Our Tours: More Eclectic, More Energetic
As seen in Frommer's NYC 2011 , the Michelin Green Guide, and The Rough Guide to NYC.
[Please go to new web site.]
"Mr. Oder has an encyclopedic .
knowledge of the borough..."
--Wall Street Journal, 11/17/07
There are lots of walking tours in New York, but Brooklyn specialist Norman Oder has designed these tours to be wider-ranging and faster-paced than most. (They also last 2.5 hours, rather than the typical 2 hours.) These are geared to energetic, independent-minded people who can handle public transit and seek more than just the tourist basics.
Most tours these days are private tours. (Yes, tours by vehicle are possible.) Public tours are more infrequent, but will resume, occasionally, in the spring.
(Above the Soldiers and Sailors Memorial Arch at Grand Army Plaza. Below, a street scene in Brooklyn Heights, the city's first landmarked neighborhood.)
My Home, My Specialty
Brooklyn
would be the nation's fourth-largest city if it went independent. On
these tours, you learn why Brooklyn was (and remains) important, learn
about its heyday and decline, and explore its fascinating and hardly
uncomplicated recovery. Neighborhood tours concern not merely the built
environment but also the forces behind it.
Tours are
experiences, and research shows that we value experiences more than
stuff. Sometimes it's seeing a bridal party at the foot of the Brooklyn
Bridge. Visiting a stoop sale with homemade cupcakes. Seeing the
Manhattan skyline from various Brooklyn outposts. Checking out the
sculpture garden at Pratt. Encountering an art gallery tricked out to be
a fake real estate agency.
Ending a tour having earned a healthy appetite for the food and drink that awaits.
Private
versions of listed tours are available, as are orientation tours for
newcomers, and special tours for Brooklyn fans. Private tours include
detailed, personalized advice, when appropriate. Tours can be guided in
vehicles provided by customers.
Public tours are scheduled
every now and then on weekends, but private tours should be available
at many other times. See details of tours by location at left.