The world's 2,325 billionaires live all over the place, but they cluster together in a few moneyed metropolises. 

A full 34% of the world's billionaires base themselves in the below cities, according to a report from the research firm Wealth-X. 

"Certain clusters help explain the large billionaire populations in many cities," the report says. "For instance, New York's role as the financial capital of the world has helped attract new billionaire financiers. In addition, certain cities are particularly attractive because of the lifestyle they offer, from cultural attractions to a desirable environment in which to raise a family." 

Here's the list: 

For a look at last year's billionaire arrangement, go here.

SEE ALSO: How Steve Jobs, Richard Branson, And Other Self-Made Billionaires Got Their Big Break

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Major cities like New York are seeing surging, sky-high rental prices.

But the New York metro area property market isn't greater for investors who want to buy a place and rent it out for income.

A new report by RealtyTrac ranked US housing markets by gross rental yield, which is "the average fair market rent of three-bedroom homes in each county, annualized, and divided by the median sales price of residential properties in the third quarter."

Among America's big metro areas, New York came in last place. The gross rental yield averaged just 2.40% in Q3.

By comparison, smaller markets — like Rocky Mount, North Carolina— offer gross rental yields up to 41.57%. In these markets, investors could earn huge amounts of income on their investments.

It's important to note that in this report the New York metro area encompasses New York City, Northern New Jersey, Long Island, and Pennsylvania — not only Manhattan.

Plus, this data looks at the yield rates, and not the exact dollar-value of return. While the New York metro area has the lowest annual return rate, the dollar-value of this return may still be incredibly high since you have to access to much more volume.

Click here to see the 8 American Housing Markets Where Landlords Are Making A Killing On Rent

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This post first appeared on The Real Deal.

Some developers faced with public outrage over creating a so-called “poor door” would, well, duck out the back door. Not Gary Barnett.

As controversy over the poor door — a separate entrance for lower-income tenants in luxury buildings — at his planned 33-story building at 40 Riverside erupted over the summer, the founder and CEO of Extell Development dug in, defending the practice and arguing that without it, developers would opt out of incorporating affordable housing into their projects.

“I don’t think it’s worth making such a big issue over,” Barnett told The Real Deal during an interview in his Midtown East office last month. “Let’s get the affordable housing and let’s not worry about these optics.”

Barnett’s appetite for risk is fabled in real estate circles. But lately, he’s become the poster boy for controversial industry issues, ranging from the poor-door debate, to a probe by a state ethics commission over 421-a tax breaks he received for his super-luxury tower One57, to his alleged cozy relationship with Governor Andrew Cuomo.

And against the backdrop of the city’s new political climate ushered in by Mayor Bill de Blasio, who is trying to tackle the gaping income gap between the rich and poor, Barnett is unapologetically developing some of the most opulent residential towers in the city.

Extell is “a sort of emblem of what the divided New York is, and what the average voter was worried about in the 2013 election,” said CUNY political science professor John Mollenkopf.

Barnett is, of course, building two mega skyscrapers on “Billionaires’ Row” on West 57th Street — the Christian de Portzamparc-designed One57 and the Nordstrom Tower at 225 West 57th Street, which is slated to be the tallest residential tower in the city. He’s also putting up a 68-story residential tower on the Lower East Side, and is angling to acquire a site that would let him develop a large condo on West 66th Street.

Yet Barnett isn’t just ruffling feathers of the average voter. He’s also tangled with industry rivals along the way.

A few years ago, he feuded with fellow developer Bruce Ratner after making last-minute — and ultimately unsuccessful — bids for the New York Times headquarters and the Atlantic Yards site. He also enraged Donald Trump when, unbeknownst to the Donald, he bought a majority stake in the giant development site the mogul partially owned known as Riverside South. More recently, he completed tense deals with archrivals Vornado Realty Trust and the Related Companies, and pulled off an audacious transaction to wrest control of the Ring brothers’ office building portfolio, which many others tried, and failed, to do.

But it’s the most recent controversies that have, to some, made Barnett the embodiment of everything that’s unsavory about New York’s development industry.

“When I think of Gary Barnett, I think of what’s wrong with New York City real estate,” said Jaron Benjamin, executive director of the Metropolitan Council of Housing, the city’s oldest tenant union. “It seems like everything he does, I have to look into what’s legally and ethically wrong with it.”

Real estate attorney Adam Leitman Bailey, who is fighting Barnett in court on behalf of some clients, said that the developer is bound to attract criticism given the high visibility of his projects.

“When you build the biggest buildings, you’re going to be glued to controversy,” Bailey said, “and that’s what’s happening.”

Put a ring on it

Though it didn’t generate citywide headlines like the poor-door issue or the 421-a probe, Barnett’s recent dust-up with the Ring brothers showed industry insiders just how cunning he can be.

The deal, which was finalized in October 2013, involved the complicated takeover of a coveted 14-property, 1-million-square-foot package of office buildings owned by Frank and Michael Ring in Manhattan’s white-hot Midtown South.

It essentially became an end-run around Frank Ring, who was trying to hang on to his family portfolio for dear life, despite the fact that he and his brother, who each held a 50 percent stake, had left it largely run down and vacant for years.

In a nutshell, here’s how it unfolded: In 2011, Princeton Holdings’ Joseph Tabak and his partners entered into an agreement with Michael Ring to buy a controlling interest in his stake for a reported $112.5 million. But soon after, Michael got cold feet and tried to back out, leading to a court battle with Tabak.

“It was a transaction that he [Michael] regretted pretty shortly after going into it,” Barnett said. “He’s nervous about it, so he comes to us. He knows that we are honorable businessmen.”

Barnett then swooped in, paying Tabak and his partners $74 million in June 2013 to get them to walk away from the deal. He then paid Michael Ring an undisclosed sum to buy most of his stake.

But that was just Barnett’s opening gambit.

“We instantly filed for partition for all of the other Ring properties,” he said. “I think at this point Frank, who’s a very smart guy, realizes that the jig is up.”

The court battle culminated with Barnett buying Frank’s 50 percent portfolio stake for $308 million.

“To give him [Frank] credit, we paid through the nose,” Barnett said, “but at the end of the day, we end up with a whole portfolio under our control.”

The very next month, Barnett and his team began working out a deal to sell ground leases for four of the 14 buildings to Manhattan-based landlord the Kaufman Organization. That deal, valued at upwards of $175 million, closed in April.

“Gary had the wherewithal to move exceptionally fast,” said broker David Ash of Prince Realty Advisors, who represented Kaufman in the deal.

Alan Miller, a principal at commercial brokerage 5Points Group who closely followed the deal, said that the Ring portfolio deal was Extell being “their crafty and expert selves, taking down a fabled New York City portfolio over the many different suitors that were gunning for it.”

“Extell outmaneuvered everyone to get those buildings, and now is taking advantage of a rising market by flipping the buildings they don’t plan on developing themselves,” Miller added.

The piece de resistance, however, came in July, when Barnett and co-owner Jared Kushner sold Frank Ring a 235,000-square-foot building at 80 West End Avenue for $195 million. That’s a stunning $110 million mark-up over the $84 million the partners bought it for less than a year earlier.

“It’s just obvious that Frank Ring overpaid,” said a broker active in the area. “Jared and Gary are probably pretty happy.”

“It’s a nice trade,” Barnett said with a grin, but added that he and Kushner created value by bringing a long-term tenant, United Cerebral Palsy of New York City, to lease most of the building.

Real estate chess

In other instances, Barnett has fought a war of attrition.

In 2011, Extell had six years left on a garage lease beneath Vornado’s planned $400 million residential condo project at 220 Central Park South, and rebuffed the REIT’s buyout offers.

It took two years before Barnett agreed to give up his lease, at which time he also sold Vornado his development lot at neighboring 225 West 58th Street, along with additional air rights, for a total of $194 million, according to a release from Vornado. That price tag translates into about $1,400 a buildable square foot — a huge premium over development rights around the city.

A source said that Vornado “had to take care of him [Barnett]” to make the 220 Central Park South project feasible.

But Barnett said the trade was mutually beneficial and that Vornado did not pay an inflated price.

“You think it’s high, but it’s not high at all,” he said. “They turned around and refinanced at $1,500 a foot. I’m not sure Vornado has a dollar left in that project!”

Vornado declined to comment on the Extell deal. But a source familiar with the Steve Roth-led REIT said that “it was a big game of real estate chess, in which both sides had something that the other wanted — and a lot of value was at stake.”

Barnett has also sparred with Stephen Ross’ Related.

In 2012, Extell announced plans to build an office tower dubbed One Hudson Yards at a site on 34th Street and 11th Avenue that he owned since 1998. The proposal did not sit well with Related, which is developing the giant Hudson Yards complex adjacent to that site. Barnett was also planning on asking rents that would have undercut Related’s asking rates.

“We were in the position of being the low-cost provider,” he told TRD, noting that Extell had purchased the land at a low cost, and that the infrastructure was in place. “We would have been quickest to market.”

In September 2013, Extell and Related buried the hatchet and agreed to a property swap — Barnett traded the One Hudson Yards site for a development site farther away, at Eighth Avenue and West 45th Street, that Related co-owned with Boston Properties. To sweeten the deal, Related also paid Barnett $168 million in cash.

Now, Related is planning a 1.1-million-square-foot, 51-story office tower known as 55 Hudson Yards at the site. Representatives for the firm declined to comment.

Not free agents

Unlike many New York mega developers, Barnett isn’t a fixture on the real estate social scene. Although he builds Manhattan’s most ostentatious residences, the father of 10 lives in the middle-class neighborhood of Richmond Hill, Queens, and remains mum about his private life. He’s also a lifelong Democrat, something of a rarity in the development world.

Still, there’s one key Democrat with whom Barnett is not scoring brownie points: de Blasio.

Although de Blasio, then a City Council member, voted in favor of the 2009 zoning change that allowed developers more design discretion and square footage in exchange for building a certain number of affordable apartments, his administration is now working to reverse the change.

