Erol Inanc (right) with a private group
I grew up in Munich, Germany and have spent almost my entire adult life, from the 1990s to the present day, in New York.
For more than 20 years I conduct tours in the city. They don’t just string together the usual landmarks, instead I stive to provide visitors with insights into the real life of the city. On all tours, you’ll gain context and background information about this fascinating metropolis and its inhabitants. You’ll learn things like: How does health insurance and social welfare work? What are the rents and other costs of living? We’ll show you the city’s economic structure, its main demographic groups, how people interact, and how the city is governed.
We offer three tours, each in various versions using different modes of transportation, including SUVs and stretch limousines, walking, subway and city bus, and bicycles.
Overview
Here is an overview with a brief description of the three tours. For details, click the link below the short description or scroll down this page.
New York – A Mosaic of Neighborhoods
New Yorkers refer to the part of the city they live in as their „neighborhood.“ In probably no other metroplis in the world are they as diverse as here.
They are the foundation, heart, and soul of New York. On this tour, we will visit six socio-economically very different neighborhoods in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and, as a special focus, the highly interesting but often overlooked Queens.
The Fascination of Lower Manhattan – the oldest and most modern part of New York
Nowhere are the history of New York and the trends shaping the city’s future more visible than in Lower Manhattan, the southern part of the island. The area south of 34th Street is full of innovation, surprises, and energy. This is where New York’s rise to an incomparable metropolis began in 1624.
Manhattan + More Tour
This tour combines popular elements of the ‘New York – A Mosaic of Neighborhoods’ and ‘The Fascination of Lower Manhattan’ tours.
In the first part, we will show you geographically and thematically diverse facets of Manhattan, the heart of New York, including Harlem, then we move to the South Bronx, and Brooklyn.
In the second part, we will explore many of the most interesting and beautiful parts of Lower Manhattan.
Please contact us via the form below or at contact@therealnewyork.nyc
Tour 1: ‘New York – A Mosaic of Neighborhoods’
New Yorkers call their neighborhoods ‘neighborhoods.’ In perhaps no other city in the world are they as diverse as here.
They are the foundation, heart, and soul of the metropolis. On this tour, we explore six socioeconomically diverse neighborhoods in Manhattan, the Bronx, Brooklyn, and, with a special focus on the highly interesting, yet rarely explored, Queens.
We start the tour in Manhattan and travel across the Brooklyn Bridge to our first neighborhood, Park Slope, in Brooklyn.
Park Slope – Brooklyn
In 1859, Central Park opened in Manhattan. Just eight years later, Prospect Park in Brooklyn, designed by the same landscape architects, Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, was completed. It was almost two-thirds the size of Central Park, befitting Brooklyn, which at the time was still a separate city, the third largest in the United States.
The surrounding area of Park Slope attracted so many wealthy citizens that, according to the 1890 census, it was the wealthiest neighborhood in the entire United States. Residents often initially lived in Victorian mansions, but as land became scarcer, they switched to brownstone townhouses with their characteristic staircases, known locally as stoops.
After Manhattan, Queens, the Bronx, Staten Island, and Brooklyn merged to form the City of New York in 1898, Park Slope lost importance, as the metropolis was now clearly dominated by Manhattan. Connection of the neighborhood to the subway system in 1915 led to the development of a socioeconomically more diverse population in the following decades. Initially, it was working-class families of Italian and Irish descent who primarily moved there, later followed by African Americans and Puerto Ricans. Many whites left and by the 1970s Park Slope had lost its reputation as a highly desirable residential area.
In the 1990s a major real estate boom began in New York, which essentially continues to this day. Park Slope was rediscovered by the wealthier segments of the population, including many upscale young families, who were primarily attracted by the attractive real estate, especially Brownstone houses, that are once again among the most desired properties in all of New York. Today, the neighborhood is considered to be politically progressive, environmentally and health-conscious and creative.
Williamsburg – Brooklyn
Williamsburg demonstrates how much contrast can exist in a single neighborhood in New York – where else in the world do Orthodox Hasidic Jews share a district with hip creatives?
Until the 1960s, the northern part of the neighborhood was known for storage-facilities, light manufacturing and businesses like mechanic’s shops intermixed with inexpensive residential buildings, primarily for immigrants. Afterward, as in many other New York neighborhoods at the time, the industrial companies left the city and moved to the outskirts. In the 1990s, many of the properties, which were then relatively inexpensive compared to Manhattan, just across the East River, were taken over by young creatives. They converted them into lofts, galleries, clubs, and restaurants, and Williamsburg became ultra-trendy.
we continue from Brooklyn on to Queens
Jackson Heights – Queens
A neighborhood considered the most diverse in a city as ethnically diverse as New York City must be remarkable, and Jackson Heights certainly is.
