Author: GY

Theodore Roosevelt’s Wild Kingdom: American conservation history with Ken Burns

Post author By GY
Post date September 29, 2023

Theodore Roosevelt was a New Yorker and a rugged outdoorsman, a politician and a naturalist, a conservationist and a hunter. His connection with the natural world begin at birth in his Manhattan brownstone home and end with his death in Sagamore Hill.

He killed thousands of animals over his lifetime as a hunter-naturalist, most notably one of the last roaming bison (or American buffalo) in the Dakota Badlands. Many of his trophies hang on the walls of his home in Long Island; other specimens “live on” in institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History.

But as this episode’s special guest Ken Burns reveals in his newest mini-series The American Buffalo, Roosevelt’s relationship with the animal world was complicated and in certain ways, hard to understand today.

This episode marks the 165th anniversary of Roosevelt’s birth in October and the 100th anniversary of the opening of the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site (which plays a small but important role in today’s story. )

As one of America’s great conservationists, President Roosevelt’s advocacy for wildlife and public land helped to preserve so much of the natural richness of the United States.

And his involvement in the creation of the New York Zoological Society (aka the Bronx Zoo) would set the stage for one ambitious project that would help bring the American buffalo back to the Midwestern plains.

LISTEN NOW: THEODORE ROOSEVELT’S WILD KINGDOM

Eleven-year-old Roosevelt was already creating his own museum of natural history.

A special thanks to documentary filmmaking legend Ken Burns for joining me on the show today. His latest project The American Buffalo debuts on PBS on October 16, 2023.

And the story is elaborated upon in a new book by Burns and Dayton Duncan

The 1902 Clifford Berryman editorial cartoon which inspired the creation of the Teddy Bear

Theodore Roosevelt’s New York

Some images from the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace National Historic Site

Displays from the American Museum of Natural History’s Theodore Roosevelt exhibition

The bisons of the Bronx Zoo and the lion house, where the American Bison Society was founded.

Roosevelt’s Long Island home Sagamore Hill

Black Diamond at the Central Park Zoo. The animal became the model for the 1913 buffalo nickel but was slaughtered two years later.

Martha, the last surviving passenger pigeon. When she died at the Cincinnati Zoo, passenger pigeons became extinct.

FURTHER LISTENING

After listening to this show about Theodore Roosevelt, the bison and the origins of the American conservation movement, head back to some our previous shows with related themes:

Walking the East Village: Culture Among The Ruins 1976-1996

Post author By GY
Post date September 15, 2023
1 Comment on Walking the East Village: Culture Among The Ruins 1976-1996

The wonderful wacky artists of Club 57. Photo by Tseng Kwong Chi

PODCAST The rebirth of the East Village in the late 1970s and the flowering of a new and original New York subculture — what Edmund White called “the Downtown Scene” — arose from the shadow of urban devastation and was anchored by a community that reclaimed its own deteriorating neighborhood.

In the last episode (Creating the East Village 1955-1975) this northern corner of New York’s Lower East Side became the desired home for new cultural venues — nightclubs, cafes, theaters, and bars — after the city tore down the Third Avenue Elevated in 1955.

But by the mid 1970s, the high wore off. The East Village was in crisis, one of the Manhattan neighborhoods hit hardest by the city’s fiscal difficulties and cutbacks. It had become a landscape of dark, unsafe streets, buildings demolished in flame.

But the next generation of creative interlopers (following the initial stampede of Greenwich Village beatniks and hippies) built upon the legacies of East Village counter-culture to create poems, music, paintings and stage performances heavily influenced by the apocalyptic situations around them.

This was something truly distinct, a creative scene that was thoroughly and uniquely an East Village creation — punk and hardcore, murals and graffiti, fashion and drag,

And much of that was created by people who did not fit in anywhere else in the world, whether that world which rejected them was a Queens suburb or New Jersey or the Midwest or well beyond.

In this episode Greg hits the streets of the East Village with musician and tour guide Krikor Daglian (of True Tales of NYC), exploring the secrets of the recent past — from the origins of skateboarding to the seeds of the American alternative rock scene.

Follow along as they traipse to classic music venues and dive bars to uncover the special ingredients which made the East Village a most special place at the end of the 20th century.

FEATURING: CBGB, Supreme, the Pyramid, Club 57, Niagara, 7B, Brownies and many others

AND special guests Bill Di Paola from the Museum of Reclaimed Urban Space and Ramon ‘Ray’ Alvarez from Ray’s Candy Store

LISTEN HERE: WALKING THE EAST VILLAGE 1976-1996

When you’re done listening to this week’s show, check out our special Walking the East Village playlist, curated by Krikor and Greg:

Krikor and Greg with producer Kieran Gannon

Book tours with this episode’s special guest Krikor Daglian here and with Bowery Boys Walks. Krikor’s next “Artists, Oddballs & Provocateurs: East Village Since the 1950s” tours are on Saturday, October 7th and Saturday, November 4th.

