Author: GY

Categories
Amusements and Thrills Neighborhoods Podcasts Those Were The Days

When Longacre Square Became Times Square: Before the Bright Lights of Broadway

What was Times Square before the electric billboards, before the Broadway theaters and theme restaurants, before the thousands and thousands of tourists?

What was Times Square before it was Times Square?

Today it’s virtually impossible to find traces of the area’s 18th and 19th century past. But in this episode, Tom and Greg will peel away the glamour and chaos — evict the Elmos and the pedicabs — to explore a far different world — of colonial estates, rolling farms, horse stables, and beer-themed hotels.

They’ll be ending their story today on the date December 31, 1904, when the very first New Year’s Eve celebration was held here – in the plaza newly christened as Times Square.

The Pabst Hotel at 42nd Street between 7th Avenue and Broadway

But if you had walked through here fifty years earlier, you certainly would not have called it ‘the crossroads of the world.’

Early real estate speculators like John Jacob Astor saw the district’s potential early, buying up pastures and farms that would soon be transformed into city blocks thanks to the Commissioners Plan of 1811.

One significant land purchase — Eden Farm — sat on the plot of a former colonial estate of John Morin Scott, a New York founding father who once invited future president John Adam to a very abundant brunch here!

Eden Farm, “from Broadway to the Hudson, 42nd-46th, courtesy New York Public Library

During the 19th century, you would have seen more horses than people here. The area was known as Longacre Square, and it was the heart of New York’s horse-and-carriage trade, the equivalent of an auto garage district today.

Back in the 19th century, the streets were lined with stables, riding schools, and even the American Horse Exchange, where prized racehorses were bought and sold.

Popular theaters and vaudeville houses began drawing crowded up Broadway, but even in the late 19th century, 42nd Street seemed to keep the entertainment scene out of Longacre Square.

However, when New York decided to build its subway system, Broadway and 42nd Street became an important station in linking the city underground.

Times Station subway entrance, 1904 within the new One Times Square building.

Suddenly Longacre Square would be considered the center of the city. All it needed was a healthy makeover. And a newspaper publisher looked to define the district with a new, glorious skyscraper headquarters.

FEATURING: The Vanderbilts, the Pabsts, the Ochs, and the biggest musical of the 1900s! And a few connections in Times Square where you can still find these 19th-century traces of the past.

LISTEN NOW: WHEN LONGACRE SQUARE BECAME TIMES SQUARE

Looking up Broadway into the future Times Square, 1870s

The American Horse Exchange, on the spot of today’s Winter Garden theater.

From the New York Times, 1920, marking the site of Eden Farm

Longacre Theater, still around, operated by the Shubert Organization (courtesy Shubert Org)
Had a fine meal at the Long Acre Tavern on 47th Street

One Astor Plaza on the former Eden Farm site that was eventually owned by John Jacob Astor. Pictured here in 1977. Anybody remember the movie theater? What a place!

Courtesy Yves le bail (Wikimedia Commons)

FURTHER READING

Some articles from the website about the history of Times Square:

— The naming of Times Square: Becoming the Crossroads of the World 
— The Broadway Melody: New York’s first Oscar victory and an ironic success for the Astor Theatre in Times Square
— A trip to Times Square 1904: The Hotel Astor arrives
— A trip to Times Square 1904: Lights and old whiskey
— A trip to Times Square 1904: Packard Motor Cars
— Remember the Times Square Howard Johnsons

FURTHER LISTENING

We’ve got a great many podcasts which tie into this show. Give these a listen after you’re done with our current episode.

Categories
Events Gilded Age New York The Gilded Gentleman Uncategorized

The Gilded Age Unplugged: A Special Event at the Montauk Club in Brooklyn

Are you a fan of HBO’s The Gilded Age, created by Julian Fellowes? Are you emotionally invested in the lives of Agnes van Rhijn, Bertha and George Russell, Peggy Scott and Marian Brook?

Then we have a special event for you!

Greg Young of the Bowery Boys podcast and Carl Raymond of the Gilded Gentleman podcast cordially invite you to a special events for fans — The Gilded Age Unplugged, an evening celebrating our favorite historcal moments and scintillating scandals from the show, in honor of its six Emmy Awards nominations (including one for Best Drama Series).

Greg and Carl will discuss their favorite scenes, dish about their favorite characters and look closer at the historical scenes depicted on the show. 

