of the historic Chelsea Piers, is associated with the 1912 RMS Titanic and 1915 RMS Lusitania maritime disasters, when it was used by the Cunard Line. It is now part of Hudson River Park. The piers themselves are at Little West 12th Street and the Hudson River in the Meatpacking District/Greenwich Village neighborhood. The pier was also used for troop ships during World War II. After the war it was used as part of the W. R. Grace and Company and United States Lines freight operations.

Chelsea Piers is a series of piers in Chelsea, on the West Side of Manhattan in New York City. Located to the west of the West Side Highway (Eleventh Avenue) and Hudson River Park and to the east of the Hudson River, they were originally a passenger ship terminal in the early 1900s that was used by the RMS Lusitania and was the destination of the RMS Carpathia after rescuing the survivors of the RMS Titanic.

The RMS Titanic was destined for the White Star pier 59 when she sank. Survivors were rescued on Cunard’s RMS Carpathia. The Carpathia dropped off the Titanic’s lifeboats at Pier 59 before going back south to Pier 54, where she unloaded the passengers and survivors. Thousands of people assembled at the dock to greet the ship.

Meatpacking District

The Meatpacking District is a neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City, spanning from West 14th Street to Gansevoort Street and from the Hudson River to Hudson Street. Its boundaries are sometimes extended further by the local Business Improvement District. The area originated in the mid-19th century with residential construction, primarily rowhouses and townhouses in the Greek Revival style.

By the 1980s, the area became notorious for crime, drug dealing, and prostitution, and was a hub for the city’s BDSM subculture, with sex clubs like The Anvil and The Mineshaft, many of which were connected to the Mafia or protected by the NYPD. However, the Mineshaft was closed in 1985 as part of AIDS prevention efforts.

Starting in the late 1990s, the Meatpacking District underwent significant gentrification, transforming into a fashionable area with high-end boutiques (Diane von Fürstenberg, Alexander McQueen), restaurants, and nightclubs. By 2004, it was named “New York’s most fashionable neighborhood” by New York Magazine.

Greenwich Village

Greenwich Village, or simply the Village, is a neighborhood on the west side of Lower Manhattan in New York City, bounded by 14th Street to the north, Broadway to the east, Houston Street to the south, and the Hudson River to the west. Greenwich Village also contains several subsections, including the West Village west of Seventh Avenue and the Meatpacking District in the northwest corner of Greenwich Village.

Its name comes from Groenwijck, Dutch for “Green District”.[4] In the 20th century, Greenwich Village was known as an artists’ haven, the bohemian capital, the cradle of the modern LGBT movement, and the East Coast birthplace of both the Beat Generation and counterculture of the 1960s. Greenwich Village contains Washington Square Park, as well as two of New York City’s private colleges, New York University (NYU) and The New School. In later years it has been associated with hipsters.

The neighborhood is bordered by Broadway to the east, the North River (part of the Hudson River) to the west, Houston Street to the south, and 14th Street to the north. It is roughly centered on Washington Square Park and New York University.

From 1797 until 1829, the bucolic village of Greenwich was the location of New York State’s first penitentiary, Greenwich Village historically was known as an important landmark on the map of American bohemian culture in the early and mid-20th century. The neighborhood was known for its colorful, artistic residents and the alternative culture they propagated. Due in part to the progressive attitudes of many of its residents, the Village was a focal point of new movements and ideas, whether political, artistic, or cultural. This tradition as an enclave of avant-garde and alternative culture was established during the 19th century and continued into the 20th century, when small presses, art galleries, and experimental theater thrived

Bleecker Street Pizza

Winner of the “Best Pizza in New York”3 Years Running
Taste Why We Are Named the Best Pizza in New York!

Bleeker Street Pizza is known for our consistently delicious pizza made with the best dough, flavorful sauce, and authentic ingredients. We are recognized in the city of New York to be one of the best-selling pizzerias around the Upper Manhattan Area, garnering awards from various online websites:

Best Pizza by Food Network 3 years in a row

2nd Best Pizzeria in NYC by Trip Advisor

One of the Top 10 Pizzeria in NY by USA Today

Recommended by NY Times

About Us
Our pizzeria was established in 2004, serving the people of New York with our best-selling Nona Marie Pie—an old family recipe that has been our customer’s favorite. Today, we are now offering more flavors with only the finest ingredients at an affordable price.

Our Goal
We aim to provide delicious pizza in a friendly and inviting environment to our customers, giving them a relaxing ambiance whenever they visit our store. Also, our business is dedicated to providing you with speedy services and high-quality ingredients.

Food Selection
Bleeker Street Pizza is loaded with fresh ingredients like mozzarella, marinara sauce, parmesan, and basil. We also offer delicious entrees like gluten-free pizzas, calzones, salads, pasta, and more. For drinks, we have beer, wine, and other items that are made to order.

Nonna Maria Pizza
Thin crust with fresh mozzarella, homemade marinara sauce, the finest Parmesan and fresh basil.

Grandma Pizza
Homemade marinara sauce, mozzarella, Parmesan, olive oil and fresh garlic on a thick old-world crust.

Friends Apartment Building

NBC executives had worried that the coffee house setting was too hip and asked for the series to be set in a diner, but eventually consented to the coffee house concept

Although the producers always wanted to find the right stories to take advantage of being on location, Friends was never shot in New York. Bright felt that filming outside the studio made episodes less funny, even when shooting on the lot outside, and that the live audience was an integral part of the series. When the series was criticized for incorrectly depicting New York, with the financially struggling group of friends being able to afford huge apartments, Bright noted that the set had to be big enough for the cameras, lighting, and “for the audience to be able to see what’s going on”.The apartments also needed to provide a place for the actors to execute the actions in the scripts.

Early reviews of the series were mixed; the first season holds a Metacritic score of 65 out of 100, based on 24 sampled reviews, indicating “generally favourable reviews”.Tom Feran of The Plain Dealer wrote that the series traded “vaguely and less successfully on the hanging-out style of Seinfeld“,[88] while Ann Hodges of the Houston Chronicle called it “the new Seinfeld wannabe, but it will never be as funny as Seinfeld.”[89] In the Los Angeles Daily News, Ray Richmond named the series as “one of the brighter comedies of the new season”,[90] and the Los Angeles Times called it “flat-out the best comedy series of the new season.”[91]

The Chicago Sun-Times‘ Ginny Holbert found Joey and Rachel’s characters to be underdeveloped,[92] while Richmond commended the cast as a “likeable youth ensemble” with “good chemistry.”[90] Robert Bianco of USA Today was complimentary of Schwimmer, calling him “terrific.” He also praised the female leads, but was concerned that Perry’s role as Chandler was “undefined” and that LeBlanc was “relying too much on the same brain-dead stud routine that was already tired the last two times he tried it.”[93] The authors of Friends Like Us: The Unofficial Guide to Friends thought that the cast was “trying just a little too hard”; in particular, Perry and Schwimmer.[94]

The Central Perk coffee house, one of the principal settings of the series, is part of the Warner Bros. Studio Tour Hollywood. People sometimes propose marriage on the couch, and many tourists cry when they sit on it.

Worlds Narrowest House

75½ Bedford Street is a house located in the West Village neighborhood of New York City that is only 9 feet 6 inches (2.9 meters) wide. Built in 1873, it is often described as the narrowest house in New York. Its past tenants have included Edna St. Vincent Millay, author Ann McGovern, cartoonist William Steig and anthropologist Margaret Mead. It is sometimes referred to as the Millay House, indicated by a plaque on the outside of the house. The house is located in the Greenwich Village Historic District, but is not an individually designated New York City Landmark.

The three-story house is located at 75½ Bedford Street, between Commerce and Morton Streets, not far from Seventh Avenue South in the West Village section of Manhattan. The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission considers it the city’s narrowest townhouse. On the inside, the house measures 8 feet 7 inches (2.62 m) wide; at its narrowest, it is only 2 feet (0.61 m) wide.

The house at 77 Bedford Street in Greenwich Village, New York, was built in 1873 during a smallpox epidemic for Horatio Gomez, trustee of the Hettie Hendricks-Gomez Estate. However, some evidence suggests it may have been built earlier, as its architectural style resembles the Italianate design of the 1850s.

In 1923, a group of artists leased the house for actors working at the nearby Cherry Lane Theater, with notable residents including Cary Grant and John Barrymore. Poet Edna St. Vincent Millay and her husband, Eugen Jan Boissevain, lived there from 1923 to 1924. They renovated the house, adding a skylight and a Dutch-inspired front façade.

The external dimensions of the house are approximately 9.5 by 42 feet (2.9 by 12.8 m), on a lot that is 80 feet (24 m) deep, while the internal dimensions vary between 2 and 8.5 feet (0.61 and 2.59 m) by 30 feet (9.1 m) deep. City records list the house as 999 square feet (92.8 m2).

The exterior features a stepped gable similar to those seen in the Dutch architectural tradition. Inside, “[a] centrally placed spiral staircase dominates all three floors and bisects the space into two distinct living areas. The narrow steps call for expert sideways navigational skills. Under the stairwell on the first floor is a tiny utility closet, the only closed storage space in the house. All three floors have fireplaces”. An arched doorway leads to the shared garden in the rear. The house has two bathrooms, and its galley kitchen comes with a microwave built into the base of the winding staircase that rises to the upper floors.

Later occupants included cartoonist William Steig and his sister-in-law, anthropologist Margaret Mead. The house was the inspiration the children’s book Mr Skinner’s Skinny House, written by former resident Ann McGovern and illustrated by Mort Gerberg. George Gund IV, son of sports entrepreneur George Gund III, purchased the house for $3.25 million in June 2013.

Cosby House

The NBC Sitcom The Cosby Show (1984–92) made several references to the Village during its run, and the townhouse used for exterior shots, though purportedly set in Brooklyn for purposes of the show, is actually located at 10 St. Luke’s Place.

TV Guide listed the series as “TV’s biggest hit in the 1980s”, adding it “almost single-handedly revived the sitcom genre and NBC’s ratings fortunes”, while also ranking it 28th on their list of 50 Greatest Shows; with this list, Cliff Huxtable was named as the “Greatest Television Dad” in 2014. In May 1992, Entertainment Weekly stated that The Cosby Show helped to make possible a larger variety of shows with a predominantly black cast, from In Living Color to The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air.

