On Sunday, July 13, I will lead a walking tour of the Gramercy Park neighborhood. My themes will be how much Gramercy Park has changed physically over the years, yet still remained "Gramercy Park," and the neighborhood's crucial role in the early history of gentrification in New York, around 1910. The walk is sponsored by the Municipal Art Society, costs $15 ($12 for MAS members), and lasts from 4pm to 6pm. The meeting place is SW corner of Third Avenue and 17th Street. Reservations are not required--just show up. The weather may not suck--at least no rain is predicted.
July 10, 2008
May 08, 2008
Bedford-Stuyvesant
On Saturday, May 10 at 2pm, Wilhelmena Kelly and I will co-lead a walking tour of endlessly fascinating--and in parts heart-stoppingly beautiful--Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. The tour is sponsored by the Brooklyn Historical Society.
April 13, 2008
Ditmas Park
This Saturday at 2pm I will lead a walking tour of the wonderful neighborhood of Ditmas Park, Brooklyn. It meets at Cortelyou Road and East 16th Street (Q train--a k a "Brighton Line"--to Cortelyou Road station), and costs $15 ($12 for members of the Municipal Art Society). The walk will last about two hours. Juan Camilo Osorio, GIS analyst, planner, and all-around good guy with the Municipal Art Society's Planning Center, will provide a brief introduction explaining MAS's "Imagine Flatbush 2030" project. Go here for the MAS listing (scroll down a bit). Go here for the Ditmas Park Blog's mention of the walk.
April 05, 2008
The First Walk
In April 2005, the Municipal Art Society of New York, around since 1893, celebrated 50 years of serious walking tours in New York City. The first MAS walk, in April 1955, was led by the architectural historian Henry Hope Reed, and covered Madison Square and Gramercy Park. At the time, such walking tours were so novel that The New York Times and The New Yorker sent reporters to cover it. Today the city is awash in walking tours. Some of them are very bad. But others are, quite frankly, the best investment of your cultural dollars you can make. Anyway, in 2005 MAS asked me to do a walking tour that covered the same ground as Henry's in 1955. I now repeat it every April. This year the walk is on Sunday, April 4. Go here to find out more (scroll down a bit).
March 20, 2008
Heart of Flatbush
On Sunday, March 30, I will lead this walking tour (scroll down a bit) for the Municipal Art Society. It is part of MAS's "Imagine Flatbush 2030" project. On April 19 I will lead a companion walk of Ditmas Park. The March 30 walk, "Heart of Flatbush," covers the old "downtown" area around the intersection of Flatbush and Church avenues, which in recent years has become an extraordinarily vibrant Caribbean commercial center. The walk will also cover the improbably magnificent turn-of-the-20th-century planned community called Prospect Park South, and much more. The walk begins at 2pm and lasts about two hours.
March 15, 2008
Prospect Heights
On Saturday, March 29, I will lead a walking tour (scroll down a bit) of the beautiful neighborhood of Prospect Heights, Brooklyn, ending at the site of the proposed Atlantic Yards development. The walk will begin at 2pm and last about two hours. The sponsor is the Brooklyn Center for the Urban Environment.
March 13, 2008
Irish Footsteps in Old New York
After reading my New York Sun column this Thursday, maybe you'd like to explore on foot the substantial Irish heritage of lower Manhattan. On St. Patrick's Day, Monday, March 17, from 2pm to 4pm (or so), I'll be leading this walking tour (scroll down a bit) for the Municipal Art Society. "New York used to be an Irish city," wrote Nathan Glazer and Daniel P. Moynihan in their 1963 classic Beyond the Melting Pot. Find out why this Monday.
March 12, 2008
Park Slope in Winter
This Saturday, March 14, I'll lead a walking tour (scroll down a bit) of the northeastern part of Park Slope for the Municipal Art Society. It will start at 2pm and end around 4pm, and will include Grand Army Plaza, a bit on Prospect Park, Prospect Park West, Montgomery Place, and much more.
February 20, 2008
Central Park in Winter
This Sunday, February 24, I will lead a walking tour of Central Park (scroll down a bit) for the Municipal Art Society. It starts at 2pm and will last about 2 hours.
February 10, 2008
New York in the Time of George Washington
On Sunday, February 17, I will lead this walking tour (scroll down a bit) for the Municipal Art Society. It begins at 2pm at the southeast corner of Broadway and Chambers Street. I lead this walking tour every year around this time.
