Author: GY

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

Post author By GY
Post date January 5, 2024
3 Comments on 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 Revolution, then attempted to bring a similar revolutionary spirit to his home country, leading to the doomed Kościuszko Uprising of 1794.

Kościuszko, the man, is a revered historical figure. The bridge, however, has not always been loved. And many non-Polish people even struggle to pronounce its name, inventing a half-dozen acceptable variants.

A tribute to the war hero on the new bridge.

The original Kosciuszko Bridge was not exactly beloved by drivers, vexed by its inadequate handling of traffic and its poor roadways. Its glorious replacement, installed in two phases in 2017 and 2019, lights up the night sky — and the filmy waters below.

In this episode, Greg tells the entire story — of both the man and the bridge. But it’s also a story of Newtown Creek, the heavily polluted body of water which runs beneath it. How did this once placid creek become so notoriously filthy? And how did the most prominent bridge over that waterway become associated with an 18th century hero?

PLUS The return of Robert Moses!

LISTEN NOW — Kościuszko: The Man. The Bridge. The Legend.

Walking over the bridge, end of day. Photo by Greg Young

Interesting views from the bridge — of Newtown Creek and Calvary Cemetery.

From the new Kosciusko Plaza at the Brooklyn entrance to the bridge.

View of the bridge from the site of the old Penny Bridge/Meeker Avenue Bridge.

Penny Bridge marker in need of some maintenence.

FURTHER LISTENING

The Bowery Boys Podcast Year In Review 2023

Post author By GY
Post date December 29, 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 the Miss Subways contest and the Fulton Fish Market at the Seaport.

Greg, Krikor and our producer Kieran Gannon getting ready to interview Ray from Ray’s Candy Store

In 2023, we looked at art and artists (Mona Lisa, Edward Hopper), important landmarks (Bethesda Terrace, Grace Church, the Brooklyn Bridge and the Brooklyn Navy Yard), major changes to everyday life (gaslight, automobile parking), important American stories (the sinking of the Titanic, the end of the Revolutionary War) and a two-part look at the ‘creation’ and evolution of the East Village.

And of course — pizza! pizza! pizza!

Tom and Scott Wiener of Scott’s Pizza Tours at historic Lombardi’s Pizza. Photo by Greg Young

We did it all with a record of special guests this year — authors, restaurant owners, museum curators and some of the best tour guides in New York City. And don’t forget Ken Burns!

The new Miss Subways competition in Coney Island was featured in the Miss Subways’s show from June.

And that’s not even counting the excellent work of Carl Raymond and his guests on The Gilded Gentleman podcast and Tom’s work on the Official Gilded Age Podcast.

And finally we had our best shows ever at Joe’s Pub for the Halloween season. See you there next year!

Here’s the list of all of our new shows in 2023. And you won’t have to wait long in the new year for a new episode. A special bridge-themed show arrives next Friday.

Happy 2024!

Treasures From The World’s Fair

Flushing-Meadows Corona Park in the borough of Queens is the home of the New York Mets, the U.S. Open, the Queens Zoo, the Hall of Science and many other recreational delights. But it will always be forever known as the launching pad for the future as represented in two extraordinary 20th century world’s fairs.

Featuring the brilliant Kyle Supley and his extraordinary collection of World’s Fair memorabilia

The Fulton Fish Market: History at the Seaport

In the 19th century, the Fulton Fish Market in downtown Manhattan was to seafood what Chicago stock yards were to the meat industry, the primary place where Americans got fish for their dinner tables.

With Professor Jonathan H. Rees, author of The Fulton Fish Market: A History.

Nighthawks and Automats: Edward Hopper’s New York

Edward Hopper, a native of the Hudson River town of Nyack, painted New York City for over half a decade. In reality, the city experienced Prohibition and the Jazz Age, two world wars and the arrival of automobiles. But not in Hopper’s world.

Featuring a visit to the Edward Hopper House Museum in Nyack, New York, to talk the artist’s early life with executive director Kathleen Motes Bennewitz. AND a look at the hidden meanings in Hopper’s paintings thanks to American art historian Rena Tobey.

Mona Lisa at the Metropolitan Museum

The Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci’s stoic portrait and one of the most valuable paintings on earth, came to America during the winter of 1963, a single-picture loan that was both a special favor to Jackie Kennedy and a symbolic tool during tense conversations between the United States and France about nuclear arms.

Featuring an interview with Patrick Bringley, a former security guard at the Metropolitan Museum and author of All The Beauty In The World: The Metropolitan Museum and Me.

How Wall Street Got Its Name

Wall Street, today a canyon of tall buildings in New York’s historic Financial District, is not only one of the most famous streets in the United States, it’s also a stand-in for the entire American financial system.

One of the first facts you learn as a student of New York City history is that Wall Street is named for an actual wall that once stretched along this very spot during the days of the Dutch when New York was known as New Amsterdam.

The particulars of the story, however, are far more intriguing.

New York By Gaslight: Illuminating the 19th Century

Enter the magical world of New York by gaslight, the city illuminated by the soft, revolutionary glow of lamps powered by gas, an innovative utility which transformed urban life in the 19th century.

Featuring author Jane Brox, author of Brilliant: The Evolution of Artificial Light, who discusses the curious charms of this rare and enigmatic light source.

The Titanic and the Fate of Pier 54

In the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. the White Star ocean liner RMS Titanic struck an iceberg en route to New York City and sank in the Atlantic Ocean.

Survivors were rescued by the Cunard liner Carpathia and brought to their berth at Pier 54 at the Chelsea Piers. Today, on that very spot, stands Little Island.

The Great New York City Pizza Tour

The history of pizza in the United States begins in Manhattan in the late 19th century, on the streets of Little Italy (and Nolita), within immigrant-run bakeries that transformed a traditional southern Italian food into something remarkable.

