The Viele Map
"No other city is so spitefully incoherent"
--James BaldwinWelcome to Manhattan Unlocked Walking Tours
Discover the hidden-in-plain-sight history and have fun decoding the architectural assortments of New York's most iconic (and architecturally complex) neighborhoods.
About Us
Manhattan Unlocked began as a blog over a decade ago to explore and explain the complex and captivating histories behind New York's constellation of neighborhoods that stretch nearly five miles from the Battery to Central Park--what most people consider New York City. It was a journey to test the waters for a book project, and the results were promising enough to dive into discovering the single story history behind the architectural creation of New York City. Our method of research and exploration involved creating immersive walking tours for key New York neighborhoods that together tell a unifying story of the city.
Our Walking Tours
Join us on a journey through time and space and re-discover long lost geographies and bygone transit systems. Manhattan Unlocked walking tours cover neighborhoods with their own unique stories to tell, but that were all part of the "city's" move uptown from City Hall to Central Park.
What Makes Our Tours Special?
The Book: Build: The History of New York City on the Island of Manhattan
While our walking tours provide a taste of Manhattan's history, we're also hard at work on a book that will dive deep into the city's past and explain the logic behind the "conveyer belt" of neighborhoods running up Broadway and Fifth Avenue, along a path of modern-day "ruins" of forgotten "cities."
Join Us on a Walking Tour
We are relaunching our walking tours over the Fall 2023 after the challenges of covid. We hope to see you on a tour of the history behind the world's most inspiring streetscapes.
Re-launch dates:Sept 18: Midtown Manhattan Art and Architecture Walking Tour
Midtown westSept 27: Holdouts! Based on the Alpern & Durst Book
Midtown east
Oct 10: Recreate the Most Requested Walking Tour of 1840s New York
NoHo & SoHo to City Hall
TBD: Explore the Ruins of a Forgotten City in the Middle of Manhattan
Astor Place to Madison Square
TBD: A Disastrous History of Housing the Poor
Chinatown and The Lower East Side
In the meantime, the old blog for "testing the waters" remains below.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
298 Grand Street, Then and Now
Most single family homes lasted just a few decades before becoming multiple family dwellings and/or businesses, such was the vortex-like growth of Manhattan’s population.
You can see the tracks of the Second Avenue railroad in the street. Horse-drawn cars ran south on Allen Street, west along Grand Street (below), and turned north up Second Avenue.
Museum of the City of New York
And here it is today in the middle of Chinatown. All three buildings are still there, slightly modified.
That's awesome! Crazy how much a neighborhood can change. Maybe a post on the origin and growth of Chinatown is in order?
ReplyDeleteAbsolutely! I'm trying to figure out how to approach the whole area. Thanks for your comment!
ReplyDeleteCool find!
ReplyDeletePhenomenal. I just can never get enough of then and now photos, it's like an addiction.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful! Missing NYC.
ReplyDeleteGreat photos! According to the link below, the tracks may have extended on Grand St. all the way to the East River where they met the Grand St. Ferry:
ReplyDelete"The tracks had been part of The Forty-Second Street and Grand Street Ferry Railroad, a 19th century horse-drawn streetcar line which began operations in 1862, extending from the 42nd Street Ferry on the Hudson River to the Grand Street Ferry on the East River."
http://home2.nyc.gov/html/nycha////html/resources/work_begins.shtml
More research turns up additional streetcars that ran on Grand St, including one that went from City Hall to Brooklyn (over the Williamsburg Bridge). It ran on Bowery, Grand St, Essex St, and Delancey St. It was called the "Post Office Line." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_streetcar_lines_in_Manhattan
ReplyDeleteThanks for the complete picture, Randy! I had looked up that part of Grand Street in The Historical Atlas of New York City, Eric Homberger (1st ed. p. 99), to see what he had to say about the area. If you look at the map on that page, from 1865, he has the Second Avenue railroad running down 1st, across Grand, and up 2nd. It was obviously part of a much more extensive system. Thanks again!
ReplyDeleteAfter a passage of time, everything gets change. As you have shown both the pictures of Grand Street, there is a lot of difference between both. Really very nice.
ReplyDeleteAnyone know where I can find a photo of a milliner (hat maker /seller) working on The Grand around the 1840s?
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