A Random Travel Journal

Six hour, 16km walking/subway tour of NYC with 'The Real New York Tours' company. Below are my favourite stories form our tour guide.

The world's first passenger elevator to be installed in 1857. The building is now under renovation. The historic elevator was been removed intact and left in the basement. The plan is to build a brand new elevator and then place the original back inside in one piece.

The building in which Heath Ledger passed away.

Luxury apartment building where Cindy Crawford, Calvin Klein and Lenny Kravitz own homes. A few years ago, Lenny Kravitz tried to flush a pair of blue jeans which caused about 30 000 dollars worth of damages to the apartment below.

Oldest bar in Little Italy has been in the same spot for 100 years. Lots of shows and movies are taped there, including 'The Sopranos'.

Chinatown ... First time I see this.

The George Washington Monument in front of the country's first Capitol House on Wall Street. This is where George Washington took his Oath to become President. While he was President, he actually walked alone 15 minutes from his home to here to get to work ... things have changed.

New World Trade Center Building (One World Trade Center or Freedom Tower). When complete, it will be exactly 1776 feet tall, 104 stories and will have cost 3.8 Billion dollars. At the moment, there are 3000 daily workers there putting up one story per week.

In the early 1900s, this was the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory. They employed newly immigrated young girls as cheap labour. They would lock them in the building by bolting the doors and had the heavy sowing equipment blocking the windows. The workers had no breaks and could not leave the building. In 1911, a worker was having a smoke away from the work area and put it out in a waste basket ... which caught on fire. The girls quickly realized that they were trapped inside. About 140 people died, either by the fire or by jumping out of the 8th story window. Many of our current labour laws come from this tragic event.

Washington Square Park. Some 20 000 people who died of Yellow Fever are buried under the park.

Jimmy Hendrix and Bob Dylan were discovered here. Lots of other artists have also been discovered here.

House #75½ is an 9.5 feet house (8.5 feet inside space) is located in the Village. It is the thinnest house in New York. A few years ago, it was sold for 4.3 million dollars ... crazy. The location is key, a quiet tree lined street.

In the 70s, the CIA used the corner apartment on the top floor of this building to conduct experiments on the use of LSD. It was originally believed that it might serve as a sort of truth serum. They would send undercover prostitutes in the streets to get men in the apartment and then slip LSD in their drink. The assumption was that the men -who had been looking to hire prostitutes, would not go to the cops.

Outside shot of the Friends building

John Lennon used to live on the top floor of this building (Yoko Ono still does). He was killed in the archway seen in the second picture.

A picture taken from Central Park. The distant building in the middle are super expensive luxury condos/apartments. Jerry Seinfeld, Harrison Ford and John McEnroe own homes there.

Top of the Rock: The observation tower atop the Rockefeller Center in Time Square.