Latest Articles - Turnstile Tours

Race, Riots, and the Right to Learn: Black Education in Antebellum New York | Episode 227

The formal education of Black New Yorkers began with the Manumission Society’s African Free Schools, which first opened in 1787. Though the city was at the forefront of Black education, …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
Virtual Programs

Exploring Staten Island’s Olmsted-Beil House | Episode 226

Join us for a special panel discussion and virtual tour of Staten Island’s landmark Olmsted-Beil House, an historic farmhouse and museum where landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted began his monumental career. …

Prospect Park
Virtual Programs

Housing for All: A History of Social Housing in NYC | Episode 224

As we approach New York City’s primary elections on June 22, housing, as always, is a key issue on the ballot. So we are looking back at the history of …

Architecture
Virtual Programs

Barnet or Bust: Canals on the Connecticut River | Episode 221

Running from the Canadian border to Long Island Sound, the Connecticut River cuts through the heart of New England. And for a period of about 40 years, a concerted effort …

Virtual Programs
Waterfront

Behind the Build: Bednark Studio | Episode 219

Celebrate NYC X DESIGN Interior Design Day with a virtual visit to Bednark Studio, a vertically-integrated design and fabrication company that specializes in retail environments, experiential marketing, and architectural millwork. Based in the …

Architecture
Brooklyn Navy Yard
Inside Industry
Virtual Programs

Made in NY Campus at Bush Terminal Virtual Tour | Episode 218

Since its founding over a century ago, Bush Terminal in Sunset Park, Brooklyn has been a center of industry and innovation. Today, the city-owned site is being transformed into a …

Architecture
Brooklyn Army Terminal
Virtual Programs
Waterfront

Renovation and Reinvention of the Brooklyn Navy Yard’s Building 127 | Episode 217

For NYC x Design Architecture Day, we’re taking a closer look at one of the most recent adaptive reuse projects of the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Building 127. Constructed in 1904 for fabricating …

Architecture
Brooklyn Navy Yard
Inside Industry
Virtual Programs

Crain’s: Brooklyn tour company has found new life online

When the Covid-19 pandemic threatened to shut down their Brooklyn tour-guide business—Turnstile Tours—husband-and-wife team Cindy VandenBosch and Andrew Gustafson reinvented their nine-year-old company on the fly. Founded in 2012, Turnstile Tours’ unofficial motto is “We share stories of how New York City works.” By taking customers behind the scenes of different aspects of city life, especially in Brooklyn, the company aims to highlight the work of ordinary New Yorkers.

Press

Exploring the Brooklyn Army Terminal | Episode 215

Completed in 1919, the Brooklyn Army Terminal is a marvel of architecture and engineering. On this virtual tour, we will examine its design and construction during World War I, its …

Brooklyn Army Terminal
Virtual Programs
Waterfront
World War I
World War II

A dramatic look up at the window frames that connect two sides of the Brooklyn Army Terminal's gigantic and imposing Building B, made of poured concrete with off-set balconies

Brooklyn Navy Yard Virtual Artists’ Studio Visits | Episode 214

The Brooklyn Navy Yard recently launched a public art exhibit with the theme Atmosphere for Invention, which reflects both the site’s history and its inventive spirit today. This live virtual …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
Virtual Programs

Spring Planting in Prospect Park | Episode 213

On this virtual walk, we will join Prospect Park Alliance’s gardeners for a tour of their work doing spring plantings around the Lakeside section of the park, including on the …

Prospect Park
Virtual Programs

Heartlands, Chokepoints, and Conflict Zones: How Geopolitics Maps the World | Episode 212

Maps hold the power to organize and explain the world beyond what we can observe with our own eyes, making them extremely powerful political tools. Maps that express a geopolitical …

Virtual Programs

The World in a Box: The 65th Anniversary of Containerized Shipping with Marc Levinson | Episode 211

On April 26, 1956 an oil tanker customized to carry standardized metal crates left Port Newark, NJ for Houston, TX, marking the first commercially successful containerized shipment. Over the next …

Brooklyn Army Terminal
Virtual Programs
Waterfront

Olmsted and America’s Urban Parks: Documentary and Discussion

April 26 is Frederick Law Olmsted’s birthday, and for his 199th, the National Association of Olmsted Parks is kicking off a yearlong celebration as we approach his bicentennial in 2022. …

Prospect Park
Virtual Programs

Great Trees of New York with Allison C. Meier | Episode 210

Celebrate Earth Day with some of New York City’s oldest and most beautiful trees. Six years ago, writer Allison C. Meier set out to visit and learn about each of NYC …

Prospect Park
Virtual Programs

Virtual Tour of Upper Manhattan Waterways with Classic Harbor Line | Episode 207

Join us for another virtual boat tour aboard a beautiful motor yacht with our friends at Classic Harbor Line. This time we will be heading north, exploring the very northern tip …

Virtual Programs
Waterfront

How World War I Changed the Way New Yorkers Eat | Episode 206

April 6 marks the 104th anniversary of America’s entry into World War I, but the impacts of this global conflict were already being felt in New York City. Starting in …

Public Markets
Street Vending
Virtual Programs
World War I

Virtual Walk of the Brooklyn Navy Yard Perimeter | Episode 204

Explore the neighborhoods surrounding the Brooklyn Navy Yard, including Vinegar Hill, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, and Williamsburg, on this walk around the Yard’s long perimeter. We will explore connections between …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
Virtual Programs
Waterfront

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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.