I've added a new, seasonal tour to my listings on Viator.
This is a great & festive walking tour from Columbus Circle down to Macy's in Herald Square. Along the way, the tour will pass the numerous window displays & decorations down 5th avenue, visit St. Patrick's Cathedral & Rockefeller Center, and see many outdoor holiday markets. This is going to be a fun tour that I am excited to share with you.
Starts next week for one month.
It can be booked here.
My newest tour is my 2.5-hour walking tour of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, in Queens. I grew up in Queens, and I would love to show visitors (or locals) what they are missing here.
Today, the park contains the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center (current venue for the US Open); Citi Field (home of the NY Mets), the New York Hall of Science; the Queens Museum of Art; the Queens Theatre in the Park; the Queens Zoo; and the New York State Pavilion.
Besides all of that, and in addition to being larger in acreage than Central Park, Flushing Meadows' history reshaped Queens and New York as a whole. It was created for the 1939 World's Fair by infamous 20th century urban planner Robert Moses. The roadways that today connect Queens (and NYC in general) to Long Island were largely shaped by this project. One building from that Fair later became the first home of the United Nations, and still stands today. The park also housed the more famous 1964 World's Fair, many of the icons of which remain to this day, including the Unisphere.
The 1964 World's Fair took place in the mid-point of a tumultuous decade that was filled early on with discovery, optimism, and vision for the future. Its skyway attraction took visitors over countless pavilions, including those for General Motors, IBM, Westinghouse Pavilion, Dinoland, the Ford Motor Company, and countries from around the world. Walt Disney himself helped create numerous attractions for the fair that eventually made their way into his parks, including It's A Small World, the Carousel of Progress, and Great Moments with Mr. Lincoln. It is this Fair that gave Disney the vision for a project that later become the Epcot theme park in Florida.
What's still there from the Fair(s) and what is only there in memory and legacy? This is one of the key things we explore in this tour. I believe this is a fun & easy tour for visitors of all ages.
Interested? Contact me for a custom date around your schedule.
Just a note that direct booking links for my most popular Brooklyn tours are available on my TripAdvisor page. Book today, and leave a review after your tour!
Introducing my 2-hour walking tour of Victorian Flatbush, Brooklyn.
The main feedback I get from this tour is "wow, who knew there was so much history here?". And that's fair... when we think of the history of NYC, we think of downtown Manhattan. But when the Dutch founded New Netherlands ("New Amsterdam" was just what they called the specific settlement in present-day Financial District), many of the earliest settlements were in Brooklyn. Brooklyn was once an independent city divided into 6 separate towns... including Flatbush. And the subsection of this area called Victorian Flatbush is the most gorgeous and history-filled of them all.
In just this neighborhood-- which consists of numerous, small historic districts-- you can see NYC's oldest high school (founded by Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr and others... and attended in more modern times by Barbra Streisand, Neil Diamond, and more), a Dutch church grounds dating back to 1654, historic palace theatres and landmarked buildings, a private tennis club tucked away behind pre-war apartment buildings, and countless Victorian-style homes dating back to the turn of the 20th century. It is a slice of high-end suburbia tucked away in a busy Brooklyn community.
I think of this tour as as a two-in-one: It is both a journey back in time to old Brooklyn, and also a relaxing exploration of some of the most beautiful NYC architecture outside of Manhattan. So what are you waiting for? Contact me to arrange a custom date around your schedule.
I've noted before that I have made it a goal to walk as many of the streets as I possibly can. And I'm well over halfway there. So I love keeping an eye out for promotions and contests that reward New Yorkers for this. Here is a roundup of some of my favorites from the past:
1. The Big Egg Hunt
In 2014, a conservation charity, Elephant Family, organized a massive Fabergé egg hunt for Easter around NYC's 5 boroughs. Over 260 massive egg sculptures, each about 2.5-feet tall, created by famous & local artists, were hidden across the city, after which they were sold at auction. Each egg was geotagged, and you could unlock them through a smartphone app, allowing the organizers to keep track of who had found (and unlocked) the most. It was a fun contest, taking me from Manhattan to Staten Island to Queens to a number of great community gardens in the Bronx and Brooklyn. Alas, I topped out at around 240, and did not win.
