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A large portion of our proceeds
are reinvested in the community!
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The Lower East Side is the countries
original "melting pot", setting the template for
modern-day, multi-ethnic, working-class America, and giving
birth to a wide variety of social, political, and cultural
movements which continue to influence culture around the
globe.
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We offer the most authentic walking tours in
NYC. All of our guides are native and veteran
New Yorkers who are active community members.
A portion of our proceeds are reinvested in
our community. We are proud of our neighborhood,
and eager to share it with you!
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Check
out OUR NEW
BOOK:
GANGSTERS, MURDERERS & WEIRDOS
of the Lower East Side; A Self-Guided
Walking Tour
$8.95 paper back,
$5.00 download
CLICK
HERE! |
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EAST
VILLAGE HISTORY
This is a crash course in East Village/Lower East
Side history. From the farmlands of the 1600s and
the wealthy estates of the 1700s, to immigration,
tenements, the "melting pot" and how the
East Village became a haven for artists and counter
culturalists in the twentieth century (and everything
in between). Also learn about how recent commercial
development and gentrification is the changing landscape
of the East Village and surrounding neighborhoods.
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ASTOR
PLACE: OLD NEW YORK
Although the site of New York's second deadliest riot
-- a two-day confrontation between Protestant and
Catholic, rich and poor, patrician and slum-dweller
-- Astor Place was at the time the most elegant address
in the country bar none. Still the home to some of
New York's most prestigious institutions, it is one
of the best preserved blocks in all New York. The
richest men in the world all left their durable mark
on Astor Place: the ruthless Vanderbilt; Cooper, philanthropist
and genius; Stewart the honest deal man, and, of course,
the wily Astor himself. Among a dozen sites along
the way, we will drop in on the Merchant House, the
Public Theater and Cooper Union, all still alive with
19th century history.
Fee: Free/$15 tip suggested if you enjoy, but no one is turned away!
Duration: 1.5 - 2 hours, Distance:
4-6 blocks
Directions: 6 train to Astor Place,
N or R train to 8th St/Broadway stop (subway
map)
We Meet: The Astor Pl. "Cube",
E.8th St between Lafayette and 4th Avenue (map)
We End Up: 2nd Avenue
Schedule: Saturdays
at 1:00pm
Reservations: Not
required; You can pay guide on day of tour - or -
pay online here |
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CITY
HALL to the BROOKLYN BRIDGE: The Civic Center
Some of the world's most magnificent and notorious,
scandalous, spectacular and justly admired feats of
construction surround you as you walk around City
Hall Park and through Foley Square. Rich in New York's
history from the earliest days of Dutch settlement,
the Civic Center still reflects in its many incarnations
New York's ongoing political struggles. Site of riots
and demonstrations, of commerce and corruption, there's
more color in these buildings' history than you'd
guess from their splendid white marble façades.
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GANGSTERS,
MURDERERS, & WEIRDOS
From the Golden Age of the American gangster at the
turn of the 20th century (when this area was reported
to boast 300 brothels, 300 gambling joints, and 360
gang hangouts), to the bohemian arts and drug culture
of the 1960s, 70s and 80s, some of the most infamous
and colorful criminals, characters, and weirdos in
history have called the East Village home.
Trace the steps of everyone from
Monk Eastman, Bugsy Siegal, Meyer Lansky, Al "Scarface"
Capone, and Charles "Lucky" Luciano to Julius
and Ethel Rosenberg, the Black Panthers, The Hells
Angels, GG Allin, and many many more. Riots, squatter
evictions, cannibals, street gangs, kidnappings, shoot
outs, assassinations, grave-robbers, hangings, ghosts;
we got it all...
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THE EAST VILLAGE DRINKING TOUR
Have fun, meet new people, and discuss some very interesting
topics. On this tour we explore a mixed-bag of the
East Village's most famous and infamous characters,
incidents, and legends. Learn about our counter-cultural
history; artistic, social and political uprisings
and influences; famous historic residents; gangsters,
riots, cannibals, authors, and everything in between.
All this, while stopping in some of the oldest and
most popular bars in America; where everyone from
Abe Lincoln, Boss Tweed and Houdini, to Lucky Luciano,
Frank Sinatra, Madonna and The Rolling Stones have
hung out; and much more. Must be 21 and over with
proper state ID or passport. Groups are welcome. SPACE
IS LIMITED.
Reservations: Suggested;
You can pay guide on day of tour
- or - in advance here
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FIVE
POINTS/CHINATOWN/LITTLE ITALY:
The Jewish-Italian-Irish-Chinese-African
Melting Pot!