Jackson Heights was developed in the 1930s as home to commuters working in nearby Manhattan. The 1950s saw the beginning of an influx of immigrants from around the world, which came in waves.
In today’s Jackson Heights Indians are particularly prominent group. There are people from China, Nepal, Tibet, North Africa, the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, and Russia. The list goes on. Two-thirds of the population was not born in the United States.
The subway rattling above the streets on elevated tracks contributes to the urban ambiance of Jackson Heights.
Long Island City – Queens
Long Island City has a long history as an industrial area with warehouses, workshops, and factories where everything from batteries and paints to neon signs and cookies was manufactured. Two trends have transformed the area since the turn of the millennium and even before: the exodus of industry from New York and the growing need for housing in the booming city. Since the 2000s, apartments have been built in the neighborhood at a higher rate and pace than almost anywhere else in the USA. Today, Long Island City is a district with its own unique kind of diversity. Art parks stand next to modern residential towers, and industrial plants are just around the corner from trendy nightlife.
Astoria – Queens
Astoria is one of the few neighborhoods in New York City named after a person, the German-born tycoon John Jacob Astor. In the 1830s, entrepreneurs who planned to build a kind of free trade zone here, complete with factories, warehouses, and piers, hoped to flatter America’s then-richest man and persuade him to invest in the project. This plan failed, and instead, Astoria became a residential area, primarily for people who worked in Manhattan, just a few subway stops away. Today the neighborhood is particularly shaped by Greek immigrants, whose influence is evident in everything from Greek Orthodox churches and restaurants to doctor’s offices. Later, other groups joined the community, and today there are streets known as Little Egypt and Little Brazil, all contributing to one of the best culinary scenes in all of New York.
Few other neighborhoods offer such a diverse range of housing options as Astoria. There are government subsidized apartment complexes, small apartment buildings, and modern high-rises with luxury apartments. But what particularly surprises visitors is that this neighborhood, separated from Midtown Manhattan, the bustling center of New York City, only by the East River, also features small single-family and two-family homes.
Music and film have a long tradition in Astoria and Long Island City. Steinway & Sons has been producing pianos here since the 1870s, and outside of Hollywood, Astoria has been one of the places with the most film studios in the USA since the 1920s – one reason why the extraordinary ‘Museum of the Moving Image’, which deals with the history of film production, is located here.
Long Island City and Astoria share a beautiful stretch of the East River waterfront, which has seen significant investment in recent years and is now one of the most attractive destinations by the water in all of New York City. The views of Manhattan and two of the city’s most iconic bridges, the Queensboro Bridge and the Hellgate Bridge, are spectacular.
from Queens we continue to the Bronx
The South Bronx
Even today, the global image of the South Bronx neighborhood is often shaped by pictures from the 1970s and 1980s of people in front of burning trash cans and streets full of abandoned buildings. None of this exists anymore today. .
The South Bronx remains a poverty-stricken area. The neighborhood had one of the lowest average incomes in the entire US according to the 2020 census, a fact reflected in its massive public housing complexes. However, it also boasts a strong sense of community, a Latino atmosphere (the majority of residents are now Latino), and some of New York’s busiest streets, brimming with shops and vibrant life.
The South Bronx boasts important cultural and sporting achievements; rap and hip-hop music spread from here to the world, and the legendary New York Yankees baseball team also plays in the neighborhood.
from the Bronx we continue to Manhattan
Harlem – Manhattan
Following the real estate crash of 1904, African Americans began migrating to Harlem, a neighborhood in northern Manhattan, because homeowners couldn’t find enough white renters for their properties. Most of these Black people came to New York from the American South, hoping to escape racism and a lack of economic opportunities and build a better life.
In the following decades, the neighborhood gained a reputation among African Americans throughout the United States as the “Capital of Black America.” Particularly during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s and 1930s, music and literature emerged that achieved international acclaim.
Poverty, drugs, and crime have always cast a shadow over this socially disadvantaged area. Beginning in the 1960s, Harlem came to symbolize ghetto life and urban decay to the rest of the US and the world.
The boom that began in the 1990s also reached Harlem, creating a new problem for the geographically well-located neighborhood in Manhattan: gentrification. Harlem became too expensive for large segments of its long-time residents.
The tour ends at Columbus Circle in Midtown Manhattan.
Logistics and Prices for the Described ‘New York – A Mosaic of Neighborhoods’ Tour
We offer the tour in with formats. With an SUV and a dedicated driver as means of transportation to get from neighborhood to neighborhood or use of subway for the purpose. Guests see more from a vehicle, and the guides can tell more stories, make more comments, using the time spent in transit very productively.