(Click image below to go to a full gallery of the all the eggs I found)
2. The Tour de Hills
This past summer, the locally-based Ample Hills Creamery company had a contest to encourage New Yorkers to visit all 6 of their NYC locations over the course of the summer (from Rockaway Beach to Gowanus to Hells Kitchen!). Visit all 6 in a single day, and be entered in their exclusive Hillionaires Club and receive a number of prizes. On a hot August day, I was game. Going by foot and public transit only, I completed the challenge in a record 6 hours. Won some prizes, got a lot of sun. Not sure I would recommend eating 6 servings of ice cream in a single day, however.
3. Historic Districts Council - Preservation Pays Challenge
Also this year, the excellent Historic Districts Council, which works to ensure the preservation of significant historic neighborhoods, buildings and public spaces in NYC, encouraged New Yorkers to visit 6 specific sites of historical & architectural significance around the city, taking a selfie at each, and posting it to social media. These places included the Battery Maritime Building, Carnegie Hall, the Washington Square arch, and some gorgeous residential buildings in Queens and Brooklyn. The winners would get a visit to the very off-limits upper floors of the historic Woolworth Building downtown. With the contest completed, I am scheduled to attend an exclusive party at the Woolworth this coming Spring. Look for pictures of that on my Instagram then... in the meantime, here is a collage of my winning selfies.
I am always looking for new challenges around the city, to push me to see new places . If you know of any, or thought of one of your own, please let me know!
A good video summing how street art put Bushwick back on the map, but has led to a neighborhood-wide debate over change and gentrification...
Speaking of holidays, I have a series of special offerings every night this coming week, in anticipation of Halloween... a haunted, after-dark walking tour of historic Greenwich Village. This will be a fun one. Tour fee includes a drink at the famous White Horse Tavern.
Interested? Book here!
The Christmas season is NYC's busiest time of the year for tourism... with entire streets blocked to traffic, buses re-routed, etc, to make room for the masses swarming midtown for the holidays. Everyone knows the popular attractions: The Rockefeller Center tree, the windows along 5th Ave, ice skating rinks, holiday shops galore, and St Patrick's Cathedral.
But lesser known, though quickly becoming more and more popular, are the lights in Dyker Heights during that season. Dyker Heights, an isolated and suburban neighborhood in southwest Brooklyn, does not get many visitors... except in December, when tourists flood its streets after dark every night. Starting in the 1980s, residents began decorating their large homes in increasingly elaborate ways. There is now an unspoken competition among the home owners in the neighborhood, with many hiring professional Christmas decorating companies to fill their front yards with lights, blow-up characters, and intricate designs and displays. This has turned Dyker Heights into the most festive neighborhood in all of New York for the holidays.
I will be offering a walking tour of this neighborhood many evenings in December (stopping for cocoa on the way!), and will make it easy for all to navigate it, and return you to the nearest subway at the end of our expedition. Come see what all the fuss is about!
Interested? Contact me for details!
One of my more popular tours-- and a favorite of mine to do!-- is my Industrial Brooklyn tour.
This is a great 3-hour walking tour through the two key neighborhoods to Brooklyn's industrial past. Both Gowanus and Red Hook were settled by the Dutch colonists of New Amsterdam/New Netherlands in 1636. The latter community, basis for numerous works on the shipping industry such as "On The Waterfront", once housed the busiest shipping port in the entire United States. The Battle of Brooklyn (aka, the Battle of Long Island) took place in this region during the Revolutionary War.
In the 1840s, the deepening of Gowanus Creek to build the Gowanus Canal, and the formal street layout in Red Hook by the then-independent City of Brooklyn transformed these neighborhoods into high-industrial, working-class communities. The decline of American industry a little over 100 years later saw slow declines for these areas in turn. By 1990, Red Hook had turned so downward, Life magazine called it one of the worst neighborhoods in the country and the "crack capital of the United States". Over in Gowanus, the waste disposal of the industry there (gas plants, tanneries, chemical plants, paint factories, sulfur producers, & more) had rendered the Gowanus Canal into a toxic mess. In 2010, the EPA had declared the canal a Superfund cleanup site.
