Greetings from a New York in thaw. A week digging out of snow (and a week of ginned-up controversy about a snowball fight in a park, as if we’re all in Pleasantville or something) leading into a gorgeous weekend and then a return to cold rain really burnishes the whole “in like a lion” thing. Being party to a regional war in the Middle East and central Asia that renders congressional war powers a nullity feels like that same turbulence of March writ large. (Ugh.)

Aaanyway, before diving into this spring’s tours, two pieces of news:

1. I am honored to be part of the steering committee for this year’s Jane’s Walk NYC! I’ve been part of the Jane’s Walk community for about a decade now, and it’s exciting to help build this year’s weekend of walks and support walk leaders new and old. This will likely mean that whatever I submit ahead of the March 31 deadline will be a rehash of a previous tour (or possibly a sequel tour with stuff from the cutting room floor? TBD), but that doesn’t mean whatever you submit by the end of the month can’t be new! If you have questions or need some tips on where to start with your walk idea, I’ll be at Greenpoint Library for an information session on March 26.

2. Fresh off the Games at Milano and Cortina (and the announcement of Olympic soccer in Flushing, and Bobby Carroll placing down the seedlings of a bid for a winter games in NYC and Lake Placid), I have a new class in the works on the 2012 Olympic bid with Brooklyn Brainery. The prospect of the summer games, and what happened in spite of London getting the nod (Hudson Yards, Hunters Point South, the 7 train extension, and citywide ferry service chief among them), has piqued my interest for a while. The problem is it’s just too expansive geographically to cover in a tour. So I’m glad that Jen at the Brainery was into my pitch (and the attendees at my Brooklyn water supply class at the Brainery last week responded positively to my trial balloon), and that I am back into the archives (this time around at the Municipal Archives and the NYPL reading microfilm of the major NYC dailies) to make some new stuff. The Olympics may not be coming to New York City until 2028 (for soccer) or 2042 at the earliest (for hockey and other skating stuff and I guess curling?), but “The Olympics that Weren’t” will be coming to Prospect Heights on a date to be confirmed in May or June.

I’ve got a third big iron in the fire, too, but can’t tell you about it quite yet. All will be revealed some time next month (along with more details on my Jane’s Walk).

Coming Up Next

Two highlights among the upcoming tour fixtures (mostly bookable on Fareharbor for as little as $5 a pop). First, we have another round of my Quenching Brooklyn’s Thirst tour with the Brainery on March 21 (following a reprise of the indoor class last month). And a few weeks later we have what will in all likelihood be the final run of my Bridges of Gowanus tour. This is the tenth year of the tour, which I’ve led independently and for Jane’s Walk (and Jane’s Walk at Home), Interference Archive, Untapped New York, and a College Now class at Brooklyn College. In that decade, so much has changed in the neighborhood — the cleanup of the canal, the construction of the tanks, and the multitude of new towers — so at this point it feels right to shelve it in the History Works Vault™, at least for the public schedule. Catch it in April before it’s gone!

March 2026

• March 15, 1pm: Greenwich Village: Activists and Agitators

• March 21, 1pm: Quenching Brooklyn’s Thirst (in partnership with Brooklyn Brainery)

April 2026

• April 4, 1pm: Green-Wood, Sunset Park, and LGBTQS Lives

• April 12, 1pm: The Bridges of Gowanus (The Retirement Special)

• April 26, 1pm: Lower East Side: History and Foodways

May 2026

• May 1 through 3: Jane’s Walk NYC!

• May 9, 3pm: Meatpacking District and Chelsea

• May 17, 10:30am: The Lost Theaters of Bay Ridge

Looking to book a private tour? Email me.

Something from the Archives

I ended 2025, and a Freebird gift card that lasted a little over eighteen months, by getting this gorgeous volume by the Queens County Chamber of Commerce from 1920.

The book is clearly a work of boosterism, pitching the 1920s as a decade of building and business for the borough, just off consolidation and the completion of the Dual Contracts. Much like my Brooklyn water stuff, it’s an attempt to show the symbiosis Queens can bring to the city (rather than the outer boroughs being in tribute to Manhattan’s density and financial might).

It’s great to see projects unbuilt at press time (the Triborough Bridge, which wouldn’t be complete until 1936) and unbuilt altogether (e.g. a massive canal connecting Flushing and Jamaica Bays).

And of course, it’s fun to see references to water, both directly (the Jamaica Water Supply, which would persist well into the twentieth century) and indirectly (the Bank of the Manhattan Company back when they were still ceremonially pumping water pursuant to their Aaron Burr-finagled charter).

All in all, a really cool document. All this and a little more on my Dropbox.

Some Sensory Stimuli

One of the many blessings of living in Bay Ridge is a pretty healthy streetlife culture, at least where I’m at on the fringes of Little Palestine and especially as the weather warms up. There’s a lot of great flaneurie opportunity from folks talking on streetcorners or sitting around cafes. And the potential to run into neighbors for a quick chat is reasonably high, making one of the great urban delights — the chance encounter — that much sweeter.

Of course, this is a phenomenon that’s been studied for going on fifty years thanks to folks like William H. “Holly” Whyte. I was first introduced to The Social Life of Small Urban Spaces in my urban studies electives at Hunter. My first watch was as a student learning about the research into what made pocket parks, privately owned public spaces, and streetcorners work well (essentially, make it comfortable, make it accessible, make sure there’s sunlight, and let people make it their own). But my most recent viewing (as part of Anthology Film Archive’s recent encore screenings of the restoration) was as an urbanist enjoying that sweetness of the city: the folks sitting outside the Seagram Building and Paley Park on their lunch break, the hot dog carts on Park Avenue or 53rd Street, and the looks elsewhere to Seattle and Venice are all gentle, further buttressed by Whyte’s homespun but learned narration. The restoration isn’t online yet (honestly it should be picked up by the Criterion Channel or something to pair with similarly vibed films by Les Blank), but the original is on YouTube and well worth the watch. And maybe it will be for Anthology what Possession has become for the Metrograph: that one film they don’t need too much of an excuse to put back into the rotation, ripe for re-watching.

Anthology Film Archive is at 32 2nd Avenue (off 2nd Street), nearest the 2nd Av stop of the F train and the M15 (local and SBS), M21, and M103 buses.

A Cat

Reuben got adopted this week, and meanwhile, we’ve been Vic’s foster home! This boy can get a little too interested in ankles around meals and bedtime, but we’ve been mostly able to steer him toward respectful play and hanging. Coming to the Lower East Side soonish (especially now that a certain orange boy is out of the VIP suite).

Hope to see you in the streets soon! I’ll be back in touch with a special edition of this newsletter next month, and our regularly scheduled programming sometime after Jane’s Walk weekend. Until then, consider forwarding this newsletter to a friend, and stay safe out there.