Gothamist: Faulty Tours?

Bickle

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 08:37:04 -0500

Another inaccuracy: "To our right, this is called the East Village. Artists live here."

"Shoulders" O'Brien

Mon, 26 Sep 2005 06:51:55 -0500

OK, in the type of bus pictured here, what's on the main deck? No windows, no nothin'. Are there seats? Why would there be? So what's down there? I picture a room to get your party on, with a wet bar, disco ball, and kickin' tunes. City Sights NY up top, Mobile Groove down below.

tour guide

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 20:48:32 -0500

how bad is not bad? it depends on which company you end up at and what kind of money you are looking for. i'd say between 12-20 an hour. grey line is a union shop, so it pays for all the hours you're assigned, even when you aren't giving a tour, but pays less than non-union city sights, who only pays you when you're giving a tour but pays something like twenty an hour. if you have character though, the tips can easily be fifty or more. there are better jobs, but at how many of them do you just talk about new york all day?

Scott

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 20:32:13 -0500

"They're generally hiring, and the pay is not bad at all." How bad is "not bad"? curious...

Brooklyn Jim

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 18:14:22 -0500

Those tours have always had always had inaccuracies. Since there are no New Yorkers taking the tour and the tourist don't know the difference. If you want to go on a very accurate and excellent tour check The Slice of Brooklyn Pizza tour at asliceofbrooklyn.com.

warren

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 13:55:04 -0500

Washington Irving depicted New Yorkers as wise-asses and know-it-alls, calling them Gothamites back in 1807. In 13th century England there was a village called "Gotham." The King at the time wanted to turn the village into a vacation spot. The villagers decided to act like mental cases, running around and screaming, which effectively turned the Kings men away; he decided to vacation elsewhere rather than live among the crazies. Gotham itself became legendary for the cunning of its "wise fools," likely leading Irving to dub New Yorkers "Gothamites."

factcheckerchecker

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 12:56:01 -0500

According to the Daily News Harrison Ford doesn't live in the Time Warner center either- they say Trump World Tower. That's ok, though. You've got 149 questions to go.

garth

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 12:44:22 -0500

The name definitely predates Irving, he was just the first guy to pin it onto NYC.

Chelsea

Sun, 25 Sep 2005 12:37:05 -0500

According to the wonderful book "Gotham", written by two local professors, the name gotham comes from got-ham which means something like "sheep pasture" in Dutch. I don't have it in front of me (Its a big book, my apt is very small, hence its in storage *grin*), so it may really be goats and not sheep, but I do think the name predates Irving...