Big Onion Walking Tours

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

Did you know that Central Park was going to have its own natural history museum? While the park was still under construc...
10/20/2026

Did you know that Central Park was going to have its own natural history museum?

While the park was still under construction, Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins, an English sculptor, was planning and creating dinosaur models and dioramas inspired by the Crystal Palace Dinosaurs of London. Given its success in England, Hawkins started work on the New York City sister exhibit in the late 1860s.

Take a look at this conceptual drawing of the proposed Paleozoic Museum from 1858. The field of paleontology was still in its infancy then (dinosaurs came to their ascendancy during the Mesozoic era, not the Paleozoic era), but none the less, the idea of having a museum with life-size restorations of theropod and hadrosaurid dinosaurs, along with models of other ancient animals like giant ground sloths, mammoths, and mosasaurs, was captivating for audiences on both sides of the Atlantic.

Sadly, the museum never came to be. 19th century New York political grudges and vandalism ultimately stopped the project before it truly began. Thankfully, today you can get your fix for dinosaurs at the American Museum of Natural History on Central Park West, in many ways its successor institution, and modern animals at the Central Park Zoo!

Join us this Sunday, October 25th at 1:00 pm, on our seasonal Central Park walking tour to learn more about the fascinating history of the park and its many features and institutions. 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; Paleozoic Museum." New York Public Library Digital Collections.

Lower East Side – David Burliuk (1933)Noted as a pioneer of Russian Futurism, David Burliuk came from an artistic family...
10/18/2026

Lower East Side – David Burliuk (1933)

Noted as a pioneer of Russian Futurism, David Burliuk came from an artistic family; born in 1882 in the Ukrainian village of Riabushky in what was then the Russian Empire, his brothers Nikolai and Vladimir were also accomplished artists. David Burliuk had a fascinating, dynamic life. He studied at art schools in Kazan and Odessa and Munich and Paris, bearing witness to Europe as it was undergoing tremendous political and artistic transformations. As the First World War broke out, Burliuk fled first to Siberia, then to Japan, and ultimately to New York in 1922, spending much of his time in the Lower East Side and the artistic communities within the Village.

This 1933 painting was competed at the height of the Great Depression and depicts the densely populated immigrant neighborhood as curiously bereft of humanity, standing in the shadow and literal smoke of the smokestacks in the backdrop. But despite this and the general muted color palette, Burliuk’s “Lower East Side” remains captivating – maybe it’s the range of different buildings, some wooden and some brick, which speaks to centuries of habitation, or the car and power plant which speak to the technological and industrial innovations that were dramatically transforming life for residents of the city.

Come and explore the Lower East Side with us on Friday the 23rd at 1:00 pm on our Original Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour! If you cannot make that Friday, we have our Immigrant New York tour the following Friday. We also have our Greenwich Village tour scheduled for Sunday the 25th at 11:00 am if you want to learn more about the bohemian neighborhood that helped shape Burliuk’s artistic vision.

We hope to see you there! Tickets and information are available on our website.

Image information: Lower East Side – David Burliuk (1933) oi on canvas, 9 ¾ x 12 in.

Lenox Avenue, captured in this 1938 Berenice Abbott photograph. Referenced in poetry, music, literature, and film by fig...
10/14/2026

Lenox Avenue, captured in this 1938 Berenice Abbott photograph. Referenced in poetry, music, literature, and film by figures like Langston Hughes, James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Irving Berlin, and Gil Scott-Heron, Lenox Ave, also known as Malcom X Boulevard, is one of Harlem’s best known.

During the Harlem Renaissance, Lenox was at the heart of African American culture, commerce, and art. Residents and visitors alike flocked to the area to hear jazz, hang out in clubs, and experience the thriving scene. But Harlem’s community had more going on than the nightlife, as this daytime photograph captures.

