Admit it—your dog is your best friend. You want to take him with you everywhere. Head to New York City, one of the most pet friendly cities. At The Benjamin Hotel your dog gets treated like a celebrity. Depending on his size, each pet gets a bed—small dogs gets a sofa bed, and orthopedic beds are available for small medium and large dogs. Unlike many other hotels there’s no pet fee. Just contact the hotel prior to your arrival. What makes this hotel so special? Many things—first of all …More

There’s nothing better than being up close and personal with musicians. Here’s a list of some of the best venues to catch live music in New York City. Mercury Lounge is a classic New York music venue. Lots of big names got their start here including The Strokes and Interpol. Walk past the velvet curtains and get transformed to another world. Remember this isn’t Carnegie Hall; there aren’t that many places to sit. On the plus side, the venue is small and intimate so it’s very hard to …More

Is Ripley’s Believe It or Not! too touristy for you? Hungering for an offbeat Manhattan experience? Want to do something really worth writing home about? Tired of the daily grind and need something to shake it up? Try one of these quirky experiences to discover another side of the Big Apple. Get airborne with the Trapeze School New York. The year-round location in a tent on West 30th Street is a great place to learn the basics, with group classes ranging in skill levels from couch potato to extreme …More

Abracadabra! Presto! Alakazam! If you want to shine as bright as the tallest New York skyscraper at the next dinner party you get stuck going to, there’s an easy way to captivate your audience. All you have to do is pull off a great magic trick! There is a wide range of magic stores in New York City, but if you really want to impress, there are two worth your time if you’ve got the conjurer’s itch. In Midtown, you can learn how to make all your troubles disappear. Well, maybe not all your …More

Charles Weever Cushman was born of the soil. Though he grew up in Poseyville, Indiana, Cushman became a successful businessman, which allowed him considerable allowance to travel. Between 1941 and 1942, an unemployed Chushman traveled to New York City with his expensive Kodachrome camera and fastidiously documented his vacations. Gifted to his alma mater Indiana University after his death in 1972, these photographs form a spectacular window into historic New York during World War II. Despite their age, they shine …More

Forget the Kindle. Forget reading on your iPhone. Even forget the non-creased pages of a new hardcover. If you like your book-finding experience to be part Shakespeare, part Indiana Jones, then New York City is the right place to go hunting for literature—particularly the used kind. Vibrant used bookstores of all shapes and sizes are commonplace in the big city, but to really get the hard-to-find first edition of that author your buddy told you about, head to Strand Bookstore. The bookstore, which is …More