Author: GY

Categories
Parks and Recreation Podcasting Writers and Artists

The Hidden World of Gramercy Park

Need an escape from the world for just a little while? A place where you can be by yourself? We’ve got the keys.

Carl Raymond of The Gilded Gentleman podcast and his guest Keith Taillon invite you into one of the most historically exclusive spaces in New York City — the romantic and peaceful escape known as Gramercy Park. 

This small two-acre square, constructed in the 1830s, has been called “America’s Bloomsbury”. Taking the reference from London’s famous neighborhood once home to many great writers and artists, New York’s Gramercy Park has similarly included noted cultural icons as architect Stanford White, actor Edwin Booth and the great politician Samuel Tilden. 

Wandering along the park today it’s easy to gain a view back into the past — many of the original Greek Revival brick townhouses and brownstone mansions remain, some still in private hands.

 The park in the center is one of the most unique places in America — it is a private park, not a city property and its upkeep has been managed since its inception in the early 19th century by the property owners around the park itself. 

Writer and historian Keith Taillon joins Carl for this episode to look back into this hidden pocket of New York City’s past and unlock its history. 

LISTEN NOW: THE HIDDEN WORLD OF GRAMERCY PARK

For more Gilded Gentleman, follow and subscribe to Carl’s show on Spotify, Apple and other podcast players. For more about Keith Taillon, visit his website and book a tour.

Samuel Ruggles, New York Public Library
New York Public Library

This summer Carl Raymond of the Gilded Gentleman Podcast and some very special guests are taking you to some of the most glamorous and relaxing places from the Gilded Age.

Take in the breathtaking views at the Vanderbilt Mansion in Hyde Park….

Retreat to the natural world of the Adirondaks and Great Camp Sagamore:

Gallivant through the lush Berkshire Mountains to visit a few grand 19th century estates

EPISODE ARRIVING JULY 22

Or vacation like Queen Victoria did, with a vist to her rural retreet Osborne House on the Isle of Wight

EPISODE ARRIVING AUGUST 6

FURTHER LISTENING

We have visited Gramercy Park (and other themes from this week’s show) in various Bowery Boys Podcasts over the years. If you’d like to spend a little more time with these topics, dive into one of these favorites:

Categories
Adventures In Old New York New Amsterdam Podcasts

The Bowery Boys Adventures in the Netherlands: All Episodes Now Available

Our epic ‘road trip’ to the Netherlands is at an end and it was mission accomplished! We learned so much about New York’s Dutch roots — from the settlement of New Amsterdam to the European settlers who first populated the island which would become Manhattan.

Along the way we also found interesting connections — and great contrasts — between America and the Netherlands. We’ll certainly never look at a bike lane the same way.

All five episodes of our Adventures in the Netherlands series are now available. Make that six actually — our show The Lenape Nation serves as an excellent prologue and reminder of the people who were already here when the Dutch arrived in 1624.

Here’s the trailer for the whole series:

The shows were designed so they the end of one show rolls into the next one, so the series makes an excellent summer binge listen! Better yet, take them with you on your own adventure someplace.

You can find the shows on most of the major podcast players including Spotify, Apple, Overcast, iHeartRadio, Pocket Casts, Podcast Addict and Amazon Music (ask your Alexa to play our show!)

Start here:

#432 The Lenape Nation: Past, Present and Future

The Lenape were among the first in northeast North America to be displaced by white colonists — the Dutch and the English. By the late 18th century, their way of life had practically vanished upon the island which would be known by some distorted vestige of a name they themselves may have given it – Manahatta, Manahahtáanung or Manhattan.

But the Lenape did not disappear. Through generations of great hardship they have persevered.

Our Introduction and a Special Guest:

#433 New Amsterdam Man: An Interview with Russell Shorto

The Bowery Boys Podcast is headed to Amsterdam and other parts of the Netherlands for a very special mini-series, marking the 400th anniversary of the Dutch first settling in North America in the region that today we call New York City.

But before they go, they’re kicking off their international voyage with a special conversation — with Russell Shorto, author of The Island At The Center of the World, the man who inspired the journey.

Amsterdam/New Amsterdam:

#434 Amsterdam/New Amsterdam: Empire of the Seas

We begin our journey at Amsterdam’s Centraal Station and spend the day wandering the streets and canals, peeling back the centuries in search of New York’s roots.

Our tour guide for this adventure is Jaap Jacobs, author of The Colony of New Netherland: A Dutch Settlement in Seventeenth-Century America. 

Jaap takes us around to several spots within the old medieval city — Centrum, including the Red Light District — weaving through the canals and along the harbor, in search of connections to New York’s (and by extension, America’s) past.

A look at the New Amsterdam miniature and a scene of full-size Leiden

#435 Amsterdam/New Amsterdam: The Radical Walloons

Our adventure in the Netherlands continues with a quest to find the Walloons, the French-speaking religious refugees who became the first settlers of New Netherland in 1624. Their descendants would last well beyond the existence of New Amsterdam and were among the first people to call themselves New Yorkers.

