The Bowery Boys: New York City History
In our modern world, people are turning to all sorts of unusual beliefs and fringe disciplines just outside the bounds of medical science and psychology, all in search of a better understanding of the human mind and the origins of personality. In the mid-19th century, New Yorkers with similar questions became obsessed with the mysterious… Read More
Carnegie Hall is one of America’s greatest and most enduring cultural landmarks, enchanting audiences and making history since its opening night on May 5, 1891, when Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky appeared there in his first performance in the United States. This groundbreaking performance space (originally known simply as “Music Hall”) is in fact a trio of… Read More
Calling all history geeks, New Yorkers, and lovers of great storytelling! Greg Young of the Bowery Boys Podcast is bringing you another edition of BOWERY BOYS HISTORY LIVE on May 26, 2026 Bowery Boys History Live is a storytelling cabaret of true tales and spellbinding secrets from the past, brought to life by a rotating… Read More
Once upon a time, the streets of the Lower East Side were lined with pushcarts and salespeople haggling with customers over the price of fruits, fish and pickles. Whatever became of them? New York’s earliest marketplaces were large and surprisingly well regulated hubs for commerce that kept the city fed. When the city was small,… Read More
Greg Young from the Bowery Boys Podcast is a guest on this week’s episode of the Official Marvel Podcast, speaking about the TV show Daredevil: Born Again and the intreguing inspirations for its principal antagonist Wilson Fisk aka Kingpin. He’s the mayor of New York City! Here’s the description of the podcast: This week, Vincent… Read More
In 1889, Robert Ray Hamilton, great-grandson of Alexander Hamilton, became ensnared in a sensational web of deceit — forged identities, attempted murder, and brazen fraud that captured headlines across the country. Although this gripping saga played out over a two-year period, it has largely faded from public memory. In his book The Scandalous Hamiltons, author Bill Shaffer… Read More
Why is the West Village both historically important and incredibly expensive? In the final part of our West Village mini-series, we look at the elements that define the modern neighborhood — from battles with Robert Moses to the protests that galvanized the gay-rights movement. The 19th-century charms of the old Village seem timeless, but they… Read More
In Part Two of our mini-series, The Streets of the West Village, we turn to the people who gave the neighborhood its character and vitality. From Irish longshoremen on the docks to actors on the off-Broadway stage, from street gangs to speakeasy proprietors. From Eugene O’Neill to Bea Arthur, their stories help define this corner… Read More
Why are the streets of Manhattan’s West Village so unusually charming and romantic? Why does it make such an excellent place for a night out in New York City? Why is the real estate so expensive? And when did it become a distinct place separate from Greenwich Village? We‘ll get to the bottom of these… Read More
PODCAST The story of the devastating snowstorm that changed New York City forever. Every winter, as forecasters gaze upon a gruesome impending storm, they always mention one of the worst storms to ever wreak havoc upon New York City, the now-legendary mix of wind and snow called the Great Blizzard of 1888. The battering snow-hurricane of 1888,… Read More
On the afternoon of December 22, 1984, shots rang out beneath the streets of New York, from the subway’s 2 Seventh Avenue express train. A Greenwich Village man named Bernhard Goetz shot four black teenagers who he believed were about to assault him. The incident made international news, amplified by the city’s shameless tabloid newspapers because it so… Read More
On August 6, 1930, Supreme Court Justice Joseph Force Crater stepped into a taxi on West 45th Street and vanished without a trace. For 27 days, nobody reported him missing—not his wife waiting in Maine, not his Tammany Hall cronies, not the courts. When the story finally broke, it became the most famous missing persons case in New York… Read More
For more information on New York City’s history with snow removal, listen to our 2019 show on the history of the city’s Department of Sanitation. For some of New York City’s history, snowstorms have been completely paralyzing, and most residents had to clear their own streets, an impossibility in areas of a more rural character.… Read More
“A Highway is Crumbling. New York Can’t Agree on How to Fix It.” That was a headline in the New York Times back in November about the highly problematic section of the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway located beneath the Brooklyn Promenade, the romantic walkway that offers sumptuous views of lower Manhattan. Everybody loves the Promenade. Nobody loves… Read More
On Lexington Avenue sits a special food store named Kalustyan’s with a second floor stocked with international spices, syrups and bitters. In 1881, this was the home of Chester A. Arthur, and it was here in the early morning hours of September 20, that he became the 21st President of the United States. He is… Read More