The Bowery Boys: New York City History
In 1973, the sliver of land in the East River called Welfare Island was given a more lofty name — Roosevelt Island — in anticipation of a grand monument to Franklin Delano Roosevelt designed by premier architect Louis Kahn. But Kahn died in 1974 after designing the somber, angular granite memorial, set to be placed on… Read More
Above: The waters off Gravesend, Brooklyn, sketched by a British general in 1776. They too would have experienced the odd watery phenomenon known as ‘the Potato Patch’. [NYPL] You may know the legend of the East River’s Hell Gate, a rush of violent waters borne from a tidal strait near Randall’s Island, so famous for… Read More
My new column for the Huffington Post just went live. It’s kind of an overview of why we continue to produce ghost story podcasts every year for Halloween. (Well, outside of having a hell of a good time doing them!) And then my countdown of eight of New York City’s most haunted houses — actually… Read More
A session with a ouija board, a haunting illustration from a piece of 1901 sheet music ‘There’s A Charm About The Old Love Still’. (NYPL) PODCAST Our sixth annual ghost story podcast takes a little twist this time around. Oh sure, we have two of New York’s most FAMOUS horror stories in our first part,… Read More
Courtesy NYPL
I’ve been on Twitter every Sunday at 10pm EST during broadcasts of BBC America’s ‘Copper‘ throwing out trivia and other observations on 19th century New York. I had a blast doing this kinda thing during ‘Mad Men‘ earlier this year, and I’ve also started with the new season of ‘Boardwalk Empire‘. Well, this Sunday is… Read More
It’s our favorite time of year — time for the annual Bowery Boys New York ghost stories podcast! The new show — featuring four more frightening tales — will be available this Friday. Catch up on the tradition by listening in to our last five ghost story shows. You can listen at the links below,… Read More
Above: the crowds at the Polo Ground for Game One. Many of these same people were certainly on hand for the fateful Game Four. One hundred years ago today, in the frantic fall of 1912, even as the nation was in the midst of an intense three-way race to elect a new president, New Yorkers… Read More
The last remaining unrenovated tracks of the West Side Elevated Railway: Seen better days, but haven’t we all? (Click onto pictures for a larger view) This past weekend, Open House New York, in association with the clothing company Uniqlo, opened up the remaining portion of the West Side Elevated Railway — aka the High Line.… Read More
This weekend is the tenth annual Open House New York, with dozens of landmarks and cultural attractions throwing open their doors to the public, in all five boroughs. It’s probably the best weekend of the year to experience places in New York you would have never thought accessible and a great opportunity to finally go… Read More
The Eero Saarinen-designed TWA Flight Center at JFK International Airport, pictured above under construction in 1961, is Thursday’s Archtober Building of the Day! Argh! There is so much to do in the month of October. Tomorrow, I’ll elaborate at length on this weekend’s big tenth anniversary Open House New York. But don’t let that and… Read More
Party at Pompadou’s Bordello: Cocktails and carousing on ‘Copper’ Courtesy BBC America My first ever column for the Huffington Post is available to read on their site. I look at the different ways that three Sunday night ‘prestige’ shows — BBC America’s Copper, AMC’s Mad Men, and HBO’s Boardwalk Empire — approach the task of… Read More
In the spirit of P.T. Barnum, Mayor Michael Bloomberg yesterday announced plans to build the world’s largest Ferris wheel next to the ferry terminal on Staten Island. The amusement, called the New York Wheel, will stand 84 feet higher than a similar Ferris wheel in Singapore and also nods towards the London Eye, a ride… Read More
Above: The Croton Reservoir in 1850, in what would soon become Central Park. (NYPL)PODCAST One of the great challenges faced by a growing, 19th-century New York City was the need for a viable, clean water supply. We take water for granted today. But before the 1830s, citizens relied on cisterns to collect rainwater, a series… Read More
The Fortress of Fifth Avenue: the Murray Hill Reservoir We share a lot of the same needs as New Yorkers of the past, but we’ve just gotten better at hiding the unpleasant ones. There are a great many mental institutions and specialized medical facilities in the city; they just aren’t in creepy, old Gothic buildings… Read More