But you can’t tell the Walloon story without that other group of American religious settlers — the Pilgrims who settled in Massachusetts four years earlier.

#436: Amsterdam/New Amsterdam: Finding Peter Stuyvesant

In our last days in Amsterdam (before heading to other parts of the Netherlands), we spend their time getting to know Peter Stuyvesant, the last director-general of New Amsterdam.

The name Stuyvesant can be found everywhere in New York City. — in the names of neighborhoods, apartments, parks and high schools. He’s a hero to some, a villain to others — and probably a caricature to all. What do we really know about Peter Stuyvesant?

And outside the mayor’s residence in Amsterdam’s exclusive Gouden Bocht (Golden Bend), we meet up with Jennifer Tosch of Black Heritage Tours  to investigate the story of New Amsterdam and the Dutch slave trade.

And Finally, To Other Parts of the Netherlands:

#437: Haarlem, Breukelen, Utrecht: Exploring New York’s Dutch Roots

Follow along with us in this travelogue episode as we visit several historic cities and towns in the Netherlands — Utrecht, De Bilt, Breukelen and Haarlem— wandering through cafe-filled streets and old cobblestone alleyways, the air ringing with church bells and 

But of course, our mission remains the same as the past three episodes. For there are traces of Dutch culture and history all over New York City — through the names of boroughs, neighborhoods, streets and parks.

Over On Patreon

We released a series of daily shows while on the streets of the Netherlands! These are true behind-the-scenes episodes and we let you in on the unique processes of putting these shows together. You can check out those shows — and the many other benefits of being a Bowery Boys patron — by supporting the show at Patreon.

And on Instagram

We’ve been going wild with the Instagram Reels to show you videos of our adventures. Follow us on Instagram to follow our journey. Here’s just a sampling:

Categories
Neighborhoods New Amsterdam Podcasts

Haarlem, Breukelen, Utrecht: Exploring New York’s Dutch Roots

Follow along with Greg and Tom in this travelogue episode as they visit several historic cities and towns in the Netherlands — Utrecht, De Bilt, Breukelen and Haarlem — wandering through cafe-filled streets and old cobblestone alleyways, the air ringing with church bells and

But of course, their mission remains the same as the past three episodes. For there are traces of Dutch culture and history all over New York City — through the names of boroughs, neighborhoods, streets and parks.

From Spuyten Duyvil Creek flowing into the Harlem River along the Bronx shoreline to New Utrecht, Gravesend and Cortelyou Road in Brooklyn. All of those place names can be traced to the Dutch presence of New Amsterdam and New Netherland.

In the final Bowery Boys episode recorded in the Netherlands, Tom and Greg head to several places that have unique links to the New York City area, mostly through Dutch colonial connections made in the 17th century.

Utrecht — The medieval city with its unique canal wharves and monastery courtyards that may be the bicycle capital of the world. What are its connections to Bensonhurst, Brooklyn?

Breukelen — How did this charming, quiet old town on the Vecht River become the namesake of the borough of Brooklyn? Both places have “Brooklyn Bridges.” But there are a couple of other surprising parallels.

De Bilt — The ancestral home of the Vanderbilt family, can Tom find one of their 17th-century ancestors among the stones of an old cemetery?

Haarlem — Manhattan’s Harlem remains one of America’s cultural centers, and the rustic Dutch city that inspired its name also has cultural riches aplenty — from its museums to its historic windmill Molen de Adriaan.

WITH — Mysterious pharmaceuticals, pedal boat misadventures, ghostly apparitions and Aperol Spritzes!

PLUS: The special link between Amsterdam’s Jewish Quarter and New York City’s Lower East Side — through pickles

LISTEN NOW: EXPLORING NEW YORK’S DUTCH ROOTS

Over on Patreon, we released a series of daily shows while on the streets of the Netherlands. You can check out those shows — and the many other benefits of being a Bowery Boys patron — by supporting the show at Patreon.

Below: Tom and producer Kieran Gannon watching the historical video at Molen de Adriaan.

Places we went on this show:

— Jodenbuurt, Amsterdam, meeting with Mattmo with toasties at Broodbar
— Naude, Utrecht, recording at Jackrabbit

We want to thank Ton de Jager for guiding us through the streets of Utrecht. If you’re heading to Utrecht, you can book a guided tour here. And ask for Ton by name!

The wharf level of Utrect’s canals

Utrecht flower market with Ton de Jager

Utrecht’s ancient Roman wall

St Martin’s Cathedral aka the Dom Church

The Dom Church’s bell tower actually sits across from the church. (The reason for this is discussed in the podcast.)

A plaque marking those who died during the Utrechtse sodomieprocessen of 1730.

On the old moat in a pedal boat!

One unique example of Utrecht’s famous wharves or quays

One wharf restaurant was named Broadway!

