Tourist Sites Are More And More "Ripped From The Headlines" According To NYC Guide Jim Dykes: They Want To See Bernie Madoff's Office And Residential Buildings, The Art Deco Skyskraper Home Of AIG Insurance And The High Rise Residence Of Tragic Natasha Richardson

    NEW YORK, March 23, 2009 /24-7PressRelease/ -- Jim Dykes, NYC tour guide and co-founder of Rich and Famous Tours Inc. says that tourists want to see sites ripped from the headlines of today's news. Sites such as the Bernard Madoff apartment building, not be mention the building where Madoff had his offices, the A.I.G. office complex near Wall Street and the luxury high-rise residence of late Broadway and film star Natasha Richardson are among the New York locations tourists are suddenly asking about more than ever. "In this age of instant news, people want to know about and see what they've seen on the television news last evening," says Dykes. "Whether it's my walking tours or my step-on bus tours, people ask for these and other sites from the news."

Even though Madoff is currently residing in the high security Metropolitan Correctional Institution building on the edge of Chinatown, people are still asking about the fabulous luxury $7m penthouse where his wife Ruth Madoff still resides (for the moment), located on the fabled Upper Eastside of Manhattan on East 64th Street, between Park Avenue and Lexington Avenue. The building has another famous resident: Matt Lauer of NBC News' Today Show. Madoff's offices were several blocks away at the famed Lipstick Building on Third Avenue.
The A.I.G. complex, a landmarked art deco tower, is located in the Wall Street financial district of Lower Manhattan and may soon be for sale, according to published reports in the worldwide media. A.I.G., the massive insurance company which has been in the news quite a bit of late, has been bailed out by the federal government to the tune of many billions of dollars.

Tragically, whenever a famous person dies, everyone wants to know exactly where they lived, whether the death happened there or somewhere else. This past week, on March 18, 2009, the lovely Natasha Richardson, 45, star of stage and screen, daughter of Vanessa Redgrave, died as a result of head injuries sustained 2 days earlier in a tragic skiing accident. Richardson and her husband actor Liam Neeson resided in a luxury high-rise on the Upper Westside of Manhattan near Central Park which is filled with other big names in the entertainment business such as Julie Andrews, Celine Dion, Howard Stern, Regis Philbin and Alan Alda. Reportedly the residents are collectively devastated at Richardson's sudden death. "She was a wonderful, warm person...everybody loved her. It's still unbelievable that she's gone," said one resident who asked not to be identified. "Last year when Heath Ledger's body was found in his SoHo loft, everyone wanted to see where the loft was and I came under a lot of criticism by news media and the blogging community for simply showing tourists what they wanted to see," says Jim Dykes, nicknamed "the celebrity tour guide" by Joan Rivers. "Rich and Famous Tours got quite a lot of criticism and hate email for days. When Linda Stein, real estate broker to the stars was bludgeoned to death in her Fifth Avenue penthouse, everyone wanted to see where it happened, so I showed them by simply adding the location to the tour route. Everyone else began doing it after I did."

Jim Dykes' Abuzz Around New York gives special "niche" tours of New York City spotlighting where celebrities live, shop, dine and party. Jim Dykes' private tours of New York City and its' fascinating neighborhoods can be arranged at http://www.JimDykes.com.

Source: Abuzz Around New York, Inc.

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