The Bowery Boys: New York City History
‘The Banker’s Daughter’ was the hot new play of 1878 by Bronson Howard, “then the best playwright in America.” It played the Union Square Theater for over 140 performances and to rapturous praise. The plot? “How a woman grows to love the older man she married for his money.” In 1899 Howard wrote a play… Read More
From a Statler Hotel advertisement in Life Magazine, dated January 10, 1949. Click in to the illustration to read the text Every Monday I’ll try and check in with the Mad Men episode from the night before and focus in on one or two historical references made on the show. Spoilers aplenty, so read no… Read More
A special illustrated version of our podcast on Shea Stadium (Episode #62) is now available on our NYC History Archive feed. Just hit play and images of the things we’re talking about appear on any compatible media player. As the Mets wrap up their season this weekend at their new home Citi Field, I thought… Read More
Curtis, as the smarmy Sidney Falco, in ‘Sweet Smell of Success’ “Another way I coped was by being rough, rowdy, and athletic. Not on a basketball court or a football field; on the streets of New York. I would climb the trestles of the el train like I was Tarzan. I would jump from the… Read More
A few hundred well-dressed men and a few women and children enter Hilltop Park, 1912 (See original photograph at Shorpy) This weekend marks the end of the regular season in Major League Baseball, as the New York Yankees head to the playoffs, and the New York Mets head to, well, I’m sure many very lovely,… Read More
It’s gettin’ hot in here: the Light Guard Ball at the Academy of Music in 1860 We may be 150 years separated, but the New Yorkers of 1860 had similar (if more primitive) fascinations, judging from the September 28, 1860 issue of the New York Daily Tribune. If you were stressed out about national politics… Read More
Above: the Manhattan Playboy Club, at 5 East 59th Street Every Monday I’ll try and check in with the Mad Men episode from the night before and focus in on one or two historical references made on the show. Spoilers aplenty, so read no further if you don’t want to know…. In 1964, a salacious… Read More
Above: the Morris-Jumel Mansion (Postcard courtesy NYPL) If we piqued your interest in last week’s episode on Gracie Mansion, this weekend is an excellent opportunity to check it out along with a couple dozen of the oldest and most famous homes in the New York City area. The Historic House Festival is a weekend long… Read More
In digging around a little further for information on Hoorn’s Hook and Hell’s Gate — two East River spots mentioned in the Gracie Mansion podcast — I came across the incredible illustration among the Library of Congress’s digital images page. Labeled the ‘East View of Hell’s Gate, in the Province of New York’, the piece… Read More
Above is the only photograph I can find of Gracie Mansion that features members of both the Wheaton and the Quackenbush families, who took over the manor in the late 19th century. It’s from a book which I had to scan, and the original is courtesy New York Historical Society, so I apologize for the… Read More
Spring Street and Broadway in 1785, 30 years before the events of the article below. Illustration courtesy NYPL digital images While researching the Gracie Mansion podcast, I found mention of a street gang by the name of the Spring Street Fencibles, or simply, the Spring Streeters. Obviously, the streets of New York have been crawling… Read More
Every Monday I’ll try and check in with the Mad Men episode from the night before and focus in on one or two historical references made on the show. Spoilers aplenty, so read no further if you don’t want to know…. On last night’s episode of ‘Mad Men’, they actually used a tavern that’s still… Read More
Photo by the Wurts Brothers, date unknown. Courtesy NYPL Archibald Gracie admired the extraordinary vistas at Horn’s Hook — overlooking the East River and the churning waters of Hell’s Gate — and decided to build a house here. Little did he know what an extraordinary journey this comfy little Federal home would take over the… 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
No ‘Mad Men Notes’ this week as I’m out of town, but please enjoy this captivating shot of mad men on Wall Street, circa 1885, courtesy the Cornell University Library. The more you look at it, the more interesting details emerge. Click on picture for much greater detail. Trinity Church, at far left, would still… Read More