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Mad Men

‘Mad Men’ notes: The once and future Hotel Pennsylvania

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the text Every Monday I’ll try and check in with the Mad Men episode from the night before and focus in on one or two historical references made on the show.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

Podcast Rewind: the glory days of Shea Stadium

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

Tony Curtis: “The cat’s in a bag and the bag’s in a river”

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

Hilltop Park: home base for NYC’s premier baseball team

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

Hot List: What To Do In New York, Sept. 28, 1860

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

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Mad Men

‘Mad Men’ notes: Nights at the New York Playboy Club

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Street Every Monday I’ll try and check in with the Mad Men episode from the night before and focus in on one or two historical references made on the show.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

House party: A weekend of NYC’s most historic homes

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

Puzzle time! Can you identify these details of Hell’s Gate?

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

Behold, the Wheatons and the Quackenbushes!

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

Who are the Spring Street Fencibles?

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

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Mad Men

‘Mad Men’ notes: Here’s to whiskey and Bermuda shorts!

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

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Podcasts

Gracie Mansion: How a bucolic summer home survived a couple wars, a society feud and a few live-in mayors

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

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Jones Woods: A Gothic picnic getaway in upper Manhattan

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

The wheelhouse of Wall Street 1885

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

History In The Making 9/9: Sad Music Edition

A gloomy sight indeed — the incineration of Hale’s Piano Factory, a competitor of Steinway, located at West 35th Street and 10th Avenue, destroyed by fire on September 3, 1877. One report calls Joseph Hale’s business a manufacturer of “notorious bogus pianos.” Several people were killed in this horrible blaze. Read the original piece from… Read More