An amazingly cool experience for locals and visitors…read more My husband summed it up... "That is the best tour I have ever been on" and "I look at the neighborhood entirely differently now." We walked around Gowanus, got schooled on graffiti and street art, visited a studio, talked neighborhood history, learned architecture stories past and future, met an artist and her dog on a bridge, found art objects left by another artist to be "gifted to the finder." Loved by kids (8 years) and adults.

Rich was incredible and flexible. Our group had a great time on two separate tours with him.read more

We did the Greenwich Village ghost tour and it was literally the worst tour I have ever been on…read more Our tour guide told rambling stories that often had nothing to do with ghosts. She was not engaging, seemed tired, told us of all her physical ailments as part of the tour and paused awkwardly and often during her narration. The stories were delivered in the manner of a 7th grader giving an oral report in history class. The police even rolled up at one point as we were standing in front of someone's house and our guide just turned around and walked off in the middle of what she was saying. Ghost tours are basically just entertainment with well told stories given out in spooky locations and this was none of those.

Can't visit a whole new city without doing any historic/ghost tour. I'm always excited about the…read morestories behind old establishments and places that are new to me. This tour as in hour, walking tour around Greenwich Village. Our guide, Tony gave us interesting informations about the places we visited. We started off at the Washington Square Arch then ventured off the neighborhood. I saw whet Mark Twain used to live and ghost from the past always make an apparition. I never see any ghost from all the tours I've done but hearing the stories about it makes me excited. New York has a lot of history, this is just one tour and there are som much more neighborhood to visit. I'd definitely do another tour from this company for another neighborhood.

Last Wednesday Helga and I were visiting the Conservatory Garden. Now this garden is diagonally…read moreopposite the Museum of the City of New York. Here is Chalsty's Cafe that features Amy's Bread. When I came here I went straight to the cafe to have lunch as I had worked out and hadn't eaten anything. I chose a chicken side salad, cheese biscuit, an Everything cookie and a hot skim cappuccino. After eating I felt renewed and went to the garden. Later we both returned to the cafe and Helga had refreshments. This cafe has some good food but it isn't grand. This museum is free on Wednesdays and the cafe is open till 9 pm in the summer months.

I came here on a Sunday afternoon. I was looking for an activity to do and wanted to go somewhere…read morein the city that I hadn't been to before. The museum is pay-what-you-wish for all New York residents, which is very nice! The main exhibit is about the history of New York City between the early 1600s and the present day. There is a mix of informational panels, artifacts, maps, and brief biographies of notable residents. There were about three special exhibits on display when I visited. The most interesting (in my opinion) of these was the history of protests and social movements in the city. It's worth a trip if you haven't been. I think both a tourist and local could appreciate this museum.

This exhibit is a most for everyone, especially Hip Hop fans!…read more Wowww! Its like we were transported back in time, an amazing trip down memory lane. This exhibit provides a little bit of everything with lots of fun and learning. I cant wait until the open the permanent museum space.

No experience during this visit because it was already closed down for some reason until the Winter.read more

Today I was able to explore the Bronx County Historical Society for the very first time and it was…read morea very fun experience for sure. Now if you've read my lifestyle website, Piercing Ken dotcom (shameless plug), you know that I love exploring a wide assortment of museum exhibits and art openings along with the occasional special launches. Back in April, the Society debuted an exhibit called "Uptown Rumble", which was dedicated to the Metal, Rock, Punk and Hardcore bands that launched in the Bronx. This was a great idea when one considers how members of KISS, Twisted Sister, The Dictators and New York Dolls all called The Bronx their home. This interesting exhibit will run until 1/12/26 so if you're curious about checking it out you don't have a whole lot of time left to look into it. So the museum itself is quaint but very fascinating and is located in the Valentine-Varian House, near Montefiore Medical Center. For me it was a steady, and very long D train ride but then only a few short blocks walk up Bainbridge Avenue. I was told that they are open to the public on the weekends and since I was doing a media appointment I was able to secure some private time today without anyone else milling about. Having a limited window, I only examined the main floor rooms, two of which were for the "Uptown Rumble" presentation and the other for a small George Romero exhibit. I would discover that the rest of that one is running concurrently at the Poe House and since time was not on my side I was unable to visit that location for the rest. There is a historical piece on one of the opposing hall walls and I observed some sports figures on the other side but since I was on a clock, I had to focus on my needs before letting them get back to work. Everything here is dedicated to and focused on being from The Bronx which is nice to find existing even though I'm from faraway Brooklyn. Though I didn't detect an open Wi-Fi, there was a restroom downstairs that was able to be used by the public. As I was pressed for time I didn't get to look around any further downstairs or investigate the upstairs section. Part of me feels that upstairs would be office space for the folks that maintain the museum and curate the exhibits or for talks but this is just a guess. Though I cannot ascertain when my return will be I would like to check the place out once again provided the exhibit matches a need by one of my websites. That's all I've got on this one and as mentioned earlier, if the "Uptown Rumble" exhibit interests you, there are only a few short weeks remaining to examine it.