Mattmo’s book de Zure Stad

Utrecht at night

Tom with his “Haarlem oil”

Haarlem street of greenery

FURTHER LISTENING

The first three parts of Amsterdam/New Amsterdam — Empire of the Seas, The Radical Walloons and Finding Peter Stuyvesant

Interview with Russell Shorto, author of The Island At The Center of the World

The Lenape and other native peoples of the New York/Hudson Valley region would be both trading partners and adversaries of the Dutch, who claimed to have ‘discovered’ the land those people already lived upon.

The story of religious freedom during the New Amsterdam/Peter Stuyvesant plays a major role in this episode which features a visit to the John Bowne House:

Our original two-part series on New Amsterdam:

Categories
Black History New Amsterdam Podcasts Politics and Protest

Finding Peter Stuyvesant (Amsterdam/New Amsterdam Mini-Series)

The name Stuyvesant can be found everywhere in New York City. — in the names of neighborhoods, apartments, parks and high schools. Peter Stuyvesant, the last director-general of New Amsterdam, is a hero to some, a villain to others — and probably a caricature to all. 

What do we really know about Peter Stuyvesant?

In their last days in Amsterdam (before heading to other parts of the Netherlands), Tom and Greg spend their time getting to know Peter Stuyvesant, thanks to their special guest Jaap Jacobs, the author of a forthcoming biography on the elusive and controversial figure.

And outside the mayor’s residence in Amsterdam’s exclusive Gouden Bocht (Golden Bend), they meet up with Jennifer Tosch of Black Heritage Tours (with tours in New York and Amsterdam) to investigate the story of New Amsterdam and the Dutch slave trade.

PLUS They stroll around New Amsterdam on a dark, stormy evening. No really! Well, it’s the village of Marken where one can find the closest approximation of what New Amsterdam looked like.

AND A few more myths are dispelled. What actual date should New York City mark as its anniversary — 1624, 1625, or 1626? Did a letter describing the so-called ‘purchase of Manhattan’ from the Lenape actually come from New Amsterdam? And was New Amsterdam, in fact, even its real name?

LISTEN NOW: FINDING PETER STUYVESANT

Collier’s Greater New York, Petrus Stuyvesant, Governor of New Amsterdam, 1647, January 25, 1902 (Courtesy New York Public Library)
Old Peter Stuyvesant on the cover of the Fall style book, 1911 (NYPL)

Inside the Cafe de Schrierstoren. Delicious food!

Inside the Royal Palace, a constellation-like map on the floor reveals the extent of the Dutch empire.

Setting up in the ‘Golden Bend’ in front of the Mayor’s house.

Cafe Mooy in Amsterdam

Images of Marken, the island village that has many traits similar to New Amsterdam.

Over on Patreon, we released a series of daily shows while on the streets of the Netherlands. You can check out those shows — and the many other benefits of being a Bowery Boys patron — by supporting the show at Patreon.

FURTHER LISTENING

The first two parts of Amsterdam/New Amsterdam — Empire of the Seas and The Radical Walloons

Interview with Russell Shorto, author of The Island At The Center of the World

The Lenape and other native peoples of the New York/Hudson Valley region would be both trading partners and adversaries of the Dutch, who claimed to have ‘discovered’ the land those people already lived upon.

The story of religious freedom during the New Amsterdam/Peter Stuyvesant plays a major role in this episode which features a visit to the John Bowne House:

Our original two-part series on New Amsterdam:

Categories
American History New Amsterdam Podcasts Religious History

The Radical Walloons: Amsterdam/New Amsterdam (Bowery Boys mini-series)

A look at the New Amsterdam miniature and a scene of full-size Leiden

Our adventure in the Netherlands continues with a quest to find the Walloons, the French-speaking religious refugees who became the first settlers of New Netherland in 1624. Their descendants would last well beyond the existence of New Amsterdam and were among the first people to call themselves New Yorkers.

But you can’t tell the Walloon story without that other group of American religious settlers — the Pilgrims who settled in Massachusetts four years earlier.

All roads lead to Leiden, the university city with a history older than Amsterdam. Greg and Tom join last episode’s guest Jaap Jacobs, the author of The Colony of New Netherland, to explore the birthplace of Rembrandt, the historic botanical garden and a site associated with Adriaen van der Donck (whose “patroonship,” or manor, gives the city of Yonkers, New York, its name).

Then they visit with Koen Kleijn, art historian and editor-in-chief of history magazine Ons Amsterdam, who takes them on a journey through Amsterdam’s history — from the innovative story of its canals to the disaster known as Tulipmania, the 1630 speculative mania that set the stage for generations of stock-market shenanigans.

PLUS: A detour to Amsterdam Noord and a look at a miniature model of New Amsterdam, courtesy of the design and production team at Artitec. And while visiting the John Adams Institute — located inside the Dutch West India House — Tom and Greg come upon an old friend holding court in a fountain.

PLUS: Tom sustains an injury — from a bitterballen!

