The Bowery Boys: New York City History
Historic Gay Street, 1940: a tiny little lane literally crammed with ghosts It’s time for our third annual ‘ghost stories’ episode, our mix of historical facts and spooky legends from the annals of New York’s past. For this round of scary tales, we visit a famous 19th century townhouse haunted by a lonely spinster, a… Read More
Relive the 1964 World’s Fair this weekend — from a trolley Open House New York, a weekend-long celebration of city-wide architecture, history and habitation, rolls out this weekend at a varied host of locales. If you’re like me, you completely forgot to make reservations to any of the hottest tours. So if you’re interested in… Read More
ABOVE: CBS Radio Theater, later known as the Ed Sullivan Theater, home of David Letterman and his scandals (Circa late 1930s, photo by the Wurtz Brothers, courtesy NYPL) QUEENS: The New York Times ponders the question of New York’s oldest tree. We also pondered the same question a few months ago. The Queen’s Giant is… Read More
Eighty-two years ago today, The Jazz Singer debuts as Warner’s Theater at 1664 Broadway (at 52nd Street). It was the first film to feature sound in certain parts of the film. New Yorkers would have to wait another year for The Lights of New York, the first all talking picture. Why October 6th? Yom Kippur… Read More
The New York Rangers , the city’s ice hockey hope since 1926, began their season on Friday, losing one that night and recovering on Saturday versus Ottowa Senators. Okay, so I’m not going to pretend that I’ve ever been a hockey fan before this year. However, geek alert, I have this uncanny ability to trick… Read More
The Prince of Mermaid Avenue: Meet the meat man Some history related activities going on this weekend: Lost New York, 1609-2009 conference begins today at New York University, and it’s free! Panels will explore “the dynamics of creativity and destruction, nostalgia and invention, that have for centuries marked efforts to ‘Do New York,’ as Henry… Read More
Chelsea On The Rocks, that long-lingering Abel Ferarra documentary about life at the Chelsea Hotel that we mentioned here, is finally getting a theatrical release, making its debut this Friday at — no surprise — the Chelsea Clearview Cinema, a couple doors down from the actual hotel. How cool is that? For the full immersive… Read More
Hopefully some of you are watching the Ken Burns multi-hour epic documentary The National Parks: America’s Great Idea, a fascinating but rather languid celebration of American preservation of its greatest natural treasures. I’m assuming that by Wednesday, Burns should get here to New York with discussion of two national monuments (the Statue of Liberty and… Read More
From this angle, she looks about the same, but looks can be deceiving (see below). I promise, we’re still doing podcasts! We’ll be back on the twice-a-month schedule starting next week. In the meantime, I’ve actually been away on vacation the past week and a half to another fabulous city and the birthplace of the… Read More
ABOVE: 1969 — Central Park’s Sheep Meadow was transformed into ‘Moon Meadow’, a celebration for people watching the Apollo 11 moon landing.We don’t have any regular podcast this week; however I am reposting the second part our Central Park show called ‘The Evolution of Central Park, re-launching it in our secondary feed NYC History: Bowery… Read More
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald with wife Zelda, from 1921 “I began to like New York, the racy, adventurous feel of it at night and the satisfaction that the constant flicker of men and women and machines gives to the restless eye. I liked to walk up Fifth Avenue and pick out romantic women from the… Read More
Above: Diane Cook’s dreamy “Little Red Lighthouse, Fort Washington Park, Manhattan, 2002” You can see the picture above and lots of other impossibly good-looking pictures at the Museum of the City of New York‘s new show The Edge of New York: Waterfront Photographs. The exhibition features an array of images from all eras of New… Read More
But the rent was cheap: ravaged East Village avenues in the 1970s (Pic courtesy here) Spike Lee and Robert Deniro are making a new show for Showtime called Alphabet City, set in the raggedy 1980s culture of the East Village. Expect some graffiti, a little crime, rapping and breakdancing, and lots of performance artists. Note… Read More
And you can dance: Madge performs Borderline at Danceteria Photograph by Charlene Martinez FRIDAY NIGHT FEVER To get you in the mood for the weekend, every other Friday we’ll be featuring an old New York nightlife haunt, from the dance halls of 19th Century Bowery, to the massive warehouse clubs of the mid-1990s. Past entries… Read More
Today is primary election day in New York! Locals, have you voted yet? Current mayor Michael Bloomberg is not on the ballot yet — he’ll be on the November ballot — but primary races for City Comptroller, Public Advocate, some city council seats, and the Democratic candidate for mayor are included on today’s ballot In… Read More