But today, these neighborhoods have seen a massive resurgence. Rents are rising and development is growing. Both communities have seen an influx of artists, craftsmen, and families. In Gowanus, adventurers canoe the canal, old warehouses give way to high-rise luxury rentals, and a Whole Foods has arrived, with a rooftop greenhouse and specialized local goods. In Red Hook, the old warehouses have found new life: a Tesla showroom, chocolate factories, small-batch wineries and whiskey distilleries, glass-blowers, metalworks, and numerous artist co-working spaces. Fantastic restaurants are growing in both neighborhoods. Red Hook's waterfront park also marks the closest point of land in all of NYC to the Statue of Liberty, and is beloved for is sweeping views of New York harbor and downtown Manhattan.
Touring these neighborhoods is a journey into Brooklyn's past and a great peek into how manufacturing in America hasn't disappeared; it's just gone local.
I love these communities dearly, and I would love to pass on that passion to you.
I had written earlier about Open House NY, a weekend where the secret spots of NYC are open to all. I take part in this event every year, and this year was a lot of fun.
Here are some of the sights I visited:
The Wyckoff House: Most people assume that the oldest surviving building in New York City must be in Manhattan, but it's actually this Dutch farmhouse, in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, built in 1652, and restored as a museum in the 1980s. Dutch settlers in then New Netherlands far pre-date the English colonials who eventually founded "New York".
And then...
The City Reliquary: NYC is known for its world-famous museums. It also has numerous small & eclectic ones. This one is housed a former bodega and features a wide display of city relics and artifacts.
Then off to Manhattan to see a similar sight...
Mmuseumm: NYC's smallest museum(s) are Mmuseumm 1 (on left) and Mmuseumm 2 (far right), housed in a former freight elevator & loading dock, respectively. They are open weekends in Chinatown's unique Cortlandt Alley.
Then up near Gramercy Park for...
Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace: 28 E. 20th St is no ordinary Gramercy Park brownstone... it was the birthplace & childhood home of Theodore Roosevelt. This beautifully preserved home is managed by the National Park Service.
The next day, I started in historic Harlem to see...
The Apollo Theater: This historic Harlem venue first opened in 1914 as Hurtig & Seamon's New Burlesque Theater, reopening as the Apollo in 1934. It has been a home to rising talent for over 80 years, and is anational landmark.
Next, down toward Lincoln Square for...
WABC Studios: This TV station and production facility is the home to Live With Kelly!, local Eyewitness News, and other ABC productions.
My final Open House stop was the closest to home...
Kings Theatre: In the 1920s, Loews opened 5 "wonder theaters" in the NYC area. The fates of each vary, but the Kings Theatre in Flatbush reopened in 2015 after a $95M renovation. It is a stunning 3,000-seat venue for music, theater, and movies.
The thing that makes Open House weekend great is getting jaded New Yorkers to visit the parts of their city they might normally have the chance to discover. That same philosophy is why I founded Custom NYC Tours... to help guide folks to the New York City that we all take for granted.
Where do you want to go today?
Since its creation in the 1800s, Washington Square Park has always been the cultural center of Greenwich Village. The land evolved from marshes and farm-land to a military parade ground to a rural hamlet for NYC's elite to a bohemian paradise to a bustling part of downtown New York. On most days, the park today is radiating with energy and noise, in a way that is unique to any other city park.
I have been doing a lot of walking tours of the area this month, and though I would share some images I have taken:
Beyond its central fountain, we see the famous Washington Square Arch (now marble, originally constructed of plaster & wood for the centennial of George Washington's inauguration in New York), as well as a row of Greek-revival townhouses dating back to 1832.
Moving west in the park..
Paul, who lives in a rent-controlled apartment in the neighborhood, is a staple of Washington Square. Known affectionately as the "bird man" or the "pigeon man", he can be found on the same bench every day, feeding the birds he considers his old friends.
On the southwest corner, at Macdougal Street...
This corner of Washington Square features chess tables where masters & novices gather to play every day (some for money, some for sport). Child prodigy Bobby Fischer, director Stanley Kubrick, & many others played these tables in their youth.