LISTEN NOW: THE RADICAL WALLOONS

The Artitec scale model of New Amsterdam, currently being completed in Amsterdam Noord. There are plans to bring this eleborate and beautiful to the United States so stay tuned!

Some little New Amsterdam soldiers under construction.

Leiden resident taking a rest after a long bike ride.

Among the historic places featured on this week’s show:

Leiden

Tom and producer Kieran at the Lazy Crazy Cafe, awaiting Jaap’s arrival

Burcht van Leiden

Rembrandt birthplace

Leiden Botanical Garden

Leyden University (This was the school bell you heard on the show)

Walloon Church of Leyden

American Pilgrim Museum

Dutch West India House

Copy of the Schagen Letter hanging on the wall here.

FURTHER LISTENING

Start with part one — Amsterdam/New Amsterdam: Empire of the Seas featuring Jaap Jacobs, who takes us around to several spots within the old medieval city — Centrum, including the Red Light District — weaving through the canals and along the harbor, in search of connections to New York’s (and by extension, America’s) past.

Then, listen to our interview with Russell Shorto, author of The Island At The Center of the World

The Lenape and other native peoples of the New York/Hudson Valley region would be both trading partners and adversaries of the Dutch, who claimed to have ‘discovered’ the land those people already lived upon.

The story of religious freedom during the New Amsterdam/Peter Stuyvesant plays a major role in this episode which features a visit to the John Bowne House:

Our original two-part series on New Amsterdam:

Categories
American History Museums New Amsterdam Podcasts

Amsterdam/New Amsterdam: Empire of the Seas (New Bowery Boys Mini-Series)

The epic journey begins! The Bowery Boys Podcast heads to old Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, to find traces of New Amsterdam, the Dutch settlement which became New York.

We begin our journey at Amsterdam’s Centraal Station and spend the day wandering the streets and canals, peeling back the centuries in search of New York’s roots.

Our tour guide for this adventure is Jaap Jacobs, Honorary Lecturer at the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and the author of The Colony of New Netherland: A Dutch Settlement in Seventeenth-Century America.

Jaap takes us around to several spots within the old medieval city — Centrum, including the Red Light District — weaving through the canals and along the harbor, in search of connections to New York’s (and by extension, America’s) past.

You might see hints of this architecture in New York City but back when it was New Amsterdam, it also had canals!

This year marks the 400th anniversary of Dutch settlement in North America, led by the Dutch West India Company, a trading and exploration arm of the thriving Dutch empire. So our first big questions begin there:

— What was the Dutch Empire in 1624 when New Netherland was first settled? Was the colony a major part of it? Would Dutch people have even understood where New Amsterdam was?

— What’s the difference between the Dutch East India Company and the Dutch West India Company?

— To what degree was New Amsterdam truly tolerant in terms of religion? Was it purely driving by profits and trading relationships with the area’s native people like the Lenape?

— The prime export was the pelts of beavers and other North American animals. What happened to these thousands of pelts once they arrived in Amsterdam?

— How central were the Dutch to the emerging Atlantic slave trade? When did the first enslaved men and women arrive in New Amsterdam?

— And how are the Pilgrims tied in to all of this? Had they always been destined for the area of today’s Massachusetts?

Among the places we visit this episode — the Maritime Museum, the Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam’s oldest building Oude Kirk, the Schreierstoren (the Weeping Tower) and many more

PLUS: We get kicked out of a convent! And we try raw herring sandwiches

LISTEN NOW — AMSTERDAM/NEW AMSTERDAM: EMPIRE OF THE SEAS

Our destinations in this episode:
1 Centraal Station
2 “The Crying Tower”
3 Oust East India House
4 Dutch West India Warehouse
5 Maritime Museum
6 Oude Kirk
7 Walloon Church in Asmterdam
8 Frens Haringhandel
9 Begijnhoff/Cloister
10 Rijksmuseum

Among the historic places featured on this week’s show:

Amsterdam Centraal Station

Schreierstoren/The Crying Tower

Oust East India House (Oude Hoogstraat 24)

Dutch West India Company Warehouse

The Dutch National Maritime Museum

Oude Kirk in the Red Light District

Walloon Church in Asmterdam

Frens Haringhandel

Begijnhof

Rijksmuseum Amsterdam

Over on Patreon, we released a series of daily shows while on the streets of the Netherlands. You can check out those shows — and the many other benefits of being a Bowery Boys patron — by supporting the show at Patreon.

FURTHER LISTENING

Interview with Russell Shorto, author of The Island At The Center of the World

The Lenape and other native peoples of the New York/Hudson Valley region would be both trading partners and adversaries of the Dutch, who claimed to have ‘discovered’ the land those people already lived upon.

The story of religious freedom during the New Amsterdam/Peter Stuyvesant plays a major role in this episode which features a visit to the John Bowne House:

Our original two-part series on New Amsterdam:

Categories
New Amsterdam Podcasts

New Amsterdam Man: An Interview with Russell Shorto

The Bowery Boys Podcast is headed to Amsterdam and other parts of the Netherlands for a very special mini-series, marking the 400th anniversary of the Dutch first settling in North America in the region that today we call New York City.

