Big Onion Walking Tours - Winter 2024-25 Newsletter
A Note from Seth
As we enter our 34th year of offering educator-led walking tours, we say “Thank you!” to everyone who helped make this past year a success! On a personal note I would like to thank our clients, along with my family & colleagues, as spent the year returning to Columbia University to finish my own doctoral dissertation. After a 25 year “pause” to run Big Onion Walking Tours, I was able to return and complete the unfinished degree program.
Thank you all and we hope to see you on a Big Onion walk soon.
All the best,
Dr. Seth
Tour Highlight: Upcoming Holiday Tours
We will be offering a different walking tour everyday between Friday December 20, 2024, and Sunday January 5, 2025.
We are pleased to offer some special holiday walking tours in the coming months. While it may appear they are the same as they appeared 25 years ago, our tours are constantly evolving. We continuously research material for our walks and our educator-guides all bring an individual emphasis or presentation style to their tours.
The upcoming holiday tours include:
Tuesday, December 24th: The Christmas Stroll in Greenwich Village. A stroll through the West Village exploring the neighborhood along with how 18th & 19th century New York created modern Christmas.
The Annual Christmas Tree Market, Manhattan’s West Side. Circa 1905. Courtesy of the GG Bain Collection, Library of Congress.
Wednesday, December 25th: The 34th Annual Christmas Day Jewish Lower East Side Tour. Our oldest tradition! Walk the streets of the historic Lower East Side, one of the few Manhattan neighborhoods open on Christmas Day.
The Sender Jarmulovsky Bank Building, 1978. Image Courtesy of Edmund Vincent Gillon, Museum of the City of New York.
Monday, January 20th: Martin Luther King Jr. Day in Historic Harlem. Explore the historic and architectural wonders of one of New York’s most important neighborhoods. A walk that emphasizes the times Dr. King was in Harlem & the broader history of the Harlem Renaissance.
The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Mayor Wagner, City Hall, December 17, 1964. Official Mayoral Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
In addition to these special holiday tours, we continue to lead public walks year-round. During the upcoming winter months, we will be offering our public tours on weekends and holidays. You can find our public tour calendar on our website.
Our upcoming walks into March 2025 are currently available — and more will be added soon! In the spring, we will add additional limited weekday walks to our schedule, and, as always, private walks are always available for groups of all sizes and kinds.
Give the Gift of History
This and every holiday shopping season, we encourage everyone to support your small local businesses. Any purchase, large or small, is a welcome boost to a neighborhood business and the people working there!
Big Onion offers gift certificates, in any denomination, that can be used on any of our tours. Consider giving the gift of exploring NYC to the history lover(s) in your life!