Had a great time at the Bronx County Historical Society Yelp event this past weekend. Shah Q…read moreorganized the event and it was quite enjoyable. She is very personable, upbeat and engaging. She also surprised us with some chicken kabobs and mac and cheese from the Deli Boyz on Burnside Avenue. The food was very tasty and we also received a small swag item. The museum/house itself is very small and there is not a lot to see. However, there was an exhibit on Bronx youth dance culture called "When the Bronx Moved" featuring breakdancing among other urban dance styles. That part of the tour was guided by New York City Breaker, B-Boy London. He was very informative and humorous, sharing his insights and personal experiences with us. He is a major part of the history of the Bronx urban dance movement. The general tour was given by Steven, who is the director of the museum. Very personable and informative, he gave us the background of the house and other historical facts. All in all, a very enjoyable experience that I recommend. It isn't expensive to get in and you can easily see everything in an hour or so. Thank you, Shah for an interesting and enlightening afternoon !

Valentine Varian house was ok! The exhibitions were kind of random and they could have had more…read morehistory and information specifically on the house and its significance. They could have gone more into detail about who lived on the house. Instead they had stuff about the history of the neighborhood and also dances of the 1980s in the Bronx. Everything was all on one floor. I liked how this museum was free though and there was no cost I didn't have to pay for it. Come here only if you're in the area. You can spend around 20 minutes in here. This museum is only open on the weekends from 10am-5pm. Could have had more information on who lived in the house and why this house is a museum. I did like how it wasn't crowded when I went, and not many people were visiting it.

Thoroughly enjoyed every second of our 3 hour walking tour through Lower Manhattan. We had our…read moretour guide Garritt all to ourselves and he was amazing. The stories he told were very informative and interesting. Not your typical bland tour where the guide spews off memorized facts. Garritt taught us a lot about the area that we would've never known. I high recommend this tour to anyone wanting to get your steps in and learn a lot about the history of Lower Manhattan. Having an awesome slice of NYC pizza at the end of the tour was icing on the cake!

Had the pleasure of a FANTASTIC tour of lower Manhattan with Renee. She was extremely knowledgeable…read moreabout the Financial District and NYC and could not have been any more helpful. I recommend Free Tours by Foot and especially tours with Renee. Thank you so much Renee!

I am so glad I found this tour company! We did the Brooklyn bridge/DUMBO walking tour with Onel -…read morehe was phenomenal! This tour was one of the highlights of our trip to NYC. I can't wait for my next trip to take another walking tour with this tour company. Onel is knowledgeable, personable, engaging, humorous, thoughtful and kept us on time! He knew exactly where to stop for photo ops and gave us plenty of time for them - I appreciated the scheduled bathroom break at clean bathrooms and the stop for drinks/snacks at the most perfect grocery store that I wish was in my neighborhood. The tour ended at lunchtime in the perfect location with several food options as well as close to both the ferry and trains for the return commute to Manhattan. I highly recommend this walking tour with Onel as your guide - you won't regret it!

Great way to see the hot food spots in the city! We definitely hit the popular spots everyday New…read moreYorkers go to. Definitely recommended it to my friends first coming to New York. But I give it three stars because I was super exhausted from walking. Word of advice: don't eat anything before and bring sneakers.

Wonderful tour of an amazing NYC landmark! Great tidbits and cool use of AI! Bob and Ed really…read morebring the building to life!

Our tour guide for the Woolworth Building was Bob Gelber. He was a true professional, could not…read morehave more knowledgeable or more considerate of the tour participants. We choose the 90-minute tour, and the time just flew by. The only downside was there was no place to sit, and the restrooms are not available to tour participants. Neither are something the tour operator could do anything about. Bob, Thank You, your tour was the most interesting event in my seven days in New York City. Five Stars.

We are leaving this review as a group after taking the "How Money Was Made: Wall Street Walking…read moreTour" on April 6th at 10:00 AM--and this is truly a unanimous decision. We had an absolutely incredible experience, and it was all thanks to Liam O'Brien. From the very start, Liam was kind, engaging, and full of energy. His storytelling is truly exceptional--his narration was anything but dry or monotonous. It was upbeat, energetic, and incredibly insightful. He has a rare ability to bring history to life in a way that keeps both adults and kids completely captivated. Every story felt vivid, meaningful, and easy to follow. What also stood out was how much more we got than expected. The tour went well beyond the standard scope and felt very full and rich, often expanding beyond the typical frame of the topic in the best possible way. We walked away feeling like we learned so much more than we anticipated. What made this experience even more impressive was the weather. It was a bitterly cold and windy morning, and we were with kids--yet not a single complaint the entire time. That says everything. They were fully engaged and genuinely loved every minute of the tour. Liam is clearly a very talented individual who truly loves what he does, and it shows in every detail of the experience. His passion, enthusiasm, and ability to connect with people make this tour unforgettable. We feel incredibly lucky that he was our guide. And to management--if you have the ability to give Liam a raise or promote him, please do. He is truly your superstar tour guide. If we could, we would leave 1000 stars. Highly, highly recommend!

They have just contacted me to say that they have cancelled my booking…read more They accepted and confirmed my booking months ago. The tour I booked is still going ahead, so they haven't booked out. Where are their ethical obligations?

