James Kaplan is a tax and estate attorney. He is a walking tour historian who has extensively studied New York's history and has given more than 250 walking tours of various parts of New York City. He has also written articles on New York's history for the Wall Street Journal, Newsday, and Last Exit Magazine.

Co-Founder &amp; Chairman of the Lower Manhattan Historical Association

 At the second stop, on Broadway at Chambers Street, James Kaplan discusses the battles of Lexington and Concord, Bunker Hill, and the story of George Washington and the theft of the cannon at Ticonderoga in 1776. He also talks about the Surrogate's Court Statues of Pieter DeVries, Caleb Heathcote, DeWitt Clinton, Phillip Hone, Abram Hewitt, Peter Stuyvesant, Cadwallader Colden, and James Duane (the name behind Duane Reade). 

Historian James Kaplan explains the presence of this dwarfed building next to Rockefeller Center: the former home of Hurley's Bar. 

Historian James Kaplan discusses Al Smith, an Irish immigrant, who grew up on the Lower East Side and became a powerful Tammany Hall politician in New York State. 

Historian James Kaplan discusses Jack Dempsey, an Irish-American boxer who was born in Colorado. 

 Kaplan discusses the Battle of Long Island, the disastrous American army defeat and their escape across the East River to Manhattan. New York City remains British until the end of the war, and NYC is struck by a fire on September 21, 1776. 

 The fourth stop on the Great Crash of 1929: Tour of the Financial District is in front of the former headquarters of both the Seligman Brothers and the Lehman Brothers financial companies. Interestingly, while the Seligman Brothers were financial backers of the Union Army in the Civil War, the Lehman Brothers backed the Confederate Army because much of the money came from cotton plantations in the South. 

According to Historian James Kaplan, after WWII, the most important employment was the Docks. The Docks went into decline in the late 1950s because cargo shifted to airlines, and was also routed through New Jersey. Kaplan discusses the politics and history of this site.

The Jewish Arrival tour ends at the Shearith Israel Graveyard. While some Jewish communities in New York considered America their new religious home, others wanted to form a Jewish base in Israel. James Kaplan discusses the founding the State of Israel and its roots with the first Jewish immigrants to New York City. 

 Historian and lawyer James Kaplan discusses the history of Fraunces Tavern, the former headquarters of the United States government. Now a museum, Fraunces Tavern was once the De Lancey House. Oliver De Lancey, a loyalist in the American Revolution, eloped with Phila Franks, daughter of Jacob Franks and Abigail Levy, who were leaders in the Shearith Israel Congregation. 

 At the turn of the 18th Century, Jews were typically pro-Democrat. The Bank of Manhattan was founded by Aaron Burr, a leader of the Democratic party. It was built to rival the Bank of New York, which exercised a monopoly of banking in the US. 

Historian James Kaplan concludes his Irish History tour of Hells Kitchen.

Historian James Kaplan discusses both Rockefeller Center as well as the founding of Tammany Hall. 

 With a succession of three strong leaders - Kelly Croker and Murphy - Tammany Hall became the driving force behind New York City's politics and the backing force of its successful political leaders. 

 The fifth stop on the Great Crash of 1929: Tour of the Financial District is on Mill Lane This one block-long street is the oldest in New York City. The Dutch built a mill here, which they used to grind the bark that was used to tan beaver skins. In 1628, the first organized religious service was held on this street, and the Dutch Governor Peter Stuyvesant surrendered to the British here 1664. 

Historian James Kaplan introduces his walking tour of Hell's Kitchen, which discusses the neighborhood's evolution from mobsters to the successful fight in the 1970's against porno and pimps. 

                                            
                                            
                                            
                                                Historian James Kaplan discusses the central role the Church of the Sacred Heart of Jesus played in Irish Catholic life. 
                                            
                                        

 The second stop on the Great Crash of 1929: Tour of the Financial District is the British Memorial Garden, which was dedicated to the United Kingdom after in memory of the 67 British subjects killed in the September 11 attacks. At this location once stood a statue of Colonial Mayor Abraham De Peyster, which now sits in a Parks Department warehouse. 

The third stop on the Great Crash of 1929: Tour of the Financial District is in front of 55 Water Street. The building was once the largest private office building in New York City. It is now home to the India House, which houses a large collection of maritime objects.

Welcome to HarlemNOW's Harlem: The Capital of Black America tour. This is a recording of a walking tour given by attorney and historian James Kaplan and Olivia Kaplan in October, 2009. The tour visited various places of historical significance in central Harlem.

