Isle Of New York Public Tours

Tour guiding is my career!

Here are my scheduled public walking tours. They’re all 2 – 3 hours except the annual inflation of Thanksgiving Parade balloons.
These are all available as private tours whenever you like. Some private tours are offered day or evening, because the lights of the city are not to be missed!
You may also be able to schedule certain tours to end exactly at sunset.

Secrets of Chinatown https://book.peek.com/s/7df85c2a-c06a-4fe5-9807-5980e35ac6e6/O4Wyj–7d032f8e-01c1-4794-9583-3db577906b6e?hc=eyJ0bHMiOjE2NjYxOTQ1NDMxNzQsInR5cGUiOiJzcF9wZXJmb3JtYW5jZSIsImx0IjoibW9iaWxlIiwidGwiOjI1MzUyLCJ1aWQiOjE2NjYxOTQ1NDMxNzQyOTU4LCJzcmMiOm51bGwsImFwaWsiOiI3ZGY4NWMyYS1jMDZhLTRmZTUtOTgwNy01OTgwZTM1YWM2ZTYiLCJkaCI6Ind3dy5pc2xlb2ZuZXd5b3JrdG91cnMuY29tIiwicGF0aCI6Ii9pbmRleCIsImJ0bnMiOjMsImJkY250IjowLCJidWNudCI6MywibHMiOiJzdGFydCIsIm0iOjEsImNmaCI6MCwidG9rZW4iOiIifQ==

Secrets of Fort Tryon Park https://book.peek.com/s/7df85c2a-c06a-4fe5-9807-5980e35ac6e6/Nxvkk–d0740af8-29e9-4216-a183-323608babb22?hc=eyJ0bHMiOjE2NjYxOTQ1Njg1NDAsInR5cGUiOiJzcF9wZXJmb3JtYW5jZSIsImx0IjoibW9iaWxlIiwidGwiOjgwNDExLCJ1aWQiOjE2NjYxOTQ1NDMxNzQyOTU4LCJzcmMiOm51bGwsImFwaWsiOiI3ZGY4NWMyYS1jMDZhLTRmZTUtOTgwNy01OTgwZTM1YWM2ZTYiLCJkaCI6Ind3dy5pc2xlb2ZuZXd5b3JrdG91cnMuY29tIiwicGF0aCI6Ii9pbmRleCIsImJ0bnMiOjMsImJkY250IjowLCJidWNudCI6MywibHMiOiJzdGFydCIsIm0iOjEsImNmaCI6MCwidG9rZW4iOiIifQ==

Wall Street & the Land Of The Blacks, a walking tour from Brooklyn to Manhattan that includes a ferry ride https://book.peek.com/s/7df85c2a-c06a-4fe5-9807-5980e35ac6e6/pxwXj–59283e6a-8a11-44ae-ae8c-98a75b995629?hc=eyJ0bHMiOjE2NjYxOTQ2NDg5NjQsInR5cGUiOiJzcF9wZXJmb3JtYW5jZSIsImx0IjoibW9iaWxlIiwidGwiOjMwNzY0MiwidWlkIjoxNjY2MTk0NTQzMTc0Mjk1OCwic3JjIjpudWxsLCJhcGlrIjoiN2RmODVjMmEtYzA2YS00ZmU1LTk4MDctNTk4MGUzNWFjNmU2IiwiZGgiOiJ3d3cuaXNsZW9mbmV3eW9ya3RvdXJzLmNvbSIsInBhdGgiOiIvaW5kZXgiLCJidG5zIjozLCJiZGNudCI6MCwiYnVjbnQiOjMsImxzIjoic3RhcnQiLCJtIjoxLCJjZmgiOjAsInRva2VuIjoiIn0=

