Subway construction takes a notoriously long time. Drilling, digging, and building under the most populated city in the United States is a complicated and expensive endeavor.

Chief among current projects is the Second Avenue Subway, which has existed in the planning and construction stages since 1929, and East Side Access, a project dating to the late 1960s. The projects have started and stopped at various points in the intervening decades, but it now appears that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) is making an effort to turn the literal money pits into working train lines. 

As part of that gargantuan effort, the MTA has released photos on their Flickr showing the ongoing construction of the two projects and the workers who toil underground. We’ve got a few of the photos here.

The Second Avenue subway has been in some form of construction or planning since 1929. The many stops and starts to its construction have rendered it a punchline to many New Yorkers, who call it 'The Line That Time Forgot." Here's a look at the under-construction 96th Street station.

The MTA has been trying to change that impression since 2007, when the agency recieved a full funding grant from the Federal Transit Administration to complete Phase 1, a $4.45 billion project that will build a new line between 96th Street and 63rd St.  This is a look at the under-construction 86th Street station.

Phase 1 is scheduled to open in 2016 and will serve as an extension of the Q line. The 96th Street Station, shown here, is one of three stations being built during Phase 1.

The rest of the 8.5 mile subway line is currently in the planning phase. It is estimated that will cost more than $17 billion. This is the 86th Street station.

Here's a map of the planned Second Avenue Subway.

The other long-gestating project is East Side Access. The goal of the project is to ease commutes from Long Island and Queens to the east side of Manhattan through a new 8-track terminal below Grand Central Station. This is a view of the new terminal.

The project will do this by bringing the Long Island Railroad to the East Side of Manhattan through the 63rd Street Tunnel. The project is due to serve an estimated 162, 000 riders per day. Here's another look at the terminal.

By doing so, many Long Island commuters will be able to exit at Grand Central on Manhattan's East Side rather than at Penn Station, on the West Side, and then having to take a subway to reach Midtown East. Here, you can see a worker installing concrete lining and waterproofing.

The project's estimated cost has ballooned from $4.3 billion to $10.8 billion since ground was first broken — in its current iteration — in 2006. The project's completion date has been routinely pushed back from 2009 to, most recently, 2023.

The project delays and ballooning costs have been so bad that the US Department of Transportation Inspector General has conducted an audit of the project. The audit concluded that the MTA wouldn't come close to meeting their target budget or completion date. It has lead many to call the project a "disaster.

It calls for the creation of seven miles of tunnel and a massive cavern underneath Grand Central terminal.

To create the tunnels and the cavern, workers have had to cart away 1.5 million cubic yards of muck, enough to fill 75,000 dump trucks.

The project is the largest infrastructure project currently in the works in the United States.

Here's what East Side Access looks like on the map.

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A woman going through the drive-thru of a Houston, Texas-area Whataburger handed a restaurant worker a Mink coat valued at $10,000 last Friday, according to a local ABC News affiliate TV station.

What prompted the surprising exchange? The worker merely complimented the coat.

"The lady said, 'that's a beautiful coat' and she was so sweet," the woman known only as Nadine told ABC News. "So I took it off and handed it to her through the drive-thru window."

She said she was just doing "what felt right."

The worker, Cheryl Semien, reacted as anyone would after they  just recieved a Mink coat worth $10,000 unexpectedly. According to Semien's coworkers, she "was yelling, as if she won a million dollars."

"She was a perfect stranger, I didn't know this lady from nowhere," said Semien, who had been working at the restaurant for nine years.

Semien told ABC that she plans to "treasure" the coat and "pair with some boots."

SEE ALSO: The 45 Best Restaurants In America

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Amid the tragedies of missing or downed planes and exploding conflict from the Middle East to Eastern Europe, the world has also seen its share of peculiar moments.

Some of these moments seem bizarre because of their foreignness or lack of context. Others are just plain weird. We've collected some of our favorite moments from the past year.

A man takes part in the annual No Pants Subway Ride in New York on Jan. 12, 2014.

A trader looks at Pete the Penguin of SeaWorld Entertainment as he walks on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on Jan. 15. SeaWorld was celebrating its 50th anniversary.

Men carry a fake cow while riding an escalator during preparations for the Green Week food, agriculture, and horticulture fair in Berlin on Jan. 15.

Last year, a lawsuit alleging that a wealthy Upper East Side couple kept a Chilean nanny as a “virtual slave” for three months made waves around the internet.