But new research discovered in recent years has changed New York food history, revealing an origin tale slightly older than what the old guide books may have you believe.

On this wandering episode — through Nolita, Greenwich Village and even the Bowery — Tom and Greg are joined by the prince of pizza himself Scott Wiener of the long-running Scott’s Pizza Tours.

The Roeblings: The Family Who Built The Brooklyn Bridge

The Brooklyn Bridge, which was officially opened to New Yorkers 140 years ago this year, is not only a symbol of the American Gilded Age, it’s a monument to the genius, perseverance and oversight of one family.

Greg and Tom are joined in the studio by Kriss Roebling, the great, great-grandson of Washington and Emily Roebling. He shares his own surprising family stories — and brings in some extraordinary artifacts from his family’s past!

Miss Subways: Queens of the New York Commute

From 1941 and 1976, dozens of young women and high school girls were bestowed the honor of Miss Subways with her smiling photograph hanging within the cars of the New York subway system.

This was not a beauty pageant, but rather an advertising campaign which promoted the subway and drew the eyes of commuters to the train car’s many advertisements for cod liver oil, cigarettes and frozen foods.

FEATURING A visit to the New York Transit Museum, the City Reliquary, Coney Island USA’s Seashore Theater and Ellen’s Stardust Diner. And an introduction to the current reigning Miss Subways!

The New York Parking Wars: How Cars Took Over The Curb

Take a look at a vintage photograph of New York from the 1930s and you’ll see automats, newsies, elevated trains and men in fedoras. What you won’t see — dozens and dozens of automobiles on the curb.

In a city with skyrocketing real estate values, why are most city streets still devoted to free car storage? It’s a situation we’re all so used to that we don’t think twice about it. Whatever happened to the curb?

Featuring Henry Grabar, author of Paved Paradise: How Parking Explains The World, who exposes some shocking parking violations and even offers a few couple solutions for the future.

The New Storytellers: Landmarks, Diners and Everyday New Yorkers

Instead of looking back to the history of New York City in this episode, we are looking forward to the future — to the new generation of creators who are celebrating New York and telling its story through mediums that are not podcasts or books.

Featuring Nicolas Heller (New York Nico), the “unofficial talent scout of New York City”; Riley Arthur, (Diners of NYC), who explores the world of New York City diners, great and small; and Tommy Silk, (Landmarks of NY), who shares illuminating photos and videos featuring the city’s most interesting and overlooked architectural gems.

The Brooklyn Navy Yard and Vinegar Hill

The tale of the Brooklyn Navy Yard is one of New York’s true epic adventures, mirroring the course of American history via the ships manufactured here and the people employed to make them.

Featuring Andrew Gustafson from Turnstile Tours who unfurls the surprising history of the Navy Yard — through war and peace, through new technologies and aging infrastructure, through the lives of the men and women who built the yard’s reputation.

The Early Years of Central Park: A Tale of Fountains, Castles and Rambling Walks

Stroll the romantic, rambling paths of historic Central Park in this week’s episode, turning back the clock to the 1860s and 70s, a time of children ice skating on The Lake, carriage rides through The Mall, and bewildering excursions through The Ramble.

Featuring Sara Cedar Miller, historian emerita of the Central Park Conservancy and author of Before Central Park; and Dr. Emma Guest-Consales, former president of the Guides Association of New York City and tour ambassador at One World Observatory.

Creating the East Village: Beatniks and Hippies Transform the Lower East Side

Before 1955 nobody used the phrase “East Village” to describe the historic northern portion of the Lower East Side, the New York tenement district with a rich German and Eastern European heritage.

But when the Third Avenue El was torn down that year, those who were attracted to the culture of Greenwich Village — with its coffeehouses, poets and jazz music — began flocking to the east side, attracted to low rents.

Featuring Jason Birchard from Veselka Restaurant, who shares his family’s story, and theater historian David Loewy who discusses the influence of Joe Papp and The Public Theater

Walking the East Village: Culture Among The Ruins 1976-1996

By the mid 1970s, the East Village was in crisis, one of the Manhattan neighborhoods hit hardest by the city’s fiscal difficulties and cutbacks.

But the next generation of creative interlopers (following the initial stampede of Greenwich Village beatniks and hippies) built upon the legacies of East Village counter-culture to create poems, music, paintings and stage performances heavily influenced by the apocalyptic situations around them.

Greg hits the streets of the East Village with musician and tour guide Krikor Daglian (of True Tales of NYC), exploring the secrets of the recent past — from the origins of skateboarding to the seeds of the American alternative rock scene.

Theodore Roosevelt’s Wild Kingdom: Conservation History with Ken Burns

Theodore Roosevelt was a New Yorker and a rugged outdoorsman, a politician and a naturalist, a conservationist and a hunter. His connection with the natural world begin at birth in his Manhattan brownstone home and end with his death in Sagamore Hill.

But as this episode’s special guest Ken Burnsreveals in his newest mini-series The American Buffalo, Roosevelt’s relationship with the animal world was complicated and in certain ways, hard to understand today.

Ghost Stories by Gaslight: Hauntings of Old New York

A brand new batch of haunted houses and spooky stories, all from the gaslight era of New York City, the illuminating glow of the 19th century revealing the spirits of another world.

Greta Garbo on the streets of New York City, 1958. Getty Images/Keystone-France

Garbo Walks: A Tale of Old Hollywood in New York City

Garbo in New York! A story of independence, glamour and melancholy, set at the intersection of classic Hollywood and mid-century New York City.

This is the biography of a legendary star who became the city’s most famous ‘celebrity sighting’ for many decades while out on her regular, meandering walks.

