New York Like A Native

I took Norman Oder’s «Victorian Flatbush» tour over the weekend. He really is an expert guide. He has a great way of giving you just the right amount of detail and always makes the context crystal clear (historical, geographic, economic) – as well as keeping it entertaining. A total pro. Highly recommended.

I am a university professor who recently hired Norman Oder (New York Like a Native) to lead college students on two walking tours – one through the Lower East Side and another in Brooklyn. I found Norman to be incredibly knowledgeable, dynamic, and engaging. So did my students! Norman showed us the hidden dimensions of each neighborhood’s present and its past. He worked with me to customize both tours. Indeed, Norman went out of his way to do research in advance of our tours. Simply put, if you want to learn more about Lower Manhattan or Brooklyn, you cannot do better than New York like a Native!

My husband and I very recently took a whole day walking tour of Brooklyn with Norman, visiting several neighborhoods during our tour. I had taken a similar tour with Norman two years ago with family and friends, including two teen boys. Norman is amazing!!! He is knowledgeable, enthusiastic and responsive to what you say you would like to do. For both tours, because we we told Norman that we wanted to see as many neighborhoods as possible, when we met we reviewed a map with Norman and agreed on the tour route. He knows how to keep things moving, interesting, fun and often funny. Norman includes showing restaurants, food shops, history and architecture on the tour. Both tours were just great, and I hope to have another tour with Norman.

Norman created a customized tour for my team at work (there were 3 of us plus Norman). We requested a few areas in Bed Stuy, Clinton Hill and Crown Heights, and he designed one that hit all of the areas that took around 2.5 hours. He had done his research, but he is also humble. When, understandably, he didn’t know EVERY answer, he followed up via email after the tour. He walks very fast, so be prepared with sneakers and water. He showed us historic places from many different decades and histories, and he was also up on the latest Brooklyn political campaigns. We had a great time and learned a lot as a team.