For more than a decade, New York City-based social enterprise Turnstile Tours has been sharing the stories and flavors of Manhattan’s street food, and now they are coming to Queens.
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We will have lunch this time on the street. Walking, during a real Food Cart Tour in Midtown (bookable via turnstiletours.com). New York has a long history when it comes to street vending, and although everyone knows pretzels and hot dogs, there are carts selling dishes from around the world. Street food is one of the best kept secrets. It’s not for nothing that a prestigious prize was handed out every year to the street vendor with the tastiest dishes. …
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On this edition, the Brooklyn Navy Yard and its big investment in small business. Ensuring no neighbor is left out of the windfall from the coastal complex’s growth. The yard’s deep historical connection to World War II that many might not know. What the city’s largest Spanish speaking television station sacrificed to survive. Then CUNY’s effort to assist Hollywood with its diversity push.
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Cindy VandenBosch and Andrew Gustafson are the husband and wife duo at the helm of Turnstile Tours. Both of them have decades of experience in history, museums and tourism. Over the past 10 years, they’ve built a diverse portfolio of programs with unique New York stories at historic sites such as the South Street Seaport, the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the Brooklyn Botanical Garden.
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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.
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Turnstile Tours, a Brooklyn-based company, normally offers custom-made walking tours of locations like the Brooklyn Navy Yard and the Essex Market, in partnership with local businesses and organizations. Today, the same ethos of community and access which animates Turnstile’s walking tours is available through its Virtual Programs.
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For small-business owner Cindy VandenBosch, who runs Turnstile Tours from her office in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the lack of communication from JPMorgan Chase on the status of her Paycheck Protection Program loan prompted her to take desperate measures. When she couldn’t get a single Chase representative on the phone for days, VandenBosch said she rented a Citi bike, donned a mask and gloves, and rode to a branch in Sunset Park for answers.
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Since the WHO has categorized COVID-19 as a pandemic, the global economy has suffered, and millions of people are filing for unemployment. There are several webinars that are designed to help brands and companies stay relevant, but several lack the fundamental issue for most small business owners (i.e. restaurants, cafes, etc.), which is, how do I get money into my business now.
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While you can still appreciate the beauty of the park for brief respites of fresh air with appropriate social distancing, the Prospect Park Alliance is encouraging visitors to head online to explore the green space with a new resource. Virtual Prospect Park includes resources from educators, historians, gardeners and others to allow a look into Brooklyn’s backyard while following the directive to stay indoors as much as possible during the crisis.
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On a public tour, you can learn how the facility works to transform old things into modern, and to help small businesses that will support New York in the future. Part of that is gathering start-up companies, and providing space in the Brooklyn Navy Yard for shared offices. For a long time, Brooklyn has been a major base for the food manufacturing industry, and beer and whiskey are still being produced in one corner of the site, and the long-established Russ & Daughters has also moved their factory to the Navy Yard this year, inside a renovated historic building that is now open to the public as a new attraction.
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Turnstile Tours has built a reputation for offering quirky tours, from historic sites such as Brooklyn’s Army Terminal to street markets, and donates at least 5 per cent of all ticket sales to neighbourhood projects. New for this year are two-hour walking tours of Prospect Park – Central Park’s more compact sister in Brooklyn – exploring the meadows and woodlands, art and architecture and waterways. There’s also a tour of the Gowanus waffle production space for the trendy Wafels & Dinges chain. As well as meeting the chefs and learning how the business works, visitors get to make (and eat) their own waffles.
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These tours make history a walk in the park. Four new walking tours will reveal Prospect Park’s rich history and uncover its hidden gems. Prospect Park Walking Tours, starting on April 28, will offer a different guided trip through the green space each Sunday, letting audiences focus on the marvels of Brooklyn’s Back Yard they find most interesting.
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Hundreds of food carts patrol New York’s streets every day offering cheap, filling feeds with this two-hour tour visiting some of the best. Sample six dishes including Korean short ribs, Mexican quesadillas and Belgian waffles. You’ll get to meet the vendors and understand the challenges of selling food curb-side in the Big Apple.
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For opening day of the Prospect Park Carousel, Cindy went behind the scenes with the Parks Department and the carousel staff and shared some of the amazing history of this …
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CBS New York, February 14, 2019 by John Dias Some even pop the question in the park. So it doesn’t come as a shock that weddings are popular there, too, …
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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 …
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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 …
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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, …
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