In it, Felicitas del Carmen Villanueva Garnica claimed she was physically abused by her employers’ three children, and accused the family of human trafficking.

The lawsuit was dismissed after “rampant inconsistencies” emerged during her deposition, many of which backtracked from her original allegations, though the family did pay her about $6,000 in back wages, writes Michael Wilson in the New York Times.

Despite the court's dismissal, the couple, Chilean aristocrats Malu Custer Edwards and Micky Hurley, and their three children, are stuck in Italy after the US refused to let them back into the country following a summer vacation.

The Times reports that the family’s August vacation was only supposed to last three weeks, but they were refused re-entry by the State Department because of Garnica’s now-dismissed allegations. 

The family was reportedly alerted while on vacation that Edwards needed to renew her student visa to re-enter the US, but the request was denied by the United States Consulate, which stated that Edwards “had been untruthful on her application to renew the visa by failing to report having engaged in human trafficking,” according to The Times.

Writes Wilson:

“'Well, what’s so bad about Italy?'” Ms. Edwards asked, repeating a question she has heard from friends. “Well, just wait until you are anywhere in the world, and you think you’ll be there a couple of weeks, and then be told you can’t go back to where your life is.”

Garnica’s lawsuit against the Edwards and Hurley claimed that the socialites only gave her $800 a month to work 12-hour days without any days off. 

She also alleged Edwards and Hurley took her passport, kept her in the apartment without proper food or her medication for hypertension, and that she was abused by the couple’s three children.

The lawsuit was dropped by Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein of Manhattan’s Federal Court after Garnica revealed in her deposition that she was allowed to come and go from the apartment at her leisure, was given food, and that the source of the physical abuse was the couple’s three-year-old toddler who was no taller than the nanny’s waist.

Edwards and Hurley are currently appealing the visa denial.

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Americans sit through some 11 million meetings every day— with the unproductive ones costing companies $37 billion a year. 

We've already learned that meetings fall apart thanks to sloppy agendas, un-articulated ground rules, and other structural mistakes. 

So we decided to look at how some of the most effective executives in history — from GM czar Alfred Sloan to Apple prince Steve Jobs to Facebook queen Sheryl Sandberg — run the meetings that invariably fill their calendars. 

Here's what we found. 

Legendary GM CEO Alfred Sloan said little — then made follow-ups.

Alfred Sloan ran GM from the 1920s to the '50s. During that time he led GM to become the world's largest corporation— in the '50s, GM held 46% of the US auto market and employed over 600,000 Americans. 

Sloan is also credited with inventing modern corporate structure. 

According to leadership guru Peter Drucker, the follow-up memo was one of Sloan's go-to tools. 

After any formal meeting — in which he simply announced the purpose, listened to what people had to say, and then left — Sloan would send a follow-up memo with a plan of action. 

Drucker's take: 

[Sloan] immediately wrote a short memo addressed to one attendee of the meeting. In that note, he summarized the discussion and its conclusions and spelled out any work assignment decided upon in the meeting (including a decision to hold another meeting on the subject or to study an issue). He specified the deadline and the executive who was to be accountable for the assignment. He sent a copy of the memo to everyone who'd been present at the meeting.

These memos made Sloan an "outstandingly effective executive," Drucker argues, and you might say they were a key to GM's dominance of the 20th century. 

Opsware CEO and Andreessen Horowitz cofounder Ben Horowitz likes to have one-to-one meetings.

Back when he was a CEO, Ben Horowitz led Opsware to a $1.6 billion sale to HP in 2007.

Two years later, he cofounded Andreessen Horowitz, probably the most sought-after firm in venture capital. 

Horowitz, who spends much of his time mentoring young leaders, says that most important job for a CEO is to architect the way people communicate in a company. 

The one-to-one meeting is essential to that process, he says, as it's the best place for ideas and critiques to flow up from employees to management.

Here's his take on how to run one: 

If you like structured agendas, then the employee should set the agenda. A good practice is to have the employee send you the agenda in advance.

This will give her a chance to cancel the meeting if nothing is pressing. It also makes clear that it is her meeting and will take as much or as little time as she needs.

During the meeting, since it’s the employee’s meeting, the manager should do 10% of the talking and 90% of the listening. Note that this is the opposite of most one-on-ones. 

Tesla CEO Elon Musk demands that people be super prepared.