Producer Kieran Gannon with Krikor and Bill De Paola

FURTHER LISTENING

After you listen to this week’s episode, check out these episodes with related themes:

Creating the East Village: Beatniks and Hippies Transform the Lower East Side

Post author By GY
Post date September 1, 2023
5 Comments on Creating the East Village: Beatniks and Hippies Transform the Lower East Side

St. Marks Place and Second Avenue, 1969. Photo by Meyer Liebowitz/The New York Times

Before 1955 nobody used the phrase “East Village” to describe the historic northern portion of the Lower East Side, the New York tenement district with a rich German and Eastern European heritage.

But when the Third Avenue El was torn down that year, those who were attracted to the culture of Greenwich Village — with its coffeehouses, poets and jazz music — began flocking to the east side, attracted to low rents.

Soon the newly named East Village culturally became an extension of Greenwich Village with new bookstores, cafes, experimental theaters and nightclubs. By the mid-1960s the hepcats were replaced by hippies, flamboyant and politically active, influenced by the events of the 1960s and a slightly different buffet of drugs.

At the same time, the neighborhood’s Ukrainian population grew as well after the United States provided visas to thousands of refugees from Europe displaced by World War II. By the 1960s Puerto Ricans also lived in the eastern end of the district, sometimes called Alphabet City (and eventually Loisaida).

In this first of a two-part series on the history of the East Village, Greg is joined Jason Birchard from Veselka Restaurant, who shares his family’s story, and by theater historian David Loewy to discuss the influence of Joe Papp and The Public Theater, a stage whose first production would capture the very counter-culture dominating the streets around it.

LISTEN NOW: CREATING THE EAST VILLAGE

From the Buffalo News, August 18, 1967 — Summer Hippies Swell Population of East Village

Publicity still from Hair at the Public Theater, courtesy New York Public Library

Vestiges of the East Village before it was actully “the East Village”

FURTHER LISTENING

Check out these episodes from our back catalog for more information about the history of the East Village

FURTHER VIEWING

Watch the full video of “1967 NYC BLACKS & PUERTO RICANS VS. HIPPIES” here. Also see some performances from the original cast of Hair here.

Health and Living Neighborhoods

Liz Christy and the Community Gardens of the East Village

Post author By GY
Post date August 30, 2023
2 Comments on Liz Christy and the Community Gardens of the East Village

The residents of the Lower East Side one century ago would probably have never have said to themselves, “What a grand place to plant flowers!”

But it would be their very tenement lots that would later lead to the sprouting of so many East Village neighborhood gardens, some of the most wonderful community gardens in the city.

Liz Christy Garden today / Photo by Greg Young

New York’s hundreds of community gardens grew out of efforts which begun in the 1970s to beautify and rehabilitate neighborhoods suffering from urban blight.

In the early 1970s, a young artist named Liz Christy, an avid gardener inspired by national green efforts (such as Earth Day, first celebrated three years previous), became inspired to fill abused and abandoned places in her neighborhood with small gardens.

In 1973 she organized the Green Guerillas, a group of activist gardeners — “horticulturists, landscape gardeners, botantists, agronomists, architects, planners, biologists and other greening experts” — who saw plants and flowers as the solution to their increasingly dreary landscape.

To quote from the organization website: “They threw ‘seed green-aids’ over the fences of vacant lots. They planted sun flower seeds in the center meridians of busy New York City streets. They put flower boxes on the window ledges of abandoned buildings.

But Christy became concerned about one lot in particular — at Bowery and Houston Street.

As she told the New York Daily News in 1974: “That lot was so depressing. In the past few years I’ve seen three different men carried out of their dead…. And children played in there with all that glass and filth.”

And so in 1973, Christy and her band of green heroes formed the Bowery Houston Farm and Garden, transforming the lot into a verdant stretch of beauty.

In just a single quote in that Daily News article, Christy articulates not only the salvation of a city lot, but lays out a blueprint for how to inspire any community to take a similar approach.”

“The best thing about the garden has been the interest and involvement of families and especially children. So many children have been eager to take care of their own lots and besides keeping them out of trouble and teaching them something, it has also given them great pleasure to take home their crops.”

To call their mission a labor of love is an understatement. In 1976, the New York Times wrote“

“In the three years of their existence, [The Green Guerillas] have received a total of $356 in donations. The expenses for which they actually have receipts come to $3,500, which has come out of their own pockets, and this does not include a lot of the money spent on gasoline. mailings, gardening equipment and transportation.”

Thanks to the legacy of Liz Christy (who died in 1985) and the continuing work of the Green Guerillas, hundreds of spaces in New York City have been transformed into community-run gardens, supported by the city’s GreenThumb initiatives which began in 1978.

For more information on the history of New York City community gardens, visit NYC Parks.