Washington’s Grand Entry into New York, November 25, 1783 by Alphonse Bigot

Evacuation Day: The Forgotten Holiday of the American Revolution

For decades New Yorkers celebrated Evacuation Dayevery November 25, a holiday marking the 1783 departure of British forces from a city they had occupied for several years.

The events of that departure — that evacuation — inspired annual celebrations of patriotism, unity and a bit of rowdiness. Evacuation Day was celebrated well until the late 19th century. But then, gradually, the party sort of petered out…..

Grace Church: A Most Fashionable History

Manhattan’s Grace Church sits at a unique bend on Broadway and East Tenth Street, making it seem that the historic house of worship is rising out of the street itself.

But Grace is also at another important intersection — where religion and high society greeted one another during the Gilded Age.

Featuring vicar Harry Krauss who gives the Bowery Boys a tour of this gorgeous, landmark parish.

Leonard Bernstein, 1955: Al Ravenna, World Telegram staff photographer – Library of Congress.

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, thatafternoon, with no time to rehearse.

The sudden thrust into the spotlight transformed Bernstein into a national celebrity. For almost five decades, the wunderkind would be at the forefront of American music, as a conductor, composer, virtuoso performer, writer, television personality and teacher.

He would also help create the most important Broadway musicals of the mid-20th century — On The Town, Wonderful Townand West Side Story. These shows would not only spotlight the talents of its young creator. They would also spotlight the romance and rhythm of New York City.

It's Showtime Music History Podcasts

Leonard Bernstein’s New York, New York

Post author By GY
Post date December 21, 2023
2 Comments on Leonard Bernstein’s New York, New York

He later recalled, “I don’t remember a thing from that moment – I don’t even remember intermission – until the sound of people standing and cheering and clapping.”

Composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein walking past Carnegie Hall, December 20-21, 1956. Alfred Eisenstaedt/Life Picture Collection/Shutterstock

He would also help create the most important Broadway musicals of the mid-20th century — On The Town, Wonderful Town and West Side Story. These shows would not only spotlight the talents of its young creator. They would also spotlight the romance and rhythm of New York City.

Bernstein is one of New York’s most influential cultural figures. He spent most of his life in the city, and that’s the focus of today’s story – Leonard Bernstein’s New York.

Bernstein with the New York Philharmonic on CBS, 1958 (NY Phil Archives)

The new film Maestro, starring Bradley Cooper and Carey Mulligan, focuses on Bernstein’s personal story and intimate life. That specific angle is not our objective today – for the most part.

We’re looking at the relationship between the creator and his urban inspiration. Where did Bernstein make his name in New York City and how did his work change the city?

FEATURING The Village Vanguard, City Center, Carnegie Hall, the old Metropolitan Opera and the Dakota Apartments

And co-starring Jerome Robbins, Aaron Copland, Stephen Sondheim, Comden and Green, Lauren Bacall, Tom Wolfe and, of course Felicia Montealegre

LISTEN TODAY: LEONARD BERNSTEIN’S NEW YORK, NEW YORK

The grave site of Leonard and Felicia Bernstein at Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn (photo by Greg Young)

Music excerpts used in this show:

“On The Town: Act I: Opening: New York, New York” (Studio Cast Recording 1961)

Robert Schumann, Manfred Overture, Op 115 (New York Philharmonic)

“Joan Crawford Fan Club” The Revuers

Symphony No. 1 Jeremiah (New York Philharmonic)

CBS Broadcast, Don Quixote, Fantastic Variations on a Theme of Knightly Character, op. 35 (New York Philharmonic)

Fancy Free Ballet: VII. Finale

I Get Carried Away, On The Town

Christopher Street (From Wonderful Town Original Cast Recording 1953)

On the Waterfront Main Title (Revised)

Candide, Act II – No. 31, Make Our Garden Grow (Finale)

West Side Story: Act II: Somewhere

Symphonic Dances from West Side Story

Samuel Barber, Adagio for Strings, Op. 11 (New York Philharmonic)

Leonard Bernstein – Young People’s Concerts – What Does Music Mean? (1958)

Kaddish, Symphony No. 3 (To the Beloved Memory of John F. Kennedy): I. Invocation: Kaddish 1

Mass – Hymn and Psalm: A Simple Song: Hymn and Psalm – A Simple Song

Dybbuk Suite No. 2: Leah (New York Philharmonic)

Leonard Bernstein and Shirley Verrett at GMHC Circus Benefit, Madison Square Garden

Mahler – Symphony No.5

FURTHER LISTENING

Other Bowery Boys podcast which tie in to this week’s show:

Gilded Age New York Holidays Podcasts Religious History

Grace Church: Heavenly Style and High Society in Gilded Age New York

Post author By GY
Post date December 8, 2023

Grace Church 1903, by W.R. Hearst." "Compliments of N.Y. Sunday American & Journal." Courtesy NYPL

Manhattan’s Grace Church sits at a unique bend on Broadway and East Tenth Street, making it seem that the historic house of worship is rising out of the street itself.

But Grace is also at another important intersection — where religion and high society greeted one another during the Gilded Age.

Grace is one of the important Episcopal churches in America, forming in 1809 in lower Manhattan literally next door to Trinity Church. But when society began moving uptown, so too did Grace, making its home on a plot formerly occupied by Henry Brevoort’s apple orchard. (Meanwhile, Brooklyn-based parishioners formed their own Grace Church in Brooklyn Heights.)

Grace Church was one of the most fashionable churches in New York City for several decades in the 19th century. Some of the New Yorkers who were members here, at some point in their lives, went on to become some of the most famous names of the Gilded Age.

The fashionable weddings and funerals hosted at Grace Church sometimes drew thousands of onlookers, and a few celebrated ceremonies were as raucous and chaotic as rock concerts.