Are you interested in joining me on one of my next walks/tours? I'd love to share some of the amazing sights of the Village (a home dating back to 1799, the "Friends" apartment, Bob Dylan's old haunts, the birthplace of the LGBT movement, & more!), as we take in its beautiful, tree-lined streets. Every visitor I've had finds something new to discover.
Contact me for dates and options!
For New Yorkers who love to explore their city, Open House NY Weekend is their Christmas. Open House New York is a non-profit founded to "celebrate the best examples of design and planning throughout the five boroughs". While the organization offers events year-round, it is most known for its weekend in October where OHNY and the city open up over 250 sites across the city, many of which are normally not public.
If you will be in the city this weekend, I cannot recommend enough finding a few events to see a new side of the city. {*anticipate some lines at the more popular OHNY offerings}
For those planning to attend the weekend, here are my suggestions of some of the more interesting open offerings:
Wyckoff House Museum: First built in 1652, this old farmhouse is NYC's oldest surviving building. Though it is not in the most convenient location (East Flatbush, Brooklyn), its history makes it a nice off-beat visit.
Kings Theater: Loews built 5 "wonder theaters" in the late 1920s, most of which were left to decay for decades. The Brooklyn theater reopened in 2015 after a massive renovation. They will be open for visitors on Sunday afternoon.
United Palace: This was another of the 5 Loews wonder theaters. This Harlem theater will be open for a few hours on Saturday.
Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine: This is the world's largest gothic cathedral. Its location in upper Manhattan's Morningside Heights neighborhood makes it far less visited than St. Patrick's Cathedral in midtown, but this church is far grander and worth a trip uptown.
Jeffrey's Hook Lighthouse: Popularized from the 1942 childrens book "The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge", this lighthouse will be offering a rare chance to visit the inside. It will be open for a few hours on Sunday.
Manhattan Municipal Building: This 40-story building is a key part of the downtown skyline. The office of the Manhattan borough President will be open for a few hours on Saturday.
New York City Hall: The municipal building's smaller neighbor, City Hall will be opening its doors on Saturday from 12-4. Visitors can see the gorgeous rotunda, City Council chambers, and some other historic rooms.
Mmuseumm: One of my favorite off-the-beaten-path NYC "attractions" is Mmuseumm... New York's smallest museum. Housed in a street-level freight elevator in Chinatown's Cortlandt Alley, it offers a rotating set of unique artifacts.
Lowline Lab: The success of the High Line has people looking for new spaces to create parks... this time, underground. Plans are being developed to convert the old Williamsburg Trolley Terminal, in the Lower East Side, into public space using new solar technology. Their test lab on Essex St can be visited both days this weekend.
New York City Marble Cemetery: This gated East Village cemetery will be opening its doors on Saturday and Sunday.
New York Marble Cemetery: Right around the corner from the above is this similarly-named, but unrelated, cemetery. This one is unique because its deceased residents are stored in vaults without traditional cemetery tombstones. Also open both days.
Brooklyn Navy Yard: This site was once key to NYC's waterfront and Naval history. After it was decommissioned, it has slowly become a key home to the new industrial boom in Brooklyn. On Saturday afternoon, the Yard and many of its businesses and studio spaces will be open for visitors.
Taking advantage of this weekend is something I look forward to every year. If you are planning to do so as well, let me know which sites you are hoping to explore!
As the temperatures in NYC rapidly declines, the cliche is that there is less for visitors to see and do. As a guide (and a lifelong New Yorker!), I will offer a rebuttal. Visiting NYC in the winter months simply provides different opportunities.
Besides the many indoor activities NYC has to offer-- nearly 100 museums alone-- there are plenty of things outdoors worth putting on the extra layers. Many New York parks are worth exploring in the winter... seeing the lakes of Central Park covered in ice, and its rolling hills covered in snow, are a beautiful sight. Go to the Central Park Zoo and see the red panda, snow leopards, and polar bears in their preferred weather. The New York Botanical Garden's holiday train show (which runs through mid-January) is worth the trip up to the Bronx. Enjoy an afternoon of ice skating at any of NYC's numerous outdoor rinks... Wollman Rink, Rockefeller Center, Bryant Park. And much more.
