Manhattan Unlocked Historical and Architectural Walking Tours: Pawn Stars, Carlo Gambino & SGS Associates

PLEASE BEAR WITH US DURING A WEBSITE UPGRADE AND BLOG RE-LAUNCH

Manhattan Unlocked Historical and Architectural Walking Tours

Discover hidden-in-plain-sight history and decode the streetscapes of Manhattan on our multi-faceted walking tours where history and architecture meld. Manhattan Unlocked answers the question every New Yorker has asked, "why is this building next to that building, and that building next to this building?" We take that question to its logical conclusion and let the built environment--the city itself--tell its own story!

We realized there's more to the million-and-one things to be seen on the surface of the city today. Manhattan Unlocked takes into account ancient geography and historic transit, in addition to commerce, architecture, immigration and everything else, to explain the city's growth and development. In fact, New York City can only be understood from an all-of-history, holistic point of view.

About Us

Manhattan Unlocked began as a blog over a decade ago to decode and make sense of the streetwalls of the city. New York City is an architectural complex and constellation of neighborhoods that stretches almost 5 miles from the Battery to Central Park through the island's core. Yet, what looks like a jumble of buildings on any given block (we realized long ago) couldn't be random. There had to be a logic to the blocks; patterns to the neighborhoods. Neighborhoods comprising cast iron buildings or skyscrapers had to be part of some overarching narrative. There had to be a way that Tribeca, Museum Mile, SoHo and the Garment District were part of the same story.

We soon realized that in the search for the single-story, "unified theory," behind New York's instantly recognizable, enigmatic built environment, we needed to hit the pavement so to speak. Manhattan Unlocked Historical and Architectural Walking Tours was born (thank you Viator and TripAdvisor, but now bookings can be made directly!). The blog had been put on hiatus, but we hope to begin updating soon, and with a new look!

Join us on a walking tour, follow our blog (when it gets back in gear), or wait for the book, Build: The History of of New York City on the Island of Manhattan.

Thanks for visiting!!!

To see the details and book a walking tour click the big blue button below. Check out our TripAdvisor reviews! But you'll save a few dollars by clicking below.

Midtown Manhattan Art and Architecture Walking Tour

Midtown West, Times Square, Rockefeller Center & Park Avenue

Holdouts! Based on the Book by Alpern & Durst

Midtown East, Grand Central & Rockefeller Center

Recreate the Most Requested Walking Tour of 1840s New York

Astor Place, NoHo, SoHo, Chinatown & the Civic Center (Foley Square)

Tenement Housing and Immigrant Life: A Lower East Side Story

Foley Square, Chinatown & The Lower East Side

Explore the Ruins of a Forgotten City in the Middle of Manhattan

Madison Square, Nomad, the Flatiron District & Chelsea

The old blog remains below....(sorry any shortcomings in the initial years of research).

Click Here to See Tours

Sunday, March 6, 2011

Pawn Stars, Carlo Gambino & SGS Associates

Just a quick, fun post. I was watching Pawn Stars and a guy walked in with a canceled check signed by Carlo Gambino from 1962. It was from S.G.S. Associates, and you could see the address on the check: 141 East 44th Street. So I Google Earthed it…The Fitzpatrick Grand Hotel. I originally thought the flag out front was Italian--my bad, it's the Irish flag. Still, they're close (orange instead of a red stripe).