Custom NYC Tours

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Custom NYC Tours I offer custom walking tours in NYC. Please contact me to arrange a tour or make inquiries! We make NYC memories!

We run small-group, customized walking tours for NYC visitors (or locals!) looking for something a little more personal.

Central Park, early January. ❄️
07/01/2025

Central Park, early January. ❄️

07/01/2025

Central Park lake, yesterday afternoon.

Happy holidays to all! Here’s one of my favorite blocks in NYC. Looking forward to leading many great walking tours over...
24/12/2024

Happy holidays to all! Here’s one of my favorite blocks in NYC. Looking forward to leading many great walking tours over the next year, and helping people discover the best of New York.

NYC on the solstice. Late afternoon sunset photos from the 7 train in Queens, and some photos of recent snow. I give to...
23/12/2024

NYC on the solstice.

Late afternoon sunset photos from the 7 train in Queens, and some photos of recent snow. I give tours all winter long, and I hope to see you on tour soon!

New York City’s most extravagant Christmas lights can be found in R̶o̶c̶k̶e̶f̶e̶l̶l̶e̶r̶ ̶C̶e̶n̶t̶e̶r̶ Dyker Heights, in...
11/12/2024

New York City’s most extravagant Christmas lights can be found in R̶o̶c̶k̶e̶f̶e̶l̶l̶e̶r̶ ̶C̶e̶n̶t̶e̶r̶ Dyker Heights, in southern Brooklyn. While decorating was always common here, legend says that Lucy Spata began the tradition of Dyker’s next-level tradition in 1984, to honor her mother’s love of holiday decorating. Since then, Dyker Heights has become a 5-week tourist attraction, bringing in visitors from all over the world.

My private Dyker Heights walking tours ensure that you will see the absolute best of the decorations, far beyond what the traditional bus tours offer. For instance, have you ever seen the neighborhood’s largest and grandest presepe napoletano display? Or the house set in Santa’s workshop? Join me and discover the fun. 🎅🏼🎄

Private Dyker Heights tours are available most evenings until December 22.

11/12/2024

Christmas fun, in Dyker Heights. 🎄

11/12/2024

Santa’s Workshop house, Dyker Heights in Brooklyn. 🎅🏼

An underrated NYC holiday tradition is a subway ride on a vintage train, sponsored by the Transit Museum. It operates ev...
10/12/2024

An underrated NYC holiday tradition is a subway ride on a vintage train, sponsored by the Transit Museum. It operates every Sunday in December (so 3 chances left!). The best part is it costs no additional money to ride... just pay the regular fare, and know the schedule of when to expect this specific train.

The Holiday Nostalgia Train departs from the 2nd Avenue – Houston Street on the uptown F line in lower Manhattan at:
10am
12pm
2pm
4pm

And departs from the 96th Street – 2nd Avenue on the Q line at:
11am
1pm
3pm
5pm

10/12/2024

Vintage holiday subway train arriving. 🚇

5th Avenue celebrated its 200th birthday yesterday, with a main section in Midtown closed to cars to allow people to cel...
09/12/2024

5th Avenue celebrated its 200th birthday yesterday, with a main section in Midtown closed to cars to allow people to celebrate. We wish it was like this every day during the holiday season, as this area through early January is packed with some of the most famous Christmas landmarks people come to visit. 🎄

Do you have a favorite 5th Avenue memory?

More ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reviews!My tours are available year-round, and I am happy to create customized private tours upon reques...
26/11/2024

More ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ reviews!

My tours are available year-round, and I am happy to create customized private tours upon request. Contact me to book yours.

https://www.customnyctours.com

As someone who grew up in Queens, it was my pleasure earlier this month to give a tour of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park t...
25/11/2024

As someone who grew up in Queens, it was my pleasure earlier this month to give a tour of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park to fellow tour industry professionals. 🌎

This park is larger than Central Park, and is filled with lots of history. It housed two World’s Fairs (1939 and 1964), served as the original home to the United Nations, and has been the home of the US Open for decades now.

Whether this park or something else, a visit to Queens (the most diverse place on the entire planet) is very worth it for any visitor to New York.

