ABOUT THE TOUR GUIDE

RATES

RESERVATIONS

CONTACT

ALL TOURS:

NEW AMSTERDAM TOURS

ZONING ORIGINS: REAL ESTATE DEVELOPMENT IN LOWER MANHATTAN

GREENWICH VILLAGE - URBAN RENEWAL HISTORY

3 TRIBECA TOURS

JEWS IN NYC

WTC TOUR

GERMAN TOUR

Learn the subject matter while walking through where the events occurred... Remember the "talk" should be as memorable as the "walk"! Small Group Tours are like having your own professor educate you (or your child) while you enjoy your tour.

ABOUT THE TOUR GUIDE

• Rick Landman, Esq., a Native New Yorker, has been an AICP Certified Planner for over 30 years, and an Attorney since 1988.
  
  
• He is an adjunct Professor of Planning at NYU's Wagner School and taught a Land Use law class from 2003-2009. His class was a required core class for the Urban Planning Masters students.
  
  
• Professor Landman has 3 Masters Degrees (M.C.R.P. in City and Regional Planning, Ed.M. in Curriculum Development, M.S. in Civil (Socio) Engineering) and a J.D. in law(cum laude). He was admitted to the New York Bar in 1988.
  
  
• He was the Executive Director of Real Estate Development for the City of New York for 5 years and was the Director of Real Estate Development at NYU for 19 years.
  
  
• One of the Masters Degrees was an Ed.M. in Curriculum Planning, so if you want a "Tour in the Classroom" lecture that can also be arranged. The lectures will be age appropriate to your needs. Mr. Landman also has permanent certification as a Social Studies Teacher for grades 7-12 since 1974.
  
  
• Rick was the chair of several committees of Community Board #1 Manhattan, including the chair of the Planning & Community Infrastructure Committee, the Tribeca Committee and chaired what is now called the Landmarks Committee when Tribeca was first designated in 1992.
  
  
• He moved into a Lower Manhattan converted apartment in the 1970's, that is approximately 1,000 feet from the World Trade Center.
  
  
• He is a licensed NYC Sightseeing Tour Guide. License No.: 1281818 exp. 3/31/10.
  
  
• He also has dual citizenship between the USA and Germany. He is the son of two Jewish Holocaust Survivors, and is active in several Second Generation programs.
  
  

TOUR INFORMATION FOR LARGE AND SMALL GROUPS The Standard Rate for Large Group Tours: (usually for up to 20 persons in a group or class) which follows one of the existing listed Tours is $250. The lecture can be modified to meet your group's needs. For an additional $50 a new Tour can be researched and designed just for your group's individualized needs. Each Tour is approximately one and a half hours long. Standard Rate for Smaller Group Tours: ( usually up to 5 people in your group, but usually is one or two couples or a parent with children). Existing listed tours can be accommodated at a lower rate of usually $150 for your group. This is like having a special tutorial by a professor and not just a tour guide. The same additional $50 is charged for research and designing a new tour (not one of those listed) just for your group. FORM OF PAYMENT Cash, Travelers Checks or NYS checks (with proper identification are acceptable forms of payment. INSURANCE Clients assume all liability and risks during the walks. Please be vigilant when crossing the streets. LANGUAGES The tours are given in English or German (Deutsch). CANCELLATIONS Should the tour guide cancel the tour, then a total refund of any deposit will be given and no fee will be charged for the tour. No consequential damages will be offered. However, if the tour was an individualized tour that required specific research, then the deposit from the group is not refundable, should the group decide to cancel. But the rest of the fee will be forgiven should the group wish to cancel the tour. Please give at least 24 hours notice. RESERVATIONS To make a reservation, please click the email icon below and supply the following in the email. Make sure that you get a written confirmation from me before considering the reservation confirmed: The time and days that you are interested in having a tour How many people are expected in your group The location that you are interested in seeing Any special interests, such as historical, cultural, religious, architectural, etc. that you would like me to research for your tour. Your name, phone, address and email address Means of payment

