Opium heaven! Fears of Chinatown, immortalized in print
Reading about Chinatown in classic books like 'Gangs of New York', one gets a sense that certain mysteries and legends about the neighborhood were already firmly…
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Those Were The DaysCrazy Sober: Hatchet lady Carrie Nation vs. New York City
October 3, 2011
I enjoyed the first part of the Ken Burns and Lynn Novak documentary series 'Prohibition' which debuted last night. But let's be honest, the second part -- introducing the Roaring 20s and the godfathers of organized crime -- should be far more provocative. After…
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Notes from the podcast (#129): Manhattan’s Chinatown
Casual posing at the opening of Doyers Street, circa 1900. (LOC)I'm so relieved that we finally got to cover a proper New York neighborhood on the…
The sad tale of New York’s first Asian female ‘celebrity’
Meet Afong Moy, the Chinese teenager who became the most famous Asian person in America in the 1830s. I would not exactly call her notoriety enviable.There's…
Hamilton Grange: Alexander’s home finally stops moving
After years of being planted in the wrong place and a lengthy moving process that literally plucked it out of a city block like a slice…
Mayor LaGuardia’s former home and its sci-fi, erotic past
Above: Mayor LaGuardia presenting his weekly WNYC radio show from Gracie Mansion. He would carry on the tradition at his Riverdale home.Fiorello LaGuardia, among the greatest…
William Seward: a park in his honor, while sitting in another
Mr. Seward, with the best seat in the park in 1934. He does seem awfully thin though, almost like a certain president. (At least, some people…
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An evening of cocktails, with tales of quirky characters
Thanks to everybody who came out on Saturday for our reading at Swift Hibernian Lounge, as part of the 4th Annual Lit Crawl. Swift makes for…
Notes from the podcast (#128): The Conspiracy of 1864
A depiction of Central Park from 1864. The conspirator's cottage hideout would have been near the southeast corner. (Courtesy NYPL)The year 1864 wasn't as pivotal to…
C. Godfrey Gunther: the other Civil War, pro-South mayor
Continuing with the theme of '1864', here's a revised and expanded version of an article I wrote back in 2009 on the man who was mayor of…
New York City Hall: Open for business for 200 years!
Above: City Hall in 1900 (Courtesy NYPL)Never have I been more elated to write about a City Council meeting.At the start of the 19th century, city…
Who won the Great Gimbels Air Race of 1911?
The place to be one hundred years ago today was Greeley Square, that bustling public space just south of 34th Street from Herald Square. Thousands of…
Brooklyn baseball: the Superbas and the worst batter ever
The New York Times this morning had an intriguing story about a unfortunate fellow who plays for the Chicago White Sox named Adam Dunn -- nicknamed…