Latest Articles - Turnstile Tours

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

Exploring the Brooklyn Navy Yard Archives | Episode 203

As both an historic site and an active industrial park, with buildings and infrastructure spanning nearly 200 years, the Brooklyn Navy Yard is literally made up of layers of history. …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
Inside Industry
Virtual Programs
Waterfront

Black and white photo of three workers standing around a wooden model of a ship

Where is Pete Panto? Corruption and Crusaders on NYC’s Waterfront | Episode 202

New York City’s working waterfront has been widely associated with crime and corruption at least since On The Waterfront hit movie screens in 1954, but the story goes back further. Nathan …

Brooklyn Army Terminal
Virtual Programs
Waterfront

Around the World in One Kitchen with Brian Hoffman | Episode 201

Brian and his son Sam have set an ambitious goal: to make a traditional dish from every country in the world. They’ve been making their way through the countries alphabetically and …

Street Vending
Virtual Programs

Ships, Shanties, and the Shamrock: Brooklyn’s 19th Century Irish Waterfront | Episode 199

On March 17, 1863, the gunboat Shamrock was launched from the Brooklyn Navy Yard, an event attended by more than 5,000 onlookers and tremendous fanfare. The christening of this ship was meant …

Brooklyn Navy Yard
Virtual Programs
Waterfront

Delaware & Raritan Canal / Camden & Amboy RR with the Canal Society of New Jersey | Episode 198

The Canal Society of New Jersey returns to our virtual program as Joe Macasek will share the history of the Delaware & Raritan Canal. While George Macculloch was working to complete his Morris …

Virtual Programs
Waterfront

Chocolate History of Brooklyn | Episode 197

Food manufacturing has been a cornerstone of Brooklyn’s manufacturing economy for 150 years. Not only was the borough was home to some of the largest chocolate and confectionary makers in …

Brooklyn Army Terminal
Brooklyn Navy Yard
Inside Industry
Virtual Programs
World War I
World War II

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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.