Flatiron building from atop the Empire State Building.
Iconic New York City: Visiting the Empire State Building
One of the iconic locales in New York City that was on my must-see list was the Empire State Building. Not only has it been in more than 250 feature films, but it’s just a stunning piece of architectural engineering, towering more than a quarter of a mile above the heart of Manhattan. This world famous landmark was the tallest building in the world from 1931 to 1972 and stands as a monument both honored and adored by New Yorkers and Americans at large.
I smirk to myself because my kids and I love the movie Elf and lines from the movie cross my mind as we walk in. My husband, far more refined as we enter, is a civil engineer and this is the type of place that he is in awe of, something so grand in scale compared what he’s used to working on. Immediately he finds the plaque from the ASCE, while I’m still thinking about Elf.
Upon meeting our guide, I’ve pulled it together and we admire the renovation done back in 2009. The recreation and installation of the new Art Deco mural from it’s original Machine Age ornate ceiling consumed nearly twice the time it took to construct the Empire State Building which was 1 year 45 days!
The world’s most glamorous celebrities and notable dignitaries have come to admire the Empire State Building’s Art Deco beauty and we got a sneak peek at the walls filled with their photos, everyone is a tourist sometimes!
Sometimes called the “most famous office building in the world”, the Empire State Building is amazingly visitor friendly. Visitors are welcomed to enter through the 5th Street entrance and routed through the lobby to the second floor visitor center where tickets are available for purchase and a compelling exhibit detailing the extraordinary efforts that have recently been implemented to make the building more energy efficient. In a world that is continually pushing for newer, bigger and better, this sustainability exhibit provides an excellent example of older, better and still big.
Boarding the elevator to the 80th floor is an experience that only a handful of buildings can offer. The recently completed museum on the 80th floor of the Empire State Building beautifully tells the story of the dreamers, engineers, architects, designers and tradesmen who brought this landmark to life. Though recognizable to people around the world, the sheer size of the building is indescribable. Displays itemizing material quantities and the speed at which the building was constructed makes you wonder why it takes your local city 2 weeks to fill in a pothole.
But the real story is the feeling you get when you reach the 86th floor outdoor observation deck. Walk out to the edge and look down and . . . catch your breath. Breathtaking. A panorama including New Jersey, Connecticut, New York and the Atlantic Ocean. It is not everyday when the world is laid out like a map before you.
A favorite activity of mine was to try to spot all the other tourist locations we had visited or planned to visit. The unmatched views of New York City are phenomenal.
We visited in the morning and the shadow the building cast over the surrounding neighborhoods to the west made us consider just what people living in those buildings considered daybreak.
We were lucky enough to ride an elevator an additional 16 stories up to the 102nd floor observation deck. This area is fully enclosed and was built originally as a passenger blimp dock.
At 1,250 feet this is truly the top of the city. The Empire State Building is definitely a must see attraction when visiting New York City, it clearly stands tall as an example of a proud hard working City and State that embodies the word Empire. 
For more information visit http://www.esbnyc.com/, watch for exciting contests and fun on the ESB’s Facebook Page, and on Twitter.
Personal tour was offered, all opinions are 100% our own.
Photography: Central Park at Dusk
Central Park is huge and now I know an 1/8th of it. Walking about four miles we saw so many beautiful views, neat places to play, and spots where I love to visit again. But, next time, it will have to be any other season than summer. It’s not the heat it’s the humidity.
Photography: Tip of Manhattan Island
Gorgeous shot of the tip of Manhattan Island from the Statue of Liberty Ferry cruise. Brooklyn Bridge to your right. I can’t wait to go back!
On Location Tours: New York City TV and Movie Sites Review
My husband, teenage daughter, and I visited New York City earlier this month for business and pleasure. Our first visit to the Big Apple, we were over-whelmed by so much to see, so much to do, and so little time! One way to get introduced to the city, see amazing landmarks, and also satisfy your love for TV and movie trivia and sites is to book with On Location Tours!
It was a hot morning in the city, adapting to both time change and humidity, we were happy to board a most comfortably-seated bus with air-conditioning as all the customers were checked in. Our tour guide for the day was Gary, an actor, emcee, host, and comedian with the voice of radio DJ just after a few sentences introducing himself we knew it was going to be a fabulous tour!
It’s truly amazing how often you’ve seen NYC on TV or in a movie and may or may not have notice! Gary filled us in with so much information plus video monitors placed about the bus revealed even more scenes as we approached different areas of the city. Now I didn’t study the map too well, I can’t remember if we were on the upper east side, in SoHo (south of Houston), in TriBeCa (triangle beneath canal ?!) but some of the highlights of the trip included:
If you’ve seen I am Legend, When Harry Met Sally, and Glee, the Washington Park area will be very familiar to you! (My 13 year old said, YES I remember this from Glee!) I’m so glad the tour keeps it real for people of all ages, lots of the movies are beyond my daughter’s years!
Let’s not forget to mention, this is a bus tour, but also we get to get out at numerous spots to walk around and see the sites. Don’t get left behind, laggers get taunted (in a fun way haha!)
Here’s the infamous apartment building that you see in every episode of Friends, nope that isn’t Central Perk below, that’s at the WB lot in Los Angeles I believe! Friends is one of our FAVORITE TV shows ever!
Hook & Ladder 8 not only was one of the first to respond to the World Trade Center disaster but was also seen in Ghost Busters, Hitch, and Seinfeld.
The Dash store on Spring and Mercer is owned by the Kardashian girls and my teen and I love this show, we walked in and in the closet-sized shop were 3 uniformed security guards. My daughter loved all the bling and of course the clothes were cute too (but expensive!!). Also The Plaza Hotel which has been in Bride Wars Home Alone 2, Crocodile Dundee, Gossip Girl, Arthur, Scent of a Woman and many more!
Seeing the Empire State Building for the first time was awe-inspiring. The scene for King Kong, I Love Lucy, How I Met Your Mother, Independence Day and more.
Often you’ll run across places in the city with the following signage:
This means a movie is being shot and there are possible star-sightings if you’re into stalking you’re favorite actors. On our tour we drove past something exciting but didn’t catch of glimpse of anything of note.
Battery Park will remind you of scenes from Men In Black, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Desperately Seeking Susan, Wall Street, and Working Girl to name a few.
Lastly for Seinfeld fans, the episode with the black and white cookie…well we got to taste one and it’s like a cupcake and oh so yummy!
And, if that’s not enough, we were let off the bus to see this:
No Soup for YOU!
There was so much more to this tour that you just have to take to see. So fun, so cool, such a must see for TV and movie fans visiting NYC. The tour is so worth the $42 and 3.5 hours worth of information you receive! Check out On Location Tours on Facebook http://www.facebook.com/onlocationtoursnyc?ref=ts and Twitter, http://twitter.com/onlocationtours, and at their website for even more information and great specialized tours (Sex and the City fans! Sopranos fans!), http://www.screentours.com/.
Our tour was hosted in exchange for honest review, gratuity was paid on our own and all opinions are our 100% tried and true experience!
