This is a short script for a news anchor and host to discuss the tours of Joyce Gold. Joyce Gold has made tours fun for not just tourists new to the city, but also long time New Yorkers. She has devoted decades to discovering the rich history of New York and prides herself on knowing almost any and all there is to know about the city that never sleeps.
Anchor Intro: Tours are often seen as the most boring parts of a trip, only made valuable by use of cameras and blog posts, Joyce Gold changed that. Joyce Gold decided one day while opening up an old book on New York, there should be more to tours than just descriptive information; there should be depth and exploration of what was, what is, and what could be.
Host (Jill): Tours differ greatly from places of interest, to popular tourist attractions. Tours led by Joyce Gold are all about getting New Yorkers to learn about their favorite city's history. Joyce in an interview discussed her reason for beginning such a venture.
Character (Joyce Gold): I was a computer analyst at the federal reserve bank of New York long, long ago. And I just one day picked up a 100-year-old book about New York 100 years before that. I didn't know any of that. I passed all of those sites coming in from the subway everyday --nobody I worked with in the mid 70s knew any of that and I just kept reading and reading.
Host (Jill): For 20 years Joyce led successful tours with themes from the grittier times of manhattan such as the Gangs of New York. The design she implemented for her tours originated from her desire to enrich the lives of her fellow New Yorkers on the deep history the city has to offer.
Character (Joyce Gold): I started designing tours primarily for New Yorkers because they pass through sites everyday and often don't know how they came about.
Host (Jill): Perhaps what is most interesting was her earliest request for tours that involved the Ladies Mile.
Character (Joyce Gold): Some of the tours came about because I was asked to design a private tour. FIT asked me to design a tour many years ago of the Ladies Mile, the shopping district for women before WWI that became my public ladies Mile tour.
Host (Jill): One of Gold's popular tours, the "Civil War in Manhattan" tour is just one of the many ways she uses her past experiences to inspire herself to create fun activities for her clients. Along with her tours, her ability to express herself in humorous and personal ways give even more reason for why she is so popular in her field.
Character (Joyce Gold): My civil war in Manhattan tour I created because a group of buffs had me design a bus tour of civil war sites in Manhattan. I took some of the juiciest parts of that and made it a walking tour. The 5th avenue gold coast tour I'd been doing for many years, but increasingly I found that a great many of the men who lived on those fancy blocks have gone to jail, so that has morphed into my crimes of the gold coast tour.
Host (Jill): Ability to transform something unwanted into something sought after is a rare talent. Another rare talent is having the ability to understand your audience and how they interact.
Character (Joyce Gold): The type of person on the tour, it's a really special type of person. It's a person willing to get out of their chair and walk, wants to learn something, often knows some things about what I talk about and I like to be around these people. I think they like to be around one another. People often come in groups.
Host (Jill): Joyce Gold is known for her several History books. To date she remains one of the go-to people for anything related to the history of New York.
Character (Joyce Gold): I have 900 books at home on New York. I have vast files. And I've actually been doing this far more than 20 years. I sometimes say that, but it's really been since 1976 I've been giving tours full time for almost all of that and part time for some of it.
Host (Jill): It stands to say Joyce Gold is dedicated to her craft. She's done extensive research on her subject of interest and always modifies her tours to reflect any new information she's gained.
Character (Joyce Gold): I love the creative process of coming up with a tour. To some extent it's almost a dance. For example, in grand central you can say almost anything about it from almost any site, so what's the best place to stand, what's the best place to talk, and it's a very active process.
Host (Jill): Joyce has large number of tours she offers. She even adds new ones solely based on a tour group's suggestion.
Character (Joyce Gold): I have over 2000 tours just of Greenwich Village and what's amazing to me is that there's always a new one. For example, an Italian group from Rhode island asked about an Italian tour. And I was thinking bay ridge Brooklyn, I don't know Brooklyn that well. And then I realized, well of course Greenwich village. Greenwich Village has almost everything. Everything from the mccabre history to women' history to literary history to waterfront, history tof he highline, and food.
Host (Jill): Coverage of one of her tours reveals her quirky personality and interesting dialogue.
Character (Joyce Gold): Whenever a neighborhood gets a new name it means prices are going up, that's what it means. My favorite new name is, what I heard from Jerry Seinfeld on television a few years it has a wonderful sound, no Chiitaly, what's no Chiitaly? Not china town and not little Italy!
Host (Jill): She remarks on property prices then and property prices now.
Character (Joyce Gold): The biggest landmark district is the upper east side. In 1978, 2400sq ft lofts cost $32,000, same ones are now $2 million maybe $3 million dollars.
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