But before they go, they’re kicking off their international voyage with a special conversation — with the man who inspired the journey.

Chances are good that if your bookshelf contains a respectable number of New York City history books, we imagine that one of those is The Island at the Center of the World: The Epic Story of Dutch Manhattan and the Forgotten Colony That Shaped America, written by Russell Shorto.

The best-selling book re-introduced the Dutch presence in America to a new generation of readers and revitalized interest in New York City history when it was published in 2004.

Kevin Baker (a recent guest on our show), penning the original review for the New York Times, proclaimed “New York history buffs will be captivated by Shorto’s descriptions of Manhattan in its primordial state, of bays full of salmon and oysters, and blue plums and fields of wild strawberries in what is now Midtown.” 

And so before Greg and Tom begin their mini-series by speaking with Shorto about his classic book, his experiences in Amsterdam and his work with the New-York Historical Society, where he has curated a new exhibition New York Before New York: The Castello Plan of New Amsterdam.

Russell also gives Tom and Greg some tips on places to go and advice on how to explore Amsterdam’s old canals and corridors. Is it possible to find traces of New York City’s past in that city’s present?

And then — immediately after the interview — they head for the airport!

LISTEN NOW: NEW AMSTERDAM MAN

MORE INFORMATION ON OUR UPCOMING MINI-SERIES:

Categories
Bowery Boys New Amsterdam

Adventures in the Netherlands: Finding New York’s Dutch Roots

Announcing an epic new Bowery Boys podcast mini-series — The Bowery Boys Adventures in the Netherlands. Exploring the connections between New York City and that fascinating European country, in honor of the 400th anniversary of the first Dutch settlement in this region.

LISTEN TO A SNEAK PREVIEW HERE:

Simply put, you don’t get New York City as it is today without the Dutch who first settled here 400 years ago. The names of Staten Island, Greenwich Village and the Bronx actually come from the Dutch.

The names of places like Brooklyn and Harlem derive from actual Dutch cities and towns. 

Even our own podcast name — Bowery Boys — comes from the Dutch! (Bowery comes from the Dutch bouwerij for farm. Yes technically that makes us “farm boys.”)

Starting this Friday, and over the course of several weekly shows, we’ll dig deeper into the history of those Dutch settlements in New Amsterdam and New Netherland — from the first Walloon settlers in 1624 to the arrival of Peter Stuyvesant. 

But we’ll be telling that story not from New York, but from the other side of the Atlantic, in the Netherlands.

We’ll be walking the the streets of Amsterdam and other Dutch cities, searching for clues of America’s early history. And along the way we’ll be joined by acclaimed Dutch historians, journalists and tour guides. 

While much of our series was recorded in Amsterdam — tracing the paths of Henry Hudson, Peter Stuyvesant and the beginnings of the Dutch West India Company — we’ll also take the show on the road (or the canal, as it were) to Leiden, Utrecht, Haarlem and more.

That’s the Bowery Boys, Adventures in the Netherlands.

Coming soon. Subscribe to the Bowery Boys podcast so you don’t miss a show.  

And support the Bowery Boys on Patreon to listen to daily dispatches from our journey. And those are available now.

Categories
American History Lenapehoking New Amsterdam

The Lenape Nation: Past, Present and Future

Consider the following show an acknowledgment – of people. For the foundations of 400 years of New York City history were built upon the homeland of the Lenni-Lenape, the tribal stewards of a vast natural area stretching from eastern Pennsylvania to western Long Island. 

The Lenape were among the first in northeast North America to be displaced by white colonists — the Dutch and the English. By the late 18th century, their way of life had practically vanished upon the island which would be known by some distorted vestige of a name they themselves may have given it – Manahatta, Manahahtáanung or Manhattan.

But the Lenape did not disappear. Through generations of great hardship they have persevered.

In today’s show we’ll be joined by two guests who are working to keep Lenape culture and language alive throughout the United States, including here on the streets of New York

— Joe Baker, enrolled member of the Delaware Tribe of Indians and a co-founder of the Lenape Center, an organization creating and presenting Lenape art, exhibitions and education in New York. 

— Ross Perlin, linguist and author of Language City: The Fight to Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York

LISTEN NOW: THE LENAPE NATION

FURTHER LISTENING

For more information on the subjects discussed in today’s show, visit the Lenape Center and the Endangered Language Alliance.

Joe Baker discusses the cultural significance and history of indigenous seeds and the jewelry they created in this video from the Brooklyn Public Library:

Ross Perlin discussing his book Language City:

FURTHER READING

Ross Perlin/Language City: The Fight To Preserve Endangered Mother Tongues in New York

Ned Blackhawk / The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U.S. History
Pekka Hämäläinen / Indigenous Continent: The Epic Contest for North America
Kathleen Duval / Native Nations: A Millennium in North America
Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz/ An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States

Categories
Adventures In Old New York Bowery Boys

In June: A globetrotting Bowery Boys Podcast mini-series adventure

Tom and Greg are out on the road again — and this time, they need their passports. The Bowery Boys are currently recording material for an EPIC new mini-series which will begin arriving to your podcast feeds in June.