Featuring opera wars! Dinner parties! Ambitious ladies maids! Alarm clock patents! Christine Baranski drinking tea!

Join Greg and Carl at The Gilded Age Unplugged on Thursday, September 5 at 7pm, at the historic Montauk Club in Park Slope, Brooklyn, a glamorous social club which dates back to 1889.

Get your tickets today at the Bowery Boys Walks website

Categories
It's Showtime Music History Podcasts

The Ramones at CBGB: A musical revolution on the Bowery

Photo courtesy CBGB

One-two-three-four! The Ramones, a four-man rock band from Forest Hills, Queens, played the Bowery music club CBGB for the very first time on August 16, 1974.

Not only would Joey, Johnny, Tommy and Dee Dee reinvigorate downtown New York nightlife here — creating a unique and energetic form of punk — but they would join with a small group of musicians at CBGB to revolutionize American music in the 1970s.

Photo by Roberta Bayley, courtesy Museum of the City of New York

In this episode we’re celebrating the 50th anniversary of The Ramones’ first performances in downtown Manhattan, but this also a tribute to New York music of the 1970s and to the most famous rock-music club in America.

CBGB & OMFUG officially stands for “Country, Bluegrass, Blues and Other Music For Uplifting Gormandizers,” and Hilly Kristal‘s legendary hole-in-the-wall music venue on the Bowery would be best defined by that “other music” — namely punk, new wave and later hardcore.

Over the course of 70 performances, the Ramones would perfect their sound and appearance on the ragged little stage here at CBGB, building upon musical influences like the local glam rock scene (the New York Dolls, Jayne County) and their own nostalgic callbacks to the Beatles.

The mid-1970s CBGBs scene would produce other artists who would go on to mainstream, international fame — Patti Smith, Television, the Talking Heads and Blondie. Not only would these artists become associated with the Bowery, but most of them would live on the surrounding streets.

On this special episode, Greg is joined by an incredible roster of guests including Ramones record producer and engineer Ed Stasium; longtime CBGBs fixture BG Hacker; tour guide and Ramones fan Ann McDermott and music historian Jesse Rifkin, author of This Must Be The Place: Music, Community and Vanished Spaces in New York City.

LISTEN NOW: THE RAMONES AT CBGB

A special themed playlist for you on Spotify! You can find it there or just listen from the player below:

And if you’d like to own a piece of the Ramones, head over to the Rhino Records’ Ramones online store.

A special thanks to Greg Jakubik from Shore Fire Media for his help in arranging interviews.

FURTHER LISTENING

Last year we produced a two-part episode on the history of the East Village. Well, surprise! This is the third part of the series and you can listen to it between the prior two:

Creating the East Village

Walking the East Village: Culture Among The Ruins

FURTHER READING

Stephen B. Armstrong / I Want You Around
Deborah Harry / Face It: A Memoir
Will Hermes / Love Goes To Buildings On Fire
Mickey Leigh / I Slept with Joey Ramone: A Punk Rock Family Memoir 
Jim McCarthy, Brian Williamson / Gabba Gabba Hey: The Graphic Story of the Ramones
Marky Ramone / Punk Rock Blitzkrieg
Richie Ramone / I Know Better Now
Jesse Rifkin / This Must Be The Place: Music, Community and Vanished Spaces in New York City.
Chris Stein / Under A Rock
Everett True / Hey Ho Let’s Go: The Story of the Ramones

Categories
Music History

Ramones/CBGB fans! Wanna be on the Bowery Boys Podcast? Just call us.

Did you ever see the Ramones play live — either here in New York or elsewhere? Did you ever go to CBGBs during its heydey — to see the Ramones, Blondie, the Talking Heads, Patti Smith or any other artist? Ever have an interesting experience with a member of the Ramones?

Help us celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Ramones’ first show at CBGB by sharing your memory with us for an upcoming podcast. 

Just call and leave a message at (844) 426-9379. After you press 1, you’ll be taken to the Bowery Boys listeners line.

Leave your message (no more than a minute long) and share your memory or enthusiasm for one of New York City’s greatest bands! No need to give your full name, just first name and the place you’re calling from.

By leaving a voicemail, you give permission for the message to be used on the episode. Thank you!