But looking past the fashion and frills, Grace Church did create a deep and lasting spiritual connection with the surrounding community which continues to this day.

In this episode, Tom and Greg are joined by vicar Harry Krauss who gives the Bowery Boys a tour of this gorgeous, landmark parish.

FEATURING: Rufus Wainwright, Tom Thumb, the Earl of Craven and a heavenly chorus of hundreds!

Visit the Grace Church website for a listing of their services and other events — including holiday music events. We greatly recommend Bach at Noon, short performances given at 12:20 p.m. every Tuesday through Friday.

Broadway in 1831. The original location of Grace Church is to the far left, sitting right next to Trinity Church. The building in the center is City Hotel. And to the right — “R & W Nunn’s Piano Forte Warehouse”

1831, Drawn and engraved on steel by A. Dick Printed by J. & G. Neale

…and a similar view looking up Broadway, with Grace Church and Trinity Church next to each other in the center.

From the book Old New York Yesterday and Today, published in 1922

A close-up from this 1865 photograph showing a throng of people waiting outside Grace Church.

Looking up Broadway to Grace Church, 1897

Photo copyrighted by J.E. Johnston, NY NYC Views 1897-8; Churches; Geogr. Shelf.

Another view of Grace Church (from sometime between 1901-06) from East 11th Street. In other words, were you to turn left at this corner, you would arrive at the future location of the Strand Book Store.

FURTHER LISTENING

After taking in this story of Grace Church, head over to some of our past shows, some of which were referenced in this week’s show:

Christmas Holidays The Gilded Gentleman Writers and Artists

Christmas In Old New York: The Ultimate Holiday History Podcast

Post author By GY
Post date December 1, 2023

The 2023 Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree. Photo by Greg Young

This week we’re highlighting an especially festive episode of the Gilded Gentleman Podcast — the Bowery Boys spinoff podcast hosted by Carl Raymond — an episode with double the holiday fun, tracing the history of holiday celebrations over 19th-century New York City history.

Licensed New York City tour guide and speaker Jeff Dobbins joins host Carl for a look at the city’s holiday traditions dating back to the early Dutch days of New Amsterdam up to the modern innovations of the early 20th century.

You’ll learn….

— the connections between Sinterklaas and Santa Claus

— the history of display windows, department store Santa Clauses and Christmas tree sellers

— how Hannukah was adapted in America to help newly arriving Jewish immigrants keep hold of their traditions

— why Santa could truly be called “a native New Yorker”

And then Carl welcomes actor John Kevin Jones who has been performing an annual one-man adaptation of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at the Merchant’s House Museum, now in its 11th season.

Kevin discusses the origins of Dickens’ famous story and how he adapted it for the stage.

LISTEN TODAY: Christmas in Old New York

Jeff Dobbins with some satisfed tour goers from last year.

Visit the Bowery Boys Walks website to learn more about Jeff Dobbins’ Christmas in Old New Yorkk tours — including his virtual tour for those who do not live in New York (or would rather enjoy a tour from the comforts of home.

All performances of A Christmas Carol at the Merchant’s House are sold out — but you can join the waitlist! And you can also watch the show virtually. Click here to learn how.

Some views of Christmas in New York City 2023

Bryant Park, behind the New York Public Library

FURTHER LISTENING

The Rockefeller Center Christmas tree has brought joy and sparkle to Midtown Manhattan since the early 1930s. The annual festivities may seem steady and timeless but this holiday icon actually has a surprisingly dramatic history.

There’s a special kind of magic to Christmas in New York City — from Rockefeller Center to the fanciful holiday displays in department store windows.

But in the past three decades, a new holiday tradition has grown in popularity and in a surprising quarter — the quiet residential neighborhood of Dyker Heights in Brooklyn which becomes Christmas Central for the borough.

The Rockettes are America’s best known dance troupe — and a staple of the holiday season — but you may not know the origin of this iconic New York City symbol. For one, they’re not even from the Big Apple!

Discover the place where Clement Clarke Moore wrote “A Visit to St. Nicholas/Twas the Night Before Christmas” and how his home gave rise to the neighborhood of Chelsea:

PLUS one for Hanukkah….

The Eldridge Street Synagogue is one of the most beautifully restored places in the United States, a testament to the value of preserving history when it seems all is lost to ruin.

… and New Year’s Eve! And the Chinese New Year.

The ultimate history of New Year’s celebrations in New York City — from Times Square to Chinatown.

Bridges Gilded Age New York Podcasts

The Roeblings: The Family Who Built The Brooklyn Bridge

Post author By GY
Post date November 26, 2023
4 Comments on The Roeblings: The Family Who Built The Brooklyn Bridge

The great East River suspension bridge--Connecting the cities of New York and Brooklyn / Parsons & Atwater, 1874 -- years before the bridge was completed!

This episode is arranged as a series of three mini biographies of three family members — John Roebling, his son Washington Roebling and Washington’s wife Emily Warren Roebling Through their stories, we’ll watch as the Brooklyn Bridge is designed, built and opened in 1883.

— John Roebling was one of America’s most successful engineers by the 1850s, a German immigrant and visionary who designed impressive suspension bridges and created an entire industry (wire rope) quite literally in his back yard.

His greatest achievement would be the East River Bridge, connecting the two great cities of New York and Brooklyn. But John would never see the bridge built — or even begun. A freak accident would put his son Washington in charge.

— Washington Roebling was trained to follow in his father’s footsteps although their relationship was far from perfect. Roebling further excelled as an engineer for the Union Army during the Civil War.

Suddenly in charge of the East River Bridge project in 1869, Washington threw himself into the world, working aside his men within the sunken caissons that would secure the bridge to the river floor. But decompression illness would threaten his life and eventually prevent him from active work.

