Rediscover New York City this week on a behind-the-scenes tour with Untapped Cities! Explore locations both famous and obscure on our expert led tours, and gain access to special events from the city’s leading cultural institutions. This week, dive into the issues of urban renewal in the Lower East Side, watch a live metal pouring at an art foundry, revisit the fanfare of Queens’ two World’s Fairs at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, and more!

Thursday, July 18th

Explore Urban Renewal in the Lower East Side at the New Essex Crossing

Photograph by Sindayiganza Photography

Join artist, urban scholar, and curator Gabrielle Bendiner-Viani on a guided walkthrough of her new exhibition, Keep Me Nearby, inside the Cuchifritos/Artists Alliance Gallery at the new Essex Street Market. The exhibition visit will be followed by a Layered SPURA walking tour of the surrounding area. Keep Me Nearby and the Layered SPURA tour are both centered around the Seward Park Urban Renewal Area, a contested urban renewal project in the Lower East Side which started in the 1960s. Today, the new Essex Crossings development is being built atop the SPURA site, making discussion of urban renewal in the area as relevant as ever. TO can be a part of this free experience if you are an Untapped Cities Insider! Not an Insider yet? Become a member today to gain access to free behind-the-scenes tour and special events all year long!

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Friday, July 19th

Modern Art Foundry Behind-the-Scenes Tour

*If you are an Untapped Cities Insider, you can save $5 on tickets for this week’s tour! You can find the promo code in our Untapped Cities Insider’s Facebook group.

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

• Get behind the scenes access inside the Modern Art Foundry which specializes in casting bronze sculptures – including many famous sculptures in New York City’s public spaces
• Learn about the whole process of artistic fabrication—starting from when an artist comes up with a vision to when the final product is realized.
• The tour is led by third generation Foundry owner Jeffrey Spring
• See a live bronze metal pouring at 1:00 pm
• Explore the foundry itself which is located in the former carriage house of the abandoned Steinway Mansion in Queens

Behind-the-Scenes Tour of Modern Art Foundry

Saturday, July 20th

Behind-the-Scenes Hard Hat Tour of the Abandoned Ellis Island Hospital

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

• Explore the over 100-year-old contagious disease hospital, which has been abandoned since 1954
• See an exhibition by the world-renowned artist JR, who has placed life-sized historic photographs of Ellis Island immigrants on interior walls of the hospital buildings
• Visit the Laundry Building, where 3000+ pieces of laundry were washed and sanitized daily
• Discover the kitchen, autopsy room and other usually off-limits places
• Get special access inside the original morgue and long abandoned FBI offices

Behind-the-Scenes Hard Hat Tour of the Abandoned Ellis Island Hospital

Tour 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

Underground Tour of the NYC Subway

Photograph Courtesy of Jochen Enderlin

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, July 21st

Tour the Remnants of the World’s Fairs at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

TOUR HIGHLIGHTS:

• Discover the hidden-in-plain-sight remnants of the 1939/40 and 1964/65 World’s Fairs with playwright and Untapped Cities tour guide, Justin Rivers
• Visit the monument to a 5000-year time capsule
• View the original guidebooks from each of the World’s Fairs
• Get a comprehensive history of the past, present, and future of Flushing Meadow-Corona Park, with Insider information from our partners involved with the preservation of the New York State Pavilion
• Each guest will receive reproductions of World’s Fair Maps from both 1939 and 1964

Tour the Remnants of the World’s Fairs at Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

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 all upcoming Untapped Cities Public Tours and Insider Events!