East Village Community Garden and Open Space Tour

Touring New York City is an adventure. An enthusiastic, passionate guide can combine fun and learning. And that's why you found me. I love this city and you will too. I have been a resident and an artist/photographer of Lower Manhattan for the past five decades. I have been a licensed New York City Tour guide for the past decade. I am eager to share my knowledge and experience of this world-class city which I call home. I'm also willing to share my own photographic skills to guide you in capturing better images of our city. When I moved here as a young man in the early 70's, New York was a very different place. The city was losing population and had a reputation for being dangerous and dirty. My generation of 'downtown' New Yorkers embraced the city and created our own opportunities. These downtown 'pioneered' efforts became important social, political, cultural movements which in return revitalized the urbanscape and made city life more desirable. I began contributing to the city's rebirth by first publishing my photo works in local arts publication, the Soho Weekly News in the mid 70's. By the 80's I was projecting dazzling slide/light shows in the vibrant emerging, downtown nightclubs and art spaces. My own ephemera from that time has been recently acquired by the Museum of Modern Art along with one of my films. I was also honored to do a live analog projection / performance in their Titus Theater. I also published the first international street art publication, IGTimes. This project contributed to a glowing archive, which was acquired by Cornell University Library's Hip Hop Collection. Placing artistic contributions aside for a moment, I also homesteaded an abandoned building on the Lower East Side in the 1980's and have been resident (and a community gardener) ever since. The 70's and 80's were unique times in New York. Yet New York is an unique town where every decade has its challenges and rewards . The Aids crisis, gentrification, 911, social unrest, and our recent Covid-19 lockdowns. My own history in New York has given me an unique perceptive. The more I walk these streets the more I yearn to know the city before my time. Out of sheer personal interest, I took the guide test nearly a decade ago and have been doing tours ever since. I learned of the city's history from the native Lenape people, through the colonial Dutch and English and onto the rapid population growth in the 19th century and the making of a 'skyscraper' metropolis in the 20th. I know the city's streets, its neighborhoods, and its ever-changing tempos. I keep informed of the current cultural trends and the latest in art shows, restaurants and entertainment. I will customize a tour according to you and your group's interest and wishes. I am always here to accommodate your visit and plan an itinerary for a couple of hours, half a day, full day and longer. My goal is to excite and inspire you on your visit - to reveal New York's images, its stories and its soul. And being a photographer I'll make sure you get your best New York City shots. I guarantee we will have fun. New York City tour guide license. I am not a driver. I can accompany you in your vehicle or I can arrange for a separate car and driver.