3 Untapped Cities Walking Tours for May: Edgar Allen Poe Greenwich Village, East Village Gay History, Dead Horse Bay
While spring has not quite sprung, we’re planning ahead with some great walking tours for May, in partnership with Abandoned NYC, Boroughs of the Dead and Oscar Wilde Tours.
Exploration of Dead Horse Bay with Abandoned NYC: Saturday, May 2nd 12:45 pm
Back by popular demand, join photographer/urban explorer Will Ellis on a walk through the weird side of New York history at Brooklyn’s Dead Horse Bay. Tales of buried pirate treasure, putrefied animal carcasses, and environmental devastation abound on this desolate shoreline, which once served as the final destination for the city’s carriage horses. Today this beach-comber’s paradise is covered with garbage dating back to a 1930s landfill deposit, offering a fascinating look at what New Yorkers were throwing away a century ago. Bring a bag to take home a few of the incredible artifacts you’re sure to stumble upon – there’s plenty to go around.
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Edgar Allan Poe’s Greenwich Village Tour with Boroughs of the Dead: May 16th, 7:30pm
When Edgar Allan Poe wed his thirteen-year-old cousin Virginia Clemm on May 16th, 1836, he had little way of knowing what fodder he’d given the future gossip mongers of his day–and ours! But what about the real story? Join Untapped Cities and Boroughs of the Dead on Saturday, May 16th, 2015 for “The Poe’s Greenwich Village,” a special edition historical walking tour that steps into the Greenwich Village of the 1840s, where Edgar and Virginia Poe lived and worked. Learn what life was like for the Poes in mid-19th century New York and discover the scandals and triumphs Poe experienced while living in the Village– particularly the unfounded gossip of his unprovable “love affairs”– all the while celebrating “a love that was more than love” on this fascinating, informative, and downright romantic walking tour. Buy Tickets
East Village Gay History Walking Tour with Oscar Wilde Tours, May 28 6:30pm
Since the 1950s, the gentrification of Greenwich Village has displaced the area’s cultural energy eastwards—creating what gradually became known as the East Village. This is where the Beats lived, where Punk was born, and where the musical Rent is set, with its world of impoverished young artists struggling in the shadow of AIDS. And of course, as in every place where the arts have thrived, the East Village has a dense gay history. It has been home to such famous gay residents as W. H. Auden, Allen Ginsberg, Quentin Crisp and Jean-Michel Basquiat, as well as famous gay bars like Cock, and Tompkins Square Park—where Wigstock was founded in 1984.
On this tour with Oscar Wilde Tours led by Professor Andrew Lear, we see all of these places and more, including the disco where the 1920s famous “pansy balls” took place, and the place where Walt Whitman first read his “Calamus” poems to his Bohemian friends. Professor Lear holds a B.A. from Harvard and a Ph.D. from UCLA and has taught at Harvard, Columbia and NYU. An optional cocktail will take place following the tour. Buy Tickets
See more upcoming Untapped Cities tours on our full Events page and take 10% off our upcoming Woolworth Building tour with code ABANDONEDNYC.