Bill Cosby originally wanted Vanessa Williams to play the part of Sondra due to her college education and background in theater arts. However, Williams had recently been crowned the first Black Miss America and pageant officials would not permit her to play the role while she was representing the Miss America pageant. Whitney Houston was also considered for the role of Denise Huxtable, but was unable to commit to the full-time television production schedule in the NBC contract, as she intended to become a full-time music recording artist. Early episodes were videotaped at NBC’s Brooklyn studios (subsequently JC Studios). The network later sold that building, and production moved to the Kaufman Astoria Studios in Queens. Even though the show was set to take place in Brooklyn, the exterior façade was actually of a brownstone townhouse located in Manhattan’s Greenwich Village at 10 Leroy Street/ 10 St. Luke’s Place. The pilot was filmed in May 1984, with season one’s production commencing that July, and the first taping on August 1 (Goodbye Mr. Goldfish).

Ice Cream Museum

Museum of Ice Cream (MOIC) is an art installation and museum that operates in several cities across the United States. The company has expanded internationally with a location in Singapore.

MOIC was founded by Maryellis Bunn, who previously served as head of Forecasting and Innovation at Time, Inc and worked as an independent consultant on design and business strategy for various companies including Facebook

MOIC has expanded its presence beyond the museum experience by developing its own ice cream brand, featuring seven distinct flavors, available at Target starting in 2018. Flavors included Piñata, Sprinkle Pool, and Vanillionaire. Additionally, MOIC ice cream products were sold in Albertsons. While the company continues to produce its ice cream brand, Target has discontinued selling MOIC products. In addition to ice cream, MOIC has ventured into other areas, including children’s apparel available at Target and a makeup line offered by Sephora.

Katz Deli

In 1888, a small deli by the name of Iceland Brothers was established on Ludlow Street in New York’s Lower East Side by the Iceland brothers. Upon the arrival of Willy Katz in 1903, the name of the store was officially changed to “Iceland & Katz”. Willy’s cousin Benny joined him in 1910, buying out the Iceland brothers to officially form Katz’s Delicatessen. It moved to its current location on Houston Street in 1917 during subway construction. The deli became a popular community gathering spot, known for its franks and beans on Fridays.

During WWII, the family slogan “Send A Salami To Your Boy In The Army” emerged as they sent food to their sons in the military. Over the years, Katz’s attracted actors, singers, and comedians from the Yiddish theater. After passing through various family hands, the deli was taken over by Martin Dell and his family in 1988, with the next generation, Jake Dell, managing it since 2009.

Famed for its quality meats, Katz’s serves thousands of pounds of pastrami, corned beef, and other deli staples weekly. Their traditional curing process, which takes up to 30 days, is key to their success. Katz’s remains an iconic New York institution, known for its history, quality, and cultural significance.

Day 4

Gramercy Park

Gramercy Park is the name of both a small, fenced-in private park, and the surrounding neighborhood that is also referred to as Gramercy, in Manhattan in New York City.

The approximately 2-acre (0.8 ha) park, located in the Gramercy Park Historic District, is one of two private parks in New York City – the other is Sunnyside Gardens Park in Queens– as well as one of only three in the state; only people residing around the park who pay an annual fee have a key, and the public is not generally allowed in – although the sidewalks of the streets around the park are a popular jogging, strolling, and dog-walking route.

The area which is now Gramercy Park was once in the middle of a swamp. In 1831 Samuel B. Ruggles, a developer and advocate of open space, proposed the idea for the park due to the northward growth of Manhattan

Notable residents

The statue of Edwin Booth as Hamlet, by Edmond T. Quinn, was put in place at the center of the park by The Players in 1916

James Harper – an original resident, 1847–1869,[18] Mayor of New York from 1844 to 1845 and one of the founders of the Harper publishing firm; the two iron lamps outside No. 4 were placed there by the city in Harper’s honor: the custom was that mayor’s residences were so distinguished so that he would be available for nighttime emergencies

Vincent Astor – businessman, philanthropist, member of the Astor family, Julia Roberts – American actress, Steinway family – manufacturers of Steinway pianos,
James Cagney, Margaret Hamilton, and Gregory Peck, John Barrymore – star of stage and screen, Daniel Chester French – sculptor responsible for the seated figure of Lincoln at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., Alfred Ringling – founder of the Ringling Brothers Circus, Vincent D’Onofrio– actor, producer, director, and singer, Jimmy Fallon – host of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Karl Lagerfeld – fashion designer, Uma Thurman – actress
Theodore Roosevelt‘s birthplace on 20th Street is a National Historic Site, Oscar Wilde took rooms at 47 Irving Place for a while in 1882, Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of U.S. President Bill Clinton and First Lady Hillary Clinton, as well as her husband Marc Mezvinsky, used to live in the neighborhood before moving to nearby NoMad, selling their apartment for $4 million.

Featured Films
1945 Stuart Little The Little family live at “22 Gramercy Park”. White describes as “A pleasant place near a park.”

1979 The Warriors – Walter Hill one of the fictional gangs featured is the Gramercy Riffs, the biggest gang in New York.

Washington Square Arch

Washington Square Park, located in Greenwich Village, Manhattan, is a 9.75-acre public park known for its cultural significance and nonconformist spirit. Operated by NYC Parks, it is a central meeting place, featuring the iconic Washington Square Arch, which commemorates George Washington’s inauguration.

In 1888, Robert Louis Stevenson, author of Treasure Iland And Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde, visiting the U.S. to seek medical help for his battle with consumption, talked to Mark Twain, Author of Hucjleberry Finn and Tom Sawyer, in the park.

In 1889, to celebrate the centennial of George Washington‘s inauguration as president of the United States, a large plaster and wood Memorial Arch was erected over Fifth Avenue just north of the park. The temporary plaster and wood arch was so popular that in 1892, a permanent Tuckahoe marble arch, designed by the New York architect Stanford White, was erected, standing 77 feet (23 m) and modeled after the Arc de Triomphe, built in Paris in 1806. During the excavations for the eastern part of the arch, human remains, a coffin, and a gravestone dated to 1803 were uncovered 10 feet (3.0 m) below ground level.

The park has a rich history, with roots in the Beat, folk, and hippie movements of the 1950s and 60s. Musicians like Buddy Holly, Bob Dylan, and Joan Baez frequented the park. Its traditions include holiday events like an annual tree-lighting ceremony and the Washington Square Music Festival, which has run since 1953.

The park has also hosted notable political events, including a 2007 rally by Barack Obama. Its cultural importance is highlighted by appearances in numerous films and TV shows, such as The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, I Am Legend, Gilmore Girls, Serching for Bobby Fisher, Kids and Law & Order. Washington Square Park remains a vital symbol of New York’s cultural and social life.

NYU

New York University (NYU) is a private research university founded in 1831 in New York City. Initially an all-male, non-denominational institution near City Hall, NYU moved to its current main campus around Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village in 1833. It has since expanded to include campuses in Brooklyn and Manhattan. NYU is the largest private university in the U.S., with over 51,000 students as of 2019, and us the most applied to school in the US but is known for selective admissions. Melbourne Uni has 54400 students.

NYU’s sports teams, the Violets, represent the school colors violet and white. The university logo, the upheld torch, is derived from the Statue of Liberty, signifying NYU’s service to New York City. Some believe that it may have been chosen because violets are said to have grown abundantly in Washington Square and around the buttresses of the Old University Building. Others argue that the color may have been adopted because the violet was the flower associated with Athens, the center of learning in ancient Greece. Since 1981, the school mascot has been a bobcat, whose origin can be traced back to the abbreviation then being used by the Bobst Library computerized catalog—short: BobcatThe university has a rich history of academic and cultural contributions, boasting 38 Nobel Laureates, 31 MacArthur Fellows, 26 Pulitzer Prize winners, and numerous Emmy, Grammy, and Academy Award winners. Alumni include notable figures such as Spike Lee, Martin Scorsese, Lady Gaga, and Woody Allen as well as Alec baldwin, Angelina Jolie, Adam Sandler, Anne Hathaway and Tom Ford NYU has been associated with several significant inventions and discoveries, including the cardiac defibrillator and pace maker, polio vaccine, laser, RFID, and touch screen cash machine, atom bomb telephone handset, wireless microphone, first digital image scanner, television, light beer, non-stick cookware, microwave, X-ray crystallography, barcode, structure of the DNA, processes for creating food coloring, decaffeination and sugar substitute, processes for the mass production of penicillin, nuclear reactor and hydrogen bomb, and contact lenses, Cinerama, also obtained the first patent for a water ski, zoom lens were also obtained by NYU alumni.

It continues to be a global leader in higher education and research.

Hook and Ladder 8

Firehouse, Hook & Ladder Company 8 is a New York City Fire Department (FDNY) fire station, located at 14 North Moore Street at its intersection with Varick Street in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. Its exterior has become famous for its appearance in the supernatural comedy franchise Ghostbusters.

The firehouse was built in 1903 after the establishment of the FDNY as the base of the formerly independent Hook and Ladder fire company 8. The building was designed as the first of a series of Beaux-Arts style firehouses by the city superintendent of buildings, Alexander H. Stevens. The building, which originally had two vehicle doors, was halved in size in 1913 after Varick Street was widened.

The firefighters of Hook & Ladder No. 8 were among the first responders to the September 11, 2001, attacks. In 2011, the firehouse was threatened with closure after the city administration planned to close 20 fire companies to save money. But after a public campaign to save it, supported by the later Mayor Bill de Blasio and actor Steve Buscemi, who also was a New York City firefighter from 1980 to 1984, the firehouse remains in service. From 2016 to 2018, it was subject to a renovation.

The firehouse was selected as the base of the Ghostbusters for the 1984 film after an early draft of the script envisaged the Ghostbusters as a public service much like the fire department. Reportedly, the firehouse was chosen because the writer and actor Dan Aykroyd knew the area and liked the building. While the firehouse served as the set for exterior scenes, the interior of the Ghostbusters base was shot in a Los Angeles studio, and in Fire Station No. 23, a decommissioned Los Angeles firehouse.