Driver Frank with one of our groups
We use a spacious, comfortable SUV with a professional driver. When the tour guide and group get out at point A in a neighborhood, and later return to the vehicle at point B, the driver is already waiting, and the tour continues immediately. This allows us to make the most of our valuable time. An SUV offers further advantages, including a higher seating position, ideal for a tour, and the ability to leave belongings in the vehicle until the end.
The tour starts at 10:00 AM at the Tweed Court House, located at 52 Chambers Street, Manhattan, near the Brooklyn Bridge, the World Trade Center, and Chinatown. (Please let us know if you would like hotel pickup.)
Version – SUV with driver and tour guide 5 h
Price for a 5-hour tour, up to 4 guests: USD $850
Price for a 5-hour tour with vehicle, more than 4 guests, upon request.
Version – Subway and buses 5-6h
Up to 4 guests $500
Each additional guest $75 USD
Also important:
- Our tours are 100% private. We will not group you with other visitors
- We are City of New York certified and licensed tour guides.
Fascination ‘Lower Manhattan’ – the oldest part of New York is also the the city’s most innovative’
Nowhere are the history of New York and trends for the city’s future more evident than in Lower Manhattan, the southern part of the island. The roughly fifteen square kilometers below 34th Street are brimming with history, renewal, surprises, and energy.
Much of the area was first settled between 1624 and 1811, before the numbered grid pattern for the layout of streets was implemented. Until New York began to quickly expand in the early 19th century, the city only consisted of Southern Manhattan, with its narrow streets and alleyways. Today many of New York’s most charming, interesting and innovative neighborhoods are located here.
Lower Manhattan is steeped in history. A map from 1841.
What you will experience during the tour:
Lower East Side
The Lower East Side was probably the most densely populated urban areas in the entire world in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, packed with European immigrants living in cramped conditions that are nearly unimaginable today. People wanted to escape from there as quickly as possible. It’s an irony of history that today’s Lower East Side, with its bohemian atmosphere, is one of the city’s most desired neighborhoods, especially among young people.
Chelsea
In the 1990s, gallery owners discovered the then dilapidated and partially abandoned warehouses, workshops, and auto repair shops. There are now around 350 art galleries in the area. Chelsea is also known today for its exciting, modern architecture.
Hudson Yards
The largest privately financed construction project in US history. Seven skyscrapers were built on a $1 billion steel plate laid over the still-operational West Side Yards rail yard.
Chinatown
Chinatown in Lower Manhattan has it’s origins in the 1850s when Cantonese businessman Ah Ken became the first Asian immigrant to settle in the neighborhood and began running a ran a small boarding house on Mott Street.
Around the same time, a wave of Chinese immigrants—primarily from Guangdong Province—flocked to the US West Coast, drawn by the California Gold Rush and railroad construction jobs. Many settled in San Francisco, but as anti-Chinese sentiment grew there, some moved to the East Coast.
By the 1870s, New York’s Chinese population was concentrated around Mott and Canal Streets. Around 1000 Chinese immigrants lived in this area by 1880. In the next 50 years or so the number had risen to about 4,000. Today, the population is estimated at around 100,000.
Soho + Tribeca
Until the 1960s, Soho + Tribeca was primarily an industrial area. Aroubd that time, many of these businesses abandoned the area, relocating to more modern facilities outside Manhattan. The old workshops and warehouses were transformed by artists into loft spaces for living and working. Since then, Soho + Tribeca has changed once again and is now primarily a mecca for luxury shopping and chic living.
The names of the neighborhoods are the creation of resourceful real estate agents who wanted new, cool names for the increasingly desirable areas. Soho stands for ‘South of Houston Street’ and Tribeca for ‘Triangle below Canal Street’.
Greenwich Village/West Village
This chic area, now located in the heart of Manhattan, was a village until around 1800, hence its name. The city then absorbed it during its expansion. By the mid-20th century, Greenwich Village/West Village had become the most famous artists’ quarter in the USA. Architecturally, the area is characterized by beautiful townhouses with distinctive staircases.
Meatpacking District
In the 1990s, the meatpacking plants for which the neighborhood is named began relocating to more modern facilities in the Bronx. A new generation of New Yorkers transformed many of the properties into upscale nightlife, restaurants, shops, and hotels. Today, the area, with its former industrial buildings and cobblestones, is ultra-trendy.
High Line
Until 1980 goods were delivered to the Meatpacking District via a freight railway running 9 meters above the street, called the High Line.
In 2009, its transformation into one of the most innovative and successful parks in New York began and was completed ten years later.
Southern end of Manhattan/Financial District
New York’s development began at the southern end of Manhattan. The Dutch founded the trading colony of New Amsterdam here in 1624. Walking through the neighborhood today, you can still feel New York’s roots in the ‘Old World’.