Within just a few steps on this short stretch of Lenox Ave., one could buy groceries, take driving lessons, get a medical consult, a haircut from a beauty salon or a barbershop, take a professional photograph, and even stop into church! And the street itself provides space for the social fabric to develop: a pedestrian walking by might engage with denizens of Harlem hanging out on the sidewalk, a stoop, or even leaning out the window of an upper floor of their building. Harlem wasn’t - and isn’t - just a strip of nightclubs, bars, and speakeasies for curious parties to visit, but a community built into quotidian public space.

Want to learn more about Harlem’s history? Join Big Onion for a walking tour, this Saturday 10/17 at 1pm! Tickets available on our website.

Imagine building yourself a 4.5 story, limestone-facade, French chateau on some of Manhattan’s most coveted real estate ...
10/13/2026

Imagine building yourself a 4.5 story, limestone-facade, French chateau on some of Manhattan’s most coveted real estate and then just… not moving in. That’s exactly what happened with the Rhinelander Mansion on the Upper East Side!

The building sits at E 72nd and Madison, and was constructed from 1894-98 at the behest of Gertrude Rhinelander Waldo, heiress to significant real estate assets. She received a large inheritance in 1882, which she used to purchase the lot her house would be built on - over a decade later. After taking 12 years to decide what to do with the property, she hired architect Alexander Mackintosh to design the house. Upon its completion Waldo never furnished, rented, or considered selling it despite her lack of interest in paying the mortgage. There is no record of her reasoning for refusing to move into or maintain the mansion she commissioned, although she did reportedly live across the street. Maybe she built it to admire the architecture from the outside?

A bank acquired ownership of the property in 1912, two years prior to Waldo’s death in 1914. The building has changed hands a number of times since, and hosted a mix of commercial and residential tenants since 1920, notably the Olivotti & Company antique dealers who were the first retail occupants. Since 1984, the building has been home to Ralph Lauren’s menswear, the sole occupant of the building today.

Want to learn more about the 19th century personalities and architecture that shaped the landscape of the Upper East Side? Join Big Onion for our walking tour of the neighborhood, this Saturday, 10/17 at 11am! Tickets available on our website.

Images: (1) Manhattan: 72nd Street (East) - Madison Avenue c/o The New York Public Library ; (2) Ajay Suresh, 2026

Columbus Park, née Mulberry Bend Park, from the window of a nearby office building circa 1931 (1), showing the changes m...
10/12/2026

Columbus Park, née Mulberry Bend Park, from the window of a nearby office building circa 1931 (1), showing the changes made to the once notorious Five Points neighborhood.

The Five Points was known for its densely populated tenements, impoverished immigrant communities, and high rates of crime by the mid-19th Century. Often remembered for its numerous gangs of varying identities and organizational structures, the neighborhood was not considered one of the city’s nicer areas. As the Progressive Reform movement began to pick up steam, the Five Points was an obvious site for improvement. The city ultimately used eminent domain to demolish the previous structures, and convert the property into the Mulberry Bend Park.

By the time the park opened, the neighborhood had seen significant demographic change since the emergence of the Five Points as a distinct neighborhood. The Italian population of Mulberry Street had grown, becoming a clear cultural and numerical majority of the park’s eastern border. So present were they that in 1911 the city renamed the park for Christopher Columbus in recognition of the burgeoning local community.

From 1934-1971, the park even had a statue of Columbus (2). The work of Emma Stebbins, he first stood in Central Park, then according to the Smithsonian “was taken down, lost twice, rediscovered” - fitting, for a man who found himself in the Caribbean while ostensibly en route to Asia! After relocating to the Lower East Side, he ultimately moved out to Brooklyn in 1971, where he remains today.

Want to learn more about the Five Points’ history? Join our Gangs of NY walking tour, this Sunday 10/18 at 11am! Tickets available on our website.