In the 2016 reboot of Ghostbusters, the firehouse makes two appearances. In Ghostbusters: Afterlife it is briefly mentioned that the firehouse has become a Starbucks.

The firehouse has also appeared in the 2005 film Hitch and in episodes of the television series Seinfeld and How I Met Your Mother.

Cortlandt Alley

Cortlandt Alley is an alley in Lower Manhattan, New York City, which is often used as a filming location. Filming is not allowed in many of New York City’s alleys, so Cortlandt Alley appears in many movies and TV shows, including Crocodile Dundee, 9½ Weeks and Boardwalk Empire. As of 2019, film crews were working in the alley three to four times a week.

Notable films and television series include:

Men in Black

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows

9/11 Memorial

World Trade Center bombing that killed six. It occupies the former location of the Twin Towers and is operated by a non-profit organization dedicated to its maintenance and programming.

Construction of the memorial and museum began in 2006, based on a design consistent with Daniel Libeskind’s master plan, with the memorial set 30 feet below street level. The memorial was dedicated on September 11, 2011, the tenth anniversary of the attacks, and opened to the public the next day. The museum was dedicated on May 15, 2014, with speeches by Mayor Michael Bloomberg and President Barack Obama, and it opened to the public on May 21, 2014.

One World Trade Center (One WTC), also known as the Freedom Tower, is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill, it is the tallest building in the United States, the Western Hemisphere, and the seventh tallest worldwide. Standing on the site of the original 6 World Trade Center, the new skyscraper reaches 1,776 feet (541 m), symbolizing the year of the United States’ Declaration of Independence. Construction began on April 27, 2006, and the building topped out in 2012. The spire was completed on May 10, 2013, and it opened on November 3, 2014, with its One World Observatory opening on May 29, 2015. The building, officially named “One World Trade Center” rather than “Freedom Tower,” has 94 stories, with its top floor labeled as 104. It is part of a broader reconstruction effort that includes five new office buildings and the National September 11 Memorial & Museum, built to commemorate and rebuild after the original World Trade Center’s destruction on September 11, 2001.

Tenants include Port Authority, Bank of America, NY Stock Exchange, Marriot and the Secret Service.

Berlin Wall

Segments of the Berlin Wall have been given to various institutions since the fall of the wall on November 9, 1989. In November 2004, the 15th Anniversary of the dismantling of the Berlin Wall, the city of Berlin donated this piece of the Wall to Battery Park City. These segments were originally located in downtown Berlin in the area between Potsdamer Plaza and Leipziger Platz. They were not exposed to the West (“Outer Wall”), but part of the Inner Wall that was designed to prevent East Germans from entering the heavily guarded death strip between the Inner and Outer Wall.

The 155-kilometer-long Berlin Wall, which cut through the middle of the city center, surrounded West Berlin from August 13, 1961 to November 9, 1989. The Wall was designed to prevent people from escaping to the West from East Berlin.

Old NYC

Pearl Street in New York City was named for the oysters found in the nearby river. During British rule, it was known as Great Queen Street, to distinguish it from Little Queen Street (later Cedar Street). Archaeological excavations at the site uncovered over four tons of artifacts, including bricks, glass, bones, seeds, oyster shells, coins, and pottery like a yellow cooking pot and Delftware. Items from the 17th-century Lovelace Tavern, such as clay tobacco pipes and wine bottle fragments, were also found.

This discovery raised awareness of archaeology in New York City, leading to the hiring of the city’s first archaeologist in 1980. The excavation site at 85 Broad Street now features displays of the King’s Tavern remains and an 18th-century well, alongside a public plaza with historical information. At the former 71 Pearl Street location, “Portal Down to Old New York” includes transparent panels revealing the foundation walls of the Lovelace Tavern.

Wall Street

The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), also known as “The Big Board,” is the world’s largest stock exchange by market capitalization, located in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. Its trading floor is housed in the historic New York Stock Exchange Building at 11 Wall Street and 18 Broad Street, both National Historic Landmarks. The NYSE was founded on May 17, 1792, when 24 brokers signed the Buttonwood Agreement, establishing commission rates and mutual trading preferences.

The NYSE has been central to major events in financial history, including the Wall Street bombing in 1920, which caused numerous casualties, and the 1929 stock market crash that contributed to the onset of the Great Depression. In response to the crash, the NYSE introduced reforms in 1938 to protect investors. It became a registered national securities exchange with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on October 1, 1934.

Other significant events include the market crash on October 19, 1987, known as Black Monday, when the Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) dropped 22.6% in a single day. In 2000, the NYSE closed its doors temporarily during the filming of a Rage Against the Machine music video. The music video for the song, which was directed by Michael Moore and he shoot for the music video on January 26, 2000 caused the doors of the New York Stock Exchange to be closed. The production had attracted several hundred people, according to a representative for the city’s Deputy Commissioner for Public Information.

The main NYSE building at 18 Broad Street, designed in the Beaux Arts style by George B. Post, was completed in 1903. It is adjacent to a similarly styled structure at 11 Wall Street, completed in 1922 by Trowbridge & Livingston. Both buildings are recognized for their architectural significance and historic value.

The New York Stock Exchange closing auction is the single largest liquidity event of the day – trading $18.9 billion per day, on average, and is the primary liquidity event for institutional and retail investors.

Federal Hall

Federal Hall is a memorial and historic site at 26 Wall Street in the Financial District of Manhattan in New York City. The current Greek Revival–style building, completed in 1842 as the Custom House, is owned by the United States federal government and operated by the National Park Service as a national memorial called the Federal Hall National Memorial. The memorial is named for an earlier Federal style building on this same site, completed in 1703 as City Hall, which the government of the newly independent United States used as its capital building and called Federal Hall during the 1780s.

The 1703 building had served as New York’s City Hall and hosted the 1765 Stamp Act Congress before the American Revolution.

Bane fought with Batman an Federal Hall

Bane is convinced that Batman is a personification of the demonic bat which had haunted his dreams since childhood. Therefore, Bane believes fate placed Batman on a collision course with him.

Bowling Green

Charging Bull, also known as the Bull of Wall Street, is a 7,100-pound (3,200 kg) bronze sculpture by Italian artist Arturo Di Modica, located on Broadway near Bowling Green in Manhattan’s Financial District. Standing 11 feet tall and 16 feet long, it depicts a bull, symbolizing financial optimism and prosperity. Created after the 1987 Black Monday stock market crash, Di Modica installed the sculpture illegally outside the New York Stock Exchange on December 14, 1989. Although it was initially removed by police, it was relocated to Bowling Green on December 20, 1989, where it became a permanent and popular tourist attraction. The sculpture may have been inspired by similar artworks in front of the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in Germany.

Battery Park

The Battery, formerly Battery Park, is a 25-acre public park at the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City, facing New York Harbor. Named for artillery batteries built in the 17th century, it served as a protective fortification. By the 1820s, the Battery became a popular entertainment area, with Castle Clinton transforming into a theater. In the mid-19th century, it became an immigration center until operations moved to Ellis Island in 1892. Later, Castle Clinton housed the New York Aquarium (1896-1941). The park’s quality declined in the 20th century, with several proposed but unbuilt structures.

Statue of Liberty

The Statue of Liberty, a colossal neoclassical sculpture on Liberty Island in New York Harbor, was a gift from France to the U.S., designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi with a framework by Gustave Eiffel. Dedicated on October 28, 1886, it symbolizes freedom and welcome to immigrants. The statue, representing the Roman goddess Libertas, holds a torch and a tablet inscribed with the date of the Declaration of Independence. Bartholdi and Eiffel designed the statue with a flexible iron truss structure, allowing it to sway in the wind and expand in heat. The French people funded the statue through an early form of crowdfunding, raising approximately $250,000 by 1880. After the Statue was presented to Levi P Morton, the U.S. minister to France, on July 4, 1884 in Paris, it was disassembled and shipped to the United States aboard the French Navy ship, Isère.

Ellis Island

Ellis Island, located in New York Harbor between New Jersey and New York, was the busiest immigrant inspection station in the United States from 1892 to 1954, processing nearly 12 million immigrants. Now part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument since 1965, it is accessible only by ferry. The north side houses the National Museum of Immigration, while the south side, including the Ellis Island Immigrant Hospital, is open for guided tours.

Named after Samuel Ellis, who purchased it in 1774, the island later hosted Fort Gibson and a naval magazine. The first inspection station opened in 1892 but was destroyed by fire in 1897. A second station opened in 1900 with medical and processing facilities. After 1924, Ellis Island primarily served as a detention center and was used by the U.S. military to hold prisoners of war during both World Wars. Following its closure as an immigration station, Ellis Island’s facilities were eventually restored and reopened as a museum in 1990. The island, expanded through land reclamation in the early 20th century, now covers 27.5 acres and originally comprised three separate sections.

The 27.5-acre (11.1 ha) island was expanded by land reclamation between the late 1890s and the 1930s and, at one point, consisted of three islands numbered 1, 2, and 3.

Dumbo

Dumbo, short for “Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass,” is a neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York City, located between the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges and extending east to Vinegar Hill. Historically known by names like Gairville and Walentasville, Dumbo was originally a ferry landing with industrial buildings and cobblestone streets.

In the late 20th century, developer David Walentas transformed the area into an upscale residential and commercial community, making it a hub for art galleries and technology startups. Dumbo has since earned the nickname “the center of the Brooklyn Tech Triangle” and has become Brooklyn’s wealthiest neighborhood, housing tech companies like Etsy and West Elm.

The DUMBO Archway is a popular venue for events, film shoots, and markets like the Brooklyn Flea, featuring numerous vendors.
Gleason’s Gym, located on Water Street, is the oldest boxing gym in New York. Many champions have trained there, including Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson. The gym has been located in DUMBO since the 1980s. It moved from 77 Front Street to its current location at 130 Water Street in 2016. The legendary boxing coach Hector Roca still teaches at the Water Street location. In addition to boxing champions, Roca has trained many actors, including Wesley Snipes, Hilary Swank, Jennifer Lopez, and John Leguizamo.

The Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge, a hybrid cable-stayed/suspension bridge in New York City, spans the East River between Manhattan and Brooklyn. Opened on May 24, 1883, it was the first fixed crossing of the East River and held the title of the world’s longest suspension bridge at the time, with a main span of 1,595.5 feet. Initially called the New York and Brooklyn Bridge, it was renamed in 1915.