During his mayoral campaign, de Blasio was extremely critical of what he saw as Mayor Bloomberg’s overly cozy relationship with the development community, saying it needed a “reset.”

Since coming into office, however, the new mayor has shown a willingness to work with developers. And sources say despite the fact that he was not at the city’s helm when the law allowing poor doors was passed, that he is facing political backlash from tenant groups over the issue.

A City Hall source familiar with the poor-door discussions disputed that, saying that given how far along Extell’s project was when de Blasio took office, the administration “had pretty limited ability to affect the outcome.”

The administration source cited Silverstein Properties’ 10 Freedom Place, which also has a poor door, as a project where the mayor was able to step in earlier and secure concessions such as lower-income residents getting shared access to a courtyard and a roof deck. Those changes made the separate entrance more palatable, said the source, who noted that the project would serve as a model until new zoning codes are in place.

Barnett said that without the poor door, developers could walk away from the inclusionary housing program, exacerbating the city’s affordable housing shortage.

“It’s complete obfuscation and does a disservice to the problems of income disparity and inequality by going after the rich door/poor door,” he said.

Barnett also pointed out that once Extell decided to create a separate portion of the building for the affordable rental units, it was actually required under current zoning regulations to include a separate entrance.

But his views aren’t sitting well with anti-poverty activists. Elise Goldin, a tenant organizer, said that Barnett’s use of the poor door was a violation of Jewish values.

“Seeing this poor door used, especially by a religious Jewish person, is an abomination,” Goldin said. “It’s creating segregation, shame and barriers between us.”

Barnett, who grew up in an Orthodox Jewish community on the Lower East Side and is the son of a prominent Talmud scholar, said that part of the reason that he has been so vocal on the poor door is that he wants people to understand why the separate entrances are being used.

“We’re not in the business of discriminating against people, he said. “We never have and we never will be.” Not only are separate entrances mandated, they also help investors breathe easier, Barnett said.

“I recognize that there’s legitimacy and logic on other sides of the opinion as well,” he said. He’d be willing to consider tweaks to the poor door at 40 Riverside, he said, if he was approached with a “proposal that made sense” and had the consent of his financial backers.

“We’re not free agents here,” he said. “We have partners, and they have a voice as well.”

Despite his outspokenness, a high-ranking City Official said that Barnett has “never been arrogant.”

“He says what he thinks and he gives his reasons for doing it,” the official said.

Playing politics

In the mayoral race last year, Barnett donated just under $5,000 to Christine Quinn, who at one point was the frontrunner, and only $400 to Bill Thompson and de Blasio, campaign finance records show.

Barnett said despite de Blasio’s “leftist credentials,” he was “practical and fair.”

On the statewide front, Barnett’s support is single-minded. He donated more than $200,000 to Cuomo, a shoo-in for reelection, in this election cycle, according to an analysis by the nonprofit New York Public Interest Research Group.

“We certainly believe in our constitutional right to have input into the election,” Barnett said, noting that he’s supported Cuomo since he first ran for Attorney General. He continued his support, he said, despite the fact that as AG, Cuomo ruled against Extell in a case involving buyers’ deposits at the Rushmore.

Cuomo’s decision, Barnett said, “led to tens of millions of dollars in lost deposits, and I think he was wrong on that. Still, he ruled against us, so no one can say that this governor is doing us any special favors.”

Yet recently, when the governor’s anti-corruption panel known as the Moreland Commission was preparing a report that prominently featured Extell, Cuomo’s office pushed the panel to remove references to the developer, according to the New York Times.

Meanwhile, in January, just days before Cuomo approved a controversial 421-a tax extension bill that benefited One57, entities tied to Extell gave $100,000 to the governor, the New York Daily News reported.

But Barnett said that the bill was expected to pass in June, well before Extell made those donations.

The Moreland Commission, which was investigating Extell’s donations along with those made by four other developers, was prematurely disbanded by Cuomo in March. But its case files were turned over to Preet Bharara, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, who is still looking into the matter.

‘Davening’ for the market

Over his 20-plus year career in New York real estate, which he began as a principal in Property Markets Group along with Kevin Maloney and Ziel Feldman, Barnett has shown a willingness to take on deals that others won’t touch or don’t know about, industry players said. And despite his spats with some rivals, many in the industry view Barnett with awe.

“He’s a magician and one of the smartest guys that I’ve met in my three decades in NYC real estate,” Miller of 5Points Group said. “He’s the master assembler.”

“We marvel at what he’s doing,” said Jim Wacht, president of commercial brokerage Lee & Associates, who isn’t involved with any Extell projects.

Meanwhile, Douglas Elliman veteran Gilad Azaria said that Barnett’s projects showed a knack for “predicting the future.”

“Before people even knew what $2,000 per square foot was, Gary was planning to sell units [at One57] for $10,000 per square foot,” Azaria said.

“We’ve been lucky,” Barnett said of his successes.

Now though, faced with soaring land costs, Extell is becoming more cautious, he said.

Still, the company is at the mercy of the market, and Barnett is praying that its strength continues.

“This Rosh Hashanah,” he said, “we will be davening.”

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Dominique Ansel was vaulted to fame last year after his cronuts — a combination of a croissant and donut — became a viral sensation.

Now the celebrity chef has released his new cookbook, “Dominque Ansel: The Secret Recipes,” and we can finally learn how to make his delicious invention.

Good Morning America was granted exclusive access to the recipe, which is incredibly complicated with over 120 minutes of cooking time for a result that only makes eight servings.

No wonder no one’s been able to recreate it.

First you must prepare the pastry dough — which has 13 ingredients including Kosher salt, granulated sugar, heavy cream, an egg white, yeast, and roughly four cups of flour — as well as the ganache of your choice (champagne-chocolate, vanilla rose, and whipped lemon flavors), and a "butter block" made of 18 tablespoons of unsalted butter.

And this is all two days before cooking the actual cronut. After refrigerating the dough, butter block, and ganache, Ansel then dedicates an entire day to rolling and folding the butter block into the dough (very precisely, of course):

Remove the dough from the refrigerator, making sure it is very cold throughout. Place the dough on a floured work surface. Using the rolling pin, roll out the dough to a 10-inch (25.5 cm) square about 1 inch (2.5 cm) thick. Arrange the butter block in the center of the dough so it looks like a diamond in the center of the square (rotated 45 degrees, with the corners of the butter block facing the center of the dough sides). Pull the corners of the dough up and over to the center of the butter block. Pinch the seams of dough together to seal the butter inside. You should have a square slightly larger than the butter block.

Then on the third day it's finally time to assemble your cronut. After cutting out a dozen 3 1/2-inch donut rings and letting them sit out and "proof" for two hours (letting the dough expand in a warm, humid area), each cronut is then deep fried in grapeseed oil.

Once cool, you can inject your homemade ganache with a Bismarck tip, adding the glaze and decorative sugar on top. Voilà — a complete cronut.

Ansel says in his cookbook that the level of difficulty for these absurdly addictive pastries is “Extreme.”

No kidding. Head over to ABC News to see the entire, complicated recipe.

SEE ALSO: 12 Baking Hacks That Will Seriously Improve Your Cookies

WATCH: How To Make A Cronut

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Bai, a healthy antioxidant infused drink company, launched its first big advertising campaign this week to run only in New York City. The company's strategy is one seen many times before: Grab people's attention with racy ads.

This time, though, it's the copy that's racy — not the images. 

Some of the taglines and phrases the company is using to draw attention to the product include:

"Naturally sweet. Unlike most men"

"Tell your taste buds to stop sexting us"

"Flavor that goes all the way on the first date"

"Wet. Juicy. Ready. But not in that way"

"Wait a minute, this is the fruit packing district, right? Right?"

"Flavor so fresh you’ll want to slap it"

The ads, which will display on billboards and kiosks, all feature big, clear images of Bai's products, from the Brasilia Blueberry to the Costa Rica Clementine drink.

The ads will also served to people on their laptops and smartphones and targeted to the specific area of neighborhood that they run in.

Not all of the phrases are meant to be suggestive, though. Others demonstrate the company's wit through word play. Some of the ads for kiosks will read: "Rare flavor. Once in a blueberry moon" and "Mother nature knows zest."

It seems that the drink company isn't afraid of taking a risk and is really trying to make a name for itself with its first ever big ad campaign. It will run through mid-November in New York City.

SEE ALSO: DHL Apologizes For Using F1 Crash That Left Driver Critically Injured To Build Facebook Likes

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When the Chinese government allowed the country’s insurers to invest more money in foreign real estate in 2012, China hands predicted a surge in investments in overseas commercial property. The boom never fully materialized – only a few blockbuster deals in London were done.

But the first major New York City property purchase by a Chinese insurer could signal the race is on.  On Monday, Anbang Insurance Group agreed to purchase the Waldorf-Astoria from Hilton Worldwide Holdings for $1.95 billion in what could wind up as the city’s largest single-asset transaction this year. Anbang beat out at least two other bidders ahead of a planned campaign to market the hotel, a source familiar with the development told the Wall Street Journal.

“These [Chinese] institutional investors are studying the market,” said James Murphy, executive managing director of the investment sales group at Colliers International. “And when they find something they can compete on, they’ve obviously shown that they have the ability to close.”

Market insiders recently told The Real Deal that Chinese insurance giants have been seeking opportunities to purchase properties in New York City, even making trips to inspect the sites. Until today’s announcement about Anbang’s buy, however, none have pulled the trigger. Part of that stems from insurers’ typically conservative approach to capital outlays.

The nearly $2 billion purchase price for the iconic hotel trumps the $1.5 billion that David Werner and a group of investors paid for 5 Times Square in June, said Adrian Mercado, vice president of research at Massey Knakal Realty Services. It also tops the $660 million sale of the Park Lane Hotel last year, making it New York’s priciest hospitality purchase, he added.

