Mayor Edward Cooper, chip off the ole block

ABOVE: Puck Magazine satirizes father and son, Peter and Edward Cooper KNOW YOUR MAYORS Our modest little series about some of the greatest, notorious, most important, even most useless, mayors of New York City. Other entrants in our mayoral survey can be found here. Mayor Edward Cooper In office: 1879-1880 Many of us must inevitably… Read More

Staten Island, by way of Cezanne?

I was in Philadelphia this weekend checking out the outrageously popular ‘Cezanne and Beyond’ show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art, a diverse program sitting some of Paul Cezanne’s greatest paintings next to works they inspired. Near one of Cezanne’s many depictions of the Bay of Estaques is a rather surprising view of old Staten… Read More

Run DMC and the Revolution: Historic Hollis, Queens

It’s like that: Rap pioneers and proud sons of Queens 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… Read More

Categories
Women's History

The 25 Most Influential Women in New York City History

ABOVE: These are the ladies who lunch in Prospect Park 1935 We talk about a lot of white men on the Bowery Boys podcast. When discussing the mainstream history of the city, it’s pretty unavoidable. Men had the money, the power, the influence. Not to mention most of the corruption, the crime, the scandal. So… Read More

Categories
Women's History

The 25 Most Influential Women in New York City history

ABOVE: These are the ladies who lunch in Prospect Park 1935 We talk about a lot of white men on the Bowery Boys podcast. When discussing the mainstream history of the city, it’s pretty unavoidable. Men had the money, the power, the influence. Not to mention most of the corruption, the crime, the scandal. So… Read More

Men At Work!

Sorry, I haven’t forgotten this blog! I’m working on a rather big posting for later today, so check back in a couple hours. Trust me, it’s worth the wait! Below: the New York Stock Exchange in 1937

The 59th Street Bridge: Feelin’ groovy at 100 years

The Queensboro Bridge, otherwise known the 59th Street Bridge, turns 100 years old today. Is it wrong to call it New York’s most romantic bridge after the Brooklyn Bridge? At the time of its construction, it actually went by another name — the Blackwell’s Island Bridge, since it hovers above the island that would become… Read More

Categories
Podcasts

The Whyos: Gang of New York – PODCAST

Faces of the Whyo Gang: Googy Corcoran, Clops Connolly, Big Josh Hines and Baboon Connolly PODCAST: The Whyos (pronounced Why-Ohs) were New York’s most notorious gang after the Civil War, organizing their criminal activities and terrorizing law abiding citizens of the Gilded Age. Find out when they lived, how they broke the law and who they… Read More

Categories
Uncategorized

Beware the Forty Thieves, very first gang of New York

Above: the crowded streets of Five Points, where the Forty Thieves first made mischief What does it mean to be the ‘first’ gang in New York? Most likely, it means you weren’t really the first. Just the first to be caught at doing it. New Yorkers seem to create a grim romanticism around 19th century… Read More

And how was YOUR commute today, madam?

Riding the Staten Island ferry one a fine fall morning in 1898. That is one amazing hat. (Photo courtesy LIFE archive)

Bull’s Head Tavern: treating you like cattle since 1755

To get you in the mood for the weekend, every other Friday we’ll be celebrating ‘FRIDAY NIGHT FEVER’, 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 can be found HERE. Last time around, I wrote about Max’s Kansas… Read More

Mayor Cornelius Lawrence, son of Bayside

Above: New York by 1837 (in an painting by Edward Williams Clay) — a city surviving financial ups and downs, fires and water shortage, riots, cholera and the mayoralty of Cornelius W. Lawrence KNOW YOUR MAYORS Our modest little series about some of the greatest, notorious, most important, even most useless, mayors of New York… Read More

Happy Saint Patrick’s Day!

The Saint Patrick’s Day parade, as it looked 100 years ago, i.e. about the same as it’ll look today… Our podcast on the history of McSorley’s Old Ale House Photo courtesy Corbis

What are the boys of Brooklyn wearing?

Fall fashion in 1912: this lad named Chester enjoys the cool ocean breeze in this stylish suit, modeled here at Sea Gate, on the western end of Coney Island. A year earlier, in 1911, Chester sports the latest in versatile beach wear, as his mother Mildred ensures not a ray of sunshine will hit her… Read More

Thank you Bob. Thank you Gowanus Lounge.

We’d like to offer our condolences to the friends and family of Robert Guskind, the creator and wit behind Gowanus Lounge, one of the very best blogs about Brooklyn. When I began this site over 20 months ago, Guskind’s was one of the first that I linked to and read on a regular basis, admiring… Read More