I bought my wife this tour as a Christmas gift, hoping for an experience that walked something of a fine line. We've lived in NYC for about a year, so we didn't want tourist simplicity, but we are far from native experts. Kevin was perfect -- didn't assume we knew anything heading in, but also was able to get to a deeper level when we asked.
Also, tours like this sometimes can be too much about specific buildings and specific architecture details. But not this one. As a historian, Kevin seems to get that the real story of the neighborhoods are the culture, politics and society of its residents. Therefore, he talked a lot less about pedantic details of the streetscape and a lot more about how various groups, like the Irish, gradually moved up the social ladder and moved from the slums into more respectable housing stock and started to exert political influence. Very enlightening.
Also, he expertly wove together stories and lessons from the 19th Century with much more recent, practical history of the city. We learned about the Irish-police relationships of the 1850s and how John Gotti finally got busted on the same trip, and also about the backlash against the hyper urban sprawl planning of the 1950s and 1960s in NYC.
Can't recommend this tour enough. 5 stars.
Ben F