This section of the tour discusses the growth of Harlem from the draft riots of the Civil War to the Great Depression. First considered a German and then a Jewish neighborhood, Harlem began to see significant numbers of Black residents by the turn of the century. Instrumental to this growth were the Black churches and Black-owned realty companies battling against exclusionary housing practices in central Harlem.

This new Black "Capital" was to become the home of many organizations devoted to racial justice, such as the NAACP. 

This section of the tour describes how Harlem came to be the destination for many people escaping the increasingly violent racism of the turn-of-the-century South, eventually earning the status of The Capital of Black America.

World War One was an important event for Harlem, which saw many residents sent to France to fight on the front lines. Earning the nickname 'The Hellfighters' and decorated with one of France's highest honors, these soldiers returned to Harlem as heroes. But despite their sacrifices, race relations in the United States did not see any of the hoped for improvement - the post-war period in saw several vicious race riots throughout the country.

In the post-war years, Harlem became a cultural center, where important Black artists lived and worked. This period became known as the 'Harlem Renaissance'. 

Historian James Kaplan discusses the Hell's Kitchen Rumble between the Irish and Puerto Rican gangs that took place near this park. 

The Tammany Society, which was a precursor to the Democratic Party, used to meet on Park Row near Pace University. The Tammany Society was pro-immigration and many of its members fought anti-Semitism.&nbsp;At this stop, James Kaplan also discusses important Jewish female writers like Emma Lazarus and Wendy Wasserstein, as well as immigration's influence on the evolution of the Jewish faith.

 The sixth stop on the Great Crash of 1929: Tour of the Financial District is in front of the former Goldman-Sachs building and near Millennium High School. Millennium High School was the first high school built south of Fulton Street in decades, and its presence reflects the neighborhood's evolution from strictly business to more residential. At this stop, the tour guides delve into the question "Why does the market crash always seem to happen in the fall?" 

Historian James Kaplan discusses Hell's Kitchen's rise from poverty, central to which was the proliferation of the theater arts. 

 At the statue of Nathan Hale in City Hall Park, Kaplan discusses Hale's life and significance, and the history of City Hall. 

This section of the tour begins with the life of writer Langston Hughes. A mosaic in the Schomburg celebrates Hughes's poem 'The Negro Speaks of Rivers'.

Marcus Garvey was a Harlem resident and Black nationalist speaker. His organization, the Universal Negro Improvement Association, his ideas of Pan-Africanism, and the travels of his vessel The Yarmouth were important forerunners to future African independence movements.

The tour ends with a discussion of the role of Adam Clayton Powell and his Abyssynian Baptist Church on the economic desegregation of Harlem. 

 Joseph Seligman and his brothers founded J &amp; W Seligman &amp; Company banks. During the Civil War, his bank helped to finance the Union Army. In 1877, however, he and his family were denied their stay at the Grand Union Hotel, one of the first cases of anti-semitism in the United States to gain national notoriety. 

 Historian and lawyer James Kaplan explains the Jewish-founded financial group Goldman Sachs's contributions to the US government. The US Secretary of the Treasury for President Bill Clinton and President George W. Bush were both former Chairmen of Goldman Sachs. 

 Historian and lawyer James Kaplan details the life of Mordecai Noah, one of the first Jewish Americans to serve in the US government. In the 1820s, Noah one of the leaders of Tammany Hall, which was once located on Park Row, then called Chatham Street. 

Historian James Kaplan discusses Manhattan Plaza, a high rise tower in Hell's Kitchen that is home to thousands of artists. 

                                            
                                            
                                            
                                                Historian James Kaplan discusses Hell's Kitchen's close ties with Irish mob came, who controlled much of the liquor coming into New York City during Prohibition. 
                                            
                                        

 At Bowling Green, Kaplan talks about Evacuation Day, the departure of the British from New York City, and Charging Bull, a popular statue representing the spirit of Wall Street and American capitalism. 

The Theater District was also known as the Tenderloin, for its long history of prostitution rings, pimps, and porno shops. 

In 1840, a French Priest in Syria was alleged to have been murdered by Jews. Nine Jewish nobles were falsely convicted and set to be executed for the murder. A coalition of Jews in New York, led my Mordecaie Noah, urged the US to protest the execution. Jews around the world pressured their governments to protest the executions, and the prisoners were finally released. It was the first incidence of international Jewish solidarity and support to protest antisemitism. 

On the fourth stop, James Kaplan discusses the American troop situation in New York in 1776.&nbsp;NOTE-connected to the municipal building site

At John Street Methodist Church, Kaplan discuses the battle of Golden Hill, which he describes as New York's Boston Massacre.