Musk has incredibly high standards. He has a reputation for firing people if they miss a deadline. So if you're meeting with him at Tesla or SpaceX, you have to be ready.

As one anonymous Musk employee shares on Quora:

When we met with Elon, we were prepared. Because if you weren't, he'd let you know it. If he asked a reasonable follow-up question and you weren't prepared with an answer, well, good luck.

What else would you expect from the most badass CEO in America? 

Science shows us the new discoveries that change the world along with the amazing natural phenomena that have amazed humanity for thousands of years.

In 2014 we've seen auroras transform the sky, massive snow storms, rivers that look like they're full of blood, and tiny beautiful creatures.

When Nebraska firefighters put out a blaze on Jan. 3, the water they sprayed froze against this building.

Source: Here's An Incredible Picture Of Sun Shining Through The Windows Of A Building After It Caught Fire

This nature shot from London's Richmond Park, titled “Stag Deer Bellowing,” by Prashant Meswani, was an honorable mention in National Geographic's 2014 photo contest.

Source: Here Are The Winners Of The 2014 National Geographic Photo Contest

Photographer Jimmy Nelson published a book called "Before They Pass Away" showing the vanishing tribes of the world. Here are three Kazakh men using eagles to hunt.

Source: 12 Epic Photos Of The World's Disappearing Tribes 

Hollywood A-Lister Matt Damon has finally sold his stunning Miami Beach mansion Marabella for $15 million, according to South Florida Business Journal.

The actor listed the seven-bedroom home back in March 2013 with celebrity broker The Jills

He bought the 12,700-square-foot Marabella in 2005 for $10.3 million, and has been adding to the property's acreage ever since.

The home sold to Patrick Markert, the CEO of AmeriSave Mortgage, according to The Real Deal.

Matt Damon's former mansion sits in an exclusive Miami Beach neighborhood.

The home was built in 1935 and is right on the waterfront.

The Mediterranean-style pad has two stories.

This was a huge year for high-end real estate.

The most expensive home ever sold in the US hit the record books in 2014, and several famous properties changed hands.

From celebrity-owned estates in Los Angeles to sky-high mansions in Manhattan, here are the most expensive homes sold in the US in 2014. 

*Thanks to our astute readers for pointing out a missing house. It's been added to the list.

21. Tom Brady and Gisele Bundchen sold their $40 million mansion in Brentwood, California, to Dr. Dre.

The mansion includes five bedrooms, a moat, huge terraces, and an infinity pool with an ocean view.

Since Dre bought it after the news broke of Apple buying Beats Electronics, it's likely that the house was a celebratory purchase for Dre.

Click here for a tour >

20. Billionaire philanthropist Jon Stryker sold his Upper West Side duplex penthouse for $42 million.

Stryker bought the penthouse for only $12.8 million in 2002.

It has 5,600 square feet, 12 rooms, and two terraces that overlook Central Park.

Click here for a tour >

19. Stryker also sold his Palm Beach estate this year, for $42.9 million.

The 2.6-acre estate, which actually consists of three separate properties, sits on the Atlantic Ocean. One of the properties was sold to Stryker by Jimmy Buffet. 

It was the most expensive sale this year in swanky Palm Beach, according to the Palm Beach Daily News.

Click here for a tour >

Silicon Valley has one of the most in-demand real estate markets in the country, thanks in part to the prevalence of tech workers and their disproportionately high salaries.

Homes in Santa Clara County often sell for more than $1,000 per square foot. It's not uncommon for small homes that would be tear-downs anywhere else to sell for more than $1 million here. 

Our friends at real estate listings site Point2Homes helped us compile a list of Silicon Valley homes that are not exactly aesthetically pleasing, but that are listed for startlingly high prices nonetheless.

You may be surprised to see just how little your money will get you.

In Los Gatos, a 780-square-foot home costs more than $1 million.

Address: 194 Villa Avenue, Los Gatos

Price: $1.24 million

This charming, tiny home has two bedrooms and one bathroom. It was built in 1915.

This home only has two bedrooms, but it'll cost you nearly $2 million.

Address:22350 Palm Avenue, Cupertino

Price: $1.65 million

This home dates back to 1925 and costs a whopping $1,549 per square foot. It's located in Cupertino, not far from Apple headquarters.

An adorably small home in downtown Mountain View costs almost $2 million.