Proposals for the bridge began in the early 19th century, leading to its design by John A. Roebling. His son, Washington Roebling, oversaw construction, aided by his wife, Emily Warren Roebling, after he fell ill. Construction started in 1870 and faced delays due to various controversies, but the bridge opened after 13 years. It has since undergone several renovations to address traffic flow and structural deterioration.

The bridge is a major tourist attraction and is noted for its neo-Gothic stone towers and innovative cable design. It includes four main cables made of thousands of galvanized steel wires. The bridge’s anchorages are large limestone structures that support the cables, and the towers, built of limestone, granite, and cement, stand 278 feet tall.

The bridge’s construction involved complex processes, including underwater caissons for the towers and the spinning of main cables. Despite early challenges, including worker health issues related to air pressure in the caissons, the bridge was completed and has become an iconic symbol of New York City, recognized as a National Historic Landmark and a notable engineering achievement.

The Brooklyn Bridge contains four main cables, which descend from the tops of the suspension towers and help support the deck. Two are located to the outside of the bridge’s roadways, while two are in the median of the roadways.

City Hall

New York City Hall, located in the Civic Center area of Lower Manhattan, serves as the seat of the city’s government and is situated within City Hall Park. Constructed between 1803 and 1812, it is the oldest city hall in the U.S. still functioning in its original capacity. The building houses the Mayor of New York City and the New York City Council, while staff from thirteen municipal agencies work in the nearby Manhattan Municipal Building. City Hall is designated as a National Historic Landmark, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, and its exterior and interior have been recognized as official city landmarks by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1966 and 1976, respectively.

SpeakEasey – Please Dont Tell

PDT, or Please Don’t Tell, is a speakeasy-style cocktail bar in Manhattan’s East Village, credited as the originator of the modern speakeasy trend and influential in transforming New York City’s cocktail culture. Established in 2007 by Jim Meehan, Brian Shebairo, and Chris Antista, the bar is discreetly located behind a wooden phone booth in the hot dog shop Crif Dogs, requiring patrons to enter through the booth. With a capacity of about 50 people, PDT offers craft cocktails and gourmet snacks, such as hot dogs and tater tots.

In 2014, Jim Meehan stepped back from day-to-day operations, and Jeff Bell took over. By 2019, Bell purchased PDT and Crif Dogs from Shebairo, leading to Meehan’s departure. PDT has received numerous accolades, including a James Beard Award for outstanding bar program in 2012, and Meehan authored the PDT Cocktail Book, which shares the bar’s recipes. A second location, PDT Hong Kong, is also hidden behind a phone booth in the Mandarin Oriental hotel and has the same managing partners as the original.

According to some accounts, the word speakeasy came from “speak-softly shops,” illegal drinking establishments in England and Ireland in the 19th century. The name referenced the need for secrecy; customers were asked to speak quietly while inside to avoid detection.

Day 5

Central Park Zoo

The Central Park Zoo, a 6.5-acre zoo in New York City, is located at the southeast corner of Central Park. Managed by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS), it is part of a network of four zoos and an aquarium. The zoo offers educational programs, volunteer opportunities, and participates in conservation efforts. The original menagerie began in 1864, making it New York’s first public zoo. Melbourne Zoo is 55 Acres and Werribee Zoo is 560 acres

The current zoo opened on December 2, 1934, as part of a revitalization program initiated by NYC Parks, using labor and funding from the Civil Works Administration and the WPA. A major renovation between 1983 and 1988 replaced old enclosures with naturalistic habitats. Today, the zoo is a popular tourist destination, drawing over a million visitors annually.

The zoo features exhibits themed around tropical, temperate, and polar environments, centered around a sea lion pool. It houses 1,487 animals from 163 species as of 2016. Notable historical events include a famous 1874 hoax about a mass animal escape, which was published by the New York Herald. The zoo has also been featured in popular culture, including the 2005 animated film Madagascar.

American Museum of Natural History

The American Museum of Natural History (AMNH), located in Theodore Roosevelt Park on Manhattan’s Upper West Side, New York City, is a major natural history museum. It consists of 21 interconnected buildings with 45 exhibition halls, a planetarium, and a library. The museum holds about 32 million specimens, including plants, animals, fossils, and cultural artifacts, though only a small portion is displayed at any time. AMNH covers over 2.5 million square feet and employs a scientific staff of 225, while hosting over 120 field expeditions and about five million visitors annually. AMNH is a private 501(c)(3) organization. Albert S. Bickmore proposed the idea for the museum in 1861, advocating for its establishment in New York City. It opened in Central Park’s Arsenal in 1871 and later moved to its purpose-built location in Theodore Roosevelt Park in 1877. The museum has expanded over time, adding significant features such as the main entrance pavilion in 1936 and the Rose Center for Earth and Space in 2000. Bickmore’s vision was inspired by European museums, and after the Civil War, he gained the support of influential New Yorkers, including Theodore Roosevelt Sr., to establish the museum. Interest in creating the museum grew after the destruction of Barnum’s American Museum in 1868.

The museum gained popularity with the series of Ben Stiller Movies Night and the museum

Museum of Modern Art – MOMA

The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, was founded in 1929 by Abby Aldrich Rockefeller, Lillie P. Bliss, and Mary Quinn Sullivan. It opened shortly after the Wall Street Crash in a temporary location before moving to its permanent site on land donated by John D. Rockefeller Jr. MoMA became the first U.S. museum dedicated solely to modern art, initially led by A. Conger Goodyear as president and Alfred H. Barr Jr. as its first director.

MoMA gained prominence from the 1930s to the 1950s with exhibitions like “Cubism and Abstract Art” and a Picasso retrospective. Nelson Rockefeller, who became president in 1939, and David Rockefeller, who joined the board in 1948, played key roles in its expansion. Notable events include a 1958 fire that destroyed a Monet painting, the redesign of its sculpture garden by Philip Johnson, and the opening of its current home in 1939, designed by Philip L. Goodwin and Edward Durell Stone.

In subsequent decades, MoMA faced controversies, such as withdrawing funding from the antiwar poster “And Babies” in 1969, and its involvement in Cold War cultural propaganda. The museum underwent significant expansions in the 1980s and 2000s, including a renovation by architect Yoshio Taniguchi and a merger with P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center. A major renovation in 2019 further expanded its gallery space.

MoMA’s collection spans from the late 19th century to the present, featuring over 200,000 works across various mediums. It is one of the world’s most influential cultural institutions but has faced criticism for promoting Eurocentric narratives and lacking accessibility for underprivileged groups. The museum’s library and archives hold extensive resources on modern and contemporary art.

In 2022, MoMA was the 17th most-visited art museum globally and the 4th in the United States, with over 2.1 million visitors. Attendance rose compared to 2021 but remained below pre-pandemic levels from 2019.

Yoko Ono displayed an exhibit called 1 woman show. According to a sign outside the entrance, Ono had released flies on the Museum grounds, and the public was invited to track them as they dispersed across the city.

A number of works invite interaction, including Painting to Be Stepped On (1960/1961) and Ono’s groundbreaking performance, Bag Piece (1964) where an artist was in a bag. Voice Piece for Soprano is a participatory artwork. Museum visitors are invited to take a microphone in the museum’s atrium and follow Ono’s instructions, posted a wall, to “Scream. Yoko Ono also participated in the exhibition.

Hop On – Hop Off Bus

Experience double decker bus NYC views, above the crowds. NYC tours & New York sightseeing Deals $29. Unlimited Hop On Hop Off New York NYC Tour

Sightseeing NYC tour packages from TopView are the most flexible option to help you get around and see the town. The Downtown Tour will take you up and down the streets of Manhattan to see iconic sights like Times Square, Radio City Music Hall, Rockefeller Center, and the Empire State Building. The Uptown & Harlem route is one of the most popular, and it includes Central Park, the legendary Museum Mile, and Canal Street. Take a single tour, or sign up for a package deal to see it all!

The uptown bus route will take you to Monks from Seinfeld, American Museum of Natural History, The Guggenheim Museum, MoMA, Central Park zoo and more.

Monks – Seinfeld

Monk’s Café is a fictional coffee shop in the NBC sitcom Seinfeld. Its exterior is portrayed by Tom’s Restaurant, located near Columbia University, but interior scenes were filmed on a soundstage. The café, known for its booths, tables, and counter, is a regular hangout for the main characters—Jerry, Elaine, George, and Kramer—who typically sit in the first or second booth near the entrance.

The owner/manager role shifts throughout the series. Initially, Larry the Cook (played by Lawrence Mandley) is in charge, but in the season 4 finale, “The Pilot,” a new owner named Mr. Visaki hires his daughters as waitresses. By season 5, Larry has resumed his role and remains the owner until the show’s end. The café’s cashier, Ruthie Cohen, appears in 101 of the 180 episodes, making her the most frequent non-lead character on the show.

Monk’s has a competitor, Reggie’s, which Jerry calls the “bizarro coffee shop.” Though it has a similar menu, Jerry and Elaine dislike it because it lacks some of their favorite dishes, like the “egg white omelette” and “big salad.”

Seinfeld creators Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David named the café Monk’s, inspired by a Thelonious Monk poster in their writing office. The café was originally called Pete’s in the pilot episode, with a waitress named Claire, but the concept changed before the show went to series.

Monk’s Café features a variety of minor characters, including:

Larry the Cook
Ruthie Cohen, the cashier
Kelly, a waitress with a brief storyline involving George
Paco, a line cook mentioned in “The Strike”
The Blonde Waitress, whom George suspects of mocking him
Olive, a cashier whom Kramer dates
Babu Bhatt, who works briefly as a busboy
A Portuguese waitress, and Carlito, an employee who faints in “The Abstinence.”

Monk’s Café is central to many of the show’s memorable interactions and remains an iconic setting in Seinfeld.

Yankee Stadium

Yankee Stadium is a baseball stadium located in the Bronx in New York City. It is the home field of Major League Baseball’s New York Yankees and New York City FC of Major League Soccer.

