Timeline Touring/ LoVer East Side Tours

This tour provided us with a terrific glimpse into the history and background of the Lower East Side. The guide was extremely knowledgable, and clearly enjoyed sharing his knowledge and special insights with the group. He was patient and enthusiastic, yet was also sure to get the group where it needed to be when it needed to be there. The bialys were delicious, and Guss' pickles can't be beat. The stories that went along with the variuos temples, banks, hebrew schools, newspapers, the JCC and apartment buildings were fascinating. I've always wanted to find out more about the Lower East Side and its many layers, and this tour was a wonderul entree into that, Thank you for offering this experience; it meant a lot to me, my husband and our son. Fascinating!

The tour was interesting and combined history, food venues and great sites. The guide was knowledgeable and very friendly. Highly recommended! R. S.

We weren't familiar w/this part of town and its heritage, but walking w/ a very friendly and knowledgable guide through the streests, hearing stories, tasting its magnificent falvours etc. was a great experience. We sure recomand it to any local person who wants to explore the city on its marvel options and for tourists!

We have visited NYC several times, but we have alwas wanted to explore "new" neighborhoods, especially the Lower East Side. Although we could have walked around on our own, we definitely would not have learned as much as we did with Jeff, who pointed out some of the architectural and other neighborhood nuances we would not have known to look for. We did leave our children with the grandparents because we didn't think they would be up for a 3 hr tour - but we had a great time and would like to come back and do more exploring and shopping. Thanks for a memorable time.

We are from Israel, and we enjoy the tour and lerned about the zone history.

I chose to go on this tour because I wanted to try to capture the feeling and flavor of the Lower East Side as my Father would have known it in the 1920's. I felt that the tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and even gave us a little more info when we asked but I would have liked to have seen more photos. He showed us some photos from a couple of books but the images were small and hard to see. Perhaps he can increase their size for easy viewing. What I wanted to walk away with on this tour was a feeling of what the people looked like as well as the character of the buildings. The tour guide achieved this but I still feel more pics would enhance the tour.

Jeff was a very informative and interesting guide. There was so much to learn and we covered so much detail. The visit to the Greek synagogue was a gem. This was a wonderful way to remember some childhood memories.

Unfortunately due to the bad weather and threat of heavy rain, my husband and I were the only two people on this tour but, being English and used to making the best of touring even when the weather is bad, the weather didn't spoil the day. Jeffrey Altman made us feel welcome and very at ease. We really enjoyed the glimpse into New York's Jewish history and found the visit to the Greek/Roman synagogue particularly interesting. We would highly recommend this tour to anyone visiting New York as you can still see so many of the original features and buildings that the Jewish immigrants would have seen. Jeffrey Altman's enthusiasm for his subject, together with his sense of humour and considerable knowledge of the history made for a very enjoyable afternoon.

Jeff is the perfect tour guide. He not only talks, he listens and quickly ensures that what he is explaining is what we were interested in hearing about and seeing. The tour itself covered everything from architecture to synagogues to pickles! Highly recommended!

Our entire group of 12 men and women thoroughly enjoyed our tour of the Lower East Side. Our guide, Jeff Altman, was most informative and made everything so much fun. We saw so much of the old and the new in the area and enjoyed seeing how things had changed but kept much of the original flavor. It was a most worthwhile afternoon.

I consider myself a traditional Jew that is looking for her past. I often wondered about about my grandparents and other Jews who gave me so much by coming to this country. My grandparents both left Europe because of persecution. As I walked with Jeff Altman, our guide, and listened to all that these immigrants endured just to give me a better life, I felt so in awe. If only my parents were alive today so I could share with them this experience. Our daughter was with us on the tour. I hope she looked through that window to the past and realize the same feelings I had. As Jeff pointed out the Forward Building, I could see my grandfather reading that paper in yiddish on the front porch of his house when I would visit on Sunday. I must tell you that Jeff did an outstanding job on this tour. I felt as if I was one of the new arrivals, not a member of the tour. We saw an elderly couple walking from one of the assisted living apartments, a man and a woman. With it step that the women took, she took her cane and pushed off anything that would have made the man trip with his cane. I said to my husband "do you think that we will be us when we reach that age?". Just the little things made this tour so memorable. Thank you and Jeff Altman for making this a memorable afternoon. Richmond, Va

Our tour guide was on time and packed more into a three hour tour than Gilligan and the Skipper ever could. We were culturally immersed into the turn of the century Lower East Side and saw many buildings and sites that we would have otherwised missed if we tried to do this on our own. Our tour guide was pleasant and personable, and excellent at keeping the group together as we wandered the packed city streets. Definitely an experience we'd repeat in the future!

A thoroughly enjoyable, educational and very worth while walking tour of the Lower East Side, featured Jewish immigration, settlement in the tenements, the establishment of the Garment District (then), neighborhood stores and ethnic restaurants were some of the highlights. Visiting the Greek-Romanesque Synagogue was among the most interesting part of this tour. For me, seeing where my parents lived (Ludlow Street) when they immigrated to this country was very stirring. Jeff, our tour guide, was very knowledgeable and gave a factual account of what the immigrants faced, how they lived and prospered during their re-settlement in the U.S. Of course, stopping to nosh at a delicious local bakery and bagel shop, plus, a store where you could purchase pickles, if you chose, rounded out this wonderful excursion through the Lower East side in a most delightful way! I highly recommend this fascinating Jewish tour to people of all ages! It will help you step back in time and get re-acquainted with your roots.

excellent tour very informative and enjoyable

Our guide was most knowledgeable about the area, I leaned a lot of interesting facts and thoroughly enjoyed walking about as the guide brought the area to life