Address: 620 Sonia Way, Mountain View

Price: $1.99 million

This 2,702-square-foot home near the Googleplex dates back to 1947. It has five bedrooms and five bathrooms. 

On Saturday, Citrix invited us down to Santa Clara to see the 49ers take on the San Diego Chargers.

Neither of us had been to the new stadium before and we were blown away by how high-tech and fan-friendly it was.

The game was fantastic, even though the Niners lost in overtime.

We took the Caltrain down to the stadium. It took us about 2 hours to get there from downtown San Francisco.

This is what Caltrain looks like. It's almost two stories tall.

The train was packed with football fans. A lot of them were already drunk by the time we got off.

The Gaza Strip faces an uncertain future four months after the conclusion of a war in which 2200 people were killed there.

The Strip remains deeply isolated, while the Islamist terrorist group Hamas's continued control over the territory has dissuaded donors from aiding in the area's post-conflict reconstruction. Last week, two rockets were fired at Israel from the Strip; the Israelis responded by destroying a Hamas training camp. But today, material for the construction of a Coca Cola plant was allowed to enter the territory, signaling that economic opportunities might slowly rebound as wartime tensions recede.

Business Insider visited the coastal Strip in November. While it's hard to view anything there outside the context of the region's ceaseless and often violent state of flux, Gaza offers signs of both a rich history and its own, resilient version of normal life.

The Gaza Strip was occupied by Egypt after the 1948 Middle East War, until Israel seized the territory during the Six-Day War in 1967. Israel unilaterally pulled all of its soldiers and civilian settlers from the Strip in 2005.

Hamas has ruled the Gaza Strip since 2007. It's a US-listed and Iranian-supported terrorist group whose charter calls for Israel's destruction, so the takeover soon triggered a policy of Israeli and Egyptian border, maritime, and airspace restrictions that continues until now. Despite these hurdles, Hamas has built up enough of a weapons and cash stockpile to launch thousands of rocket attacks on Israel and fight three wars with their powerful neighbor — most recently this past summer.

Gaza City sits along an idyllic stretch of Mediterranean coast. Despite the violence of that had gripped the area just a few months ago, a tense calm prevails through much of the Strip. This was the calming view of the Gaza City port from my room at the Roots Hotel.

A new anthropological study by Georgia State University claims that the trendy meat and vegetable-heavy Paleolithic diets actually don't represent how people of the Paleolithic Period ate.

“There’s very little evidence that any early hominids had very specialized diets or there were specific food categories that seemed particularly important," said Dr. Ken Sayers, a researcher at Georgia State.

The study says that it's actually much more likely that the hominids who lived during that era had diets closer to that of the other "eclectic" omnivores during that time, such as bears and pigs.

That is to say, their diet varied widely based on their location and what was actually available to eat. A group near the north might subsist on more of an animal-based diet, while those near the equator would probably eat a mainly plant-based diet, according to the study.

Also, the hominids weren't at all concerned about what percentage of energy came from protein, fats, and carbohydrates, like followers of the modern paleo diet are.

The study also points out that the lifespans of these early humans were considerably shorter than our lifespans today, leaving researchers to wonder if these Paleolithic diets really had any health benefit.

When it comes down to it, the most fundamental difference between the modern Paleo diet and the diet of the people who actually lived during that time is that the "cavemen" were just trying to eat whatever they could to survive and reproduce.

"Everyone would agree that ancestral diets didn’t include Twinkies, but I’m sure our ancestors would have eaten them if they grew on trees,” said Sayers.

Read the full report here.

SEE ALSO: Study Says That 86% Of Vegetarians Go Back To Eating Meat

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Do you ever finish watching a movie and wish it had been done slightly differently? You're not alone.

There are hundreds of people working together online to create unofficial fan edits out of movie, modifying them in clever — and frequently bizarre —  ways to create something totally new.

15. Bateman Begins: An American Psycho

Most fan edits correct errors in movies, or add in deleted scenes. However, some ambitious people edit different movies together to make something totally new. This fan edit combines footage from 'American Psycho', 'Batman Begins', 'The Dark Knight' and 'The Machinist' and creates one long story. 

It's difficult to describe the plot of 'Bateman Begins', but it uses the rough outline of 'Batman Begins' as the movie's beginning, and then Christian Bale is shown to become more deranged and violent using footage from 'American Psycho' and 'The Machinist'. It sounds bizarre, and it is, but it makes for an entertaining watch.

