Visit me on Facebook & YouTube
The Tourist’s Guide TO
LOST YIDDISH NEW YORK CIty
​
​ "Henry Sapoznik has broken new ground again...
...he has a knack for endowing the ephemeral with longevity by treating each ticket, advertisement, poster, theater program, menu, photograph, or recording as a piece of a puzzle of a lost Yiddish New York that only he could envision. The result is a deeply researched, engaging, and richly illustrated account of a world lost and found. A fascinating book and must read!"
​Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett​
Ronald S. Lauder Chief Curator of the Core Exhibition at POLIN Museum of the History of Polish Jews and University Professor Emerita at New York University
​
​"Amusingly idiosyncratic..."
"It’s here, amidst the unknown of today, that Sapoznik is in his element. Drawing energetically on the digital bounty of the Yiddish press, canvassing thousands of advertisements, he does for place what he’s done for klezmer music and Yiddish radio: endow it with presence and weight."
Jenna Weisman Joselit
Jewish Review of Books, January 27, 2026
​
"Since the 1970s, few have done more than Sapoznik to shed light on various facets of Yiddish culture and history … he has managed to both help preserve and disseminate cultural elements that might otherwise be lost to history." ―
ZACK ROTHBART
The Times of Israel, December 14, 2025
​
“Like a raucous Brooklyn candy store full of sweets from NYC’s vintage era.”
"…[a] superb new book … Sapoznik writes about something that’s irretrievably lost, which is why it feels like a yizkor book. Lost Yiddish New York City is one of a newly-developing (and long overdue) genre of books about vernacular Jewish culture, focusing on how ordinary people lived." ―
Allen Lewis Rickman
The Forward, August 27, 2025
​
"This you should read! From knishes to khazones, the Forvert to Cel-Ray, and forgotten cultural triumphs and nadirs, you couldn't find a better guide to New York's Yiddish heritage than 'The Tourist's Guide to Lost Yiddish New York City.' Anyone interested in New York City needs a copy of this book!" ―
Nancy Groce, Folklorist,
American Folklife Center, Washington DC
AUDIOBOOK BY THE AUTHOR
"With The Tourist's Guide, Henry Sapoznik conjures a yiddishe ghost-New York in a book that will make awestruck tourists even out of seen-it-all city natives. Though many of the book's locales are described, sadly, as razed and replaced, Sapoznik brings them so vividly to life that, if you look out of the corner of your eye, you might even see Yonah Schimmel himself racing to deliver a platter of knishes."
Danny Fingeroth,
Author of "Jack Ruby: The Many Faces of Oswald's Assassin"
​
​
"...an explosion of delicious details, color, and personalities that rivals any piece of fiction...."
​
Writergurlny
December 27, 2025
​
​
​
​
The Tourist’s Guide TO
LOST YIDDISH NEW YORK CIty
COMPANION street MAP
This map represents the over 5,000 period articles, graphics and documents I collected over the three years of work. For each location that appears in the book, the corresponding page numbers are included after the street address. Numbers in parentheses correspond to the image in the entry. Building photos are from the NYC Department of Records and Information Services
Thanks to film/photo historian Rich Remsberg for the idea and to beta testers Gedalye Brier, Sabina Brukner, Scott Eckers, Jeff Feinberg, and Andy Lanset.
​
The map is an ongoing, evolving project and seeks user input. For additions, corrections, omissions, or comments, please contact me.
DISCLAIMER: If any of the images in the map are under restricted use and not available for public domain display, here, please contact me.