Images (1) Manhattan: Worth Street - 3rd Street (West). P.L. Sperr, 1937 c/o The New York Public Library ; (2) NYC Parks , 2023

Throughout history, and known by many different names including Manhatta, New Amsterdam, New York, Manhattan, the southe...
10/11/2026

Throughout history, and known by many different names including Manhatta, New Amsterdam, New York, Manhattan, the southernmost parts of this island have long served as key points along maritime trade and transit routes. From the Lenape who navigated the rivers by canoe, the Dutch who established an international trade post, and the British who seized the colony to grow their empire, boats of various types have been a common sight along Manhattan’s southern shores.

Colonists quickly established lower Manhattan’s eastern shore as a major shipping hub where goods such as beaver pelts, sugar, corn, and wheat arrived and departed the shores. The city’s growing population existed in close enough proximity to the docks that commodity markets popped up onsite, rather than transporting the goods further inland. This practice was extended to the sale and purchase of human beings as well, including enslaved Native Americans and indentured servants arriving from Europe, but primary of kidnapped, enslaved Africans who would be trafficked, abused and exploited in the USA for generations to come.

The city’s increasing population meant demand for additional space, which could be made via landfill. Much of the waterfront area of lower Manhattan today is human-made, including in the South Street Seaport neighborhood. The project of filling in water lots to expand the shoreline lasted from 1798 to 1810; the funding and labor was actually provided by private owners who purchased still-underwater property with the agreement that they would get to use the new space on the shoreline in exchange for creating it themselves.

Although the face of commerce, shipping, and transit have changed, the South Street Seaport and the Financial District remain centers of activity, commerce, and movement today! To learn more, join a Big Onion walking tour! We’re offering Historic Lower Manhattan on Friday, 10/16 and South Street Seaport on Sunday, 10/18, both at 1pm. Tickets available on our website.

Images: “East River - shore and skyline.” 1900 (questionable). c/o The New York Public Library

Coming to the City of Hudson this weekend? The autumn leaves are just beginning to shift from green and are showing love...
10/08/2026

Coming to the City of Hudson this weekend?
The autumn leaves are just beginning to shift from green and are showing lovely reds and golds. It appears 2026 may be one of the best foliage seasons in the past few years! The colors often creep down the Catskill and Berkshire Mountains before reaching the Hudson River Valley.
Two painting of the autumn season from artists who painted around Hudson. Frederic Church, whose home Olana is just a few miles out of town (and well worth a visit) and Jasper Cropsey whose home Ever Rest is in Hastings On Hudson, spent time together in Columbia County. Both are part of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area. As is the Thomas Cole National Historic Site just across the Hudson River in Catskill.
Join us on Saturday October 10 at 1 p.m. for our Historic Hudson Walking Tour. After exploring the history and architecture of one of the most beautiful cities in America, we will stand on Promenade Hill Park overlooking the Hudson River and the foliage rich Great Northern Catskills. The vista is one of the best spots for sweeping views.
Images: Jasper Francis Cropsey, “Autumn - On the Hudson River,” 1860. National Gallery of Art; Frederic Church, “Autumn,” 1875. Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum.

Monday was World Teachers’ Day!Did you know that nearly all our Big Onion tour guides are educators? Most of our guides ...
10/07/2026

Monday was World Teachers’ Day!

Did you know that nearly all our Big Onion tour guides are educators? Most of our guides have acquired PhDs or are in the process of getting their PhDs and teach at colleges and high schools across the city! New York City itself has been home to many famous educators.

One lesser-known example is Caroline Pratt – born in Fayetteville, New York, on the heels of the Civil War in 1867, Pratt was a progressive educational reformer who played an important role in challenging educational norms in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Her specific pedagogical approach emphasized social studies, first-hand experiences, and “knowledge through play.” Pratt took her innovative education ideas to New York City, founding City and Country School in 1914 in Greenwich Village. City and Country School is an independent, progressive school for student in preschool through middle school. Originally called the Play School, it was in a three-room apartment at the corner of 4th and 12th Streets, ultimately moving to 146 West 13th Street today.

