Real New York Tours offers private, group and driving tours by Real New Yorkers. We took the Dozen Apples tour which takes you through New York in this extensive walking tour. One of the best personal tour guide experiences in the city. Nathan Kaufman, our guide, was exceptionally well informed and kept the tour moving at an interesting pace. It was a 6 ½ hours mostly on foot but with some subway rides.With Nathan’s help we were able to navigate the New York subway and used it extensively after the tour.
Some of the highlights of the tour:
St Paul’s Chapel which was the base for first responders during 9/11.
The best soul food in Harlem at Silvia’s.
The story behind the speakeasies like the one located near a police station with a tunnel connecting them.
The increase of the Chinatown community and how that has affected Little Italy.
The history of the Five Point Gang based in the Five Points of Manhattan which was known for gangs of Irish immigrants.
See where some of your favorite TV shows are filmed.
Learn the story of New Amsterdam, the dutch settlement at the southern tip of Manhattan Island in the 17th century.
See the Oak trees planted on the 9/11 grounds.
Walk through the Canyon of Heroes in the Financial District and learn about the first ticker tape parade to celebrate the Statue of Liberty in 1886.
See Federal Hall where Washington took the oath of office in 1789.
Stop at Greenwich village for a delicious lunch.
See the house in the West Village off Bleeker Street which was home to Samuel Chester and where John Wilkes Booth had gone to persuade Chester to help him kidnap President Lincoln in 1865.
Learn the history of some of the brownstones on Grove Street in Greenwich Village.
See the beautiful cast iron buildings of Soho.
Walk through Washington Square Park dominated by the massive Washington Square Arch built in 1889 to celebrate the centennial of George Washington’s inauguration as president.
Washington Square Park was a potter’s field before it was a public space where gallows were set up and the guilty were executed until 1820. Over 20,000 bodies were buried under the park .
The history of Times Square and how the New Years Eve tradition got started.
Visit Central Park and see the historic Dakota building where John Lennon lived.