To get the details now and to follow their adventures, become a supporter on Patreon at any level to get DAILY PODCAST updates this week on their progress investigating an important era on American history — from a unique vantage overseas.

More details in the next couple weeks. But join them on Patreon today to get these extra-special — and jet-lag influenced — reports from the road.

Categories
Museums Planes Trains and Automobiles Podcasts

A History of the New York City Subway — from A to Z (and 1 through 9)

Routes of the Interborough Rapid Transit Company, 1924. Courtesy LIbrary of Congress

The New York City subway system turns 120 years old later this year so we thought we’d honor the world’s longest subway system with a supersized overview history — from the first renegade ride in 1904 to the belated (but sorely welcomed) opening of one portion of the Second Avenue Subway in 2017.

New Yorkers like Alfred Ely Beach had envisioned a subway system for the city as early as the 1870s. Yet years of political delay and a lack of funding ensured that dreams of an underground transit would languish.

It wasn’t until the mid 1890s that the city got on track with the help of August Belmont and the newly formed Interborough Rapid Transit.

Inside the brand new City Hall station 1904 (Library of Congress)

We’ll tell you about the construction of the first line, traveling miles underground through Manhattan and into the Bronx. How did the city cope with this massive project? And what unfortunate accident nearly ripped apart a city block mere feet from Grand Central Station?

You’ll also find out how something as innocuous sounding as the ‘Dual Contracts’ actually became one of the most important events in the city’s history, bringing the Brooklyn Rapid Transit Company into the mix and creating new underground passages into Brooklyn, the Bronx and (at long last!) Queens.

One of New York’s Budapest-inspired kiosks, pictured here 1917

Then we’ll talk about the city’s IND line, which completes our modern track lines and gives the subway its modern sheen.

Through it all, the New York City subway system is a masterwork of engineering and construction. In particular, after listening to this show, you won’t look at the Herald Square subway station the same way again.

Today’s episode is a remastered and reedited edition of two 2011 Bowery Boys podcasts, featuring newly recorded material to take the story to the present day.

LISTEN NOW: History of the New York City Subway

Inside City Hall station, 1906 (NYPL)
A 1906 postcard showing — a subway tunnel. Demonstrates what a novel view this was in 1906. (NYPL)
The subway in 1909 (NYPL)
The Eighth Avenue line, 1937 (NYPL)

Images from Greg’s recent visit to the New York Transit Museum. Visit the Downtown Brooklyn museum or the gallery in Grand Central.

FURTHER READING FROM THE WEBSITE

An interview with The Race Underground author Doug Most

The Dual Contracts: The New York City subway system gets a serious upgrade 

The early battle against ‘disfiguring’ advertisements in the subway

The Subway Tavern: ‘greasy’ church-operated bar alternative

A Brief History of Subway Cinema

The Horror Underground: New York’s first subway disaster — during rush hour, one hundred years ago today

FURTHER LISTENING

Categories
Neighborhoods Planes Trains and Automobiles Podcasts

Up and Down Park Avenue: New York City History with a Penthouse View

The story of a filthy and dangerous train ditch that became one of the swankiest addresses in the world — Park Avenue. 

For over 100 years, a Park Avenue address meant wealth, glamour and the high life. The Fred Astaire version of the Irving Berlin classic “Puttin’ on the Ritz” revised the lyrics to pay tribute to Park Avenue: “High hats and Arrow collars/White spats and lots of dollars/Spending every dime for a wonderful time.”

By the 1950s, the avenue was considered the backbone of New York City with corporations setting up glittering new office towers in the International Style — the Lever House, the Seagram Building, even the Pan Am Building. 

But the foundation for all this wealth and success was, in actually, a train tunnel, originally operated by the New York Central Railroad. This street, formerly known as Fourth Avenue, was (and is) one of New York’s primary traffic thoroughfares. For many decades, steam locomotives dominated life along the avenue, heading into and out of Cornelius Vanderbilt’s Grand Central (first a depot, then a station, eventually a terminal).

However train tracks running through a quickly growing city are neither safe nor conducive to prosperity. Eventually, the tracks were covered with beautiful flowers and trees, on traffic island malls which have gotten smaller over the years. 

By the 1910s this allowed for glamorous apartment buildings to rise, the homes of a new wealthy elite attracted to apartment living in the post-Gilded Age era. But that lifestyle was not quite made available to everyone. 

In this episode, Greg and Tom take you on a tour of the tunnels and viaducts that helped New York City to grow, creating billions of dollars of real estate in the process. 