The deal comes amid a huge ramp up in investment by Chinese buyers in New York real estate. In 2013, China surpassed Canadian buyers as the top purchasers of New York City office property, with two deals worth a combined $1.4 billion. Chinese property developer Fosun International acquired One Chase Manhattan Plaza for $725 million, while Zhang Xin, co-founder of developer Soho China, partnered with a Brazilian investor on a $700 million stake in the GM Building.

Those deals were done by individuals and companies that tend to be more aggressive than big Chinese insurance companies, according to experts. Further, most Chinese companies are still studying the US market, explained Murphy, and do not have the infrastructure to make timely acquisition deals.

“They still  have multi-level decision-making processes which require senior-level approval at the home office,” said Murphy. “They have more success pursuing off market transactions but not properties offered via the brokerage community which require timely decisions.”

But insurers and developers in the People’s Republic are very sophisticated and capable of tackling a number of barriers to competing with domestic buyers, said Dan Cashdan, senior managing director at HFF Securities.

“Chinese insurance companies will be entering market. They just need to find out what the strategy is going to be and who the right partners are,” Cashdan told The Real Deal recently.

Under the deal announced today, Hilton will continue to operate the Waldorf-Astoria for the next 100 years. Through a strategic partnership, the hotel will undergo a major renovation.

Anbang Insurance Group is one of China’s largest insurance companies, with 700 billion yuan ($114 billion) in assets under management, according to the company. It has expanded rapidly under chairman Wu Xiaohui since he founded the company in 2004, acquiring holdings in a number of Chinese banks, as well as a potentially lucrative development site near Beijing’s CCTV building, Chinese newspaper Caixin reported in a recent profile of the company.

New York is not the only U.S. market that Chinese institutional investors are exploring. The big insurance groups are also looking at properties in Chicago, San Francisco and Los Angeles, as well as tertiary markets, such as Seattle, Brendon Frye, senior manager at Colliers International in Hong Kong, told The Real Deal in a recent interview. Investments in smaller markets could be further off though.

“I don’t see them pulling the trigger on a Seattle office building tomorrow,” said Frye.

SEE ALSO: Meet The Most Loved And Hated Man In New York Real Estate

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Take our quiz to see if you can guess how much above or below list price these recently-sold New York City properties cost. Tips on how to make the right bid follow below.

MANHATTAN — Bidding wars are still brewing for apartments priced about $1 million and under in many parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, with many house hunters getting emails a few days after visiting an open house asking for their "best and final" or "best and highest" offer.

For buyers who want to compete, there's often a gnawing question: What's should their best offer be?

That's not always easy to answer.

It often involves a complicated calculus of what someone can afford, their emotional attachment to the space and how long someone has been searching for a home — and losing out to other bidders — brokers said. But as a starting point, it's important to understand what an apartment's fair market value is.

That, too, can be tricky given the limited inventory and pressure to bid above asking price. Manhattan, for instance, saw 49 percent of homes sell for asking price or above, which was the highest share in six years, according to a Douglas Elliman report on third quarter sales.

"Figure out what it's truly worth to you and maybe before going to best and final, put in a preemptive offer that possibly circumvents best and final," Douglas Elliman's Josh Rubin said. "Consider: If I don't buy this, what are my other options and what is it going to cost?"

1. Understand what the comps are.

Good brokers can usually help you understand whether an apartment is priced fairly based on "comps,"or comparable sales.

Since New York City real estate is hyper-local — where one building with certain amenities can be valued very differently from its next door neighbor — the best comps are same-sized units in the same building that sold recently.

Such sales, however, don’t always exist, and it can take time to comb through data to figure out the best comps.

Noah Rosenblatt is a former equities trader who brought his data-driven focus to Manhattan's real estate market as the founder and CEO of the research site UrbanDigs.com. He believes his site’s new feature, “Price Your Own Apartment,” can help.

Launched last week, the tool lets you input a Manhattan address and gives you a list of possible comps, accounting, for instance, for differences of floors (suggesting a $25,000 premium for each additional floor) and allowing you to adjust for anticipated renovation costs. It has a unique "time index” that is based, among other things, on the signed contract date rather than the closing since those are sometimes months apart — and therefore represent different market, Rosenblatt explained.

Brooklyn buyers will have to wait until 2015 to find use the tool.

“It only helps to add transparency,” Rosenblatt said.

Working as a buyer's broker, Rosenblatt said that his quantitative approach helps sellers feel more comfortable accepting offers, buyers feel better about making offers and brokers feel more comfortable with giving advice.

"My buyers, they love it," he said. "It gives them confidence to say, 'Now I can justify bidding this.'"

So far, the majority of users have been other brokers, said Rosenblatt, whose tool has a 30-day free trial before a monthly fee kicks in.

“Computers are never going to know the nuances from building to building,” added Douglas Wagner, of BOND New York, which is soon rolling out a new comps tool for its agents. “But it’s nice to have someone do a quick snapshot.”

2. Don't bid if you're only casually interested in the apartment.

The first thing Douglas Elliman's Brian Meier asks his clients before they submit a bid is whether they truly want the apartment.

If not, move on because the bidding process is often stressful.

“If you're buying in this market, you have to have a stomach for it. You have to be aggressive," he said. "You're going to overpay."

You should offer the highest amount you feel “comfortable” with, so that in the event you lose out, “you’ll feel OK about it,” he said.

“A lot of times it pays for someone to pay above fair market value if you've been looking for a long time,” added Jeff Schleider, founder and managing director of Miron Properties, explaining that you make your money on long-term appreciation.

3. Bid over the asking price if you’re serious.

You're going to have to bid over the asking price if something is priced at fair market, said David Maundrell, founder and president of aptsandlofts.com.

If you submit an offer that’s 5 percent less than asking price, a seller won’t likely ask for a counter offer.

“It means that a buyer is not serious," Maundrell said.

"If someone puts an offer that’s $10,000 above the asking price, that means they’re serious, and an extra $10,000 on a mortgage is peanuts," he added. "Don’t loose out on your home for the next 5 to 10 years for a few thousand dollars."

4. Understand pricing strategies.

Some brokers look at the market value and base prices on that. Others like to price low and have buyers bid up.

Rubin listed a Greenwich Village 2-bedroom recently for $2.15 million even though his market analysis estimated its worth at $2.5 million. The offers came in at and above the market value.

"You find someone who emotionally wants it more," Rubin said. "They put the clinical aside and proceed with the emotional and will ultimately leapfrog the pack."

The home is in contract for $2.8 million.

This strategy only works if things are "carefully managed," said aptsandlofts' Maundrell, who has seen house hunters get caught up in the "frenzy" only to wake the next morning with buyer's remorse and later back out.

5. You may still get the apartment even if you weren't the highest bidder.

Many brokers have seen bidders who didn't win a bidding war end up with the home in the end.

This can happen when a winning bidder realizes the offer was overblown or when the momentum is lost when a contract takes too long to execute, which sometimes happens if a seller's broker gets "too confident" that a better offer might still come in, Meier explained.

"Two weeks later you get a phone call, 'Our first two deals didn't go through.' A lot of times you're second or third in a bidding war and all is not lost," said Meier, who estimates this happens in a quarter of bidding wars.

Conversely, you might still lose an apartment if you win a best and final because sellers will sometimes accept a higher offer that comes in later after a contract goes out to a best and final winner, many brokers said.

"You're not binding until both parties sign," Wagner said.

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Man.

Kid.

Ferrari.

If you think about it, those are essentially the same three words. There are times when you grow up that you still want to be a kid, and there are times when you're a kid and you know it's good to be a kid, and there are times when you're grown up and feeling like a kid and when you're a kid just loving being a kid and plenty of times, those times all happen simultaneously in the presence of Ferraris.

Knowing this, there was no question about checking out a Ferrari race with my 9-year-old son, James, when the opportunity presented itself a few weeks back. I got to be a kid. He got to be a kid. And the Ferraris ... well, they got to be Ferraris.

THEY CALL IT THE 'FERRARI CHALLENGE'

The occasion was a Ferrari Challenge race being run at Watkins Glen, a storied raceway in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Racing is a critical aspect of Ferrari's DNA. Enzo Ferrari, the founder of what's perhaps the world's most famous luxury auto brand, loved racing, probably more than any other experience in human life. We get to see Ferraris off the racetrack only because Enzo needed to sell some to the public to fund his racing teams. In fact, Ferrari is, at base, Scuderia Ferrari, the brand's racing arm, but really the heart of the operation. Ferrari participates in many different types of racing. Formula One is the best known, but that's just the highest expression of Ferrari's approach to speed. The Scuderia also provides an opportunity for what it terms "gentleman racers" to roar around a racecourse at impressive velocities. This is where the Ferrari Challenge comes in.

If you're intrigued, you might mention it to your friendly neighborhood Ferrari dealer. If that dealer thinks you, the client — as Ferrari calls its customers — have the right stuff, you join the racing series, which has been going strong for 20 years. It isn't cheap. The dealership might help with some of the cost, which can add up to $30,000 per race, but you have to buy the car: a $300,000 Ferrari F458 "Challenge Evoluzione" (or "Evo") that's designated for racing before it rolls off the assembly line at Ferrari's factory in Maranello, Italy. 

One 458 is good. Some gentlemen racers obtain two of these chariots for competition, just in case things get out if hand with the 570-horsepower naturally aspirated V8 that when wide open sounds like the wail of a simultaneously sacred yet unholy thing taken from the wild place where sacred and unholy things dwell.

THAT SOUND

Put 25 of them on a racetrack at the same time and you have a vicious symphony of finely crafted displacement, a raucous peloton of raw propulsion. Sure, the cars look cool ripping around the track, some in Ferrari red, others outfitted in colors and designs that are anything but. It's that sound, though, that lacerates the earlier autumn air and pierces the leafy rural calm of upstate wine country.

There aren't a lot of things that make you want to close your eyes and simply listen. Beethoven's Ninth. Sonic Youth's "Daydream Nation." The raw and breaking surf at Big Sur. A first baby's sonogram heartbeat, heard for the first time. 

