Radical History Walking Tour
SATURDAYS & SUNDAYS, 3:00-5:00PM | $20/person | No reservations needed!
Meet @ The Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space – 155 Ave C, 9th & 10th St
Tours need three people to run – and almost always do.
Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space organic historian Bill Weinberg reveals the stories behind squats, gardens, riots, uprisings and more. From the Civil War Draft Riots of the 1860s — to the Young Lords, Black Panthers, hippies, Yippies and Up Against the Wall Motherf*ckers of the 1960s — to the Tompkins Square anarchists of the ’80s — to the tree-hugging urban enviros of the ’90s to the neighborhood Earthies keeping the legacy alive today. Unlike other neighborhood tours, we broaden beyond individual anecdotes to paint a strong historical, academic, and cultural big picture of the Lower East Side.
Five things you will learn on the Lower East Side Radical History Tour that you probably didn’t know:
1. The radical politics of the songwriter who penned the “Wizard of Oz” soundtrack.
2. What building in the East Village links the Gershwin brothers, the Black Panthers and Iggy Pop.
3. What park in the East Village was the secret birthplace of both the Hare Krishna movement and Occupy Wall Street.
4. How New York City’s recycling program began as an initiative of East Village community activists.
5. Why the same area of the city has been variously known as Burnt Mill Point, Drydock, Little Germany, Klein Deutschland, the Lower East Side, Loisaida, the East Village and Alphabet City.
