The Levy’s Unique New York started out as Vintage New York Tours, founded in 2002 by Mark and his oldest son Matt. Originally intended to provide historical walking tours in costume and character for savvy New Yorkers, we changed biz models in 2004 to provide coach tours for students and professionals, and in 2006 we rebranded ourself as LUNY! We present unique and informative walking and step on tours of New York City. All our tours fall under the four Es: Entertaining, Educational, Enlightening and Engaging. Our clients include student and general tour operators around the U.S and Canada, as well as New York based receptive services and destination management groups, and many colleges, corporations and schools. We are members of the Student and Youth Travel Association (SYTA), the American Bus Association (ABA) the Guides Association of New York (GANYC) and the Brooklyn Tourism Council.

Mark Levy is a life-long New Yorker who has had a varied career in the non-profit, public and private sectors. He grew up in The Bronx, spent many years on the Upper West Side, where his parents, Harriet and Bennett Levy still live; in 1978 he and his late wife, Ruth Weiss, owned a brownstone in Brooklyn’s Park Slope; Mark now lives in a 1904 Victorian house in the Ditmas Park West neighborhood of Flatbush, Brooklyn.

He has worked in all five boroughs as a tenant organizer, low income housing manager and solar energy magazine publisher in the non-profit world, a facilities, property and construction manager for a number of New York City agencies and now, after grabbing early retirement, as the founder of The Levys’ Unique New York! New York’s First Family of Tour Guides.

His career with City agencies included oversight and management of thousands of City owned residential properties, supervision of maintenance and construction for the City’s homeless shelters, historic preservation and handicap accessibility projects for the City’s historic courthouses and he was assigned to damage assessment and construction management at Ground Zero after the attacks of 9/11. He took early retirement in October, 2002.

When not running the biz, Mark loves biking in Prospect Park, tending the flower garden and cooking at “Casa Levy”, dining out on exotic, ethnic cuisines, playing Frisbee and travelling. Mark loves New York City, but not as much as he loves the true love of his life, his partner Alisa Brot, a fervent Manhattanite and special education supervisor.

Matt Levy is a life-long resident of New York City and a born and bred Brooklynite (REPRESENT!) who is quite proud of being, depending on which Levy you ask, the best tour guide in New York City.

He grew up in the loving, lively and high-energy Levy household, in the beautiful Ditmas Park West sub-neighborhood of Flatbush, right in the heart of Brooklyn. After the death of his mother Ruth Weiss in 1998, he wrote an 8 pg 13 stanza eulogy titled Encompass the Light which won him a $10,000 college scholarship as well as reprints in various publications.

Matt is proud to be an active performer, writer, published journalist, bicyclist, adventurer, traveler and personality. He attended Emerson College in Boston and earned an MFA in a degree that he invented, Performance Art / Poetry. His graduating thesis was an hour long performance of poetry in the Boston Common, with material by him and about him, called My Name is Matt Levy, An Xtravagant Cacophonous Spectacle. Essentially an exercise in megalomania, Matt figured that with a degree in Being Matt Levy, he could always get a job at the Matt Levy factory down the block, since they’re always hiring. Tragically, this was not the case.

Returning to New York in March of 2003, he figured if he got a job at Barnes and Nobles for the rest of his life, he’d be lucky, because they have good healthcare. This was when Mark jumpstarted VNYT (now LUNY!), and suggested Matt get a guide license and help him manage and lead tours. The rest is glorious history.

Matt likes reading, writing, cooking, dancing, talking, biking, exporing urban ruins, and various foreign adventures.

Gideon Levy is a loud and proud Brooklyn native with an enormous amount of hometown pride (just ask to see his tattoo!). A graduate of University of Massachusetts Amherst, with a Bachelors degree in writing and performance, Gideon spent his academic career studying the art and the history of storytelling. And, unlike most liberal arts majors, actually got a job in his field of study.

After college Gideon spent a four month internship at the Bowery Poetry Club, as well as various websites and New York-centric events blogs. He has collaborated with the Galapagos art space in Williamsburg, Brooklyn on various performance projects and shows. Currently, he is working on any number of creative projects, including but not limited to: a New York inspired graphic novel, a couple of New York inspired novellas, a slightly-fictionalized auto-biography, and assorted ephemera.