Secrets of Central Park https://book.peek.com/s/7df85c2a-c06a-4fe5-9807-5980e35ac6e6/pxwXj–59283e6a-8a11-44ae-ae8c-98a75b995629?hc=eyJ0bHMiOjE2NjYxOTQ2NDg5NjQsInR5cGUiOiJzcF9wZXJmb3JtYW5jZSIsImx0IjoibW9iaWxlIiwidGwiOjMwNzY0MiwidWlkIjoxNjY2MTk0NTQzMTc0Mjk1OCwic3JjIjpudWxsLCJhcGlrIjoiN2RmODVjMmEtYzA2YS00ZmU1LTk4MDctNTk4MGUzNWFjNmU2IiwiZGgiOiJ3d3cuaXNsZW9mbmV3eW9ya3RvdXJzLmNvbSIsInBhdGgiOiIvaW5kZXgiLCJidG5zIjozLCJiZGNudCI6MCwiYnVjbnQiOjMsImxzIjoic3RhcnQiLCJtIjoxLCJjZmgiOjAsInRva2VuIjoiIn0=

Hamilton and the Revolution in New York https://book.peek.com/s/7df85c2a-c06a-4fe5-9807-5980e35ac6e6/xp4D4–ad71316c-b1af-44aa-8112-8c99bbc755e3?hc=eyJ0bHMiOjE2NjYxOTUwODg3MDQsInR5cGUiOiJzcF9wZXJmb3JtYW5jZSIsImx0IjoibW9iaWxlIiwidGwiOjcwNDcxLCJ1aWQiOjE2NjYxOTQ1NDMxNzQyOTU4LCJzcmMiOm51bGwsImFwaWsiOiI3ZGY4NWMyYS1jMDZhLTRmZTUtOTgwNy01OTgwZTM1YWM2ZTYiLCJkaCI6Ind3dy5pc2xlb2ZuZXd5b3JrdG91cnMuY29tIiwicGF0aCI6Ii9pbmRleCIsImJ0bnMiOjMsImJkY250IjowLCJidWNudCI6MywibHMiOiJzdGFydCIsIm0iOjEsImNmaCI6MCwidG9rZW4iOiIifQ==

Wall Street and the Financial District https://book.peek.com/s/7df85c2a-c06a-4fe5-9807-5980e35ac6e6/JyAMw–036e4c8f-7f7a-4289-9b45-ffefcd5bb858?hc=eyJ0bHMiOjE2NjYxOTUxNTkxOTUsInR5cGUiOiJzcF9wZXJmb3JtYW5jZSIsImx0IjoibW9iaWxlIiwidGwiOjU4ODE4LCJ1aWQiOjE2NjYxOTQ1NDMxNzQyOTU4LCJzcmMiOm51bGwsImFwaWsiOiI3ZGY4NWMyYS1jMDZhLTRmZTUtOTgwNy01OTgwZTM1YWM2ZTYiLCJkaCI6Ind3dy5pc2xlb2ZuZXd5b3JrdG91cnMuY29tIiwicGF0aCI6Ii9pbmRleCIsImJ0bnMiOjMsImJkY250IjowLCJidWNudCI6MywibHMiOiJzdGFydCIsIm0iOjEsImNmaCI6MCwidG9rZW4iOiIifQ==

Mrs. Maisel’s Marvelous Greenwich Village https://book.peek.com/s/7df85c2a-c06a-4fe5-9807-5980e35ac6e6/aENkl–d437c873-62a2-4d96-a644-6d821a99a89a?hc=eyJ0bHMiOjE2NjYxOTUyMTgwMjksInR5cGUiOiJzcF9wZXJmb3JtYW5jZSIsImx0IjoibW9iaWxlIiwidGwiOjExNDA5OSwidWlkIjoxNjY2MTk0NTQzMTc0Mjk1OCwic3JjIjpudWxsLCJhcGlrIjoiN2RmODVjMmEtYzA2YS00ZmU1LTk4MDctNTk4MGUzNWFjNmU2IiwiZGgiOiJ3d3cuaXNsZW9mbmV3eW9ya3RvdXJzLmNvbSIsInBhdGgiOiIvaW5kZXgiLCJidG5zIjozLCJiZGNudCI6MCwiYnVjbnQiOjMsImxzIjoic3RhcnQiLCJtIjoxLCJjZmgiOjAsInRva2VuIjoiIn0=

