Customized New York tours for New Yorkers From Grade School to Graduate School.

We customize New York tours for New Yorkers. It’s one of our favorite things to do. We’ve led tours of students from elementary school to masters level classes; from small companies to Fortune 500 companies, organizations, alumni groups, and families.

Our tours allow for locals to learn more about their city, experience it in new ways, and dig deeper than on a standard tour. That’s why we love touring with New Yorkers. Below are some tour theme ideas, but we’re always up to the challenge of designing a tour based on your interests. Some examples of past bespoke tours:

• a tour on the history of refugees in New York for a non-profit,
• a bus tour of the life of an 80-year-old woman originally from Astoria, Queens. Her extended family including Great Grandchildren came on the tour.
• a tour of the history of Oreo and the Chelsea Market as a PR event for Oreo’s parent company.
• tours to fit the curriculum of Columbia, NYU, School of the New York Times and High School classes.

Ideas for Tours for New Yorkers to Explore Their City

New York Roots:

Russ and Daughters on the Lower East Side. A New York Institution since 1914.

Dive into the social history of New York. A very popular tour theme is Immigration. This could mean connecting back to one’s own Ellis Island historic roots, like a tour of the Jewish Lower East Side, or it could mean getting a better understanding of how immigration and diversity have shaped New York in the past and in the present. It may be a tour in historic immigrant areas like Little Italy, Chinatown, or the Lower East Side, or more recent immigration in diverse areas of Queens, like Jackson Heights, Astoria, or Corona.

 Beyond immigration, we love giving tours that focus on Greenwich Village and Soho, areas that defined modern culture and social movements. Or in Harlem to learn about the Harlem Renaissance and the Civil Rights Movement.

 While these tours may focus on “roots,” we are always interested in the “living history.” So, we will make sure to discuss how these areas evolve and how themes relate to the present day.

Architecture and Design of New York

Guastavino Tiles at the Manhattan Municipal Building.

There are certain places every New Yorker should visit on a guided tour. Central Park may be your regular place to picnic and jog, or you might pass through Grand Central each time you take a train to visit grandma, but an expert guide can really make you stop and appreciate them. It’s not just about finding quirky “secrets,” but really a way to understand the thinking behind the design and why these sites shaped our city, and design and architecture across the world. We also love public art. There are a number of places and neighborhoods worth touring, like midtown with Rockefeller Center, the New York Public Library and other architectural gems, as well as Lower Manhattan, a mix of colonial-era design and post 9/11 ultra-modern additions. But there are many sites to see both new and old.

Explore a new New York Neighborhood

Birds-eye view of Roosevelt Avenue, Jackson Height, Queens.

New York is so large and changes so fast, no one can know every neighborhood. Not even we (Streetwise New York), who dedicate ourselves to knowing the city, know most neighborhoods well. But between our five guides, we’ve lived, worked, studied, and spent a significant amount of time in many areas. If you live in Brownstone Brooklyn and are curious about Jackson Heights, the country’s most diverse neighborhood, you should book a tour. And if you live in Jackson Heights but want to visit Fort Greene or Brooklyn Heights, book a tour. We’ll be sure to match you with a knowledgeable guide that will help you understand one of the many fascinating and dynamic neighborhoods of New York. Since it’s a private tour, we can adjust the stops, information, and pace accordingly. Likewise, we can incorporate food and combine different neighborhoods.  

Have any questions about New York tours for New Yorkers with Streetwise NY? Contact us!