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Tour and Event Calendar (2009 - 2010 Program)
Please use the payment buttons for each tour to add to your shopping cart,
or contact us at (212) 374-4100 to register.
PayPal account is not required — Click here for more information. |
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Ongoing! Twice Weekly Insider Public Walking Tours of the Lower East Side
June 17 - December 30, 2010
Thursdays: Crossing Delancy, 1:45 PM
Sundays: Bialystoker the Beautiful, 11:45 AM
To accommodate tourists and visitors interested in experiencing the sacred sites and rich history of the Lower East Side, the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy (LESJC) is initiating a program of mini-tours that will begin on Thursday, June 17th, and continue through Friday, December 30, 2010.
Two insider walking tours are planned. The tour based on highlights of the LESJC's public tour "Crossing Delancey" and a mini-tour based on highlights of the LESJC's "Bialystoker the Beautiful" tour. Read more about the insider walking tours on our Public Tours page.
NOTE: Due to holidays there will be no Crossing Delancy tours on September 9th, 23rd and 30th, and November 25th. There will be no Bialystoker the Beautiful tour on July 4th.
Meeting Place: All public tours start at the Kling-Niman Visitor's Center of the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy, 400 Grand Street (between Clinton and Suffolk Streets) across from CitiBank.
Fees/Info: Adults: $12; seniors and students: $10. Children under 6 are free.
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"Our guide was extremely personable and had an obvious enthusiasm for the subject ... I will definitely be using your services again." -- A.W. |
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Crossing Delancey Walking Tour
Sunday, September 12, 2010
Enter sacred sites that reveal the Lower East Side of the early 20th century and how it has evolved to reflect today’s changing culture north of Delancey Street.
The remarkably restored Congregation Chasam Sopher, the oldest continually operating synagogue in New York City, will be included on your tour.
Marvel at the stunning interior of the Angel Orensanz Cultural Foundation (formerly Congregation Anshe Chesed), the oldest synagogue building in New York City, and one of Manhattan’s most popular event spaces.
Tour Congregation B’nei Jacob Anshe Brzezan (also known as the Stanton Street Shul) – one of the few remaining tenement-style synagogues on the Lower East Side. Learn about the renaissance taking place in this warm, old-world space.
Time: 10:45 a.m. (approximately 2 1/2 to 3 hours)
Meeting Place: NEW LOCATON Meet in front of Stanton Street Shul, 180 Stanton Street.
Fees/Info: Adults: $18; seniors and students: $16. Save $2 by pre-registering.
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Distinctive Brooklyn Neighborhoods:
Williamsburg
and Boro Park walking tour
Sunday, October 17, 2010
Brooklyn is renowned for its many Jewish neighborhoods, including a variety of Hasidic communities. On this tour, you will visit sacred sites, shops and more that reflect the rich heritage of Williamsburg and Boro Park. You will have opportunities to shop, nosh and schmooze. Venues may change.
Enjoy a bus tour to Williamsburg. You will view: ■ The main Satmar synagogue Then, on the bus and walking tour of Boro Park, you will see: ■ The Bobov compound, the largest Hasidic community in the neighborhood, and more
Pre-registration and pre-payment required by October 8.
Time: 10:00 a.m. (approximately 5 hours)
Meeting Place: 235 East Broadway, New York City
Fees/Info: Adults: $27; seniors and students: $25.
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Past Programs this Season |
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"Thank you for treating my congregation to a wonderful day
on the Lower East Side." -- J.L. |
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"Second Hand Rose:" A Journey down the Yiddish Rialto Walking Tour
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Second Avenue is rich in cultural history. You’ll stroll down the historic street of the famed “Yiddish Rialto,” and explore the connections between what is now the East Village and the Lower East Side.
You’ll see names of many famous performers of the Yiddish theater on the Second Avenue Deli's “Starwalk.” Visit Community Synagogue, originally St. Marks Lutheran Church, spiritual home of the German congregation that lost 1,000 parishioners in the General Slocum disaster. Meet Herb Latner, a senior officer of Community Synagogue, and hear his charming description of life as a choir boy in a Yiddish theater.
Hear about citizen activism at a selection of charming “hidden” gardens.
