The Bowery Boys: New York City History
What is Thanksgiving without the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade? The annual march through Manhattan — terminating at Macy’s Department Store — has delighted New Yorkers for a century and been a part of the American tradition of Thanksgiving since it was first broadcast nationally on television in the 1950s. Macy’s began the parade in 1924… Read More
The very first musical version of The Wizard of Oz opened at the Majestic Theatre (at 5 Columbus Circle) on January 20, 1903, after playing to enthusiastic audiences in Chicago. L. Frank Baum wrote the book to the musical, based on his novel ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz’ which was published in 1900. The temperatures… Read More
Listeners have been asking us for years about ‘gift subscriptions’ to our Patreon page, where you can find hundreds of Patreon-only audio podcasts from the Bowery Boys — including our 40+ episodes of our new series Side Streets. Well good news! Patreon has just come up with a new program to gift yearly memberships of… Read More
The Bowery Boys Podcast merchandise store is back! Celebrate your love of New York City and the Bowery Boys podcast by choosing something from our merchandise store at Podswag with goodies featuring the 15th anniversary Bowery Boys logo. Tee-shirts just $25! In a variety of colors and sizes. There’s also water bottles and pint glasses.… Read More
The energy and personality of New York City runs through its local businesses — mom-and-pop shops, independently run stores and restaurants, often family run operations. We live in a world of chain stores, franchises, corporate run operations and online retailers that have run many of these kinds of stores out of business. But what is… Read More
PODCAST The mysterious disappearance of a young woman becomes one of the most talked-about events over one hundred years ago. The young socialite Dorothy Arnold seemingly led a charmed and privileged life. The niece of a Supreme Court justice, Dorothy was the belle of 1900s New York, an attractive and vibrant young woman living on… Read More
Our first ghost stories show was released on October 11, 2007, featuring New York City’s famous haunted tales and urban legends (with historical context). Since that time we have released seventeen Halloween-related shows as well as a recording of our Joe’s Pub live show. Take a spooky trip down memory lane with a re-listen to… Read More
Tickets for this year’s Bowery Boys Ghost Stories of Old New York show at Joe’s Pub are now sale over at the Joe’s Pub website. Tom and Greg return to Joe’s Pub at The Public Theater with their SIXTH annual Halloween ghost stories live show, conjuring the spooky folklore and mysterious urban legends that have famously… Read More
PODCAST This episode focuses on the special relationship between New York City and Puerto Rico, via the tales of pioneros, the first migrants to make the city their home and the many hundreds of thousands who came to the city during the great migration of the 1950s and 60s. Today there are more Puerto Ricans… Read More
In 1886, during a miles-long parade celebrating the dedication of the Statue of Liberty, office workers in lower Manhattan began heaving ticker tape out the windows, creating a magical, blizzard-like landscape. That tradition stuck. Today that particular corridor of Broadway — connecting Battery Park to City Hall — is known as the “Canyon of Heroes”… Read More
On January 1, 1898, Greater New York was formed from the union of two cities – New York and Brooklyn, along with other towns and villages of the region, creating the five boroughs we know and love today. But each of those five boroughs brings their own unique histories and personalities. And so for this… Read More
New York City has its fair share of famous ‘urban legends’ — persistent rumors, too good to be true, often macabre and dark. No, we’re not talking about just about ghost stories. (Those arrive next episode.) We mean far fetched, reality defying fantasies sometimes rooted in science fiction and horror – with just enough bearing to… Read More
Free event at Rockefeller Center! Join Greg Young from the Bowery Boys on Wednesday, September 18, at 6pm as he moderates a conversation with Victoria Johnson, author of American Eden: David Hosack, Botany, and Medicine in the Garden of the Early Republic, a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History. Learn all about the founding… Read More
Ida Wood had a secret. Born Ida Mayfield in New Orleans, Ida moved to New York in the 1850s and through her marriage to Benjamin Wood, publisher of the New York Daily News, she entered society. By the 1870s and 80s, Ida’s name was found in the social columns of the city’s newspapers. So why,… Read More
You better clean your room or you’ll end up like the Collyer Brothers. New York City, a city crammed of 8.6 million people. It’s filled with stories of people who just want to be left alone – recluses, hermits, cloistering themselves from the public eye, closing themselves off from scrutiny. But none attempted to seal… Read More