How I decide

Every list starts with my own guide to that thing. A place makes a best list when I said in the guide, in my own words, that it's worth your time. The desk reads every line I've written about a place and grades it worth it, only if, or skip. Every worth-it is on the list. That's why the lists run long. A place I'd send a friend to is on it, and a place I wouldn't isn't.

A best list has no order. A list with a number one is a list about the number one, and the rest become filler. Alphabetical means you read them all, and every place on it can say it made the list.

Some lists are my favorites, not rankings. Photo spots, Instagram accounts, the buildings I love, the Christmas trees. Those run in my order because they're my taste and I say so at the top.

Nothing is paid. No place can buy a spot, a seal or a mention, and a place I've been paid to visit doesn't go on a list. Every list is dated. When a list changes, its date moves.

The seal is for the places on a list. It links back to the list so anyone who sees it can read the whole thing and this page. If a place shows the seal for a list it isn't on, tell me through the door on any page and I'll ask them to take it down.

Corrections go to the same door. If a place has closed, moved or changed hands, the list changes once it’s confirmed.