While you can find these types of community gardens all over New York City, the ones in the East Village still hold a certain kind of magic.

At the bleakest moments of the 1980s, when burned- out buildings and empty lots defined the neighborhood, community leaders took beautification efforts into their own hands, clearing abandoned lots and planting leafy, magical, and art-filled oases.

Once a mere curiosity of the East Village, the gardens have now become one of its defining features.

There are about 40 gardens today in the neighborhood. One could spend an afternoon with a good book, tiptoeing from garden to garden, each with its own flora and fecundity.

My three personal favorites are below — but there are dozens! Celebrate the season by following this map of gardens (via Earth Celebrations) through the neighborhood:

El Jardin del Paraiso Most of the East Village was once high salt marshes and tidal meadows (called Stuyvesant’s Meadow), which gradually mixed with trees and plants at the shore.

It’s not a stretch to imagine those verdant old days at this garden, created in 1981, which also includes a fabulously imaginative willow treehouse. (Spans 4th and 5th Streets, between Avenues C and D)

Miracle Garden The name of this peaceful respite recalls the garden’s opening in 1983, when a batch of toxic soil killed off all of the first plantings. It might have spelled doom for the entire lot if not for the diligence of neighborhood gardener Penny Evans.

But the name may also hint at the fact that this flourishing spot sits on the site of a former crack house. (194–296 East 3rd Street)

6th and B Garden While there might be fuller and lusher gardens in the East Village, this corner spot, which frequently hosts musical events on its central stage, was famous for its astonishing 65-foot tower of toys. (The garden is also immortalized in the musical Rent.)

Artist Eddie Boros constructed the playful structure in 1988 out of found toys. Sadly, the structure was torn down by the city in 2008, a year after Boros died. (6th Street and Avenue B)

Museums Neighborhoods The Immigrant Experience

A Visit to the Ukrainian Museum in the East Village

Post author By GY
Post date August 30, 2023

There’s a small pocket of the East Village still referred to today as “Little Ukraine” (or Ukrainian Village), located at 6th and 7th Streets between First and Third Avenues.

Once populated in the late 19th century with thousands of newly arrived Ukrainian immigrants, this area has grown notably smaller in recent years, more distinguished today by its many legacy institutions dedicated to Ukrainian culture and cuisine.

You’re probably most familiar with Veselka, the Second Avenue staple of delicious Ukrainian food which has served the East Village since 1954 — or rather, it’s served the Lower East Side as that newer neighborhood name wasn’t introduced when pierogi and blintzes were first served from their kitchen.

Less glamorous but equally as delicious is the restaurant at National Ukrainian Home next door. Of course the space has a valuable place in music history; in 1981 the British group New Order made their first American appearance here. (New Order with a side of potato pancakes sound like heaven to me.)

This article was first published on March 30, 2022

From an East Village Ukrainian festival, 2008 (courtesy Jazz Guy/Wikimedia Commons)

As you stroll these streets, you’ll find other evidence of the neighborhood’s Ukrainian past including houses of worship like St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church. Although St. George was built in the mid-1970s, the congregation itself traces itself back to the first Ukrainian services in the late 19th century (in the basement of St. Brigid Roman Catholic Church, which is also still around).

But for a true appreciation of New York’s “Little Ukraine,” pay a visit to the Ukrainian Museum (222 East 6th Street between Second and Third Avenues), one of the city’s perfect small museum experiences, where works of folk art and costumes are displayed near striking examples of early 20th century modern art.

The museum has been on East 6th Street since 1976, founded by Ukrainian National Women’s League of America. Its first home was on “two floors of an imaginatively remodeled tenement at 203 Second Avenue (at 13th Street).”

The current home opened in 2005 with a retrospective of the avant-garde sculptor Alexander Archipenko, a splashy and provocative direction for an museum better known then for its festive displays of pysanky (or Easter eggs).

The eggs are still there though! As are other colorful spherical objects — the fanciful installation Finding Sanctuary During the Pandemic featuring brilliantly colored record albums.

For more information on the Ukrainian Museum , visit their website or just pop by Wednesday through Sunday, 11:30am to 5pm.

Bridges Parks and Recreation Podcasts

The Early Years of Central Park: A Tale of Fountains, Castles and Rambling Walks

Post author By GY
Post date August 18, 2023

Stroll the romantic, rambling paths of historic Central Park in this week’s episode, turning back the clock to the 1860s and 70s, a time of children ice skating on The Lake, carriage rides through The Mall, and bewildering excursions through The Ramble.

You’re all invited to walk along with Greg through the oldest portion of Central Park But not only to marvel at the beautiful trees, ancient rocks, flowers and the dizzying assortment of birds but to look at the architecture, the sculptures and the fountains.