And a Ferrari 458 at speed:

So you join the Ferrari Challenge and accept the commitment. And it is a commitment. A major commitment. There are nine races in the season, as far flung as Daytona, Florida, and Abu Dhabi. Ferrari provides individual coaching and has put former professional driver Didier Theys in charge of all the work with the gentlemen and gentle ladies who have decided to helmet up, suit up, strap in, start their engines, and turn laps at upward of 200 mph.

LEARNING THE ROPES

Theys is a veteran competitor, a Belgian who retired a few years ago after 35 seasons. He won his first race at Watkins Glen when he came over from Europe in 1985. He has three Indianapolis 500s under his belt and victories at other venues, notably the 24 Hours of Daytona, in 1998 and 2002.

Understandably, the Glen holds a special place for him.

"Watkins Glen is a racetrack with character," he says. "A racetrack where the driver makes a difference."

But the Ferrari Challenge racers need to learn how to drive — because there's driving and there's racing.

"They want to race a Ferrari," he says of the clients who take up the Challenge. "But 570 horsepower is a lot for a new driver. So we made a coach mandatory so that the driver can get up to speed safely."

The racers also learn how to handle different tracks and different setups for the cars. For example, this year the 458s have a wing at the rear that increases downforce on the back wheels and allows the car to carry more speed into a turn, without worrying about a slide. But a driver needs to get used to this aspect of the car's performance.

"The biggest concern we have with a new driver is whether he respects the speed," Theys says. "When you're going full speed, it's a lot. The learning process needs to small step by small step. You aren't a winner after the first race. You need to learn all aspects of racing. That's why the racer needs to hire a decent coach."

Theys is impressed by the quality of the racing at the Ferrari Challenge, but ne notes that this type of racing is less physically demanding than the type of top-level racing he did. He points out that gentleman racers are in good enough shape to handle a half-hour race, without having to make major changes to their lifestyle.

But as Theys says, the 458 is a real racecar, a step up from the cars that were raced in previous years. It's not like you can just jump in and go.

The whole thing is serious play, as James and I found out.

FERRARIS NEVER GET OLD

Through a combination of reading back issues of Motor Trend and video games, James knows more about Ferraris than I do at this point. He's something of a car nut — particularly where the high-end stuff is concerned: Lambos, Pagonis, Bugattis, Porsches, and obviously Ferraris. So much so that when I told him we would be checking out something like 25 — 25! — 458s set up for racing, he complained about there not being enough variety.

Everything changed, of course, when we began to hear the beckoning shriek of the 458s in the distance as we headed toward the viewing area at Watkins Glen, after a long drive up from New York City the night before and an evening passed at a nearby motel watching "Treehouse Masters" on Animal Planet.

It's quite something to observe a 9-year-old slowly and then suddenly fill with joy to the point of nearly exploding. But Ferraris doing what they are meant to do — go fast around a racetrack — will do that to a kid.

Not to mention the man who is with him and also not incidentally his dad.

"Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!"

I lost track of how many times he said it.

HOT LAP

When we arrived, the drivers were midway through qualifying. There are two divisions in the Ferrari Challenge: the Trofeo Pirelli (for more advanced drivers) and the Coppa Shell (for the newbies) — each with a named sponsor, the Italian tire maker Pirelli and the big energy company, Shell. Tires and gas: two things you need when racing, in addition to a Ferrari 458 with most of the attractive interior elements ripped out, a stoutly bolstered racing seat with a harness, and a specially designed steering wheel.

It was day two of the festivities. There would be a pair of races, one Saturday and one Sunday, scheduled for 30 laps around the Glen's circuit of about 3.5 miles. We would witness the first race, in which the Trofeo Pirelli and the Coppa Shell competitors are thrown together. This is authentic racing, car versus car, not a timed event. First across the finish line in their division captures the prize and the points for the seven-event Challenge series.

Ferrari did a marvelous job of showing around Watkins Glen. It's something of a racing campus, with the course wrapping around various structures, garages, and the paddock area, where the cars wait to race. Surrounding the paddock were numerous semitrailers, used to transport the cars and their support equipment, tires and tools and spare parts, and most of them were Ferrari red, emblazoned with the names of the sponsoring dealerships.

Ferrari-red Vespas, bearing the Scuderia badge in shimmering yellow, enable race crews to shuttle around the paddock.

Pirelli race tires are piled four high everywhere.

There are hoses and tubes to avoid, plus a rack of racing fuel. Cars are in various states of deconstruction and repair. The edge of preparation and the tense thrum of looming speed defines the paddock.

Then there was the hot lap. A two-seat black 458 Evo waited in the pits, gently idling. Anthony Lazzaro, a pro driver, is at the wheel. I grab a helmet and am strapped in and we're off. A Ferrari being driven at its limits is a physically imposing proposition, and Lazzaro isn't taking it easy. The V8 is screaming a foot behind our heads. He's flipping through the gears with deft precision and rocketing out of turns to come within collision distance of a barrier. But it's the braking that gets you — how Lazzaro will shed 100 mph of speed like he was throwing out the trash, then get right back on the throttle. Brakes are tortured during races. And Lazzaro is a master torturer.

James isn't happy that I get the hot lap and he has to watch. But Ferrari lets him wear a helmet — and he's stoked to discover that his favorite snack food, Cheez-It, is an advertiser at Watkins Glen.

RACE TIME

The race kicks off as scheduled around midafternoon. After an overcast and cool morning, the sun emerges and the spectacle is glorious. Emmanuel Anassis, in the No. 777 car and running for Ferrari of Quebec, takes first in the Trofeo Pirelli division, while Ross Garber from Ferrari of San Francisco claims the top spot in the Coppa Shell division.

Here's the thing, though. A man can stand by a racetrack and watch 25 Ferraris turn laps for hours no problem.

A 9-year-old's interest will tend to fade. By the end of it all, as the sun began to set over the Glen and the 458s, spent from their wildness, were returned to the paddock (some adorned with trophies), James had had his fill and was thinking about the prospects of a nice big soda for the ride home.

But the union had been made: man, kid, Ferrari. Forged in sound and speed under the blissful country sun. For its moment, the union was ideal. But like so many unions formed at life's extremes, it had to end. No perfect synthesis can stay. Dawn goes down to day and then to evening and dying light.

The man is driving responsibly on a highway, away from the bucolic cathedral of speed and back to the Big City.

The kid is snoozing in the back.

And the Ferraris are dreaming of the next day and the defining wildness that will arrive when they do again what they were made to do.

SEE ALSO: I Checked Out An Aston Martin, Maserati, Mercedes, Porsche, Lamborghini, And Ferrari — All In The Same Day!

SEE ALSO: $300,000 Gets You This Amazingly Rare New Open Top Ferrari

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A gorgeous townhouse in the middle of New York's Upper East Side has just gone into contract for $41 million, according to the Observer. 

Tony and Claire White, the sellers of the townhouse, wanted $46 million for the property, but the asking price eventually fell to $41 million. 

Built in 1965, the 11,100-square-foot, 14-room townhouse was designed by Rachel 'Bunny' Mellon, the heiress to the Listerine fortune who was married to the banking legend Paul Mellon.

She was a close friend of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis and a notable horticulturist who redesigned the White House Rose Garden — needless to say, she had impeccable taste. 

Her gorgeous UES townhouse with its own private garden, listed with Sotheby's International Realty, is a testament to that. 

Welcome to 125 East 70th Street, Bunny Mellon's former home on the Upper East Side.

Let's step inside the home. The townhouse has 11,100 square feet and a total of 14 rooms.

It was designed in a French neoclassical style, and is basically decorated like a palace.

I moved to Brooklyn four years ago, so I haven’t quite earned my New Yorker stripes yet. But as my fellow Brooklyn residents have noticed (along with readers across the country), our neck-of-the-woods is compared to different cities domestically and abroad, quite often. Especially by the one we can proudly call our local paper, the Gray Lady.

Most recently, The New York Times deemed Maplewood, New Jersey, "Brooklyn West," dueto the increasing trend of ex-Brooklynites buying houses in the neighborhood.

But what, really, does it mean to be Brooklyn? To answer this question, I've compiled a selection (by no means comprehensive) of places and why they're like Brooklyn, according to The New York Times. (Special thanks to Rose Eveleth for the idea and help.) As the last item of this list shows, Brooklynization can happen anywhere.

There are two kinds of stories, first the ones about other cities being like Brooklyn:

West Coast: "Oakland: Brooklyn By the Bay"

Jonathan Hewitt, a 35-year-old London transplant who works as Standard & Strange’s operations manager, and who was describing that same “Manhattan is to San Francisco as Brooklyn is to Oakland” parallel for a recent visitor, was asked if anyone really believed that Oakland was like Brooklyn.

“Abso-bloody-lutely!” he said. “I hate reverting to a cliché like that, but it’s just so true.”

Hutongs in Beijing: "A Streak of Brooklyn in Beijing"

Old-timers have been joined by a new breed of Chinese and expatriate residents clad in skinny jeans riding fixed-gear bikes, a loyal customer base for restaurants that offer locavore menu options and bars that serve drinks like Pabst Blue Ribbon. In this corner of Beijing, the traditional hutong has been overrun not by a large-scale development but by a very Brooklyn sensibility.

The Hamptons west of the of the Shinnecock Canal: "The Hamptons-in-Waiting"

“West of the canal is like the Brooklyn of the Hamptons,” said Ashley Murphy, the director of public relations for Douglas Elliman Real Estate and a native of the Hamptons. “Once upon a time, people felt like they were settling if they lived or summered there, but now it’s a destination of choice. It cuts your trip from New York City by at least an hour in the summer.”

New Orleans: "Experiencing New Orleans With Fresh Eyes and Ears"

With its elegant but rustic décor, cocktails featuring noirish names (Blood in the Gulfstream, Dead Man’s Wallet), and inventive food, Sylvain wouldn’t be out of place in Brooklyn.

