Four Chinatowns Tour
Discover the Irish, Italian, Jewish and Chinese heritages of Chinatown.
Meeting Place: In front of the Mahayana Buddhist Temple at 133 Canal Street near the Manhattan Bridge. The cross street is Bowery.
Call to discuss booking your private tour.
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Gangs of New York
Take a tour of America's first media slum -- a must-see for nineteenth century tourists from Charles Dickens to Abraham Lincoln. Today it is the site of Foley Square housing state and federal courts -- a monument to the desire by slum dwellers for justice and a better life. Discover the Al Smith and George Washington connections to this neighborhood.
Meeting Place: Inside Blimpie's Restaurant, 38 Park Row, between Spruce and Beekman Streets, across from City Hall Park. Do not confuse with the Blimpie's on Church Street
This tour is offered as a public and private tour.
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Hidden Treasures of Chinatown
Discover how this neighborhood is more than just a great place to eat! See where Al Jolson and Irving Berlin were singing waiters, see Al Smith's childhood home, discover the George Washington connection, and behold the oldest site of European settlement on Manhattan Island.
Meeting Place: In front of the Mahayana Buddhist Temple at 133 Canal Street near the Manhattan Bridge. The cross street is Bowery.
Call to discuss booking your private tour.
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Immigration Heritage: Castle Clinton and Ellis Island
Step back in time to relive the experiences of your parents and grand-parents. More than half of America's immigrants passed through Castle Clinton and Ellis Island in the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Castle Garden is set in Battery Park, one of New York City's oldest park, which offers a magnificent view of New York Harbor and of the Statue of Liberty. Castle Garden was originally a fort built in 1811 to protect New York Harbor. It was redesigned to become a place of culture in 1823. Jenny Lind, America's first super-star singer made her solo debut here, thanks to P. T. Barnum. From 1855 to 1890, the "castle" served as the nation's principal immigrant station of whom more than 7,000,000 souls passed through its gate into a bright new world. When Ellis Island became the new depot, the building was adapted to serve as the New York Aquarium until a new one was built on Coney Island in 1940. Today, Castle Clinton is a National Monument. A tour will be conducted by the United States National Park Service. Then we will take the ferry to Ellis Island, set in the upper bay of New York Harbor. It was here that many immigrants had their first taste of ice cream or learned to play baseball. It was also known as the "isle of tears" because 2% of the immigrants were turned away for various reasons. Its buildings were, from 1892 to 1954, the immigrant processing entry point into the United States for over ten million people. During the Bicentennial Celebration of 1976 and of the Centennial Celebration of the Statue of Liberty, much of site was restored.
Meeting Place: In front of the Immigrant Statue in front of Castle Clinton in Battery Park
Call to discuss booking your private tour. Note: Fee does not include the ferry. Group reservations for the ferry ride can now be made.
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Irish Heritage of Downtown Manhattan
Discover how Irish-Americans from colonial times to the present day built New York City from constructing the Brooklyn Bridge to pioneering department stores and banks.
Meeting Place: Inside Blimpie's Restaurant, 38 Park Row, between Spruce and Beekman Streets, across from City Hall Park. Do not confuse with the Blimpie's on Church Street
Call to discuss booking your private tour.
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The Irish and the Gangs of New York
Discover how the Irish immigrants made it out of the slums and gangs to become the great
builders of New York City from A. T. Stewart, pioneer department store owner, to Al Smith, governor of New York.
Meeting Place: Inside Blimpies Restaurant, 38 Park Row, between Spruce and
Beekman Streets, across from City Hall Park in Manhattan.
This tour is offered as a public and private tour.
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Lunar New Year in Chinatown Mini-tour
Discover how this neighborhood is more than just a great place to eat! Discover the George Washington connection, and behold the oldest site of European settlement on Manhattan Island.
Meeting Place: In front of the Mahayana Buddhist Temple at 133 Canal Street near the Manhattan Bridge. The cross street is Bowery.
Call to discuss booking your private tour.
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Multicultural East Village Talk and Walk
Talk and Walk Learn about the African, Dutch, English, German, Indian, Irish, Italian, Japanese, Jewish, Polish, Russian, and Ukrainian heritages of the East Village as we trace changes since Peter Stuyvesant had his farm in the area. The neighborhood has repeatedly reinvented itself from farm to university, from drug heaven to yuppie hangouts. Abraham Lincoln spoke at Cooper Union on the road to the presidency in 1860. Some of the cabarets offer live blues and jazz music.
Meeting Place: In front of the St. Mark's in the Bowery Church at the northwest corner of Second Avenue and Tenth Street.
Call to discuss booking your private tour.
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Statue of Liberty
Visit the statue that greeted millions new comers to America. We will also tour the Museum of American Immigration that shows how these immigrants shared their ethnic heritage with the rest of the nation. Edouard-Rene de Laboulaye, a French historian, wanted to present the American people with a statue that celebrated freedom, the idea of republicanism, and friendship between America and France. Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi was commissioned to create the statue. Gustave Eiffel designed the steel framework that supports the statue. Joseph Pulitzer, a Hungarian Jewish immigrant, raised the money from his readers to build the pedestal for the statue. As part of the effort to raise money for this project, Emma Lazarus wrote her poem, "The New Colossus", now engraved on the pedestal. The Museum of American Immigration celebrates the statue and the immigrants who came through Ellis Island. Treasures of various immigrants are on display.
Meeting Place: In front of the Immigrant Statue in front of Castle Clinton in Battery Park
Call to discuss booking your private tour. Note: Fee does not include the ferry. Group reservations for the ferry ride can now be made.
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Luck of the Irish
Celebrate how the Irish achieved the American dream as we view Old St. Patrick's Cathedral; a department store; a bank; the two oldest bars in New York City; the grave of Thomas Emmet; Irish mayors of New York City and view the birthplace, the Catholic school and childhood home of Al Smith, New York City's greatest Irish politico. The tour is three hours.
Meeting Place: In front of the St. Mark's in the Bowery Church at the northwest corner of Second Avenue and Tenth Street.
Call to discuss booking your private tour.
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The Surprises of Little Italy
Visit the birthplace of pizza and of good times. Its streets have come gentrified or have become part of an expanded Chinatown. Theodore Roosevelt, the president of the New York Police Board, once called the turn of the century police headquarters home.
Meeting Place: Northwest corner of the Bowery and Canal Streets at the Petrella news stand. The cross street is Canal Street
Call to discuss booking your private tour.
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The Ukrainians and Their Neighbors
Learn how the Little Ukraine of the East Village became the cultural capital of the Ukrainians in America. The Ukrainian Museum, the Veselka Restaurant, Kiev Restaurant, Ukrainian East Village Restaurant, Cyznsky Cold Cuts, St. George. s Catholic Church, St. Mary. s Ukrainian Orthodox Church, Jarema Funeral Parlor, Ukrainian Music Institute and Surma gift shop are some of the Ukrainian sites visited.
Meeting Place: In front of the St. Mark's in the Bowery Church at the northwest corner of Second Avenue and Tenth Street.
Call to discuss booking your private tour.
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The Four Worlds of Williamsburg: Artistic, Jewish, Latino and Polish
Discover how the Jews, the Bohemians, Latinos, and the Poles get along in their separate worlds.
Meeting Place: In front of Pierogi, 167 North 9th St. between Bedford & Driggs Aves Getting there: Take L Train to North 7th St. Station.
Call to discuss booking your private tour.