George Bellow’s 1905 painting of Bethesda Fountain

The idea of a public park — open to all people, from all walks of life — was rather new in the mid-19th century. The original plan for Central Park by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux emphasized an escape to the natural world. But almost immediately, those plans were altered to include more monumental and architectural delights.

In this rambling walking tour Greg visits some of the most beloved attractions of the park including Bethesda Terrace and Fountain, Naumburg Bandshell, Bow Bridge and Belvedere Castle.

And he’s joined by two very special guests:

— Sara Cedar Miller, historian emerita of the Central Park Conservancy and author of Before Central Park

— Dr. Emma Guest-Consales, president of the Guides Association of New York City and tour ambassador at One World Observatory.

LISTEN NOW: THE EARLY YEARS OF CENTRAL PARK

Check out the website for the Central Park Conservancy for information about their programming including a calendar filled with tours and special events. Tour the Ramble, the site of Seneca Village, the North Woods, and more.

Naumburg Bandshell in 1934, courtesy the Central Park Conservancy

Bethesda Terrace, 1894 (Courtesy Library of Congress)

Knapp View of Bethesda Terrace, Central Park, 1869 (Courtesy New York Public Library)

Bethesda Fountain 1901, Detroit Publishing Co., courtesy LIbrary of Congress

The Lake in Central Park, 1861, lithograph courtesy New York Public Library

The Central Park Ramble on Sunday, 1942, photography by Marjory Collins, courtesy Library of Congress

You can book a tour with special guest Emma Guest-Consales here:

Ladies Mile Cast-Iron Architecture Tour
Gilded Age Mansions of Fifth Avenue Tour
and new dates for Emma’s Central Park Architecture Tour coming soon

Entrance to the Mall with the William Shakespeare statue to the right.

Bethesda Arcade — Courtesy JJxFile/Wikimedia Commons, taken March 2020

Cherry Hill fountain, photo by Greg Young

The Lake with the San Remo and the Langham reflected in the water, with the top of the Dakota Apartment barely sticking over the trees.

The little niche where Greg and Emma recorded the show.

The view from Belvedere Castle, looking down at the Delacorte Theater

FURTHER LISTENING

This episode is a sort-of sequel to last year’s show on the early years of Frederick Law Olmsted:

And you also may like these related shows (including our first, earliest efforts in telling the story of the park):

The Brooklyn Navy Yard and Vinegar Hill: Where American History Meets the Waterfront

Post author By GY
Post date August 4, 2023

The tale of the Brooklyn Navy Yard is one of New York’s true epic adventures, mirroring the course of American history via the ships manufactured here and the people employed to make them.

The Navy Yard’s origins within Wallabout Bay tie it to the birth of the United States itself, the spot where thousands of men and women were kept in prison ships during the Revolutionary War.

Within this bay where thousands of American patriots died would rise one of this country’s largest naval yards. It was built for the service and protection of the very country those men and women died for. A complex that would then create weapons of war for other battles — and jobs for hundreds of thousands of New Yorkers.

In this episode, Greg is joined by the amazing Andrew Gustafson from Turnstile Tours who unfurls the surprising history of the Navy Yard — through war and peace, through new technologies and aging infrastructure, through the lives of the men and women who built the yard’s reputation.

And the story extends to the tiny neighborhood of Vinegar Hill, famed for its early 19th-century architecture and the mysterious mansion known as the Commandant’s House.

FEATURING the origin story of Brooklyn’s most sacred public monument — at home not in Vinegar Hill (at least not anymore) but in Fort Greene.

WITH Matthew C. Perry (not the guy from Friends), E. R. Squibb, Robert F. Kennedy and … The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel?

LISTEN HERE: The Brooklyn Navy Yard

Have you ever worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard or do you have relatives or descendents who worked there during its naval shipbuilding years? Leave your stories in the comments section.

Our sincere thanks to Andrew Gustafson and the gang over at Turnstile Tours. Visit their website to book a tour, not only of the Navy Yard, but also Brooklyn Army Terminal and Prospect Park, as well as a Food Cart Tour.

Turnstile Tours operates tours at the Navy Yard in partnership with the Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corporation.

The original Martyrs Tomb on Hudson Avenue, image courtesy NYPL

Lithograph of the Navy Yard in 1836, Library of Congress

1904, Sands Street entrances to the Navy Yard/Library of Congress

July 1917, Bain News Service/Courtesy the Library of Congress

Bird’s-eye view showing barracks and men doing exercises; harbor in background. 1909/Library of Congress

Women exit the Brooklyn Navy Yard, September 19, 1942 – (Photo by the New York Times/Redux)

A wall mural on Navy Street celebrates the Navy Yard’s history. Courtesy Greg Young

Sands Street Gatehouse, today a tasting room for Kings County Distillery. Courtesy Greg Young

King County Distillery finds its home in a 19th century paymaster building… Courtesy Greg Young

This is what’s inside today! Photo courtesy Greg Young

Just one room in Building 92’s thorough museum to the Navy Yard’s history.

