New York Five Points Walking Tour

Explore the grim, often overlooked history of Five Points on a New York walking tour through a neighborhood that development erased. Once described as the foul core of the city’s slums, this area is now part of Chinatown, but its past remains vivid in the stories of those who lived here.

Over 135 minutes, follow the traces of vanished streets and natural features while learning how sewage, sex, and sickness shaped life in Five Points from 1800 to 1900. Hear about the people who endured poverty in a neighborhood that was razed and rebuilt beginning in 1897. Your guide brings a deep interest in the subject, backed by a Master of Public Administration from Columbia University and study with the Sanitation Foundation’s Trash Academy.

This candid look at New York’s past is not for the faint of heart. Meet at Collect Pond Park on Leonard Street between Lafayette and Centre Streets, and discover the stories beneath the modern city on this New York Five Points walking tour.