FOR LARGE GROUP TOURS OF UP TO 25 PEOPLE "CLASSROOM WITHOUT WALLS TOURS"... These tours have individualized lectures to meet your group's or students' needs. All tours can also be transformed into an Indoor Speaking Engagement. These GROUP TOURS emphasize historical, urban planning/zoning and legal issues. CLICK TO SEE SAMPLE TOURS.	TO BOOK A LARGE GROUP TOUR
FOR SMALL GROUP TOURS OF UP TO 5 PEOPLE "CLASSROOM WITHOUT WALLS TOURS"... Choose one of the sample tours for your small group and have it modified to your interests. CLICK TO SEE SAMPLE TOURS.	TO BOOK A SMALL GROUP TOUR

SAMPLE OF TOURS:
Click on the TOUR NAME for more detailed information...

WORLD TRADE CENTER TOURS View from 7 World Trade Center of Lower Manhattan. Tours can include the area from the Battery up to the World Trade Center, or the Financial District up to Tribeca or the Brooklyn Bridge.

I took this photo shortly after 9/11 showing "Ground Zero". Living in Southern Tribeca for 30 years, I was displaced from my apartment for approximately one month, returning home in October. I also have pictures showing how the neighborhood was powered and existed during the era when we were a "gated community". So this tour is given by someone who lived through the experience and rebuilding of the neighborhood.

"NEW AMSTERDAM" TOUR Every year in November is "Dutch Days" in New York City with multiple events and exhibits held throughout the five boroughs. An annual highlight is the tour of “New Amsterdam” put together by Rick Landman, Esq., AICP, a longtime member of the NY Metro Chapter. Landman gave a tour to relate how early Dutch roots had an impact on New York City's physical form as well as its taxation procedures, zoning regulations and religious freedoms. The tour, which not only included the usual stop to the foundations of the old Dutch City Hall but included a walk around the borders of old New Amsterdam, seeing the Dutch memorials (most of which are on land-fill that didn't exist back then) and discussion of Dutch history and its impacts. Landman noted that the narrow tax lots and the subsequent sky-blocking towers were a direct result from our Dutch origins... The Tour can be conducted for Organizations, Dutch Events or can be arranged for small individual groups throughout the year. Tour starts in front of the Customs House at Bowling Green in front of the eastern most statue and winds it way through Battery Park and up to Wall Street. Please Click Here to Email for Reservations and please place "New Amsterdam Tour" in the Subject Box.

GREENWICH VILLAGE- URBAN PLANNING TOUR These buildings on MacDougal Street were used as the poster pictures for the demolition of the Village as part of the Urban Renewal Plan in the 1950's. But they were landmarked in the 21st Century as being one of the few federal townhouses still left in Manhattan. The tour will include a walking lecture on Eminent Domain, Condemnation as well as the struggles during the Urban Renewal program in the NYU area.

This is the rendering from the 1953 Washington Square South Urban Renewal Plan's concept for Greenwich Village, pursuant to the Slum Clearance Plan under Title 1 of the Housing Act of 1949. Notice the Washington Square Arch (in yellow) in Washington Square Park. The "Tower in the Park" concept (which was also emphasized in the 1961 Zoning Resolution) included highways and apartment complexes to replace what is now the Village and SoHo.

TOUR OF AMERICA'S ZONING ORIGINS: Real Estate Development in Lower Manhattan This tour focuses on the area near the World Trade Center and includes a walking lecture of how America's Zoning started Lower Manhattan because of the bulk issues created at the Equitable Building in 1916 and winds its way past several of the World's Tallest Buildings up to City Hall Park and ends on the Brooklyn Bridge looking back at the eastside of Manhattan. Once steel construction and elevators turned the real estate market upside down, and each developer tried to build the world's tallest building, New York City was forced to try regulating bulk and use. The Supreme Court upheld NYC's zoning regulations in the 1926 case of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Corp. This tour gives the history while passing the actual locations. It also includes a city park created by the transfer of development rights and discusses several urban renewal projects in the area. Depending on time and interest, we can also include a short discussion of the World Trade Center as we pass by.