The stadium opened in April 2009, replacing the original Yankee Stadium that operated from 1923 to 2008; it is situated on the 24-acre (9.7 ha) former site of Macombs Dam Park, one block north of the original stadium’s site. The new Yankee Stadium replicates design elements of the original Yankee Stadium, including its exterior and trademark frieze, while incorporating larger spaces and modern amenities. It has the sixth-largest seating capacity among the 30 stadiums of Major League Baseball.

Construction on the stadium began in August 2006, and the project spanned many years and faced many controversies, including the high public cost and the loss of public park land. The $2.3 billion stadium was built with $1.2 billion in public subsidies and is one of the most expensive stadiums ever built.

Yankee Stadium became the home field of the MLS expansion club New York City FC in 2014, which is owned by City Football Group and the Yankees. It will be an interim venue for the club until a soccer-specific stadium is constructed. It has also occasionally hosted college football games, including the annual Pinstripe Bowl, concerts, and other athletic and entertainment events. Yankee Stadium seats 46,500. The MCG Seats 100,000 and Marvel Seats 53,359.

Famous players for the Yankees are Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Mickey Mantle, Joe Dimaggio, Yogi Bera and Don Mattingley

Coney Island

Coney Island is a neighborhood and entertainment area in southwestern Brooklyn, New York City. It is bordered by Brighton Beach, Lower New York Bay, and Gravesend, with Sea Gate as a subsection. Historically, Coney Island was an isolated barrier island but was connected to Long Island in the early 20th century through landfills. The area evolved from a 19th-century seaside resort to a major amusement destination by the late 1800s. It reached peak popularity in the early 20th century but declined after World War II, with redevelopment efforts starting in the 1970s. Revival began in the 2000s, including new rides and attractions.Coney Island is home to around 32,000 residents as of the 2010 census, with an ethnically diverse community and a slightly higher-than-average poverty rate.

Amusement Park Era:
From 1880 until World War II, Coney Island was the largest amusement area in the U.S., drawing millions of visitors annually. It featured three major parks—Luna Park, Dreamland, and Steeplechase Park—along with other independent attractions. It was a hub of technological innovation, showcasing electric lights, roller coasters, and other new amusements. Today, Coney Island has two main amusement parks, Luna Park and Deno’s Wonder Wheel Amusement Park, alongside other attractions like sideshows and skill games.

Landmark Rides:

Wonder Wheel (1920): A 150-foot Ferris wheel with both stationary and sliding cars, designated a city landmark.
B&B Carousell (circa 1906-1909): The last traditional carousel at Coney Island, now part of Luna Park’s Steeplechase Plaza.
Cyclone (1927): A historic wooden roller coaster, known for its steep drop, also a city landmark and NRHP-listed.

Modern rides include the steel Thunderbolt roller coaster, opened in 2014, along with classic attractions like bumper cars and haunted houses. Coney Island also has remnants of older attractions, such as the Parachute Jump, a closed but preserved ride from the 1939 World’s Fair.

Beaches and Boardwalk:
Coney Island has a 2.7-mile public sand beach, which extends from Sea Gate to Manhattan Beach, with the Riegelmann Boardwalk running along its length. The boardwalk was created in 1923 when the city purchased waterfront land. Notable beach clubs include the Coney Island Polar Bear Club, known for its winter swims, and the Coney Island Brighton Beach Open Water Swimmers, which hosts swimming events.

Coney Island is accessible by bus from New York approximately 1.5 hour bus ride.

New Jersey and Atlantic City

New Jersey is a state in both the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is the most densely populated state and at the center of the Northeast megalopolis. New Jersey is bordered on its north and east by New York state; on its east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on its west by the Delaware River and Pennsylvania; and on its southwest by Delaware Bay and Delaware. At 7,354 square miles (19,050 km2), New Jersey is the fifth-smallest state in land area, but with close to 9.3 million residents as of the 2020 United States census, it ranks 11th in population. The state capital is Trenton, and the state’s most populous city is Newark. New Jersey is the only U.S. state in which every county is deemed urban by the U.S. Census Bureau.

Famous inhabitants of New Jersey, Frank Sinatra, Jon Bon Jovi, Whitney Houston, Dennis Rodman, Bruce Willis, Christpher Reeve and David Cassidy

Atlantic City, sometimes referred to by its initials A.C., is a Jersey Shore seaside resort city in Atlantic County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey.

Atlantic City comprises the second half of the Atlantic City-Hammonton metropolitan statistical area, which encompasses those cities and all of Atlantic County for statistical purposes. Both Atlantic City and Hammonton, as well as the surrounding Atlantic County, are culturally tied to Philadelphia and constitute part of the larger Philadelphia metropolitan area or Delaware Valley, the nation’s seventh-largest metropolitan area as of 2020.

Located in South Jersey on Absecon Island and known for its taxis, casinos, nightlife, boardwalk, and Atlantic Ocean beaches and coastline, the city is prominently known as the “Las Vegas of the East Coast” and inspired the U.S. version of the board game Monopoly, which uses various Atlantic City street names and destinations in the game. New Jersey voters legalized casino gambling in Atlantic City in 1976, and the first casino opened two years later. From 1921 to 2004, Atlantic City hosted the Miss America pageant, which later returned to the city from 2013 to 2018. Atlantic City has about 30 casinos compared to Las Vegas with 60

As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 38,497, a decline of 1,061 (−2.7%) from the 2010 census count of 39,558, which in turn reflected a decrease of 959 (−2.4%) from the 40,517 counted in the 2000 census.

Harlem

Harlem is a neighborhood in Upper Manhattan, New York City. It is bounded roughly by the Hudson River on the west; the Harlem River and 155th Street on the north; Fifth Avenue on the east; and Central Park North on the south. The greater Harlem area encompasses several other neighborhoods and extends west and north to 155th Street, east to the East River, and south to Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, Central Park, and East 96th Street.

Originally a Dutch village, formally organized in 1658,[5] it is named after the city of Haarlem in the Netherlands. Harlem’s history has been defined by a series of economic boom-and-bust cycles, with significant population shifts accompanying each cycle.[6] Harlem was predominantly occupied by Jewish and Italian Americans in the late 19th century, while African-American residents began to arrive in large numbers during the Great Migration in the early 20th century. In the 1920s and 1930s, Central and West Harlem were the center of the Harlem Renaissance, a major African-American cultural movement. With job losses during the Great Depression of the 1930s and the deindustrialization of New York City after World War II, rates of crime and poverty increased significantly.[7] In the 21st century, crime rates decreased significantly, and Harlem started to gentrify. Harlem is home to the Harlem Globetrotters, Sammy Davis Junior, Puff Daddy, Kelis and Moby as well as Milton Berle, Ed Sullivan, Oscar Hammerstein, Harry Houdini, Al Pacino and the Marx Brothers.

Philadelphia Add On

Please Touch Museum

The Please Touch Museum, located in Philadelphia’s Centennial District, is a children’s museum designed to engage kids primarily aged seven and younger through interactive exhibits and special events.

History: The museum first opened on October 2, 1976, at the Academy of Natural Sciences before moving to Cherry Street and then to 21st Street near the Franklin Institute in 1983. In 2005, it secured an 80-year lease for Memorial Hall in Fairmount Park, the last major building from the 1876 Centennial Exposition, after plans for relocation to Penn’s Landing fell through. Following renovations, the museum officially opened at its current location on October 18, 2008.

Exhibits: The museum features various interactive exhibits, including Adventure Camp, Food & Family, Imagination Playground, Please Touch Garden, and a scale model of the 1876 Centennial Exhibition. It also includes the historic Woodside Park Dentzel Carousel.

Philadelphia Zoo

The Philadelphia Zoo is a zoo located in the Centennial District of Philadelphia on the west bank of the Schuylkill River. It was the first true zoo in the United States; it was chartered by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania on March 21, 1859, but its opening was delayed by the Civil War until July 1, 1874. The zoo opened with 1,000 animals and an admission price of 25 cents. For a brief time, the zoo also housed animals brought to U.S. from safaris by the Smithsonian Institution, which had not yet built its National Zoo. The zoo is 42 acres (17 ha) and the home of nearly 1,300 animals, many of which are rare and endangered. Special features include a children’s petting zoo, a rainforest themed carousel, a climbing structure, chats with keepers, behind the scenes tours available for purchase, and many interactive and educational exhibits. Zoo360: a first-of-its-kind animal trail system, consisting of five trails—Big Cat Crossing, Gorilla Treeway, Treetop Trail, Great Ape Trail, and Meerkat Maze—which allow the animals to travel along suspended and ground-level mesh structures throughout parts of the zoo.

Rocky Statue & Steps

The Rocky Steps are a set of 72 stone steps leading to the East entrance of the Philadelphia Museum of Art, famous for their appearance in the 1976 film Rocky, where the character Rocky Balboa, played by Sylvester Stallone, trains for a boxing match. This iconic scene, considered one of modern cinema’s most memorable moments, has made the steps a popular tourist destination where visitors often mimic Rocky’s ascent. A bronze statue of Rocky is located at the bottom of the steps, providing a photo opportunity for fans.

History: The scene was filmed after a budget-constrained crew discovered the steps while scouting locations. Sylvester Stallone originally intended for Rocky to carry his dog Butkus up the steps, but switched to shooting the scene without the dog due to practical difficulties. The statue of Rocky, commissioned by Stallone, faced controversy over its status as art and was relocated several times before returning to the museum in 2006.

The steps have become a cultural symbol, attracting numerous visitors each year and featuring in various events, including the 1996 Olympic Torch Relay and annual celebrations. The legacy of the scene has been explored in the book Rocky Stories, which chronicles the experiences of those who have run the steps.

The statue was then put up for auction, and purchased by an anonymous buyer who was later revealed to be Sylvester Stallone himself.

In 2006, Schomberg realized the casting mold for the statue was beginning to decay, and the third and final edition of the statue was cast in bronze and put up for auction on eBay three separate times between 2002 and 2005, with a starting bid of US$5,000,000, then US$3,000,000, and finally US$1,000,000 to raise funds for the International Institute for Sport and Olympic History. It is currently exhibited at the Schomberg Studios Gallery in Denver, Colorado.

