It can be hard to stand out in a city of more than 8 million people, but not for Gil. A veteran USA Guided Tours NY tour guide with over a decade of experience, Gil has lived in Manhattan’s Hell’s Kitchen neighborhood for 20-plus years and wouldn’t have it any other way. He can typically be found wearing his signature backwards newsboy hat and Doc Martens, radiating classic New York cool.
Gil spends his days getting visitors acquainted with the Big Apple, spilling anything a traveler might want to know. On his tours, he shares little-known facts about the city, recommends local seasonal events, explains how to score discount show tickets, and even lets travelers in on well-kept secrets.
Gil highlights the diversity, convenient transportation, and the arts as main reasons why NYC is unlike anywhere else in the world—but even aside from all of that, the city’s food scene really sets it apart. “Imagine all the different types of foods you could try,” Gil says of New York, believed to be home to speakers of about 800 languages.
Some of Gil’s go-to foodie spots include 9th Avenue, where you can walk up the street and find 20 different types of food in one stretch; the Tex-Mex fusion of El Centro in Hell’s Kitchen; the Spanish tapas at Boqueria in Soho; East Village’s low-key sushi spot, Takahachi; and the well-known Dosa Man of Washington Square Park. He’s also a big fan of his own neighborhood bodega (every NYC local has one), the Amish Market.
Diana Fleming has been writing for more than 10 years. She recently moved from the San Francisco Bay Area to a quiet Northern California mountain town, and as the mother of a curious toddler, she’s always looking for fun, creative ways for her family to experience the world—in places big and small.
