Big Onion Walking Tours

Snow, steam, and speed: a little snowfall is no match for a newly paved street. #bigoniontours #brooklyn #newyork #street #paving #hot #snow #cold #steam #precipitation #condensation #evaporation #watercycle #newstreet #construction #nycconstruction #constructiononasnowyday #snowyday #firstsnow #snowybrooklyn

From Italian Renaissance Revival to Art Nouveau and Art Moderne, the Metropolitan Life complex of buildings from East 23rd-25th Streets between Park and Madison Avenues in the Flatiron District are a lovely survey of architectural styles of the first half of the 20th century. Photo from April 2019. #bigoniontours #metropolitanlifeinsurance #metlifetower #metropolitanlifetower #metlife #renaissancerevival #artnouveau #artmoderne #architecture #20thcentury #nycbuildings #streetscapes #nycstreetscapes #nycarchitecture #flatirondistrict #manhattan #nyc #parkavenue #24thstreet #lookup

Cliff Dwellers, by George Bellows (1882-1925). 1913 Ashcan School painting of tenements and immigrant street life along East Broadway in the Lower East Side on a hot summer day.Between 1870 and 1915, the population of NYC went from 1.5 to 5 million. Most coming from immigration. Join us on Thursday, December 10 at 6 p.m., the first night of Hanukkah, for our Jewish Lower East Side Virtual Adventure. Image: Los Angeles County Museum of Art #bigoniontours #bigonionvirtualadventures #georgebellows #ashcanschool #hanukkah #virtualtour #lowereastside #americanjewishhistory #1913 #eastbroadway #immigration #americanart #nychistory #tenement #streetlife

Trinity Church on Broadway and Wall Street in Lower Manhattan, as shot from the Equitable Building by Julius Wilcox in 1892. Trinity Church was an important part of the fabric of early NYC life. It is also where the popular Christmas Carol, Silent Night, was first sung in the U.S., in 1839, by the Rainer Family Singers, who performed in front of Alexander Hamilton’s tomb. And it was one of the church’s priests, John Freeman Young, who created the English translation that is... most commonly used today. Join us **online** this Tuesday, December 8th @ 7:00 PM ET for our Historic Lower Manhattan Virtual Adventure or **in person** on Sunday, December 19th for our Lower Manhattan: Forging the Historic Metropolis walking tour to further explore Trinity Church’s History. Or, if you’re inclined toward something more in the holiday spirit, join us **in person** on Thursday, December 24th @ 1:00 PM to explore the history of American Christmas and its ties to NYC on our Christmas Stroll in Greenwich Village walking tour! IMAGE: Julius Wilcox, Trinity Church, 1892, Julius Wilcox photograph collection, Brooklyn Public Library, Brooklyn Collection @bklynlibrary #bigoniontours #bigonionvirtualadventures #trinitychurch #broadway #wallstreet #manhattan #nyc #equitablebuilding #financialdistrict #fidi #lowermanhattan #juliuswilcox #1892 #historicphotography #richardupjohn #brownstone #graveyard #alexanderhamilton #neogothic #silentnight #christmascarols #translation #nychistory #christmasstroll #walkingtour #christmasinnyc

The Empire State Building lit up at night ca. 1934. The first light atop the NYC icon was a searchlight beacon that was first lit up in November 1932 upon Franklin Delano Roosevelt winning the presidential election. Though today Midtown Manhattan is thought of as a business district, in the mid-19th century it was the center NYC’s social class. Indeed, the same plot of land where the World’s Most Famous Building (as the ESB brands itself) stands was the site of the grand b...rownstone mansion of THE Mrs. Astor (grand dame of NYC society and the Astor 400). Like many of the city’s social elite, Mrs. Astor eventually moved further uptown, settling in an even more grandiose mansion on the corner of 5th Ave and 65th Street in the mid-1890s. You can learn more about the splendid Gilded Age mansions of the Upper East Side (like Mrs. Astor’s 1896 French Renaissance Revival mansion designed by Richard Morris Hunt) **in person** on our Upper East Side: A Clash of Titans walking tour tomorrow, Sunday, December 6th @ 1:00PM or **online** on our Upper East Side Virtual Adventure on Sunday, December 20th @ 6:00 PM ET. IMAGE: Manhattan: 5th Ave - 33rd Street, ca. 1934, @nypl @nyplpicturecollection #bigoniontours #bigonionvirtualadventures #allinnyc #touryourcity #tyoc #empirestatebuilding #esb #34thstreet #5thavenue #midtown #midtownmanhattan #manhattan #nyc #astor #astormansion #mrsastor #astor400 #themrsastor #carolineschermerhornastor #lina #gildedage #gildedagenewyork #nychistory #walkingtour

29 years ago today. December 4, 1991, @inthepastlane and @thekamilscook lead the first Big Onion Tour! It was Immigrant New York. This is the oldest photograph I have of us together. June 1992 or so. Ed is a Professor of History at The College of the Holy Cross. Seth is running Big Onion Walking Tours. We would like to thank all of our clients as well as current and former colleagues for being with us on the adventure. Join us for an in person walking tour; a virtua...l adventure; and coming soon - Big Onion Talks and Tales! Gift certificates available too! #bigoniontours #happyanniversary #29years #supportsmallbusiness #giftcard #walkingtour #virtualtour #nychistory #localbusiness #blackandwhitephotography See more