Andrew Gustafson - Turnstile Tours

USS Arizona, Brooklyn’s Most Famous Battleship

Today marks the anniversary of the launching of USS Arizona at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. We have written about the Arizona many times before, including about the impact the sinking …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
Shipspotting
Waterfront
World War I
World War II

The Pickabacks, Unsung Heroes of D-Day

Operation Neptune, the seaborne component of the Normandy invasion, required nearly 6,500 vessels to deliver the vast Allied armies and their supplies and equipment onto the continental beaches. This didn’t …

Brooklyn Army Terminal
Shipspotting
World War II

Brooklyn Navy Yard: When Brooklyn Was Queer Tour, June 22

Queer history is linked to Brooklyn’s diversity, creativity, and vibrancy as a borough, yet this history is often forgotten or overlooked. Join us for this special tour about the queer …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
Waterfront
World War II

Black and white photo of two men turned away from the camera with linked arms with pink text overlay that reads, "When Brooklyn was Queer"

Joining the Fleet Week Parade of Ships

Since Fleet Week returned to New York City after a sequestration-imposed hiatus in 2013, I have watched the annual parade of ships from underneath the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge, which gives you …

Brooklyn Army Terminal
Brooklyn Navy Yard
Shipspotting
Waterfront

The 1919 Brooklyn Chocolate Flood

For Easter, we shared the story of the military’s war on the Easter Bunny and good-tasting candy, and the role played by Brooklyn’s Rockwood & Company in World War II. In …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
Waterfront

Mothballed Cargo Ships Visit Brooklyn Navy Yard

Wallabout Bay is currently hosting a pair of ships that harken back to the days of the New York Naval Shipyard, as a pair of mothballed ships from the James …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
Shipspotting
Waterfront

New York City’s Public Markets, Past and Present

This weekend marks the end of an era, as the Essex Street Market will be moving from the building it has occupied since 1940 into a new facility across Delancey …

Public Markets
Street Vending

Dutch, Canadian NATO Allies Make NYC Port Calls

Visits by naval vessels to New York aren’t what they once were, but they do still happen, and we try to spot them whenever we can. On April 14, we …

Shipspotting
Waterfront

A white off-shore patrol vessel of the Royal Netherlands Navy moored at a pier with a cruise ship in the background

The Easter Bunny Goes to War

While many children will be gorging themselves on chocolate Easter bunnies and eggs this morning, these treats were absent from most baskets during World War II. On December 5, 1942, …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
World War II

Testifying at NY City Council: Lift the Caps!

On April 11, the New York City Council Committee on Consumer Affairs and Business Licensing held a hearing on a package of bills affecting street vendors, most important among them …

Street Vending

Street vendors rally on the steps of city hall with signs that read I love immigrant NY and Support NYC smallest businesses and Help us to serve you

Guide to Fleet Week New York 2019 Ships

New York City used to be a Navy town. Sailors were a regular sight at the city’s shipyards and bases, and ships made regular port calls. Now the Navy’s footprint …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
Shipspotting
Waterfront

USCG Cutter in front of a construction project with several office buildings in Downtown Brooklyn and the Williamsburg Savings Bank Tour in the background

Behind the Scenes at the Prospect Park Carousel

For opening day of the Prospect Park Carousel, Cindy went behind the scenes with the Parks Department and the carousel staff and shared some of the amazing history of this …

Press
Prospect Park

A wooden-carved and painted lion with an open mouth and sharp, fierce teeth and beady yellow and dramatic, aggressive-looking eyes at Prospect Park's carousel

Transit at Brooklyn Navy Yard, Past and Present

Yesterday the Brooklyn Navy Yard announced that they will be rolling out the first autonomous vehicles in New York City, which will provide a self-driving shuttle service inside the Yard’s …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
Waterfront
World War II

Former World's Fair shuttle at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, 1942

Aircraft Carrier Visits Now a Rare Sight in NYC

Last week, New York City was visited by the flagship of the Royal Navy, HMS Queen Elizabeth. This 65,000-ton carrier has spent several weeks in the US while undergoing flight …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
Shipspotting
Waterfront
World War II

National Manufacturing Day, Oct. 5

Celebrate National Manufacturing Day with events across the country on Friday, Oct. 5, including two events hosted by Turnstile Tours and our manufacturing partners. At 9:30am, join us at the …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
Gowanus
Inside Industry
Street Vending

Lecture: “Wendy the Welder: Work in World War II,” Oct. 15

The Brooklyn Navy Yard reached its peak in World War II, employing 70,000 civilian workers. Desperately short of labor, the Navy employed more than 10,000 women at the Yard, in …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
World War II

An African-American female wearing a welder's helmet flipped up. She is smiling and looks surprised.

Lecture: “Naval Cartography and the Brooklyn Navy Yard,” Oct. 4

Continuing the fall discussion series, “Wayfinding for the Wayfarer and the Landlubber,” this talk by Andrew Gustafson investigates the significant role cartography – the art and science of drawing maps …

Brooklyn Navy Yard

Daily Express: Brooklyn: Dumbo rebirth of a borough

Daily Express, July 23, 2018 by Jane Memmler NO OTHER borough of New York has changed as much as Brooklyn in the past decade. It may be within touching distance …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
Press

Workers walk alongside a large stone dry dock in the Brooklyn Navy Yard with two white tugboats below and a red and white crane on the right.

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Author: Andrew Gustafson

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