— Emily Warren Roebling would step up on her husband’s behalf, becoming the bridge’s unofficial field engineer, maneuvering through a world of men with extraordinary intellect and grace, communicating her husband’s wishes and presumably making her OWN decisions on the spot.

PLUS: One more Roebling! Greg and Tom are joined in the studio by Kriss Roebling, the great, great-grandson of Washington and Emily Roebling. He shares his own surprising family stories — and brings in some extraordinary artifacts from his family’s past!

WITH: Stories of Slinky’s, 1980s Dumbo and Ben Stiller?

LISTEN HERE — THE ROEBLINGS: THE FAMILY WHO BUILT THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE

Kriss Roebling in the studio, showing off John Roebling’s surveying tools used to the draft the blueprints of the Brooklyn Bridge.

The band Capital Punishment featuring Kriss Roebling and bandmate Ben Stiller

For a marvelous on-the-bridge experience, follow filmmaker Ken Burns along with New York Times architectural critic Michael Kimmelman as they discuss the bridge’s history and majesty.

Ken Burns UNUM

FURTHER LISTENING

After listening to this show about the Roeblings and the Brooklyn Bridge, dive back into these past Bowery Boys podcasts with similar or related themes

That Daredevil Steve Brodie
A tale of the ‘sporting life’ of the Bowery from the 1870s and 80s. A former newsboy named Steve Brodie grabs the country’s attention by leaping off the Brooklyn Bridge on July 23, 1886. Or did he?

Crossing to Brooklyn: How the Williamsburg Bridge Changed New York City
The story of the Williamsburg Bridge — poorly received when it was built but vital to the health of New York City.

The Manhattan Bridge: New York’s Dysfunctional Classic
We love the Manhattan Bridge, but there’s no doubt it’s had a rocky history. For one hundred years, it’s withstood more than just comparisons to its far more iconic neighbor, the Brooklyn Bridge.

The Bridge to Everywhere: The George Washington Bridge
The George Washington Bridge is best known for being surprisingly graceful, darting between Washington Heights and the Palisades, a vital connection in the interstate highway system.

Tags Brooklyn Bridge, Emily Warren Roebling, John Roebling, Washington Roebling

Holidays Podcasts Revolutionary History

Evacuation Day: The Forgotten Holiday of the American Revolution

Post author By GY
Post date November 22, 2023

For decades New Yorkers celebrated Evacuation Day every November 25, a holiday marking the 1783 departure of British forces from a city they had occupied for several years.

Of course Americans may know late November for another historically themed holiday – Thanksgiving, a New England-oriented celebration that eventually took the place of Evacuation Day on the American calendar. But we are here to tell you listener – you should celebrate both!

Greg and Tom tell the story of the British’s final years in their former colonies, now in victory known as the United States, and their final moments within New York City, their last remaining haven. The city was in shambles and the gradual handover was truly messy.

And then, on November 25, 1783, George Washington rode into town, basically traveling from tavern to tavern on his way down to the newly freed city. The Bowery Boys chart his course (down the Bowery of course) and make note of a few unusual events — wild parties, angry women with brooms and one very lucky tailor.

PLUS: Where and how you can celebrate Evacuation Day today!

LISTEN NOW: EVACUATION DAY

John Van Arsdale successfully takes down the British flag.

Multiple depictions of Washington’s entry into New York City exist. It was embraced as a major moment in early American history.

George Washington, Evacuation of New York, by John Trumbull, 1790, New York City Hall

FURTHER LISTENING

After listening to this week’s show on Evacuation Day, head back to our back catalog to listen to episodes with similar theme:

The Secrets of Lyndhurst Mansion, Jay Gould’s Gilded Age Escape

Post author By GY
Post date November 21, 2023
5 Comments on The Secrets of Lyndhurst Mansion, Jay Gould’s Gilded Age Escape

Lyndhurst Mansion may be familiar to viewers of the HBO series The Gilded Age since a number of this historic house’s rooms served as filming locations for the show.

And its former owner was one of the most notorious figures of the Gilded Age — Jay Gould.

He was known as the one of the era’s most ruthless robber barons. He tangled with the Vanderbilts for control of the railroads and fought battle after battle on Wall Street.

But there was a less contentious side to him as well. Gould sought respite from New York City with his family at his country home, Lyndhurst Mansion in Tarrytown, a rolling estate where he could transition from Wall Street warrior to father and husband.

In this special episode, The Gilded Gentleman travels to Lyndhurst for a look inside both the mansion and the life of Jay Gould. Howard Zar, executive director of Lyndhurst, joins Carl for a fascinating interview recorded in the picture gallery in Jay Gould’s own mansion.

Surrounded by Gould’s precious hand-chosen art collection (still hung as Gould intended), Howard and Carl delve into what life was like at the Mansion and what visitors can see today.

As a special treat, follow along with Howard and Carl on a tour through the Mansion visiting Gould’s reception room, library, private office and dining room.

Download the latest episode of The Gilded Gentleman on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast or wherever you get your podcasts.

Or listen to it right here:

And check out these photos, all taken by Carl Raymond.

Tags Croton Aqueduct, Hudson River, Jay Gould, Lyndhurst

Food History Gilded Age New York

Caviar on Horseback: The Most Outrageous Dinner Party of the Gilded Age

Post author By GY
Post date November 19, 2023

Louis Sherry was one of New York’s great restauranteurs of the Gilded Age, repackaging the luxury dining experience in New York with supurb attention to detail and truly clever marketing.

And one outrageous dinner party in 1903 showcased his sense of extravagance and absurdity.