September 11 Heroes & Memorials https://book.peek.com/s/7df85c2a-c06a-4fe5-9807-5980e35ac6e6/qzrXD–55a773d8-4882-4c5e-a4ec-556d8d777ac4?hc=eyJ0bHMiOjE2NjYxOTUzMzIxNDIsInR5cGUiOiJzcF9wZXJmb3JtYW5jZSIsImx0IjoibW9iaWxlIiwidGwiOjUyNTcwNiwidWlkIjoxNjY2MTk0NTQzMTc0Mjk1OCwic3JjIjpudWxsLCJhcGlrIjoiN2RmODVjMmEtYzA2YS00ZmU1LTk4MDctNTk4MGUzNWFjNmU2IiwiZGgiOiJ3d3cuaXNsZW9mbmV3eW9ya3RvdXJzLmNvbSIsInBhdGgiOiIvaW5kZXgiLCJidG5zIjozLCJiZGNudCI6MCwiYnVjbnQiOjMsImxzIjoic3RhcnQiLCJtIjoxLCJjZmgiOjAsInRva2VuIjoiIn0=

British Tour of Lower Manhattan https://book.peek.com/s/7df85c2a-c06a-4fe5-9807-5980e35ac6e6/jPB7Z–21e3fac4-8d43-4df6-bc45-a66f09f312f0?hc=eyJ0bHMiOjE2NjYxOTU4NTc4NjEsInR5cGUiOiJzcF9wZXJmb3JtYW5jZSIsImx0IjoibW9iaWxlIiwidGwiOjY2Mzg0LCJ1aWQiOjE2NjYxOTQ1NDMxNzQyOTU4LCJzcmMiOm51bGwsImFwaWsiOiI3ZGY4NWMyYS1jMDZhLTRmZTUtOTgwNy01OTgwZTM1YWM2ZTYiLCJkaCI6Ind3dy5pc2xlb2ZuZXd5b3JrdG91cnMuY29tIiwicGF0aCI6Ii9pbmRleCIsImJ0bnMiOjMsImJkY250IjowLCJidWNudCI6MywibHMiOiJzdGFydCIsIm0iOjEsImNmaCI6MCwidG9rZW4iOiIifQ==

The Best of Midtown: Grand Central, Saint Patrick’s, Rockefeller Center and Times Square https://book.peek.com/s/7df85c2a-c06a-4fe5-9807-5980e35ac6e6/RWLk2–392757a2-e75e-4df1-bee4-bd3bb39f5a36?hc=eyJ0bHMiOjE2NjYxOTU5MjQyNjUsInR5cGUiOiJzcF9wZXJmb3JtYW5jZSIsImx0IjoibW9iaWxlIiwidGwiOjYwNzkyLCJ1aWQiOjE2NjYxOTQ1NDMxNzQyOTU4LCJzcmMiOm51bGwsImFwaWsiOiI3ZGY4NWMyYS1jMDZhLTRmZTUtOTgwNy01OTgwZTM1YWM2ZTYiLCJkaCI6Ind3dy5pc2xlb2ZuZXd5b3JrdG91cnMuY29tIiwicGF0aCI6Ii9pbmRleCIsImJ0bnMiOjMsImJkY250IjowLCJidWNudCI6MywibHMiOiJzdGFydCIsIm0iOjEsImNmaCI6MCwidG9rZW4iOiIifQ==

