New York

Q: What advice can you give someone planning a trip to New York City?

A: Five years after the tragic terrorist attacks, which destroyed the Twin Towers cost innocent lives and shocked the world, the  planet’s most exhilarating destination is on fire with electricity. New York City has certainly cranked up the volume in 2006, with a dizzying array of new rooms, global cuisine, breathtaking attractions, blockbuster Broadway shows, exceptional exhibitions and, of course, incomparable shopping.   

A record 41 million visitors took a bite out of the Big Apple in 2005 and that number could be eclipsed by year’s end.  The demand for New York continues to climb, with a sharp increase in international travel anticipated. Before you start planning your trip log on to the NYC & Company website www.nycvisit.com. As the official tourism marketing organization for New York City, NYC & Company’s mandate is to promote and sell the city as the premier destination of choice for leisure and business travel.



I recently returned from my first trip to the Big Apple in more than a decade. It was the temptation of Broadway shows that drew my family and I back. Our first objective was to stay close to the action. And even though we planned the trip several months in advance, finding accommodations was not easy until I came upon the Affinia Manhattan www.affinia.com, conveniently located at 371 Seventh Avenue at 31st Street. It’s part of  the Denihan Hospitality Group, which operates four other facilities.

Things have changed a lot since  I last went to New York. The internet, of course, was not what it is today so when I wanted to get tickets for a production I’d call a 1-800 number. Now you only need to find a website like www.broadway.com. From there you will find the homepage of the play you want to see and what type of availability exists.

ACCOMODATIONS: Located in one of the city’s most exciting and accessible neighborhoods at 371 Seventh Avenue at 31st Street the Affinia Manhattan  www.affinia.com  is truly a suite hotel at the center of it all. Close to transportation, entertainment, Macy’s, fashion offices, the Javits Center, Madison Square Garden and world-famous attractions, guests can take advantage of all the city has to offer with remarkable ease. The dramatic lobby is a hub of activity. The Metro Concierge, the hotel’s city specialist, stands at a unique multimedia command post offering New York expertise and an insider’s perspective. Amenities such as city-focused activity kits and a library of NYC-themed books help guests plan their New York Experience from the moment they arrive. Affinia Manhattan suites provide plenty of room to spread out and work or relax with ample space for small meetings or entertaining. Business amenities include an executive-sized desk, ergonomic chair and high-speed internet access. Deluxe suites on the hotel’s top floors offer spectacular views and exclusive amenities such as plush robes and evening turndown service. The custom-designed Affinia bed offers the perfect balance of warmth, softness and support. For the ultimate night’s sleep, guests can make a selection from the Affinia Pillow Menu, featuring a choice of three signature pillows.  There is valet parking and we recommend once you check in leave the car with them and take taxis the rest of the way. For more information log to www.affinia.com or call 1-866-AFFINIA.

BROADWAY:  Getting tickets to some Broadway shows was not easy. We began checking online several months in advance, only to find out that the productions we were interested in were virtually sold out. The prices were extremely high, but I held my nose and typed my credit card online for seats to Wicked and Hairspray. Yes, the shows were good. But for my money the best bargain was the League of American Theatres and Producers’ official Broadway Open House www.broadway.org, a two-hour “insider’s” walking tour through Manhattan’s Theater District. Did you know that David Belasco, the "Bishop of Broadway," haunts his own theatre – or that Broadway legend Ethel Merman haunts the Imperial?  Did you know that Shirley Maclaine was discovered understudying Carol Haney in the original  production of  The Pajama Game at the St. James Theatre? These and other fun facts are revealed during the tour, which explores the interiors of Broadway theaters, offers theater fans an opportunity to hear legendary backstage stories, the latest Broadway buzz, and to discover a rarely seen side of Broadway. Tours depart from the Broadway Ticket Center in the Times Square Information Center on the East side of Broadway between 46th and 47th  five  days per week (Tues thru Sat) @ 10:00 am;  from September 1 through December 31, three days per week (Wed, Fri, and Sat)  and from Jan. 1 to March 31, twice weekly (Wed and Sat). Our tour guide told us that 97 percent of the actors in New York City are unemployed.  



DINING OUT: New York City will welcome more than 60 new restaurants in the next year, adding more than 5,000 restaurant seats to a city that already has at least a million. The outstanding arrivals showcase the quality, variety and hospitality of New York City dining.

