From the meadows and forests of Central Park, to the span of the Brooklyn Bridge, uncover the secrets of New York City on a behind-the-scenes experience with Untapped Cities. This week, explore the treasures of Grand Central Terminal, learn how women shaped the Modern art scene, hear stories of hidden vaults inside the Brooklyn Bridge, and more! Check out everything happening this week:

Thursday, September 12th

Modern Women: A Lecture Presented by Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts 

Image via Wikimedia Commons, Library of Congress

Join art historian Elizabeth Thompson Colleary for a lecture presented by the Friends of the Upper East Side Historic Districts that will look at New York’s Modern Art scene through the eyes of its female patrons and artists. Modernism hit New York with a bang at the International Exhibition of Modern Art, at the 69th Regiment Armory in 1913. The “guiding lights,” and principal financiers, of that stunning event were New York’s female Modern Art patrons. Since then, New York women have continued to play a remarkable role in the creation and exhibition of American Modern Art. From Upper East Side collectors like Abby Aldrich Rockefeller and Gertrude Vanderbilt Whitney, who founded some of the nation’s leading modern and contemporary art museums, to Villagers like Jo Hopper, Lee Krasner and Helen Frankenthaler, we’ll see how the work and vision of New York’s Modern women helped shape the 20th century art world encourage Americans to see the world in a whole new way. If you are an Untapped Cities Insider, you can attend this lecture for free! Not an Insider yet? Become a member today to gain access to free behind-the-scenes tours and special events all year long!

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Ballparks and Our Changing City

What can New York’s ballparks – from the gone-but-not-forgotten Ebbets Field to today’s reimagined Yankee Stadium and Citi Field – tell us about the evolution of our city? Pulitzer Prize-winning architecture critic Paul Goldberger, author of the new book Ballpark: Baseball in the American City, sits down with author Kevin Baker at the Museum of the City of New York to discuss the connection between the physical transformation of New York’s ballparks and America’s changing attitudes toward cities and shared civic space, past and present. This program accompanies the Museum of the City of New York’s exhibition In the Dugout with Jackie Robinson: An Intimate Portrait of a Baseball Legend (on view through September 22, 2019).

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Saturday, September 14th

Secrets of Central Park Walking Tour 

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Hear about the massive civic project that transformed a wasteland into an urban pleasure ground
  • Learn about the curious origins of the Central Park Zoo and the corruption scandal that caused a riot
  • Uncover the hidden meaning in Bethesda Terrace’s sculptures and the forbidden love that inspired the park’s most famous statue
  • See the secret bolt left behind from the creation of Manhattan’s street grid
  • Discover the secret navigational device that keeps pedestrians from getting lost on the park’s winding paths

Secrets of Central Park Walking Tour

The Secrets of The Brooklyn Bridge Walking Tour

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Discover the Brooklyn Bridge‘s secrets, including its old Cold War fall out shelter, the hidden champagne vaults, the bridge jumper survivor’s support group and so many others… *NOTE: we will not be going inside the shelter or vaults.*
  • See an abandoned park hidden in plain sight as you explore the perimeter of the Manhattan anchorages of the bridge
  • Uncover the hidden statue of the family of engineers who built the bridge
  • Locate the site of the nation’s first White House
  • Cross the bridge span, which offers one of the best vantage points in New York City

The Secrets of Brooklyn Bridge Walking Tour

Tour of the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal 

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Learn about the secrets of one of NYC’s most iconic buildings
  • See Grand Central’s hidden tennis courts
  • Peek into the entrance of the glass walkways
  • Learn about the design flaw as large as Grand Central Terminal‘s main atrium
  • Discover a multi-million dollars jewel hidden in plain sight and more!

Tour of the Secrets of Grand Central Terminal

Secrets from Below: Underground Tour of the NYC Subway! 

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Explore City Hall Park as the birthplace of the NYC subway system, including elements of the famed, decommissioned City Hall Station you can see right in the park
  • Learn about the comically short route of the mythical “Subway before the Subway,” Alfred Ely Beach’s Pneumatic Transit System
  • See the architectural ghosts of the now nearly forgotten, and partially abandoned, Chambers Street station then nicknamed the “Grand Central of Downtown”
  • Use the 6 train as your own time machine as you ride through abandoned subway stations
  • Discover the remnants of Union Station as you learn about a hidden art installation thousands of riders walk by everyday

Underground Tour of the NYC Subway

Sunday, September 15th

Tour of The Remnants of Dutch New Amsterdam

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

  • Walk the city’s original coast line
  • See the remains of Manhattan’s first City Hall
  • Discover the original Dutch fort, wind mill and battery
  • Trace the streets of Manhattan in 1667 with Manhattan’s first map in hand
  • Physically touch history as we spend time finding out why Bowling Green has its name and why it’s been so important in our city’s history

Tour of The Remnants of Dutch New Amsterdam

See our full list of upcoming public tours and Insider events!