Time: 10:45 a.m. (approximately 3 hours)
Meeting Place: The southwest corner of Second Avenue and 12th Street, site of the former Yiddish Arts Theater, now Multiplex.
Fees/Info: Adults: $18; seniors and students: $16. Save $2 by pre-registering.
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Lower East Side: Then and Now Walking Tour
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Enjoy seeing sacred sites where immigrants worshiped – from the spectacular to the simple. You’ll also learn how Jewish traditions are being carried on at these sites today.
Visit the Bialystoker Synagogue, the largest active orthodox congregation on the Lower East Side today; the exterior of Beth Hamedrash Hagadol – former home of the largest Russian-Jewish orthodox congregation in the United States; and Kehila Kedosha Janina, the only Romaniote (Greek heritage) synagogue in the Western Hemisphere. You will also tour a shteibl (one room house of prayer).
Time: 10:45 a.m. (approximately 3 to 3 1/2 hours)
Meeting Place: In front of Abrons Art Center, 466 Grand Street, corner of Pitt Street.
Fees/Info: Adults: $18; seniors and students: $16. Save $2 by pre-registering.
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O! Multitudes! II: Three Centuries of Domestic Architecture on the Lower East Side Walking Tour
Sunday, May 16, 2010
The Lower East Side is the iconic New York City immigrant neighborhood. For the past century and a half, immigrants have crowded its streets and tenements, and established cultural, social and religious institutions.
On this tour, housing on the Lower East Side will continue to be explored. Also, learn how to distinguish a tenement from a row house and see examples of pre-law, old law and new law tenements. You will be surprised by the rear tenement double-deckers that remain from 1867 pre-law housing legislation. New architecture will be contrasted to sites visited.
You can enjoy O! Multitudes! II without having participated in O! Multitudes! I.
Time: 10:45 a.m. (approximately 3 to 3 1/2 hours)
Meeting Place: At the corner of Canal and Eldridge Streets.
Fees/Info: Adults: $18; seniors and students: $16. Save $2 by pre-registering.
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Jewish Harlem walking tour
Sunday, May 2, 2010
From the 1880s until the beginning of World War I, Harlem was the third-largest Jewish community in the world, only slightly smaller than the Jewish communities in Warsaw and on New York’s Lower East Side. Visit reminders of Harlem’s great Jewish cultural heritage, including the Commandment Keepers, Harlem’s Ethiopian Hebrew Synagogue and the magnificent former Temple Israel, designed by noted Jewish architect Arnold Brunner. Walk to the former homes of Temple Israel of Harlem, Congregation Shaarei Zedek, The Oheb Zedek Synagogue – home to Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt in the 1910-1920’s. Your guide is Marty Shore, an urban historian.
Time: 10:45 a.m. (Approximately 3 hours, easy walking, few stairs)
Meeting Place: Meet in the plaza in front of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building at 163 W. 125th St., corner of Adam Clayton Powell Blvd. (Transit: A, C, D, #2, 3 trains to 125th St.)
Fees/Info: Adults: $20; seniors and students: $18. Save $2 by pre-registering.
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O! Multitudes! I: Three Centuries of Domestic Architecture on the Lower East Side Walking Tour
Sunday, April 18, 2010
Starting in what is now Chinatown, this comprehensive architectural tour explores housing on the Lower East Side from the federal, pre-Civil War era to the mid-nineteenth century. See examples of late 18th and early 19th century housing. Explore social, cultural and religious institutions that have served the community for almost two centuries.
You’ll walk from the edge of Chinatown to Corlears Hook on streets immortalized by activist/photographer Jacob Riis.
Time: 10:45 a.m. (approximately 3 to 3 1/2 hours)
Meeting Place: In front of HSBC Bank, 58 Bowery, corner of Canal Street.
Fees/Info: Adults: $18; seniors and students: $16. Save $2 by pre-registering.
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NEW When Harlem Was Jewish: Slide Lecture
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Enjoy a fascinating slide lecture on Harlem’s Jewish past delivered by Yeshiva University History Professor, Jeffrey S. Gurock, Ph.D., author of When Harlem Was Jewish: 1870-1930. In 1917, Harlem was home to more than 175,000 Jews.
