The Bowery Boys: New York City History
PODCAST Part One of our two-part series on New York City in the years following the Revolutionary War. The story of New York City’s role in the birth of American government is sometimes forgotten. Most of the buildings important to the first U.S. Congress, which met here from the spring of 1789 to the late… Read More
Civic buildings are often beautiful architecture in plain sight. Their uniformity — many rendered in classical styles — often finds them less appreciated than other forms of urban architecture. In a city like New York, skyscrapers, hotels and brownstones are more likely to get the attention of camera-wielding tourists over courthouses. After all, doesn’t every… Read More
Here’s some old fashioned New York City trivia for you — There’s never been a Speaker of the House from the city of New York, although there have been a couple from New York state –  the otherwise unremarkable John W. Taylor, an upstate New Yorker from the Saratoga region, in 1820-21; and a central New York representative,… Read More
A few weeks before they announce nominations for the Academy Awards, they release a ‘short list’ of films that are being considered for the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature. Even if you don’t care about the Academy Awards — or the general self-congratulatory nature of Hollywood during this of year — the short list is an… Read More
THE FIRST PODCAST  Once upon a time there was a country doctor with a love of birds, a milkmaid with translucent skin, an eight-year-old boy with no idea what he’s in for and a wonderful cow that holds the secret to human immunity. This is the story of the first vaccine, perhaps one of the greatest inventions… Read More
The Bowery Boys spin-off podcast series The First: Stories of Inventions and their Consequences has been featured on iTunes podcast page for the past couple weeks as a new and noteworthy selection. We thank them for their support of both The First and the Bowery Boys! The First returns with a brand new episode this… Read More
Decades in the making, the Second Avenue Subway finally opened to the public this week, its glimmering new stations at 72nd, 86th, and 96th Streets heralded with the pomp and circumstance of a movie premiere. Of course, the subway doesn’t immediately come to mind as a photogenic movie star, but in fact, the various tunnels and… Read More
The Guides Association of New York City (or GANYC), founded in 1974, brings together the finest independent, professional tour guides in the city. Â And since 2015 they have presented awards to the community, “honoring individuals and organizations that encourage and promote New York City tourism, culture and preservation while supporting the work and contributions of… Read More
Over one hundred years ago, the New York City area (its five boroughs, along with areas in New Jersey and Westchester County) was the undisputed center of the American film industry. The invention of the movie camera and celluloid film processing — revolutionized by Thomas Edison and many others — seamlessly collided with the city’s thriving… Read More
Well, nobody can say that 2016 was an uneventful year. After a rowdy and wild election season, we enter 2017 with New York City poised to take a new — and highly unusual — prominence in American politics. (This episode from 2011 is now officially the weirdest episode in the Bowery Boys back catalog). We… Read More
PODCAST We’re in the mood for a good old-fashioned Gilded Age story so we’re bringing back one of our favorite Bowery Boys episodes ever — Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst vs. the newsies! LISTEN TO THIS SHOW HERE: It was pandemonium in the streets. One hot summer in July 1899, thousands of corner newsboys… Read More
Holiday traditions in Manhattan are of course known the world over, from the glowing light displays of Park Avenue to the Rockefeller Center Christmas tree. But they lack a certain human touch, spun from wealthy corporations and honored tradition. Which is what makes Dyker Height’s annual lighting spectacular (festival? competition? freak show?) so fascinating. It’s Brooklyn’s… Read More
According to the Officer Down Memorial Page, there have been 816 New York law enforcement officers who have died in the course of duty. Most of those who have died in the page six years succumbed to 9/11-related illnesses. The last firearm-related death, Paul Tuizzolo, sadly came just a last month, killed in a gunfight in the Bronx.… Read More
GIFT GUIDEÂ The best part about the holidays in 2016 is that it requires two bursts of shopping — before the holidays for your loved ones and after the holidays for yourself (via gift cards and post-Christmas sales). Â So consider this a list of recommendations not only for others, but for yourself! In addition to our… Read More
The Museum of the City of New York finally delivers the ultimate history of New York City in its dazzling new permanent exhibit on the ground floor — New York At Its Core. And yet it feels very strange to classify this as a mere survey of history as though it were a row of… Read More