A shop in Stockholm: "Rugged Americans Welcomed"

The shop, in Sodermalm, the city's answer to Brooklyn and the only party of town that could be called gritty, is outfitted almost entirely in unfinished knotty pine boards; they line the walls and form blocky benches and tables for merchandise that includes Mr. Freedom work shirts, Quoddy moccasins, Pendleton blankets and Wesco motorcycle boots.

And the second kind of stories is about Brooklynites invading other places — Brooklynization if you will:

Tivoli, New York: "Brooklyn on the Hudson"

The local crowd in Tivoli has an effortlessly hip and creative edge about it, as if it fled Brooklyn before the rest of us ruined it.

Hudson Suburbs in "Brooklyn Exits" and "Creating Hipsturbia"

“I don’t think we need to be in Brooklyn,” said Marie Labropoulos, who recently moved to Westchester County and opened a shop, Kalliste, selling artisanal vegan soap in Dobbs Ferry. “We’re bringing Brooklyn with us.”

Welcome to hipsturbia.

The Hudson Valley: "Williamsburg on the Hudson"

Call it the Brooklynization of the Hudson Valley, the steady hipness creep with its locavore cuisine, its Williamsburgian bars, its Gyrotonic exercise, feng shui consultants and deep clay art therapy and, most of all, its recent arrivals from New York City.

Philadelphia: "Philadelphia Story: The Next Borough"

They are the first wave of what could be called Philadelphia's Brooklynization.

Hard numbers assessing exactly how many new residents are from New York are not available, but real estate brokers are noting an influx of prospective buyers and renters from the city; club owners and restaurant employees have spotted newcomers, on both sides of the bar; and "everyone knows someone who's moved here from New York," said Paul Levy, the executive director of the Center City District, a business improvement group, and himself a former Brooklyn resident.

Berlin: "Brooklyn on the Spree: Brooklyn Bohemians Invade Berlin’s Techno Scene"

“The music reminds me of Brooklyn!” said Winston Chmielinski, a 25-year-old painter who moved here from New York last year.

Quooklyn: "Deconstructing the Illusion"

Of course, there are now artist studios upstairs, and a free tattoo party may be in swing down the street. But to a first-time visitor, clutching a MetroCard, the scene is desolate. You are 10 stops out of Manhattan on the L line, in the borderland where Bushwick, Brooklyn, blurs into Ridgewood, Queens. (Welcome to Quooklyn.)

Everywhere: "Where Is the New Brooklyn?"

Philadelphia is the new Brooklyn. Oakland, too, is the new Brooklyn, as are Jersey City and Anaheim. And based on dozens of recent newspaper articles (and too many blog posts to count), please consider the following additional candidates: Montreal, Queens, Nashville, Richmond, Anchorage, Buffalo, Baton Rouge, Bangalore, Warsaw and Aurora, Colo. And Doha, Qatar. All potential new Brooklyns. Which is a little weird for a city that has spent most of its existence as an outer-borough punch line.

Beyond beards and "Girls" (or why NYT trend pieces are problematic), I always wonder how the residents these cities feel about being deemed a Brooklyn-like place. I also wonder what it's going to do to their property prices.

There are two reasons: First, studies show that a prestigious sounding name adds value to a neighborhood. For example, researchers found that buyers were willing to pay a 4.2 percent premium for the term "country." The Brooklyn dream branding has become a certain kind of prestige to young professionals looking for housing. They loosely know what real estate being "Brooklyn" means: cool neighbors, artisanal food shops, Zagat-rated restaurants and bars. It's the stylish land of Blue Bottle coffee and No. 6 clogs. The sell is: It has places you want to be and people you want to be around.

This narrative is problematic because it is unfairly discounting vast parts of the borough that's not being gentrified in this specific way, which is why so many Brooklynites hate Brooklyn trend pieces. But it's also just another way of saying it has a specific set of amenities that are appealing to a certain group — Brooklyn has become a euphemism for a kind of urbanism that millennials like.

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The early evolution of our universe can be recreated at a New York lab.

Although scientists don't really know what happened before the Big Bang, they have a pretty good idea of what the universe looked like immediately after. Supporting their theory are experiments at Brookhaven National Lab in Upton, New York, where insanely hot plasmas are created to mimic the beginning of the universe:Milliseconds after the Big Bang, our universe was unbelievably hot. The temperature was so sweltering that the hottest part of our solar system — the center of the sun— doesn't even compare. The sun's core is 28,260,032 degrees Fahrenheit. Our infant universe was 250 thousands times hotter, which is around 7 trillion degrees Fahrenheit.

With that kind of heat, comes incredible energy. Energy levels so high that they melt matter down to its most fundamental components — subatomic particles called quarks and gluons.

The freely-floating quarks and gluons make up a plasma, which is the most abundant state of matter in the universe. One example of a plasma we see everyday is the sun. This quark-gluon plasma is what scientists think permeated the universe immediately after the Big Bang. But this strange state of matter can also be created right here on Earth — in a particle accelerator.

Scientists at Brookhaven National Lab (BNL) first created a quark-gluon plasma in February 2010 by accelerating gold (or sometimes lead) atoms and protons to relativistic speeds within the lab's Relativistically Heavy Ion Collider, like so:

When the gold atoms and protons smash into each other, they break apart into their fundamental components. The left overs consist of a cloud of residual subatomic particles that expands and cools.

"When the collision occurs, all the protons and neutrons melt so all that you have left are the quarks and gluons," BNL physicist Paul Sorensen explains in a Science Friday video titled "How to Make Quark Soup."

"And that thing [the cloud] is expanding rapidly, and as it expands it starts to cool down and as it cools down it goes through the same phase transition that occurred in the early universe," Psaltis said.

As the plasma cools even further, the quarks and gluons begin to combine and form protons and neutrons — the same types of protons and neutrons that comprise everything we see around us including our bodies and brains.

Although Brookhaven has an impressive collection of powerful detectors that capture snap shots of the collisions, physicists like Sorensen are still trying to figure out why the plasma forms in the first place.

"What's important about this is that we can tell you a lot about what we created but we still don't really have a good idea of why," he says. And so to get a better idea, BNL scientists are preparing to test different sized atoms at different temperatures. By studying what happens under different conditions, scientists can better understand the overall structure of matter throughout the universe.

For more detail on how scientists are cooking up quark-gluon plasmas watch the Science Friday video below

SEE ALSO: Scientists See The Early Universe's First 'Dark Galaxies'

SEE ALSO: Giant Atom Smasher Creates A New Kind Of Matter

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NEW YORK (AP) — In 1953, at the height of the Cold War, Julius and Ethel Rosenberg died in the electric chair after being convicted of conspiring to pass secrets about the atomic bomb to the Soviets. The government's star witness at their trial: Ethel's own brother, David Greenglass.

On Tuesday, family members disclosed that Greenglass died July 1 in New York City at age 92.

He had served 10 years in prison for espionage followed by years of living in Queens under an assumed name.

For years, as the debate raged over the explosive McCarthy-era spying case, Greenglass was vilified by the Rosenbergs' defenders as the man who sent the couple to their deaths — anger that flared again in 2001 when he admitted that he had lied on the witness stand against his sister.

"He was self-aggrandizing, narcissistic, unremorseful," Sam Roberts, a New York Times reporter who wrote the book "The Brother," told The Associated Press on Tuesday.

After his release in 1960, Greenglass hoped to be forgotten for his part in the cause celebre that is still furiously debated to this day.

The Rosenbergs' sons, Michael and Robert Meeropol, were aware of their uncle's death last summer but did not seek media attention and received no inquiries at the time, according to their spokeswoman, Amber Black.

Ethel and Julius Rosenberg were convicted in 1951 and executed at New York's Sing Sing prison, insisting to the very end that they were innocent.

Greenglass, indicted as a co-conspirator, testified for the government that he had given the Rosenbergs research data obtained through his wartime job as an Army machinist at Los Alamos, New Mexico, headquarters of the top-secret Manhattan Project to build the atomic bomb.

He said he had seen his older sister transcribing the secret information on a typewriter at the Rosenbergs' New York apartment in 1945. That testimony proved crucial in convicting Ethel along with her husband.

"Without that testimony, I believe she would not have been convicted, let alone executed," Roberts said.

In 2001, Greenglass was quoted as saying he had not actually seen Ethel typing and knew of it only from his wife, Ruth. For the prosecution, however, the typewriter "was as good as a smoking gun in Ethel Rosenberg's hands," Roberts wrote.

In the book and a CBS interview, Greenglass admitted he lied on the stand about his sister to assure leniency for himself and keep his wife out of prison so she could care for their two children.

"I don't care. I sleep well," Greenglass said in the interview, adding that "stupidity" had kept the Rosenbergs from possibly saving themselves by admitting guilt. According to Roberts, Greenglass said his nephews also showed "stupidity ... to actually think they (the Rosenbergs) were innocent."

Greenglass said that while history might blame him for the Rosenbergs' deaths, he hadn't known that would be their fate. He also said he had been urged to lie by prosecutors, among them Roy Cohn, later a key aide to anti-communism crusader Sen. Joseph McCarthy.

To some, Greenglass came to be seen as a symbol of betrayal. In the 1989 Woody Allen movie "Crimes and Misdemeanors," Allen's character says of his smug and annoying brother-in-law: "I love him like a brother — David Greenglass."

In a statement Tuesday, the Rosenberg sons said that David and Ruth Greenglass were the ones who passed atomic secrets on to the Soviets, then "pinned what they did on our parents — a calculated ploy to save themselves by fingering our parents as the scapegoats the government demanded."

The sons cited the 2001 interview in which Greenglass said he expected to be remembered "as a spy who turned his family in."

"He was right," the sons said in their statement.

After their parents were executed, when the boys were 6 and 10, both took their adoptive parents' surname, Meeropol.