This was my third trip to New York City in the past decade and each time I have made it a point to dine at Ben Benson’s Steak House www.benbensons.com. Opened in 1982, it is one of the top 100 independent restaurants in America. Manhattanites and visitors rub elbows with celebrities, politicians, sports stars and business executives, over huge juicy steaks, three-to-seven pound lobsters and fantastic Benson crispy hashed browns. Conveniently located in the theatre district, at  123 W 52nd St. Ben Benson’s is considered to one of New York’s top steak houses. Its eclectic collection of authentic Americana fills the two roomy floors with casual elegance and charm. This handsome, clubby restaurant is home to many regulars (many with brass name plaques mounted on the wainscoted walls such as Schwartz and Grossman).  Benson   is a hands on owner. He created the menu himself, offering only USDA Prime steaks and chops and premium-quality poultry and seafood. He tastes and approves every food, including the bread. I enjoyed the  sirloin steak. But there were other tempting choices such as broiled veal chop,   scallopine of veal: milanese,francese or piccata , veal parmigiana,  triple lamb chops , Maryland crab cakes,  broiled filet of sole , shrimp, fried chicken, chicken parmigiana, grilled chicken breast with herbed wild mushrooms and  chopped steak, Children will love the appetizers and a piece of tilapia represents a perfect choice for them as the  main entrée.

Ben Benson’s serves  huge  portions, including a gigantic baked potato. In terms of salads, there are a variety of choices: baby spring mixed greens, hearts of lettuce, endive and arugula, Rancher’s salad, tomato and onion,  hearts of romaine,  a special tomato salad and   cucumber, sweet onion and tomato. As for side orders, try the  lightly battered fried zucchini and onion rings or the  creamed spinach and the "double ugly mud cake"  or key lime pie for dessert. The restaurant is also noted for  its exclusively seasoned steak sauce. You may purchase one bottle of sauce presented in an attractive sturdy gift box with four Ben Benson’s quality-crafted steak knives with rosewood handles.



WHERE TO GO: New York’s famous Empire State Building www.esbnyc.com, a New York City Landmark and a National Historic Landmark, soars more than a quarter of a mile into the atmosphere above the heart of Manhattan. Located on the 86th floor, 1,050 feet (320 meters) above the city’s bustling streets, the Observatory offers panoramic views from within a glass enclosed pavilion and from the surrounding open-air promenade. Since the Observatory opened to the public in 1931, almost 110 million visitors have thrilled to the awe-inspiring vision of the city beneath them. Each year over 3.5 million people are whisked to the 86th floor to be where Cary Grant waited in vain for Deborah Kerr in an "Affair to Remember", while Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan had their fateful meeting in the movie "Sleepless in Seattle." The observatory is handicap accessible. The building, one of New York City’s main tourist attractions, offers a variety of activities for its visitors. One can tour the Observatory 365 days per year, day and night, rain or shine for breathtaking views of Manhattan and beyond. Also, there are two restaurants, a sushi bar, three coffee shops, a drug store, a Hallmark card shop, a post office and two banks, in addition to the plethora of restaurants and nightlife activities in the surrounding area.

For the family, there is the New York SKYRIDE, an independently owned and operated simulated helicopter ride and virtual-reality movie theater. There are also several art exhibits for all to view in the lobby, including the addition of items from Fay Wray’s private collection of photographs, posters and "King Kong" memorabilia permanently displayed in two lobby showcase windows. Many concerts and holiday-based shows/decorations are scheduled year-round as well as special annual events such as the ESB Run-up and Valentine’s Day Weddings. All in all, the feeling and spirit of New York City is embodied in the Empire State Building. From the people who fell in love here, to the ones who have returned with their children and grandchildren, everyone recognizes the building not only as an awe-inspiring landmark which offers one of the most spectacular views on earth but an unequaled symbol of American ingenuity and Art Deco architecture. The Empire State Building is cemented in both New York and U.S. History. Built during the Depression, the building was the center of a competition between Walter Chrysler (Chrysler Corp.) and John Jakob Raskob (creator of General Motors) to see who could build the tallest building.

From the time the construction began on March 17, 1930, the building’s steel frame rose at an average rate of four and a half floors per week. To speed construction, the building’s posts, beams, windows and window frames were made in factories and put together on the site. 60,000 tons of steel was brought in from the steel mills in Pennsylvania, 310 miles away, by train, barges and trucks.

The Empire State Building offers many activities and events for families and children to attend. The first and foremost activity is a visit to the Observatory located on the 86th and 102nd floor. Here, visitors can observe spectacular views of New York City and the neighboring states of New Jersey, Connecticut, Pennsylvania, and Massachusetts as well as New York. Another attraction for children is the New York Skyride, an exciting interactive virtual tour of New York. This page is dedicated to capturing the curiosity and wonderment of children worldwide.



