Neighborhoods
A short history of a short street named Raisin Street
A 1932 photo of 34-36 Barrow Street by Charles Von Urban, courtesy the Museum of the City of New York. Click here to see what this…
Articles
History, stories, and deep dives from the Bowery Boys.
Latest Article
Those Were The DaysTurkey raffles were 19th century versions of bar trivia nights
October 24, 2013
Hopefully this young lady acquired this turkey by legitimate means.In this week's podcast, I feign shock at the wild party held at the old home of famed actress Charlotte Melmoth, a former school for etiquette-turned-booze hall. To quote historian Henry Reed Stiles directly:"After [Charlotte's]…
→ Read ArticleBrowse by Category
Bowery Boys Bookshelf 91
Neighborhoods 81
Uncategorized 77
Landmarks 60
Mysterious Stories 59
Gilded Age New York 51
Amusements and Thrills 51
American History 49
Health and Living 48
It's Showtime 45
Writers and Artists 44
Holidays 41
Those Were The Days 41
Brooklyn History 38
Pop Culture 36
The Gilded Gentleman 34
More Articles
Friday Night Fever
Remnants of the Bull’s Head Tavern: Could this be the greatest New York archaeological find of the year?
The former Atlantic Gardens, revealed during a demolition. Underneath it lies evidence of an even greater historical discovery. Courtesy Adam Woodward/Lower East Side History ProjectBig news…
Amusements and Thrills
Meet the Mastodon Hog, the biggest star at a 14th Street museum
Worth's Museum of Living Curiosities, one of New York's most popular dime museums, paired cheap 'curios' with vaudeville performances on the main stage. On December 29th,…
Neighborhoods
When the Bowery Ballroom was a shoe store and other scenes from Delancey Street in the 1930s
The Tree-Mark Shoe Store at 6-8 Delancey Street. You may know this building today as the Bowery Ballroom, a music venue since 1997. (Wurts Brothers, date unknown, both…
Those Were The Days
How well can you do on this New York history trivia quiz — from 1914? Prepare to be a little frustrated.
No amount of studying will prepare you for some of these odd questions. (A girl at Seward Library, photographed by Lewis Hine.)Trivia quizzes are very popular…
Bowery Boys Bookshelf
‘The Big Crowd’: Kevin Baker takes on an unsolved mystery, the murder of Kid Twist and the secrets of a fallen mayor
New York City, 1953, the setting for Kevin Baker's The Big Crowd. Photo by Eliot Elisofen, courtesy Life/Google imagesBOWERY BOYS BOOK OF THE MONTH Each month…
Know Your Mayors
One hundred years ago today, the mayor of New York died
Mayor William Jay Gaynor's final appearance at City Hall was at a notification rally, declaring his independent candidacy. He brandishes a shovel as a symbol of…
Know Your Mayors
Meet Andrew H. Mickle, perhaps the least qualified man to ever serve as the mayor of New York City
New York City Hall and its brand new water fountain, in 1846, courtesy Currier and Ives (LOC)KNOW YOUR MAYORS A modest little series about some of the…
Amusements and Thrills
Don the Talking Dog, German vaudeville sensation, saves a drowning man in Brighton Beach
There once was a talking dog named Don.One hundred years ago today, he saved a man from drowning in Brighton Beach. Don shouted or barked the word…
Know Your Mayors
George Opdyke: The mayor during the Civil War Draft Riots and his unsavory connection to New York’s fashion industry
KNOW YOUR MAYORS A modest little series about some of the greatest, notorious, most important, even most useless, mayors of New York City. Other entrants in the…
Those Were The Days
Blackout 2003: Where were you when the lights went out?
Photo above courtesy Drew Dies/Flickr He has a cool set of pictures from that day here.Today is the tenth-year anniversary of the Northeast Blackout of 2003 which shut…
Friday Night Fever
The Incident at Healy’s: Wild nightlife in Columbus Circle, police brutality and spirited protests against ‘cafe curfew’
Columbus Circle in 1921, looking west. Healy's was a few blocks north of this scene.Many of New York's most popular restaurants and cafes a century ago…