LISTEN NOW: UP AND DOWN PARK AVENUE

Park Avenue, looking south of 36th Street, 1900-1905 Library of Congress
Park Avenue and 94th Street, Library of Congress
Park Avenue, late 1800s, Musem of the City of New York
Park Avenue, after St Bart’s came along in 1918 but before these lovely pedestrian areas were destroyed in the late 1920s.
Park Avenue 1927, Department of Transportation
“Photograph shows cars moving along Park Avenue as the road heads towards the tunnels of the Helmsley Building, known then as the New York General Building. Building construction visible to the right. St. Bartholomew’s Church slightly visible on left.” Library of Congress, 1959
Photo by Greg Young
Photo by Greg Young
Photo by Greg Young
Photo by Greg Young
Photo by Greg Young
Photo by Greg Young
Photo by Greg Young
Photo by Greg Young

FURTHER LISTENING

Listen to these related Bowery Boys episodes after you’re done listening to the Park Avenue show:

FURTHER READING

This week we’re suggesting a few historic designation reports for you history supergeeks looking for a deep dive into Park Avenue history. Dates indicated are when the structure or historic district was designated

St. Bartholomew’s Church and Community House (1967)

Seventh Regiment Armory/Park Avenue Armory (1967)

Consulate General of Italy (formerly the Henry P. Davison House) (1970)

New World Foundation Building (1973)

Racquet and Tennis Club Building (1979)

Pershing Square Viaduct/Park Avenue Viaduct (1980)

Upper East Side Historic District Designation Report (1981)

Lever House (1982)

1025 Park Avenue Reginald DeKoven House (1986)

New York Central Building (1987)

Seagram Building (1989)

Mount Morris Bank Building (1991)

Expanded Carnegie Hill Historic District Report (1993)

Waldorf-Astoria Hotel (1993)

Pepsi-Cola Building (1995)

Ritz Tower (2002)

2 Park Avenue Building (2006)

Park Avenue Historic District Designation Report (2014)

Categories
Neighborhoods Podcasts Queens History

The Story of Flushing: An Epic History of Queens Old and New

Few areas of the United States have as endured as long as Flushing, Queens, a neighborhood with almost over 375 years of history and an evolving cultural landscape that includes Quakers, trees, Hollywood films, world fairs, and Asian immigrants.

In this special on-location episode of the Bowery Boys, Greg and special guest Kieran Gannon explore the epic history of Flushing through five specific locations — the Bowne House, Kingsland Homestead (home of the Queens Historical Society), the Lewis Latimer House Museum, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and a downtown dumpling restaurant named Old Captain’s Dumplings.

The Bowne House circa 1825 from an old colorized postcard

Built on the marshy banks of Flushing Creek, the original Dutch village of Flushing (or Vlissingen) was populated by English settlers, Quakers like John and Hannah Bowne whose home became one of America’s first Quaker meeting places — and the site of a religious struggle critical to the formation of the future United States.

By the early 19th century, Flushing was better known for its tree and shrub nurseries which would introduce dozens of new plant species to North America.

After the Civil War, Flushing became a weekend getaway and commuter town for the residents of western Long Island. The former civic center of town — the 1862 Flushing Town Hall — is still a vibrant performance venue today.

Inside the Kingsland Homestead, with an image of the house before it was a museum

The creation of the borough of Queens in 1898 brought surprising changes to Flushing — from the arrival of the early silent-film industry to the development of new parks and highways (thanks to our old friend Robert Moses).

But the most stunning transformation of all came after 1965 when American immigration quotas were eliminated and Flushing gained thousands of new residents from China, Taiwan, Korea, India and other South Asian countries.

Featuring interviews with Elise Helmers and Emily Vieyra-Haley from the Bowne House, Jason Antos from the Queens Historical Society, Kyle Supley from Bowery Boys Walks and Flushing food guide Owen Tan.

LISTEN NOW: THE STORY OF FLUSHING

For more information on our guests, visit the links below:

Bowne House
Flushing Quaker Meeting House
Lewis Latimer House Museum

Jason Antos, Queens Historical Society

To book tours with Kyle Supley

New York Worlds Fair Tour
Under the High Line: Exploring Chelsea

To book a Flushing food tour with Owen Fan

Urban Passer
Trip Advisor/Flavors of Flushing

Mayor La Guardia’s message about the Bowne House, recorded in the parlor

And the Bowne House was the subject of an excellent episode of Treasures of New York which features Emily — and the parlor crutch!

Bowne House in the 19th century when in fact the Bownes and Parsons still lived there.
Flushing Town Hall on Northern Boulevard, 1900
Flushing Town Hall today
Lewis Latimer House Museum
As Jason revealed in the show, Flushing went through a building resurgence in the 1960s, leading to a larger-than-average representation of modernist, even somewhat Brutalist architecture in places.
Old Captain’s Dumplings, 135-23 40th Rd. Like so many restaurants in New York, the non-descript facade does not prepare you for the delicious food served inside.
Unity by Shanice Figeroux, on 31st Road in Flushing

Seen in Flushing-Meadows Corona Park. Are the former salt marches returning to claim Robert Moses’ park?

