Photo: Michael Kirby

Justin Ferate

WHY ESSENTIAL:
This venerated historian wrote the book on Gotham walking tours. No, really—the city commissioned him to write the NYC tour-guide licensing exam, which he designed to educate, as well as assess, would-be guides. In addition to a regular roster of tours covering everything from midtown murals to Green-Wood Cemetery to the quaint attractions of City Island, Ferate leads a free 90-minute trek through Grand Central every Friday at 12:30pm.

The secret:
If you haven’t taken one of Ferate’s tours, you probably don’t know one of his best tidbits. The New York Central Building—now called the Helmsley Building (230 Park Ave at 46th St)—was built to house the offices of the New York Central’s great railroad and real-estate empires. The New York Central didn’t want its clients to be disturbed by the rattle and rumble of its own subterranean railroad trains, which travel beneath its world-famous urban renewal project (and the source of much of its income): Park Avenue. So it built the office tower on shock absorbers, and the building never touches the ground. If you hold a pen or pencil in hand like a pointer, kneel at the base of the building and move it back and forth in the gap near the sidewalk, your friends will think you’ve levitated the building, and will worship you forever. (212-223-2777, justinsnewyork.com)

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