A distinguished scholar of this remarkable era will discuss the historical forces that shaped Jewish Harlem.
Time: 11:00 a.m.
Meeting Place: Lejb & Golda Orenstein Building, 15-17 Willett/Bialystoker Place, New York City (between Grand and Delancey Streets).
Fees/Info: Adults: $18; seniors and students: $16. A nosh will be served.
Register on or before March 17th for a $2 discount!
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NEW Yiddish Theater Brunch: “The Big Bupkis”
Performed by the New Yiddish Rep Company
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Join the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy (LESJC) for a unique Yiddish Theater Brunch program, "The Big Bupkis! A Complete Gentile's Guide to Yiddish Vaudeville." This irreverent performance will include comedy, magic, ukulele music, hypnotism, stories about Sophie Tucker, a Yiddish bullfight poem, and other theatrical rarities. For those who may have attended last year's Yiddish Theater Brunch and enjoyed Shane Bertram Baker's show, this will be a different and more elaborate performance.
There will be an ample, strictly kosher, dairy brunch served which includes bagels, bialys, spreads, dried fruit, coffee and pastries.
In the lead role will be Shane Bertram Baker, Yiddish vaudeville actor extraordinaire. A Kansas City native, he is acknowledged to be the first Gentile to perform Yiddish vaudeville. How he escaped life in a trailer park in rural Missouri to gain renown in New York's booming Yiddish vaudeville community is richly described and illustrated in this fascinating performance. Mr. Baker will be accompanied by the legendary Steve Sterner, New York's premiere silent film accompanist. Rimshots, bells, and whistles will be delivered by the remarkable klezmer drummer, Matt Temkin. Allen Lewis Rickman, who has extensive experience in Yiddish theater, co-conceived and directed "The Big Bupkis!" The show combines English and Yiddish, with English supertitles projected over the stage.
Pre-registration required by January 27th.
Time: 11:00 a.m. (approximately 3 hours)
Meeting Place: Lejb & Golda Orenstein Building, 15-17 Willett/Bialystoker Place, New York City (between Grand and Delancey Streets).
Fees/Info: Adults: $30; seniors and students: $27. Other discounts do not apply.
10% discounts for groups of 10 or more
(must pay in advance through PayPal on our website).
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6th Annual Noshing Tour Extravaganza
Friday, December 25, 2009
Your noshing experience includes visits to two historic sites: ■ The stunning interior of the Angel Orensanz Cultural Foundation (formerly Congregation Anshei Chesed) ■ Congregation B’nai Jacob Anshei Brzezan (The Stanton Street Shul, one of the few remaining tenement-style synagogues)
Enjoy an authentic Eastern European kiddish of herring, arbis, potatonik, schnapps, dried fruit, halvah and pastries.
Time: 10:45 a.m.-1:45 p.m. (approximately 3 hours)
Meeting Place: In front of The Stanton Street Shul, 180 Stanton Street (near corner of Clinton Street).
Fees/Info: Adults: $24; seniors and students: $22. Other discounts do not apply.
Registration required by Friday December 18, 2009.
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Jewish Harlem public walking tour
Sunday, November 15, 2009
Harlem was once the second largest Jewish community in the United States. In 1917, it was home to more than 175,000 Jews. Our guide will lead you through the sites of Jewish religious life in the remarkable urban settlement of Harlem. It is a neighborhood to which Jews are now returning. You will walk by the former homes of Temple Israel of Harlem, Congregation Shaarei Zedek, The Oheb Zedek Synagogue – home to Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt in the 1910-1920’s.
Marvel at Harlem's grand synagogues, splendid row houses, and Parisian-style apartments. Sites visited include: The Ethiopian Hebrew Synagogue: The Commandment Keepers; Mt. Olivet Church, formerly Temple Israel. See the synagogue of Cantor Yossele Rosenblatt, and the homes of Richard Rogers and Gertrude Berg.
Time: 10:45 a.m. (Approximately 3 hours, easy walking, few stairs)
Meeting Place: The northeast corner of Adam Clayton Powell Blvd and 125th Street, in front of the statue of Adam Clayton Powell.
Fees/Info: Adults: $20; seniors and students: $18. Save $2 by pre-registering.
