The New York City Traveler

Today’s guest post is from Mary Jo Manzanares, Travel & Culture Channel Editor and travel blogger at Flyaway Cafe.
United Nations Day, October 24th, was first declared in 1948, and honors the anniversary of the effective date of the Charter of the United Nations. This day is devoted to promoting and celebrating the aims and achievements of the U.N.
The United Nations Headquarters is located along the East River, at 760 United Nations Plaza, on First Avenue between 42nd & 48th (map it). The complex consists of the Secretariat Building, the domed General Assembly Building, the Conference Building and the Hammarskjold …read more

Comments Off

Governors Island is what myths are made of.  Located in New York Harbor between Lower Manhattan and Brooklyn, most New Yorkers have never set foot on the island and most of America has never even heard of the island.  The exclusiveness of the island is for good reason: Governors Island was owned by the U.S. government and was used as a Coast Guard facility until 1995, thus prohibiting visits from civilians.  On the tourism side, Governors Island isn’t listed in most guidebooks or tourist maps, leading visitors to wonder exactly lies on the unmarked island.  The island once shrouded …read more

3 Comments

The days are counting down to the U.S. premier of “Sex and the City: The Movie” and New York City is being overrun by fans eager to sample Magnolia Bakery’s famous cupcakes chased by a Cosmo. 
There are several tour companies vying for your dollar, ready to load you onto a double-decker bus and cruise the streets of Manhattan, rolling past some of Sex and the City’s hotspots.  But if you’re not interested in making reservations, paying big bucks, and getting lost in the crowd, I gathered a list of some of the most memorable filming locations and attached …read more

2 Comments

DUMBO, once a sleepy neighborhood of warehouses on the “other” side of the Manhattan Bridge, has quickly become an art lovers destination.  Galleries abound, this small enclave of Brooklyn boasts dozens of art centers, galleries, and studios that display, sell, and create some of the most avant-garde art in the five boroughs.
The first Thursday of each month, serious art collectors and casual browsers convene on the streets of DUMBO for the First Thursday Gallery Walk.  Area galleries and artists’ studios are open for visitors and area restaurants and bars often have live music.  There are a number of artist …read more

1 Comment

New York can be a very daunting city to get to know. There are numerous tour companies that take visitors from tourist attraction-to-tourist attraction. Visitors often spend days in the city and leave without ever seeing anything beyond Times Square and the Statue of Liberty. If you really want to get to know New York City, from the perspective of a New Yorker, take a walking tour with Big Apple Greeter.
Big Apple Greeter offers free private walking tours of New York neighborhoods. You choose the neighborhood and Big Apple Greeters matches you with a volunteer Greeter …read more

1 Comment

Aah yes… spring is just around the corner.  The daffodils and tulips are beginning to peek out of the ground and the once-dormant grass is again growing.  Spring also means a new schedule of foraging tours in Central Park led by Steve “Wildman” Brill.  Usually, New York City and nature are not two words that are synonymous, but Brill, a self-taught naturalist, is changing that and showing New Yorkers the incredible eco-diversity that can be found in the city. 
Outfitted in his signature safari hat, Brill has been leading foraging tours in Central Park since the early eighties, introducing …read more

1 Comment

For many immigrants to the United States, the first stop was Ellis Island and the second stop was Manhattan’s Lower East Side.  The unassuming building at 97 Orchard Street on the Lower East Side was home to an estimated 7,000 people from more than 20 countries between 1863 and 1935.  The building is now a designated National Historic Site and houses the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.  The museum offers tours of carefully restored apartments with the mission to promote better understanding of the lives of the immigrant working-class and poor that lived in this gateway to America.
The LES …read more

Comments Off

Monday, January 21st marks Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day.  There are a number of activities planned in New York City that honor Dr. King and his commitment to peace and equality.

Day of Service   In 1994 Congress passed the King Holiday and Service Act, designating the holiday as a national day of volunteer service.   Think of it as a day on, not a day off and volunteer.  There are nearly 300 New York-area volunteer opportunities listed at the Martin Luther King Jr. Day of Service website. 
Victims of the Zeitgeist  Ellwoodson Williams directs his new off-off Broadway drama about Martin …read more

Comments Off

The second stop on Statue of Liberty-bound ferries is Ellis Island. Originally called Gibbet Island by the British, more than 12 million immigrants were processed through Ellis Island during its sixty-two years of operation.
In 1990, after a major $162 million renovation, the Ellis Island Museum of Immigration reopened for visitors. Ellis Island’s Main Hall features self-guided exhibits that chronicle the island’s role in immigration history and include artifacts, photographs, prints, videos, interactive displays, and oral histories.
If you would like to find out if your family passed through Ellis Island you can use the online database to search …read more

3 Comments

Standing proudly in New York Harbor, The Statue of Liberty is not just a symbol of New York, but of America and it’s enduring freedom. Liberty Enlightening the World, the full name of the Statue of Liberty, is an iconic must-see sight in New York.
The Statue of Liberty is comprised of Gustave Eiffel’s (designer of the Eiffel Tower) iron-framework design and is the creation of Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi. It took Bartholdi ten years, from 1974-1884 to bolt the thin copper sheets together and create the 151-foot masterpiece.
Shipped from France to the United States in hundreds of pieces in 1884, …read more

4 Comments