Queens Then & Now
3 hours — Long Island City, Queens — English 🇺🇸 or French 🇫🇷 — $75 per person
The best view of the Manhattan skyline is not from Manhattan.
It's from a waterfront in Long Island City, next to a Pepsi sign that's been there since 1936, looking across the East River at the UN and fifty years of skyline in one unbroken frame. Nobody puts this on their itinerary and it's exactly why this tour exists.
Long Island City has been many things: an industrial hub, a working-class neighborhood, the birthplace of hip-hop royalty, a film and television production center, and now a neighborhood at an inflection point. This tour walks through all of it. The old taxi garages and the new craft bars. The projects and the contemporary art museum. The diner that has been there for decades and the waterfront that was inaccessible until recently. The New York that most tourists miss, and most New Yorkers take for granted.
Three hours in the most underrated neighborhood in the city.
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Silvercup Studios The factory that became a studio. Highlander filmed an iconic scene here. So did The Sopranos, Mad Men, Succession, and Gossip Girl. The sign on the roof has appeared in more New York stories than most official landmarks.
Queensbridge, under the bridge The largest public housing project in the United States. Nas grew up here. So did Mobb Deep. The music that came out of these blocks changed American culture permanently.
Hunter's Point The neighborhood's industrial past is still visible if you know what you're looking at. So is everything arriving to replace it. Gentrification is not a theory here — it's happening on this block, in real time.
The waterfront The Pepsi-Cola sign. The LIC Ferry landing. The UN, Midtown, fifty years of Manhattan skyline in one unbroken frame. This is the photograph you came to New York to take, from the place you didn't know existed.
Slice, one of the most respected pizza joints in Queens, is right here if the group is hungry.
MoMA PS1 Contemporary art in a former public school, one block from the waterfront. One of the most important contemporary art institutions in the world, consistently underestimated because it's in Queens. If it's a Warm Up Saturday, the courtyard will be full.
Court Square Diner A New York diner, exactly as advertised. Four subway lines within a block. The tour ends here. The city continues in whatever direction you choose.
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Starts at
Silvercup Studios, Long Island City, Queens
Ends at
Court Square Diner, Long Island City, Queens
Duration
3 hours
Languages
English 🇺🇸 / French 🇫🇷
Price
$75 per person
Group size
Maximum 10 people
Schedule
Saturday: Morning from 9AM to 12:00; Afternoon from 12:30PM to 3:30PM ; Early evening from 4PM to 7PM
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Comfortable shoes
A bottle of water
What’s not included: subway fares, museum entry fees, food and beverages