Stunning Fall colors walking through Brooklyn’s historic Green-Wood Cemetery today. 🪦🍂
25/11/2024

Stunning Fall colors walking through Brooklyn’s historic Green-Wood Cemetery today. 🪦🍂

Manhattan wandering on a grey November day. 🌧️🍂
23/11/2024

Manhattan wandering on a grey November day. 🌧️🍂

Viewing landmarks, old and new, from along 42nd Street. Left to right:-270 Park Avenue, also known as the JPMorgan Chase...
20/11/2024

Viewing landmarks, old and new, from along 42nd Street. Left to right:

-270 Park Avenue, also known as the JPMorgan Chase Building. Designed by the firm of Foster + Partners, it is 1,388 feet, and will be completed next year. It will be the city's largest all-electric skyscraper with net zero operational emissions and will be 100% powered by renewable energy sourced from a NY State hydroelectric plant.

-MetLife Building, formerly known as the PanAm Building. Designed by Richard Roth, Walter Gropius, and Pietro Belluschi and completed in 1962. It was advertised then as the world's largest commercial office space by square footage, with 2.4 million square feet (220,000 m2) of usable office space.

-Grand Central Terminal. Replacing a previous rail terminal, this Beaux-Arts masterpiece opened in 1913. Design and engineering by Reed and Stem; Warren and Wetmore. Today, of course, one of the city's most famous landmarks.

-Chrysler Building, the Art Deco crown jewel of the NYC skyline, even if no longer even in the top 10 tallest. Designed by William Van Alen, and the tallest building in the world for just under a year. And a highlight of my Midtown tours!

Central Park, mid-November. 🍂☀️
19/11/2024

Central Park, mid-November. 🍂☀️

Grand Central Terminal, a 1913 Beaux-Arts masterpiece. It remains one of the great public spaces of New York City, and o...
19/11/2024

Grand Central Terminal, a 1913 Beaux-Arts masterpiece. It remains one of the great public spaces of New York City, and one of the busiest rail stations in North America.

Thanksgiving is still 11 days away (dreaming of some delicious turkey 🦃 🤤 ), but the Christmas-ification of New York con...
18/11/2024

Thanksgiving is still 11 days away (dreaming of some delicious turkey 🦃 🤤 ), but the Christmas-ification of New York continues unabated.

What’s your favorite NYC holiday tradition?🎄

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Videos

Central Park lake, yesterday afternoon.

Christmas fun, in Dyker Heights. 🎄

Santa’s Workshop house, Dyker Heights in Brooklyn. 🎅🏼

Vintage holiday subway train arriving. 🚇

It's been a while since I did a longform video, so I decided to take a journey up the High Line, to highlight the amazing new architecture springing up around it. On a walk up this linear park, you can see buildings by Bjarke Ingels, Zaha Hadid, Thomas Heatherwick, Neil Denari, and others. Join me on this architectural walk! (A slightly longer version on my website blog also includes a quick look at Little Island, and some new High Line art)

The most famous Halloween decorations in central Brooklyn are at this 1905 home on Albemarle Road. It is owned by David Lindsay-Abaire (Tony Award-winning playwright), who does the decorations himself. In addition to the skeletons climbing the upper levels, each section of the wraparound porch has a specific theme for its animatronics. It is a true spooky season masterpiece. And it is changed up a bit each year too! Each evening in October, the house is visited by dozens of awed spectators.

These views never get old to me: Arriving into Coney Island by the Q train.

My thoughts on visitors worried about safety in NYC, and not mistaking media narratives for reality. 🗽

There’s no better way to make an entrance to Coney Island then via the Q train. Gets me every time. 

Artists at work at the annual Welling Court Mural Project event this afternoon. 🎨 This is one of several blocks where artists create beautiful art in this section of western Queens.

The Portal is an interactive public art project linking New York to Dublin via a video screen (no audio). Our portal sits right next to the Flatiron Building; theirs on N Earl Street across from the Spire. Residents of both cities can interact with each other in real time. When I visited this morning, we saw many Dubliners saying hello even on a rainy afternoon there.

My top 10 personal favorites of Art Deco in NYC. What would you have swapped?

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