Categories
The Alienist

The Slide, New York’s Most Notorious ‘Fairy Resort’

HISTORY BEHIND THE SCENE What’s the real story behind that historical scene from your favorite TV show or feature film? A semi-regular feature on the Bowery Boys blog, I’ll be reviving this series as we follow along with TNT’s limited series The Alienist. Look for other articles here about other historically themed television shows (Mad… Read More

Categories
Landmarks

In ‘The Post’, Katharine Graham returns to the scene of the party — the Plaza Hotel

Journalism history is on full, optimistic display in the Academy Award Best Picture nominee The Post, starring Meryl Streep as Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham. In this fast-paced drama, Graham heads a newsroom (headed by Ben Bradlee, played by Tom Hanks) in possession of the Pentagon Papers, damning reports exposing the U.S. government’s clandestine decision-making… Read More

Categories
Gilded Age New York

The Unexpected President: Chester A. Arthur and the joys of reading about a mediocre man

“The nomination of Arthur is a ridiculous burlesque …. He never held an office except the one he was removed from. His nomination attached to the ticket all the odium of machine politics and will greatly endanger the success of [James] Garfield. I cannot but wonder why a convention, even in the heat and hurry… Read More

Categories
Bowery Boys

Are you a new listener to the Bowery Boys podcast? Start with these ten episodes first.

Welcome! Perhaps you’ve heard of the Bowery Boys: New York City History podcast but have not yet had the chance to listen. Or perhaps that back catalog of 251 shows is a little intimidating. (Hey, it’s intimidating to us and we recorded them.) Or maybe you’re a regular listener of the show and you might… Read More

Categories
Bridges The Alienist

The Construction of the Williamsburg Bridge — History Behind the Scene (The Alienist)

HISTORY BEHIND THE SCENE What’s the real story behind that historical scene from your favorite TV show or feature film? A semi-regular feature on the Bowery Boys website, I’ll be reviving this series as we follow along with TNT’s limited series The Alienist. Look for other articles here about other historically themed television shows (Mad… Read More

Categories
The Alienist

Love history trivia? Follow The Bowery Boys on Twitter during episodes of TNT’s The Alienist

We love it when television shows are set in New York City history — Mad Men in the 1960s, The Knick in the 1900s, Copper in the 1860s, Turn: Washington’s Spies in the 1780s. So how can we say no to TNT’s new limited series The Alienist, a mystery thriller (based on Caleb Carr’s book… Read More

Categories
Mysterious Stories Podcasts The Alienist

The Sinister Story of McGurk’s Suicide Hall: The Bowery’s Most Notorious Dive

PODCAST The unbelievable story of the most infamous dance hall in New York City. The old saloons and dance halls of the Bowery are familiar to anyone with a love of New York City history, their debauched and surly reputations appealing in a prurient way, a reminder of a time of great abandon. The Bowery… Read More

Categories
Planes Trains and Automobiles

The Bowery under the Third Avenue Elevated: Capturing the soot and shadow of Old New York

It’s a vivid image (for some bleak, other romantic) that most New Yorkers cannot imagine. But a few people still living today remember it quite well — the Bowery underneath an elevated train line. The Third Avenue Elevated was constructed in 1878, connecting South Ferry with Harlem via a sturdy, darkening railroad track, hoisted over… Read More

Categories
The Alienist

The Alienist podcast takeover: Haunting historical tales to accompany the new TNT limited series

This weekend brings an absolute treat for New York City history lovers: the debut of the TNT limited series The Alienist, based on the classic Caleb Carr best seller, starring Daniel Bruhl, Luke Evans and Dakota Fanning. (The first episode debuts on Monday, January 22, although you can catch a sneak preview the night before… Read More

Categories
Gilded Age New York

The Gilded Age: The Bowery Boys join PBS for a discussion at the New-York Historical Society

The Gilded Age, a fascinating new documentary from PBS’s American Experience, premieres in early February. But we’ve got your ticket to the premiere on Thursday, January 25! The Bowery Boys are hosting a panel discussion about the film at the New-York Historical Society, and we’d love to see you there.  —————— In collaboration with PBS’s… Read More

Categories
Landmarks Podcasts

The Empire State Building: Story of an Icon

PODCAST The history of the Empire State Building revealed! Start spreading the news …. the Bowery Boys are finally going to the Empire State Building! New York City’s defining architectural icon is greatly misunderstood by many New Yorkers who consider its appeal relegated to tourists and real estate titans. But this powerful and impressive symbol… Read More

Categories
Landmarks

The destruction of the Waldorf-Astoria in 1929 gave rise to an even grander New York icon

The original Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the ultimate symbol of the Gilded Age, was demolished in the fall and early winter of 1929 to make way for a new building project. That the building project in question happened to be the Empire State Building does not make the loss of the Waldorf-Astoria any less regretful. The storied… Read More

Categories
Adventures In Old New York

Why is there a statue of a boar on Sutton Place?

The Vanderbilts did more than dictate the fate of Park Avenue, the boulevard hovering above the old track path of the New York Central Railroad. The scions of this New York family also changed the fate of a little street called Sutton Place. Anne Harriman Vanderbilt—along with other society mavens—had mansions built there in 1920,… Read More

Categories
Black History Podcasts Women's History

Madam C.J. Walker, Harlem’s self-made millionaire, and her daughter A’Lelia, patron of the Jazz Age

PODCAST The story of Harlem’s hair care queen and her daughter A’Lelia, a patron of the Harlem Renaissance. In 1867, Sarah Breedlove was born to parents who had once been enslaved on a Louisiana plantation. Less than fifty years later, Breedlove (as the hair care mogul Madam C.J. Walker) would be the richest African-American woman… Read More

Categories
The First

The Story of First Apartment Building in America (and its most famous resident — Mrs. Custer)

THE FIRST PODCAST Apartment living is something we take for granted today, the option for those who can’t afford or don’t desire a private home. But how did this type of living situation become popular in the United States? In mid-19th century New York, people lived in townhouses, boarding houses or tenements. But far-thinking urban planners… Read More