The Bowery Boys: New York City History
Listen or download it from HERE You can also download it for free from iTunes and other podcasting services In the veritable wilderness that would become midtown Manhattan, Dr. David Hosack opens his Elgin Botanic Garden, the city’s first collection of exotic plant species that’s eventually sold to the state, who then passes the land… Read More
Richmond Avenue in the 1930s, a few days before Christmas Courtesy of A History of Staten Island Photo by Chester Kaplan, a Richmond Avenue shop owner
An engraving of Brooklyn Heights in 1854, the year before George Hall took office a second time 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. I’ve been very Manhattan-centric in this column, so… Read More
If any of you have room in your apartments for the legendary Astroland rocket, please let them know. [Kinetic Carnival] Hotrodding down Bedford Avenue in the 1930s [Gowanus Lounge] An archaeological dig in Riverside Park reveals information about the great-grandson of Alexander Hamilton [New York Times] Did they really destroy Bob Dylan’s Chelsea Hotel room… Read More
Holiday traditions in Manhattan are of course known the world over, from the lights of Park Avenue to the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. But they lack that human touch, spun from wealthy corporations and honored tradition. Which is what makes Dyker Height’s annual lighting spectacular (festival? competition? freakshow?) so fascinating. It’s Brooklyn’s biggest holiday event,… Read More
Above: Prospect Park becomes a winter wonderland back in January 7, 1886 The man’s name is George Winslow. The only thing I can find out about him is that he lived in Bay Ridge and was a student at Rensselaer Polytechnic. The photographer, Wallace G. Levison, also took some shots of his mother in the… Read More
Staten Island Historians Piece Together Genealogy Of Wu-Tang Clan “NEW YORK—In what many are calling the most comprehensive study of its kind, Staten Island historians Robert Wilburn and Charles Tinsley have successfully traced the lines of the infamous Wu-Tang Clan all the way back to 1993 A.D…..” [The Onion]
ABOVE: Under the FDR on the East River, late in the day (Click for larger view) What will the East Village do without Love Will Save The Day, the charming vintage store immortalized in Desperately Seeking Susan? [Jeremiah’s Vanishing New York] Did you celebrate Repeal Day yesterday? New York speakeasies finally go legit. [Patell and… Read More
A podcast that’s “very Saks Fifth Avenue,” we get to the origins of the famous upscale retailer, follow its path from Washington D.C. to Heralds Square and then to “the most expensive street in the world,” and tell you a little about a glamorous milliner. Listen to it for free on iTunes or other podcasting… Read More
The blocks just south of Herald Square are pretty grim. Malls full of chain stores, bland electronic store fronts and fast food restaurants disguise a once vibrant shopping outpost, as department-store competitors of Macy’s flocked to the neighborhood in the early part of the 20th century. One strange vestige of this retail nostalgia still exists,… Read More
BOWERY BOYS RECOMMEND is an occasional feature where we find an unusual movie or TV show that — whether by accident or design — uniquely captures an era of New York City better than any reference or history book. Other entrants in this particular film festival can be found HERE. Sometimes a movie can tell… Read More
Harvey Milk in high school (Bay Shore, Long Island, to be exact). Picture courtesy of Brother Brian Judging from the lines at the movie theater, New Yorkers had a little Milk with their turkey over the holiday weekend. It made $1.8 million in five days, almost a quarter of that just from eight New York… Read More
For one Pilgrim, Thanksgiving never ends. Standing near the Bethesda Fountain in Central Park is Manhattan’s tribute to the original European settlers, a solitary pilgrim upon a hill (Pilgrim’s Hill, to be exact) looking as though he’s made a wrong turn. The Pilgrim made its debut in Central Park in 1885, long after Frederick Law… Read More
Above: The parade in the 1930s was a veritable freakshow of oddball balloon creatures Not every balloon in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade latches on to your memories like Underdog, Charlie Brown and Snoopy do. Below are a few examples of Macy’s stranger offerings over the years: This Thing (Turkey?) 1932I swear, if I saw… Read More
George dusts his shoulders off and re-enters New York Today, November 25th, is the anniversary of the day when the British officially fled New York City after occupying the city for years during the Revolutionary War. For years after, New Yorkers celebrating this day by shimmying up a greased flagpole in Battery Park. I have… Read More