Friday's - yeah, that Friday's - is coming to Union Square, and we're scared. For us, yeah, but especially for tourists: every year, hundreds of thousands pour into New York, and hit the same, godawful places everyone else does, or worse, the ones they could hit at home. You can't (entirely) blame them: they don't know any better, besides which, doing touristy things in New York isn't the worst way to see this city! Some things - like hitting up a deli, roaming New York's parks, trying to get a good view of the urban landscape, or taking in the epicenter of the action in midtown - really aren't to be missed, or begrudged. But why waste away at the same spots, doing the same things that've been done time and time again? They're generally mediocre experiences. We polled our staff panel of self-proclaimed Manhattanites, and came up with a list of alternatives to the turns many a tourist takes wrong. We've consciously omitted Brooklyn and Queens, who deserve their own list; for now, here're your 2009 New York Tourist Trap Alternatives.

Over on our Mixology site in the Pros section, we asked the hottest bartenders in New York and Los Angeles to whip up a specialty cocktail while describing their perfect New Year's Eve. Check out Jonathan Pogash crafting a Mistletoe Martini at NYC's Campbell Apartment. But that's not the end of Jonathan's game; he's also "director of cocktail development" at the World Bar, the Carnegie Club, Bookmarks Lounge at the Library Hotel, and Madison & Vine.

What do you do? What do you drink? I develop new cocktail recipes for our menus, I train the bar staff and I’m also actively bartending as well. I drink Manhattans and Margaritas

How did you get your start? I started out as a bar-back, and then I just became a bartender after that at the Russian Tea Room. From there I moved on to a place called Town, was trained by various people along the way, and just went off to various bars and started getting creative. Then they started putting my cocktail recipes on their menus.

Sure, you've been following the fun on our Mixology site, where BlackBook and Grey Goose recruited the best bartenders from New York and Los Angeles to whip up their signature drinks on camera, all while relating their own ideal New Year's experience. But perhaps you really just want to see those recipes demonstrated point by point, shake by shake? Then check out the collected bonus clips above, which describe and demonstrate each drinkmaking experience in exacting detail. On tap: Cielo, Campbell Apartment, Hudson Bar, and Larry Lawrence in New York; and Ecco, The Edison, and Saints N' Sinners in Los Angeles. Click the "MENU" button on the video player to access all seven clips. And don't forget to thank the skilled shooters at Two Penguins Productions for making all this holiday cheer possible in the first place. Chin-chin.

BlackBook and Grey Goose continue our joint exploration of the perfect New Year's cocktail on our Mixology site. We asked bartenders working the shakers at jumping nightspots in New York and Los Angeles to mix up their signature drink, all while relating their own perfect New Year's. Tonight's choice: Jonathan at NYC's Campbell Apartment demonstrates the joy of the Mistletoe Martini.

Glimpse the city as it was before fauxhawks, metrosexuality, and that internets thing.

1. The Campbell Apartment at Grand Central (Midtown East) - Former private office hidden in GCT with flapper-clad staff delivering expert shakers.
2. Bemelmans Bar at The Carlyle Hotel (Upper East Side) - Named after Madeline creator Ludwig, whose murals enliven one of Manhattan’s classiest drinking experiences.
3. Ear Inn (Soho) - Geek-boy film crews and UPS workers in their fly brown shorts both agree on super- old, super-dark tavern.

Gossip Girl, affectionately referred to as the Greatest Show of Our Time by New York, is gearing up for Season 2, debuting on September 1. Last season's ad campaign, OMFG, has reached new heights, turning criticism towards the show on its head by using quotes like the Boston Herald’s “Every parent’s nightmare” on their billboards. Sure, we already showed you the wining and dining, but get ready for the drama and let life imitate art: Take a tour of New York, Gossip Girl style.

Mark Grossich is the refined CEO of Hospitality Holdings, owner of elegant haunts like the World Bar, the Campbell Apartment, Bookmarks and Madison & Vine at the Library Hotel, and the Carnegie Club. He tells us of his mission to bring the sophisticated dram back to New York, holds forth on coke spoon hijinx, and caps off the night with a Shirley Temple.

Point of Origin: I'm from the Midwest, raised in Chicago. I did a lot of things before I came into the hospitality business, like washing the pots and pans in my family's neighborhood restaurants when I was about 12 -- casual places, the names of which I can't even remember. My background is in marketing, and I have a masters degree from Northwestern, which is how I got into the business. I owned an advertising agency, a modeling agency, and a public relations agency, another owner of which wanted to partner up for a cocktail lounge; he found the location, and I founded what would become Hudson Bar and Books. It was such a success that I transitioned out of the PR business and into upscale cocktail lounges full time.