Pre-Thanksgiving Parade Balloon Inflation Day, a once-a-year event 11/23 https://book.peek.com/s/7df85c2a-c06a-4fe5-9807-5980e35ac6e6/k4a7X–fb2b8f87-7d19-4365-a326-25c00d34f041?hc=eyJ0bHMiOjE2NjYxOTU5ODUwNzIsInR5cGUiOiJzcF9wZXJmb3JtYW5jZSIsImx0IjoibW9iaWxlIiwidGwiOjEzNTI1MiwidWlkIjoxNjY2MTk0NTQzMTc0Mjk1OCwic3JjIjpudWxsLCJhcGlrIjoiN2RmODVjMmEtYzA2YS00ZmU1LTk4MDctNTk4MGUzNWFjNmU2IiwiZGgiOiJ3d3cuaXNsZW9mbmV3eW9ya3RvdXJzLmNvbSIsInBhdGgiOiIvaW5kZXgiLCJidG5zIjozLCJiZGNudCI6MCwiYnVjbnQiOjMsImxzIjoic3RhcnQiLCJtIjoxLCJjZmgiOjAsInRva2VuIjoiIn0=

Secrets of Chinatown, a personal tour from my Chinese in-laws (fine shopping, Asian groceries, history, Five Points, street food, Jewish-Irish-Danish-Dutch-Italian influences)
https://book.peek.com/s/7df85c2a-c06a-4fe5-9807-5980e35ac6e6/O4Wyj–7d032f8e-01c1-4794-9583-3db577906b6e?hc=eyJ0bHMiOjE2NjYxOTYxMjAzNDQsInR5cGUiOiJzcF9wZXJmb3JtYW5jZSIsImx0IjoibW9iaWxlIiwidGwiOjk4NDcxMiwidWlkIjoxNjY2MTk0NTQzMTc0Mjk1OCwic3JjIjpudWxsLCJhcGlrIjoiN2RmODVjMmEtYzA2YS00ZmU1LTk4MDctNTk4MGUzNWFjNmU2IiwiZGgiOiJ3d3cuaXNsZW9mbmV3eW9ya3RvdXJzLmNvbSIsInBhdGgiOiIvaW5kZXgiLCJidG5zIjozLCJiZGNudCI6MCwiYnVjbnQiOjMsImxzIjoic3RhcnQiLCJtIjoxLCJjZmgiOjAsInRva2VuIjoiIn0=

Secrets of Central Park https://book.peek.com/s/7df85c2a-c06a-4fe5-9807-5980e35ac6e6/03pW4–a8403bd2-40cc-4d88-b1df-9468898b67b3?hc=eyJ0bHMiOjE2NjYxOTcxMDUwNzMsInR5cGUiOiJzcF9wZXJmb3JtYW5jZSIsImx0IjoibW9iaWxlIiwidGwiOjQxMjQ1LCJ1aWQiOjE2NjYxOTQ1NDMxNzQyOTU4LCJzcmMiOm51bGwsImFwaWsiOiI3ZGY4NWMyYS1jMDZhLTRmZTUtOTgwNy01OTgwZTM1YWM2ZTYiLCJkaCI6Ind3dy5pc2xlb2ZuZXd5b3JrdG91cnMuY29tIiwicGF0aCI6Ii9pbmRleCIsImJ0bnMiOjMsImJkY250IjowLCJidWNudCI6MywibHMiOiJzdGFydCIsIm0iOjEsImNmaCI6MCwidG9rZW4iOiIifQ==

In Chinatown: The Street Of Food And Haircuts

This ‘nice lowfon boy’ has been getting his hair cut on Doyers Street since he arrived here 40 years ago. My 1st wife was Chinese American. Her mother was born and raised in Chinatown. Her mom, my grandmother in law or ‘Po-po’ was born in British Columbia as the daughter of a cherry tree planter. She got a visa to attend nursing school in Chicago in the 1920s. She was allowed to stay in the USA because she was a nurse and therefore a skilled worker.

Po-po’s husband was a professional gambler in a neighborhood where everybody gambled. To this day, buses pull up on Bowery every morning to take people down to Atlantic City for a day of gambling.

My mother in law’s husband ‘Rocky’ had been a bodyguard for a warlord in Shanghai until the Communists took over. This was about 1950. He learned to cook in Taiwan, all that was left of the Republic of China. Then he immigrated to NYC and got a job as a Chinese-food cook in Chinatown.