Philadelhpia Museum of Art

The Philadelphia Museum of Art (PMoA) is an art museum originally chartered in 1876 for the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia. The main museum building was completed in 1928 on Fairmount, a hill located at the northwest end of the Benjamin Franklin Parkway at Eakins Oval. The museum administers collections containing over 240,000 objects including major holdings of European, American and Asian origin. The various classes of artwork include sculpture, paintings, prints, drawings, photographs, armor, and decorative arts.

The Philadelphia Museum of Art administers several annexes including the Rodin Museum, also located on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, and the Ruth and Raymond G. Perelman Building, which is located across the street just north of the main building.[9] The Perelman Building, which opened in 2007, houses more than 150,000 prints, drawings and photographs, 30,000 costume and textile pieces, and over 1,000 modern and contemporary design objects including furniture, ceramics, and glasswork.

City Hall

Philadelphia City Hall is the seat of the municipal government of the City of Philadelphia in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Built in the ornate Second Empire style, City Hall houses the chambers of the Philadelphia City Council and the offices of the Mayor of Philadelphia.

This building is also a courthouse, serving as the seat of the First Judicial District of Pennsylvania. It houses the Civil Trial and Orphans’ Court Divisions of the Court of Common Pleas of Philadelphia County. It also houses the Philadelphia facilities for the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania (which also holds session and accepts filings in Harrisburg and Pittsburgh).[11]

Built using brick, white marble and limestone, Philadelphia City Hall is the world’s largest free-standing masonry building and was the world’s tallest habitable building upon its completion in 1894. It was designated as a National Historic Landmark in 1976; in 2006, it was also named a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.

Independence Hall

Independence Hall is a historic civic building in Philadelphia, where both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were debated and adopted by the Founding Fathers of the United States. The structure, which is the centerpiece of Independence National Historical Park, was designated a World Heritage Site in 1979.[3]

The construction of Independence Hall, initially called the Pennsylvania State House, was completed in 1753. It served as the first capitol of both the colonial-era of the Province of Pennsylvania and, following American independence, the nation’s first capital and the capital of Pennsylvania.

Between 1775 and 1781, the Second Continental Congress, which appointed George Washington as commander-in-chief of the Continental Congress in 1775 and unanimously adopted the Declaration of Independence the following year, in 1776, met at Independence Hall. On June 21, 1788, it was the site of the Philadelphia Convention, where the U.S. Constitution, the longest-standing written and codified national constitution in the world, was drafted and ratified.

The Liberty Bell

The Liberty Bell, previously called the State House Bell or Old State House Bell, is an iconic symbol of American independence located in Philadelphia. Originally placed in the steeple of Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, the Liberty Bell today is located across the street from Independence Hall in the Liberty Bell Center in Independence National Historical Park.

The bell was commissioned in 1752 by the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly from the London-based firm Lester and Pack, later renamed the Whitechapel Bell Foundry, and was cast with the lettering “Proclaim LIBERTY Throughout all the Land unto all the Inhabitants Thereof”, a Biblical reference from the Book of Leviticus (25:10). The bell first cracked when rung after its arrival in Philadelphia, and was twice recast by local workmen John Pass and John Stow, whose surnames appear on the bell. In its early years, the bell was used to summon lawmakers to legislative sessions and to alert citizens to public meetings and proclamations. Philadelphia‘s city bell had been used to alert the public to proclamations or civic danger since the city’s 1682 founding.

The original bell hung from a tree behind the Pennsylvania State House, now known as Independence Hall, and was said to have been brought to the city by its founder, William Penn. In 1751, with a bell tower being built in the Pennsylvania State House, civic authorities sought a bell of better quality that could be heard at a greater distance in the rapidly expanding city.Isaac Norris, speaker of the Pennsylvania Provincial Assembly, gave orders to the colony’s London agent, Robert Charles, to obtain a “good Bell of about two thousands pound weight”.

Dave and Busters

Discover the ultimate destination for sports enthusiasts, foodies, and arcade aficionados – Dave and Buster’s! Conveniently located at 325 N Christopher Columbus Blvd, this entertainment hub offers an unrivaled experience that caters to a diverse range of interests. Whether you’re in search of an exceptional sports bar near you, a delightful restaurant, or simply looking for fun-filled family entertainment like our fun filled arcade, D&B has it all! Sports fanatics will find themselves in paradise, as Dave and Buster’s Philadelphia boasts state-of-the-art screens displaying the most thrilling football, basketball, and hockey games from across the sporting world. Gather with friends to cheer on your beloved Eagles Football while savoring our delectable cuisine from the extensive menu. From mouthwatering burgers and sizzling steaks to refreshing salads and delightful desserts, our diverse offerings cater to every palate. Whether you prefer a cozy dining area or a livelier ambiance, head to the sports bar section where you’ll be treated to an impressive selection of drinks, including craft beers, signature cocktails, and a carefully curated array of wines and spirits, or mocktails if that’s more your speed. And the excitement doesn’t end there! Step into our captivating arcade, a playground for all ages, filled with a myriad of cutting-edge games and classic favorites. Unleash your inner child and challenge family and friends to thrilling competitions, from adrenaline-pumping racing games to immersive shooters, air hockey, basketball, and more! Remember Dave and Buster’s has selection of food and drink specials. If you’re looking for a great deal on great food, or great cocktails and mocktails, look no further than your local D&B. But wait, there’s more! Don’t miss out on our fantastic Happy Hour! Join us every day for unbeatable drink specials and mouthwatering appetizers that will keep you coming back for more. Whether you’re winding down after a long day or looking to kickstart your evening, Happy Hour at Dave and Buster’s is the perfect way to enjoy great deals on drinks and bites in a lively and vibrant setting. If you’re a trivia enthusiast, we’ve got you covered! Get ready to put your knowledge to the test at our legendary Trivia Night! Every week, gather your team, flex your mental muscles, and participate in an exhilarating evening of brain-teasing fun. Compete for fantastic prizes and enjoy the lively atmosphere as you challenge your wits and soak in the camaraderie of the night. Make your holidays truly memorable by hosting your parties at Dave and Buster’s. Our dedicated event planners will ensure your gathering is a resounding success, with tailored packages to suit your preferences. Whether it’s a festive Christmas celebration or a lively New Year’s bash, Dave and Buster’s will leave you and your guests with unforgettable memories. Dave and Buster’s near you is a multifaceted experience where sports, delectable dining, thrilling games, exciting Happy Hour, and unforgettable trivia nights converge. So gather your crew and head over to experience the joy, excitement, and camaraderie that awaits you at Dave and Buster’s – the ultimate entertainment destination.

Sonnys Famous Cheesesteaks

A cheesesteak is a long bread roll with a filling of thinly sliced sautéed beef, melted cheese, and sautéed onions.

Sonny’s Famous Steaks is a cheesesteak restaurant located on Market Street in Old City, Philadelphia. It consistently ranks as one of the best cheesesteaks in Philadelphia.

Sonny’s opened in 1999. It is currently owned by Ellen Mogell and Kevin Bagby. Bagby began working at Sonny’s in 2001 while he was a Temple University student. He claims he ate a lot of cheesesteaks while working there and started Brazilian jiu-jitsu to lose weight. Sonny’s won Best of Philly’s Best Cheesesteak in 2001.

In 2013, Sonny’s underwent renovations and created its current black and white design. The interior is black with white walls and an old storefront look with “chrome-rimmed, fifties-style, communal tables”.

In 2014, GQ Magazine ranked Sonny’s the best cheesesteak in Philadelphia. The rankings were published in an article by food correspondent Alan Richman. Twenty-three cheesesteaks were evaluated by five judges — Richman, University of Pennsylvania physician Benjamin Abella, a former Philadelphia Magazine restaurant critic Maria Gallagher, Chicago Magazine restaurant critic Jeff Ruby, and Philadelphia sports broadcaster Ray Didinger.

John L. Dorman of The New York Times recommended Sonny’s for an “authentic cheesesteak experience” over Pat’s King of Steaks and Geno’s Steaks.

Serious Eats‘s founder Ed Levine and editor Niki Achitoff-Gray tried over 30 cheesesteaks in two days and said Sonny’s was in their favorite four, which also included Dalessandro’s Steaks, John’s Roast Pork and Campo’s. Arthur Etchells of Philadelphia magazine‘s food blog Foobooz agreed, ranking John’s and Sonny’s above Dalessandro’s and Campo’s.

In 2017, U.S. News & World Report named Sonny’s one of the top five cheesesteaks in Philadelphia, citing its proximity to Independence Hall and The Liberty Bell.

In 2022, Tripadvisor recognized Sonny’s as one of the best dining destinations in the United States as part of their Traveler’s Choice Award series.

Rockys Gym

The Philadelphia site was used exclusively for exterior shots; the interior scenes were shot in Los Angeles

The exterior shots of Mighty Mick’s Gym in the ‘Rocky’ film franchise were filmed at a building located at 2145 N. Front St. in Kensington.

Fictional boxing trainer Mickey Goldmill would likely roll over in his grave if he heard about what’s happening to his gym.

The Kensington building that served as the exterior home to Mighty Mick’s Gym in the “Rocky” film franchise is being redeveloped into a mixed-use structure.

The renovated three-story building will include a 1,276-square-foot commercial space on the ground floor, four multi-family apartment units on the second and third floors and a roof deck, according to the permit.

A commercial building permit was issued in October to fix up the property’s structure, exterior walls and decorative trim. The previous renovations came after the building failed a safety inspection last summer, according to the city records. The structure passed a follow-up safety inspection earlier this month.

The building where exterior shots of Mighty Mick’s Gym were filmed was originally constructed in 1910,

In real life, the 1,624-square-foot property has been home to a number of establishments over the years, including a Dollar Plus store in the early 2000s. The building was last sold in 2014 for $190,000, according to city property records.

The building, however, was not actually where Rocky Balboa trained. Sylvester Stallone’s training scenes inside the gym were filmed in a Los Angeles boxing gym.

Despite the building’s location underneath the Market-Frankford Line in North Philly, Mighty Mick’s was set in South Philly

Fresh Prince of Bel Air Basketball Court

The 2.5-acre site, which is also known as Clemente Park and Playground, was named in honor of baseball player/humanitarian Roberto Clemente, who played for the Pittsburgh Pirates for 18 seasons, beginning in 1955.

