formerly Century Walking Tours
Walking Tour Series: Revolutionary Manhattan **** Ayn Rand's New York
Single Tours: Union Square, Madison Square, Ely Jacques Kahn's Art Deco New York,
Newspaper Row, How New Yorkers Invented Christmas, Manhattan's Colonial Roads
The Rialto: The Theaters Before Times Square, Kensico Cemetery
THE AGE OF RAND: IMAGINING AN OBJECTIVIST FUTURE WORLD, available from www.amazon.com. See five reviews--four of them favorable--at Amazon website.
Interview with Frederick Cookinham, author of The Age of Rand
Call 718-397-9019 (Home) 917-607-9019 (cell) fcookinham@juno.com for information or to arrange private tours.
Frederick Cookinham earned his Bachelor's Degree in American History at Cortland State College in 1976, and his Master's at Brooklyn college in 1987. He is the author of THE AGE OF RAND: IMAGINING AN OBJECTIVIST FUTURE WORLD, available from www.amazon.com.
All scheduled tours are $20, $15 for those over 65, except where noted. Private tours are available for $30 a person; just give Fred a call. Tours begin at 11 a.m., except where indicated below.
Fred has led tours for the Morris-Jumel Mansion, the New-York Historical Society, the Art Deco Society of New York, the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution, and Grayline.
"The tour was super fantastic...erudite and passionate guide..."-- www.TinkertyTonk/OpenHouseNewYork/day2.com
"Lively...extraordinarily educational."--DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION.
"Fred is a kind of poet and street professor...."--Anne Heller, NEW YORK OBSERVER, 2-9-04.
"The trivia spat out fast as tickertape. ...inserts whole dates into his sentences." -- Laurie Gwen Shapiro, GRAND STREET NEWS.
SINGLE TOURS:
NEW!! THE RIALTO: THE THEATERS BEFORE TIMES SQUARE Meet at Broadway and E. 13th Street, northwest corner. Up Broadway to Times Square, you will see the theater district of Sarah Bernhardt, Oscar Wilde, Lillian Russell and Lily Langtry.
Sun., Sept. 21.
NEW!! KENSICO CEMETERY Get a roundtrip ticket to Valhalla, meet at info booth in Grand Central at 10:30 a.m. and take the train up to Valhalla to see the fall colors and the graves of Ayn Rand, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Tommy Dorsey, Lou Gehrig, Danny Kaye and others.
Sat., Oct. 25,
Sun., Oct. 26.
ELY JACQUES KAHN'S ART DECO NEW YORK Meet on the southwest corner of 7th Avenue and 45th St., in the heart of Times Square. Kahn, more than any other single architect, gave New York the Art Deco skyscraper look we know and love today. Three hours, with a break.
Sat., Sept. 6,
Sat., Nov. 22.
NEWSPAPER ROW Meet on the northeast corner of Broadway and Fulton St., downtown. Fulton St. subway stops. Circa 1900, Park Row was Newspaper Row. Hearst, Pulitzer, Poe, Dickens and the dreaded Five Points slum (as seen in the recent movie "Gangs of New York"). New York's oldest surviving skyscrapers.
Sat., Aug. 16,
Sun., Aug. 17,
Sun., Nov. 23.
HOW NEW YORKERS INVENTED CHRISTMAS Meet on the northeast corner of Broadway and Wall St. Yes, Christmas as we know it was largely started here, in the 19th Century. Find out how, where, and why. See where Virginia's letter was answered, where Washington Irving introduced Americans to Santa Claus and mistletoe, and meet Dickens' Wandering Spirits.
Sat., Dec. 13,
Sun., Dec. 14,
Sat., Dec. 20,
Sun., Dec. 21.
MANHATTAN'S COLONIAL ROADS Meet at Fraunces Tavern, Pearl St. at Broad St., downtown. Whitehall N and R subway stop. An all-day hiking tour of 6 miles and 9 hours, with a one-hour lunch break and 2 rest stops. Walk out of town, to the Mount Vernon Hotel Museum, as folks did 200 years ago. Pictures and maps will show you exactly what you would have seen as you strolled up the Bowery Lane and the Eastern Post Road past farms, ponds, hills and windmills. $40, $30 for those over 65.
Sat., June 21, 9 a.m.
UNION SQUARE, MADISON SQUARE: Available on request.
I will also give a FREE 90-minute Madison Square tour for the Flatiron/23rd Street Partnership at 11 a.m. on the following Sundays: September 7, October 5, November 2, November 30, and December 28.
TOUR SERIES:
REVOLUTIONARY MANHATTAN
REVOLUTION IN THE STREETS Meet at Fraunces Tavern, Pearl St. at Broad St., downtown. Whitehall N an R subway stop. Little-known sites: Taverns, riots, spies, conspiracies, in the midst of the transition of power from King to mob to congress. The Washingtons of Cherry Street.
Sat., Sept. 13.
