The Bowery Boys: New York City History
If this were 1914, we would be in the midst of a week-long celebration of New York babies! Actually, the occasion was a bit more somber. According to the photo caption, Greater New York Baby Week was initiated “to reduce the toll of preventable infant deaths by calling city-wide attention to needs met and needs… Read More
Trafalgar Square, by way of Park Row, in an imagined universe of American domination “If London Were Like New York” — as this 1902 article from Harmsworth’s Magazine imagines — it would be twenty times more spectacular. [Lubin] (Thanks to Chris Perriman for sending this via Twitter) A walk down Jamaica Avenue in Queens. I… Read More
New York 1971 (Courtesy the blog MusicFromTheFilm) Irving Place and the house that Washington Irving never lived in — in 1905. [Shorpy] Did you ever wonder why a playground close Irving Place — at Second Avenue and 19th Street — was named after the prolific sculptor Augustus Saint-Gaudens? Wonder no more! [Ephemeral New York] Forgotten… Read More
From H.S. Tanner’s ‘The American Traveller; or Guide Through the United States’, 1836 (book published book 1840) Stuyvesant Street is mentioned as one of the few streets in New York that was allowed to break the grid, and its diagonal path between Second and Third avenues is a reminder of the original farm grid of… Read More
In honor of tomorrow’s cartographic-flavored podcast, I present to you a classic clip which begins in that most mysterious of Manhattan locations. Well, at least according to Kramer*: *If this blew his mind, imagine had he stumbled upon the intersection of 4th Street and 10th Street, two streets that logically should never cross paths.
Taking a weekend break from history to offer congratulations to our close friend Nancy Schwartzman who has also occasionally done some research for a few Bowery Boys podcasts in the past. Nancy is a documentary filmmaker based in Brooklyn, and she is piecing together her second short film now, called xoxosms. And she just successfully… Read More
Here’s the whole menu of our 2010 podcasts. As always, you can download them all for free from iTunes and or your favorite podcast aggregator. The original blog page for each is listed below, along with a link to download directly from our satellite site. See you in 2011! TRINITY CHURCHBlog page / Trinity Church:… Read More
The Hotel Astor in its opening year, 1904. The Astor was a Waldorf; the Knickerbocker was an Astor. Makes sense? (Photo courtesy NYPL) Longacre Square didn’t become Times Square without the Astor family making a lot of money. Much of the area had been farmland that had been purchased by John Jacob Astor in the… Read More
From atop the Times Tower, in 1904, another world lights up below. The year that turned a ragged, uptown intersection into the place known as Times Square also brought an important work of advertising to the area, for a product that has been all but forgotten. Oscar J. Gude was already a master of outdoor… Read More
Believe it or not, this long-gone, unsuccessful attempt at a museum actually figures into the larger tale of a major New York institution, which we cover on this week’s podcast and which will be available for download by Wednesday. This is a reprinted article from May 15, 2008 with some modifications. Original is here. What… Read More
Fran with Nick Rhodes from Duran Duran (Life Google images) Fran Lebowitz is such a wry, curmudgeonly treasure to so many people that it takes no less than Martin Scorsese to actually make a documentary about her. The film ‘Public Speaking’ debuts on HBO this Monday at 10pm, taking an adored look at the career… Read More
Illness and a crazy schedule this week have conspired to delaying this weeks podcast, but we promise to have it ready to download by Wednesday morning. In the meantime, you can check out our television debut on the Brian Lehrer Show, which was recorded on Wednesday. It’s running throughout the week on CUNY TV, Channel… Read More
Hopefully you’ve listened to this week’s ‘Supernatural Stories of New York’ podcast and heard Tom’s tale of the legend of two combative ghosts who haunted the penthouse at 57 W. 57 Street. Well, here’s a couple pictures of the penthouse in question. Thanks to Dave at The Imagist for sending us the link. You can… Read More
The Bowery Boys 4th Annual Halloween Podcast is coming your way this Friday, featuring four new tales of haunted history. We’re putting it together now and will try to have it ready for download by Thursday night. Below: A different set of flamboyant boys get gussied up for the Hallowe’en holiday. Click pic for a… Read More
Over 15,000 Irish Americans gathered in Jones Wood in 1856, to greet countryman James Stephen Once upon a time, back when Fifth Avenue was a dirt path and Bloomingdale was literally a blooming dale, there stood a haunted and most mysterious forest located on bluffs overlooking the East River, far east of the area today… Read More