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2019 Conference Tour - South Street Seaport


Apr 14, 2019

The Seaport's extant historic buildings signal the relative opulence of its early days: a warehouse built by one of the most famous American architects of the 19th century; the headquarters of one of America's largest tea enterprises; the finest of hotels, lodging the likes of Teddy Roosevelt as he awaited passage across the Atlantic.

Anything but a fixed historic district, since its inception the Seaport has nearly always been in perpetual flux. In the wake of Superstorm Sandy's submersion of the neighborhood, the Seaport has transformed yet again, this time into a luxury district reshaped by the Howard Hughes Corporation.

Many New Yorkers will remember a very different Seaport - far less wealthy, yet with perhaps a richer sense of community than recent redevelopments suggest. Nostalgia is natural, yet we cannot glamorize those days, when the Fulton Fish Market was ruled by the mob, and the same hotel which lodged Roosevelt transformed into the headquarters of Lucky Luciano. Still, this version of the Seaport has perhaps deeper roots, going back to when this was the city's most infamous district, home to rat pits, lady bouncers, and river pirates.

Every kind of person has walked the Seaport's streets. Perhaps you'd like to join them. Take a walk with Rebecca Manski of the South Street Seaport Museum as the buildings of Seaport tell their story.

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