The Bowery Boys: New York City History
The Times Square New Years Eve celebration would not be the same without One Times Square and its annual ball drop. But the quirky history of this sometimes abused building reaches all the way back to the naming of Times Square and its original tenent — the New York Times. Download this show it for… Read More
We’ll return with a new podcast and new blog entries next week. Happy holidays! By popular demand, here’s some pics from this years Dyker Height’s extravaganza. Photos courtesy of Kari Hoerchler.
Above: a still from the original version of Balanchine’s show (photo from the New York Public Library Being as I was once a boy, nothing about Christmas bored me less than watching a bunch of girls get excited when the Nutcracker came on television. Its taken my deep appreciation of New York — and some… Read More
One of Manhattan’s newest holiday traditions concerns that rather exotic looking snowflake hanging with a seeming precariousness 80 feet above the intersection of 57th and 5th Avenue, a crystalline piece of festivity greeting big spenders on their way into Tiffany’s, Bulgari and Louis Vuitton. This delicate knickknack is actually a bit of a linebacker. At… Read More
For eleven months out of the year, Dyker Heights is a quiet, unassuming section of Brooklyn, far from the blazing electicity of Manhattan. But every December, it threatens to create its own Times Square in lights. The “Dyker Lights” has become the unofficial center of Brooklyn holiday festivites, showing up the nation’s suburbias with elaborate,… Read More
To get you in the mood for the weekend, every Friday we’ll be celebrating ‘FRIDAY NIGHT FEVER’, featuring an old New York nightlife haunt, from the dance halls of 19th Century Bowery, to the massive warehouse spaces of the mid-90s. Past entries can be found HERE. The rapid transitional personality of a New York City… Read More
Behind the glamour of New York’s greatest stage Radio City Music Hall is a story involving a toothpaste tube designer, an allergy to Brazil nuts, a hydraulic lift protected from the Nazis, and a man named Roxy. PLUS: The Bowery Boys go backstage (well, figuratively) with the Rockettes. Listen to it for free on iTunes… Read More
I apologize for the second post in a row about films, but I had to ask the question, when did destroying New York become hot again? This Friday is the opening of I Am Legend, an adaptation of Richard Matheson’s classic thriller about the last non-zombiefied human being alive. In this case, he resides in… Read More
Above: the phenomenal Willi Ninja BOWERY BOYS RECOMMEND is an occasional feature whereby we find an unusual movie or TV show that — whether by accident or design — uniquely captures an era of New York City better than any reference or history book. Other entrants in this particular film festival can be found HERE.… Read More
Above: At the Helmsley Building, downtown Manhattan Hollywood hits the Chelsea Hotel [Hotel Chelsea Blog] The thankful return of the former East Village institution 2nd Avenue Deli [Eater] The forboding home of ‘Mamie’ Fish, successor to THE Mrs. Astor [Lost City] The latest on Officers Row, Brooklyn Naval Yard’s in-danger historic section of 19th Century… Read More
Above: From the official website — the girls of Coyote Ugly To get you in the mood for the weekend, every Friday we’ll be celebrating ‘FRIDAY NIGHT FEVER’, featuring an old New York nightlife haunt, from the dance halls of 19th Century Bowery, to the massive warehouse spaces of the mid-90s. Past entries can be… Read More
What are the Bowery Boys doing in Chicago? Just a little detour in our search for the origins of the Flatiron Building, the wedge shaped, wind producing oddity — built as an office space in a department store neighborhood which grew to become one of the most romantic, elegant buildings in New York City. Listen… Read More
Photo courtesy of Global Graphica I’m going way meteorological on you today. It’s already gotten pretty cold in New York City this month, striking 21 degrees F on Sunday, assuring that a replay of last year’s relatively mild winter may not be in store. Come, let’s reminisce. The record high temperature in New York City… Read More
The oddest thing to ever peek its head above the Bowery, the brand new New Museum of Contemporary Art, captured the culture headlines last week during its week-long opening. Critics, even the toughest ones, praised its architecture by Kazuyo Sejima and Ryue Nishizawa of the Japanese firm Sanaa, admired its open gallery spaces glowing with… Read More
ABOVE: Gerde’s in its original location, circa 1960 To get you in the mood for the weekend, every Friday we’ll be celebrating ‘FRIDAY NIGHT FEVER’, featuring an old New York nightlife haunt, from the dance halls of 19th Century Bowery, to the massive warehouse spaces of the mid-90s. Past entries can be found HERE. Few… Read More