Lower East Side

Sightseeing and Attractions: (Duration: 4 hours with a Licensed NYC Tour Guide)

Discover how the Lower East Side evolved as it welcomed wave after wave of immigrants, including the Irish, Germans, Eastern Europeans, Italians, Chinese, and Latin Americans. Learn about life in the tenements in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. You will see what people endured to come to America and learn how they lived, worked, and made the best of what they had. Every culture that passed through the Lower East Side has left its mark; discover an intact synagogue from 1887, and another synagogue that is now a Buddhist temple. Before the arrival of the immigrants, the area was a farmland. In fact, Orchard Street on the Lower East Side was named for what it once ran through: Mr. de Lancy’s orchards. Several stops will be made along the way to illustrate the area’s rich history.

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About Eric Gordon

Eric J Gordon has been working in the travel and tourism industry for over 25 years and founded Beyond Times Square, a leading New York-based company in 2003.

Eric is the son of Harold Gordon, the founder of Park East Tours, one of the first USA based African Safari Companies. Eric is a native New Yorker. He was raised just outside of NYC in Rockland County, but because of his parents love for NYC (they owned an apartment in Manhattan) and his father’s passion for Broadway Theater, Eric spent much of his youth in Manhattan.

Eric jumped out of college and into the safari business. After 10 years at Park East and selling the business, he moved on. Having spent so much time in New York, he declared himself a New York Expert. He saw the fragmentation in the New York City tourism industry and created Beyond Times Square, making many services available to travelers. He set out appealing to the group market and then moved on to private high-end luxury vacations in New York City, Washington DC, Boston, Philadelphia and Niagara Falls. The name Beyond Times Square grew and in 2012 Beyond Times Square became the preferred on-site tour company for the prestigious Virtuoso Luxury Travel Consortium. He also was voted on to the board of NYC&Co in 2014, serving as the first tour operator member.

Eric holds a BA in Psychology from the State University of New York College at Oswego and an MBA from Baruch College in NYC. He has visited 47 of 50 states, over 40 countries and counting.