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Rockefeller Center Feeling December 24 2014
A national historic landmark in the heart of Midtown Manhattan, famous for many things "Top of the Rock", the shopping and dinning area, "The Rainbow Room" and of course during the winter season the ice skating rink and the nation's most famous Christmas tree.
The Art Deco style gives it its special classy and elegant look. Built in the midst of the Great Depression, its construction, which lasted 9 years, was a monumental undertaking that captivated the press and the public. It was a great source of jobs, controversy and nail-biting suspense.
Enjoy the video that captures the ambiance well.
NYC's Shopping Windows in Holiday Season December 22 2014
New York is a big, beautifully wrapped package stamped with the words Please Open Before Christmas. Window shopping is an incredible experience in December, when Manhattan's department stores reveal their holiday window displays.
Festive store windows have been a New York City holiday tradition since the 1870s. Macy's started featuring dolls in Christmas scenes. Ever since then, the scenes have transformed into elaborate, animated and interactive displays at all the major department stores along Fifth Avenue. A combination of art, design, sound engineering, animation, fashion, marketing and whimsy have helped make the displays an integral part of the holiday season.
The planning starts a year in advance when the designer start creating the look, the manufacturing of the pieces follows and by the end of November most of the decoration is installed.
Google Maps adds more perk to the Christmas shopping spree by giving Web shoppers a holiday tour, sans the freezing weather. Google updates the Business View feature of Google Maps so shoppers can have a detailed imagery of some store fronts which are clad with Christmas decor.
The holiday window panoramics is a way for locals and people all over the world to see the decorations without having to go through the shopping madness in Midtown or even travel to New York.
To explore the holiday window views, simply locate the store on Google Maps and then click "see inside."
USA TODAY filmed the biggest stores and their store window decoration, in case you are unable to make it to Manhattan you can take a look here
Why is New York City different December 16 2014
New York City has many nicknames, The Big Apple, The City That Never Sleeps, Gotham, The Capital of the World. Other cites like Shanghai have a breathtaking skyline, Paris has it's beauty and elegance, Rom the culture and the history, Rio de Janeiro the incredible parties and nightlife, Tokyo the advanced technology but one nickname in particular describes New York's character and explains what is so special about this place and why there is no other city like New York. It's the nickname "The Melting Pot".
The poem of Emma Lazarus on the Statue of Liberty "The New Colossus" might not apply to the US anymore or at least not as much as in the past but it still represents New York which in many ways is its own country anyway.
Over 37 percent of New York City residents were born in an another country. 3.07 million foreign-born immigrants live in New York City, more than in any other city in the world.
The largest Chines community outside China is China Town in Manhattan, the second is Flushing in Queens. Over 70 percent of the Queens neighborhood Elmhurst population is born outside the US.
This "tiered, poor and huddled masses" are unlike everywhere else on this planet embraced and welcomed, treated form day one as one of their own and equal, and they value it and return the favor to their fellow New Yorkers. In New York, immigrants are not only more likely to own small businesses than the native born, they are also more likely to be working. In fact, such is the immigrant role in New York’s economy that they dominate whole industries, from dry cleaners and grocery stores to taxi services and day care.
The diverse cultures are what creates the special spirit, the energy, the charisma and the way of life in New York. This is unique and one-of-a-kind and impossible to clone which makes the city original and at last different.
New York City Feeling December 10 2014
The streets and the skyline of Manhattan are something special, wondering around the city that never sleeps will arouse unique feelings, inspiring yet intriguing. The spirit of the people who come from all over the world and live in admiration for other cultures will make you understand that New York City is a place like no other on this planet. Leaving New York is never easy.
Tree Lighting Party at Rockefeller Center December 04 2014
The most important Christmas Tree of a nation was illuminated yesterday night.
Thousands gathered in the heart of Manhattan to experience and celebrate the 82nd annual lighting as they watched the 85-foot-tall and 13 ton Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center.
