Calling all urban explorers: this week is jam-packed with unique Untapped Cities’ tours, including the return of our Art Deco walking tour and our Tour of the Remnants of Gritty Times Square. Also make sure to check out our wine tasting event at Rooftop Reds. It’s the perfect way to celebrate summer!

Walking Tour of New York Art Deco Architecture (Part I): Murray Hill to Gramercy Park: Tomorrow, July 18th at 5:30pm

New York is defined by its Art Deco buildings, which has transformed the city into the thriving metropolis that stands today. In celebration of the city’s architectural legacy, Untapped Cities is partnering with Anthony W. Robins, New York’s best-known Art Deco guide, for a special walking tour series that will bring visitors past the stunning monuments of the 1920s and 30s—from the towering Empire State Building to the Gramercy House on 22nd street. We’re holding this event series in conjunction with the launch of Robins’ guidebook, New York Art Deco: A Guide to Gotham’s Jazz Age Architecture,

which captures thirty years’ worth of Art Deco knowledge within its pages.

• JULY 18th (PART I):
  Murray Hill to Gramercy Park: This walk through the east side of Midtown South includes an unusual collection of buildings, each different from the next. We have a surprising modernist apartment building among the genteel town houses of Murray Hill; Ely Jacques Kahn’s most impressive office building (Two Park Avenue; and another Kahn building that’s no slouch); a work by Edgar Brandt, the great French iron master; the iconic Empire State Building; an incomplete attempt by Metropolitan Life to capture the Empire State Building’s “world’s tallest” title; and George and Edward Blum’s Gramercy House, with some of the most enjoyable Art Deco terra-cotta ornament in the city. Also check out Part II (Central Park West) and Part III (Beekman Place to Rockefeller Center) of our upcoming series.

Walking Tour of New York Art Deco Architecture

Tour the Remnants of Gritty Old Times Square: Sunday, July 23rd at 10am

We are thrilled to announce the latest addition to our tours which will take you back to the Gritty Old Times Square of the 1970’s… Back then, Times Square was a dangerous, exciting, gritty, intense, racially and sexually diverse neighborhood frequented by both locals and tourists. Love it or hate it, you couldn’t ignore it. Most of old Times Square has been carefully obliterated by generic hotels, soulless office buildings, and Walt Disney musicals, but there are still a few vestiges of its seedy past—if you know where to look.

So let us take you back to the halcyon days when 42nd Street was the Deuce, Eighth Avenue was the Minnesota Strip, the Great White Way was a red light district, and the Crossroads of the World was XXX-rated. We will see former peepshows, grindhouses, adult book stores, dive bars, hotsheet hotels, sex clubs, porno theaters, and massage parlors–not to mention all three locations of the New York Times. We will discover the personalities who made Times Square what it was: the King of the Peeps; the reclusive genius behind the McDonalds of Sex; the woman who built a gay and S&M porn empire; the slumlord with two suitcases filled with gold and five wives; and the Catholic priest who flew too close to the neon sun and crashed and burned. Also learn about the largest sex emporium in New York City (and maybe the world), the freak show where Diane Arbus found her inspiration, as well as the last remaining hot sheet hotel and live peep show in Times Square.

Gritty Old Times Square

Tour and Wine Tasting at Rooftop Reds: Sunday, July 23rd at 12:30pm

Did you know the world’s first commercially viable rooftop vineyard is hidden within the Brooklyn Navy Yard? Untapped Cities will be bringing readers on a special wine tasting and tour at Rooftop Reds, led by one of its founders who will share their knowledge of winemaking.

Within the 14,800 square foot rooftop, you will see a unique urban planter system that is the first of its kind, developed with Cornell University and Finger Lakes industry leaders. As an added bonus: all guests will get 20% off purchases of Rooftop Reds wines. Get in on this experience early, as the first harvest will be taking place in October 2017. Take in an amazing view, lounge in a hammock, and sip on Rooftop Red wines in our tours. Please note that the wine served on the rooftop is from Rooftop Reds partners in the Finger Lakes until the first harvest off the Navy Yard rooftop are ready!

Wine Tasting & Tour of Rooftop Reds, the World’s First Rooftop Vineyard!

See our full list of Behind the Scenes tours.