The paths of the Naval Cemetery Landscape, the site of the old Naval Hospital cemetery.

Peering through the gate to Quarters A, the Commandant’s House.

Enchanting Vinegar Hill

FURTHER LISTENING

Tags Brooklyn Navy Yard, Vinegar Hill

Amusements and Thrills The Gilded Gentleman

How The Gilded Age Played: A Sweet Summertime Show With Esther Crain

Post author By GY
Post date July 27, 2023

Luna Park, 1917. Courtesy New York Public Library, The Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and Photographs: Picture Collection

On the latest episode of The Gilded Gentleman, returning guest Esther Crain, author and creator of Ephemeral New York, joins Carl for a look at how New Yorkers stayed cool on summer days in the Gilded Age.

As New York continued its march up the island of Manhattan, there were few places where New Yorkers that couldn’t escape to Newport could find somewhere to relax, play, stroll, and find some shade.

The development of the Central Park provided some much-needed relief but it took some time for it to become a place that was accessible and viable for all of New York’s social classes.

Bethesda Terrace, Central Park, 1890, courtesy the New York Public LIbrary, Irma and Paul Milstein Division of United States History, Local History and Genealogy

Meanwhile, out on the far coast of Brooklyn, the resort of Coney Island developed rapidly and became a truly great escape with its famous amusement parks where one could find adventure and perhaps a bit of romance.

Esther takes us on a journey to visit these spots and spaces where Gilded Age New Yorkers could cool off, forget the realities of life for just a bit and have a really good time.

LISTEN HERE OR ON YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST PLAYER:

And in two weeks on The Gilded Gentleman Podcast: Prepare for a history of the French Riviera

Tags baseball, boardwalk, Central Park, Coney Island, Dreamland, Luna Park, Madison Square Park, Steeplechase

Landmarks Pop Culture Side Streets

The New Storytellers: Landmarks, Diners and Everyday New Yorkers

Post author By GY
Post date July 21, 2023
1 Comment on The New Storytellers: Landmarks, Diners and Everyday New Yorkers

Instead of looking back to the history of New York City in this episode, we are looking forward to the future — to the new generation of creators who are celebrating New York and telling its story through mediums that are not podcasts or books.

Today we are honoring all the historians, journalists and photographers who bring New York City to life on social media platforms like Instagram.

There are a million different ways to tell a good story and the guests on today’s show are doing it with photography and short films, exposing new audiences to the best of New York City – its landmarks, its people, even its diners.

Featuring interviews with three of our favorite creators:

Nicolas Heller, aka New York Nico, the “unofficial talent scout of New York City,” the filmmaker and photographer who manages to capture the magic of the city’s most interesting and colorful characters

Riley Arthur, aka Diners of NYC, who explores the world of New York City diners, great and small, in hopes to bring awareness to many struggling local businesses

Tommy Silk, aka Landmarks of NY, who shares illuminating photos and videos featuring the city’s most interesting and sometimes overlooked architectural gems

Featuring stories of the Neptune Diner, the Green Lady, the Little Red Lighthouse, Junior’s Cheesecake, Tiger Hood and City Island

LISTEN NOW: THE STORYTELLERS OF INSTAGRAM

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Nicolas Heller (@newyorknico)

… and a short film featuring Tiger Hood!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Thomas Silk (@landmarksofny)

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by All diners of New York City (@dinersofnyc)

Tags City Island, diners, landmarks, Photography

Gilded Age New York The Gilded Gentleman

A Gilded Age Tour Up the Island of Manhattan with Keith Taillon

Post author By GY
Post date July 14, 2023
2 Comments on A Gilded Age Tour Up the Island of Manhattan with Keith Taillon

Carl Raymond of The Gilded Gentleman podcast presents a fascinating tour through over 100 years of New York history, showing how the Gilded Age developed and evolved from an architectural and urban planning point of view.

He’s joined by guest historian and tour guide Keith Taillon (@keithyorkcity), taking listeners on a journey explaining how key Gilded Age neighborhoods became established and grew.

Some tour guides and historians have said that to understand the early history of New York, just follow the population’s migration up the island of Manhattan during the 19th century before all the boroughs consolidated.

Historian and tour guide Keith Taillon takes us on a virtual tour and discusses how wealthy neighborhoods like Washington Square, Gramercy Park, Madison Square and of course the “gold coast” of Fifth Avenue all developed and what factors contributed to how it grew the way it did.

Along the way, Keith discusses many well known figures such as Astors and Vanderbilts as well as some lesser known but important trendsetters such as the outrageous Mamie Fish and groundbreaking (literally) Mary Mason Jones.

After this show, you’ll never look at Manhattan or the Gilded Age in quite the same way again.

