The Village 101 East to West; Immigrants, Bohemians, Civil Rights Activists and their venues.
Practicing artist, student of tech and computer art. Have lived in New York for going on 8 years. I love how I keep finding cool treasures in the city. I’m from Texas. I have been giving tours of art and architecture for 10 years, working at modern art museums as well as New York City guided tours.
Pickup
We will meet outside of Veniero’s pastry shop. I will have a colorful kids umbrella.
Description
Join us on this 3 hour, off the beaten path tour where we will explore both the East and West Village neighborhoods. Both areas unique and historic, the East village is more funky and gritty while the west village is older and more charming, each with a bohemian past.
We will begin in the East village when it was Dutch farmland and look at remnants of New York's Kleines Deutschland, at one time the 3rd largest urban population of Germans outside of Berlin and Vienna and when 2nd Avenue was the ¨Jewish Rialto¨ a thriving Jewish entertainment district. We will talk about New Yorks immigration waves and the rise of tenement housing. We will also look at the early history of political protests in Tomkins Square Park. From draft riots to communist rally’s.
From there we will head west and visit the haunts of poets, writers and artists of the 20th century around Washington Square Park and MacDougal Street with art movements such as Abstract Expressionism, Beat Poetry and Folk Music : McSorley´s Pub, The GasLight Cafe, and learn about famous American artists such as Edward Hopper and Basquiat. We will end on the west edge of the Village and visit the Stonewall Inn, an old speakeasy as well as the first off Broadway theatre.
If you haven’t spent much time in the Village, this is a perfect introduction of its highlights. The tour will end near Little Island and The Standard Hotel, and many other spots where you can relax and enjoy New Yorks unique ambiance.