My Favorite Touring, Event, History, and Neighborhood Web Sites

Justin Ferate

www.justinsnewyork.com - Justin Ferate is one of NYC's best-known and profoundly knowledgeable tour guides (and the author of the NYC sightseeing guide exam all of us have to take to get our license). His Web site provides information not just on the diverse walking and bus tours he leads but also provides a trove of NYC resources. His Grand Central Station tour attracts crowds - find out why!

www.geognyc.com - GeogNYC is the Web site of Jack Eichenbaum, an intrepid leader of tours mainly in Queens that explore the geographic history of various neighborhoods in that borough, with some overlapping into the Bronx, Brooklyn and Manhattan. He really knows his stuff - so much so that in 2010 he was named Queens Borough Historian! His tours tend to be aggressive - he likes to cover a lot of territory and he has a lot to say! His Web site provides a range of resources for Queens mavens and students of how geography impacts development.

www.leshp.org - Lower East Side History Project - I love this site and the activities of this organization, which provides a range of resources to anyone curious to know about the history and culture of the Lower East Side - including the East Village. There's a vast tour program, with two tours every day of the way, covering topics such as the history of the Mob; Alphabet City; the Bowery; Chinatown/Five Points and more, and the Web site will point you to local events, resources and the various organizations with which LESHP has partnerships.

Brooklyn Historical Society

www.CityLore.org - CityLore specializes in preserving and celebrating NYC's immigrant cultures. Its annual "People's Hall of Fame" honors singular New Yorkers who have contributed to maintaining the vitality of NYC's unique historic and artistic diversity.

www.brooklynhistory.org - The Brooklyn Historical Society makes Brooklyn come alive through its exhibitions, lectures and tour program - a wonderful resources for mavens of Brooklyn culture!

www.gothamcenter.org - The Gotham Center is a CUNY-based research and programming resources for anyone who adores NYC. In recent years Gotham Center has greatly expanded its lecture programs, including concerts of NYC music and other fun events. Many are free, and those that aren't are very low cost. Get on their mailing list!

www.ctmd.org - Center for Traditional Music and Dance - This marvelous organization supports the immigrant groups throughout NYC to preserve and expand the music and dance traditions they brought with them from their countries or origin. Frequent concerts (many outdoors - and in the neighborhoods where these people live), dance parties and special events serve to highlight the many unique traditions that collectively make NYC one of the world's most exciting places to live in!