New York and Chicago are the birthplaces of skyscrapers, but tall office towers radically transformed every city in America. For his new book, MultiStories: 55 Antique Skyscrapers & the Business Tycoons Who Built Them, Mark Houser traveled widely to find the best landmark high-rises in 36 cities in the United States and abroad. In this talk, the award-winning writer and speaker will discuss his extensive research with observations gleaned from touring these spectacular old high-rises, with a focus on New York. His presentation will include Beaux-Arts facades, dazzling lobbies, rooftop decks, and behind-the-scenes surprises in antique skyscrapers from Manhattan to Miami, Cincinnati to San Francisco, and unexpected details about the Gilded Age millionaires who commissioned the world’s first skyscrapers. These soaring structures — “machines that make the land pay,” as Woolworth Building architect Cass Gilbert described them — proclaimed their owners’ influence and remain as legacies of a fascinating, forgotten past.

Red Hook's Hometown Bar-B-Que is a Brooklyn favorite BBQ joint, being named New York's Best Barbecue Restaurant for owner and pit master Bill Durney's flavor packed meat.

We can’t get enough of the expertly smoked meats and delicious sides at Red Hook, Brooklyn’s Hometown Bar-B-Que, so we asked them to build us a plate of all their favorites. Watch for a taste of the menu, and get inspired for your next visit.

Author, historian and activist Rebecca Solnit authored an interesting book titled Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas that includes a stunning collection of unique and original New York City maps that speak more to locals than tourists.

Nonstop Metropolis, the culminating volume in a trilogy of atlases, conveys innumerable unbound experiences of New York City through twenty-six imaginative maps and informative essays. Bringing together the insights of dozens of experts—from linguists to music historians, ethnographers, urbanists, and environmental journalists—amplified by cartographers, artists, and photographers, it explores all five boroughs of New York City and parts of nearby New Jersey.

Nonstop Metropolis: A New York City Atlas is available for purchase on Amazon.