Artists and Hidden History - Tribeca & Soho Private Walking Tour

Most people associate the names Tribeca and Soho with the Tribeca Film Festival, fancy shops, or celebrities living in expensive lofts, but not everyone knows the history of industrial warehouses leading to artist's housing, which completely transformed the entire culture and layout of downtown NYC. On this under the radar tour, you'll learn about the pioneering residents living spartan existences in commercially zoned lofts, creating groundbreaking art while doing their best to protect the beautiful architecture of a formerly bustling neighbourhood on the brink of demolition. As you walk cobblestoned streets and alleys with me, I'll tell you about Laurie Anderson, Edward Albee, Richard Serra, and other influential residents, while I also share stories from my childhood exploring the decaying piers, buildings, and loading docks of a much misunderstood area that changed the city as a whole. The following itinerary could be customized upon request:

·We'll start at the border of Greenwich Village & Soho, before crossing Houston Street to go "South of Houston" (hence the name) and explore what was once the city's theatre district, home to many important 19th century stores such as Tiffany's, Lord and Taylor, and Brooks Brothers, not to mention the store that supplied the china for the Lincoln Whitehouse. ·We'll then wind our way through the Cast Iron Historic district of Soho, where you'll learn how it got said name and its former nickname of "Hell's Hundred Acres", before crossing Canal street (named for a man-made canal) into my childhood hood, Tribeca. ·Later we'll walk through the many alleyways of "Triangle Below Canal", where I'll share the origin of that odd name, and visit the city's smallest museum within a former elevator shaft in the longest alley in Manhattan. ·We'll then head across southwest, discussing architecture, art, and the area's transformation to one of the most expensive zip codes in the US, before finishing up near Chambers St.