© OpenStreetMapPlaying the first story
How it works. Press start and go. As you reach each place, a narrator tells its story, timed to your pace. Your music drops down while a story plays and comes back after. Tours download to your phone and play without a connection.
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The stories on this route
- Mile 0.0
Radio Bakery
Look for the small storefront on India Street in Greenpoint. This is Radio Bakery, and it comes from the team behind Rolo's, a restaurant in Ridgewood.
- Mile 1.3
Altbau
Look at the old industrial building on North 8th Street. The new bakery here is called Altbau, and the name says exactly what it is. In German, an Altbau is an older building. The opposite is a Neubau, a new one.
- Mile 4.3
Saison
Look at the corner of Hancock Street and Marcus Garvey Boulevard. This is Saison. It started as a pop-up, and now it has a brick-and-mortar bakery here in Bed-Stuy.
- Mile 6.3
Hanson Place Church and 'Shall We Gather at the River'
Look at the front of this church: four tall columns with carved Corinthian tops, under a steeply pitched pediment. One afternoon in July 1864, the pastor here, Robert Lowry, was lying on a lounge in oppressive heat. Words began to construct themselves in his head.
- Mile 7.2
Gage & Tollner
Look at the painted wooden storefront on Fulton Street, then through the big front window. Arched mirrors, chandeliers, mahogany. That's an interior from the 1890s. Charles Gage opened an eating place on Fulton Street back in 1879.
- Mile 7.7
L'Appartement 4F
Look at the storefront on Montague Street. The name is a clue: L'Appartement 4F. Gautier Coiffard, born and raised in France, started making bread in 2019 in the couple's Cobble Hill apartment. Unit 4F. In March 2020, he and his wife, Ashley, sold their first batch to her co-workers at a bank.
- Mile 8.9
Brooklyn Bridge opening, 1883
Look up at the four cables sweeping down to meet the deck. When this bridge opened in May 1883, about 150,000 people crossed on the first day. A week later, a crush on the steps at the Manhattan end set off a rumour that something was wrong with the bridge. Twelve people died. It was fine.
- Mile 10.3
Elbow Bread
Look at the little corner bakery where Ludlow meets Canal. A baker who came from Sadelle's runs it. The pastries lean on old Jewish American baking: a sticky challah honey bun, a caramelized caraway rye palmier, a dill-infused potato knish with a crunchy crust. The corner has a past, too.
- Mile 11.3
CBGB, 315 Bowery
Look at 315 Bowery: a plain four-storey building with a yellow-brick Art Deco front. In 1973, Hilly Kristal opened a club on the ground floor and called it CBGB. The letters stood for Country, Bluegrass, Blues. That was the music he meant to book.
- Mile 11.6
Librae Bakery
Look at the window with gold lettering at Cooper Square and East 6th Street. A real-life couple, Dona Murad and Andre Gerschel, are behind Librae. It has been described as the first Bahraini female-owned bakery in New York, opened by Dona Murad-Gerschel in 2022.
- Mile 11.7
Hani's Bakery & Cafe
Look across from Cooper Union at the door with a big D for a handle. That D was left by the previous tenant, Dunkin'.
- Mile 11.9
La Cabra
Look at the small shop on Second Avenue with the L-shaped counter. La Cabra is a coffee company that got its start in Aarhus, Denmark, in 2012. This was the first of several planned New York outposts, and it debuted on October 1, 2021.
- Mile 12.1
From Lucie
Look at the small storefront on East 10th Street, between First Avenue and Avenue A. This is From Lucie.
- Mile 12.4
Veniero's
Look at the long old neon sign reading Veniero's, and the pastry cases in the windows.
- Mile 13.7
Eleven Madison Park
Look at the stepped Art Deco tower across from Madison Square Park. It's the Metropolitan Life North Building, 30 stories tall. It was supposed to be 100.
Stories researched October 2026 · every fact checked against a source