THE LEGEND OF MARGARET CORBIN Meet on the northwest corner of Broadway and 207th St., far northern Manhattan. "A" Train to 207th St. The battle for Fort Washington, camp life, the historic Dyckman House. The first woman to fight in the U.S. Army. Reading a battle map. Who were the Hessians?
Sun., Sept. 14.
THE SURRENDER OF FORT WASHINGTON Meet at the south entrance of Fort Tryon Park, on Margaret Corbin Plaza, at the north end of Ft. Washington Avenue, in Washington Heights. Take the "A" Train to 190th St. and take the elevator in the subway station to the top of the hill. Manhattan's own major Revolutionary War battle, but very little known. Stand on the ramparts of the "Alamo of the Revolution." Eighteenth Century honor. Fort Washington Park, the George Washington Bridge, and the Little Red Lighthouse. How not to build a fort. Howe to take one.
Sat., Sept. 20, CANCELLED!!
Sat., Nov. 15,
Sun., Nov. 16.
THE BATTLES IN WASHINGTON HEIGHTS Meet on the southeast corner of Ft. Washington Avenue and 181st St. "A" Train to 181st St. Where Washington warred and Burr wooed. John James Audubon, Malcolm X, Clement C. Moore, Mrs. Astor, Billy Sunday, Freddie Prinz, Maria Callas, Gen. Knyphausen and the Hessians, Frankie Lyman and the Teenagers. INCLUDES FREE ADMISSION TO MORRIS-JUMEL MANSION!
Sun., May 11.
DOWN WITH KING GEORGE! Meet on the steps of the Museum of The American Indian, 1 Bowling Green, Broadway at Battery Place, downtown. Bowling Green or Whitehall subway stops. Revolution in the capital of colonial America. African Burial Ground. How New York declared its independence. Sgt. Champe's mission: Kidnap Benedict Arnold!
Sat., Aug. 23,
Sun., Aug. 24.
TOUR SERIES:
AYN RAND'S NEW YORK
AYN RAND'S PARK AVENUE Meet on the southeast corner of Lexington Avenue and E. 45th St. Grand Central subway stops. Where Rand lived and held her salons. Scenes from Atlas Shrugged. Where Rand learned about architecture from Ely Jacques Kahn, in his own masterpiece Art Deco building.
Sat., Sept. 27 CANCELLED!,
Sat., Oct. 11,
Sun., Oct. 12,
Sat., Oct. 18,
Sun., Oct. 19,
Sat., Nov. 8,
Sun., Nov. 9,
Sat., Dec. 6.
SKYSCRAPERS OF THE FOUNTAINHEAD Meet at Number 1 Broadway, at Battery Place. Bowling Green subway stop. The changing styles in architecture -- from Beaux Arts to Art Deco to International Style -- that form the background to the story of Roark's struggle. Was Roark Wright? -- the real-life models for Rand's characters.
Sat., Oct. 4,
Sun., Oct. 5, 3 p.m.
Sat., Nov. 1,
Sun., Nov. 2, 3 p.m.,
Sun., Dec. 7.
AYN RAND ON BROADWAY Meet on the northeast corner of Broadway and W. 49th St. Skyscrapers, newspapers, Broadway and books. DeMille, Hellman, and where Alan Greenspan played sax. Where "The Night of January 16th," "The Unconquered," and "Think Twice" were produced. Isabel Paterson at the Herald Tribune. Patricia Neal, the Shuberts, the Gershwins, and of course more Art Deco. Sun., Sept. 28 CANCELLED!
AYN RAND'S FIFTH AVENUE Meet at the Columbus statue in Columbus Circle. Columbus Circle subway stops. Art and architecture in the glamour shopping district of the Twentieth Century world. Central Park South, Rockefeller Center, the Stork Club, and where Random House published Atlas Shrugged. Where Rand bought her paintings, clothes, and fancy dinners.
Sat., Oct. 11 and Sun., Oct. 12 CANCELLED!
AYN RAND'S PARK AVENUE: CENTENNIAL-PLUS-FOUR BIRTHDAY TOUR! A Park Avenue tour for Ayn's 104th birthday. Meet at 11 a.m. on the southeast corner of Lexington Avenue and E. 45th Street. Grand Central subway stops.
Sunday, February 1, 2009
TOURS START AT 11:00 a.m., EXCEPT MANHATTAN'S COLONIAL ROADS, 9 a.m., Saturday, June 21, and others where indicated in blue.
Some Saturdays and Sundays are still open--call me for a special tour!
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In Depth Walking Tours--Frederick Cookinham--41-07 53rd St., #3A--Woodside, NY 11377-4259
718-397-9019 (Home) 917-607-9019 (cell) fcookinham@juno.com
American Revolution fans, join us at the American Revolution Roundtable: www.arrt-ny.org. For Objectivist-Libertarian monthly discussions, www.nycjunto.com. Rand fans, find goods and services, or meet singles, at www.theatlasphere.com and www.atlassociety.com.