14. AARRSSTW-WTSSRRAA

In case you hadn't guessed, this is the original 1977 'Star Wars' movie re-sorted by shot length. That's right, some eager 'Star Wars' fans made exact measurements of how long each camera angle lasts for and rearranged the entire movie. 

Is it watchable? No, not really, it's difficult to make sense of the movie now. But it does show just how dedicated 'Star Wars' fans are, and forces you to look at the movie in an entirely different way.

You can watch the whole movie here.

13. Caddyshack: No Respect

'Caddyshack: No Respect' is an unofficial fan edit of classic 1980 cult comedy movie 'Caddyshack' which cuts out the character of Al Czervik as much as possible. 

Here's the creator of the fan edit explaining why he made the changes:

"I hate Rodney Dangerfield. With a passion. He is not funny. Never was. His annoying presence stands out even more in Caddyshack next to comedic greats like Bill Murray and Chevy Chase."

Christmas is the unofficial start of the NBA season for many casual fans.

The NFL season is dying down, people are stuck inside, and there are nationally televised games on ABC.

By New Year's Day the NBA season finally feels like it's here, and we have a better understanding of which teams are for real, and which teams are headed for the lottery in 2015.

1. Golden State Warriors (previously: 1st)

Current record: 23-3 (1st in West)

Offensive ranking: 9th

Defensive ranking: 1st

One thing to know: There are lingering concerns (offense when Steph Curry is on the bench, Andrew Bogut's latest injury, etc.), but right now this is the most complete team in the league.

2. Memphis Grizzlies (previously: 3rd)

Current record: 21-7 (3rd in West)

Offensive ranking: 8th

Defensive ranking: 9th

One thing to know: This has always been a great defensive team, but now Marc Gasol is putting up better offensive numbers than ever. 

3. Portland Trail Blazers (previously: 6th)

Current record: 22-7 (2nd in West)

Offensive ranking: 6th

Defensive ranking: 3rd

One thing to know: Damian Lillard has taken The Leap this year. He's currently fifth in the league in win shares, and he's top 10 in points per game and assists per game.

The New Year represents a fresh start. And some of us may need it more than others.

Here are 28 high-profile people (and teams) whose careers or reputations took a big hit in 2014. Many are likely to bounce back — while others may never recover. 

Baltimore Ravens running back Ray Rice

The Baltimore Ravens running back was charged with assaulting his then-fiancé Janay Palmer in February, but the news didn't initially gain traction in the media. 

That changed in September, when the NFL announced it would suspend Rice for a measly two games, prompting critics to point out that the league seemed to take marijuana use and college recruiting violations more seriously than domestic violence.

The story got even bigger when TMZ released the full security camera video of Rice punching Palmer, who by then had become his wife, in an elevator at Revel Casino in Atlantic Casino. Afterward, the camera showed him dragging her out of the elevator. 

The Baltimore Ravens cut Rice from the team, and the NFL suspended him indefinitely. Although though Rice won the appeal of his indefinite suspension in November, it is unlikely that an NFL team will add him to its roster any time soon.

Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel

In November, Hagel resigned as US Secretary of Defense under pressure from President Obama. As it turns out, Hagel "just wasn't up to the job," a senior defense official concisely summarized.

Although Hagel was reportedly chosen for the position in order to reorganize the armed forces and cut defense spending, he ended up needing to focus on other projects, including combating the rise of ISIS and the spread of Ebola.

'7th Heaven' actor Stephen Collins

This October a recording from a confidential marriage therapy session in 2012 was made public in which the "7th Heaven" actor admitted to molesting underage girls.

In December, 67-year-old Collins released a statement to People magazine in which he admits to inappropriate sexual contact with three female minors. In that statement he said: "Forty years ago, I did something terribly wrong that I deeply regret. I have been working to atone for it ever since."

In December we hosted our annual IGNITION conference at the Times Center in New York City. Hundreds of people joined us from the worlds of technology, media, entertainment, investing, finance, and the internet to discuss the innovation that matters. Thanks to our partner Getty, you can now relive some of the biggest moments in pictures.

On Monday, Business Insider senior correspondent Alyson Shontell gave opening remarks, welcoming visitors and speaking about the future of all things digital.

Founder and CEO of Breyer Capital, Jim Breyer, right, spoke with founder and chairman of Gilt, Kevin Ryan.

