-
-
Ad Space
(728 x 90)
Video
Chelsea: Then and Now | East Village 101
The Genius and Elegance of Gramercy Park | The Multiethnic Eating Tour
Joining undergrads and retirees in a sidewalk-clogging throng is a proper New Yorker’s worst nightmare, especially if you have to wear a fluorescent orange sticker to differentiate yourself from the general populace. Coming in a close second is listening to the loud gasps from said throng as tour guide Joyce Gold rattles off rental prices from a stack of flashcards. And the whole mob invading otherwise lovely places like Lady Mendl’s Tea Salon (56 Irving Pl) would have to merit an honorary mention. But intrepid New Yorkers might want to tag along anyway to learn about JFK’s childhood stays at the Gramercy Park Hotel (2 Lexington Ave), children’s author Ludwig Bemelmans’s visits to Pete’s Tavern (129 E 18th St)—his beloved Madeline began on the back of a menu there—and Boss Tweed–busting governor Samuel Tilden’s secret tunnel under the National Arts Club (15 Gramercy Park South).
Gold never got us into Gramercy Park itself, alas, but the woman knows the turf well, including which locksmith makes copies of the keys, where the $9,000 birdhouse is and what days the park is open to the public (psst: one of them is Yom Kippur). And that nasty smell along Gramercy Park West? It’s the malodorous ginko biloba trees, not irresponsible dog-owners.—Genevieve Ernst
Contact tour companies for the next available tour or consult daily listings.
Mikey
Sat, Dec 01, 07, at 12:07am
For all newcomers and old NYawkers alike who like this site and the tours. Might I recommend you read a little of Pete Hamill's
My Downtown , Manhattan
We grew up reading Pete along
with Jimmy Breslin born and bred rough and tough NY writers. They made you feel you were at the scene, whether a disco or local bar.
NY is always revolving into a new a vibrant city. Eric Ferrara is correct in his post, you should google people who made NY and The NY who made the people.
Mikey
Fri, Nov 30, 07, at 11:09pm
Shout out to Montel who touted
this web site on his TV show today
Thank you Montel
Eric Ferrara
Thu, Nov 29, 07, at 5:49pm
I just want to say that the review may have missed the point of this tour. I am
concerned that "Tom Cruise andChristy Turlington" are what made an impact. On this
tour, we cover the "melting pot", the immigrant experience, tenement life, Yiddish
Theater, Vaudeville; the rise of the American gangster, labor unions and women's
rights; the birth of radical arts, activism and politics in America; and the demise
of Lower East Side mom and pop meat markets, tailors, and bakeries in the face of
gentrification. And so much more.
Earth shattering, no. But in my opinion, the subject matter is very important for
any New Yorker (or any American for that matter); The arts, ideas, and politics
which spawned from the Lower East Side have changed the world.