Their uncle was born in New York in 1922. After Army service in World War II, he and Julius Rosenberg became partners in a machine shop that failed.

David and Ruth Greenglass, like the Rosenbergs, were active communist sympathizers, having joined the Young Communist League in 1943. Both couples believed the Soviet Union should have the bomb if the United States did.

At trial, the Greenglasses said Julius Rosenberg had recruited David Greenglass as a spy and arranged for him to feed stolen atomic research and a detonator to a go-between, Harry Gold. Gold also was convicted.

Greenglass served 10 years of a 15-year sentence.

After his release, he remained estranged for the rest of his life from his nephews.

Here are some pictures of the trial, to have a splash in those Cold War days.

SEE ALSO: These Are The Secret Sites Where The Soviet Union Exploded Atomic Bombs And Tested Radiation On Unsuspecting Russians

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A study published last week called "The Glass Floor" revealed that nearly all female restaurant workers — an astounding 90% — have been sexually harassed while on the job.

More than half of the women surveyed reported experiencing sexual harassment every single week, according to the study by The Restaurant Opportunities Center (ROC). 

“When you live off your tips you must tolerate whatever the customer might do to you — however they may touch you, or treat you, or talk to you — because the customer is always right." Saru Jayaraman, co-founder and co-director of ROC United, said yesterday in the New York City’s ‘Not On The Menu’ rally for One Fair Wage. "The customer pays your bills, not your employer."

ROC United organized the rally that was held in various cities across the US on Tuesday. The New York City rally was held in the midst of public hearings held by the New York Wage Board, which is responsible for determining the future of the state’s minimum wage legislation.

ROC United is hoping to increase the federal tipped minimum wage, which hasn’t changed since 1991 and is a meager $2.31. New York is one of 43 states with a sub minimum wage for tipped workers. 

A minimum wage increase would obviously benefit all hourly workers, but especially women. Of the 11 million employees working in the restaurant industry, more than 70% are women, and because these women are making their living almost entirely off of tips, it makes them incredibly susceptible to sexual harassment, according to the study by ROC United.

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Saru Jayaraman, founder of ROC United, speaking at #notonthemenu rally

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Most of the restaurant workers who experience sexual harassment are too afraid to report the assault out of fear of negative consequences and job termination. This can lead to feelings of depression and anxiety as many workers feel forced to accept sexual harassment as ‘just part of the job,' the report said. 

“We will no longer tolerate that the price of a paycheck for women in the restaurant industry is getting groped, catcalled, or degraded,” said Noreen Farrell, Executive Director of Equal Rights Advocates.

One Fair Wage is working towards"the financial insecurity and pressures that perpetuate sexual harassment in the restaurant industry."

“I was a waitress almost 30 years ago for nine years. And here is the tragic story: absolutely nothing has changed,” said Eve Ensler, founder of V-Day and One Billion Rising, said to the rally. “We cannot end sexual violence against women unless we understand the role of economic violence — which is perpetuated by a sub-minimum wage for tipped, and overwhelmingly female, workers." 

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 For more information about One Fair Wage check out the ROC website here. 

SEE ALSO: Restaurant Owner Has The Perfect Response To Reviewer Who Told Waitresses To Show More Skin

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SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc is expanding its online grocery delivery program to Brooklyn's well-heeled Park Slope neighborhood on Friday, giving the No. 1 U.S. online retailer a foothold in one of the wealthiest and densest markets in the United States.

The AmazonFresh program, which offers same-day or next-day delivery on more than 500,000 items including fresh and frozen groceries, will soon expand to other areas in Brooklyn.

The move is part of Amazon's slow build-out of its "Fresh" program, targeting one of the largest retail sectors yet to be upended by online commerce. Amazon declined to say if it will expand to Manhattan or other parts of the New York metro area.

"Currently, we are offering AmazonFresh in Brooklyn and will continue being thoughtful and methodical in our expansion," an Amazon spokeswoman said in an e-mail.

Groceries have proven to be one of the toughest sectors for technology companies to manage, and Amazon faces competition from established companies like FreshDirect as well as fast-growing startups like Instacart.

But a successful foray in Park Slope could help Amazon cement customer loyalty and boost sales, especially among wealthy and middle-class families, analysts have said.

The top 10 to 20 percent of wealthiest Americans spend between 3 and 4 times more on food than the average American family, according to Bill Bishop, chief architect at Brick Meets Click, a consulting firm focused on retail technology.

"They are the sweetest of shoppers so anybody who attracts that business is taking the cream of the market," Bishop said.

Amazon could also use its Fresh program to experiment with its own delivery service, analysts have said.

Amazon tested Fresh in Seattle for five years before adding Los Angeles and San Francisco in 2013. The New York metro area presents very different logistical challenges, including a much higher population density.

Fresh will be offered for free to Brooklyn-based members of Amazon's $99-a-year Prime program through the end of the year. After that, Amazon will charge $299 a year for its "Prime Fresh" program, which combines grocery delivery with free two-day shipping and other perks of Prime.

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A New York financier and his wife have listed their stunning Tribeca townhouse for $48 million, according to The Wall Street Journal.

The home belongs to financier Mark Zittman and his wife, the WSJ reports.

The 65-foot-wide mansion was created by real estate developer and entrepreneur Steven Schnall, who converted two older buildings into a singular townhouse to create the 11,300-square-foot home with a 65-foot-wide interior. 

The urban mansion has basically everything you could ever want out of a home: six floors, seven bedrooms, seven full bathrooms, four power rooms, two staircases, multiple skylights, a wood-paneled elevator, a media room, and a three-car garage. 

Oh, not to mention a 50-foot-long heated indoor swimming pool. Douglas Elliman Real Estate has the gorgeous listing. 

The townhouse is located in downtown Tribeca, one of the finest neighborhoods in Manhattan.

Designed by Wayne Turett, an award-winning architect, the townhouse is ideal for city living with huge windows and plenty of natural light.

It even has heated Walnut hardwood floors. Very luxurious.

New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) spends much of his new memoir "All Things Possible" raging against the media industry.

As Capital New York noted last week, Cuomo's book offers page after page of snarky comments toward the press, which he repeatedly describes as often ideological and unfair. 

However, Cuomo, who is thought to have national ambitions, nevertheless said there was "at least one reporter" he could trust: CNN anchor Chris Cuomo, his younger brother.

"And a special thank-you to my brother, Chris, who has great advice and laughs for his older brother, and who showed me that there is at least one reporter whom I can trust," Cuomo wrote in the final, acknowledgments section of his book.

Cuomo's rocky relationship with the press apparently began back when he was working with his father, ex-Gov. Mario Cuomo (D), decades ago. Still, in the book, Cuomo contrasted the modern media landscape unfavorably with a reporter and a columnist who worked with his father early on his political career.

"Their articles often forced the government to remedy whatever problem they focused on — a far cry from some of today’s 'news outlets,' which are just proxies for knee-jerk ideological perspectives," he wrote.

Later, Cuomo panned "media outlets, which have become pitchmen for ideologies, creating their own echo chamber ... for those with similar political positions ... The competition places a premium on speed, not accuracy."

When Business Insider started noticing how often Cuomo took shots at the media in his book, we started marking the pages critical of the press. You can see just how many there were in the photo on the right.

In other parts of the book, Cuomo noted the "Albany media dubbed" him as "Darth Vader" and the "Prince of Darkness" after he told numerous state workers they were losing their jobs in his father's new administration. The "Albany media loves to foment 'scandals,'" Cuomo remarked later. After Cuomo's 2002 campaign for governor crashed, he wrote: "I was horrified to be negatively portrayed in the newspapers again ... Coming after the campaign loss, the papers and my political enemies enjoyed throwing dirt on the grave."

Cuomo, a former HUD secretary in the Clinton administration, further described the conservative Washington Times as an unforgiving nemesis. He also said a "nasty" New York Times reporter "knew what he was doing" when he allegedly quoted Cuomo out of context and helped create a controversy. Cuomo even accused a Daily News reporter of breaking the law when an aide accidentally let the journalist listen in on a 2010 campaign meeting.

Cuomo also described repeatedly battling the New York Post, which he accused of running "propaganda" against his father in their campaigns against former New York City Mayor Ed Koch (D).

"[A] New York Post poll showed us down by 18 points. I knew the poll was wrong, and I suspect they did, too," he wrote of the news organization, "but it was their last piece of propaganda to dispirit our supporters."

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Earlier this year, New York's pancake lovers rejoiced as the first Denny's, the restaurant famous for its delicious, quick, and affordable diner food options, finally opened in Manhattan's Financial District. 

But if you go to the restaurant expecting the usual Denny's dining experience — the kind you might get pulling off the road after a long road trip looking to fuel up on eggs and sausage — you're in for a surprise.

While the tasty food is certainly still available (and at Denny's signature affordable prices), Manhattan's Denny's is a more upscale version of the franchise, complete with a custom craft cocktail menu, swankier decor, and Dom Perignon champagne. 

Since it's quite possibly the most unique Denny's in the world, we had to check it out for ourselves.

The Denny's is located at the corner of Nassau and Spruce Streets in Manhattan's Financial District, in a historical landmark building built by the American Tract Society in 1895. Prior to Denny's moving in, the space was a Taco Bell before sitting empty for 12 years. Franchisee Rahul Marwah searched for a location and designed the space for three years before opening.

When Marwah, whose family has been working with Denny's as franchisees for 25 years, heard that Manhattan had no Denny's, he realized what great potential such a location could have. He also knew that if it was in New York City, it needed to be something special.

Inside, the space is certainly not your average suburban Denny's. Marwah says he wanted the space to "look like it had been there forever," he told Business Insider. It features hardwood floors, brick walls, leather banquets, and pressed copper ceilings. He says that at first, corporate Denny's was a little hesitant, but now, they treat the space as one of their flagship restaurants.

The Whitman, located in New York’s Flatiron district, is known for being the home of former first daughter Chelsea Clinton, NASCAR’s Jeff Gordon, and hedge fund manager John Silvetz.