The unlit Rockefeller Center Christmas tree usually arrives in mid-November. After being decorated by 45,000 environmentally friendly LED lights the tree is being lit early December. Broadcasted in many parts of the world and followed by thousands at Rockefeller Center the ceremony is know as one of the most famous Christmas Shows on the planet.
LeAnn Rimes and Mariah Carey were among the stars who hit the stage and they were not shy about flaunting their curves in front of the thousands who gathered for the ceremony.
The tree lighting event has grown over the years, but first began in 1933. The tree will stay up until 8pm on January 7th, 2015 and will be illuminated from 5:30 A.M. – 11:30 P.M. daily, all day (24 hours) on Christmas Day and 5:30 A.M. – 9 P.M. on New Year’s Eve.
Rockefeller Center, The Making-Of November 25 2014
Prince William and Kate Middleton Coming to NYC November 23 2014
Free Wi-Fi for Everybody November 21 2014
Prohibition Era November 19 2014
It is easy to forget in America today, where alcohol flows so freely, that Prohibition - the so called noble experiment - lasted full 14 years, and had actually started even earlier, with the wartime restrictions dating back to 1917.
The 18th Amendment, passed by Congress in December 1917 and ratified by the majority of the states in January 1919, was the outgrowth of years of temperance crusading in America. While there was always a moralistic tone to the temperance movement, there was also a genuine desire to improve public health. In no era did Americans drink as much as they did in the late 19th century. Alcohol was cheap, it was served at saloons that acted as de facto community centers, and it was considered by most immigrant New Yorkers to be safer than water. In Tompkins Square Park, in the middle of Kleindeutschland Henry Congswell, a crusading dentist from San Francisco, set up a temperance fountain in 1888 to provide clean drinking water and convince the Germans there to stop drinking beer - and stop feeding it to their children. Similarly, a working dairy was planned for Center Park directly next to the German children's playground (called the Kinderberg), where children would be provided with fee, uncontaminated milk. ( The rustic Dairy was built, but no cows were ever brought tot eh park and it ended up as a restaurant. Today its the Park's gift shop and visitors center.)
By 1919, enough Americans were convinced of the perils of drinking the give Prohibition a try. However, as soon as the law took effect in 1920, it was thwarted at every turn, and as the Roaring Twenties progressed, the speakeasy culture that flowered in New York completely altered its cultural landscape. Many people who had never been drinking started consuming because it was socially expected. Women, who in victorian America would never have entered a men's club, now found themselves on more equal social footing in the relaxing atmosphere of the speakeasies. And in Harlem, where whites went in droves to hear jazz and to give themselves a sense that they were doing something exotic and transgressive, white and black people drank together as equals for the first time.
Soon, places to drink fell into two categories: cabarets, which offered legitimate entreatment and served alcohol on the sly, and speakeasies, which, because they only served alcohol, were hidden from the view. Though linguist argue about the origins of the term, "speakeasy" likely comes from 19th century London, where "speak softly shops" were established to get around Victorian liquor licensing laws.
In New York, speakeasies multiplied rapidly; every time the state or federal government tried to step up enforcement, more illegal bars opened. Within a decade the number of places to drink has had doubled, from 16,000 before the passage of the Volstead Act 32,000. Some were in the cellars of old homes; some were former bars that masked themselves as legitimate businesses while still serving alcohol.
To relive this times see here
Thriller on 68th Floor November 13 2014
The Fire department of New York rescued two window washers trapped for 90 minutes outside the 1 World Trade Center.
The window washing rig was tilted into an almost vertical angle, one worker on each side of the podium.
The firefighters comunicated with the men by using hand signals.
FDNY used a special diamond-toothed saw to cut a hole trough the layers of glass and pulled the workers inside.
Both man are well off they suffered mild hypothermia and were treated but released on the same day.
New Fulton Center Subway Station Open for Business November 10 2014
A Glimpse Into J.LO's New Apartment November 08 2014
Every unit spans a full floor and has a private floor with private keyed elevators access.
