Coming Home to New York with Big Apple Greeter
Many people enjoy taking “homecoming” trips to the places they remember from childhood. For Janice Smith, that trip posed a challenge: She was born in New York, but her family moved to the West Coast when she was a baby.
With deep family roots in both Brooklyn and Long Island, Janice, who hadn’t been to New York since her family’s move, and her daughter and first-time visitor Katie Saechao spent more than a year planning a visit to New York from their homes in Oregon. After reading about Big Apple Greeter in a Frommer’s travel guide, Katie and Janice reached out to request a Greeter to help them plan a day exploring their family history.
Brooklyn native Charlie Niessner proved to be a perfect match. He is not only a long-time Greeter, but also an experienced genealogist. That background allowed him to help Katie flesh out some details in a family tree that she’s been developing to share with relatives.
Drawing on diaries kept by Janice’s parents, Lillian and Raymond Howe, Charlie put together an itinerary that would take Janice and Katie past the family’s old haunts—from the hospital where Ray was born, to houses the couple lived in and schools they’d attended, and to the church where Lillian and Ray were married.
Following in Her Family’s Footsteps
The day started with Charlie meeting the visitors at their hotel in Times Square and accompanying them on the subway to Brooklyn, providing a primer on NYC public transit along the way. Charlie had created a walking itinerary and maps of the neighborhoods they would visit to help orient Janice and Katie to both their walking routes and transportation options as they traveled from the neighborhoods surrounding Prospect Park, roughly in the center of the borough, to Bay Ridge in Brooklyn’s southwest corner.
Katie says that the chance to visit the places her grandparents grew up was very special. She added, “We were surprised by the beauty and history in Brooklyn. Everyone was so helpful and friendly.”
Charlie left Janice and Katie near Lillian’s family home in Bay Ridge, where she and Ray lived after his discharge from the Marine Corps. Confident about traveling around the city on their own after Charlie’s transportation tips, and equipped with travel instructions on the written itinerary he created, mother and daughter celebrated their day with a hot dog in Coney Island and a special dinner at Gage & Tollner, a downtown Brooklyn restaurant that has operated in several locations since 1879, followed by a walk back to Manhattan across the Brooklyn Bridge.