The Bowery Boys: New York City History
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Street Every Monday I’ll try and check in with the Mad Men episode from the night before and focus in on one or two historical references made on the show.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
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
New York Harbor, possibly late 1810s (caption reads only ‘1800s’) courtesy NYPL Two hundred years ago today, a boat on its maiden voyage left New York’s harbor. This happened virtually every day in New York, of course, during this period as America’s most active and bustling port city. However, from 1807 and lasting well into… Read More
The Capitol in 1935, its feature attraction the spy thriller Rendezvous 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…. While doing some… Read More