Since March 19, our team has been offering virtual experiences to support our talented staff, partner organizations, and the wonderful artists, manufacturers, and small businesses that we work with. Click here to learn more about our virtual programs and our upcoming sessions, and please consider becoming a member to support our work during this difficult time.
Brooklyn Navy Yard Tours
For 165 years, the Brooklyn Navy Yard built some of America’s most famous fighting ships, from sailing frigates to aircraft carriers. Today, the Yard is home to hundreds manufacturing, technology, and creative businesses, providing thousands of jobs to New Yorkers across a wide range of industries. We offer a variety of theme-based tours about history, architecture, industry, and more, so there are many ways to discover what’s behind the walls of the Brooklyn Navy Yard by bicycle, bus, and on foot. All tours are offered in partnership with the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation.
Food Cart Tours
Try some of New York City’s best street food, and learn how food offers an amazing window into the life of a city and its neighborhoods and people. On our Food Cart Tours of Manhattan’s Financial District and Midtown, we introduce visitors and lifelong New Yorkers alike to the amazing tastes and stories of the city’s street vendor community, offering the opportunity to not only taste amazing dishes from all over the world cooked up on the sidewalk, but also to get an insider’s perspective on the industry. 5% of all Food Cart Tour ticket sales are donated to the Street Vendor Project.
Public Tours
WED 12pm / FRI 2pm / SAT 1pm
2 hours
Walking tour
5–6 generous tastings included
Financial District or Midtown, Manhattan
Public Market Tours
New York City boasts a network of public markets that provide fresh, diverse food to neighborhoods and create opportunities for culinary entrepreneurs. These tours highlight the history of these markets, the vendors, and the food they serve. Essex Street Market Tours showcase the butchers, bakers, fishmongers, cheese purveyors, and more that make this market a cornerstone of the Lower East Side. In Williamsburg, Brooklyn, our Immigrant Foodways Tour of the Moore Street Market offers cuisine from Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, and Mexico from the market and nearby eateries, highlighting the connections between immigrant communities and local food systems.
Public Tours
SUN 11:30am / TUE 11:30am
1.5 hours
Walking tour
5–6 generous tastings included
Lower East Side, Manhattan
Wafels and Dinges Factory Tour
Have you ever wanted to see what it takes to run a successful street food business behind the scenes? This tour will take you inside de Royal Dinges Factory, the commissary, production space, and headquarters of one of New York City’s most popular street food brands, Wafels & Dinges. On this guided tour, we will show you how they make their spectacular Liège wafel dough and delicious ice cream to supply their constellation of carts, trucks, kiosks, and cafés; you will learn how those carts and trucks are stored, supplied, and maintained; and you will get an insider’s look at this dynamic and growing business. You will even get the chance to put your hands in some dough, and cook your own fresh-made wafel in their custom-made irons. This tour is a great complement to our Food Cart Tours of Manhattan that explores NYC’s food systems, manufacturing, and entrepreneurship.
Public Tours
TUE 10am / FRI 10am
1.25 hours
Walking tour
Fresh-baked wafel and coffee included
Gowanus, Brooklyn
Brooklyn Army Terminal Tour
Step inside an engineering marvel that is today a center of manufacturing and innovation. Built in 1918-1919, this enormous Cass Gilbert-designed complex served as a supply base for the American military for nearly 50 years. Today, this thriving industrial park is home to over 100 companies in industries ranging from precision manufacturers to biotech researchers, online retailers to chocolatiers. Our walking tours explore how this teeming military transportation hub operated, and how these facilities are put to use today. All tours are offered in partnership with the New York City Economic Development Corporation.
Public Tours
SAT 11am
2 hours
Walking tour
Sunset Park, Brooklyn
Brooklyn Historical Society DUMBO Neighborhood & Museum Tour
Join us for a walk through the historic streets of DUMBO as we explore how the water has shaped New York City, and vice versa. Starting at the Brooklyn Historical Society’s DUMBO location, housed inside the renovated 1869 Empire Stores building, we will introduce you to their exhibition Waterfront, which chronicles Brooklyn’s long and complex history along 131 miles of coastline. We will then step out to explore the landscape of DUMBO and how it was built on innovation and hard labor, We will hear stories of both the captains of industry and ordinary workers who built Brooklyn. We will also explore the deindustrialization of Brooklyn, and the remaking of DUMBO into one of New York City’s most desirable neighborhoods, a commercial and residential district ringed by parkland where piers and factories once stood.
Public Tours
SUN 11:15am
1.5 hours
Exhibit & Walking tour
BHS DUMBO, Empire Stores
Prospect Park Tours
Discover hidden treasures, natural wonders and little-known tales on these interactive guided tours of Prospect Park in the heart of Brooklyn, presented by Turnstile Tours in partnership with Prospect Park Alliance. While taking in the beauty of this iconic park’s woodlands, waterways, wildlife, and landmarks, explore the fascinating layers of natural and human history, from the flora and geology, to the architectural eras visible in the built environment, to the past and present of recreation and play. Explore how use of the park has changed over time, from the original vision of designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, to projects underway today that support environmental conservation, historic preservation, and recreational and cultural access for Brooklynites and visitors from around the world.
Public Tours
SAT 10:30am
2 hours
Walking tour
Grand Army Plaza, Brooklyn
Harbor Tours
Step aboard a beautiful Classic Harbor Line vessel and explore New York Harbor in comfort as our knowledgeable guides discuss the past and present of the military and industrial waterfront. Our Brooklyn Industrial Waterfront Tour gives visitors the opportunity to see another side of the fast-changing borough, visiting container ports, recycling facilities, and shipyards that are vital to the daily operations of the city. Or you can explore the military and naval history of the harbor, as our Military History Harbor Tour takes you back to World War II, when nearly every inch of shoreline was taken up by shipyards, warehouses, and piers sending troops and supplies across the globe for the war effort.
Private Tours & Special Events
Fleet Week NYC and other special holidays
2–2.5 hours
Boat cruise
Chelsea Piers, Manhattan
Cass Gilbert’s New York: Explore the Woolworth Building & Brooklyn Army Terminal
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
Select SAT, 1:15pm
3 hours
Walking & Ferry
Woolworth Building, Lower Manhattan
