New Tour! From Grit to Hip, a Williamsburg Walking Tour

We’re excited to announce the launch of our new walking tour of Williamsburg, which will shed light of the neighborhood’s layers of history and its evolution from a gritty industrial area, to a counterculture haven, and finally to the hip Mecca it is today.

Today, Williamsburg is seen as a high-end “Real estate development with water views.” That’s exactly how a reputable NY blogger described the post-2006 rezoned neighborhood word for word. A neighborhood most recently known as the home planet of the hipster was before a haven for counterculture artists looking for cheap rents that was before an enclave to every major immigrant migration New York City has ever seen (looking for cheap rents) and was before that a melting pot Mecca of American industry and capitalism that was before… in the very beginning… a high end “real estate development with water views.” Who says you can’t go home again?

Williamsburg more than any other neighborhood in the world is unique because it took the three things most unlike each other, industry, art, and unabashed commercialism and made them live together under one big bridge. This tour will examine the layers of Williamsburg, some noticed, some unnoticed, that come together to form an unlikely synthesis of industry, art, grit, and hip.

This tour was developed in partnership with the Wythe Hotel which is located in a 1901 factory building on the Williamsburg waterfront

From Grit to Hip, a Williamsburg Walking Tour

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

• Discover how Williamsburg was originally created as a real estate development to attract wealthy Manhattanites and trace the footprint of this long-gone era of Williamsburg
• Learn about the counter culture which thrived in the neighborhood during the 90’s and where this history is being preserved today
• Locate and decipher works of art from today’s creative community including the mosaic glass water tower and shed by renowned artist Tom Fruin
• See the Mona Lisa of Williamsburg and hear the story behind it

TOUR DETAILS:

• Price: $35
• What to know: The tour is 2 hours long; please consult with the MTA for weekend subway schedules and routing changes. No cancellations or refunds.
• What to wear: Comfortable shoes

From Grit to Hip, a Williamsburg Walking Tour

PHOTOS FROM THE TOUR:

Photograph by Sofia Andrade A. Cirino

Photograph by Sofia Andrade A. Cirino

Photograph by Michelle Young

Photograph by Sofia Andrade A. Cirino

Photograph by Sofia Andrade A. Cirino

Photograph by Michelle Young

See all upcoming Untapped Cities Behind the Scenes Tours.