Carl Raymond from the Gilded Gentleman podcast explains it in his podcast Tales of Dining in Gilded Age New York:

Sherry began his career working at the famous Brunswick House, located in Madison Square, before becoming manager of the Hotel Elberon out on the Jersey Shore.

These were both destinations for the newly moneyed elite, and he watched his clientele closely, trying to give them what they wanted before they knew they wanted it.

He would eventually opened his own restaurant — Sherry’s, self-titled of course — in 1880 at 38th Street and Sixth Avenue (near the growing Herald Square entertainment district). Courting the elite diners on Fifth Avenue, he shifted his restaurant to that tony address and eventually moved it up to 5th Avenue at 44th Street by late 1898.

Sherry’s restaurant in 1906, in a building designed by McKim, Mead and White, Architectural Record 1906

This was a key location because one of New York’s other great restaurants — Delmonico’s — had itself landed on that corner just a year before.

Now the two greatest restaurateurs were directly across the street from each other. New York’s Restaurant Wars had officially begun.

The ballroom at Sherry’s Restaurant looked like it belonged in the palace of a French king. American architect and building news, 1898

Sherry presented New York with a Stanford White-designed elegant French palace, complete with reception space, drawing rooms and a stunning ballroom. He had a flair for the theatrical and often outdid himself in presentation.

But nothing would top a very famous dinner which took place at his restaurant in 1903.

The Billings Estate aka Tryon Hall. Today this is Fort Tryon Park

You could think of it as one last blast of Gilded Age ostentation. Millionaire and businessman C.K.G. Billings was an avid horseman. While he had inherited a gas company from which he made his millions, his heart was on the racetrack.

Billings built a stable overlooking the Hudson and a fine European styled mansion in Upper Manhattan, in the area of today’s Fort Tryon Park. (You can hear more about the house and founding of the park in this Bowery Boys catalog podcast.)

Here are the stables. It’s unfortunate they didn’t have the dinner here! Picture courtesy Museum of the City of New York

Wanting to celebrate the opening of his stable, his plan was to throw a dinner for 36 of his closest friends in the stables themselves. When the press caught on to his wild plan, he went to Sherry to ask that his host create a special dinner in Sherry’s ballroom.

The thirty-six guests gathered in formal white tie, filing into the spacious dining room. When they entered, they saw the room transformed into an English country pasture with fake turf and panels of painted scenery, and in the center were the horses. Saddled and ready for the diners to mount and receive their dinner on horseback, served on silver trays fixed to the saddles.

Horse and attendant in the ballroom at Sherry’s at the horseback dinner. Courtesy Museum of the City of New York who also have a nice article on this unusual event.

Each guest and the horse was assigned a groom to handle the service and make sure that the bottles of champagne in the saddlebags were kept chilled, and the tubes stayed connected for riders to quench their thirst.

Jockey waiters brought out course after course to be eaten on the silver trays. anchored to the horse’s backs in front of each rider.

The menu began with caviar on toast points, followed by a turtle soup. The fish course featured trout, with a sauce of shallots, chervil, and chives. Rack of lamb with glazed vegetables was presented as the meat course, and the whole meal ended with flambéed peaches and coffee.

“Freak dinner” – The horseback meal made national news. This article is from a Mississippi newspaper

Now in case you wondered how the horses got into this second floor ballroom, it was an engineering feat performed with Sherry’s staff, the freight elevator, and likely a special diet for the horses to, you know, prevent any mishaps.

The price tag of all of this was approximately $1.4 million in today’s money. Billings had paid just under $40,000 for each diner to have his table on horseback.

I am sure Louis Sherry was very pleased.

For more information and other tales of absurd dining in the Gilded Age, check out this podcast from The Gilded Gentleman:

It's Showtime Music History Politics and Protest

The Academy of Music: Where High Society and Music Mixed in Old New York

Post author By GY
Post date November 12, 2023

When the Academy of Music opened in 1854, New York City was just about to become the richest, most powerful city in the nation. It was, in fact, almost there.

With the construction of the Erie Canal (which opened in 1825), the port city at the mouth of the Hudson River benefited greatly from the proximity.

The city grew in marvelous ways in the three decades after its opening with a new Croton water system, expanding gaslighting, and a growing grid plan, pushing the city north up the island of Manhattan.

New York winter scene in Broadway, 1857 Eno, Amos F., 1836-1915 (Collector) Girardet, Paul, 1821-1893 (Engraver) Sebron, Hippolyte Victor Valentin, 1801-1879 (Artist); courtesy New York Public Library

The city’s old-money elites soon made room — with an upturned nose, naturally — for the new-money families enriched by both New York real estate and burgeoning American industries fueled by the growth of the railroad. The New York Stock Exchange, re-built after the Great Fire of 1835, was thriving with the nation’s booming (if often volitile) economy.

And so New York society, modeling itself after English and French elites, began importing high cultural venues in which to flaunt their love of the arts — and, more importantly, their money and station in the social pecking order.

The Astor Place Opera House, opening in 1847, had briefly been the center for upper-class entertainments, but the deadly Astor Place Riots a couple years later signaled the end of that venue.

Early photograph of the Academy of Music, NYPL

And thus New York got the Academy of Music in 1854. Located on 14th Street and Irving Place, the new music house was uniquely situated near both Gramercy Park and Union Square, both havens for the elite in the 1850s. (NOTE: The Academy of Music was only a few blocks north from the old Astor Place Opera House.)

The opening bill on October 2 featured a performance of Vincenzo Bellini’s Norma featuring acclaimed Italian soprano Giulia Grisi. (America had very little homegrown talent in these days.) Underscoring its almost immediate dominance in the Americas cultural scene, the operas Rigoletto, La Traviata, Aida, Die Walküre and Carmen made their American debuts upon this stage.

