Categories
Landmarks Podcasts

The Complicated History of the Waldorf-Astoria

PODCAST The surprisingly complex history of one of the world’s most famous hotels. You might think you know this tale, but do we have some surprises for you. The Waldorf-Astoria — or the Waldorf=Astoria or even the Waldorf Astoria — has been a premier name in hotel accommodations since the opening of the very first… Read More

Categories
Adventures In Old New York

Join us for Curbed Facebook Live chat this Monday

Monday afternoon at 3pm, join us on the Curbed Facebook page for a live chat! It’s in the similar format as a Reddit AMA conversation but on video. We’ll be on there answering questions from our viewers about the podcast and New York City in general. We’re also featured in a new post over at Curbed written by… Read More

Categories
Adventures In Old New York

It’s Trivia Night at Fraunces Tavern! New Bowery Boys event on July 26

Here’s the announcement of our latest live event — at historic Fraunces Tavern. If you’re reading this and interested in attending, you may want to consider getting your tickets now as space will be limited. Here are the details:   Fraunces Tavern Museum presents TRIVIA NIGHT Hosted by the Bowery Boys Tuesday, July 26, 2016 Doors… Read More

Categories
Health and Living

Roosevelt Island: City of Asylums — Podcast Rewind with new material

PODCAST REWIND Originally a quiet island of orchards and stone quarries, the place we call Roosevelt Island today was once New York’s ‘city of asylums’, the place where it sent its infirm, its incarcerated, its insane. Today it has the peculiar air of a small town with one of the best views in the world. Find… Read More

Categories
Pop Culture

Ghostbusters 2: Twenty-five historical details from the supreme slimy sequel

The Bowery Boys Obsessive Guides look very, very closely at a classic movie filmed in New York City, finding buried history, additional context and a few secrets within various scenes and plot points. Filled with film spoilers so read this after you’ve seen the movie — or use it to follow along as you watch… Read More

Categories
Pop Culture

Ghostbusters 2: Twenty-five historical details from the supreme slimy sequel

The Bowery Boys Obsessive Guides look very, very closely at a classic movie filmed in New York City, finding buried history, additional context and a few secrets within various scenes and plot points. Filled with film spoilers so read this after you’ve seen the movie — or use it to follow along as you watch… Read More

Categories
On The Waterfront

Hidden Waters of New York City: Interview with author Sergey Kadinsky

Sergey Kadinsky is our city’s resident Aquaman. His Hidden Waters of New York City was the big New York City exploration guide book of the spring. In a city often characterized by glass, steel and asphalt, it’s magical to consider the metropolis almost like a human body, comprised and reliant upon water for its well-being. As though… Read More

Categories
Neighborhoods

Pokemon Go is indirectly an excellent mobile app for history buffs

This weekend I strolled around Carroll Park in Carroll Gardens, Brooklyn, and observed at least 8 or 9 people staring intently at their phones, occasionally wiping their index fingers rapidly at the screen. In the center of the park is an 18-foot-tall World War I memorial dedicated in 1921, emblazoned with the names of those… Read More

Categories
Adventures In Old New York

Next Bowery Boys book appearance: Fishs Eddy in the Flatiron District

We would like to thank the General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen of the City of New York for hosting us on last Tuesday, June 28, as a part of their lecture series.  The General Society is one of the oldest continually operating institutions in New York City, and they’ve been in their swanky headquarters at 20… Read More

Categories
Mysterious Stories

The Fejee Mermaid, New York’s original mermaid freak

  Today let’s give a little love to New York original mermaid queen — the hideous Fiji (Fejee) Mermaid! This sickening Frankenstein monster — comprising a monkey’s head sewn onto a fish torso — was displayed in  PT Barnum’s American Museum off and on for almost twenty years.  Believe it or not, Barnum actually leased… Read More

Categories
Adventures In Old New York

The Bowery Boys in the press!

Pictured: The New York Herald newspaper office (in Herald Square, natch) in a flamboyantly colored postcard from 1907.  The lights of Broadway theaters — many still below 42nd Street — blaze in the background. Well, our book Adventures In Old New York is finally out, and we’ve been blessed to have it featured in several… Read More

Categories
Planes Trains and Automobiles

A city of bridges: One century ago, Scientific American predicted a future of elevated sidewalks

Imagine a city where the High Line isn’t just a novel park, but the primary form of urban conveyance. In 1913, with the proliferation of the automobile, it seemed humans were being crowded out at ground level.  People were beginning to think of themselves as removed from the street.  Daredevils were experimenting with flight, and… Read More

Categories
Bowery Boys

Four Bowery Boys live appearances

Our book  The Bowery Boys’ Adventures In Old New York is officially released around the world this week.  To promote the book, we are making a few appearances in the New York City region. Here are the next four. Please keep checking the website for further announcements and details! (I suspect we’ll have many more… Read More

Categories
Landmarks

The Puck Building and its mischievous tenant, Puck Magazine

PODCAST  A 6-foot plump gold impish figure stares down at you as you look up to observe the gorgeous red-brick design of the Puck Building, built for one of the 19th Century’s most popular illustrated publications. But this architectural masterpiece was very nearly wiped away by a sudden decision by the city. How did it… Read More

Categories
Adventures In Old New York

The Bowery Boys book is here at last PLUS: Info on our new live appearance

We want to offer heartfelt thanks to the many people who came out to our first live book event last Thursday night at the Museum of the City of New York.  It was a packed house that evening to hear us speak about our new book Adventures In Old New York with moderator Donald Albrecht. Afterwards,… Read More