Categories
On The Waterfront

A short history of New York City’s various Titanic memorials

The South Street Seaport is the home for a great many nautical treasures. It’s also the location of a memorial to nautical tragedy. The Titanic Memorial, a 60-foot white lighthouse, sits in the little plaza at Fulton and Water Streets. This was no mere decorative lighthouse as it seems today. For much of its history,… Read More

Categories
Gilded Age New York Podcasts

Electric New York: Illuminating the shadows, re-visualizing the night

This classic episode of the Bowery Boys: New York City History podcast (originally released in December of 2021) is featured in this week’s episode of the History Channel podcast HISTORY This Week. Since 2011 the Bowery Boys Podcast has revisited a few of the themes featured in this show. After listening to this episode, give… Read More

Categories
Museums On The Waterfront

The South Street Seaport Museum, at 50 years old, has gotten some tattoos

The under appreciated South Street Seaport Museum has always had a daunting mission to fulfill — preserving a piece of New York City history on the edge of a volatile and ever-changing waterway. Established fifty years ago this year, the museum has been the guiding presence to this remaining vestige of New York’s 19th century waterfront.… Read More

Categories
Adventures In Old New York On The Waterfront Podcasts

The Pirate of Pearl Street: The All-True New York Adventures of Captain Kidd

PODCAST The tale of Captain William Kidd, a respectable New York citizen and landowner, and his transformation into the ruthless pirate of legend. The area of Lower Manhattan below Wall Street is today filled with investment bankers, business people and tourists. But did you know, over 300 years ago, that the same streets were once… Read More

Categories
Preservation

Jane’s Walk 2015: Ten Recommended Free Tours (And Over 100 More!)

Above: This is the Bowery, 110 years ago.  One of the recommended Jane’s Walks highlights the rapid changes along this historic street. (Picture courtesy Shorpy)   There is no logic that can be superimposed on the city; people make it, and it is to them, not buildings, that we must fit our plans. — Jane… Read More

Categories
On The Waterfront Podcasts

The history of the South Street Seaport: A robust story of economic power, historic preservation, rat fights and fish guts

The daily bustle at the Fulton Fish Market, 1936, photographed by Berenice Abbott (NYPL) PODCAST  The glory of early New York came from its role as one of the world’s great ports.  Today the South Street Seaport is a lasting tribute to that seafaring heritage, a historical district beneath the Brooklyn Bridge that contains some… Read More

Help Fraunces Tavern, the South Street Seaport Museum and Stone Street! Still picking up after Hurricane Sandy

There are still so many places throughout the city struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Many people in outlying regions are still without basic needs. In my post on Friday — A Snapshot of Hurricane Sandy — there’s a list of charities and volunteer organizations where you can donate or volunteer. There’s further information… Read More

Categories
On The Waterfront

The South Street kidnappings: During Prohibition, did ‘shanghai gangs’ really lurk in the shadow of the ports?

The old port at night was no place to be. Weathered taverns and boardinghouses sit next to uninhabited warehouses, separated by dimly lit South Street from the shadow of rocking masts and creaking piers that sank into the black water of the East River. A lonely sailor, soused from the wares of the cheapest Water… Read More

Categories
Podcasts

Corlears Hook and the Pirate Gangs of the East River

The Short Tail Gang sit underneath a pier at Corlears Hook, picture taken in 1890, long after all the great pirate gangs of the area had disbanded, been eaten by rats, or joined the Confederate army (listen to podcast for explanation!) ___________________________________An illustrated map of the ward system of New York in 1817 highlights the… Read More

Using the past to sell the future of South Street Seaport

Fulton Fish Market in 1943. Pic courtesy Shorpy There’s a fascinating song-and-dance taking place at the South Street Seaport, and it’s not coming from street performers or the Spiegalworld tent. “Seaport: Past and Future” is a developer’s plea disguised as a easy, streamlined presentation of the neighborhood’s rich history as a marketplace, port, seedy district… Read More