Though the park was a center of drug and gang activity for a time, thanks to the efforts of a woman named Sara Hirschler, who formed the Friends of Clemente group, the property was cleaned up and renovated to the tune of $600,000 in 2011. Such features as a water spray park, a jungle gym, modern fencing, a new entrance, and green space were added during the renovations.

But thankfully, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air basketball court was left intact .

Eastern State Penitentiary

The Eastern State Penitentiary (ESP) is a former American prison in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It is located in the Fairmount section of the city, and was operational from 1829 until 1971. The penitentiary refined the revolutionary system of separate incarceration, first pioneered at the Walnut Street Jail, which emphasized principles of reform rather than punishment.

Notorious criminals such as Al Capone and bank robber Willie Sutton were held inside its innovative wagon wheel design. For their role in the Kelayres massacre of 1934, James Bruno (Big Joe) and several male relatives were incarcerated here between 1936 and 1948, before they were paroled. At its completion, the building was the largest and most expensive public structure ever erected in the United States, and quickly became a model for more than 300 prisons worldwide.

The prison is currently a U.S. National Historic Landmark,[5] which is open to the public as a museum for tours daily.

Eastern State Penitentiary was originally named Cherry Hill State Prison. It was sited on ten acres of elevated farmland known as Cherry Hill near Philadelphia. Construction commenced in 1822.

Designed by John Haviland and opened on October 25, 1829, Eastern State is considered to be the world’s first true penitentiary, with seven corridors of heated and sky-lighted cells capable of holding 500 convicts in isolation. Eastern State’s revolutionary system of incarceration, dubbed the “Pennsylvania system” or separate system, encouraged separate confinement as a form of rehabilitation. The warden was legally required to visit every inmate every day, and the overseers were mandated to see each inmate three times a day.

LOVE Statue

LOVE Park, officially known as John F. Kennedy Plaza, is a public park located in Center City, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. The park is across from the Philadelphia City Hall and serves as a visual terminus for the Benjamin Franklin Parkway. The park is nicknamed LOVE Park for its reproduction of Robert Indiana’s 1970 LOVE sculpture which overlooks the plaza, one of three located in Philadelphia.

Despite municipal bans and renovations designed to limit the activity, LOVE Park became one of the most famous and recognizable skateboarding spots in the world in the 1990s and 2000s

Former Philadelphia city planner Edmund Bacon and architect Vincent G. Kling planned and designed the original LOVE Park. The park was first proposed as part of Bacon’s Cornell architecture thesis in 1932 as a feature of a new city plan for Philadelphia. Once Bacon became Executive Director of the City Planning Commission, the architectural design of the park itself was completed by Kling.

The park was built in 1965 and covered an underground parking garage. The main feature of the plaza became a centrally-located single spout fountain added in 1969. The city’s visitor center (built in 1960, before LOVE Park) was closed for five years, but re-opened in 2006 as The Fairmount Park Welcome Center. The park was dedicated in 1967 as John F. Kennedy Plaza after President John F. Kennedy. A “LOVE” sculpture, designed by Robert Indiana, was first placed in the plaza in 1976 as part of the United States Bicentennial celebration. The sculpture was removed in 1978 after the celebration ended. However, the chairman of Philadelphia Art Commission, Fitz Eugene Dixon Jr., was able to purchase the sculpture and to have it permanently placed it in the plaza during that year.

Elfreths Alley

Elfreth’s Alley is a historic street in the Old City neighborhood of Philadelphia, dating back to 1703. The street has 32 houses, built between 1703 and 1836. The Elfreth’s Alley Museum is located at #124 and 126. The alley, a National Historic Landmark, runs from North Front to North 2nd streets, paralleling Arch and Quarry streets. Elfreth’s Alley is one of the oldest continuously inhabited residential streets in the United States. Located in Old City, Philadelphia, Elfreth’s Alley dates back to 1703 and is an exceptional collection of early American structures built between 1720 and 1836.

Fairmont Waterworks

The Fairmount Water Works in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, was Philadelphia’s second municipal waterworks. Designed in 1812 by Frederick Graff and built between 1812 and 1872, it operated until 1909, winning praise for its design and becoming a popular tourist attraction.

It now houses a restaurant and an interpretive center that explains the waterworks’ purpose and local watershed history. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976 for its architecture and its engineering innovations. It was the nation’s first water supply to use paddle wheels to move water.

Reading Terminal Makret

Reading Terminal Market is an enclosed public market located at 12th and Arch Streets in Center City Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It opened originally in 1893 under the elevated train shed of the Reading Railroad Company after the city of Philadelphia advocated to move public markets from the streets into indoor facilities for both safety and sanitary reasons

The market serves as a popular location for local Philadelphians to buy their goods and produce as well as singular culinary treats and unique merchandise

Boathouse Row

Boathouse Row is a historic site which is located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, on the east bank of the Schuylkill River just north of the Fairmount Water Works and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. It consists of a row of fifteen boathouses housing social and rowing clubs and their racing shells. Each of the boathouses has its own history, and all have addresses on both Boathouse Row and Kelly Drive, named after Philadelphia oarsman John B. Kelly Jr..

The boathouses are seen as centers of the rowing community around the United States. Rowers from the boathouses compete at every level, including local clubs, high schools, colleges, summer racing programs, and international-level athletics.

In 1979, lights designed by architectural lighting designer Ray Grenald were installed to outline each of the boathouses, giving them a nightly Christmas-like gingerbread house appearance and reflecting in the Schuylkill River. He proposed the lights after hearing talk of destroying the decaying Victorian boathouses. Lights on the buildings at night would serve to make them more noticed and appreciated. In 2005, after two refurbishings, the houses were outfitted with computerized LEDs that can light up in various colors, depending on the event or season.

Ben Franklins Grave

Christ Church Burial Ground in Philadelphia is an important early-American cemetery. It is the final resting place of Benjamin Franklin and his wife, Deborah. Four other signers of the Declaration of Independence are buried here, Benjamin Rush, Francis Hopkinson, Joseph Hewes, and George Ross. Two additional signers of the Declaration of Independence, James Wilson and Robert Morris, are buried at Christ Church just a few blocks away.

The Burial Ground was opened in 1719, and is still an active cemetery. The Burial Ground is open to the public for a small fee, weather permitting; about 100,000 tourists visit each year.

Ben Franklins Funeral
21 April 1790, Christ Church Burial Ground, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States

Benjamin Franklin was many things in his lifetime: a printer, a postmaster, an ambassador, an author, a scientist, and a Founding Father. Above all, he was an inventor, creating solutions to common problems, innovating new technology, and even making life a little more musical.

Franklin is known for his experiments with electricity – most notably the kite experiment – a fascination that began in earnest after he acc identally shocked himself in 1746. By 1749, he had turned his attention to the possibility of protecting buildings—and the people inside—from lightning strikes. Having noticed that a sharp iron needle conducted electricity away from a charged metal sphere, he theorized that such a design could be useful:
Ben Franklin Invented the lightning rod, Bi focals, Swimming Fins,

Ben Frankling had is son fly a kite with a key at the end of it in a storm. Franklin touched the key, causing the threads on the string to stand on end. The charge was collected in a Leyden jar, an antique electrical component capable of storing a high-voltage electric charge that could be released at a later date. The result? Franklin proved the presence of electricity as lightning.
He also used the lightning rod to draw the lightning away from his son keeping him safe. The Declaration of Independence states the principles on which our government, and our identity as Americans, are based. Unlike the other founding documents, the Declaration of Independence is not legally binding, but it is powerful.

Hollywood Add On

In-n-Out Burger

In-N-Out Burgers, doing business as In-N-Out Burger, is an American regional chain of fast food restaurants with locations primarily in California was founded in Baldwin Park, California, in 1948 by Harry (1913–1976) and Esther Snyder (1920–2006).

The In-N-Out menu consists of three burger varieties: hamburger, cheeseburger, and “Double-Double” (two hamburger patties and two slices of cheese). French fries and fountain drinks are available, as well as three flavours of milkshakes. The hamburgers come with lettuce, tomato, with or without onions (the customer is asked upon ordering, and may have them fresh or grilled), and a sauce, which is called “spread” (a Thousand Island dressing variant).

In-N-Out prints Bible citations in small print on areas of packaging (such as “John 3:16“, “Proverbs 3:5“, “Proverbs 24:16“, “Nahum 1:7“, “Luke 6:35” and “Revelation 3:20“).They are primarily found on the bottom underside of drink cups and the wrappers that hold their burgers together. This practice began in the 1980s during Rich Snyder’s presidency, a reflection of the evangelical Christian beliefs held by the Snyder family.

Walmart

Sam Walton was a man with visionary leadership, and the Walmart business is a result of that. Since the first Walmart opened in 1962 in Rogers, Arkansas, we’ve been dedicated to making a difference in the lives of our customers. Today, they are helping communities save money and live better all over the world.

In the 1970’s, a decade of incredible growth, “Mr. Sam” begins to take Walmart national, providing his vision’s widespread appeal.

In the 1980s, the first Sam’s Club opens, serving small businesses and individuals, and the first Walmart Supercenter opens, combining a supermarket with general merchandise.

Walmart reaches $1 billion in annual sales, faster than any other company at that time.

Walmart has 276 stores and employs 21,000 associates.

By 1990, Walmart is the nation’s No. 1 retailer. As the Walmart Supercenter redefines convenience and one-stop shopping, Everyday Low Prices goes international.

2000s Walmart enters the new millennium dedicated to offering customers a seamless shopping experience, whether they are online, in a store or on a mobile device.

Walmart U.S.: 4,606.
Sam’s Club U.S.: 599.
Walmart International: 5,414.

Target – 1,956 stores in the US

KMART stores in the US – 11

Hollywood Stars Homes Tour

The Original Movie Stars’ Homes Tour created in 1935 is the most famous and popular tour in Los Angeles. Our professional guests bring you to the most exclusive Beverly Hills opulent estates, and the actual places where they live, work, eat and play.

Visiting Hollywood Walk of Fame, Hollywood Sign, Beverly Hills and famous Celebrity Houses

You may see star homes such as: Michael Jackson, Al Pacino, Halle Berry, Dr. Phil, Lucille Ball, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, Elton John, Simon Cowell, Ozzy Osbourne, Charlize Theron, Bob Barker, Bruno Mars, Katy Perry, Justin Timberlake, Carrie Fisher, Gwen Stefani, Will Ferrell, and more!

