Places to Visit

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree began in 1931 when Depression-era construction workers decorated a small tree with tin cans and cranberry garlands. Here is the full story.

On August 11, 1973, a Bronx fundraiser party changed music forever. The true story of the night hip-hop was born at 1520 Sedgwick Avenue.

Williamsburg went from forgotten factory district to a global cultural template. Here’s the real story of how one Brooklyn neighborhood changed everything — without meaning to.

From slaughterhouses to fashion boutiques, the Meatpacking District is New York’s most dramatic transformation story — and the cobblestones remember everything.

The Hotel Chelsea accepted paintings instead of rent—and became home to Dylan, Patti Smith, Burroughs, Warhol, and a century of art that defined New York.

Inside Manhattan’s Chinatown — a neighborhood that survived exclusion laws and paper sons, and built a world New York never quite managed to control.

Gramercy Park has been locked to outsiders since 1831. Fewer than 400 iron keys exist. Here’s the story of Manhattan’s only private park — and the one night a year when anyone can walk through its gates.

Discover how Prohibition’s alcohol ban led New York City to open 30,000 illegal speakeasies — and forever changed American cocktail culture.

Inside Studio 54, the legendary New York nightclub that ran for just 33 months — and changed how the entire world goes out at night.

F. Scott Fitzgerald’s Valley of Ashes wasn’t invented. It was a real place in Queens that became one of New York’s most beloved parks.