The stories and mythology of New York; the people and events that actually transpired on these city streets is what keeps him fascinated with the life of the tour guide. Gideon then tempers this interest with reading comic books, engaging in battle with plastic lightsabers, attending Art-mobs and costume parties throughout the city.

Jonah Levy began following in the family footsteps of tour guiding in the spring of 2006 when he received his Tour Guide license. Since then, he’s worked tours in-between being a full-time film and theater student at Hobart and William Smith Colleges as well as traveling and studying in Viet Nam last fall and Hong Kong this one! Jonah most recently completed his second film, “My Viet Nam: A Series of Vignettes from My Experience Abroad”. Jonah’s first film, “Thanksgiving”is a short piece documenting his love for his family, his city and the NYC subway. Jonah will return stateside in December to work as a guide and make films about his wacky family.

Eric Smith has been a licensed New York tour-guide for 3 years. He originally hails from Forest Hills, Queens, but has been living in Brooklyn for the past four years. Eric enjoys discovering the colonial and revolutionary history beneath the city’s modern appearance. Eric also likes exploring the decaying remnants of New York’s once bustling manufacturing districts, including abandoned warehouses and under-used freight rail tracks. He is the only licensed tour-guide in New York to have hopped a freight train from Brooklyn to Queens.

Eric specializes in walking and coach tours through lower Manhattan, Brooklyn, and Queens.

Jordan Hoffman was born amidst the shopping malls and central air conditioning of Monmouth County, New Jersey. He moved to New York at age 17 to study filmmaking at NYU. Jordan maintains a fledgeling entertainment career writing, producing and acting in (very) independent films. His most recent film, Body/Anti-Body can be seen at various film festivals and can be found on idb.com

In 1998 he co-founded LeisureSuit Media with Kerry Douglas Dye and for a few years they ran LeisureSuit.net. In 2004 Jordan was dubbed the Ultimate Film Fanatic of the entire US Northeast by the Independent Film Channel and has the statue, and $5000 check, to prove it.

His favorite dozen movies, if pressed, are “Casablanca,” “Koyanisqqatsi,” “The Purple Rose of Cairo,” “Grey Gardens,” “Starship Troopers,” “Hiroshima, Mon Amour,” “The Right Stuff,” “Persona,” “Ghost World,” “Road to Morroco” “One, Two, Three” and “Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home.”

Julie Wiener is a proud Southerner who hails from Jackson, Mississippi. Julie has been living in New York City since 1999, when she moved away from Jackson to attend Columbia University and has stuck around ever since. She earned a B.A. from Columbia in American Studies and continues to share her passion for American history (especially New York history!) through tour guiding.

She spent two years working for the National Park Service as a Park Ranger at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Julie takes great pride in the fact that she was reprimanded by supervisors at her 1st end of year review because her tours were “too entertaining.” She continues to cast off those who try to suppress her love for New York City! She is committed to having a rockin’ good time on her tours, and she still wears the Ranger uniform from time to time when out on the town.

Julie is also a bartender at a historic Columbia bar, the West End Tavern, an old haunt of many Beat poets and famous jazz musicians. She loves traveling and frequently seeks wild adventures in New York City. Her favorite New York experience thus far was sneaking out onto the torch of the Statue of Liberty, which has been closed to the public since 1914.

Matthew is the quintessential New York immigrant. Not from another nation but from the farmlands of Missouri (another world!). At the age of eighteen he came to New York to seek fame and fortune in the arts and immediately fell in love with the city. Now he shares that love with visitors, having earned his spurs on the double-decker tour buses and then progressed to walking tours, private tours, student and senior groups, etc.

Before discovering the wonderful world of tourism, Matthew worked in many of the performing arts, earning an income in the theatre, movies, music, and even magic. He has also held jobs in such varied and famous establishments as Saks Fifth Avenue , the New York Public Library, and FAO Schwarz. Astoria, Queens, the multi-faceted neighborhood of Greek bakeries, old-time movie studios, and young artists, has been Matthew’s home for nearly all of the 15 years he has been in the city and it is where he and his wife, Laurie, are proudly raising their daughter, Vivien.