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"The recent trip to the Lower East Side was wonderful. The docents provided by the Conservancy were well informed and most professional." -- R.G. |
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The Jewish Community of Revolutionary
and Colonial New Amsterdam
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Trace the origins of Jewish settlement in New Amsterdam. We will visit the former locations of Jewish sites in Lower Manhattan and discuss their historical significance, including: Early Spanish and Portuguese rented synagogues, Mill Street Synagogue, the first built in North America, and a tour of Congregation Shearith Israel’s cemetery at Chatham Square (now Chinatown).
Time: 10:45 a.m. (Approximately 3 hours)
Meeting Place: In front of Fraunces Tavern Museum, Pearl Street (corner of Broad Street).
Fees/Info: Adults: $18; seniors and students: $16. Save $2 by pre-registering.
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Crossing Delancey Tour
Monday, October 12, 2009 (Columbus Day)
Enter sacred sites that reveal the Lower East Side of the early 20th century and how it has evolved to reflect today’s changing culture north of Delancey Street.
The remarkably restored Congregation Chasam Sopher, the oldest continually operating synagogue in New York City, will be included on your tour.
Marvel at the stunning interior of the Angel Orensanz Cultural Foundation (formerly Congregation Anshe Chesed), the oldest synagogue building in New York City, and one of Manhattan’s most popular event spaces.
Tour Congregation B’nei Jacob Anshe Brzezan (also known as the Stanton Street Shul) – one of the few remaining tenement-style synagogues on the Lower East Side. Learn about the renaissance taking place in this warm, old-world space.
Time: 11:15 a.m. (Approximately 3 to 3 1/2 hours)
Meeting Place: In front of Chasam Sopher, 10 Clinton Street, near corner of Houston Street.
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90 Minute Weekly Mini Tours
Wednesdays and Fridays (July 15, 2009 - October 9, 2009)
To accommodate tourists interested in experiencing the sacred sites and rich history of the Lower East Side, the Lower East Side Jewish Conservancy (LESJC) is initiating a program of mini-tours that will begin on Wednesday, July 15, and continue through Friday, October 9, 2009.
Two mini-tours are planned. The mini-tour based on highlights of the LESJC's public tour "Crossing Delancey" and a mini-tour based on highlights of the LESJC's "Bialystoker the Beautiful" tour.
Wednesdays: Crossing Delancy Highlights
Time: 2:00 PM - 90 minutes
Meeting Place: Lower East Side Business Improvement District Visitor's Center at 54 Orchard Street.
Fridays: Bialystoker the Beautiful Highlights
Time: 10:45 AM - 90 minutes
Meeting Place: Lower East Side Business Improvement District Visitor's Center at 54 Orchard Street.
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Come celebrate the publication of the updated and revised The Lower East Side Remembered & Revisited: A History and Guide to a Legendary New York Neighborhood by Joyce Mendelsohn
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
This book launch will honor Joyce Mendelsohn, and will include presentations by community leaders, refreshments, and a unique presentation of images created for the book. In addition, we will commemorate the life of Gene Golombek (of blessed memory), the original book's publisher, with a ceremony featuring his beloved wife Holly Kaye. Mr. Golombek's dedication to the Lower East Side and passion for publishing the book's original edition were exemplary.
Wednesday, September, 23, 2009
Time: 6:30 PM
Location: Angel Orensanz Foundation, Inc. 172 Norfolk St., New York City
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NEW Beautifully Restored Sites of the Lower East Side Tour
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Two of the most prominent sacred sites during the peak of Jewish immigration to the Lower East Side were the Bialystoker Synagogue and the Eldridge Street Synagogue. Marvel at the architectural grandeur of each of these magnificent restorations. The Bialystoker Synagogue features a richly painted ceiling with signs of the zodiac, and hand painted murals on the walls. Among the architectural treasures of the Eldridge Street Synagogue are its richly hued stained-glass windows and majestic carved walnut ark.
Time: 11:15 a.m. (Approximately 3 hours)
Meeting Place: Bialystoker Synagogue, 7-11 Willett Street/Bialystoker Place (between Grand and Delancey Streets).
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Please contact us at (212) 374-4100 to register for all tours. |
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