Hear from an author and map designer who has been creating maps of the NYC subway, officially and unofficially, for over forty years!
A new street art hotspot has some unconventional holiday decorations!
From giant menorah lightings to New Year's Day hikes, check out our picks for how to spend the holidays in NYC!
It’s Valentine’s Day this weekend, and for those still looking for gifts for others or themselves, we’re offering a limited time 15% discount on our upcoming tours with code VDAY16, valid until Monday at 11:55pm. This discount also applies to our new private tour offerings for groups from 1 to 10 people, contact us directly here.
Did you know there is a tennis court inside Grand Central? Or that the ceiling is backwards? Untapped Cities’s popular “Secrets of Grand Central” tour is led by Tamara Agins from the New York City Department of City Planning and author of our popular series on the secrets of Grand Central. Bonus: the tour ends at the Campbell Apartments, the Gilded Age office and salon of tycoon John W. Campbell, now converted into a soaring hidden bar where you can stop in for a cocktail.
Upcoming dates: March 6th at 2pm
Tour of the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal
Amtrak officially acknowledges only one physical remnant of the old Penn Station, but on this special tour, participants will be able to see, touch and experience well over a dozen remaining structural pieces of the grand McKim, Mead and White station.
Join Untapped Cities on this special tour of Penn Station developed by Justin Rivers, author and playwright of The Eternal Space, an off Broadway play about the demolition of Penn Station. Weaving in never-before-published photographs of the station’s hey day and demolition, the tour will cover the past, present and future plans for the transportation hub, including an in-depth exploration of the surrounding buildings outside of the station.
Learn about the past, present and future plans for the central transportation hub in New York City, accompanying a hunt for the remaining pieces of the grand McKim, Meade & White station. Also learn secret time saving hacks of the current Penn Station like the best ways to enter and exit the station and how to beat the boarding bum rush on the infamously crowded Amtrak concourse.
Tour of the Remnants of Penn Station
Untapped Cities is excited to offer this new, Untapped Cities-exclusive tour of the normally off-limits Woolworth Building led by architect Cass Gilbert’s great granddaughter, Helen Post Curry, who runs the Woolworth Building tours. In addition to a guided visit through the spectacular lobby, we will also visit the cellar level where the bank vault is located and where the former entrances to the subway are, and provide special access to the gorgeous mezzanine level.
VIP Tour of the Woolworth Building
Although virtually nothing remains of Dutch New Amsterdam, the Dutch influence is felt in many hidden relics south of Wall Street. This includes the massive one hidden in plain sight: The original street grid embedded in lower Manhattan grid today.
Join author, playwright, and Untapped Cities guide, Justin Rivers, complete with Manhattan’s first map in hand as you trace the streets of Manhattan in 1667. You’ll hear about New York’s founding myths and facts while standing in the very spots they all happened. Tour highlights include, a look at the remains of Manhattan’s first city hall, a walk of the city’s original coast line, discovering the original Dutch fort, wind mill, and the original battery. Physically touch history as we also spend time finding out why Bowling Green has its name and why it’s been so important in our city’s history.
Upcoming Dates: March 19th and April 16th:
On March 6th, tour the stunning Bialystoker Synagogue, normally off-limits to the public, with Untapped Cities and the LES Jewish Conservancy. The landmarked synagogue was built in 1826, originally as the Willett Street Methodist Episcopal Church and is an example of architectural reuse in New York City from church to place of worship for the Jewish community. In addition to its architecture, the building has its fair share of secrets, which will be shared on this tour.
On this tour, you will also walk the streets of Historic East Broadway, viewing historical sites like the Henry Street Settlement, The Forward Building, Seward Park, Straus Square and more. We will stop at the exterior of Beth Hamedrash Hagadol – once home to the first and largest Russian Jewish Orthodox congregation in the United States – and tour a shteibl, a one room house of prayer. You will see where immigrants went to shul, pray, and how a new generation is carrying on these traditions.
Titled America’s first playground, Coney Island was a small strip of sand on Brooklyn’s south coast that became synonymous with the burlesque, the bizarre, the outlandish and the corrupt. Join, author, playwright and Untapped Cities tour guide, Justin Rivers, as you trace the steps of the two main characters from his graphic novel, The Wonder City: The Great Whale of Coney Island on their visit one hot summer in 1942. Through their eyes you’ll see what Coney Island was like at the height of its mid-century popularity. You’ll unearth old secrets of the many long-gone amusement parks, while learning about what’s in store for the hotly contested future development of the island.
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