The growing rival city of Brooklyn followed suit — had to follow suit, to satisfy its own elites who were situated mostly around the area of today’s Brooklyn Heights. The first Brooklyn Academy of Music opened there in 1861; after it was destroyed in fire in 1903, it moved to its present location. [More on its history here.]

Brooklyn’s original opera house was beautiful, sure, but it was no match in opulence for New York’s Academy of Music which was the largest opera venue in the world when it opened.

But it designed to be so much more, a multi-purpose building which needed more space befitting the city’s growth. According to this announcement on August 28, 1854, “The New York Academy of Music will be used occasionally for concerts, balls, public meetings and theatrical performances.”

In fact due to its eventual neighbor — the headquarters of Tammany Hall — the Academy of Music would be the location of New York’s first national political convention in 1868.

Perhaps due to its many purposes, the reputation of the Academy of Music became tainted by rowdy “French balls” which took place here off season.

In 1883 Puck Magazine festively lampooned the ‘opera wars’ between the Academy of Music and the Met Opera house.

However it wasn’t until New York’s next wave of moneyed elites — its nouveau riche — opened the Metropolitan Opera House in 1883 further north that opera (and respectability) finally vacated the Academy of Music.

By that time, Union Square was the city’s destination for a more lowbrow entertainment — vaudeville! — and so the Academy welcomed that entertainment form onto its stage. But it could never recapture its glory, and the building was demolished to make way for a skyscraper owned by Consolidated Edison (which still remains).

The Academy of Music from the vaudeville years

But the name would not leave the neighborhood! A movie palace opened across the street (eventually owned by William Fox) with the name the Academy of Music. During the 1970s it hosted rock music performances and, by the 1980s, had transformed into the seminal dance club the Palladium.

Tags Met Opera House, New York Academy of Music, opera, Tammany Hall, vaudeville

Film History Podcasts Pop Culture

Garbo Walks: A Tale of Old Hollywood in New York City

Post author By GY
Post date November 10, 2023
3 Comments on Garbo Walks: A Tale of Old Hollywood in New York City

Garbo in New York! A story of independence, glamour and melancholy, set at the intersection of classic Hollywood and mid-century New York City.

This is the biography of a legendary star who became the city’s most famous ‘celebrity sighting’ for many decades while out on her regular, meandering walks.

Garbo had once been Hollywood’s biggest star, a screen goddess who survived the transition from silent pictures to sound in such movies as Grand Hotel, Queen Christina and Camille.

But her career was over by the 1940s, her exotic and distant screen presence no longer appealing in the years of World War II.

And so the actress — famous for her line “I WANT TO BE ALONE” — moved to New York City and stayed here for the rest of her life, living in a fabulous apartment near Beekman Place on the east side of Manhattan.

Her favorite activity was walking, two long trips a day in her dark glasses and trench coat, committed to freedom of urban exploration and enjoying a livelihood in the city that we all take for granted.

In attempting to live her life freely, however, she opened herself to the intrusive behavior of others — some obsessed with her as an iconic movie star, others simply gravitating to her elusive reputation. By the 1970s and surging by the 80s, Garbo sightings became a popular urban scavenger hunt. You had Bigfoot, the Loch Ness Monster and Greta Garbo!

Her New York story reveals some bigger themes about living in a big city — finding privacy and even solitude in a place with eight million people.

LISTEN NOW — GARBO WALKS: OLD HOLLYWOOD IN NEW YORK

Greta Garbo getting hounded by the press, 1938 / BETTMANN//GETTY IMAGES

Garbo in 1955, photo by Lisa Larsen for Life Magazine

Garbo outside Rizzoli Bookstore, 1978, photo by Ron Galella

Garbo in the 1980s, taken by Ted Leyson, courtesy Greta Garbo Facebook page

Anna Christie — Garbo Talks!

Queen Christina — Garbo in Charge!

Camille — Garbo Dying!

Ninotchka — Garbo Laughs!

FURTHER LISTENING

After listening to this show, drop into these past Bowery Boys episode regarding New York City, pop culture, celebrity and fame:

Black Gotham: Origins of Gilded Age New York’s Black Elite

Post author By GY
Post date November 9, 2023

At left Maritcha Remond Lyons; at right the character of Peggy Scott (played by Denèe Benton) on The Gilded Age

NEW from The Gilded Gentleman podcast — some overlooked history of the 19th century, the story of black life and social class in New York City.

Dr. Carla Peterson, author of Black Gotham: Family History of African Americans in Nineteenth-Century New York City, joins Carl to share her research and perspective on the growth and development of the prosperous black professional class throughout the nineteenth century up to the Gilded Age.

In her 2012 groundbreaking book, Peterson sheds light on how this particular corner of the black community grew as New York became enriched in the late 19th century. She provides insight into leading African-American figures of the day, many missing in contemporary accounts of the period.

And believe it or not, a few characters from the HBO series “The Gilded Age” were designed with Black Gotham in mind. In particular, the father of Peggy Scott (played by Denée Benton) was based on Peterson’s own ancestral family.

LISTEN HERE OR ON YOUR FAVORITE PODCAST PLAYER:

And for other Bowery Boys podcasts on similar subjects, follow up your listening with these shows:

Tags black history, Gilded Gentleman, The Gilded Age

Music History Podcasts Preservation

Last Dance at the Hotel Pennsylvania

Post author By GY
Post date November 7, 2023
18 Comments on Last Dance at the Hotel Pennsylvania

PODCAST When it opened in 1919, the Hotel Pennsylvania was the largest hotel in the world. Over a hundred years later, its fate remains uncertain. Is it too big to save? (NOTE: Alas the hotel was torn down in 2023.)

