Select Tours NYC Blog

The past couple of days saw me back leading a couple of tours at Grand Central Terminal. I had a lovely teacher from Idaho who asked tons of great questions. A little tour research tip from her: when doing your internet search, don't stick to the first page of results. She finds that she does very well clicking on links on page two and three. That's how she found my website, and which I'm greatly appreciative. In any case, we had such a good time during the tour, we ended up at the historic Oyster Bar Restaurant downstairs in the terminal. We enjoyed a great lunch of mussels, scallops, and this enormous lobster roll. Highly recommended!

Bowery Boys Walks shared this nice article/interview with me about touring Grand Central Terminal during the holiday season. Below is an excerpt. Click here to read the full article and join me on a walking tour sometime soon! ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ "Someone who really knows the hidden corners and secrets of this cherished building is Beth Goffe, a tour guide who leads our wonderful Glorious Grand Central Revealed Tour . I recently sat down with Beth to chat about this legendary train station and what makes it so special to New Yorkers and visitors alike. How did your passion develop for Grand Central Terminal that led you to be a tour guide of such an iconic landmark? In 2001, I started a job in what was then called the Lincoln Building (now One Grand Central Place) across 42nd Street from the Terminal. Like tens of thousands of other people, I was in and out of the building all the time, usually on a mission to pick something up from one of the shops there or simply to use the subway, giving little thought to the building itself. It wasn’t until December 2020, in the middle of the COVID pandemic, that one of our prominent tour guides, Joe Svehlak, gave a comprehensive tour of the oddly quiet terminal. Joe really clued us into the building’s macro beauty and its more subtle and fascinating innovations, plus its many little secrets. It was then my love for Grand Central Terminal was kindled, and I knew it was something I had to share with others. What is your favorite thing about Grand Central during the holidays? While the interior decorations there are more subtle than other city landmarks, they still reflect the warmth of the season and are especially welcoming. Grand Central really doesn’t need much to elicit joy, of course -- its Beaux-Arts design inspires and uplifts throughout the year. The holiday fair in Vanderbilt Hall is a bonus that offers visitors lots of options for seasonal gift shopping - indoors!"

The Lambs theatrical club is the first of its kind in this country. The club was founded in 1874, fourteen years before the Players (which itself was founded by a Lamb named Edwin Booth), and is still going strong nearly 150 years later. Lambs over the years included Fred Astaire, Irving Berlin, George M. Cohan, W.C. Fields, Will Rogers, Cornelia Otis Skinner, John Philip Sousa, Spencer Tracy, Oscar Hammerstein II, and Victor Herbert. The Lambs began 2023 with a bang of a party in the clubhouse.

A year ago today I bumped into the walking ray of sunshine also known as Nas Daily (Nuseir Yassin) in the north end of Central Park.

My reaction to reading Wuthering Heights. It wasn’t what I expected! 😳

Return to the upper floors of the historic James Bailey mansion in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem!

Situated in the Sugar Hill neighborhood in Upper Manhattan sits a somewhat obscure treasure perched among early 20th century apartment houses and an increasingly rare city gas station – the James Bailey mansion. Bailey, as in “The Greatest Show On Earth,” Bailey.

Today started off a beautiful early autumn day. Sunny and cool, I thought I’d do an errand uptown on Broadway and make my way back home for lunch by way of Central Park. As I approached my destination, I noticed a very small bird motionless on the sidewalk, its bill open. It was a ruby-crowned kinglet.

Enjoy Yayoi Kusama’s colorful artwork set in the remarkably beautiful New York Botanical Gardens in the Bronx.