Time to learn about the other New York City; the city that nurtured political, cultural and intellectual revolutions. The city that gave birth to punk rock, the beat poets and graffiti. The city that has survived two centuries of mass riots, crime and corruption, murder and mayhem. The city that has flourished in spite of economic and social hardship.
On my Alternative New York Tour you'll discover the real New York from the perspective of a local who lived through many of the city’s challenges and changes. As we stroll the streets of the East Village and the Bowery, you will visit the homes and haunts of poets, writers, musicians and artists, who helped shape the cutting edge culture of New York City today. You’ll see street art from well-known graffiti artists and sticker art that changes day to day. You’ll hear about the tragic events that have left New Yorkers weeping and you’ll witness inspirational community activism that keeps New Yorkers moving forward every day.
Sights I cover on the tour:
- The Houston-Bowery Mural Wall – first made famous in the late 1970′s by artist and aids activist, Keith Haring.
- St. Mark’s Place – where dozens of political and literary revolutionary and genre-changing writers lived.
- Tompkins Square Park – whose history includes riots, political protests and even an infamous cannibalistic murder.
- The Mosaic Trail – noted by National Geographic as one of the must-see sights of New York City.
- Sites of former ground-breaking punk rock concert venues former Fillmore East, Electric Circus, Coney Island high, the Pyramid Club transvestites.
- St. Mark’s Church who lost 1200 members of its congregation in a single afternoon in the tragic General Slocum disaster of 1904.
- Trash and Vaudeville where punk rockers like the Ramones and Blondie shopped, recently lauded by the New York Times as the “The Shop That Punk Built”.
- Community gardens such as The Creative Little Garden and whose creation challenged the city’s neglect of the neighborhood
