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One for the Road: Pauline Frommer's NYC

by Kelly Amabile on May 1st 2007 at 2:41PM

Adrienne first mentioned Pauline Frommer's travel books last August, when the new series had just hit the shelves. And as you can see from the comments, Pauline stopped by to add some personal perspective on her decision to jump into the book biz directly, following in the footsteps of her famous dad.

Both father and daughter are can claim celebrity status these days -- familiar faces that will be forever linked to the stellar guidebook business founded 50 years ago this year. Since the initial three-book launch of her adult budget guidebook series, which included the award winning Pauline Frommer's New York City, Pauline and her team are hard at work on additional titles, including upcoming guides to D.C., Orlando and Costa Rica.

But back to New York for a minute: Honored as the Best Guidebook of 2006 by the North American Travel Journalists Association, Pauline's NYC guidebook is a refreshing and affordable look inside the Big Apple. You can tell she just loves this city and worked really hard to collect data on the best creative accommodations, venues and restaurants for visitors to enjoy. Besides the emphasis on affordability and alternative lodging, her "Other" New York chapter really sets this guide apart from the rest. It highlights cheap and free opportunities for travelers to experience NYC through a local's eyes, including lists of prominent houses of worship, popular pub quiz nights and behind the scenes factory and museum tours.

Pauline will be appearing at an author event on May 7 at Denver's Tattered Cover Bookstore. Stop by her Amazon blog to keep up with the latest whereabouts of this travel savvy guidebook gal.

Filed under: Books, One for the Road

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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Pauline Frommer May 5th 2007 9:22AM

Thanks Kelly for your kind, kind comments. That book really was a labor of love, a poem to my home town and though it was hard work, I had a blast digging up the information, meeting with curators of local museums for the write-ups, clubbing for about a month to pick the hottest dance spots, and gaining about 10 pounds eating out constantly to choose the finest cheap eats. One of the most interesting parts of the book was researching the "alternative accommodations". Unlike other guidebooks, I tell our readers how they can find inexpensive and BEAUTIFUL accommodations in private apartments (either by renting a room in an apartment or by renting the complete apartment). The truth is, NYC is too expensive even for the residents, so many of them periodically rent out their apartments or a room in their apartments to earn the rent money. I visited literally dozens of these apartments, and the vast majority were really nice, much larger than a hotel room yet much cheaper. I looked at the apartments being promoted by a number of agencies, but only included the best of the agencies in my book. You can actually read an excerpt from that part of the book at www.frommers.com/pauline

Another labor of love, Pauline Frommer's Las Vegas, just came out. I spent two months in Sin City researching that, staying in a different hotel every other night (with the exception of two weeks when my kids were with me; we rented a house then and I talk extensively about how to do that affordably); trying indoor skydiving; seeing all 82 (!) of the long running shows in town; gaining another 10 pounds, this time thanks to all the buffet meals; and generally not getting enough sleep (but hey, that's how it goes in Vegas).

So anyway, thanks again for the lovely review.

Best,

Pauline Frommer

Kelly Amabile May 6th 2007 5:49PM

Thanks Pauline - be sure to keep up posted on future releases...I know you have some other hot titles on the way. And Happy 50th to the entire Frommer's gang.

Ann Lombardi May 23rd 2009 1:52AM

Hi, Pauline Frommer! Great post. And keep those exceptional travel books coming. It was a pleasure to have had you on our radio show awhile back and also to have met you in Atlanta at your book signing. Thanks too for your positive comments on the evening news tonight about the best time to travel is now! I feel sure that the travel industry is on the rebound.

And to Kelly, I enjoyed your piece here. Gadling is a super resource, and I am glad to be one of your Twitter followers. Hope your Memorial Day weekend is a relaxing one. Happy travels and the best to both of you from The Trip Chick in Atlanta!

Ann Lombardi
@thetripchicks
thetripchicks.com

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