Join us this Saturday, October 10th at 1:00 pm, on our Greenwich Village Walking Tour to learn more about the many transformative people and movements to come out of this neighborhood! Tickets and information are available on our website.

Image info: 1) City and Country archives; 2) City and Country website.

Join us and explore one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods!Take a look at this photograph from 1932 – it shows 25 Cranbe...
10/06/2026

Join us and explore one of the city’s oldest neighborhoods!

Take a look at this photograph from 1932 – it shows 25 Cranberry Street, facing north, between Willow and Hicks Streets in Brooklyn Heights. This wood frame house was very old even back then; built circa 1790, this 4-level townhouse was completed during the Early Republic era, likely one year after George Washington was inaugurated as the first president of the United States just across the East River in Manhattan, the nation’s first capital, and one year before the Bill of Rights was ratified in 1791. Over the 236 years since this house was built, it has bore witness to the incredible transformation of New York City, but situated in the Brooklyn Heights historic district, it stands as one of many architectural artifacts in a neighborhood that serves as a time capsule of fabulous antebellum architecture.

The second photo shows what the building looks like as of 2024 – it has electrical lights on both sides of the door frame, but otherwise is much unchanged since the era of the Founding Fathers! Today it is valued at approx. $5,600,00 – certainly a bit more than it was back then!

Join us this Friday, October 9th at 1:00 pm, on our Brooklyn Bridge & Heights Walking Tour to learn more about the fascinating history of this ancient neighborhood and the colossal bridge that “opened it” to Manhattanites! If you want to learn more specifically about New York City during the Revolutionary War and Colonial periods, join us this Monday, October 12th at 1:00 pm, for our Revolutionary New York Walking Tour!

We hope to see you there! 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. "Brooklyn: Cranberry Street - Willow Street" New York Public Library Digital Collections; 2) Google Maps

Night in Seward Park – Jerome MyersBorn in 1867 in Petersburg, VA, in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, Jerome M...
10/04/2026

Night in Seward Park – Jerome Myers

Born in 1867 in Petersburg, VA, in the immediate aftermath of the Civil War, Jerome Myers was a prolific American artist who moved to New York in 1882, the same year Thomas Edison’s pioneering power plant was opened in the city. Myers arrived at a time of tremendous change, involving everything from technology, art, immigration, and more; this rapid evolution inspired Myers, who frequently used the city itself and its inhabitants as muses for his art.

Myers’s art often focuses on the day-to-day street life of the city’s working class and immigrant populations. While not an immigrant himself, as a transplant from Virginia, Myers likely felt a kinship with the growing immigrant communities of the city, capturing their dignity and simple beauty in ways dissimilar to the gritty, haunting scenes often created by contemporaries like Jacob Riis or fellow Ashcan School artist George Luks.

Take a moment and look at his painting titled Night in Seward Park. Located in the heart of the city’s immigrant district, the Lower East Side, men, women, and children commune together in the darkness of night, their countenances illuminating the painting and pulling the focus of the viewer. Humble and poor, they are nonetheless conferred a dignity and grace by Myers that contrasts with the ways many wealthier New Yorkers of the era thought and talked about the Lower East Side and its inhabitants.

Join us this Saturday, 10/10 at 11:00 am, on our Immigrant New York Walking Tour to learn more about this vibrant neighborhood’s history. If you want to sample amazing food from the immigrant communities who still live and work in this part of the city while learning about its history, join us on Sunday, 10/11 at 11:00 am, on our Original Multi-Ethnic Eating Tour! Many of Myers’s contemporaries in the Aschan School of American art worked in Greenwich Village – join us on our Saturday Greenwich Village Walking Tour at 1:00 pm to discover how the neighborhood became a mecca for all manner of artists and innovators!

Images: 1) Night in Seward Park – Jerome Myers (1919) oil on canvas; 2) Jerome Myers, Peter A. Juley & Son Collection, Smithsonian Museum

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476 13th Street
New York, NY
11215

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

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(212) 439-1090

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