So it's only fitting that another famous face is the newest addition to the star-studded condominium — namely, Jennifer Lopez. 

Lopez has bought the incredible 6,500-square-foot penthouse that overlooks Madison Square Park for $22 million, according to real estate website Zillow. 

The pre-war condominium has four bedrooms, six bathrooms, and four separate terraces with a grand total of 3,000 square feet of exterior space.

It even has a full-time doorman, gym, private storage, and key-locked elevators with private elevator landings. 

Douglas Elliman has the listing. 

Welcome to The Whitman at 21 East 26th Street. This luxurious complex has a full-time door man for its four apartments.

The enormous living room has arched windows that look right out onto Madison Square Park.

The kitchen was designed by famed Italian design company Arclinea.

A hot, sweaty summer has subsided to cooler temps, changing leaves, and a maddening assortment of pumpkin-flavored everything. Fall is finally here! Even if rising heating bills are denting your paycheck, there's no need to be a homebody—grab some friends and head out to these 50 activities without spending a dime.

Renegade Craft Fair

Location: 125 W 18th Street

Date: November 15-16

Time: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Perfect For: DIY inspiration

Website: renegadecraft.com

Grab your girl and head to Renegade Craft Fair's Brooklyn venue this November to check out their showcase of the city's best craft and design DIY. Grab a snack from a local vendor and window-shop the independent vendor booths that carry everything from handcrafted fashion, furniture, screen printed artwork, and more. 

Williamsburg Spelling Bee

Location: Pete's Candy Store
Dates: October 6 - November 3
Time: 7 p.m.
Perfect For: Showing off your inner grammar Nazi 
Website: petescandystore.com

Been aching to prove your spelling abilities since you lost the regional bee in seventh grade? Dust off your SAT vocabulary manual and head to the Williamsburg Spelling Bee to resurrect your competitive spirit. There's no cover, and the first 15 people to sign up get to compete onstage in Pete's boxcar-shaped backroom for the final round on December 2. 

Village Halloween Parade

Location: Sixth Ave. at Canal St.
Date: October 31
Time: 6 p.m.
Perfect For: Showing off your bomb-ass costume 
Website: halloween-nyc.com

Did you spend an ungodly amount of time last year making the perfect Halloween costume, only to show up at a limp frat party where half the lames there were only wearing pumpkin t-shirts? This season, head to the Village's 41st annual Halloween Parade and show off your design chops alongside thousands of the best-disguised people in the city. Over 50 bands will provide live music, and hundreds of giant puppets will apparently be there too. 

Archtober

Location: Various

Date: All of October

Time: Various
Perfect For: City planning majors

Website: archtober.org

Architecture and Design Month in NYC, known as Archtober, celebrates the huge diversity of buildings and design throughout the city with free talks and tours of museums, cemeteries, ships, and more. Check out the dozens of events going on throughout the month on their website. 

El Greco in New York

Location: The Met 
Date: November 4 - February 1 
Time: 10 a.m. - 9 p.m.
Perfect For: Starving artists seeking inspiration
Website: metmuseum.org

In honor of the 400th anniversary of Greek painter El Greco's death, the Met has collaborated with a handful of other museums to put dozens of his works in one place. Expand your art knowledge and check out the art that inspired Picasso and Cezanne while it's still in town.

Kayaking on the Hudson

Location: Pier 26

Dates: Every Saturday and Sunday

Time: 9 a.m. - 4:30 p.m.

Perfect For: Active types

Website: downtownboathouse.org

Check out the changing leaves of the cityscape from the Hudson before it gets too cold out to venture onto the water. Provided you can swim, the Downtown Boathouse will let you loose on the water with a kayak and full gear for up to three hours.

Smorgasburg

Location: Various
Date: Weekends through November 23
Time: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Perfect For: Getting a sample taste of the city  
Website: smorgasburg.com

Between 75-100 food and drink vendors gather alternately at Brooklyn's East River State Park and Brooklyn Bridge Park's Pier 5 to sell their fares at the famed Brooklyn Flea's food market. Everything from Colombian fish tacos to homemade hot sauce is available, making Smorgasburg a great place for even the pickiest eater. Take a walk along the waterfront and nosh on some free samples before it gets too cold to venture outdoors. 

The Lost and Found Show

Location: The Gallery at Le Poisson Rouge
Date: November; TBA
Time: 7 - 9:30 p.m.
Perfect For: A chill night with friends
Website: lostfoundshow.com

The theme of this monthly storytelling show is based around common objects that end up in the lost and found box: coats, shoes, keys, etc. Comedians, musicians, actors, and writers are just a few of the different performers that show up and base their act around the theme. This entertainment variety pack is great for friends and dates alike.

Brooklyn Museum

Location: 200 Eastern Pkwy.

Date: First Saturday of the month

Time: Hours on website
Perfect For: Expanding your cultural know-how

Website: brooklynmuseum.visit

The second-largest museum in NYC, the Brooklyn Museum houses great permanent collections alongside special exhibits each month. Killer Heels: The Art of the High-Heeled Shoe is currently up until February. The museum operates on a pay-as-you-wish model, but feel free to throw in a few bucks for donation to keep the place running. 

Brooklyn Flea

Location: Various 
Dates: Saturdays and Sundays
Time: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Perfect For: Killing a chunk of free time 
Website: brooklynflea.com

Hundreds of vendor flock to the Brooklyn Flea each weekend to sell old records, vintage furniture, art prints, artisanal jewelry, and more to a growing base of customers. Window shopping is an art that's perfected at this enormous market, where you can meander for hours. Check it out before it gets too cold and catch awesome views of the city skyline before they move indoors for the season after Thanksgiving. 

Rite of Passage: The Early Years of Vienna Actionism, 1960-1966 

Location: Hauser & Wirth
Date: Tuesday - Saturday until October 25
Time: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m. 
Perfect For: Creeping out 
Website: hauserwirth.com

This collection of paintings, collages, and photographs displays the unsettling art of Viennese Actionism, which was a violent movement in Austria that developed action art. Themes involve blood, destruction, decay, mutilation, and various bodily fluids, among others. If Halloween's got you in the mood for something macabre, then this gallery will definitely do. 

Free Skee-Ball and Hot Dogs

Location: Full Circle Bar
Date: Sundays and Thursdays, starting October 5
Time: All day 
Perfect For: Competitive friends on a budget
Website: fullcirclebar.com

Full Circle Bar, the national home of Brewskee-Ball and the first-ever Skee-Ball league, lets you play their trademark game for free AND serves free hot dogs. The bar also has a balloon animal night and $4 Gennessee. Did we mention that hot dogs are free? Assemble the crew and get your frugal asses out there. 

Run the TCS New York City Marathon

Location: Various

Date: November 2 

Time: 9:40 a.m.

Perfect For: Athletic types

Website: tcsnycmarathon.org

While race registration fees can be hefty, this marathon allows you to enter a drawing to run through all five boroughs free of charge. Hundreds of bands and spectators will be on the sidelines cheering you on, and with Hurricane Sandy cancelling last years race, people are bound to be even more pumped than usual. Grab your Nikes and push yourself through 26.2 miles of concrete jungle.

Walk the High Line

Location: Entry points listed here
Dates: October 1 - November 30
Time: 7 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Perfect For: A first date 
Website: thehighline.org

Get away from the bustle of Manhattan foot traffic and check out awesome views of the Meatpacking District from the High Line, which is a Mecca of urban nature built on abandoned railway tracks. The walk is chill and pretty romantic, and the changing leaves make it even more gorgeous. Grab a book (or your girl) and head up before it gets too cold.  

Whiplash Comedy

Location: Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre
Date: Mondays
Time: 11 p.m.
Perfect For: Checking out local comics
Website: newyork.ucbtheatre.com

See the city's best up-and-coming standup comics sharpen their acts at the UCB Theatre's popular Monday night showcase. Amy Poehler is known for occasionally dropping in, so show up a little early to nab your ticket and a beer.

Bronx Museum of the Arts

Location:1040 Grand Concourse
Dates: Thursday - Sunday
Time: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Perfect For: Checking out Bronx-based artists
Website: bronxmuseum.org

The Bronx Museum houses contemporary artwork that's been free of charge to view since 2011, making art available to all audiences. Their works unite diversity and connect the community to the urban experience. Check out their upcoming events here. 

Browse the Chelsea Galleries

Location: Map locations listed here
Date: Thursday nights 
Time: Various
Perfect For: Art aficionados
Website: N/A
The art-rich area of Chelsea often hosts free art openings in even their most intimidating galleries. Stroll through and look at the newly displayed art. Who knows, you could stumble upon some free wine and cheese. 

Be Part of a Studio Audience

Location: Various

Date: Various

Time: Various
Perfect For: Seeing your favorite host is in the flesh 
Website: newyork.com

Sign up a few weeks in advance, and with careful planning, you can find yourself in the audience of The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, The Tonight Show, SNL, and tons of other shows. Shows need live audiences every day, so with a little patience, you can wedge your way into a seat.  

New York Aquarium

Location: 602 Surf Ave.

Date: Fridays

Time: 3 - 4:30 p.m.

Perfect For: Chillin' with some sea life 

Website: nyaquarium.com

New York's biggest aquarium houses walrus, sea lions, piranhas, and penguins, among others. Stop by on a Friday afternoon to take advantage of the pay-what-you-wish donation model.

Tuesday Night Open Mic

Location: UCB Theatre

Date: Tuesdays

Time: 11 p.m.

Perfect For: Sam Smith wannabes 

Website: east.ucbtheatre.com

Think you're an undiscovered musical gem in the rough? Email UCB Theatre's open mic night and beg for a spot to prove your apparent talent. If being onstage makes you want to vomit everywhere, have no fear—audience spots are free too.

Wave Hill Garden and Cultural Center

Location: W 249th St.