The Five Points tour tells the story of immigrant
unrest, riot, rebellion and reform leading from multi-racial
New Amsterdam to melting-pot New Deal. It's the story
of a city socially and politically unprepared for
its own diversity emerging finally as a progressive
vanguard for the nation; a story of Africans, Germans,
Irish, Italians, Jews and Chinese; from the 17th century
African burial ground and the early slave rebellions
to the spectacular structures of the Civic Center
and their decadent scandals; the street of Irish Gold
just a few short steps from the oldest and most notorious
slum in America, the Five Points of Irish Despair;
from gangs of New York to the Tongs of Chinatown --
with gang headquarters still in use around the corner
from winding Blood Alley where countless gang members
were murdered in half a century of turf warfare --
to the single oldest relic of western civilization
on the island of Manhattan. It's a story of bigotry
and rivalry, ribaldry and racism, oppression, defiance,
perseverance, progress and reform.
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LOWER
EAST SIDE BICYCLE TOUR
In partnership with Transportation
Alternatives
Take a leisurely ride and see the sights of the Lower
East Side. From the East Village to the Brooklyn Bridge;
Astor Place to the East River. This is a unique opportunity
to explore every corner of the most historic neighborhood
in America.
Rental bikes and helmets will be
available for a small fee.
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ST.
MARKS PLACE
For over half a century, this three block stretch
of E.8th Street has exemplified the East Village's
reputation as a counterculture and artistic haven.
It has become tradition for punk rockers, performance
artists, street musicians, activists, hippies, squatters,
weirdos, and people watchers to congregate here. Even
though the landscape had changed quite dramatically,
(you're now more likely to see students, young professionals
and tourists), St. Marks Place still hosts an edge
that is unique to the rest of NYC.
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THE
BOWERY
The Bowery, by the nineteenth century, became one
of the most populated streets in America. Offering
rows of produce carts, brothels, breweries, general
stores, flop houses, gangs, performance venues, and
everything in between. The Bowery was also home to
CBGB and the infamous Sixth Ward area, made famous
by the motion picture Gangs Of New York,
among other things.
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ALPHABET
CITY
Once the godforsaken broken heart of the ghetto, the
most densely populated square mile on the face of
the earth, built over an industrial wasteland, then
abandoned to a wild mix of marginal artists, angry
anarchists, gangs, dealers, excons and thieves, against
a backdrop of urban blight, tenements burned to rubble
and danger on every corner, out of which grew jazz
and the beat generation, graffiti art and punk rock,
the squatters movement, the garden movement and radical
underground cinema: there's more to Alphabet City
than meets the eye, stories that could happen only
in metropolis' darkest corner.
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EAST VILLAGE
ARCHITECTURE
The elegant Dutch suburb of Federal townhouse mansions,
the legacy of Peter Stuyvesant's farm, was submerged
under the wave of tenement slum architecture, surprising,
wild and fantasmagoric. The East Village provides
a uniquely complete, clear and characteristic history
of New York, reflecting the succession of laws, social
reforms, demographic shifts and aesthetic movements
that created and recreated the unique feeling of New
York space. No architecture in New York is as much
New York as slum architecture: gargoyled tenements,
Beaux Arts bathhouses, the stately Federal to the
gloomy Victorian, famous architects like Vaux and
White, and the forever anonymous and unjustly forgotten.
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CONTACT US:
Call/Text 917.215.2575
Email click
here
Or use this contact
form
"So exiting! I literally traced the
foot steps of Lucky Luciano and all the greats -- and heard the
colorful stories behind them. It was truly facinating!"
-Alan Corvin, Washington
"Every American owes it to themself
to take this tour... (our guide) passionately detailed the birth
of a modern nation... It was incredible story-telling; thank you!"
-Susan Bishop, TX
"Whether you're into punk rock or the
immigrant history of the Lower East Side, (this tour) offers a wealth
of insight into the history and culture of this diverse New York
City neighborhood."
-About.com review
"Our guide was a 4th generation Lower
East Sider. This is the most authentic tour in NYC. Treat yourself
to this tour if you want more than someone reading to you from a
script!"
- Anne G., Boston, MA
"This was really enjoyable. I have lived
here for over 20 years and it turns out I didn't know anything about
my own neighborhood before this tour..."
-Stephen L., East Village, NY
"All the legendary
bad guys did time on the Lower East Side: Lucky Luciano, Al Capone,
Bugsy Siegel. Instead of trying to figure them out with movies-on-demand
and pulp bios, follow in their footsteps, literally."
-Staten Island Advance
"This tour covers a lot of ground—more
than 300 years’ worth—even if it only spans about four
city blocks. Along the way, fourth-generation East Villager Eric
Ferrara explains how, generations ago, anything below 14th Street
was considered the Lower East Side, and makes a convincing case
that the E-Vill, once the stomping grounds of the Astors, is returning
to its aristocratic heyday."
-Time Out New York review
Read
more...
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