New Yorkers love (and love to hate) a spectacle—and this might top them all—literally.

Thirty Seconds to Mars lead and Mobius actor Jared Leto, along with 20 others, including actors Simu Liu and Jodie Turner Smith, rappelled down the Empire State Building this morning to help raise funds for a non-profit.

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Leto and his fellow brave rappellers made their way down 900 feet from the building’s iconic spire to the 30th floor to bring awareness and raise money for Outward Bound, a worldwide educational and charitable network that works to change young people’s lives through challenge, learning and adventure. The participants raised over $3 million.

Last year, Leto became the first person to legally scale the Empire State Building to announce Thirty Second to Mars’ world tour. 

This time, he was joined by others, who wanted to bring awareness to Outward Bound in a big way.

“My wife and I chose to join the Big Rappel to benefit a great cause, and I got to see the amazing views from the three levels of our Observatory and the Empire State Building’s few remaining great office leasing opportunities on the way down!” said Tony Malkin, chairman and CEO of Empire State Realty Trust in a statement.

But that’s not all: Her Royal Highness Princess Beatrice, Trustee of Outward Bound in the U.K. flipped the switch for tonight’s ESB lights that will shine in blue, pink, green, and white to honor Outward Bound. 

“On behalf of Outward Bound, thank you to the Empire State Building for hosting such an inspirational event,” she said. “Bringing young people out of their comfort zones and supporting them to achieve something they never thought possible is what Outward Bound is all about. I am so happy to offer my support as a trustee and a great admirer of the Outward Bound Trust and all they stand for—these participants really are an inspiration.”

You can watch the harrowing event below.

* This article was originally published here

New York is a cocktail-loving town, but which quaff can call itself the Big Apple’s signature drink? To commemorate National Beverage Day today, May 6, the folks over at the Canadian gambling site Casino.ca scoured Google Trends to identify the most searched-for cocktails in America and Canada in the last 12 months, and the results were pretty spot-on. 

Though the fun-loving margarita ranked as the ultimate cocktail in both America and Canada, snagging the top spot with a whopping 163,000 searches and an impressive 31-state majority, the tequila-based tipple actually wasn’t the preferred beverage order for New Yorkers. (Rather, the marg was well-loved by the folks in California, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Tennessee and Florida, among others.)

Instead, it is the time-honored martini—that classic cocktail built with gin or vodka, vermouth and your choice of garnish (stuffed olive, lemon twist, etc.)—that won over New York hearts, coming first not only in the Empire State with 173,000 online searches in the last 12 months, but also throughout New England (Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Connecticut) and Washington, DC, among others. “While search volumes typically remain stable throughout the year, martini experienced a huge 133% surge in December,” per the study’s findings. “Seems like it’s the perfect drink for spreading holiday cheer!”

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Along with margaritas at number two (with 164,000 searches) for New Yorkers, mojitos (with 156,000 queries) were the third most popular cocktail in the Big Apple, according to the collected data. That Sex and the City favorite, the cranberry-splashed Cosmopolitan, came in fourth with 149,000 Google searches, while, fittingly, the boozy Long Island Iced Tea took the number-five spot with 110,000 searches amongst Gothamites. 

And in terms of the nationwide findings, alongside margs and ‘tinis, the Constantine (a gin drink flavored with green absinthe, sweet vermouth, orange bitters and maraschino) landed in third place, a favorite in Michigan, New Mexico, North Dakota, South Dakota and West Virginia.

Check out the study’s full cocktail breakdown across states below: 

* This article was originally published here