Free Lower East Side Historical Walking Tour
Tour Type: Public Group Walking Tour
Themes: NYC History, Oldest Businesses in NYC, Immigration and Demographics of NYC
Starts: 50 Stuyvesant St, New York, NY 10003
Ends: 170 Essex St, New York, NY 10002
Duration: 2.5 hours
Cost: Signing up is free. Gratuity is appreciated.
Good For: Individuals, Couples, Families, Anyone!
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Join Alex on a Lower East Side walking tour through a neighborhood once spanning Canal to present day 14th Street. We'll discuss its history, from wealthy farmland, to tenement filled slums, and back to prosperity again. We’ll visit 17th century Dutch colonial sites, talk about 19th century Irish, German, Italian, and Jewish immigration, and discuss the neighborhood’s place in contemporary pop culture. Stops include famous churches, synagogues, music clubs, theaters, and markets that all have deep historical connections to the neighborhood.
We’ll also visit several of the oldest businesses in the USA, including Katz’s Deli, where you’ll get to skip the line!
Along the way you'll have plenty of time to ask questions and engage with Alex on any number of topics. Tours are casual, flexible, and fun, so bring your curiosity and a comfortable pair of walking shoes!
This tour is perfect for individuals, couples, families, or anyone looking to experience New York City’s food, culture, and history in a new way!
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Submit an inquiry form and we will get right back to you with dates the tour is available.
On the day of, Alex will meet you at a predetermined location, and the tour will begin. Tours are flexible, and we arrange everything, so you can simply focus on the experience!
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Food Strolls Guided Tours was created in 2020 as a means for sharing our passion for New York’s food, history, and culture with others. What began as a hobby has developed into a full service tour agency, and over the past three years we’ve given over 1,000 tours to clients including Stanford University, Columbia University, Princeton University, NYU, Google, Meta, BMW, Ernst and Young, and the NYC Department of Education.
We are fully licensed and insured tour guides, professional bloggers, and active members of the Guides Association of New York City. Local food and history is our passion, and our tours are experiences you simply will not find anywhere else in NYC.
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“I've done many NYC tours, this is by far the best one. Rather than get sucked into tourist trap restaurants where the food and service are terrible, you get to eat at NYC's most famous spots, and you get to cut the long lines. It's the best way to see the city, eat the best food and learn about hundreds of years of history. I couldn't recommend this enough, and kids are welcome too.” - Wietse Nijenhuis, Senior Portfolio Manager, Citi Investment Management at Citigroup in New York, NY
“My fiancée, her parents, and I had the absolute best time on our private food tour with Alex. He was a fantastic guide and had an enormous repertoire of local history knowledge. We took the Lower East Side tour, and had the chance to sample Italian, Jewish Deli, and Jewish Appetizing cuisines, all while learning about the neighborhood's extensive immigrant history. We've taken several food tours in New York City to-date, and I can safely say that this was the best we've done!” - Cooper Schorr, Director of Sales at Staffbase
“We went on the Lower East Side Food and History Tour this past weekend with some friends, and everyone had a great time. We were curious about the LES because of its significance to NYC's Jewish population. I am Jewish and grew up nearby, but there was so much I didn't know. Alex literally "walked" us through the neighborhood's complicated history. We stopped at 4 different places to eat during the tour, and each place was delicious. I'm already planning on booking Alex for another foodstroll soon!” - Dr. Melissa Pencile, Clinical Psychologist in Brooklyn, NY