Big Onion Walking Tours

Big Onion Walking Tours Walking Tours of New York City neighborhoods focusing on history & architecture. Lead by NYC licensed educator-guides with teaching & academic backgrounds.

Since 1991, Big Onion has been leading award winning walking tours of New York's historic districts and ethnic neighborhoods. All our guides are fully licensed with teaching backgrounds! We lead more than 20 different tours throughout Manhattan & Brooklyn. We offer public "show up" tours year-round. All of our walks are also available for private bookings. Big Onion has been called "The Best in Ne

w York" by New York Magazine (1998). We were named one of the "Best History Tours in the World" by Forbes.com (2010).

On Saturday August 29, Big Onion commemorates the 250th Anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn and America250 with a pair...
08/28/2026

On Saturday August 29, Big Onion commemorates the 250th Anniversary of the Battle of Brooklyn and America250 with a pair of American Revolution themed walking tours.

We remember the thousands who perished in the horrific conditions of the British Prison Ships anchored in and around Wallabout Bay Brooklyn. The bones of some who died on them are interred in two memorials. One in Lower Manhattan - at Trinity Church - and one in Brooklyn - at Ft Greene Park.

Our educator/guides, each holding their PhD’s and with years of interactive teaching and touring experience, will explain and contextualize the Revolutionary Era while exploring the neighborhoods.

Saturday, 11 am - Revolutionary New York
Saturday, 1 pm - Historic Fort Greene
Both are featured on our website homepage.
Please join us.

Images: the former hospital ship HMS Jersey turned Prison Ship in Wallabout Bay 1783; Poem about the Prison Ships From Early American Imprints, Series I: Evans, 1639-1800; an article featuring the Jersey and the new Martyrs Tomb in Brooklyn. New York Public Library.

Happy National Dog Day from our not so hard working Labrador, Tokaji!
08/27/2026

Happy National Dog Day from our not so hard working Labrador, Tokaji!

New York Times, August 9, 1908“PLANNING GREAT BOULEVARDS FOR NEW YORK CITY; A New System of Highways for Manhattan That ...
08/25/2026

New York Times, August 9, 1908
“PLANNING GREAT BOULEVARDS FOR NEW YORK CITY; A New System of Highways for Manhattan That Seem to Solve the Future Problems of Growth.”

This is big. Bear with us.

Between 1903 and 1909, the Manhattan (1909), Williamsburg (1903), and 59th Street (1909) Bridges were completed. In addition, the planning commission for a Hudson River crossing, aka, the Holland Tunnel, started in 1906.
Transport was part of the City Beautiful Movement. A reform philosophy in urban planning to introduce beauty, monuments, and order to American cities. It was inspired, in part, by European cities with grand boulevards, monumental squares & classical symmetry.
Along comes Charles R. Lamb, Chair of the Committee on Thoroughfares of the Municipal Art Society. This image is the design for wide avenues throughout Manhattan below 14th Street. Most were not built. But…note the following:
The widening of the Delancey Street approach to the Williamsburg Bridge
The extension of 6th and 7th Avenues
Wide roadways around the outer edge of Lower Manhattan
The plan called for cutting diagonal roads from the Williamsburg Bridge. The New York Times stated: “The new thoroughfare would be cut through the slums for five blocks…A curious benefit would result from this Improvement. Chinatown would be opened to the public gaze, and perhaps destroyed.”

Could this be where Robert Moses found inspiration for his creative destruction of New York?

Three upcoming walks will highlight the neighborhoods deeply impacted by this proposal and the City Beautiful Movement.
Join us on Friday August 28 at 11 a.m. for our Official Gangs of New York Walking Tour and/or Sunday August 29 at 11 a.m. for our Greenwich Village Walking Tour & Sunday August 29 at 1 p.m. for the Jewish Lower East Side.

Image: New York Times, August 9, 1908

While August 23 is the UNESCO recognized International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, the...
08/24/2026

While August 23 is the UNESCO recognized International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition, the specific date recognizes the 1791 uprising of enslaved people in Saint-Dominque. Here is New York a more appropriate date might be August 29. On that date in 1626 the Dutch West India Company ship “Bruynvisch” landed in Manhattan with the colony’s first 22 enslaved Africans.
The history of slavery in New Amsterdam/New York is complicated. In 1644 a group of 11 men received “half-freedom” and were allowed their own land near the Collect Pond. Between 1711 and 1762 the city’s slave market, or “meal market,” was located at Wall and Pearl Streets. There was, however, significant smuggling of enslaved people throughout the period too.
Slavery was abolished with “gradual emancipation” by Governor John Jay in 1799. But there were legal loopholes enabling any slave born before July 4, 1799 to not be freed until 1827. But slavery lingered in New York well beyond that.

