The Bowery Boys: New York City History
The New York City subway system turns 120 years old later this year so we thought we’d honor the world’s longest subway system with a supersized overview history — from the first renegade ride in 1904 to the belated (but sorely welcomed) opening of one portion of the Second Avenue Subway in 2017. New Yorkers… Read More
The story of a filthy and dangerous train ditch that became one of the swankiest addresses in the world — Park Avenue. For over 100 years, a Park Avenue address meant wealth, glamour and the high life. The Fred Astaire version of the Irving Berlin classic “Puttin’ on the Ritz” revised the lyrics to pay… Read More
Few areas of the United States have as endured as long as Flushing, Queens, a neighborhood with almost over 375 years of history and an evolving cultural landscape that includes Quakers, trees, Hollywood films, world fairs, and Asian immigrants. In this special on-location episode of the Bowery Boys, Greg and special guest Kieran Gannon explore… Read More
New York has never suffered severely from the effects of an earthquake. Most recently, the one felt in 2011— reportedly of 5.8 or 5.9 magnitude, centered around Virginia and affecting many Northeast metropolitan areas — ranks quite high on the list of tremors felt here. There’s no way to compare that local event to the really early quakes, as the Richter… Read More
Fashion historian and author, Dr. Elizabeth L. Block returns to The Gilded Gentleman podcast for a truly “undercover” investigation. This time, Liz joins Carl to take a look at the world of corsets, bustles, straps and stockings all of which comprised the undergarment engineering to make the glorious gowns by Worth and other designers appear as glamorous as they did. … Read More
Tom visits the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side to walk through the reconstructed two-room apartment of an African-American couple, Joseph and Rachel Moore, who lived in 1870 on Laurens Street in today’s Soho neighborhood. Both Joseph and Rachel moved to New York when they were about 20 years old, in the late 1840s… Read More
Today marks the 113th anniversary of the Triangle Factory Fire. For information on commemorations and other activities, visit Remember the Triangle Coalition. For stories of the struggles faced by employees of the shirtwaist industry, check out our 2020 show on the Shirtwaist Strike of 1909: And for more information on the Triangle Factory Fire itself,… Read More
Edith Wharton’s The Age of Innocence is a perfect novel to read in the spring — maybe it’s all the flowers — so we are presenting to Bowery Boys listeners this marvelous literary-themed episode from the Gilded Gentleman. The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s most famous novel, an enduring classic of Old New York… Read More
Baseball, as American as apple pie, really is “the New York game.” While its precursors come from many places – from Jamestown to Prague – the rules of American baseball and the modern ways of enjoying it were born from the urban experience and, in particular, the 19th-century New York region. The sport (in the… Read More
PRIVATEERS, PIRATES AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Tuesday, March 26, 6:30pm at the New-York Historical Society (170 Central Park West) The story of the founding of the US Navy during the Revolution has been told many times, yet largely missing from maritime histories of America’s first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that were… Read More
Out in movie theaters this week: The new film Cabrini celebrating the life, of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, the pioneering nun (now a saint) who became a pillar of compassion and grace for thousands of Italian immigrations in the late 19th century. She was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1946. And her legacy continues… Read More
Presenting new episodes of the Bowery Boys podcast and The Gilded Gentleman podcast, both tied to the story of architecture in New York City. After listening to both of these, you’ll understand the nature of city skyline and unlock the secrets to New York’s most famous landmarks. The American Renaissance: Beaux-Arts Architecture in New York City… Read More
The Chrysler Building remains one of America’s most beautiful skyscrapers and a grand evocation of Jazz Age New York. But this architectural tribute to the automobile is also the greatest reminder of a furious construction surge that transformed the city in the 1920s. After World War I, New York became newly prosperous, one of the… Read More
The Brooklyn waterfront was once decorated with a yellow Domino Sugar sign, affixed to an aging refinery along a row of deteriorating industrial structures facing the East River. The Domino Sugar Refinery, completed in 1883 (after a devastating fire destroyed the original), was more than a factory. During the Gilded Age and into the 20th… Read More
Emma Stebbins is most noted for her iconic bronze statue The Angel of the Waters which was placed on Central Park’s Bethesda Terrace in 1873. You may be aware of parts of the Stebbins’ biography. Her Angel was the first public statue in New York produced by a woman and her life included a domestic partnership with… Read More