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, and it's an incredible story to tell! In addition to the million-and-one things to be seen in the built environment today, Manhattan Unlocked takes ancient geography and long gone transit systems into account to explain the city's growth and development. In fact, New York City only makes sense from a holistic view of history.

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 island's core. Yet, what looks like a jumble of buildings on almost any given blockfront (we realized long ago) couldn't be random. There had to be a logic to the blocks and patterns to the neighborhoods. Neighborhoods, comprising cast iron buildings or skyscrapers, had to be part of an overarching narrative. There had to be a way that Tribeca, Museum Mile, SoHo and the Garment District were all 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. The blog has been on hiatus, but we hope to begin updating again 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!!!

Our Walking Tours

Join Us on a Walking Tour...Click the big blue button below for details, or to book any of the following tours (Check out our TripAdvisor reviews! But you'll save a few dollars 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, Foley Square

Tenements and Immigration: A Lower East Side Story

Foley Square, Chinatown and The Lower East Side

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

Madison Square, Nomad, the Flatiron District, Chelsea

In the meantime, the old blog for "testing the waters" remains below.

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).