Brownstoner: Fighting World War II at the Brooklyn Navy Yard

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Brownstoner, January 22, 2019

by Susan De Vries

While the Brooklyn Navy Yard is being transformed with new buildings and uses, during World War II thousands of workers toiled to keep America’s battleships and aircraft carriers ready for the troops. Learn more about the busy shipyard and its role in the war with a winter bus tour around the complex. The tour includes stops where battleships like the USS Arizona and Missouri were launched, ship assembly shops and other significant sites. You’ll also be able to hear stories of what it was like to work on site during the era thanks to audio clips from oral histories of sailors, ship workers and women working industrial jobs.

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Bklyner: Jennifer Egan Discusses ‘Manhattan Beach’ at Brooklyn Public Library

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Bklyner, September 18, 2018

by Robin Kaizer-Schatzlein

Last night author Jennifer Egan was in the green room of the Brooklyn Public Library‘s central branch getting ready to go on stage for a talk about her book Manhattan Beach. She is a self-possessed and open woman with the look and delivery of sharp news anchor. Part of the 2018 Brooklyn Book Festival, the event was a panel discussion with Zaheer Ali of the Brooklyn Historical Society and Meredith Wisner formerly of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, moderated by author Alexis Coe.

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Daily Express: Brooklyn: Dumbo rebirth of a borough

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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 of Manhattan, but it couldn’t be more different. While its big sister is about old money and iconic landmarks, Brooklyn bristles with creativity, passion and an energy that is infectious. …

Brooklyn’s sprawling Navy Yard played an important role in the Second World War, which saw 70,000 workers, including 10,000 women, come to repair and build Allied ships.

Turnstile Tours (turnstiletours.com) will show you around.

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Curbed: Saying goodbye to the old Essex Street Market

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Curbed New York, June 14, 2018

by Nathan Kensinger

One of the best ways to savor the final days of the old Essex Street Market is on the weekly walking tour offered by Turnstile Tours, which will be held until mid-September. During one of these recent walks, the diverse culinary offerings of the market were on full display, with participants sampling rare cheeses from Saxelby Cheesemongers and Formaggio Essex, hot bagels from Davidovich Bakery, fresh croissants from Pain D’Avignon, and savory quiche from Nordic Preserves, Fish & Wildlife Company. It was all washed down with a cup of coffee from the Porto Rico Importing Company, whose NYC roots go back to 1907.

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Bklyner: Brooklyn Army Terminal Celebrates 100th Anniversary, Unveils New Industrial Space

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Bklyner, June 1, 2018

by Pamela Wong

Along with celebrating the Brooklyn Army Terminal‘s (BAT) centennial Thursday morning, the NYC Economic Development Corporation (EDC), Deputy Mayor for Housing and Economic Development Alicia Glen, and Council Member Carlos Menchaca unveiled a new 500,000-square-foot facility that will provide affordable space for up to 20 innovative businesses and create more than 1,000 new jobs.

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Metro: The 8 essential things to do during Fleet Week in New York

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Metro New York, May 21, 2018

by Eva Kis

Tour Military History: For Memorial Day, classic Harbor Line and Turnstile Tours have created a special Military History Tour ($68) about the city’s past from the Revolutionary War through World War II. Sail past New York’s harbor forts, see the Brooklyn Army Terminal, wave to the Statue of Liberty and go all the way down to Staten Island’s Homeport during a 2.5-hour tour aboard a 1920s-inspired yacht. 

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Curbed: Exploring Brooklyn’s last remaining dry docks

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Curbed New York, May 3, 2018

by Nathan Kensinger

It’s a strange feeling to be standing in the mud 40 feet below the East River without getting wet. Even stranger is having a 119-foot-tall ship above your head, its 12,000 tons balanced out on a few concrete blocks around you. So it goes every day in the dry docks of the GMD Shipyard, Brooklyn’s last ship repair facility. …

The carpentry shop, surrounded by wooden shims, which used to help support ships resting on the dry dock blocks. During World War II, the Brooklyn Navy Yard was “the world’s busiest shipyard,” according to Turnstile Tours, the yard’s official tour company, and 70,000 workers were employed here “building battleships and aircraft carriers, repairing over 5,000 ships.”

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Escape: New York City Bus Tours: See a Different Side of the Big Apple

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Escape, January 16, 2018

by Rob McFarland

Turnstile has a diverse range of tours but one of its most interesting is an exploration of the Brooklyn Navy Yard. For 165 years, this vast 120ha site south of Williamsburg was a busy naval shipyard, responsible for the construction of battleships such as the USS Arizona plus the repair of thousands more. Today, the complex has been transformed into a city-owned industrial park and is home to more than 300 manufacturing and creative businesses.

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Gabs: Supporting local small businesses in New York

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Gabs Photography, January 11, 2018

by Gabriela Hengeveld

When we were invited to visit New York for a story about the Bronx we got in touch with Turnstile Tours an organization providing tours to visit and eat at different Food Trucks. The organization found a way of entertaining tourist whilst at the same time having a positive social impact. Supporting local Food Truck businesses, mostly run by newly arrived Immigrants. They not only help the entrepreneurs with customers but also providing them with legal advise through a specific NGO so they can better set up their businesses.

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