Categories
Queens History

In 1895 a deadly tornado hit Queens, and the ruins became a tourist attraction

The destructive force of tornado season has made itself abundantly evident in the Midwest this week, and New Yorkers can sometimes develop a false sense of security by the rarity of twister activity here.

But tornados do occasionally make their way to the five boroughs.

A 2007 tornado in Brooklyn and Staten Island caused widespread damage of the kind that states like Missouri and Oklahoma (along the so-called ‘tornado alley’) experience almost yearly. The Bronx even saw a tornado back in 1974, further bedeviling the residents in a troubling year.

But all of these pale in comparison to the terrifying storm which hit the area in the summer of 1895, nearly decimating a neighborhood in Queens.

Brooklyn Citizen, July 14, 1895 — BROOKLYN ESCAPED AS BY A MIRACLE
New York Public Library

On the afternoon of July 13, 1895, a horrendous tornado — a “hellish wind” — ripped apart the New Jersey town of Cherry Hill (pictured below). A New York Times reported that “nearly every building in the place bears evidence of the force of its power.” Some claim the village’s name became so associated with that destructive storm that it later had to change its name to North Hackensack.

Courtesy the Bergen County Historical Society

That same storm swept into New York, whipping through Manhattan via Harlem, leaping across the East River and striking the village of Woodhaven.

The rather unusual reaction of New Yorkers to this storm caught my attention, as reported by the New York Sun: “Yesterday was another eventful day in the history of Woodhaven, Long Island. The tornado on Saturday that killed one, wounded forty, demolished fifteen houses and partially wrecked thirty more, was followed by the largest crowd of sightseers that ever collected in town limits.”

The paragraph ends, “Altogether it was a great day in the town.”

Throngs of locals from New York and Brooklyn took the newly constructed elevated railroads into Queens to witness the carnage, to help out the victims or, in very isolated cases, snag a souvenir of this rare event.

The Sun reports that over 100,000 people visited the site over the next day, and while most were there to assist those in need — a genuine outpouring — still others came merely to witness the pandemonium.

Below: an illustration on the schoolhouse, from the New York Tribune:

For those lucky to own Woodhaven’s saloons — and there were many, the village being near the former Union Course racetrack — the vicious tragedy drew bewildered drinkers. “The saloons that were not wrecked were open. Some of those that were wrecked had beer on tap, and the crowd drank as fast as the spigots could be put in the kegs. Nobody went thirsty.” [Sun]

The tornado tore up pieces of the village and redistributed them at random. One man had four roofs in his backyard; cows and chickens were deposited into new homes. The Sun reports the bodies of dozens of chickens, plucked of their feathers by the winds.

New York Public Library

This being the days before FEMA and decent insurance plans, many families were left to beg.

Many of the gawkers and sightseers began pulling money from their wallets. An enterprising lawyer took an empty beer keg and asked people to fill it with money for the needy. Soon volunteers carried signs saying “Help fill the barrel!” The throngs were directed past the money barrel as a man cried, “You’ve spent your lives emptying kegs. Fill this one!”

Below: the scene at Rockaway Boulevard at 83rd Street

Courtesy Project Woodhaven

The scene took on the feel of a macabre carnival, with gory recounts of the storm and cries from virtual carnies driving more people to arrive and donate. “In the keg! In the keg! In the k-e-g!”

Soon there were many empty kegs (and boxes and bags) distributed throughout the wreckage, gathering funds for the homeless and wounded.

From my experience with late 19th century New Yorkers, I’m going to take a wild guess and say that not all that money ended up in the proper hands. But for the most part, it seems, it was an overflow of generosity and charity that day.

As the sun set upon the ruins of Woodhaven, the money was compiled at the schoolhouse — pictured below, its roof gone and walls torn away — while “perhaps 5,000 people” gathered outside.

Courtesy Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society

In the end, two people from Queens died during that storm — a pregnant 17 year old struck by a beam and a five-year-old boy. (Actually, the Times reports the boy lived; the Sun says he died. Such was the way of New York newspapers in 1895.)

One rather remarkable story of survival soon emerged — the ten-year-old daughter of the village milkman was walking her cow back to the barn when the tornado picked up both her, the cow and the barn. The barn was torn to splinters and the cow thrown into Jamaica Bay. The girl, thankfully, was deposited into an onion patch, only slightly bruised. [From the New York Tribune]

Let that be a reminder of the days when Queens had barns, cows, milkmen, milkmen’s daughters — and deadly tornados!

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.