The Bowery Boys: New York City History
(click for larger view)1899 “On the streets in a New York blizzard.” I can’t quite figure out where this is taken. Any guesses? Photo taken by the Byron Company, one of the city’s leading photography studios of the day. Remarkably, a descendant of founder Joseph Byron still operates a photo studio today. From the Library… Read More
STRESSED: William Sulzer in 1911, a New York City representative on his way up…and out *okay, technically he was removed in disgrace As bloggers, newshawks and politicos wait to see what, if anything, comes of the latest New York Times supposed bombshell about current governor David Paterson — he’s already protesting “I DID NOT HAVE… Read More
Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges, well before the FDR Drive. New York Times architectural critic Montgomery Schuyler passed away in 1914, just as New York was entering a new era of the skyscraper. Schuyler was “a stanch advocate … who believed it was a legitimate development and architectural expression of the times.” An unfortunate loss,… Read More
[from Flickr, taken by ajagendorf25] We love the Manhattan Bridge, but there’s no doubt it’s had a rocky history. For one hundred years, it’s withstood more than just comparisons to its far more iconic neighbor, the Brooklyn Bridge. Built to relieve pressure on the East River’s best known bridge, the Manhattan Bridge went through two… Read More
NAME THAT NEIGHBORHOOD Some New York neighborhoods are simply named for their location on a map (East Village, Midtown). Others are given prefabricated designations (SoHo, DUMBO). But a few retain names that link them intimately with their pasts. Other entries in this series can be found here. NEIGHBORHOOD: Kingsbridge, the Bronx DUMBO, for Down Under… Read More
— Vingboons, View on New Amsterdam (1664) Click on pic for closer view (courtesy Henry Hudson 400) “By proclaimation of February 2, 1653, Director General Peter Stuyvesant informed the inhabitants of New Amsterdam that henceforth the Island of Manhattan would constitute the City of New Amsterdam and that the City would be ruled by two… Read More
I promise, I’m not turning this into an obituary blog! But I was reading the New York Times on Saturday and came across this small write-up. Usually, the paper features two or three short articles of notable people who have passed on; Ms. Mon Toy’s obit was instead in the paid section: “MARY MON TOY,… Read More
Famished: Mark Twain and a few friends at Delmonico’s in honor of his 70th birthday, dated Dec 5, 1905.Just in time for NYC Restaurant Week! I just put up a new ‘illustrated’ version of the August ’08 Delmonico’s Restaurant podcast in our archive feed. Before Delmonico’s, New Yorkers ate in taverns or oyster houses. But… Read More
“I live in New York, and I was thinking about the lagoon in Central Park, down near Central Park South. I was wondering if it would be frozen over when I got home, and if it was, where did the ducks go? I was wondering where the ducks went when the lagoon** got all icy… Read More
Above: Howard during his tenure as an Air Force pilot during World War II The controversial historian and Brooklyn native Howard Zinn, champion of the proletariat in writings like his A People’s History of the United States, died yesterday at age 87. His People’s History is a classic of what was formerly considered underground history,… Read More
Above: A fanciful painting of Captain Kidd in New York Harbor, by Jean-Leon Gerome Ferris, 1911. Notice Fort James (former Fort Amsterdam) and the adjoining windmill in the background In this week’s podcast, I refer to New Yorker and Trinity Church benefactor William Kidd as one of the most notorious pirates of the Atlantic Ocean.… Read More
Pic courtesy LOCSeventy-six years ago today, the Apollo Theater re-opened in Harlem. Before this date in 1934, the Apollo catered to an all-white crowd, left over from the theater’s early days as a burlesque venue. Reflecting Harlem’s rapid changes in the 1920s and 30s as the center of African-American life in New York, however, the… Read More
Three images for an unusually rainy January day in New York Crowds at Flushing Meadow for the 1939-40 World’s Fair [Courtesy here] James Dean in Times Square, Dennis Stock, 1955 [courtesy Chronologically Vintage]
Above: The seemingly unchanged Trinity in 1916, already dwarfed by skyscrapers PODCAST Trinity Church, with its distinctive spire staring down upon the west end of Wall Street, is more than just a house of worship. Over three different church buildings have sat at this site, and the current one by architect Richard Upjohn is one… Read More
George at his 85th birthday party in 1981 [Courtesy Life] Today is the birthday of Nathan “Nattie” Birnbaum, known to classic television audiences and “Oh God!” fanatics as George Burns. Born to Romanian immigrants, Nattie grew up on Rivington Street in the Lower East Side, first at 230 Rivington Street, then at 311 Rivington in… Read More