Sewage, Sex, and Sickness in the Five Points

The "Sewage, Sex, and Sickness in the Five Points" walking tour is a fascinating deep dive into the unknown corners of what was once the most densely populated neighborhood in New York City. Learning about the trials and tribulations that immigrants had to deal with on a daily basis, gives us a new-found appreciation for social safety nets and access to healthcare. Suzanne's well-researched tour is intriguing and informative -- with irreverent humor thrown in for good measure! Highly recommended!

Susanne's tour is a delicious—and, on occasion, delightfully disgusting (hey, we're talking about 19th-century sewage here!) —journey back to 19th-century New York. She combines deep knowledge of the period with a sense of whimsy, delivering a narration that is always easy to hear and enriched by a fascinating collection of historical photos and images from the era. To help visitors visualize long-gone sites such as Cow Bay and Paradise Square, she also distributes vintage maps of the area, bringing the city's past vividly to life. In preparing this tour, she has ventured down countless historical rabbit holes—and you'll thoroughly enjoy exploring them alongside her.

Mrs: Suzanne is very professional guide

Suzanne Reisman brought to life an undercounted era of New York City history. Her narration made the former Five Points district feel like a ghost landscape: a place whose streets, buildings, smells, and social conditions have largely been erased by redevelopment, but whose history still lingers beneath present-day Chinatown. By interpreting the neighborhood through sewage, sex, sickness, poverty, and survival, she allowed us to see what no longer visibly exists and to sense the human reality behind the notorious reputation of the old Five Points.