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I try to maintain the public tour schedule on this page, but it can get out of date. So please join my mailing list to keep up to date! Don’t hesitate to email me at jaconet@aol.com if you have any questions.

Jack Eichenbaum’s Walking Tour Schedule:  Spring 2018

On Tuesday, April 24, I will be leading two familiarization walks for the Guides Association of NYC (GANYC.) A limited number of non-GANYC participants may join either or both walks for $20 each. (Fee collected at the start of walks.) You must register in advance (email jaconet@aol.com) which I will confirm, hold you on a waiting list or advise of a sellout.)  Between the walks I would recommend a variety of lunch spots close to the ending point of the first walk (which will also be the start of the second.)

Walk 1: Sunnyside to Jackson Heights / More Space and New Arrangements in Western Queens
Tuesday, April 24, 11 AM-1 PM

During the first third of the 20th century, Western Queens nurtured developments where traditional open space/building area relationships were altered to create new urban architecture. The Sunnyside Gardens and the Jackson Heights Historic Districts anchor the route which also includes Phipps Gardens, Matthews Flats, Metropolitan Life apartments, and early truck-oriented industrial buildings. >Meet under the Sunnyside arch (South side Queens Blvd. at 46 St. #7 to 46 St.)

Walk 2: Jackson Heights to Sunnyside  / The Immigrant Core of Western Queens
Tuesday, April 24, 3 PM-5 PM

After immigration laws were overhauled in 1965, Queens’ middle class rental neighborhoods with good subway access became desirable to many skilled new immigrant communities. The route will highlight the commercial components of Mexican, South American, South Asian, Himalayan, Thai, Irish, and Turkish communities. Meets at 83 St./Roosevelt Ave.  (Manuel de Dios Unanue Triangle,  #7 to 82 St.) 

Old Astoria from the New Astoria Ferry Landing
Wednesday, May 30, 6 PM-8 PM                               

Last year NYC Ferry began its new route to Astoria.  This neighborhood was first settled via a ferry from Manhattan that began in the 1830’s but was terminated after the opening of the Triboro Bridge. We will begin our walk at the ferry landing. (3-10 Astoria Blvd.)  A ferry arrives from Wall St (Pier 11) and three intermediate stops at 6 PM. Fare is $2.75.  (See  https://www.ferry.nyc/routes-and-schedules/route/astoria/ )  Participants can arrive on this ferry (with me) or get to the landing on their own. The walk will include art at Socrates Sculpture park and Welling Court murals, antebellum residences in Old Astoria, churches and Astoria Park. The walk will end at Bohemian Hall, the century old Czech beer garden for optional drinks and dinner. $20 fee collected at the start of  the walk. You must register in advance (email jaconet@aol.com) which I will confirm, hold you on a waiting list or advise of a sellout.   

THE NEW WORLD OF THE NUMBER 7 TRAIN
Saturday,  June 2, 10 AM-5:30 PM                              

Since 1999, when the Metrocard matured, I have led a tour called The World of the Number 7 Train. This series of six walks and connecting rides along North Queens’ transportation corridor became  my signature tour, focusing on what the #7 train did to and for surrounding neighborhoods since it began service in 1914. So much has changed since the tour began. In the NEW World of the Number 7 Train, walks take place in the Hudson Yards, the Long Island City shoreline, Flushing West, the Iron Triangle, North Corona, and  Woodside-Jackson Heights. The routes are all different from the original tour. SO COME AGAIN! Lunch is still in Flushing’s Asian food mecca. Tour fee is $49 and you need to register by check to Jack Eichenbaum, 36-20 Bowne St. #6C, Flushing, NY 11354 (include name, phone and email address) or by PayPal  (go to http://www.geognyc.com/payments/ ) sending me your contact info by email. The full day’s program and other info is available by email. jaconet@aol.com   The tour is limited to 25 people, so reserve ASAP.

Twentieth Century Affordable Housing
Wednesday,  June 6,  6 PM-8 PM                               

Have attitudes about publicly and philanthropically assisted housing changed?  Many huge housing projects were designed to maximize off-street open space that is open to the public. The walk concentrates on the benign allees of vast projects that parallel the East River Bend from the Brooklyn Bridge to 14 St in Manhattan. Commentary centers on the socio-political history and geography nurturing these projects. Meets under the arches of the Municipal Building (#4,#5,#6, J to City Hall, Brooklyn Bridge)  and ends in the East Village where NYC’s first public housing project, First Houses, was constructed using existing tenements.  $20 fee collected at the start of  the walk. You must register in advance (email jaconet@aol.com) which I will confirm, hold you on a waiting list or advise of a sellout.   

Other activities:

The new permanent exhibit on NYC history (“NYC at Its Core”) opened on November 18, 2016 at the Museum of the City of New York. Visit http://www.mcny.org/exhibition/new-york-its-core. As an MCNY member, I attended the crowded opening along with many familiar faces. We all found it AWESOME (a word I use with discretion!). This exhibit will require multiple visits, perhaps best in the solitude of nasty winter weekdays. It incorporates history, geography, ecology, and culture and the narrative uses words, pictures, maps and objects. One section of the exhibit is devoted to the future of NYC. There is a continually looped video there, by Neil Goldberg, consisting of quotes by ordinary NYers, including me, that you should find enjoyable.

Help our beloved Flushing RKO Keith’s Theater avoid destruction by restoring it for future generations.  Please sign this petition:   https://www.change.org/p/save-the-rko-keith-s-theater-in-flushing.