Walking Tour: The Historic Bowery Thoroughfare

Walk the storied Bowery with one of the expert Eldridge Street tour guides! The Bowery is one of the most architecturally and historically diverse streets in New York City, comprising buildings from nearly every decade between 1800 and 1940. Lower East Side residents, along with folks from all over the city, would flock to the Bowery to hear song buskers like Irving Berlin, see moving pictures, open a bank account, or get a bowl of soup when falling on hard times. Home to theaters, grand bank buildings, education centers, and flophouses, the historic 1.5-mile Bowery had it all. Originally part of the Mohican or Wickquasgeck Trail, which connected Algonquin territory spanning all the way to Montreal, the Dutch settled their New Amsterdam bouweries, or farms, all along the trail, further cementing the land as a major thoroughfare.

The Bowery was officially given its name in 1813, and earned a reputation as a place for wild fun and an anything-goes attitude. Visit numerous sites including the grand Cooper Union building, the former sites of Amato Opera House, music venue CBGB, and much more.

Highlights:

Learn about the famous Bull’s Head Tavern on Canal Street and the Bowery

Visit the spot where P.T. Barnum opened his first store here in 1839

Visit the site of the Bowery Mission which still operates

Pass by the old Amato Opera house

Learn about flophouses

See the sites of many theaters that once were on the Bowery

This Museum at Eldridge Street Walking Tour is only available to small groups (25 people max). This tour is available to both individual ticket holders and families.

Image Credit: “The Bowery, looking North, New York” The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1850 – 1945.