SoHo: From Hell’s Hundred Acres to NYC’s cradle of art, a walking tour

New York City has a habit of tearing down beautiful old buildings to put up ugly new ones. On this walking tour, find out how SoHo escaped the wrecking ball and hear the remarkable stories of the colorful characters who saved this National Historic Landmark District. Starting in Greene Street, I’ll guide you through other famous streets including Prince, Spring and Mercer Street, where I’ll lift your gaze to the architectural treasures most people miss. Tales of love and murder abound in this neighborhood.

Travel back through the 19th-century to when SoHo was New York’s fanciest retail district before morphing into “Hell's Hundred Acres” when fiery turf wars broke out. We’ll trace this neighborhood’s story back to the abandoned factories and warehouses that became an artistic hotbed and, later, home to the champagne lifestyles of actors Daniel Craig, Samuel L. Jackson and Dakota Fanning.

On this tour of New York City, I’ll show you where America’s first true crime story, “The Well Murder” unfolded, and point out the E.V. Haughwout Building, the city’s original cast iron skyscraper. You’ll hear the beginnings of Boss Tweed’s reign as the most corrupt politician in New York history, and have the opportunity to marvel at the New Era and Little Singer Buildings, the city’s first and finest examples of Art Nouveau. Along the way, hear how artist Ken Hiratsuka spent two years painstakingly carving his masterpiece into the sidewalk, and how a monkey saved firemen from burning to death in their own firehouse. Finally, end the tour at the Gateway to SoHo before popping into New York’s second oldest bar, Fanelli Cafe, for a cold one.

On this tour, you’ll:

• Experience the Draft Riots, America’s most deadly street violence, that was only quelled by 4,000 army troops armed with guns and cannons
• Meet the performance artists of the Fluxus cooperative who proved that absolutely anything can be art, including the “Father of SoHo”, George Maciunas, who had a good reason to embed razor blades in his door
• Find out why Yoko Ono gave audience members a pair of scissors and told them to cut off her clothes
• Mourn with activist Jane Jacobs as she led a mock funeral parade along Broome Street to mourn the death of SoHo in the 60's
• Take in the only remaining NY building designed by legendary architect, Richard Morris Hunt
• Discover why a department store owner changed his middle name to ”Broadway”
• Stand before the former necktie factory where a young Jewish immigrant escaped a dead end job to become Harry Houdini
• Learn how Robert Moses’s threat to destroy SoHo actually ended up protecting it
• Pay your respects outside the recording studio where Run DMC recorded their biggest hit, and became the first hip-hop act to earn multi-platinum status
• Visit the street whose brothels were so popular that they had their own guidebook
• Discover what Canal Street should have been called
• See where New York’s cable cars once ran

Give yourself 75-minutes to savor this immersive SoHo walking tour, or go at a pace of your own choice.

CREDITS: The additional voices recite actual quotes, performed by actors. And by actors we mean our dear friends and neighbors who work for beer and wine: Peter Collery, Tom Eich, Mattie Goldberg, Matt Jones, Clara Marshall, Hugh Osborn, Paul Safsel, Beth and Jeremy Saks, Terry Taylor, Bob Tracy, Lisa Wagner, Claudia Wallis, Josh Wallach, John Williams, Sofia Williams.