Blackout Darkened Broadway, But Shows Starting with the Letter ‘B’ Carried On

by Anna Breuer

New York City may have had a blackout, but it somehow exempted Broadway plays and musicals starting with the letter “b.”
The blackout that ran from 72nd Street to the West 40s, and from Fifth Avenue to the Hudson River, may have stopped movies in mid-sentence, emptied shops, left diners in restaurants with only the glow of their smartphones, and caused the Great White Way to go dark somehow exempted four …

After Seven Decades, Final VW Beetle Rolls Off the Assembly Line

by Paul Riegler

After eight decades, the longest-running and most-manufactured automobile in history, the Volkswagen Beetle, has become extinct.
Production of the current generation Volkswagen Beetle rolled to an end at the automaker’s plant in Puebla, Mexico, on Wednesday.
The final Volkswagen Beetle was a Denim Blue coupe that will remain on display at the plant’s museum.
The original Beetle, officially known as the Volkswagen Type 1, was suggested in 1933 by German Reichskanzler Adolf Hitler …

Boeing, Facing Plunging Deliveries, May Lose Title of Biggest Plane Maker to Airbus

by Jeremy Del Nero

Boeing’s announcement Tuesday that Q2 deliveries had slid 54% year over year may mean that rival Airbus is poised to take the title of world’s largest aircraft manufacturer for the first time since 2012.
The Chicago-based company said it had shipped 239 aircraft in the first six months of the year compared with 378 in the same period last year. It reported that over 150 of the beleaguered 737 Max jets …

Hotel Review: InterContinental Washington D.C. – The Wharf

by Jonathan Spira

The Wharf is making its mark as a destination in Washington, D.C.  The new entertainment district – somewhat akin to Hudson Yards in New York City – is home to several new hotels and multiple restaurants that are attracting attention in a city with countless nightlife options, along with hundreds of new apartments and a reinvigorated harbor life.
The possibilities are seemingly limitless, from fine dining at Chef Kwame Onwuachi’s new …

Travel News Quiz: Test Your Knowledge of the Past Month’s Headlines

by Jesse Sokolow

Are you fully up-to-date with your travel news? Take our travel news quiz and you could win a piece of airline history including items from Pan Am.
In last month’s quiz, the question about the new TWA Hotel at JFK had the highest share of correct answers, with 89.3%, but only 30% knew the correct answer about which hotel chain had announced an all-suites brand, which was IHG.
Simply scroll down, have …

Today is the 4th of July: Here’s What’s Open and What’s Closed

by Anna Breuer

Today, Thursday, is the Fourth of July, Independence Day, in the United States, a federal holiday that celebrates the adoption of the Declaration of Independence after the Continental Congress declared the thirteen American colonies to be a new and independent nation, no longer part of the British Empire.
The holiday is associated with family picnics, barbecues, fireworks, parades, and baseball games among other festivities. John Adams, the country’s first vice president …

Theater Review: ‘Dropping Gumballs on Luke Wilson’ at A.R.T./New York Theater

by Jonathan Spira

Filming a television commercial can be tough. Filming one where the sole actor appearing in it will be dinged and knocked out by cherry red gumballs of an indeterminate weight is even tougher.
Such is the story of “Dropping Gumballs on Luke Wilson,” a play by Rob Ackerman directed by playwright Theresa Rebeck (“Bernhardt/Hamlet”) that opened June 18. This Working Theater production is based on “a sort of true story,” as …