May and June are of course great times to be out and about in New York, and we've got a slate of insightful walks and tours coming your way. Check out a comestible history of the Lower East Side, a Deco tour through Washington Heights, and artists of downtown, among upcoming excursions.
Museum at Eldridge Street
Nosh your way through the Lower East Side with the Museum at Eldridge Street and a midday tour of the neighborhood’s historic past and tasty present. Upcoming tours on Friday, May 16th and Friday, June 6th. Meyer Lansky, Bugsy Siegel, and Arnold Rothstein are among the gangsters with connections to the Jewish Lower East Side. Find out more on a June 1st walking tour.
New Museum
By Johnzhouse - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0
Delve into the lives of downtown artists like Mark Rothko, Eva Hesse, Jean-Michel Basquiat, and Sol Lewitt as the New Museum hosts tours of its neighborhood. Neighborhood Tour: Public Voices, Public Art takes place on Saturday, May 17th; a Neighborhood Tour: Art, Love, and Friendship runs Saturday, May 31st.
New York Adventure Club
The story of American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton can be traced through the cobble-stoned streets of the Financial District. Join retired National Park Service Ranger George Tonkin (Hamilton Grange, Federal Hall) for a Saturday, May 24th tour through Alexander Hamilton's New York. Immerse yourself in the tensions between preservation and transformation that define the Upper West Side. Guide Leigh Hallingby leads a look at the lower portion of the neighborhood, Sunday, May 25th.
Art Deco Society of New York
Hetx/Flickr
Join ADSNY and architectural historian Matt Postal for a spring walking tour exploring Brooklyn beyond the brownstones. On Sunday, May 18th, he'll show off some lesser-known architecture on a Downtown Brooklyn Walking Tour. Deco maven Anthony W. Robins gets the call on Sunday, June 29th for In the Heights! Art Deco, That Is!, taking in the beauty of Deco Washington Heights.
New York Landmarks Conservancy
Get a glimpse behind closed congregation doors as the New York Landmarks Conservancy hosts its 15th annual Sacred Sites Open House the weekend of May 16th and 17th. This is a rare opportunity to explore often hidden art, architecture, and history. Expect lectures, musical performances, and special guided tours at houses of worship around the city. This year’s theme, “Building for Eternity: Religious Architecture and Artisans,” highlights the intricate work of artisans and world-class artistic treasures. There are sites to visit in all five boroughs, with Manhattan options including St. John’s in the Village, St. George’s Church in Gramercy Park, and the Museum at Eldridge Street on the Lower East Side.
The Bowery Boys
Podcast stars The Bowery Boys are behind an ongoing NYC tour series. Upcoming highlights include a Lower Manhattan Cemetery Stroll on Tuesday, May 27th, looking at the practices of six distinct cultures; a look at a historic patch of the forgotten borough with Walking Staten Island: St. George-New Brighton, just a short walk from the ferry terminal on Sunday, June 8th; and a new offering, Bob Dylan’s Greenwich Village Tour, showing off the places where Dylan launched his career—Friday, May 23rd is the next version of it.
All of smart New York in one weekly email: The Curriculum, free from Thought Gallery.