Flushing is a national landmark of religious expression. There are dozens and dozens of houses of worship here. Just a few that I managed to see:

Free Synagogue of Flushing
Image courtesy NYC Ago
St Michael’s Roman Catholic Church
Quaker Meeting House
Hanmaum Zen Center
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
Masjid Hazrati Abu Bakr Siddique

FURTHER LISTENING

Categories
Mysterious Stories Newspapers and Newsies

The Earthquake of 1884! A few parallels to today’s quake

New York City in 1884. Imagine this place furiously quaking!

New York has never suffered severely from the effects of an earthquake. Most recently, the one felt in 2011— reportedly of 5.8 or 5.9 magnitude, centered around Virginia and affecting many Northeast metropolitan areas — ranks quite high on the list of tremors felt here.

There’s no way to compare that local event to the really early quakes, as the Richter scale was only created in 1935. But quakes have hit the city as early as December 18, 1737, when a guesstimated 5.2 rattled holiday chimneys.

But an equally dramatic tremor that hit on Sunday, August 10, 1884, has a few parallels to the one experienced today.

New York Times

“No Damage Done But Queer Sensations Experienced” reported the New York Tribune the next day.

From the Sun: “An Earthquake Shakes Us.” The tremor occurred at 2:07 pm “by the City Hall clock” in a couple separate waves.

Few New Yorkers living in 1884 would have ever experienced an earthquake in an American city. Some ran to their windows expecting to see a runaway horse car. Others standing under the newly built elevated railroad thought the train was arriving.

Those stopped on the street felt something beneath their feet and became starkly confused. Eventually some people left their homes and collected in parks, such as the assemblage the Tribune reports formed outside of City Hall.

Today we feel a rumbling and just assume the subway, which wasn’t built yet in 1884 (outside of the short lived pneumatic tube, of course).

There was some damage reported to homes in the Lower East Side, and some residents — being mostly immigrants, perhaps more in tune to the dangers of tremors in their home lands — rushed out into the street with their furniture. A few horse stables shook open and their residents fled into the streets.

Apparently, those in the poshest hotels felt it strongly, or at least announced to reporters that it had rattled them so.

At the Fifth Avenue Hotel, a clerk described, “On the upper floors the guests say that the oscillations were marked” and reported a rattling of the chandeliers. Apparently, an admired set of colored drinking glasses at the Astor House was thrown from its nook and smashed on the floor.

Rumors spread. Some thought the west side gas works on 14th Street had exploded, while others circulated that dynamite had gone off in the Hell Gate.

A “mouldy headed orator” in Harlem — near one of New York’s natural fault line at 125th Street — proclaimed that Manhattan was built upon a rock shelf that had been abruptly brushed by a passing whale, the tremors caused by its flapping tail.

The sensation of the tremor seemed to be felt almost at random; for instance, those living along the Hudson reporting it rattling dishes, while tourists atop the newly built Brooklyn Bridge barely felt a thing. Some electrical services were briefly disrupted, as was telegraph service. (That’s a lot of extra dots and dashes, I suppose.)

On First Avenue, a drunken afternoon reveler ran out of a local saloon “and hurrahed for earthquakes and for social revolution.” Uptown at the Hoffman House, a California businessman quietly said to his friend, “Well, if everything in New York wasn’t nailed down I should say that we are having an earthquake.”

According to the New York Sun, an aftershock was felt the following afternoon in Far Rockaway, as well as parts of New Jersey.

THIS ARTICLE ORIGINALLY RAN IN 2011 but it’s just as pertinent for today’s earthquake (April 5, 2024)

Categories
Gilded Age New York The Gilded Gentleman Women's History

What did Mrs. Astor Wear (Under There)? The Story of Gilded Age Undergarments

A model wearing 'the Thylda corset', from the French publication Les Modes, October 1908

Fashion historian and author, Dr. Elizabeth L. Block returns to The Gilded Gentleman podcast for a truly “undercover” investigation.

This time, Liz joins Carl to take a look at the world of corsets, bustles, straps and stockings all of which comprised the undergarment engineering to make the glorious gowns by Worth and other designers appear as glamorous as they did. 

In addition to architecture and food, it is fashion of the Gilded Age that always elicits comments and sighs at the very beauty and craftsmanship of the great gowns that swept by on ballroom floors. 

New York Public Library

But the stunning and costly gowns, whether for a ball or for wear during the day, required a complex combination of undergarments to not only make the wearer feel comfortable but to give the outer clothing its required shape.

In this fascinating episode, Dr. Elizabeth Block joins Carl for a discussion that includes insight into not only what garments were required, but also just how they were made and how they were worn. 

You may be surprised at just how comfortable and wearable some undergarments actually were. Liz and Carl’s discussion also includes a look at such curious accessories as the “lobster bustle” and even a corset for men. 

LISTEN NOW: GILDED AGE UNDERGARMENTS