Mad Men
Timeless: How ‘Mad Men’ changed history on television
In 1972 the Robert Altman film M*A*S*H was turned into a weekly half-hour situation comedy series. In retrospect I'm stunned that anybody thought to make this.…
Articles
History, stories, and deep dives from the Bowery Boys.
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NeighborhoodsThe hole that swallowed Greenpoint and other treasures at Old NYC
May 27, 2015
The New York Public Library's Old NYC interface is pretty much one of the best things to happen to New York City history this year. It selects photographs from their extensive archives and maps them out -- all five boroughs and pretty much most…
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More Articles
True Crime
‘Days of Rage’ and Nights of Terror
Right before noon on March 6, 1970, an explosion tore open a lovely Greenwich Village townhouse at 18 West 11th Street and awoke New York City to…
On The Waterfront
A Haunting Look Inside the Lusitania
The Lusitania gets dwarfed by recollections of the Titanic. But in many ways, the destruction of the Cunard Line's premier ocean liner on May 7, 1915,…
Brooklyn History
Ungentrified: Brooklyn in the 1970s
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…
Amusements and Thrills
The 1965 New York World’s Fair: Opening Day
The New York World's Fair opened for its second and last season on April 21, 1965. Â The grand opening the previous year had been rocky indeed…
Bowery Boys Bookshelf
The Lusitania’s final voyage, breathlessly told
They said the Lusitania couldn't be sunk. The German telegrams to the contrary were merely cheap scare tactics. Besides, England will provide protection once in their…
American History
New York’s Poignant Memorial to Lincoln’s Death Is In A Very Odd Place
Abraham Lincoln died 150 years ago today in a Washington DC rowhouse, shot and killed by the actor John Wilkes Booth while the president was attending a performance…
Amusements and Thrills
The Monster Tree: A California Sequoia Visits New York City 1855
The mighty Sequoia tree,  principally existing today in northern California, embodied the breathtaking diversity of the North American continent when it was first discovered by European explorers…
It's Showtime
Happy 100th birthday Billie Holiday! Five ways to celebrate a century of music
The great Billie Holiday was born 100 years ago today. This requires spending some of your day listening…
Newspapers and Newsies
Shameless Urchins and Mighty Frauds: 19th Century Views of April Fools Day
The celebration of April Fools Day traces back to the Middle Ages and possibly as far back as the Roman era. In the mid-19th century, the unofficial…
Friday Night Fever
The Wildest Era In New York History: My New York Magazine Investigation
New York Magazine produces an annual buffet of New York City history each year called the Yesteryear Issue. Â It's probably the biggest celebration of the city's…
Amusements and Thrills
The literary Coney Island
Everybody sees Coney Island a little differently. Most people know it for the amusements but not everybody has the same feeling about them. One person craves…