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Open House New York Weekend is just over a week away, and with over 300 sites throwing open their doors, some careful planning is required to get the most out of it. We have created a brief thematic guide to some of our favorite sites around the city – especially ones along the waterfront – that you can explore Oct. 18–20.>> Continue reading
Celebrate National Manufacturing Day on Friday, Oct. 4 on a guided tour at the Brooklyn Navy Yard focused on interior design and fabrication The tour will begin with an introduction to the Yard’s story, with an emphasis on the diverse array of products, goods, and objects designed and manufactured on-site over the last two centuries. Next, visitors will walk the 30,000-square-foot factory floor of Ferra Designs, a company that specializes in custom-built architectural metalwork, and visit the studio of textile maker AVO, and speak directly to some of the craftspeople redefining manufacturing and making at the Yard today. This tour is great for anyone interested in art, design, craft, and manufacturing as well as those interested in history and the continued social and economic impact of the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
Metalworking and woodworking is one of the largest manufacturing sectors in New York City, but it is eclipsed by food production, processing, and packaging, which employs more than 17,000 New Yorkers. On Oct. 4 we will also be hosting a tour of de Royal Dinges Factory, a commercial kitchen and food truck commissary that produces more than 7,000 waffles daily for Wafels & Dinges, one of the most successful street food businesses in the city (and finalist at this year’s Vendy Awards). Visitors will learn how commissaries work to support the thousands of food carts and trucks around the city, walk through the production line, and even get to put their hands in some dough to make their own authentic Liège wafel.
National Manufacturing Day Tours
The best day of the year is fast approaching: Saturday, September 21, 2019, the day of the 15th – and final – New York City Vendy Awards. For 15 years, the Street Vendor Project has been convening carts, trucks, and pop-ups to serve up the best street food New York City has to offer, in order to raise awareness about the plight of vendors and raise money for their vital mission. Started in 2005 with just four vendors gathered in commissary garage in the East Village, and attended by just 250 guests, the Vendys have grown into one of the city’s premiere food events, featuring two dozen vendors and 2,000+ attendees flocking to Governors Island.
This year’s competition will feature three categories instead of the usual five: Best Dessert, Best Freshman (for first-time Vendy competitors), and the All-Star Vendy Cup, featuring 15 vendors that have collectively earned 25 nominations, nine Vendy Awards, and three Vendy Cup championships, including two finalists from the first Vendys in 2005, Tony Dragon’s and NY Dosas (see the full list of 2019 nominees). The event is all-you-can-eat-and-drink, and all of the proceeds benefit the Street Vendor Project. This may be the final Vendys, but SVP will continue to support and celebrate the vendor community, so stay connected, and you can prepare for the Vendys by joining one of our Food Cart Tours.
15th Annual Vendy Awards
Presented by the Center for Architecture, Archtober is an annual festival of lectures, tours, exhibitions, and films that celebrate all things architecture in New York City. These special tours of Prospect Park will focus on the park’s historic design and contemporary restoration, including an Art & Architecture Tour, a close look at the park’s water system and recently-restored 1869 Wellhouse building, and a tour with a special focus on the park’s east side, including the Rose Garden, Flatbush perimeter, Children’s Corner, and Lakeside.
Tour Programs
Join us for this special exploration of two of renowned architect Cass Gilbert’s most impressive works: the Woolworth Building and the Brooklyn Army Terminal. This 3-hour guided experience includes a tour led by the experts at Woolworth Tours of the building’s stunning lobby, with its soaring mosaic ceiling, intricate stained glass, and amusing corbel characters. We will then walk through the heart of the Financial District to Pier 11 to board the NYC Ferry to the Brooklyn Army Terminal to explore a building radically different in appearance, design, and function. This engineering marvel on Brooklyn’s Sunset Park waterfront was built in 1918-1919, serving as a supply base for the American military for nearly 50 years. Today it is home to over 100 companies in industries ranging from precision manufacturers to biotech researchers, online retailers to chocolatiers.
Public Tours
The Brooklyn Navy Yard Yard is a growing community of food manufacturing businesses. On this tour, go behind the scenes at some of the Yard’s most delicious tenants! Participants will learn about different aspects of food production, distribution, and retail, while sampling treats along the way. In addition, guests will gain a better understanding about the history of theYard and learn more about the 450+ businesses that call the Yard home today. As a bonus, the tour gives visitors amazing views and access to the Yard that is only possible on a tour. Perfect for a Summer Friday outing with colleagues or friends, this new tour is not to be missed!
Taste the Yard Tour
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 history of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, co-led by Turnstile Tours and scholar, curator, and author Hugh Ryan, as we discuss his groundbreaking book When Brooklyn was Queer.
This in-depth tour of the Yard’s history will include insights and excerpts from Ryan on queer histories at and around the Yard, from the nineteenth century and through World War II. The experience culminates at the Kings County Distillery’s Sands Street Gatehouses, a street once known for its bars and nightlife that provided rare spaces for expression of queer identities. Hugh Ryan’s meticulous research and engaging storytelling have gained his book much praise, and we are so excited to partner with him on this experience as part of WorldPride2019. Books will be available for purchase and signing.
When Brooklyn Was Queer Tour
We are hosting a special experience for Jane’s Walks around the perimeter of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. For 165 years, the Yard was a leading naval shipyard, and today it is a city-owned industrial park and a center of manufacturing, technology, and craft, home to over 400 industrial and creative businesses, providing 9,000 jobs for New Yorkers. This walk will trace the Yard’s perimeter, starting at the Brooklyn Navy Yard Center at BLDG 92, and ending at the Brooklyn Greenway Initiative’s Naval Cemetery Landscape for a celebration of the park’s opening day. Along the way, we will discuss current development and adaptive reuse projects that are boosting the Yard’s workforce to levels not seen since the shipyard’s closure in 1966, and examine what remains of the rich historic landscape of the Yard.
Brooklyn Navy Yard Jane’s Walk
Brooklyn Designs is a showcase of design, architecture, and art, celebrating the creative energy of the borough. Hosted by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, this year’s design expo will be taking place at the Brooklyn Navy Yard in Building 77, where designers and manufacturers of furniture, lighting, tableware, art, textiles, jewelry and more will be displaying their work.
During the expo, we will be offering guided tours that delve into design and architecture at the Yard, highlighting examples of new development and adaptive reuse, and some of the 400+ businesses in the Yard, including designers, manufacturers, and the Brooklyn Grange Rooftop Farm. Join the Architecture & Infrastructure Tour to explore the the Yard’s complex built landscape and learn about new projects, or join the Past, Present & Future Tour to get a broad overview of 218 years of work at the Yard. If you want to see the work of Yard businesses up close, join an Inside Industry Tour, which will feature visits to places like New Lab, the Brooklyn Grange, and manufacturing spaces. Use the calendar below to see a full listing of tours.
Brooklyn Designs Tours
On the afternoon of Wednesday, April 3, a fire broke out at 702 44th St, an apartment building in Sunset Park, Brooklyn, leaving more than 100 people homeless. The community has rallied to provide assistance to these families, and the local Business Improvement District has set up a GoFundMe campaign for them – please consider donating.
On Saturday, April 6, we are hosting our regular Brooklyn Army Terminal Tour but this week we will be donating 100% of all ticket sales to the fire victims. So please join us – we will put special focus on the Army Terminal’s long history of providing aid and refuge to victims of war and disaster, from the 1928 Puerto Rico Hurricane to the Andrea Doria sinking to the September 11 Boatlift.>> Continue reading