The Bowery Boys: New York City History
Forty years ago today, April 29, 1968, the musical Hair debuted on Broadway and basically changed New York’s theater industry — where shows come from, how they’re staged, what you can even doon stage. Here’s ten reasons why Broadway’s first rock musical is so important, and why today you should probably fish out your Fifth… Read More
What do Salvador Dali, John Jacob Astor, Peter Stuyvesant, the Civil War, and a big pile of trash have to do with the world’s biggest penal colony? We connect the dots in this history of Rikers Island. Listen to it for free on iTunes or other podcasting services. Or you can download or listen to… Read More
Above: Grand Theft Auto IV’s version of Times Square Next Tuesday, the world stops for millions of Americans as they finally clutch copies of the hotly anticipated Grand Theft Auto IV. As in a few other incarnations of this bloody, aggressive adventure, the action takes place in Liberty City, an Earth-2 version of New York… Read More
Join us as we step behind the velvet ropes to explore the history of Studio 54, legendary dance club. Listen to it for free on iTunes or other podcasting services. Or you can download or listen to it HERE April 26 marks the 31st anniversary of the opening of Studio 54 Before it was Studio… Read More
Pope John Paul greets the crowds at Yankee Stadium Welcome Benedict! I’m not Catholic, but I do love a good papal visit to New York City. Nothing could be more absurd. The leader of the Catholic Church, a man who traces his spiritual lineage all the way back to the apostles — delivering mass at… Read More
It’s been awhile since America faced the potential of an Olympic Games boycott. The debate about Beijing is still being waged in the press. America withdrew from the Moscow Olympics in 1980. And in 1936, there was an equally emphatic cry to boycott the Olympics in Berlin, Germany — and New York City led the… Read More
Shirtwaist factory workers on strike! Come listen to the strange and shocking facts of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire, of a workplace tragedy that changed how New Yorkers live and work in a world of tall, flammable buildings. Listen to it for free on iTunes or other podcasting services. Or you can download or listen… Read More
Our modest little series about some of the greatest, notorious, most important, even most useless, mayors of New York City. Other entrants in our mayoral survey can be found here. The 1910s were a rough time to be mayor of New York City. The decade’s first mayor, William Jay Gaynor, took an assassin’s bullet in… Read More
Extra! Extra! Scandal Sheet Revealed To Be Started By Founding Father! New York Post May Be Responsible For Central Park! Rupert Murdoch Property Was Once A Nest of Liberal Sympathizers! PLUS: Was there really a “headless body” in a “topless bar”? Listen to it for free on iTunes or other podcasting services. Or you can… Read More
The Trinity Church grave marker of William Bradford, publisher of the New York Gazette. Dusting off the cobwebs of your high school history curriculum, you might remember the tale of John Peter Zenger, the publisher of the New York Weekly Journal whose libel trial in 1735 marked the beginning of the American discussion of freedom… Read More
This former English-garden style park became the heart of protest and the labor movement. Join the Bowery Boys as we dig into the history of Union Square, from Book Row to Klein’s. Listen to it for free on iTunes or other podcasting services. Or you can download or listen to it HERE An old view… Read More
Some architectural monstrosities just beg to be ripped upon. Topping this list is One Union Square South, a bland 33-story structure and pioneer in the mall-ification of Union Square. Although its storefronts feature a Circuit City and a dying Virgin Mega-store, One Union Square South is defined by a piece of public art that has… Read More
Our modest little series about some of the greatest, notorious, most important, even most useless, mayors of New York City. Other entrants in our mayoral survey can be found here. And now we come to one of New York’s most notorious, absolutely in the top 10% of the most corrupt mayors ever in our fair… Read More
Get ready for nine innings (or 30 minutes) of the greatest sports team ever — the New York Yankees. Hear about their modest beginnings, their best players, and the fate of Yankee Stadium, their home for 85 years. (And I apologize in advance for this week’s echo-y sound…had some difficulty with one of my directional… Read More
Before they went by their better known name — and before they were any good — the team that would become ‘the Yankees’ were known as the Highlanders, from 1903-1913. The name played to a couple dated references. The team captain was named Joseph Gordon, and the name referenced a British military outfit named Gordon’s… Read More