About:
Norman Oder founded New York Like A Native (NYLAN) in 2000 with one introductory tour. Over the years, he's become a Brooklyn tour expert--his tour repertoire has grown steadily to emcompass numerous neighborhoods around the borough, with Williamsburg and Greenpoint the most popular after Brooklyn 101.
He offers custom tours as well as specialized tours, including Jewish neighborhoods in Brooklyn and the famous Dyker Heights Christmas Lights. Beyond Brooklyn, he leads tours in Manhattan's Lower East Side and East Village, and in the Queens neighborhoods of Jackson Heights, Long Island City, and Sunnyside.
Norman has led tours for college groups, the Municipal Art Society, library groups, State Department visitors, urban planners, seniors groups, singles organizations, temple & Jewish groups, the Learning Annex, and numerous individuals, couples, and small and large family groups.
He is a licensed New York City tour guide, with a long career as a journalist. Norman contributes to national and local publications, and is writing a book about Brooklyn's controversial Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park development, which includes the Barclays Center arena.
Special Tours:
I especially like helping introduce people to multiple Brooklyn neighborhoods in a single tour, or to devise a route in honor of a birthday or anniversary to re-introduce a Brooklynite to neighborhoods they haven't seen in a while.
Brooklyn neighborhoods where I lead tours: Greenpoint, Williamsburg, Bushwick/East Williamsburg, Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bedford-Stuyvesant, Crown Heights, Park Slope, Prospect Heights, Boerum Hill, Atlantic Avenue, Downtown Brooklyn, DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill, Carroll Gardens, Red Hook, Gowanus, Sunset Park, Bay Ridge, Borough Park, Bensonhurst, Dyker Heights, Coney Island, Brighton Beach, Flatbush, Prospect Park South. In Queens: Long Island City, Sunnyside. In Manhattan: Lower East Side.
Please get in touch. I lead all tours myself and am happy to work with you.
Languages:
English
Availability:
Varies--please contact me
Services Offered:
Tour Consultant
Tour Guide
Tours Offered:
Brooklyn
DUMBO
Lower East Side
Private Tours
Queens
Walking Tours
East Village
Featured Tours by Norman Oder
Brooklyn 101: Brooklyn Introductory Tour
A fast-paced 3-hour private tour of Brooklyn highlights--DUMBO, Brooklyn Heights, Civic Center (Downtown Brooklyn), and Prospect Heights/Park Slope, including a subway ride in the middle. An extended version is possible, as is a shorter, slower version.
Williamsburg, Brooklyn tour
A wide-ranging 2.5-hour private tour introduction to the complex neighborhood of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, including the hipsterized zone, some less gentrified blocks, and a piece of Hasidic South Williamsburg. Extensions are available.
Lower East Side Tour: History, Heritage, and the Cutting Edge.
A wide-ranging 2.5-hour private tour of the complex Lower East Side, from historic synagogues and settlement (social work) houses to hip hotels and shopping/eating, from streets of reclaimed tenements to zones scarred--and, in some cases, resurrected--by urban renewal.