The Bowery Boys: New York City History
The Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant is defined by its architectural character, rows of impressive brownstones and ornate apartment buildings which trace back to the late 19th century. It was once two separate villages — Bedford and Stuyvesant Heights — combined to appeal to new residents in the ever-expanding city of Brooklyn. The Bed-Stuy of… Read More
The subtitle to Kay S. Hymowitz‘s engaging and often provocative new book The New Brooklyn: What It Takes To Bring A City Back is a bit of a misnomer. Brooklyn is not back in any conventional sense of the word. It has not returned to any kind of sense of normalcy or financial stability. In fact, Brooklyn has… Read More
The new Bowery Boys podcast that comes out this Friday will be about Brooklyn. So let’s get in the mood with some pre-Instagram tinted photography from the U.S. National Archives, most of them taken in 1974 by Danny Lyon. followed by some black and white images by Edmund V Gillon. You might have seen many of… Read More
This unusual story appeared at the bottom of the front page of the New York World newspaper in July 17, 1913: MAN FROZEN TO DEATH OR KILLED BY A FALL Hugo Meissner, assistant engineer of the artificial ice plant at Rochester and Atlantic Avenues, Brooklyn, was found dead today lying on tons of ice in… Read More
Above: Lena Horne at the Copacabana, October 1948 Lena Horne, the Brooklyn-born entertainer who broke color barriers in the New York nightclub scene as well as in Hollywood, died in a New York hospital yesterday at age 92. She would make history in Harlem, in segregated hotspots like The Cotton Club, where the entertainment was… Read More
Between Obama’s inauguration and Martin Luther King’s birthday, it’s hard not to look back with appreciation at prior figures in African-American history who got us to this moment. Of all of them, the one I’d like to have dinner with the most, on this eve of American history, would have to be the very first… Read More
My list of New York’s best movie scenes continues with two in Brooklyn — and one that almost gets there…. Tension7. Do The Right Thing (1989)Mookie throws a trash can Spike Lee is only one of a few directors who knows how to turn New York City into a character in his films. With ‘Do… Read More