During this strange world, I've been enjoying taking advantage of all the amazing virtual…read moreopportunities out there we may not otherwise get because of our world circumstances. One of these opportunities includes The New York Adventure Club, a tour company that in typical times hosts in-person "adventures" around New York. I love the idea of a group of citizen experts showing off all the awesome things in their city. In normal times, it looks like they tour museums, historical sites and lots of hidden "secrets" around the city. I've always been interested in the arts and history of New York and have really enjoyed hoping on these virtual experiences. So far, I've attended two virtual events, "The Secrets of TriBeCa: Lofts, Artists, & Alleyways" led by Gardiner and "The Famous Gilded Age Balls that Forever Changed NYC" led by Kristen. I would easily attend more. I was really impressed with the breadth of knowledge of these guides, and how much time, energy and thought was put into the research and assembly of these webinars. In particular, Gardiner grew up in TriBeCa and had such a personal spin to his entire virtual event, which was super cool. For a $10 ticket to these online events, you're getting so much more in value. I'm so pleasantly thrilled with the type of content they offer and will definitely be attending more of these in the future. If you live outside of NYC, definitely consider hopping on one of these fantastic events and learning something new! Love this cool business.

I attended a Brunch Classics cooking class at Essex Market on Saturday, August 13, 2022 organized…read moreby New York Adventure Club and was stunned that even though this was an indoor event with approximately 12 people sitting ultra-closely side by side around a prep island, that the class leader, Chef Jon Lovitch was permitted to actively discourage mask wearing among the participants during his opening remarks. His reasoning was that in eating some of the dishes he would be preparing, we would get "cinnamon and sugar all over our mouths," and therefore he emphasized we should NOT wear a mask throughout the class since the CDC had recently relaxed those guidelines, and "we should all be getting back to normal." It was obvious that I was the only mask wearer and that I would continue to wear my mask in response, so he turned to me in front of everyone and asked if I was OK with everyone else not wearing a mask, essentially trying to pressure me into removing mine. I resisted the combination of both public peer pressure and mask-shaming and did not remove it except to eat and then I kept those moments ultra-brief. I'm a breast cancer survivor and have to be extra careful at indoor events where people are seated in close proximity to one another and are not wearing masks. In other instances of ultra-poor planning by the New York Adventure Club, It should be noted that no napkins were provided together with the food-sampling plates and forks, which was curious as either purposeful or an oversight given the heavy-duty negative pressure not to wear masks from the class leader; that the elevator to the floor with the demo kitchen where the class was being held was turned off to that floor so that someone in a wheelchair could not even reach the class at all; that only two of the four recipes were printed out and those were only distributed at the end of the class, preventing someone from taking notes on the recipes in real time as with most well-run cooking classes; and that when I tried to speak to the group's owner, Corey William Schneider, who was in attendance at the class at all times, he brushed me off completely and told me to only give him feedback at the end of the class (he was busy taking photos throughout but otherwise remained completely silent). In short, I can't recommend any of this group's in-person events, because there is not a sufficient emphasis on protecting the health and well-being of participants, and if you read their other Yelp reviews, you'll see that many of their events actually end up getting cancelled. I also believe they may be violating the Americans With Disabilities Act with some of their lack of organization and socially irresponsible messaging. So if you have any kind of health condition or are disabled, please be very careful about attending any of this group's in-person events. And if you attend any of their cooking classes with Chef Jon Lovitch, you should be prepared to resist concerted pressure to remove your mask if you are someone who typically wears one at indoor events where you're sitting side by side with a lot of other people who aren't mask wearers. Each person has to decide about mask wearing for themselves now, but I don't think the New York Adventure Club should be actively supporting not wearing masks in close quarters, or they risk litigation should someone becomes ill as a result.

Grand Central Terminal is one of those places in New York City that you really have to see in…read moreperson. The moment you walk into the Main Concourse, it feels absolutely massive. The architecture, the details, the famous ceiling and the constant movement of people make the entire place feel like a movie set. I honestly loved just walking around and taking everything in. There's so much history and character here. Even if you're not taking a train, I definitely recommend stopping by while exploring Midtown. It's beautiful, iconic and absolutely worth seeing at least once.

I guess the first thing you'll want to know is how I ended up dragging myself out of bed to catch…read morethe damn F train to 47 Rockefeller Plaza almost in the middle of the night, sure felt like it at 4:45AM. It was freezing, or maybe it was warm, maybe it was my cold, but it felt cold as hell anyway because who the hell wants to be awake when the sun isn't even trying yet? ​So I walk all the way over to Lexington Ave and 42nd Street which is a hell of a walk when you're half asleep and your feet feel like two sacks of wet sand, just to get to Grand Central and catch the 6:18 AM train to Scarsdale. I have this part-time paralegal job up there. It depresses the hell out of me, strictly speaking, but a person's got to keep a job or people start looking at you like you're a total crook or crackhead or something. ​Grand Central at six in the morning is actually pretty grand, if you want to know the truth. It really is. It's not full of all these phony tourists snapping pictures of every single thing like they've never seen a ceiling before. The main concourse is just vast and quiet, with that big greenish ceiling with all the stars painted on it, even though the stars are drawn totally backward, which is just like people, if you think about it. Nobody even notices. ​There's that big clock right in the middle sitting on top of the information booth. It just sits there, looking very old and very expensive and not giving a damn about anybody's problems. I stood there for a second looking up at it, and for a minute it almost made me feel less miserable about going all the way to Scarsdale to look at legal briefs or whatever the hell I was going to do. ​The guys working the tracks at that hour don't yell at you, which is a nice change. You just walk down the ramp to your track, get on the Metro-North, and sit by the window. It's almost nice, except you know as soon as the train starts moving that you're actually on your way to work, which ruins the whole thing. ​If you have to go to work at six in the morning, Grand Central is about the only place in New York that doesn't make you feel like a complete loser for doing it. I mean it. It really doesn't. ​