The Viele Map

"No other city is so spitefully incoherent"

--James Baldwin

Welcome to Manhattan Unlocked Walking Tours

Discover the hidden-in-plain-sight history and have fun decoding the architectural assortments of New York's most iconic (and architecturally complex) neighborhoods.

About Us

Manhattan Unlocked began as a blog over a decade ago to explore and explain the complex and captivating histories behind New York's constellation of neighborhoods that stretch nearly five miles from the Battery to Central Park--what most people consider New York City. It was a journey to test the waters for a book project, and the results were promising enough to dive into discovering the single story history behind the architectural creation of New York City. Our method of research and exploration involved creating immersive walking tours for key New York neighborhoods that together tell a unifying story of the city.

Our Walking Tours

Join us on a journey through time and space and re-discover long lost geographies and bygone transit systems. Manhattan Unlocked walking tours cover neighborhoods with their own unique stories to tell, but that were all part of the "city's" move uptown from City Hall to Central Park.

What Makes Our Tours Special?

  • Historical Insights:We believe that understanding Manhattan's long lost geography is crucial to grasping how "the city" moved uptown.
  • Transit Tales:Learn how different forms of rail transit--from horsecars in the 1850s to subways in the 1900s--shaped the city's architectural diversity.
  • The Pump Uptown:Discover how the daily act of "commuting to work" played a pivotal role in the city's growth, turning it into the vibrant metropolis we know today.
  • The Book: Build: The History of New York City on the Island of Manhattan

    While our walking tours provide a taste of Manhattan's history, we're also hard at work on a book that will dive deep into the city's past and explain the logic behind the "conveyer belt" of neighborhoods running up Broadway and Fifth Avenue, along a path of modern-day "ruins" of forgotten "cities."

    Join Us on a Walking Tour

    We are relaunching our walking tours over the Fall 2023 after the challenges of covid. We hope to see you on a tour of the history behind the world's most inspiring streetscapes.

    Re-launch dates:

    Sept 18: Midtown Manhattan Art and Architecture Walking Tour

    Midtown west

    Sept 27: Holdouts! Based on the Alpern & Durst Book

    Midtown east

    Oct 10: Recreate the Most Requested Walking Tour of 1840s New York

    NoHo & SoHo to City Hall

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

    Astor Place to Madison Square

    TBD: A Disastrous History of Housing the Poor

    Chinatown and The Lower East Side

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

    Click Here to See Tours

    Friday, November 26, 2010

    WTC progress

    Just a quick post and a few pictures to show the progress at the WTC site, the soon to be Reflecting Absence memorial in the footprints of the towers.  They tested the waterfalls a few weeks ago.

    I haven't gotten choked up about September 11 in a long time, but the size of the memorial is staggering when you see it for the first time. It was difficult to view, but I guess it's supposed to be.


    That's part of the footprint of the South Tower, I think that's a generator and lights being hoisted up.

    The South Tower footprint/Reflecting Absence being born...

    The view from the Winter Garden.  I've been at this spot maybe a dozen times since September 11 and for years the feeling was like you were looking at a construction site.  With the memorials in view now, the feeling here is starting to change.


    The opposite direction of the above view....

    16 comments:

    1. Wow...great pictures! Keep them coming!

      ReplyDelete
    2. cool blog. next time i'm in the city, hopefully i can come out for a tour.

      -cousin tim

      ReplyDelete
    3. whoah this blog is fantastic i love reading your posts. Keep up the great work! You know, lots of people are looking around for this information, you could aid them greatly. 온라인카지노


      ReplyDelete
    4. 토토사이트 Hi there everyone, it's my first visit at this web site,
      and post is actually fruitful in favor of me, keep up posting these types of articles.


      ReplyDelete
    5. Very soon this website will be famous among all blogging and site-building people, due to it's nice posts 온라인카지노

      ReplyDelete
    6. I’ve a project that I am just now working on, and I have been on the look out for such information. 릴게임

      ReplyDelete
    7. 토토사이트 Yay google is my queen assisted me to find this outstanding website!

      ReplyDelete
    8. 온라인카지노 Hi to every one, it's in fact a nice for me to pay a quick
      visit this website, it consists of important Information.

      ReplyDelete
    9. 국내배구중계
      국내축구중계
      해외야구중계


      Excellent read, I just passed this onto a friend who was doing a little research on that.

      ReplyDelete
    10. This is an awesome article, Given such an extraordinary measure of data in it,
      프로토
      사설토토
      공식인증업체

      ReplyDelete
    11. 먹튀검증디비
      안전놀이터

      Hey, I appreciate your quality stuff and I would like to read more quality stuff like this. keep sharing

      ReplyDelete
    12. 먹튀검증
      먹튀검증완료
      안전토토사이트
      I don’t even understand how I stopped up here, but I thought this submit used to be good

      ReplyDelete