Overlooking the Madison Square Park
For a sprawling 6,500-square-foot, two-story duplex penthouse on the fifth and sixth floors, J.Lo paid $22 million earlier this month. The penthouse includes two staircases, two living rooms and two washer-dryer units, as well as 3,000 square feet of outdoor terrace space divided over two levels.
After 13 Years Freedom Tower Opens Its Doors November 06 2014
Thirteen years after the 9/11 terrorist attack, the resurrected World Trade Center is again opening for business.
One World Trade Center should be about two-thirds leased by the end of 2014. New agreements are signed, said Douglas Durst, a co-developer of the skyscraper, which opened to tenants on November 3rd.
Photographs released on the opening day show areas of the building open to the public, including the lobby, reception and the spotless hallways leading to trains and the street.
The main lobby entrance
The Media Company Conde Nast is one of the first tenants
The hallway leading to the train station
The Experience when going trough this entrance is unique
The elevators
The view from the tallest building in the western hemisphere
Empire State Building Halloween Light Show November 02 2014
From all the high-rises in Manhattan King Kong chose to climb up the Empire State Building he didn't have just great taste in women. This year, for Halloween The Empire State Building was treating us with a fascinating light-show to sounds of the program on iHeartMedia, Z100 and 103.5 KTU and songs like "This Is Halloween," "Ghostbusters," "Monster Mash," "Halloween" and "Somebody's Watching Me."
On October 31, 2014, the Empire State Building synchronized its world-famous LED tower lights to Halloween hits that were broadcast on iHeartMedia’s powerhouse radio stations Z100 and 103.5 KTU.
How Wall Street Got Its Name November 02 2014
Peter Stuyvesant
Best 10 Celebrity Halloween Costumes November 02 2014
Blue Ivy Looks Adorable In Her Michael Jackson Costume…and Check Out Beyoncé as Rhythm Nation-era Janet!
Vanessa Hudgens posted her vampire costume on Instagram.
Heidi Klum on Times Square in New York.
Katy Perry – Arriving at Kate Hudson’s Halloween Bash in Brentwood
Neil Patrick Harris' Family Wears Impressive Gotham-Themed Halloween Costumes
Jennifer Lopez, 45, slips into red Latex devil outfit
Kim Kardashian as Anna Wintour and North West as André Leon Talley
Miley Cyrus as Dolly Parton
Paris Hilton, isn't she adorable and soooooo innocent
The only possible choice in her case of course a cat, Sofia Vergara!
The World Largest Marathon November 01 2014
WTC #1, The Roof to the Top of the World October 30 2014
One World Trade Center has disclosed ticket rates for its One World Observatory deck. The building's 100, 101, and 102 floors will open to the public in spring 2015.
Adult admission (people ages 13 to 64) will be $32. For children ages 6-12, the fee will be $26 (children five and under will be free but need a ticket). Seniors (65+) will pay $30.
Complimentary admission will be offered to 9/11 family members and 9/11 rescue and recovery workers. A discounts will be available to active and retired members of the U.S. military.
Visitors can spend time at the observation deck's other convenience, like its restaurants, bar, or retail area, or its City Pulse station where staff will be available to tell guests details about the views.
the official logo
You can experience what the rooftop of the tallest building in the western hemisphere will look like in the following video.
Metropolitan Opera October 26 2014
Probably the Wildest Part of NYC - The Subway October 25 2014
The automobile just got invented and The City of New York decided to start running a subway. In October of 1904 the subway was transferring passengers and had 28 stations. The first route started at City Hall going to 145th Street and Broadway. Ever since then lot of "unique" people have ridden the train.
People love to sleep and take pictures on the subway
Others hate wearing pants
We all have at some point made a cake on the subway
Some love the feeling of cold metal between their butt cheeks
Nobody has enough money in New York City
Lovely costume
If I go crazy will you still call me Superman?
The only way to ride with style
Not NYC but a warning to all of you never sleep or rush on the subway
Zagat's #1 Restaurants October 23 2014
Radio City Music Hall October 21 2014