And if you are planning to come to New York between Thanksgiving and New Years, the city is and endless trove of holiday activities: holiday markets, the window displays along 5th Avenue, the Rockettes, SantaLand at Macy's, and much more.
If you are considering coming to New York in the winter months, take the plunge (like the Polar Beach diving into Coney Island's waters on New Year's Day). New York is the city that doesn't sleep. And it doesn't hibernate either.
One of the top walking tours I have listed on my site is dedicated to street art. "Street art" is a term, however, that I realize is foreign or vague to many people outside of major urban areas. What defines "street art"? How is it different than graffiti or vandalism? That's subjective, but here's my take, and my thoughts on why I am passionate for it.
To me, the main thing that differentiates street art from graffiti/vandalism is the level of craft. The stereotypical graffiti-- someone's "tag" scribbled with a spraypaint can on a wall-- takes no effort or time. It's the artistic version of a smashed window. True street art takes time & artistry. One other differentiation is, more and more, street art is being legitimized. Many street artists now work with business & buildings owners to gain access to walls/spaces for their art... it is a good exchange: the artist gets a canvas, and the property owners get new eyes on their space.
Take for example this piece I saw in Brooklyn:
This meets both of the above criteria: it was done with permission (as part of the community-wide 'Bushwick Collective') and took days to complete. It is a true piece of art... only the canvas here is a wall.
It's really wonderful to wander around a neighborhood like Bushwick and see the new pieces artists have spread around, and to see the joy and attention this art is bring to visitors.
A major project just completed on Manhattan's Lower East Side is the 100 Gates Project, an effort connecting businesses with artists to create murals on their roll-down gates. Much like Bushwick's collective, this was a win for businesses, artists, and the community.
The most famous example in NYC of popular (and sanctioned) street art is the now-defunct 5Pointz project in Queens, NY. Immortalized in pop culture, the owner of large, industrial warehouse let a street art collective use the entire building exterior as a showcase for artists. The regularly-changing art drew visitors from all over the world.
(The building was, sadly, sold and demolished a couple of years ago)
Some street art, however, can be both legitimate and anarchic. Some great examples of this are the unsanctioned works of Banksy, who has gained international acclaim for his guerilla art. Also, the Berlin Wall became covered in street art and graffiti by the end (mostly the western side), as Germans expressed their frustrations with the wall through this art. One section of this wall-- and its art!-- is preserved in a midtown Manhattan office plaza. A surprising example of legitimate, but originally unsanctioned, street art is the famous Wall St bull statue. Contrary to popular belief, this famous sculpture was not sanctioned by the city. Italian-born artist Arturo Di Modica spent $360,000 of his own money to create it, as a gift to the people of New York, and installed it without permission in front of the New York Stock Exchange in December 1989. The city planned to remove the 'vandalism', but kept it (and moved it to its long-standing location by Bowling Green) due to popular outcry. And what would the Financial District be without this beloved icon?
Street art is, to me, a living and breathing sign of a city's creative heart. It takes drab walls and squares and adds color to them. It draws you to neighborhoods and communities you might otherwise not have discovered. This is why I am so passionate about it.
I hope that, by offering these tours, I can pass on this passion to visitors... and help them see parts of the city that are vibrant and alive. And, of course, to continue the discussion of how we define this evolving art form.
One tour I've been getting a lot of bookings for lately is a 2+ hour walking tour of Greenwich Village, and the High Line. It's a great tour (contact me for info!). Sandwiched in the middle of this tour is a visit to the historic Meatpacking District.
During the early half of the 20th century, this industrial neighborhood was the hub of New York City's food industry... over 250 slaughterhouses and meatpacking plants were operating there around the turn of the century. The current, popular Chelsea Market was at that time the home of the National Biscuit Company (NaBisCo) and the birthplace of the Oreo cookie. After WWII, the industry, and the neighborhood, fell into sharp decline. This article below from today has some great shots of the area at its most desolate... it's quite a fascinating look back:
'Vintage photos uncover the industrial origins of Meatpacking District locales'
What does this area-- which has experienced one of NYC's most dramatic renaissances-- look like today? I would love to help you discover it.