The historic Black communities of Harlem trace its roots to this early period. Whether it be through the people who migrated up Manhattan over the course of centuries, or, the history and legacy of the communal institutions.
Join us on Thursday, August 27 at 11 a.m. for our Historic Harlem walking tour. We will explore today’s Harlem within a context of the past 400 years. Tour is featured on our homepage.
Image: “Nieu Amsterdam,” Dutch, mid-17th century. New York Public Library.

August 22, 1654Jacob Barsimon arrived in Nieuw Amsterdam on the Dutch West India Company ship De Pereboom (Peartree). He...
08/22/2026

August 22, 1654

Jacob Barsimon arrived in Nieuw Amsterdam on the Dutch West India Company ship De Pereboom (Peartree). He was the first documented Jewish immigrant to set foot in what is today’s New York City.
He was sent by the Amsterdam Jewish community to see if the colony was a safe place for Jews to live. The query was following the January 1654 expulsion of Jews from Dutch Brazil and the return of the South American colony to the Portuguese and an extension of the Inquisition.
Barsimon arrived at almost the same time as Asser Levy. Both were Ashkenazi Jews from Central Europe. Roughly a month laster 23 Jews from Recife, Brazil, arrived in the Dutch colony as well.

Join us Sunday August 30 at 1 p.m. for our Jewish Lower East Side Tour. We will explore the history of later waves of Jewish migrants to Manhattan. Tour is featured on our homepage.
Image: 1650s view of Nieuw Amsterdam. New York Public Library.

The Battle of Brooklyn!Also known as the Battle of Long Island, the Battle of Brooklyn was the first major battle after ...
08/20/2026

The Battle of Brooklyn!

Also known as the Battle of Long Island, the Battle of Brooklyn was the first major battle after the Declaration of Independence and was the largest combat engagement of the Revolutionary War, involving roughly 20,000 Americans and 30,000 British and Hessian troops. British General William Howe defeated General George Washington’s Continental Army, though Washington was miraculously able to retreat to Manhattan and ultimately out of New York, which the British held for nearly 7 years until Evacuation Day, November 25, 1783, when the last British troops left New York City.

The invasion of Long Island began at 5:10 on August 22, when an advance guard of 4,000 British troops moved from Staten Island; they landed in Brooklyn, on the shore of Gravesend Bay, at approximately 8:00. By noon, about 15,000 troops landed on the shore, along with 40 pieces of artillery. The stage was set – as the fighting ensued, Continental Army troops who were not captured or killed escaped behind the fortified American position at Brooklyn Heights, from which Washington and his followers fortuitously escaped under a providential cloud of fog.

Join us this Saturday, August 22nd at 1:00 pm, on our Brooklyn Heights Walking Tour on the 250th anniversary of the British landing in Brooklyn! Learn more about this neighborhood’s long and storied history with us! Tickets and information are available on our website. We hope to see you there!

Image information: A detail of an Alonzo Chappel painting depicting the Battle of Brooklyn, courtesy of the Center for Brooklyn History.

Nothing beats a summer day in Central Park!Take a look at this photograph from May 15, 1933. It showcases the Central Pa...
08/19/2026

Nothing beats a summer day in Central Park!

Take a look at this photograph from May 15, 1933. It showcases the Central Park Mall, crowded with roller skaters framed by the famous Elm trees on each side of the path, though today those trees are significantly larger, sheltering the entire walk in the shade! According to image information from the NYPL page, between 1932 and 1933, roller skating became a craze in the city. At the height of the Great Depression, as unemployment was high and Hoovervilles scattered the park, people of all ages and genders took to roller skates! Apparently The Mall and the Central Park walks, together with the east sidewalk of Central Park West, were favorite locations for roller skaters, though by no means the only ones.

Join us this Sunday, August 23rd at 11:00 am, on our Central Park Guided Tour and learn more about the fascinating history of the park and its role in New York City history. Who knows, you may even see a roller skater! We hope to see you there. Tickets and information are available on our website.

Image information: Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library. "Manhattan: Central Park - The Mall." New York Public Library Digital Collections.