Jared Goldstein was born at the New York University Hospital but unfortunately was reared in the ‘burbs 35 miles east of the city. As a young-un, he would sneak into town to check out CBGB’s, St Marks Place, the Ritz, and more. He received his BA at Columbia University, where he also gave tours for the admissions office. He received an MBA from Columbia’s Graduate School of Business and is highly knowledgeable about NYC corporations as well as social and economic issues. He draws from his varied experiences, including working in community organizing for affordable housing, including helping a Chinatown housing organization expand citywide. He was a community gardener in the East Village’s Alphabet City, the “Rent” musicals’ setting.

Jared is passionate about showcasing New York City’s history, architecture, and social history, sharing true dramatic stories, seemingly larger than life, stranger than fiction, told with high-energy, intensity, dry humor, and intelligence (or at least big words). Jared is also writing a few books about New York City, with multiple focus points of: downtown, the World Trade Center, Santa Claus, and the East Village.

Though Matt was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, he feels like a lifelong New Yorker. Countless trips and visits throughout his life cultivated Matt’s love of the city, and made his move to the five boroughs in July 2008 both inevitable and seamless.

Matt did not realize he was born to be a tour guide until the night before his graduation from Ithaca College. A family member suggested it, noting his affection for both teaching and performing, and Matt had a ‘eureka!’ moment. Soon after, Matt moved to Brooklyn with guns a blazin’!

On Matt’s tours, group interaction is key—when people ask questions, make comments, or fire back at his hilarious (read: corny) jokes, he knows everyone’s having fun! Matt loves the history of New York and the stories of its inhabitants, but he is especially driven by current happenings (concerts, sporting events, nightlife). In addition he is fascinated by transportation in NYC, including our amazing (seriously!) subway system. Basically, Matt is deeply passionate about the day-to-day stuff that makes New York, New York! (Matt also likes candlelit dinners and long walks on Brighton Beach.)

Max Lodge is an actor, writer and New York City history buff. A native New Yorker, he grew up in Paris, France, and now lives in Brooklyn. He attended Emerson College (with Matt Levy) and The New School here in the City, earning his B.A. in Theater. Max is an active member of the New York City acting scene, be it on stage, screen, or when writing and performing his one-man-shows (check out his website at www.maxlodge.com.) His passion for storytelling and history led him right into touring and the LUNYverse. When not touring or acting Max likes riding his bike along the Hudson, eating in Chinatown, sailing to City Island in his brother’s boat (which he keeps in Queens!) and catching all the lights on a late-night cab ride.

Becky originally hails from the great white north, just outside of Syracuse, NY. After receiving her degree in Technical Theater in the great SUNY (State University of NY) system, she went on to make a whole lot of not-enough-money in the non-profit theater sector. After stints as everything from a high school teacher to a bartender, swimming instructor, welder and a nanny, she finally found a job where her love of history and useless information was relevant.

After tour directing and tour guiding around Washington D.C., Boston, Philly and the civil war battlefields, she finally settled in NYC, the greatest of them all!! She proudly lives in Harlem (who needs Brooklyn??), and gets incredibly excited when someone asks her about Stanford White or water towers.

Zach Aarons was born in Tribeca and raised on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. He has been exploring New York City for his whole life and now lives in an historic brownstone in Fort Greene, Brooklyn with his lovely wife. Zach has completed hundreds of bus, subway, limousine, and walking tours all over New York City’s many diverse neighborhoods. He spent a year studying in Italy and occasionally provides Italian tourists with Italian language tours of New York.

He is passionate about many pivotal eras in New York history, including the Colonial Period, The 19th Century, and the Jazz Age. In addition to working with Levy’s Unique New York, Zach also provides interesting anecdotes about various New York City locations through his website, Travelgoat. Zach likes to bring places to life through the stories of the past. His dream is to become the ubiquitous New York City historian.