                                            
                                            
                                            
                                                Historian James Kaplan discusses the Becker Rosenthal Murder. Rosenthal was a Jewish gambling boss; Becker was an NYPD officer. 
                                            
                                        

Historian and lawyer James Kaplan retraces the footsteps of the first Jewish immigrants to arrive in the United States, 23 Portuguese Jews whose ship landed at Bowling Green in 1654.&nbsp;

 The Great Crash of 1929: Tour of the Financial District begins inside the Museum of American Finance, which was once the main banking hall of the the Bank of New York. This unique walking tour delves into the political, financial, real estate and architectural history of Wall Street and New York City. The tour shows that despite such adversities as the Great Fires of 1776 and 1835, financial panics of the 19th century, the 1920 Wall Street explosion, the Crash of 1929, the stock market collapse of 1987, the September 11, 2001 terrorist attack and the financial crisis of 2008, New York and Wall Street have always recovered their position as the world's financial capital. 

In an act of guerrilla art, the Bull was installed on December 15, 1989, in front of the New York Stock Exchange. However, the Bull was not commissioned by the New York City Government and it was promptly impounded. &nbsp;Recorded during the live Great Crashes of Wall Street Tour.&nbsp;

Historian James Kaplan explains the central role of St. Patrick's Cathedral in New York-Irish life and its place in the fight against anti-Catholic prejudice. 

Historian and lawyer James Kaplan explains Wendy Wasserstein's contributions to American theater and in particular her successful plays produced by the Playwrights Horizons theater.

 Historian and lawyer James Kaplan details the history of the now defunct Lehman Brothers financial firm. The Lehman Brothers made their fortune in cotton trading and, as such, were heavily invested on the Confederates' side of the Civil War. The Lehman Brothers purchased 1 William Street from the J &amp; W Seligman &amp; Company in 1928 and headquartered themselves there until 1980. 

 On the third stop of the tour, James Kaplan discusses the controversial life of Thomas Paine: his early life, the publishing of Common Sense and The Crisis, the Silas Deane Affair and Paine's downfall, his involvement in the French Revolution, and his death in 1809. 

 The ninth stop on the Great Crash of 1929: Tour of the Financial District is at the epicenter of American finance - the intersection of Broad Street and Wall Street. At 23 Wall Street is "The Corner," the original home of JP Morgan Bank. In 1920, a carriage loaded with explosives was detonated in front of the building in an act of domestic terrorism. The pock marks from the explosion are still visible in the marble facade. 

 The seventh stop on the Great Crash of 1929: Tour of the Financial District is in front of 60 Broad Street, the former home of the now defunct Drexel Burnham Lambert. When this tour first started more than 20 years ago, Drexel Burnham Lambert was one of the most important firms on Wall Street, but several illegal trading convictions in the late 1980s led the firm to its collapse in 1990. 

 Historian James Kaplan elaborates on George Washington Plukitt, a leader in Tammany Hall who was defeated by one of his own lieutenants. 

James Kaplan explains former Governor Al Smith's contributions to the New Deal. Smith was raised in the Lower East Side and attended St. James School. 

 This is the introduction to the July 4 all-night walking tour of Lower Manhattan: Celebrating New York City's Role in the Revolutionary War and Gravesites of Revolutionary War Generals. James Kaplan begins with the history of pre-revolutionary New York. 

At Trinity Church, the highlight of the tour, Kaplan discusses the landmark Battle of Saratoga and the significance of General Horatio Gates, who, shamefully, was buried at Trinity Church in an unmarked grave.

Historian James Kaplan discusses Al Jolson, a famous Broadway entertainer and actor who had the leading role in the first talking motion picture. 

 The Great Crash of 1929: Tour of the Financial District ends on Wall Street in front of the Trump Building, formerly the Bank of Manhattan building. Richard describes the turbulent ownership histories of many of the buildings on Wall Street and the difficulties associated with owning and leasing a skyscraper. James relates anecdotes about the Trump Building, where he personally worked for 15 years. 

 On the seventh stop of the tour, Kaplan discusses the history and significance of St. Paul's Church, the oldest private building in NYC, from Benedict Arnold to 9/11. 

 At the final stop on the tour, Kaplan discusses the historic Fraunces Tavern/Museum, the location of Washington's farewell address to his troops. The tavern remains today, owned by the Sons of the Revolution. 

Historian and lawyer James Kaplan asks listeners to use their imaginations as he describes the site of Shearith Israel Synagogue that once stood near 22 William Street. The first synagogue in North America, it was built in 1730. As the surrounding neighborhood - which would become the Financial District - became more industrial, congregants left the site to build synagogues in Greenwich Village and Upper West Side.