Hollywood Walk of Fame

Sunset Boulevard

Hollywood Boulevard

Graumans Chinese Theatre

Madame Tausauds

Hollwywood Sign

Warner Brothers Backlot Tour

Paramount Backlot Tour

Griffith Park and Observatory

Universal Studios Hollywood

San Francisco Add On

Lombard Street – Crookedest Street in the World

Everything you needed to know about Lombard Street, “The Crookedest Street in the World,” one of San Francisco’s most famous sights.

Known as the “Crookedest Street in the World,” Lombard Street is one of San Francisco’s most popular landmarks. Every year, millions of visitors walk or drive down its eight sharp hairpin turns. Surrounded by Russian Hill mansions and perfectly manicured landscaping and flowers, it is also one of the city’s most scenic streets. Take a spectacular photo at the bottom looking up or enjoy the breathtaking view from the top looking out onto the San Francisco Bay, the Bay Bridge and Coit Tower.

It wasn’t until the 1960s, 30 years after the hairpin turns were added that it started showing up on postcards.

Why is Lombard Street Crooked?

It may look treacherous, but Lombard Street’s switchbacks were built to increase the safety of the street. The natural steep grade was thought to be too dangerous. In the 1920s, a property owner suggested creating a series of switchbacks which not only added to the street’s scenic appeal but made it safer for pedestrians.

Lombard Street Fun Facts

Although it is known as the “Crookedest Street in the World,” Lombard St. is not even the “crookedest” street in San Francisco. That title technically belongs to Vermont Street between 20th and 22nd streets on Potrero Hill. The Bring Your Own Big Wheel Race, held every Easter Sunday, that features people racing on big-wheeled plastic bikes started on Lombard St. before moving to Vermont St.

Another fun fact: Lombard Street did not become an icon overnight. It wasn’t until the 1960s, 30 years after the hairpin turns were added that it started showing up on postcards. Why? It didn’t gain that monumental beauty that makes it such a well-photographed area until they planted the hydrangea bushes, which you’ll now find in bloom for nearly the entire year. The name Lombard actually has no link to San Francisco history. It is named after a street in Philadelphia.

Painted Ladies – Full House

While most of the show was filmed at the Warner Bros. Studios in Los Angeles, the exterior shots of the Full House house were shot in San Francisco, California. When watching the iconic opening credits of the show, one might think the Tanner family lived in one of the Painted Ladies (or Postcard Row) on Steiner Street. In reality, the Tanners lived about a mile north of Alamo Square Park, at 1709 Broderick Street in Lower Pacific Heights, an affluent neighborhood rich in history, architecture, and culture.

The Victorian home, built by famed architect Charles Lewis Hinkel, is distinctly San Franciscan, with intricate moldings, bay windows, a brick stoop, and a red front door. It’s a real-estate-lover’s dream. You can visit the home, as well as Hinkel’s personal residence, a transitional Second French Empire home at 280 Divisadero Street in the Lower Haight neighborhood

The iconic more than century-old Victorian house is located in the city’s Lower Pacific Heights neighborhood. The three-level, 3,737 square-foot house was built in 1883 and renovated in 2019, according to The Swann Group, who listed the home online. 1709 Broderick Street sold for $5.35 million in October of 2020, according to Zillow.

Golden Gate Bridge

Golden Gate Bridge, suspension bridge spanning the Golden Gate in California to link San Francisco with Marin county to the north. Upon its completion in 1937, it was the tallest and longest suspension bridge in the world. The Golden Gate Bridge came to be recognized as a symbol of the power and progress of the United States, and it set a precedent for suspension-bridge design around the world. Although other bridges have since surpassed it in size, it remains incomparable in the magnificence of its setting and is said to be the most photographed bridge in the world. It carries both U.S. Route 101 and California State Route 1 (Pacific Coast Highway) across the strait and features a pedestrian walkway.

The bridge’s orange vermilion color, suggested by consulting architect Irving Morrow, has a dual function, both fitting in with the surrounding natural scenery and being clearly visible to ships in fog. At night the bridge is floodlit and shines with a golden luminescence that reflects off the waters of the bay and creates a magical effect.

The Golden Gate Bridge, completed in 1937, cost approximately $35 million to build. Adjusted for inflation, this amount would be equivalent to over $1 billion today. The funding for the project came from a combination of federal and state funds, as well as bonds issued by the bridge’s construction authority.

Construction took a total of 1,604 days or a little over 4 years and 4 1/2 months. Work began on January 5, 1933, and the Bridge opened to vehicular traffic on May 28, 1937.

The main cables rest on top of the 746-foot main towers in huge steel castings called saddles. Diameter of one main cable including the exterior wrapping is 36 3/8 in (0.92 m). Length of one main cable is 7,650 ft (2,332 m). Total length of galvanized steel wire used in both main cables is 80,000 mi (129,000 km).

Steiner Street – Mrs Doubtfire

San Francisco has been the backdrop for many beloved films, but few capture the city’s scenic beauty and unique charm quite like “Mrs. Doubtfire.” The 1993 comedy starring the late Robin Williams showcased his remarkable comedic talent and highlighted some of San Francisco’s most iconic locations.

A “Mrs. Doubtfire” tour of San Francisco is more than a walk down memory lane; it’s a tribute to Robin Williams’s humor and big heart. Whether you’re a longtime fan or new to “Mrs. Doubtfire”’s magic, these sites offer a unique way to experience the city through the lens of one of its most cherished films and local talents.

The Hillard House was at 2640 Steiner St.

One of the most recognizable locations from the film is the Hillard family home. Located in the picturesque Pacific Heights neighborhood, this house served as the exterior of the family’s residence. Fans of the film will remember the memorable scenes of Mrs. Doubtfire’s comical entrances and exits. While it’s now a private residence, you can still snap photos from the street and admire the beautiful architecture that captured the essence of San Francisco.

Mias House – Princess Diaries

Sliding down the fire pole to her kitchen is part of Mia’s morning routine as she gets ready for school. You can find the decommissioned fire station that served as the establishing shot of Mia’s home in the Excelsior District.

Lana Gets Coned – Princess Diaries

Mia realizes her inner self-confidence when she stands up to her high school bully, Lana, smothering the cheerleader’s crisp white uniform with a chocolate ice cream cone. As her classmates chant, “Lana got coned! Lana got coned!” a pre-Grey’s Anatomy Sandra Oh, portraying Principal Gupta, shrugs and says, “Send it out for dry cleaning!”

While Grove High School isn’t real, the exterior film location of the high school is a real-life private residence on Lyon Street.

Cable Cars

Cable cars were invented by Andrew Smith Hallidie here in San Francisco in 1873. Hallidie’s cable car system was based on early mining conveyance systems and dominated the city’s transit scene for more than 30 years. Hallidie’s cable car system would survive the great San Francisco earthquake and fires of 1906, soldier on through two World Wars and outlast political attempts to remove the cars from city streets in the late 1940s and 1950s to become the worldwide symbol of San Francisco that it is today.

Andrew Smith Hallidie tested the first cable car at 4 o’clock in the morning, August 2, 1873, on San Francisco’s Clay Street. His idea for a steam engine-powered, cable driven rail system was conceived in 1869, after witnessing horses being whipped while they struggled on the wet cobblestones to pull a horsecar up Jackson Street.

Alcatraz Prison

Alcatraz Island, named after the Spanish word “Alcatraces,” meaning “pelican” or “strange bird,” was first mapped by Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala in 1775. In 1850, a presidential order designated the island as a U.S. military reservation. The U.S. Army constructed a fortress there in the early 1850s to protect San Francisco Bay during the Gold Rush, and it became the most fortified site on the West Coast, complete with the first operational lighthouse in the region. Alcatraz’s defensive role diminished over time, but it continued to serve as a military prison.

In 1909, the U.S. Army built a new military prison on the island, which later became known as “The Rock.” In 1933, Alcatraz was transferred to the U.S. Department of Justice, transforming into a maximum-security federal penitentiary intended to house the most challenging inmates, signalling the government’s crackdown on crime in the 1920s and 1930s.

Among Alcatraz’s notable inmates was Robert Stroud, the “Birdman of Alcatraz,” who gained fame for his bird studies while incarcerated. Stroud spent 17 years at Alcatraz, mainly in segregation and the prison hospital, before being transferred elsewhere in 1959.

During its 29 years as a federal prison (1934-1963), there were 14 escape attempts involving 36 prisoners. Of these, 23 were captured, 6 were killed, and 2 drowned. Five inmates remain “missing and presumed drowned.” Officially, no prisoner succeeded in escaping from Alcatraz.

The prison closed in 1963 due to high operating costs, not because of escape attempts. It was three times more expensive to run than other federal prisons. In 1972, Alcatraz became part of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area and opened to the public in 1973, quickly becoming a popular tourist destination with over a million visitors each year.

Fishermans Wharf

The majority of the northern waterfront of the San Francisco area is claimed as the charming and historic neighbourhood of “Fisherman’s Wharf.” When the days of the California Gold Rush were in full swing, Chinese immigrants swarmed here to fish for all kinds of under-the-sea delicacies for the growing city. They caught everything from shrimp, oysters, crabs, and tons of others. Italian immigrants joined the wharf and made a living catching seafood, as well. The wharf was one of the biggest growing neighbourhoods in the area since people found out they could make a living on their own simply by throwing out a pole and selling it later that day.

Fisherman’s Wharf is a neighborhood and popular tourist attraction in San Francisco, California, United States. It roughly encompasses the northern waterfront area of San Francisco from Ghirardelli Square or Van Ness Avenue east to Pier 35 or Kearny Street. The F Market streetcar runs through the area, the Powell / Hyde cable car line runs to Aquatic Park, at the edge of Fisherman’s Wharf, and the Powell / Mason cable car line runs a few blocks away.

In 1884, the first state-owned Fisherman’s Wharf was built at the foot of Union Street, jutting out from the shore on a north by northeast angle, comprising a long narrow rectangle about 450 feet long and 150 feet wide, with an entrance along the leeward eastern side.

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