This Tour Company Is Sharing the Untold Stories of Manhattan's Chinatown With Local-led Tours

"They miss the depth, the resilience, and the food culture that's evolved over decades,"

"I grew up here," Lee said. "I know the streets, the shop owners, the little details most people walk right past. It's not just history I read somewhere. It's my lived experience, and the lived experiences of all our hosts."

"That's what makes the tours personal and authentic," Lee says. "That approach has really resonated with our guests. They often say it feels like just hanging out with friends, showing you their neighborhood."

Chinatown Legacy Tours launched earlier this year to connect visitors with Manhattan Chinatown's residents, history, resilience, and food culture. Founders Roger Lee and Bernice Pfluger combine media and design backgrounds—Lee with TV and digital media experience and six Emmys, and Pfluger as a multimedia designer and art director—to craft resident-led, intimate tours. Tours are led by long-time neighborhood residents and hosts who share lived experiences and personal memories. Groups are small and encounters feel like friends showing their neighborhood. Guest hosts include a former NYPD 5th Precinct commanding officer who patrolled during 1980s–1990s gang violence, adding authenticity and empathy.

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