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Amusements and Thrills Sports Those Were The Days

The New York Game: Baseball in the Early Years

Baseball, as American as apple pie, really is “the New York game.” While its precursors come from many places – from Jamestown to Prague – the rules of American baseball and the modern ways of enjoying it were born from the urban experience and, in particular, the 19th-century New York region. The sport (in the… Read More

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Bowery Boys Bookshelf Events

Aarrgh Pirates! Join us for the special book event with Eric Jay Dolin

PRIVATEERS, PIRATES AND THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION Tuesday, March 26, 6:30pm at the New-York Historical Society (170 Central Park West) The story of the founding of the US Navy during the Revolution has been told many times, yet largely missing from maritime histories of America’s first war is the ragtag fleet of private vessels that were… Read More

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Religious History Women's History

In honor of Mother Cabrini: Places to pay tribute to the American saint

Out in movie theaters this week: The new film Cabrini celebrating the life, of Mother Frances Xavier Cabrini, the pioneering nun (now a saint) who became a pillar of compassion and grace for thousands of Italian immigrations in the late 19th century. She was canonized by the Catholic Church in 1946. And her legacy continues… Read More

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Gilded Age New York Landmarks The Gilded Gentleman

New York Architecture Week: Podcasts About Skyscrapers and Beaux-Arts Style

Presenting new episodes of the Bowery Boys podcast and The Gilded Gentleman podcast, both tied to the story of architecture in New York City. After listening to both of these, you’ll understand the nature of city skyline and unlock the secrets to New York’s most famous landmarks. The American Renaissance: Beaux-Arts Architecture in New York City… Read More

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Roaring 20s Skyscrapers The Jazz Age

The Chrysler Building and the Great Skyscraper Race

The Chrysler Building remains one of America’s most beautiful skyscrapers and a grand evocation of Jazz Age New York. But this architectural tribute to the automobile is also the greatest reminder of a furious construction surge that transformed the city in the 1920s. After World War I, New York became newly prosperous, one of the… Read More

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Bowery Boys Bookshelf Events

Books and More Books! Two Upcoming Events

Greg Young is moderating TWO book-related events in New York in February and March. Mark your calendars: THE TRIALS OF MADAME RESTELL and A WOMAN’S LIFE IS A HUMAN LIFE February 28, 7pm at P&T Knitwear (180 Orchard St) P&T Knitwear is pleased to welcome historians Nicholas L. Syrett and Felicia Kornbluh for a discussion of their newest books, The Trials… Read More

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Brooklyn History On The Waterfront Podcasts

Behind the Domino Sign: The Story of Brooklyn’s Bittersweet Empire

The Brooklyn waterfront was once decorated with a yellow Domino Sugar sign, affixed to an aging refinery along a row of deteriorating industrial structures facing the East River. The Domino Sugar Refinery, completed in 1883 (after a devastating fire destroyed the original), was more than a factory. During the Gilded Age and into the 20th… Read More

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The Gilded Gentleman Women's History Writers and Artists

The Surprising Life of a Central Park Sculptor

Emma Stebbins is most noted for her iconic bronze statue The Angel of the Waters which was placed on Central Park’s Bethesda Terrace in 1873.  You may be aware of parts of the Stebbins’ biography. Her Angel was the first public statue in New York produced by a woman and her life included a domestic partnership with… Read More

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Gilded Age New York Parks and Recreation Podcasts Skyscrapers

It Happened at Madison Square Park: The Heart of New York During the Gilded Age

So much has happened in and around Madison Square Park — the leafy retreat at the intersections of Broadway, Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street — that telling its entire story requires an extra-sized show, in honor of the Bowery Boys 425th episode. Madison Square Park was the epicenter of New York culture from the years… Read More

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Bowery Boys Parks and Recreation Podcasts

New York City Parks: The Bowery Boys Podcast Collection

We love talking about parks on the Bowery Boys podcast because they are an excellent way to experience history and recreation at the same time. In February we will be bringing you two all-new episodes related to two New York City parks — one park which traces back to the founding of the United States… Read More

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Gilded Age New York The Gilded Gentleman Women's History

Who was Mamie Fish? The story behind The Gilded Age’s wildest party hostess

Mrs. Stuyvesant Fish, known to all as just Mamie Fish, was one of the more larger-than-life personalities of the Gilded Age, a hostess who thrived within the confines of high society. Who was this enigma of the Newport set? Carl Raymond is joined by historian and writer Keith Taillon, a returning listener favorite, as well as actor Ashlie… Read More

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The Gilded Gentleman Writers and Artists

The Age of Innocence: Celebrating Edith Wharton’s Masterpiece Novel

The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s most famous novel, an enduring classic of Old New York that has been rediscovered by a new generation. What is it about this story of Newland Archer, May Welland and Countess Olenska that readers respond to today? Noted Wharton scholar Dr. Emily Orlando joins Carl Raymond on The Gilded… Read More

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Bridges Podcasts Revolutionary History

Kosciuszko! The Man and the Bridge: A Thrilling Tale of Revolution and Pollution

The Kosciuszko Bridge is one of New York City’s most essential pieces of infrastructure, the hyphen in the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway that connects the two boroughs over Newtown Creek, the 3.5 mile creek which empties into the East River. The bridge is interestingly named for the Polish national hero Tadeusz Kościuszko who fought during the American… Read More

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Bowery Boys Podcasts

The Bowery Boys Podcast Year In Review 2023

Thank you for making 2023 another excellent year for the Bowery Boys podcast. This year our shows spanned hundreds of years of history — from the Dutch wall of New Amsterdam in the 1650s to the paparazzi woes of Greta Garbo in the 1950s — and looked at many forgotten aspects of city life like… Read More

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It's Showtime Music History Podcasts

Leonard Bernstein’s New York, New York

On the morning of November 14th, 1943, Leonard Bernstein, the talented 25-year-old assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, got a phone call saying he would at last be leading the respected orchestral group — in six hours, that afternoon, with no time to rehearse. He later recalled, “I don’t remember a thing from that… Read More