John Sculley, former CEO of Apple, left, sat down with Steven Levy, founder and editor-in-chief of Backchannel.

Christmas is a deeply special time for people all over the word. During the holiday season, they celebrate in many ways.

No custom is more important to folks across the globe than the time-honored Christmas Eve or Christmas Day meal. Yet, these meals vary greatly in different parts of the world.

Inspired by this BookTable post by Rob Rebelo, we took a look at some typical Christmas meals from countries around the world.

Brazilians eat turkey on Christmas Eve, but not in the traditional North American style. Along with turkey, they serve rice, Brazil nuts, and a variety of fruit.

Germans often serve fruity Stollen cake, along with mulled wine called Gluehwein. Stollen is traditionally baked to have a hump, symbolizing the humps of the camels that carried the wise men to see Jesus.

Many Bulgarians fast before Christmas, so on Christmas they nosh on stuffed vegetables, soups, and cakes.

Photo agency Reuters has one of the most popular Instagram accounts with 111,000 followers.

Each day it posts the best images from Reuters photographers around the world, with compelling imagery and stories that need to be shared.

Here are the original photos of Reuters' 29 most popular Instagram posts from 2014, based on likes and comments, along with their original captions.

"A man and his dog jump into the sea in Piran, October 5, 2014."

"A hot air balloon floats past an almost full rising moon on a warm fall evening near Encinitas, California, on October 5, 2014."

"Castellers Colla Joves Xiquets de Valls start to form a human tower called 'castell' during a biannual competition in Tarragona city, October 5, 2014. The formation of human towers is a tradition in the area of Catalonia."

In the final NFL power rankings of the regular season, the Dallas Cowboys are threatening to break into the top tier.

For two months the Packers, Seahawks, Patriots, and Broncos have been the unquestioned four best teams in the league.

Could Dallas make a late push and join that list of Super Bowl contenders?

1. Seattle Seahawks (previously: 1st)

Record: 11-4

Week 16 result: 35-6 win over Arizona

One thing to know: With the way their defense has played in the last two months, they're unbeatable if they are able to get the type of offensive production we saw in Week 16.

2. New England Patriots (previously: 2nd)

Record: 12-3

Week 16 result: 17-16 win over New York Jets

One thing to know: The Patriots clinched homefield advantage throughout the playoffs — which could be huge if they play Denver in the AFC title game.

3. Green Bay Packers (previously: 3rd)

Record: 11-4

Week 16 result: 20-3 win over Tampa Bay

One thing to know: Week 16 was the first time in five weeks that the Packers beat a team by more than one score.

Every busy guy needs a good, reliable barber: one he can trust to be quick, pleasant, and most importantly, great at trimming hair.

That's not always easy to find, but our friends at Yelp have given us a hand. They ranked the best 10 barber shops in New York City, based on their vast database of user reviews.

Each one is professional, clean, and highly affordable (men's cuts are usually under $20) – and they're located in neighborhoods throughout Manhattan, Brooklyn, and even in Flushing, Queens.

SEE ALSO: The 10 Best Gins On The Market

1. Premium Barber Shop

622 3rd Ave.
Murray Hill, Manhattan

Premium Barber Shop is top notch. You could step into any other barber shop in the city and maybe you'll get lucky, but at Premium, you can rely on consistently good service and quality.

Everyone there is personable, quick, and totally skilled at what they do. Sometimes there's a line, but don't be afraid, it moves quickly.

"In short, [barber] Arthur is like the godfather of barbers, so do yourself a favor and swing by," wrote reviewer Sean L. "You absolutely will not regret it, and more than likely will be become yet another one of his lifetime customers."

2. On the Mark Barbershop

400 E 13th St.
East Village, Manhattan

True to its name, this place is on the mark. In fact, it's so popular you might be hard pressed to get in in the evenings. So if you've got some time during the day and find yourself in the East Village, this is the place to go.

"Been coming here for 4 years now and can't imagine going anywhere else," wrote Yelp reviewer Evan R. "Everyone who works here is a pro, and I've gotten great cuts from just about all of them."

3. Barber Room 306

306 Graham Ave.
East Williamsburg, Brooklyn

What more could you want in a barber shop than complimentary beer (or coffee or soda) while chitchatting with the owner about how you want your coif to look?

That's what you can expect at Barber Room 306, where your barber is sure to listen closely to what you'd like, and maybe even make a few suggestions of his own. Trust the guys here – they won't disappoint.