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We’ve got an exciting batch of tours planned for this fall, with a great deal to explore in the great city of New York, including the escape routes for a former speakeasy, the epic Brooklyn Army Terminal, a vertical climb up the Cathedral of St John the Divine, a walking tour of the Tenderloin, New York City’s cradle of vice, and more dates for a tour of the Woolworth Building.
Discover the secrets of a former speakeasy on St. Mark’s Place in the East Village, with access to mafia tunnel escape routes and artifacts, like one of two original safes that held enough money to buy the entire Lower East Side. The tour guide from the Museum of American Gangster will also give us a walkthrough of the museum that will conclude with a vintage cocktail at the bar of the theater 80 St. Marks, an area authentic to the original speakeasy.
On this adventurous, “behind-the-scenes” tour of the Cathedral of St. John the Divine, climb more than 124 feet through spiral staircases to the top of the world’s largest cathedral. Learn stories through stained glass windows and sculpture, and study the grand architecture of the Cathedral while standing on a buttress. The tour culminates on the roof with a wonderful view of Manhattan. Untapped Cities works directly with St. John the Divine to curate a tour full of insider, “untapped” facts for our very knowledgable readers.
Untapped Cities will be offering readers the chance for intimate, hour-long tour of the normally off-limits Woolworth Building lobby led by Lisa Swyers, a preservationist working directly with the archives of the Woolworth Building. In addition to a guided visit through the spectacular lobby, we will also visit the basement level where the bank vault is located and where the former entrances to the subway are. Other locations, as seen on previous Untapped Cities tours, will be dependent on building access on the particular day. Untapped Cities works directly with the tour guides to provide additional access not necessarily available on regular tours of the building. VIP Tour of the Woolworth Building
From the 1870s to about 1910, the Tenderloin was Manhattan’s most famous red-light district, a cradle of elegant vice that developed north of 23rd Street west of Fifth Avenue, in the shadow of luxurious hotels such as Gilsey House. High-stakes gambling parlors, brothels, saloons, dance halls – the Tenderloin reveled in its own illegality, until pressure from civic authorities and corporate development led to its demise. Since the 1990s, zoning changes have altered the landscape of the old Tenderloin’s main stem – Sixth Avenue – and have led to the destruction of many buildings. But a few reminders survive. On this tour with historian and author David Freeland, we will visit sites associated with still-visible Tenderloin businesses, including the block of 28th St. once known as Tin Pan Alley, birthplace of the pop music industry. 50% of the tour proceeds will benefit the Historic Districts Council. An optional cocktail will take place at the nearby speakeasy Bathtub Gin following the tour. David Freeland is the author of the book Automats, Taxi Dances, and Vaudeville: Excavating Manhattan’s Lost Places of Leisure by NYU Press.
Join us for a tour of the historic Brooklyn Army Terminal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn. The terminal is four million square feet of history, which dates back to the days of World War I. It is also one of the most stunning architectural places in the city, open to the public only in the last few years. Built in only 17 months by architect Cass Gilbert, the Brooklyn Army Terminal has been used for various purposes since it first broke ground in 1818. During the Prohibition years, the Federal Government used the Terminal as a storage and disposal center for alcohol. Not long after, the terminal began to fulfill its original purpose, as it was the largest supply base for the U.S military during World War II. It is the place where American Icon Elvis Presley shipped out to Germany.
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