Date: Tuesdays and Saturdays 

Time: 9 a.m. - Noon 

Perfect For: Taking a break from the city 

Website: wavehill.org

If the bustle of the Big Apple is wearing you down, take a breather and visit Wave Hill's 28-acre public garden and conservatory. This is the perfect time of year to see the summer greens of the gardens fade to rich fall colors. If you're feeling especially bougie, the cafe serves afternoon tea that you can sip with your beloved.

Bierkraft Tastings

Location: 191 Fifth Avenue

Date: Tuesdays 

Time: 7 p.m.

Perfect For: Beer and free food lovers
Website: bierkraft.com

Beer, cheese, and assorted cured meats are all available to nosh on for free at Bierkraft, home to over 1,000 different beers. Grab some friends and chill on the picnic tables out back, or stay up front and chat with the knowledgeable bartenders. 

Free Pizza at The Mark Bar

Location: 1025 Manhattan Avenue
Date: Daily 
Time: 6 p.m.
Perfect For: Those unafraid of dive bars
Website: twitter.com/themarkbar

The Mark Bar in Greenpoint is the quintessential dive bar, with a dimly lit interior and sometimes-questionable clientele. But, at 6 p.m. every day, the owner brings out free pizza for whoever's around. Do you need another reason to go? As a bonus, the hospitality extends to Sunday, where you can head back and receive a free bagel with cream cheese, and hot coffee. TYBG. 

Gotham Writer's Workshop

Location: 555 Eighth Ave. 

Date: See schedule here

Time: Various 

Perfect For: Aspiring writers   

Website: free.writingclasses.com

Gotham Writer's Workshop offers a slew of free one-hour classes throughout the year. Class options include humor writing, screenwriting, creative writing, journalism workshops, and more. If you're looking to add a few skills to your resume without breaking the bank, just show up at one of these and get yourself learned. 

El Museo del Barrio

Location: 1230 Fifth Ave 
Date: Wednesdays - Saturdays

Time: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Perfect For: Getting cultured

Website: elmuseo.org

NYC's leading Latino cultural institution, El Museo del Barrio showcases the rich diversity of Latino, Caribbean, and Latin American cultures. Check out PLAYING WITH FIRE: Political Interventions, Dissident Acts, and Mischievous Interventions, one of the coolest exhibits in NYC right now, or their permanent collection of over 6,500 objects.

Snug Harbor Botanical Garden

Location: 1000 Richmond Terrace
Date: Every day 
Time: Dawn to dusk 
Perfect For: Peace of mind  
Website: aligndpm.com

The gorgeous general grounds and botanical gardens of Snug Harbor are open and free to the public seven days a week. If you feel like pretending you're in The Shining, there's a giant half-acre garden maze that's free on Tuesdays, as well as a 9/11 memorial garden and a Chinese scholar's garden. 

Canoe Gowanus Canal

Location: 2nd St. near Bond St.

Date: Through November 1

Time: Various 

Perfect For: Nature fiends

Website: gowanuscanal.org

Canoe Brooklyn with guidance from a group of volunteers. You can paddle wherever you want for 20 minutes while checking out the wildlife in the bay. If you're water-averse, they also offer free bike tours around the canal. The only thing you're required to do is be eco-friendly and help volunteers pick up trash that's washed ashore in the canal after your trip.

Bryant Park Ping Pong

Location: 94 W. 42nd St.

Date: Every day until November 30

Time: 11 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Perfect For: Reviving your middle school ping pong skills

Website: nycgovparks.org

Paddles and balls are provided for free. Don't know anyone who can handle your game? Sign up for a match with a practiced park attendant, who'll most likely kick your ass Balls of Fury-style. 

Exposed: A History of Lingerie

Location: The Museum at FIT
Date: Through November 15
Time: Monday-Friday 12 - 8 p.m., Saturdays 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Perfect For: Fashion inspiration
Website: exhibitions.fit.nyu

Bustiers from the 1800s are displayed alongside Suki Cohen's ultra-slick futuristic body suits in this Fashion Institute museum exhibition. 

American Museum of Natural History

Location: Central Park W & 79th St.

Date: Daily

Time: 10 a.m. - 5:45 p.m.
Perfect For: Educational fun 

Website: amnh.org

Dodge the school crowds and geek out over the massive planetarium, animal exhibits, and the biggest dinosaur collection in the U.S. Admission is pay-what-you-wish, but feel free to throw down a few bones to keep the place running. 

UNIQLO Free Fridays at MoMA

Location: 11 W 53rd St

Date: Fridays

Time: 4 - 8 p.m.

Perfect For: Checking out HOV-referenced artwork
Website: moma.org

MoMA is the holy grail of NYC art museums, where you'd usually shell out $25 per ticket. Luckily for your broke ass, UNIQLO teamed up with the museum to give you access to Picasso, Monet, Kahlo, Pollock, and hundreds of other legendary artist free of charge. Lines usually form in advance, so get there early to nab a ticket. 

Astronomy Nights at the Intrepid Museum

Location: Pier 86
Date: October 24
Time: 7:30 - 10:30 p.m.
Perfect For: Nerding out about space
Website: intrepidmuseum.org

Head out to the Intrepid Museum to hang out with local astronomers and their high-powered telescopes to talk about stargazing and astronomy. In addition to the viewing, there'll be talks and demonstrations inside the Museum.

The Bronx Zoo

Location: 2300 Southern Blvd.

Date: Wednesdays 

Time: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.

Perfect For: Animal lovers

Website: new.bronxzoo.com

The Bronx Zoo operates on a pay-what-you-wish model all day every Wednesday. It's home to lions, gorillas, Komodo dragons, and tons of other cool animals. 

Brooklyn Heights Promenade

Location: Brooklyn Heights Promenade

Date: Daily

Time: Dawn - 1 a.m.

Perfect For: A chill date 

Website: nyharborparks.org

The Brooklyn Heights Promenade has one of the best views of NYC you can get, with Lower Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the East River all displayed beautifully. When night hits and the skyline lights up, you'd be hard-pressed to find a more romantic place in the city. 

Queens County Farm Museum

Location: 73-50 Little Neck Pkwy.
Date: Daily
Time: 10 a.m. - 5 p.m.
Perfect For: Country boys at heart
Website: queensfarm.org

Get fully into the fall spirit at the Queens County Farm Museum, where you can chill with farm animals, pick pumpkins, explore a corn maze and more on NYC's largest undisturbed tract of farmland. On weekends they offer hay rides, and every Wednesday is their seasonal farm stand, where you can grab homegrown veggies and meet the farmers.

Canstruction

Location: 200 Vesey St.

Date: November 6 - 20

Time: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.

Perfect For: Getting creative for a cause

Website: brookfieldplaceny.com

Since 1993, NYC has brought together some of the best architects, engineers, and their students to create massive structures made completely out of unopened cans of food. After the structures are voted on, they're dismantled and the cans are donated to City Harvest to feed those in need. Admission is free, though visitors are asked to bring a can of food to contribute to the collection.

Central Park Moonlight Ride

Location: Columbus Circle
Date: First Friday of every month
Time: 10 p.m.
Perfect For: Fixie fiends 
Website: times-up.org

Take in the moonlit scenery of Central Park by night with a group of fellow cyclists. Previous riders have said that the park takes on a magical quality, with a lack of cars and other pedestrians that would normally be in the way. 

Aperture Gallery

Location: 547 W 27th St. 
Date: Monday - Saturday
Time: 10 a.m. - 6 p.m.
Perfect For: Photography buffs
Website: aperture.org

The founding members of this Chelsea gallery included Dorothy Lange and Ansel Adams, among others. The current exhibition of the month includes photographs taken from the weekly New York Times Magazine.

Photographs from Annie Leibovitz, Jeff Koons, Chuck Close, and many others channel the magazine's most important photojournalism from the past 15 years.

People's Improv Theatre

Location: 123 E. 24th St.
Date: Mondays and Wednesdays

Time: Various

Perfect For: Scoping new comedy talent

Website: thepit-nyc.com

No drink minimum and two free nights a week make People's Improv Theatre one of the best comedy bargains in NYC. Watch stand-up rookies cut their teeth onstage and take advantage of the bar's cheap happy hour specials.

Explore Prospect Park

Location: Prospect Park
Date: Daily
Time: 5 a.m. - 1 a.m.
Perfect For: Long Sunday walks
Website:prospectpark.org

Prospect Park is 585 acres of sprawling fields, an old-school boathouse, a roller rink, and much more. If you feel too cramped next to the tourist couple making out on a blanket in Central Park, head to Prospect and find a secluded spot for peace of mind. The changing autumn leaves make for a killer backdrop.

More from Complex:

Food and Drink Festivals Worth Driving For This Fall
The Most Anticipated Movies of Fall 2014
The Most Anticipated TV Shows of Fall 2014
The 50 Coolest Places in NYC Right Now
How to Be Broke in NYC: 14 Essential Techniques
 

SEE ALSO: The 25 Best Cities In The World, According To Travelers

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Hillary Clinton suggested women are owed money due to gender income disparities in a fiery campaign speech on Tuesday.

"Ask yourself why ... we still act as if it's 1955," Clinton said. "The fact that women still get paid less than men for the same work costs them and their families thousands of dollars every year."

Clinton went on to envision what women could do with the additional income when they are paid as much as men. 

"Imagine what a working mom could do with the money she is owed. That extra money, she could use it to rent or even buy a better home for her kids and herself. Those groceries she could buy. That car payment she could make," Clinton said.

Clinton was speaking in a packed hotel ballroom in Manhattan to endorse New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D), who appears to be easily coasting to re-election and likely does not need Clinton's support to win. However, the two have close ties: Cuomo once served in former President Bill Clinton's administration and Hillary Clinton represented New York in the US Senate from 2001 through 2009.

Clinton, whose 2008 presidential campaign was unsuccessful, poked fun at herself and said she knows not to expect a win in any race, even when a candidate has a wide lead like Cuomo's.

"We can't take anything for granted in an election," she said. "I know that from firsthand experience."

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