Friends and family coming into the city for the holidays? Treat them to a private Nicky Tour. Friends and family of subscribers to this newsletter get 10% off every tour.
I’m also running the NYC Marathon for the the Children’s IBD Center at Mount Sinai; you can donate to my marathon fundraiser here.
Greetings from Nicky Tours HQ! I’m back with some big updates from a spookily warm autumn day in NYC. In this issue: an NYC Marathon update (spoiler: I’m running!), guest spotlights, a BIG announcement about some past and upcoming (*gasp*) PUBLIC tours, and a roundup of my favorite NYC books. Let’s do it!
If you haven’t already, make sure to follow Nicky Tours on Instagram and TikTok, where I’m sharing my favorite NYC stories and insights from the NYC streets; somehow, we’re up to nearly 30,000 followers across both platforms. We’re also up to over 160 tour reviews across Google and TripAdvisor (the five-star streak is still alive…)
NYC Marathon
Keen-eyed Nicky Tours acolytes will remember that I helped to plan out an epic tour last year for the Grossmans, who were visiting from California to watch their son, Kyle, run the NYC Marathon. This year, I’m doing something even more exciting: running the race myself!
Yes, that’s right: this Sunday, November 1, I’ll be ditching the post-Halloween hangover and touching all five boroughs during my first New York Marathon. This is something I’ve always kept in the back of my mind as something I MIGHT want to do, and when the right opportunity came up a few months ago to sub in for a charity I care deeply about, I seized the opportunity. Since I joined late, I’ve had a pretty short ramp-up (about nine weeks), but I’ve gotten in all my long training runs (16 miles earlier this month outside hilly Knoxville, TN; 20 miles here last week, including a rain-soaked sprint through Times Square with my dear friend Henry):
While I’m stoked to run NYC, a lifelong dream of mine, I’m particularly excited to be running for Mount Sinai on behalf of my dear friend Lowell Dylan. Lowell was diagnosed with Crohn’s Disease at 2 years old (an extremely young diagnosis) and has undergone serious surgeries, procedures, medical tests, hospital stays, and doctor’s visits in the more than two decades since. In 2019, I was thrilled to run the LA Marathon for Stacy’s own organization, Connecting to Cure, a nonprofit which she founded 14 years ago to fundraise for IBD research, provide support and resources to patients and families, and raise awareness by amplifying the voices of the IBD community.
Anything you can donate is so very appreciated—every dollar goes directly to the Children’s IBD Center at Mount Sinai, an organization conducting world-leading research dedicated to preventing future cases like Lowell’s. This is a cause very dear to my heart, and I hope you’ll consider giving what you can: DONATE HERE
As much fun as I had giving a marathon tour last year, I’m hoping Sunday is even more special. If you’re in New York, I’ll see you on race day! Go Team IBDKids!
Guest Spotlights
It’s been a great crop of Fall guests so far. Some of my favorites:
The Larkeys, second-time Nicky Tours guests, back for more private, custom tour from London, Kentucky. FAO Schwarz, the Roosevelt Island tram, and a Yankees game (RIP):
The Loves and Lehrs, a pair of first-time NYC couples from Nebraska who put up with me for a Nicky Tour-record 32 hours across five total days of private, custom tour guiding:
They claimed they didn’t get sick of me…
The Harris family, hailing from Milwaukee and in town to try the city’s finest matcha on an NYC private tour (shoutout to my sister Katie’s Wellness Club for the Sorell SoHo rec):
And my first ever guests from Iceland! Birna Bjarnadóttir and crew got the origin story of NYC on my Why New York? private history tour:
November and December are filling up fast; join the more than 600 guests who have taken a private NYC tour so far this year (yes, somehow that number is accurate).
Public Tours
One of the exciting things about running my own company has been staying flexible and keeping my business options open. When I started Nicky Tours just over a year ago, I figured I’d only ever be giving private tours. As my reach has expanded, though, I’m slowly beginning to branch out to public, group tours. I’m starting to run these just about every month now, and I’m especially excited about the public tour I ran this past weekend: Designing Central Park, the first installment in what I’m calling my PhD & Me series. I teamed up with Professor Ethan Carr of the University of Amherst, Massachusetts, to craft a deep dive on Frederick Law Olmsted’s role in designing Central Park. After listing it over a month in advance, it sold out within a few days, and ended up being a total hit; I’m excited to run more!
In the meantime, I’m offering the following (PhD-less) tours to the public:
November 8, 2026: Why New York? A deep dive into the origin story of New York City, from Battery Park to City Hall. This one’s for charity (fundraising for the marathon) and set at accessible, tiered pricing. TICKETS HERE
December 6, 2026: Greenwich Village (featuring tour guide extraordinaire Liza Banks Campagna). A tour of the Village, featuring a ride on a subway from the 1930s, co-led with my tour guide buddy Liza Banks. Tickets available soon.
December 13, 2026: The East Village (a SantaCon Protest Tour). A tour of my favorite NYC neighborhood, again featuring a ride on a special holiday nostalgia subway. Tickets coming soon.
Sign up today! And Stay tuned for more public tour news, including my next PhD co-host.
NYC Books
I’m always getting asked on my tours how I remember so much about the city. The answer: I read books by people who know lots more than me! I’m currently working on a “sources” document for my social media channels, where I’ll include more of my favorite NYC resources, but in the meantime here are some of my favorite NYC books (which you should buy from your local bookstore!):
My all-time favorite NYC history book; a raucous account of downtown Manhattan from the 1880s through the 1920s, written by an all-time Lower East Side Legend
A natural history of New York City, tracing the city’s nature back to its precolonial days. I start practically every one of my tours by referencing this book.
The Power Broker, by Robert Caro
The granddaddy of them all; an essential account of NYC through the lens of its most controversial planner, Robert Moses
The Big Oyster, by Mark Kurlansky
Another banger focusing on the centrality of this bivalve mollusk to the development of New York City
City on a Grid, by Gerard Koeppel
I’m a sucker for critiquing the NYC streetgrid system, and you will be too after diving deep into the history of the grid
Until next time, Nicky Tours community! Catch me next time on an NYC tour (if I survive this Sunday…)
Peace,
Nicky
