The Bowery Boys: New York City History
EPISODE 325 In 1858, during two terrible nights of violence, the needs of the few outweighed the needs of the many when a community, endangered for decades and ignored by the state, finally reached its breaking point. In Staten Island, just south the spot of today’s St. George Ferry Terminal, where thousands board and disembark… Read More
There’s no new episode of the Bowery Boys: New York City History podcast today, so why not catch up on a past show? We’ve released thirteen* episodes since March 20. Shows that are designed to both speak to our present moment (episodes on Hart Island and the New York polio outbreak) and others meant to… Read More
Ever wonder what the very first movie ever shot in Manhattan was? It also happens to be the first American film ever shown to a paying movie audience.Woodville Latham and his sons Otway and Gray Latham had invented the Eidoloscope projector (also called the Pantoptikon), running very crudely like a film projector today. However its… Read More
EPISODE 324 At last! The Bowery Boys: New York City History podcast looks at one of the strangest traditions in this city’s long history — that curious custom known as Moving Day. Every May 1st, for well over two centuries, from the colonial era to World War II, rental leases would expire simultaneously, and thousands… Read More
EPISODE 323 Two tales from New York’s incredible history with the art of tattooing. The art of tattooing is as old as written language but it would require the contributions of a few 19th century New York tattoo artists — and a young inventor with no tattoos whatsoever — to take this ancient art to… Read More
The historic movie studio Kaufman Astoria Studios opened 100 years ago this year in Astoria, Queens. It remains a vital part of New York City’s entertainment industry with both film and television shows still made there to this day. The Museum of the Moving Image resides next door in a former studio building. To honor… Read More
EPISODE 321 The Hollywood icon and Broadway star Lauren Bacall lived at the Dakota Apartments on the Upper West Side for 53 years. Her story is intertwined the Dakota, a revolutionary apartment complex built in 1884. In this episode, we tell both their stories. Bacall, born Betty Joan Perske, the daughter of Jewish Eastern European… Read More
If you’re looking for something interesting to do while you’re sheltering at home AND you’d like to support an amazing tour guide, book a ticket on a virtual Bowery Boys Walks — starting this week. This Wednesday, April 22, Bowery Boys Walks will be live streaming a virtual walk and talk about the World’s Fairs… Read More
Few people are allowed to go onto Hart Island, the quiet, narrow island in the Long Island Sound, a lonely place in sight of the bustling community of City Island. For over 150 years, Hart Island has been New York’s potter’s field, the burial site for over one million people — unclaimed bodies, stillborn babies,… Read More
Take part in a future Bowery Boys: New York City History podcast! We’re looking for stories about feeling at home in New York City for a future ‘listeners’ stories’ episode. The subject — New York City as home — or a home away from home. Are you a native New Yorker? What makes New York… Read More
On April 15, 1865, President Abraham Lincoln died from his injuries by the assassin John Wilkes Booth who shot the president the previous evening at Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C. It was a fate promised to him by Southern sympathizers from the moment he was first elected on November 6, 1860. At no point was… Read More
EPISODE 319 In simpler times, thousands of tourists would flock to the northern tip of Bowling Green in Lower Manhattan to take a picture with a rather unconventional New Yorker — the bronze sculpture Charging Bull by Italian-American artist Arturo Di Modica. Bull is a product of the 1980s New York art scene, delivered as… Read More
In the picture above: People in Sunday finery stroll past the New York Public Library building. The library had not even been open two years by the time this picture was taken in March 23, 1913. New York City’s time-honored Easter custom — the Sunday morning Fifth Avenue Easter bonnet stroll — once turned the… Read More
“Do you love him, Loretta?” “Aw, ma, I love him awful.” “Oh God, that’s too bad.” Moonstruck, the 1987 comedy starring Cher and Nicolas Cage, not only celebrates that crazy little thing called love, but also pays tribute to the Italian working class residents of the old “South Brooklyn” neighborhoods of Brooklyn Heights, Cobble Hill… Read More
Back in 2013, we recorded a trilogy of shows on the history of television in New York City — from its invention to its current return to glory. As we all shelter-in-place and remain safe at home, you’ll probably be watching more television than ever — whether it be on an actual television or your… Read More