THERE ARE 3 TRIBECA TOURS: TOUR #1- TRIBECA AND THE COURT HOUSES - Introduction to all the Legal Resources in the area. It not only shows the buildings, but explains what goes on in each of them. TOUR #2- Land Use Issues in Northwestern Tribeca TOUR #3- Trump Condo-Hotel Litigation a lecture about the land use law issues dealing with the new hotel.

SOUTH STREET SEAPORT TOUR: This area was created with the aid of Landmarking and Historic Districts and urban renewal plans, and is now under consideration for a new proposed development.

THE JEWS OF NEW AMSTERDAM/LOWER EAST SIDE: Focusing on the early Jewish roots of New Amsterdam and New York City, including several Jewish cemeteries. The tour will discuss the treatment and contributions of the colonies' and America's earliest Jewish settlers, including both Ashkenazi and Sephardic Jews who came to the "New World" in the 1600's. The life of Asser Levy and the 23 Jews who came from Recife will be discussed. Lower Manhattan contains several memorials and actual locations (buildings now long gone) and remnants of several cemeteries at Chatham Square, West 11th and West 22nd Streets. In addition, we can extend the tour (especially if this is a bus tour) to go to the Lower East Side and see the Tenement Museum as well as several eateries such as Katz's Delicatessen and Russ & Daughters.

GAY TOUR OF THE 1970's: Visit the long gone haunts of the West Village's and a separate tour of the East Village's gay places from a personal perspective. West Village includes: The Stud, The Anvil, The Mineshaft, The Christopher Street Bookstore, Uncle Charlies, The Piers, etc. The East Village includes: The Saint, The St. Marks and Club Bathhouses, Boy Bar, etc.

GERMAN TOUR OF LOWER MANHATTAN: The first Germans to come to the “New World” went to the English colony of Jamestown in 1608. But by the 1680’s, large numbers were present in New York. The period between 1840-1900 was the largest German immigration wave to America. Currently about 49 million or 17% of the American population can trace their ancestry to Germany. New York City was home to many famous German Americans. Babe Ruth, for example is of German ancestry as was the immigrant John Jacob Astor, and the immigrant John Peter Zenger (who fought for the freedom of the press), as well as the immigrant John Augustus Roebling who built the Brooklyn Bridge. The area in the East Village became known as Kleine Deutschland due to the large amount of Germans before the turn of the 20th Century. There are still many buildings that can be seen in this area with German signage on their facades. Other German areas of Manhattan included Yorkville on the Upper East Side and Washington Heights, which became the home of many German Jewish refugees. Before World War I, there was a clear German presence in New York City, with many buildings showing their Germanic roots. However, ever since the First World War, most things that showed anything German were removed from sight. Today, there is very little to see in Lower Manhattan that shows anything German. So how can one give a German Tour of Lower Manhattan? First, we can see examples of where the German aspects were removed or the few instances where they remain. In addition, the talk during the Tour is being given by a son of two German refugees who can explain what it was like growing up with German Jewish parents during the years right after World War II. You can hear why someone whose family lost 17 members would re-instate his German citizenship to be a German-American. You can also hear the story of how his family survived the Holocaust and how one can still condemn the horrors of the Nazi era, with still remembering the early and post-war history of Germany with pride. You can go back to the INFOTRUE.COM homepage to read some of these stories.

Walking Tours are personalized to meet your special interests, given in a way that only a Native New Yorker can give. A week's notice is appreciated if research is required for the personalized tour. Shorter notice is acceptable for standard walks.
Return to INFOTRUE	CLICK HERE TO BOOK A TOUR OR FOR QUESTIONS. YOU MUST GET A CONFIRMATION BEFORE THE TOUR IS RESERVED.