A Walking Tour of the Theater District
Architecture -- History -- Interesting Pictures and Stories
A Walking Tour of the Past and the Present
Meet
at southeast corner of W. 54 St. and Broadway
About 2 hours long, or a : 3 hour version or a 4 hour versionThe tour guide is Alfred Pommer a college graduate, an informative native New Yorker and a Licensed New York City guide,
with over 20 years experience researching, creating and & leading walking tours in Manhattan's many diverse neighborhoods.
The Walking Tour The Theater District's Past and Present Features:
Information about the history and architecture of the
theater district along with interesting pictures and stories
that join us with the neighborhood’s past
A
four hour walk through Times Square, The
Theatre District, Duffy Square,
to the original ‘Actors’ Studio
and into part of the old ‘Hell’s Kitchen’ neighborhood - I will discuss
architecture & history and provide information about some of the more famous
theater owners, broadway producers
& stars connected to the original broadway theaters.
For the 2 hour tour each participant is given an itinerary with 18 stops including 10 New York City landmarks and 1 national landmarks.
For the 3 hour tour each participant is given an itinerary with 29 stops including 10 New York City landmarks and 5 national landmarks
For the 4 hour tour each participant is given an itinerary with 42 stops including 25 New York City landmarks and 5 national landmarks
Each stop is
fully discussed.
Some highlights of the 2 hour tour are:
- Ed Sullivan Theater
- The Brill Building "Tin Pan Alley"
- The best known address on Broadway - actually second to the Brill Building
- A theater that started as The American Horse Exchange
- Jack Dempsey's Corner
- Times Square Church originally a movie palace built in 1929, then a Broadway theater
- “George M. Cohan” actor, producer, director and the only song writer awarded the Congressiona Medal of Honor for a song
- “Father Francis P. Duffy” the hero priest portrayed in the movie "The Fighting 69th"
- The Cort Theater, "let them eat cake"
- Church of Mary the Virgin, the first church in the world built on a steel frame
- Statues of: "Ethel Barrymore" -- "Marilyn Miller" -- "Mary Bickford" -- "Rosa Ponselle"
- The first “Fame” High School of Performing Arts
- Originally was: The Lambs Club
- The Town Hall Theater, built by a group of women as a forum to educate men and women on political issues
- The site of the Studebaker Building (a picture of it) and information about automobile manufacturing right here on Longacre Square
- The original Paramount Building
- Site of Woody Guthie's first New York address where he wrote "This Land is Your Land"
- David Belasco and the Belasco Theatre
- The site where Eugene O’Neil was born
- One Times Square
- The Frohman Brothers and the Theatrical
Syndicate and the Lyceum Theatre and more
and more
Stops included on the 3 hour tour and you
will find out about:
- The original Knickerbocker Hotel
- The New Amsterdam Theater
- The Holy Cross Roman Catholic Church
- The oldest functioning Broadway theater, was where "The World's Most Beautiful Woman" appeared on stage
- The New York Actor's Studio, originally a church from 1858
- New Dramatist, theater, readings, workshops and much more for playwrights
- originally: The Martin Beck Theater from 1924
- "The Unorthodox Masterpiece"
- The Film Center Building
- The Shubert Brothers and The Shubert Theater and The Booth Theater
Stops included on the 4 hour tour and you
will find out about:
- The Barrymore Theater
- Irving Berlin's "Music Box Theater"
- originally the Globe Theater
- Hotel Edison and a beautiful Art Noveau mural by Ezra Winter
- The Eugene ON'eil Theater
- The site where Bat Materson died
- The site where "the meeting place of the world" was located, Jack Dempsey
- St. Malachy's Church also known as "the actor's chapel"
- Congregation Ezrath Israel known as: "The Actor's Temple"
- The site where the third Madison Square Garden was located, where President John F. Kennedy had his 45th birthday party and more
- A theater that is styled after a 15th Century Tuscan Villa.
- A 19th century Beaux Arts courthouse converter to a cultural center with 4
theatres
A walk through a part of ‘Hells kitchen’
Optional: originally The Church of St. Benedict the Moore from 1869, converted to St. Benedict's Church in 1890
Interested in a private walking tour ?
Call: (212) 979-2388 for details www.nycwalk.com
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