The Bowery Boys: New York City History
Midge, Joel, Susie and the gang are back! The world seemed like a much simpler place the last time we saw a new episode of The Marvelous Mrs Maisel back in December of 2019. The fourth season of the award-winning New York City-based comedy starts Friday, February 18, with new episodes each week. And it… Read More
On a new episode of The Gilded Gentleman, meet the man who helped create New York’s Gilded Age high society, a fussy and imperious Southerner who eventually found himself on the receiving end of snobbish scorn. The famous Mrs. Caroline Astor was credited with building and shaping the Gilded Age elite. But at her side and… Read More
PODCAST New York City has an impressive collection of historic homes, but none as unique and joyful as the Louis Armstrong House and Museum, located in Corona, Queens. What other historic home in the United States has aqua blue kitchen cabinets, bathroom speakers behind silver wallpaper, mirrored bathrooms and chandeliers over the bed? The Louis… Read More
On a new episode of The Gilded Gentleman, it’s time to board the elevated train down to New York City’s premier commercial district to experience a day of luxurious shopping. During the 1870’s and 1880’s New York’s famous Ladies’ Mile shopping district took hold along Broadway, and grand palaces of retail grew, filled with splendors… Read More
Jacob Riis changed the world with “How The Other Half Lives.” By using the new technology of flash photography, Riis was able to capture the squalid conditions of Manhattan tenements in a way no mere paragraph, drawing or sermon could. The startling photographs contained in this book did not originate there, however. Riis debuted them… Read More
Above: The arm of the Statue of Liberty stood solitary in Madison Square for six years, from 1876 to 1882. Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc, one of the forgotten names in Statue of Liberty history was born in Paris. As the godfather of historical restoration, Viollet-le-Duc would rescue countless medieval structures from decay, helping to preserve the… Read More
In 1863, New Yorkers flocked to the waterfront to see a startling sight — Russian war ships in New York Harbor. They were here as a display of force, but not to threaten the United States. The fleet of Russian ships, sailing into New York Harbor in September 1863, as depicted by Harper’s Weekly. Russia’s… Read More
On a new episode of The Gilded Gentleman, prepare for a very chilling exploration of spiritualism with Carl and a man very attuned to the spirit world. Many people throughout the 19th century were fascinated with the idea of connecting with the beyond. Even the famous ‘Commodore’ Cornelius Vanderbilt was intrigued with the notion. Historian Anthony Bellov joins Carl… Read More
PODCAST Dorothy Parker was not only the wittiest writer of the Jazz Age, she was also obsessively morbid. Her talents rose at a very receptive moment for such a sharp, dour outlook, after the first world war and right as the country went dry. Dorothy Parker’s greatest lines are as bracing and intoxicating as a… Read More
Bowery Boys Podcast listeners will recognize a familiar voice on HBO’s “Official Gilded Age Podcast,” set to launch on Monday, January 24 as a companion podcast to the network’s upcoming TV series The Gilded Age. Tom Meyers, of the Bowery Boys Podcast, co-hosts the HBO podcast series alongside TCM’s Alicia Malone. “I think Bowery Boys… Read More
Calling all fans of Downton Abbey! The newest episode of The Gilded Gentleman podcast, hosted by Carl Raymond, features a very special guest. New York Times bestselling author Carol Wallace discusses her just published novel of the Gilded Age called Our Kind of People as well insights on her book To Marry an English Lord which served as an inspiration for Downton… Read More
PODCAST What does the Manhattan neighborhood of Chelsea mean to you? Religion and architecture? Art galleries and gay bars? Shopping and brunch after a stroll on the High Line? Tens of thousands of people, of course, call it home. But before it was a neighborhood, it was the Colonial-era estate — the home of a… Read More
One hundred and fifty years ago this month (more specifically, on January 7, 1872), a shocking assassination took place at the northwest corner of 23rd Street and Eighth Avenue. And it took place at a quite surprising venue — the Grand Opera House. Surprising in the sense that it seems unusual that an opera house… Read More
Today is the 105th anniversary of the Kingsland factory explosion. To mark the occasion I’m reposting this article originally released on the 100th anniversary of this mysterious disaster. On the afternoon on January 11, 1917, workers in downtown Manhattan skyscrapers were jolted from their desks by a startling sight in New Jersey — an exploding… Read More
New York City has a new mayor — Eric Adams! So we think it is time that you Know Your Mayors, becoming familiar with other men who’ve held the job, from the ultra-powerful to the political puppets, the most effective to the most useless leaders in New York City history. This longtime feature of this… Read More