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Bowery Boys Bookshelf

Modern Family: Black and Latino Alliances in New York City

The political landscape of modern New York City is a stew of neighborhood, borough, financial and ethnic interests built upon over two centuries of experience and tradition.  The most interesting story of the past fifty years — both locally and nationally — is the ascension of minority voices into the public sphere, reflecting population changes but… Read More

Categories
Health and Living

Foodies Unite! Brooklyn Bounty Revives Ancient Dutch Recipes

One of the most tantalizing artifacts in the collection of the Brooklyn Historical Society is Mrs. Lefferts Book, the hand-written recipe book of Maria Lott Lefferts and her daughter Gertrude Lefferts Vanderbilt, compiled sometime in 1830. Judging by those names, you can get that Mrs. Lefferts was from a prominent Brooklyn family.  At one point she lived… Read More

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Bowery Boys Bookshelf

Mysteries of the New York Street Grid at Museum of the City of New York

One of the best shows at the Museum of the City of New York in recent years was their excellent show from 2011 called The Greatest Grid, putting a spotlight on the invention of the Commissioners Plan of 1811, the visionary map which gave modern New  York its streets and avenues. I loved that show… Read More

Categories
Museums

Photographs of wonder from the American Museum of Natural History

One hundred years ago, the American Museum of Natural History received a massive visitor, one so mighty that the doors of the museum’s delivery room “had to be removed and [the] partition openings enlarged” in order to accommodate it. Was it a dinosaur? A meteorite? Perhaps the remains of a great whale? No, the new… Read More

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Neighborhoods Podcasts

St. Mark’s Place: It’s Party Time in the East Village!

PODCAST: The big, brash history of St. Mark’s Place, the East Village’s most interesting street. St. Mark’s Place may be named for a saint but it’s been a street full of sinners for much of its history. One of the most fascinating streets in the city, St. Mark’s traces its story back to Peter Stuyvesant,… Read More

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Landmarks Mysterious Stories

The Ghost of Peter Stuyvesant May Still Haunt the East Village

St. Mark’s Church-in-the-Bowery is the oldest standing structure in the East Village. Upon seeing it, you’re almost forced to reevaluate where you are. It’s intriguing even to those who pass by it everyday. It’s mysterious even to those who work and worship here. Built in 1799 by the Stuyvesant family, St. Mark’s chapel and cemetery… Read More

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Sports

Meet the Mets! The Metropolitans, that is, an early NY baseball team

The New York Mets, 2015 National League Champions and New York’s perpetual baseball underdogs, are only 53 years, formed in 1962 to fill the void after the departure of the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New  York Giants* to California. But in name, at least, they’re older than even the Yankees. The first New York ball club… Read More

Categories
American History

Life in New York City 1935-1945: Heavenly images from Yale University

Yale University has sprung a beautiful present onto the Internet — a searchable database of over 170,000 public-domain photographs created by the United States Farm Security Administration and Office of War Information, documenting the aftermath of America of the Great Depression and World War II. The photos, dating from between the years 1935 to 1945, include of… Read More

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Mysterious Stories Podcasts

Haunted Landmarks of New York : Tourist Terrors in the Big Apple

PODCAST It’s the ninth annual Bowery Boys ghost stories podcast, our seasonal twist on history, focusing on famous tales of the weird and the disturbing at some of New York’s most recognizable locations. Don’t be frightened! We’re here to guide you through the back alleys … OF TERROR! In this installment, we take a look at… Read More

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Landmarks

It’s Open House New York 2015! Adventures await at these free sites

 Open House New York is the absolute best time of the year to wander the city and visit dozens of New York City’s greatest historical landmarks and architectural wonders.  Unfortunately, reservations for some of those places pretty much filled up within ten minutes. But never fear! This year, it seems that a great number of the most interesting… Read More

Categories
Those Were The Days

Columbus Discovers Columbus Circle

There are a great many statues in New York City of the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus, a rather controversial figure today who many consider to be a sadist and a bumbling idiot who destroyed indigenous cultures in the name of European glory.  He was obviously more celebrated at the end of the 19th century when colonization and violent conquest were still… Read More

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Mysterious Stories

Nine Years of New York Ghost Stories!

Here is the complete collection of Bowery Boys Halloween specials. Creep yourself out while listening to these spooky legends of New York City. From the haunted woods of Van Cortlandt Park to spirits haunting Captain Kidd’s treasure on Liberty Island. Psychics at Carnegie Hall, unsettling spirits in Cobble Hill, undead party animals at Grand Central! Download… Read More

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Bowery Boys Bookshelf

The Magic of 1930s New York Through a Child’s Eyes

I don’t often review children’s books on this blog, but then again, there are few that use New York City history in such a spellbinding way as Oskar and the Eight Blessings, a winter’s tale spun from nostalgia. Oskar, a waif with wide eyes and curly hair, is sent to New York by his parents under troubling… Read More

Categories
Bowery Boys

Odds and Ends: Ghost Stories, Apartment Tales

Here’s a few recent press and blog appearances that we’ve done in the past couple weeks:   It’s almost time for our annual ghost story podcast in a couple weeks! To get you in the mood, I made an appearance on Fox 5 News on Tuesday, speaking to Dan Bowens about ghosts at the Chelsea Hotel. You’ll… Read More

Categories
Pop Culture

TNT’s Public Morals: NYPD Very Blue

The TNT drama Public Morals, set in the gritty corners of New York City in 1967, airs the sixth of ten episodes today.  It appears on the television landscape with fantastic credentials and a smooth cinematic hue.  In my mind, I’m imagining a television landscape where all television shows co-exist, and Detective Muldoon, played by Ed… Read More