Illness and a crazy schedule this week have conspired to delaying this weeks podcast, but we promise to have it ready to download by Wednesday morning. In the meantime, you can check out our television debut on the Brian Lehrer Show, which was recorded on Wednesday. It’s running throughout the week on CUNY TV, Channel… Read More
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Over 15,000 Irish Americans gathered in Jones Wood in 1856, to greet countryman James Stephen Once upon a time, back when Fifth Avenue was a dirt path and Bloomingdale was literally a blooming dale, there stood a haunted and most mysterious forest located on bluffs overlooking the East River, far east of the area today… Read More
Above: the mangled remains of a flimsy fire escape which sent many Triangle Factory workers to their death A tragic marker in New York City history: the devastating fire that swept through the upper floors of the Asch Building in 1911, through the sweatshops of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, killing 146 people. Today, March 25th,… Read More
THE FINAL PART UPDATED BELOW – THE FUTURE CITYSee map below for all the locations mentioned in this story I’m splitting the second half of this series off into a separate posting for easier navigation. Please see the post below this one for the introduction and entries 1 through 50. ————————————————————————-PART SIX: SUBWAY CITY 51… Read More
PART FIVE UPDATED BELOW – CONSOLIDATED CITYSee map below for all the locations mentioned in this story One of the truly great podcast pleasures of the past two months has been the BBC’s A History of the World In 100 Objects, a daily chronological journey through human history via carefully selected items from the British… Read More
Here’s the whole menu of our 2009 podcasts. As always, you can download them all for free from iTunes and or your favorite podcast aggregator. The original blog page for each is listed below, along with a link to download directly from our satellite site. WEBSTER HALLBlog page: Webster Hall, more than a dance hallDownload… Read More
(Photo courtesy of Only In Holland) In 2009, New York went Dutch. One hundred years ago, the city threw an elaborate party, the self-important, historically aware (often inaccurate) and undeniably prideful Hudson-Fulton Celebration, honoring the 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson sailing into New York harbor and Robert Fulton’s invention of the steamship. Although we didn’t… Read More
The Bowery Boys finally exist in the Twitter world! But how, exactly, do you apply what we do to a medium that’s brief, spontaneous and decidedly unhistoric? On top of updates and previews about our podcasts, we’ll also attempt to highlight history-related activities in the city, as well as observations as we walk around researching… Read More
ABOVE: Battery Park in “ye olden time” from the NYPL Picture Collection No new podcast this week, but here’s a link for one of our older shows from early 2008 on the history of Castle Clinton and Battery Park. We’ve enhanced some of the older shows with some rather cool old images that magically pop… Read More
Click pic for greater detailCaption: Billy, peering over the edge of the hood, saw the motorman pass the package back to Sim Levy. Ah, the good old days! The image above was taken from amazing Dime Novels and Penny Dreadful website. If you want to wile away a couple hours when you should be doing… Read More
Oh this old thing? The Morris-Jumel Mansion circa 1934 (courtesy of Jumel Terrace) Next up in our borough challenge — where in the city is the oldest New York home? Not oldest building per se, but actual place of (former) domestic living. Why would I care to rank this? Consider our city today, with shiny… Read More
Today’s faceoff determines which borough has the oldest bar in the city. These places have enjoyed longevity precisely because they weren’t on anybody’s radar. The secret to their success is being low-key, neighborhood establishments where booze and conversation come first. Although a few have some kooky decor, none are what anybody would call flashy. Of… Read More
Some high-quality films and television shows returned to New York’s past for inspiration this year. Here’s a few of my favorites: 1 MAN ON WIRE This documentary purports to be the story of Philippe Petit, the daredevil highwire artist who staged one of the craziest stunts in modern times, an illegal tightrope walk between the… Read More
Below is a list of all the podcasts we did for the year 2008. This year has been a tremendous, overwhelming time for us, and Tom and I want to thank all of you for listening or just checking out this website. I can’t promise we’ll be able to produce quite this many shows for… Read More
Just a few gentlemen, enjoying healthy lungfuls of smoke (Picture courtesy National Cigar Museum) One of the key locales in the mystery of Mary Rogers was the cigar store in which she worked, Anderson’s Tobacco Emporium to the west of City Hall on Broadway. Anderson was known nationwide for the quality of his wares, but… Read More