Some cold cherries sound great on these hot summer days!This photograph was taken on April 25th, 1934. It captures a che...
08/18/2026

Some cold cherries sound great on these hot summer days!

This photograph was taken on April 25th, 1934. It captures a cherry seller at Delancey and Suffolk Streets, operating out of a pushcart in the city’s Lower East Side neighborhood. At the height of the Great Depression, in an era before air conditioning was common or accessible, a sweet cool treat like these could be just the thing for folks braving the warm weather in this crowded immigrant district!

Join us this Saturday, August 22nd at 11:00 am, on our Original Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour to learn more about the immigrants who made, and continue to make, this neighborhood a delicious place to explore! Tickets and information are available on our website – we hope to see you there!

Image information: Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library. "Occupations - Peddlers - Food - Fruit." New York Public Library Digital Collections.

Take a moment and appreciate this photograph from 101 years ago! This image captures 990 to 993 Fifth Avenue, east side,...
08/17/2026

Take a moment and appreciate this photograph from 101 years ago!

This image captures 990 to 993 Fifth Avenue, east side, from 80th to 81st Streets. The Upper East Side’s “Millionaire’s Row” referred to the historic stretch of Fifth Avenue facing Central Park, where America’s wealthiest industrialists and financiers built opulent Gilded Age mansions during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, most of these Fifth Avenue mansions are long gone, replaced by luxury apartment buildings, housing cooperatives, and more. Not all of them are gone, however! Note the second building from the right – if you look at the next image, you will see that it still stands today! 991 Fifth Avenue is a beautiful Beaux-Arts townhouse that currently is the home of the American Irish Historical Society. Founded in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1897, they relocated to New York City in 1904 and have been at this location since 1939. There have been many famous members of the AIHS, including New York Governor Hugh Carey, politician William Bourke Cockran, and President Theodore Roosevelt!

The AIHS building is by no means the only Gilded Age mansion left of Fifth Avenue! Join us this Friday, August 21st at 11:00 am, on our tour of the Upper East Side to see some in person and to learn more about the fascinating history of this elite neighborhood! Tickets and information are available on our website.

Image information: 1) Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy, The New York Public Library. "Manhattan: 5th Avenue - 80th Street" New York Public Library Digital Collections; 2) Google Maps

Georgia O’Keeffe painted more than flowers!In addition to botanical paintings and representations of New Mexico’s landsc...
08/16/2026

Georgia O’Keeffe painted more than flowers!

In addition to botanical paintings and representations of New Mexico’s landscape, O’Keeffe also depicted New York City and its many treasured landmarks. This isn’t very surprising if you know anything about her life – after all, she resided in the city for nearly four decades, on and off, from 1907 to 1949. She was a frequent visitor to the Brooklyn Museum, where her first solo museum exhibition was held in 1927. According to the Brooklyn Museum, she would spend Sunday mornings driving across the Brooklyn Bridge to take in its splendor – strong Gothic arches and ropes of suspended metal. This painting is the last one O’Keeffe completed before permanently moving to New Mexico – a very fitting farewell to the city she knew and loved! This fabulous painting makes one feel like they've entered a majestic church - the shifting light coming through the metal suspension wiring reminiscent of stained glass windows.

We have two upcoming tours that highlight the Brooklyn Bridge and its surrounding neighborhoods! Join us this Thursday, August 20th at 11:00 am, on our Brooklyn Bridge and Heights tour to walk over the bridge and learn more about its fascinating history! You can also join our Saturday, August 22nd 1:00 pm tour of Brooklyn Heights to learn more about one of Brooklyn’s most scenic, historic neighborhoods and how the creation of the Brooklyn Bridge changed both cities forever. We hope to see you there! Tickets and information can be found on our website.

Image information: Georgia O'Keeffe (American, 1887–1986). Brooklyn Bridge, 1949. Oil on masonite, 47 15/16 x 35 7/8in. (121.8 x 91.1cm) frame: 56 15/16 x 44 7/8 x 2 in. (144.6 x 114 x 5.1 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Bequest of Mary Childs Draper, 77.11. (Photo: Brooklyn Museum)

Address

476 13th Street
New York, NY
11215

Opening Hours

Monday 9am - 6pm
Tuesday 9am - 6pm
Wednesday 9am - 6pm
Thursday 9am - 6pm
Friday 9am - 6pm
Saturday 9am - 5pm
Sunday 9am - 5pm

Telephone

(212) 439-1090

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