The streets have names instead of numbers as they were laid out before the introduction of the grid pattern in 1811 and, like in an old town in Europe, meet at oblique angles. The city wall once stood where Wall Street (hence the name) is today, and it was there that the area began its development into one of the world’s most important financial centers at the end of the 18th century.
As has happened several times in its history, the area is reinventing itself once again. Driven by the ever-increasing demand for residential space and a decreasing need for office space, projects like the conversion of the ‘One Wall Street’ are taking place now. This beautiful Art Deco office building, dating back to 1930, is experiencing a rebirth as an apartment building with 566 condominiums after renovations costing $1.5 billion.
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- Tour takes appx. 4 hours
- There is no geographical overlap between this tour and our other tour ,New York – A Mosaic of Neighborhoods and they complement each other nicely.
- This tour is conducted on foot and by subway and bus.
- Price for up to 4 guests: $450 USD
- Each additional guest: $75 USD
- Inquiries to touren@newyorkaktuell.nyc
‘Manhattan + More Tour‘
This tour combines popular elements of the ‘New York – A Mosaic of Neighborhoods’ and ‘The Fascination of Lower Manhattan’ tours.
In the first part, we will show you geographically and thematically diverse facets of Manhattan, the heart of New York, including Harlem, then we move to the South Bronx, and Brooklyn.
In the second part, we will explore many of the most interesting and beautiful parts of Lower Manhattan.
On a Manhattan + More tour, you’ll get to know many different facets of our city. Even repeat visitors to New York can experience the Big Apple in a whole new way, because unlike conventional city tours, this tour takes you off the beaten path.
In the neighborhoods, as New Yorkers call the part of town they are living in, you’ll gain insights into this fascinating megacity that will surprise you again and again. You’ll experience very different parts of New York – from the ultra-chic, stylish SoHo to parts of the South Bronx, where the average income is one of the lowest in the entire USA and people struggle to make ends meet. New York City – no other city in the world offers such extreme contrasts.
We spend most of our time in various Manhattan neighborhoods, but the tour also takes us to the South Bronx and Brooklyn. On our tours with ENY, you’ll learn many fascinating things about the most exciting city in the world, and you’ll have plenty of fun along the way. (For example, we show participants where various celebrities live…)
In the first part of the tour, we’ll travel in a comfortable SUV or an iconic stretch limousine through northern Manhattan, visiting areas such as Harlem, before heading to the South Bronx, one of the poorest areas in the USA, and then on to Brooklyn.
Our driver Frank with one of our groups
On this part of the tour, we cover quite long distances, traveling to parts of the city where this is best and most efficiently done by vehicle. However, we also spend a lot of time alongside New Yorkers „on the streets,“ experiencing the city firsthand.
After a break, we’ll explore Downtown Manhattan, New York’s old city, on foot. Many of New York’s most charming and interesting areas are located in its narrow streets. Most of Downtown was settled before 1811 – the year the city decided to implement the numbered grid system we see today. The streets in Downtown still bear names, rather than numbers. In fact, this district has a very European feel – no wonder, since it was once called New Amsterdam.
Downtown Manhattan – the southern part of the island – is one of the oldest areas in all of America and therefore incredibly fascinating in terms of its architecture and history. Since the 1990s, however, this part of New York has undergone a radical transformation, and it now boasts some of Manhattan’s trendiest and most vibrant neighborhoods. New York is particularly cosmopolitan and quirky-extravagant in this area – Downtown is fun! Here you’ll not only experience New York’s past, but even more so, you’ll catch a glimpse of the trends of the future.
We’ll visit the ultra-chic Meatpacking District and the designer district of SoHo, the artistic neighborhood of Greenwich Village, the old immigrant neighborhood of the Lower East Side, which has undergone tremendous changes in recent years, and the former industrial area of Tribeca, whose old factory buildings now house some of the most expensive real estate in the entire United States.
The tour proceeds at a relaxed pace. No rushing through the streets. We’ll take a break at one of the charming cafés along the way.
a-) Manhattan & More Tour with SUV
For groups of up to 4 people
$650 plus $20 gratuity for the driver
b) Manhattan & More City Tour with Stretch Limousine
For groups of up to 4 people: $750 plus $20 gratuity for the driver
Each additional person: $70
Maximum: 6 people
If your group consists of more than 6 people, please inquire about a special offer.
c-) Manhattan & More Walking-Subway-Tour
Itinerary as in tour a)
For groups of up to 4 people: $470
Each additional person: $50
d) Manhattan & More Bike Tour
Itinerary as in tour a)
For groups of up to 4 people: $470
Each additional person: $50
Bike and helmet rental: $25 per person
Inquiries to tours@echtnewyork.com