Subscribe to The Gilded Gentleman Podcast on your favorite podcast player including Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

The Gilded Gentleman Writers and Artists

When Whitman Met Wilde: A Meeting of Literary Giants in 1882

Post author By GY
Post date June 27, 2023
1 Comment on When Whitman Met Wilde: A Meeting of Literary Giants in 1882

In 1882, Oscar Wilde took break from his lecture tour of North America to meet his childhood idol, the aging poet Walt Whitman, who lived in Camden, New Jersey.

Their afternoon together is the stuff of literary legend. Wilde later recounted, “The kiss of Walt Whitman is still on my lips.”

On these special two episodes of The Gilded Gentleman, host Carl Raymond and guests take a look at the lives of Whitman and Wilde, two revolutionary writers, the times in which they lived, their surprising meeting, and how New York inspired them to move onto great fame and celebrity.

In part one, writer and historian Hugh Ryan (When Brooklyn Was Queer, The Women’s House of Detention) talks about how revolutionary Whitman’s Leaves of Grass was and how Whitman would have defined his same-sex attractions, which had not yet evolved into the concepts of sexuality and gender identification that we know today.

What was the New York and Brooklyn that Whitman knew? Hugh offers insight into just what that famous meeting between the older Whitman and the younger Wilde years later might have been like.

In part two, noted Wilde scholar and expert John Cooper joins Carl to envisions New York that Wilde would have seen upon his arrival.

John guides listeners on a journey to discover just who Wilde was at this point in his life and career, how he and the city of New York interacted with each other and just how Oscar would likely have defined and described his own much debated sexual identity.

Tags Oscar Wilde, Walt Whitman

Planes Trains and Automobiles Podcasts

The New York Parking Wars: How Cars Took Over The Curb

Post author By GY
Post date June 23, 2023
1 Comment on The New York Parking Wars: How Cars Took Over The Curb

Take a look at a vintage photograph of New York from the 1930s and you’ll see automats, newsies, elevated trains and men in fedoras. What you won’t see — dozens and dozens of automobiles on the curb.

In a city with skyrocketing real estate values, why are most city streets still devoted to free car storage? It’s a situation we’re all so used to that we don’t think twice about it. Whatever happened to the curb?

Long-term and overnight parking used to be illegal in the early 20th century. The transition from horse-drawn carriages to gas-powered automobiles transformed neighborhoods like Times Square and reconfigured everyday life on the street.

But before the 1920s, parking those glamorous new Model Ts on the street was tolerated only in short-term situations.

Harlem, 125th Street, 1949 — the year before alternate side parking is enacted

By the 1940s, however, New Yorkers were simply too reliant on the automobile, and the city’s parking lots and garages were simply not adequate. (For many New Yorkers, like Seinfeld’s George Costanza, they’re still not acceptable).

Street parking was de facto legalized with the advent of alternate-side parking rules, and soon parking meters and ‘meter maids’ were attempting to keep a handle on the chaotic situation.

Eventually the car took over. Will it always be this way?

In this special episode, Tom and Greg are joined by Slate Magazine writer Henry Grabar, author of Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains The World, who exposes some shocking parking violations and even offers a few couple solutions for the future.

LISTEN NOW: THE NEW YORK PARKING WARS

Our thanks to Henry Grabar for joining us on the show today. You can find all his work from Slate Magazine here. You might also like to hear him on a couple of our favorite podcasts — Decoder Ring and 99 Percent Invisible.

Times Square: The original ‘automobile district’, 1911 (cleaned up shot courtesy Shorpy)

Times Square in the 1930s. Although this is certainly taken late night, there are very few cars at the curb.

Washington Square North,: 1937. Courtesy WPA-FWP Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.

A 1930s motor hotel, courtesy Modern Mechanix

Cars, Washington Square Park, Aerial View, 1960s

New York City parking garage, photograph by Marvin E Newman, taken in 1955.

The stacked parking solution, photo taken 2010, Jérôme from Wikimedia Commons

Jones Beach parking lot then (as in 1934, courtesy New York Public LIbrary)

Seinfeld clips which pertain to this week’s show

FURTHER LISTENING:

After you’re done with this show on the history of parking, check out these shows from our back catalog with similar themes.

Tags automobiles, garages, horses, meter maids, parking, parking attendents, parking garages, parking lots, stables, Times Square

Planes Trains and Automobiles Podcasts Women's History

The Story of Miss Subways: Queens of the New York Commute

Post author By GY
Post date June 9, 2023
3 Comments on The Story of Miss Subways: Queens of the New York Commute

Miss Subways winners Enid Berkowitz (July 1946), Ellen Hart (March-April 1959), Shirley Martin (May-June 1960), Vernell Dennis (Sept-Oct 1961)

From 1941 and 1976, dozens of young women and high school girls were bestowed the honor of Miss Subways with her smiling photograph hanging within the cars of the New York subway system.

This was not a beauty pageant, but rather an advertising campaign which promoted the subway and drew the eyes of commuters to the train car’s many advertisements for cod liver oil, cigarettes and frozen foods.