If it is animals that interest you, then the Central Park Zoo is well situated and full of life.  The evolution of  this city landmark launched the modern trend in urban zoos around the nation: the transformation of cages and menagerie-style zoos into natural habitat exhibits that educate, involve, and connect people to our natural world. Since the 1860’s, animals could be found at Fifth Avenue and 64th Street in Central Park. At first, the collection was simply a growing group of donated animals - from 72 "white swans" to a black bear cub. In 1864, the State Legislature authorized the city Parks Commission to establish a zoo, and the more formal Central Park Menagerie was established. In 1934, then- Commissioner of Parks Robert Moses remodeled the Menagerie into the Central Park Zoo www.centralparkzoo.com. A Works Progress Administration (WPA) project, this tiny "storybook" zoo set a standard for its time - but over the decades, became a woefully inadequate facility for its inhabitants. On August 8, 1988, the new Central Park Zoo opened to record crowds and enthusiastic reviews. Today, this "newest, oldest" zoo attracts nearly 1 million visitors a year. From a steamy rain forest to an icy Antarctic penguin habitat, the zoo leads visitors through tropic, temperate and polar regions to encounter fascinating animals - from tiny leafcutter ants to tremendous polar bears. The Tisch Children’s Zoo, added in 1997, lets little animal lovers meet gentle creatures up close. Year-round education classes and innovative public programs - including the zoo’s "Wildlife Theater" — encourage all ages to learn more about our natural world, and become involved in its protection. Through the American Zoo and Aquarium Association’s (AZA) Species Survival Program, the zoo is actively involved in helping endangered species, including rare tamarin monkeys, Wyoming toads, thick-billed parrots, and red pandas.    

New York is a city of museums, but if you can visit only one then The American Museum of Natural History www.amnh.org , located at Central Park West at 79th Street, should be your choice.  It was first established in 1869 in a world very different from today’s. Over a period of spectacular scientific achievement, the Museum has played a leading role in exploration, discovery, and theoretical advances in the natural sciences. Central to these efforts has been the accumulation of one of the world’s great Museum collections. Today, science at the American Museum of Natural History thrives and expands on these earlier accomplishments. The work of scientific research, training, laboratory work, and collections management concern more than 200 scientific personnel, including more than 40 tenure-track curators. The museum’s doctoral training program, which connects with five universities (Yale, Cornell, Columbia, and New York universities and the City University of New York), represents the largest and most diversified program of its kind offered by any unaffiliated museum. The collections and research assets are cultivated by continued exploration-over 100 expeditions and field projects annually. A critical resource for the scientific effort is the Museum’s Library. With over 400,000 volumes, it is one of the great natural history libraries in the world. These achievements notwithstanding, the Museum continues, as science advances, to be vigilant about its effectiveness. Perhaps no human enterprise can shock and enlighten us and change our sense of ourselves and the universe like scientific discovery. In the late 1990s the Museum established new programs and directions in order to enhance the quality and competitiveness of its scientific research, develop new multidisciplinary endeavors, and improve databasing, access, and care of the scientific collections and library holdings. The Institute for Comparative Genomics was established in 2001 and began considering the 3.8-billion-year history of life as a grand biological experiment. In 1999 the Museum reorganized its ten scientific departments into five divisions (Anthropology, Paleontology, Invertebrate Zoology, Vertebrate Zoology, and Physical Sciences) in order to more effectively foster multidisciplinary research and strategic initiatives. Concurrent with the Februrary 2000 opening of the Rose Center for Earth and Space was the completion of the C. V. Starr Natural Science Building. This eight-story facility, now part of the Museum’s interconnected campus of buildings, provides 21,500 square feet of secure, climate-controlled compact storage for collections of mammals, reptiles and amphibians, invertebrates, and vertebrate fossils (primarily the Museum’s superb and valuable dinosaur collection). The Starr building also adds 2,000 square feet of state-of-the-art laboratory space for electron microscopy, digital imaging, and other functions.

There is also an IMAX Theatre, presently playing Galápagos, which follows a marine biologist’s astonishing first-time expedition to the Galápagos islands—located on the equator 600 miles west of Ecuador, and made famous by Charles Darwin’s scientific research voyage 160 years earlier—and into the depths of its surrounding waters. Narrated by Academy Award-nominee Kenneth Branagh, viewers experience a stunning journey both above and below the surface of the water, where they come face to face with iguanas, boobies, giant tortoises, hammerhead sharks and moray eels, while discovering species never before seen by humankind.

Also worth a visit is Madame Tassaud’s Museum  www.nycwax.com on 42nd Street, where you can get up close and personal with some of the world’s most interesting personalities. Why I rubbed elbows with the likes of Woody Allen, Golda Meir, Bill Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Linday Lohan, Jessica Simpson, Whoopi Goldberg and many more.  You can even visit the wax double of American Idol judge Simon Cowell and perform for him in a great karaoke setup