True Crime
William ‘Boss’ Tweed meets his end on Ludlow Street
Today is a day of big historical remembrances, from the 150th anniversary of the first battle of the Civil War to the 50th anniversary of man's…
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UncategorizedNotes from the Podcast (#122) The Manhattan Grid Plan
April 19, 2011
From H.S. Tanner's 'The American Traveller; or Guide Through the United States', 1836 (book published book 1840) Stuyvesant Street is mentioned as one of the few streets in New York that was allowed to break the grid, and its diagonal path between Second and…
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More Articles
Bridge Whist Club: The worst booze your taxes can buy!
Just a barrel of laughs: Prohibition agents dump illegal containers of wine into the streets.FRIDAY NIGHT FEVER To get you in the mood for the weekend,…
Stories from Midtown: The journey of an old church, surviving Civil War riots to become a garage
Drive-in salvation: the former All Souls church welcomed automobiles into the fold in 1908. (Courtesy Shorpy)Another story of a long-gone, forgotten building and one that would…
An ode to Sbarro Pizza, a long way from Bensonhurst
On the grim news today that Sbarro Pizza has filed for bankruptcy, I thought I would reprint my article from July 2009 on the Brooklyn origins…
With the state capitol on fire, a wealth of history lost
This is not New York City related, but it pertains to the state capital. New Yorkers woke up this morning 100 years ago to see the…
Other scary animals that have escaped the Bronx Zoo
These 1906 Bronx zoo employees won't let this snake out of sight. (NYPL) Escapes from the Bronx Zoo are relatively rare today, so news of a…
American History
Where they lived: Victims of the Triangle Factory Fire, the homes they left behind, a hundred years later
Lonely tenement on Avenue C and 13th Street, near many homes of the Triangle Fire victims. photo by Percy Loomis Sperr [NYPL] From cable television to…
Notes from the Podcast (#121) Fraunces Tavern
Courtesy Flickr/Harry J. BizzarroA slight correction:I inferred in this week's show that the very first Supreme Court -- with Chief Justice John Jay -- met in…
How some rough Saint Patrick’s Day hangovers almost destroyed New York
The harbor in 1730, with a view of New York's Fort George by the engraver John CarwithamIt was 270 years ago this week that a truly…
Blue Bell Tavern: War and romance in Washington Heights
The Blue Bell Tavern, a rustic pit stop along Bloomingdale Road, witness to the changing fortunes of war. (Courtesy NYPL)FRIDAY NIGHT FEVER To get you in…
Mrs. Bigge Trout: On the passing of Barnum’s prized fish
Trout by Currier & Ives, 1872. Sadly there are no extant images of Mrs. Trout.I could not let this week pass without mentioning a sadness that…
Brooklyn History
Let There Be Light: Brooklyn illuminates Manhattan with a spotlight that ‘will burn your skin at three hundred feet’
That Gotham glow: The powerful Sperry searchlight drapes the dark city in light. The Woolworth Building is lit up like a candle. A thin, bright streak…