The women who were chosen for Miss Subways became overnight local celebrities, aspirational figures for thousands of subway riders.

The program was overseen by modeling agent guru John Robert Powers whose work for mail order catalogs and newspapers would help define the ‘girl-next-door’ image of the mid 20th century.

However this blonde Midwestern template soon looked out of place promoting the subway system of one of the most diverse cities in the world. By the 1960s, winners of this fleeting title began to reflect the many types of women who commuted and used the subway.

Listen in as Greg tells the story of the Miss Subways pageant then participates as a judge for a brand new Miss Subways competition, held in Coney Island in April. But what does this title mean in 2023?

FEATURING A visit to the New York Transit Museum, the City Reliquary, Coney Island USA’s Seashore Theater and Ellen’s Stardust Diner

LISTEN NOW: MISS SUBWAYS: QUEENS OF THE NEW YORK COMMUTE

Photograph courtesy Ellen’s Stardust Diner/Miss Subways

My thanks to:

Jodi Shapiro and everybody at the New York Transit Museum
Ellen Hart Shurm and the whole gang at Ellen’s Stardust Diner
Dave Herman at the City Reliquary

And the reigning Miss Subways — Harmony Hardcore! And also to all the contestants who participated.

In 1948, Thelma Porter became the first African-American Miss Subways.

Ellen’s Stardust Diner. More information about their Miss Subways collection here.

New York Transit Museum

Seashore Theater at Coney Island USA

Harmony Hardcore and the contestants of the 2023 Miss Subways pageant

The final three contestants — *Lena* Horné, Chantelle and Harmony Hardcore

From an article in Collier’s Weekly, September 25, 1943, “Miss Subways: A new kind of beauty brightens the life of New York’s underground commuters,” in a photograph highly influenced by the pin-up photos of Betty Grable and other wartime beauties:

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After listening to this podcast, head back into our back catalog and listen to these shows with similar themes

Architect of the Gilded Age: The Triumphant Tale of Richard Morris Hunt

Post author By GY
Post date May 29, 2023
4 Comments on Architect of the Gilded Age: The Triumphant Tale of Richard Morris Hunt

The Metropolitan Museum, 1902, entrance hall by Richard Morris Hunt. (Photo courtesy the Met Museum)

Richard Morris Hunt was one of the most important architects in American history. His talent and vision brought respect to his profession in the mid 19th century and helped to craft the seductive style of the Gilded Age.

So why are there so few examples of his extraordinary work still standing in New York City today?

You’re certainly familiar with the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty and the grand entrance of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, two commissions that came late in Hunt’s life.

And perhaps you’ve taken a tour of two luxurious mansions designed by Hunt — The Breakers in Newport, Rhode Island, and Biltmore in Asheville, North Carolina.

But Hunt was more than just pretty palaces.

He championed the profession of the architect in a period when Americans were more likely to associate the job with construction or carpentry. Hunt brought artistry to the fore and trained the first official class of American architects from his atelier at the Tenth Street Studio in Greenwich Village.

He promoted certain European styles of design — collectively known as the Beaux-Arts architecture — to growing wealthy class of Americans who wished to emulate the grand and regal lifestyles of French aristocracy.

His legacy includes prominent organizations promoting both the field of architecture and the need for effective urban design. Along the way he built hospitals, libraries, newspaper offices, artist studios, churches and even the first American apartment building.

Join us for this look at a true arbiter of American architecture.

LISTEN NOW: ARCHITECT OF THE GILDED AGE

Young Richard Morris Hunt, in a painting by Thomas Couture

BUILDINGS AND OTHER CREATIONS MENTIONED ON THIS WEEK’S SHOW

Pavilion de la Bibliothèque Imperiale, the Louvre, Paris

The U.S. Capitol Building in 1855, before the wooden dome was removed.

The Thomas Rossiter House

Tenth Street Studio, Greenwich Village

Presbyterian Hospital

Photo by E. & H.T. Anthony Co. about 1872

The New York Tribune Building

Lenox Library

The Vanderbilt’s Petit Chateau on Fifth Avenue

The pedestal of the Statue of Liberty

Pictured here in 1936 with FDR giving a speech at the 50th anniversary celebration. Preston Stroup / AP

The Breakers, Newport RI

1904, photo courtesy the Library of Congress

The Biltmore, Asheville NC

Metropolitan Museum Entrance Hall

FURTHER LISTENING

After listening to this week’s episode on Richard Morris Hunt, dive back into past episodes which intersect with his story.

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Food History Landmarks Podcasts The Immigrant Experience

The Great New York City Pizza Tour: History By The Slice

Post author By GY
Post date April 28, 2023
2 Comments on The Great New York City Pizza Tour: History By The Slice

Gennaro Lombardi and Antonio Totonno Pero at 53 Spring Street. While this photo is traditionally labeled as 1905, recent evidence had been uncovered that places the year as 1908.