Rocky found that he could supplement his meager income – no, quadruple his meager income – by becoming a fixer for gamblers.
He would find and rent basements that were safe from the police over on Elizabeth street. He was very proud of his crowning achievement: He bribed someone in the Corrections department to rent jail cells on weekends for his future father-in-law.

The Corrections Department is separate from the Police Department. The police couldn’t break into the jail, which was directly across Columbus Park from Chinatown. Easy commute.

My wife and I met in college upstate. When we graduated we got married and moved down to the family house in Flatbush. I’ve been getting my hair cut in Chinatown ever since. The fee for a haircut has never been as much as ten dollars. People in the know come in from Brooklyn and Queens for a Chinatown haircut. They all know Doyers Street.

Do Your Tours In Clusters!

Manhattan is 13 miles or 21 km long and around 2 miles/3km across. Places are clustered, sort of.

MIDTOWN includes the Public Library main branch, Grand Central, Empire State Building, Macy’s, Bryant Park, Times Square, Rockefeller Center and St. Patrick’s.

CENTRAL PARK is north of Midtown.

THE FINANCIAL DISTRICT is close to the Statue Of Liberty and Staten Island ferries, National September 11 Memorial, Wall Street, South Street Seaport, the Brooklyn Bridge, and it’s fairly close to Chinatown.

My company does walking tours that may go through up to 3 districts in a tour:

SoHo, Little Italy and Chinatown.

Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn Heights, and DUMBO.

Brooklyn Heights, ferry boat to Wall Street, and African Burial Ground.

Grand Central, Saint Patrick’s, Rockefeller Center, and Times Square.

Brooklyn Heights, ferry to Manhattan, Murray Hill, and end at customer’s choice of Grand Central or Empire State Building.

http://www.isleofnewyorktours.com or write Tourguidestan@yahoo.com

Get the RIGHT train, not the CLOSEST train

The other day a tourist who hadn’t hired a guide asked me a question that could have taken them miles out of their way: “Where’s the nearest subway?”

Brooklyn measures around 13 miles north-south by 13 miles east-west. That’s 169 square miles. And that’s just Brooklyn! Imagine if I had told them where the NEAREST subway was, without knowing what the RIGHT subway is!

The gem by the Statue of Liberty

Around 7000 to 8000 people visit Battery Park at the South end of Manhattan every day, to visit the Statue Of Liberty. Only very few come to Bowling Green, just across Broadway. It’s our city’s oldest park, here since 1738.

Back in 1770 city officials decided to erect an iron fence, painted gold, around Bowling Green. And to commission and install a 2-ton statue of the the king of England at the time, George III. That statue lasted only 6 years.

The Declaration Of Independence, the document by which Americans date the beginning of our nation, was signed on July 4, 1776.

Here’s my photo of an earlier version that was voted down on July 2, because it guaranteed freedom to enslaved people. If only.

The July 4 version was brought here by horse courier over five days and nights. It was read aloud at City Hall up on Wall Street. Then a troop of Army men went down to Bowling Green and destroyed the king’s statue. Its takedown was for 2 reasons:

One, the Sons of Liberty hated the king.

Two, the statue was made of lead. Bullets are made of lead, too. That lead was later melted down into 40,088 musketballs for the Revolution.

The British Tour, from Isle Of New York Tours, stops at Bowling Green so that guests can have a moment to actually touch history. Look at this!

Here’s a similar iron fence of the same era as Bowling Green’s. It’s at the Palace of Versailles! I photographed it realizing that the Bowling Green fence must have looked very similar in 1770–1776. The thicker fenceposts are topped with royal crowns. All of this has been gilded, painted gold.

Bowling Green fence was also originally gilded. And it was originally topped with crowns of lead. See how the iron legs holding up the oil lamp are bowed outwards? That was to allow room for the crown that was once there.

On the night of July 9, 1776, all the lead crowns were cut down as well, to add into the musketball supply. Lead is a soft metal, so the revolutionaries were able to saw the crowns off, all 100 of them.