During this strange world, I've been enjoying taking advantage of all the amazing virtual…read moreopportunities out there we may not otherwise get because of our world circumstances. One of these opportunities includes The New York Adventure Club, a tour company that in typical times hosts in-person "adventures" around New York. I love the idea of a group of citizen experts showing off all the awesome things in their city. In normal times, it looks like they tour museums, historical sites and lots of hidden "secrets" around the city. I've always been interested in the arts and history of New York and have really enjoyed hoping on these virtual experiences. So far, I've attended two virtual events, "The Secrets of TriBeCa: Lofts, Artists, & Alleyways" led by Gardiner and "The Famous Gilded Age Balls that Forever Changed NYC" led by Kristen. I would easily attend more. I was really impressed with the breadth of knowledge of these guides, and how much time, energy and thought was put into the research and assembly of these webinars. In particular, Gardiner grew up in TriBeCa and had such a personal spin to his entire virtual event, which was super cool. For a $10 ticket to these online events, you're getting so much more in value. I'm so pleasantly thrilled with the type of content they offer and will definitely be attending more of these in the future. If you live outside of NYC, definitely consider hopping on one of these fantastic events and learning something new! Love this cool business.

I attended a Brunch Classics cooking class at Essex Market on Saturday, August 13, 2022 organized…read moreby New York Adventure Club and was stunned that even though this was an indoor event with approximately 12 people sitting ultra-closely side by side around a prep island, that the class leader, Chef Jon Lovitch was permitted to actively discourage mask wearing among the participants during his opening remarks. His reasoning was that in eating some of the dishes he would be preparing, we would get "cinnamon and sugar all over our mouths," and therefore he emphasized we should NOT wear a mask throughout the class since the CDC had recently relaxed those guidelines, and "we should all be getting back to normal." It was obvious that I was the only mask wearer and that I would continue to wear my mask in response, so he turned to me in front of everyone and asked if I was OK with everyone else not wearing a mask, essentially trying to pressure me into removing mine. I resisted the combination of both public peer pressure and mask-shaming and did not remove it except to eat and then I kept those moments ultra-brief. I'm a breast cancer survivor and have to be extra careful at indoor events where people are seated in close proximity to one another and are not wearing masks. In other instances of ultra-poor planning by the New York Adventure Club, It should be noted that no napkins were provided together with the food-sampling plates and forks, which was curious as either purposeful or an oversight given the heavy-duty negative pressure not to wear masks from the class leader; that the elevator to the floor with the demo kitchen where the class was being held was turned off to that floor so that someone in a wheelchair could not even reach the class at all; that only two of the four recipes were printed out and those were only distributed at the end of the class, preventing someone from taking notes on the recipes in real time as with most well-run cooking classes; and that when I tried to speak to the group's owner, Corey William Schneider, who was in attendance at the class at all times, he brushed me off completely and told me to only give him feedback at the end of the class (he was busy taking photos throughout but otherwise remained completely silent). In short, I can't recommend any of this group's in-person events, because there is not a sufficient emphasis on protecting the health and well-being of participants, and if you read their other Yelp reviews, you'll see that many of their events actually end up getting cancelled. I also believe they may be violating the Americans With Disabilities Act with some of their lack of organization and socially irresponsible messaging. So if you have any kind of health condition or are disabled, please be very careful about attending any of this group's in-person events. And if you attend any of their cooking classes with Chef Jon Lovitch, you should be prepared to resist concerted pressure to remove your mask if you are someone who typically wears one at indoor events where you're sitting side by side with a lot of other people who aren't mask wearers. Each person has to decide about mask wearing for themselves now, but I don't think the New York Adventure Club should be actively supporting not wearing masks in close quarters, or they risk litigation should someone becomes ill as a result.

What an wonderful and unique way to learn about Chinatown back in the day. Roger took us through…read morethe streets of Chinatown, providing historical context along with his own personal experiences. To top it off, we met up with a former gang member who spoke candidly about his experiences.

I brought a group of students from the school I work at to the Underground Tour, and they had a…read moregreat time! Our guides were very knowledgeable, engaging, and made the tour really interesting from start to finish. There are a lot of tours in Chinatown, but this one is definitely different. A lot of the others feel pretty touristy and cover the same information you can easily find online. This tour goes beyond that and shares stories and history you wouldn't hear anywhere else. It doesn't just focus on the gangs. It also talks about what the neighborhood was like, the families who lived there, and how the community grew over the years.

You can see all of Banksy's work here! Considering most of is it painted over and/or no longer…read moreavailable for viewing this collection is quite special. I hadn't realized just how current his themes are and just how relevant the messages remain. Among my favorites are his tribute to rats, who exist and survive and sometimes thrive without permission, and I love that he turned a classic painting into a cry against consumerism. The hotel was fun to see as well. I didn't even know I loved Banksy until I came here. Definitely visit at least once if you're in the area!

5/25/2026 Been eyeing this museum for a bit making visits to…read moreNY and finally bought the tickets ( on Groupon ). The maze style of this exhibit had something new waiting around every corner. I throughly enjoyed the 3 and 4D presentation of the art and of course the girl with the heart ballon. This has something for the whole family and a gift shop to take souvenirs home. Stop by when you visit canal street for sure