The history of pizza in the United States begins in Manhattan in the late 19th century, on the streets of Little Italy (and Nolita), within immigrant-run bakeries that transformed a traditional southern Italian food into something remarkable.

But new research discovered in recent years has changed New York food history, revealing an origin tale slightly older than what the old guide books may have you believe.

Understanding the history of American pizza is important because it’s a food that brings people together, young and old — from pizza parties to corner slice places, from classic traditional pies to the latest upscale innovations.

Pizza lovers of all kinds — even you, Chicago deep-dish lovers — will find much to enjoy in this show, tracing the early origins of American pizza and specifically how New York City-style pizza was born. (What even is New York style pizza? Even that answer is trickier than you think.)

On this wandering episode — through Nolita, Greenwich Village and even the Bowery — Tom and Greg are joined by the prince of pizza himself Scott Wiener of the long-running Scott’s Pizza Tours.

Perhaps nobody in New York City knows more about pizza than Scott, and he takes the Bowery Boys on a culinary adventure which includes two of New York’s most famous pizza restaurants — Lombardi’s Pizza and John’s of Bleecker Street.

And a stop at the most important restaurant-supply store in American pizza history, a place were dreams (and pizza ovens) were once made.

LISTEN NOW: THE GREAT NEW YORK CITY PIZZA TOUR

A Times Square pizza joint from the 1950s

Find information on Scott’s Pizza Tours “for true pizza nerds” here.

Our deep thanks to Chicago pizza historian Peter Regas whose research was used in this show.

From Scott: “The earliest evidence of a pizzeria in the U.S. is currently this listing (attached, a slide from the presentation Peter and I gave at 92 St Y) from an 1894 NYC business directory.

Whoever canvassed the neighborhood didn’t realize the phrase “Forno E Pizzeria” was Italian for “Oven and Pizzeria,” they interpreted it as the proprietor’s name and recorded the business at 59 1/2 Mulberry St as belonging to a person with the last name Pizzeria, first name / middle initial Forno E.

So a data entry gave us this great gift of evidence of a pizzeria! Likely that pizzeria existed in 1893 since the proprietor was the same person that year (a guy named John Alban) but we don’t have 100% proof like we do in 1894. The building at 59 1/2 Mulberry was torn down in 1897 to make way for Columbus Park.”

A 1903 advertisement in Il Telegraph, an Italian language newspaper published in America.

Tom and Scott at Lombardi’s. Photo by Greg Young

Bari Pizzeria and Restaurant Equipment is home inside the former Frank Mastro “the Pizza King” at 240 Bowery.

In a rustic booth at John’s of Bleecker Street

FURTHER LISTENING

The Big History of Little Italy

Little Italy is the pocket-neighborhood reminder of the great wave of Italian immigration which came through New York City starting in the late 1870s.

The History of the Bagel

How did the bagel go from the basement bakeries of the Lower East Side to the supermarkets and breakfast tables of the entire country?

Chop Suey City: The History of Chinese Food in New York

New Yorkers eat a LOT of Chinese food and have enjoyed Chinese cuisine – either in a restaurant or as takeout – for well over 130 years. Chinese food entered the regular diet of the city LONG before the bagel, the hot dog and even pizza.

A Walk Through Little Caribbean in Brooklyn

What wonderful surprises await the Bowery Boys in Little Caribbean? The Brooklyn enclave in Flatbush is one of the central destinations for Caribbean-American life and culture in New York City.

A Culinary Tour of the Lower East Side

A flavorful walk through the Lower East Side, exploring the neighborhood’s most famous foods.

LISTEN NOW: THEODORE ROOSEVELT’S WILD KINGDOM

Theodore Roosevelt’s New York

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LISTEN HERE: WALKING THE EAST VILLAGE 1976-1996

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LISTEN NOW: CREATING THE EAST VILLAGE

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LISTEN NOW: THE EARLY YEARS OF CENTRAL PARK

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LISTEN HERE: The Brooklyn Navy Yard

Have you ever worked in the Brooklyn Navy Yard or do you have relatives or descendents who worked there during its naval shipbuilding years? Leave your stories in the comments section.

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LISTEN NOW: THE STORYTELLERS OF INSTAGRAM

LISTEN NOW: THE NEW YORK PARKING WARS

Seinfeld clips which pertain to this week’s show

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LISTEN NOW: MISS SUBWAYS: QUEENS OF THE NEW YORK COMMUTE

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LISTEN NOW: ARCHITECT OF THE GILDED AGE

BUILDINGS AND OTHER CREATIONS MENTIONED ON THIS WEEK’S SHOW

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The Bowery Boys: New York City History podcast is brought to you …. by you!

LISTEN NOW: THE GREAT NEW YORK CITY PIZZA TOUR

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