Why should YOU visit Bowling Green? For one thing, it has plenty of seats after you’ve spent 4 hours standing in the ferry, standing at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island and standing in the boat again. You need to rest.

For another, you are TOTALLY surrounded with American history. Buildings to the west were major ocean liner companies before jetliners replaced them. The building on the east was the oil company that supplied all those ocean liners. The building to the South is the old Customs House named for Alexander Hamilton, and the National Museum of the American Indian is inside.

The fenceposts surrounding the park are available for you to actually feel marks of the saws that worked to take off those crowns back on July 9, 1776!

NYC movie scenes in walking tours

Does this look familiar? Lyra Belaqua, played by Dakota Blue Richards, ran down this Manhattan block in the film The Golden Compass. The block of identical wooden houses is on my Washington Heights tour.

Same block in the movie!

This block is on my Brooklyn Bridge  & Brooklyn Heights tour. Why the studio decided to use the blue Brooklyn house as the Washington, DC home of Kay Graham, played by Meryl Streep as the former owner of The Washington Post in the film The Post, is beyond me.

Riffing off Mystery Science Theatre 3000, I call these posters ‘moviesign.’  Printed by the Mayor’s Office of Film and Television, they warn car owners to stay away on certain days so that movie or tv trucks can park there. It’s a great way to learn what movie or TV show is filmed where and when. This one was for the 4th season of the TV show Power, in 2017.  Watch my @tourguidestan Twitter for #moviesign mentions.

Movie directors love to use icons as backdrops.Washington Arch is a New York City icon. Consider every ‘famous city’ movie you’ve ever seen. Are some scenes within sight of a famous icon in that city? You bet.  Because moviegoers will remember their own experience in that spot. That’s a big selling point, so directors use the icons. Washington Square arch has been used for many films. Here is a link to a short YouTube video of mine. In 20 seconds it shows you the exact locations near the arch where scenes in four films were made: https://youtu.be/8BHhRgjVeeI

McSorley’s Old Ale House was used in an episode of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel. It’s one of my favorite bars in town, for many reasons, one being
MCSORLEY’S DOESN’T BLAST LOUD MUSIC.
I take customers here when we ‘do’ the East Village, and at the end of Mrs Maisel’s Marvelous Greenwich Village. https://youtu.be/zJQtj48uKT4

At the poet’s walk, or the literary walk, in Central Park, film Scenes have been shot here since at least 1979, when Meryl Streep stood by the statue of Robert Burns and Dustin Hoffman took up the opposite spot by Walter Scott. Kramer vs. Kramer.

But that’s only the earliest Literary Walk film scene I can think of. How about some more?

Enchanted

Autumn In New York

Home Alone II: Lost In New York

Icons, baby. It’s all about the icons! And New York holds sooo many icons that it’s the perfect city to shoot in. That’s why as many as 400 movies and TV shows are shot in New York annually. Take some of my tours and stand exactly where the stars stood. Go to http://www.isleofnewyorktours.com or write the email address in this video: https://youtu.be/SKTNhcJRjwQ

Inspiration Point

Inspiration Point originally was just a clifftop overlooking the Hudson in Northern Manhattan, at roughly 190th Street. It was right alongside the northern extension of Riverside Drive. A Greek temple was built at Inspiration Point in 1925. The temple was upstairs at the clifftop.  Below were restrooms.
Inspiration Point is mentioned in the last verse of the song I’ll Take Manhattan. Miss Ella Fitzgerald:

The northern extension of Riverside Drive was replaced by the Henry Hudson Parkway in 1937, cutting off Inspiration Point from almost all visitors.
The Hudson River Greenway, a riverfront park with a bike lane running from Battery Park to Dyckman Street, opened fully in 2010. Once again, people are able to stop at Inspiration Point, but only on foot or by bike. No train, car or bus comes here.
Hope you enjoy my singing!
https://youtu.be/bcu-0r6AuAQ