After the Pennsylvania Railroad completed its colossal Pennsylvania Station in 1910, the railroad quickly realized it would need a companion hotel equal to the station’s exquisite grandeur. And it would need an uncommonly ambitious hotelier to operate it.

Enter E.M. Statler, the hotel king who made his name at American World’s Fairs and brought sophisticated new ideas to this exceptional hotel geared towards middle-class and business travelers.

But the Hotel Pennsylvania would have another claim to fame during the Swing Era. Its restaurants and ballrooms — particularly the Café Rouge — would feature some of the greatest names of the Big Band Era.

Glenn Miller played the Cafe Rouge many times at the height of his orchestra’s fame. He was so associated with the hotel that one of his biggest hits is a tribute — “Pennsylvania 6-5000.”

The hotel outlived the demolition of the original Penn Station, but it currently sits empty and faces imminent demolition thanks to an ambitious new plan to rehabilitate the neighborhood.

Is this truly the last dance for the Hotel Pennsylvania?

Listen Now – Last Dance at the Hotel Pennsylvania

Special thanks to preservationists and friends of the show George Calderaro and Brad Vogel for advising us on the current plight of the Hotel Pennsylvania.

Songs Featured On This Show

“Pennsylvania 6-5000” by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra
“In The Mood” by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra
“Kiss and Make Up” by Vincent Lopez and His Orchestra
“Night Owl” by George Olsen and His Music, Ethel Shutta vocals
“I Cried For You” by Jimmy Dorsey and His Orchestra
“My Blue Heaven” by Artie Shaw and His Orchestra
“Moonlight Serenade” by Glenn Miller and His Orchestra
“Pennsylvania 6-5000” by The Andrews Sisters
“The People’s Court Theme”

The Official Spotify Playlist

E.M. Statler, one of America’s most famous names in hotels. Photo courtesy Western New York Heritage

Dinner and dancing on the Hotel Pennsylvania rooftop.

UPDATE: The hotel has been demolished. Rather bittersweetly, the space stands briefly open, allowing some interesting views of the surrounding buildings. They’ve still managed to put an electric billboard however.

FURTHER LISTENING

After you’ve listened to this show on the Hotel Pennsylvania, dive back into the back catalog and listen to these shows with similar themes:

The Bowery Boys: New York City History podcast is brought to you …. by you!

We are now producing a new Bowery Boys podcast every other week. We’re also looking to improve and expand the show in other ways — publishing, social media, live events and other forms of media. But we can only do this with your help!

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This episode was released on August 13, 1991

Music History The Gilded Gentleman

The Opening of the Metropolitan Opera: A Gilded Age Drama, On and Off Stage

Post author By GY
Post date November 1, 2023
4 Comments on The Opening of the Metropolitan Opera: A Gilded Age Drama, On and Off Stage

The Metropolitan Opera House, 1905. Detroit Publishing Company photograph collection (Library of Congress)

The opening of the new Metropolitan Opera at the height of the Gilded Age had perhaps more drama going on in the audience than on the stage.

Carl Raymond, host of The Gilded Gentleman history podcast, revisits one of America’s most famous opening nights.

The original Metropolitan Opera House — nicknamed the Yellow Brick Brewery for its bulky exterior design — was built by the families representing New York’s nouveau riche who felt slighted by Old New York’s upper class.

While it was technically Gounod’s opera Faust which played from the stage, most of the spectacle was actually in the audience — and up in the regal boxes, called the ‘golden horseshoe’ for its extravagant roster of social-climbing elite.

The original program, courtesy the Metropolitan Opera. (Click here for a closer view.)

Subscribe to The Gilded Gentleman on your favorite podcast player (including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Overcast and more) to listen to the show and to get new episodes when they arrive every two weeks.

Visit The Gilded Gentleman website for more information on Carl Raymond and the podcast.

Artwork by Harry Grant Dart. Illustration published in book “From The New Metropolis : Memorable Events of Three Centuries, 1600-1900, from the Island of Mana-Hat-Ta to Greater New York at Close of Nineteenth Century. (New York : Appleton, c1899) Zeisloft, E. Idell, Author. New York Public Library

NEW YORK CHARITY BALL, 1884. A charity ball at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. Wood engraving, 1884. Library of Congress

A full house, seen from the rear of the stage, at the Metropolitan Opera House for a concert by pianist Josef Hofmann, November 28, 1937. Wikimedia Commons (touch up by Mmxx)

The opera house in the 1960s before demolition. Historic American Buildings Survey (Library of Congress)

Landmarks Mysterious Stories Podcasts

Ghost Stories by Gaslight: Hauntings of Old New York

Post author By GY
Post date October 13, 2023
2 Comments on Ghost Stories by Gaslight: Hauntings of Old New York

The old Furniss mansion, with its dark secrets literally behind a locked door. (courtesy Ephemeral New York)

A brand new batch of haunted houses and spooky stories, all from the gaslight era of New York City, the illuminating glow of the 19th century revealing the spirits of another world.

Greg and Tom again dive into another batch of terrifying ghost stories, using actual newspaper reports and popular urban legends to reveal a different side to the city’s history.

If you just like a good scare, you’ll enjoy these historical frights. And if you truly believe in ghosts, then these stories should especially disturb you as they take place in actual locations throughout the city — from the Lower East Side to the Bronx. And even in cases where these 19th-century haunted houses have been demolished, who’s to say the spirits themselves aren’t still hanging around?

Featured in this year’s crop of scary stories:

— A ghostly encounter at the Astor Library (today’s Public Theater) involving a most controversial set of mysterious books;

— A whole graduating class of ghosts stalks the campus of the Bronx’s Fordham University, and it may have something to do with either Edgar Allan Poe or the film The Exorcist;

— Just north of Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, a haunted townhouse vexes several tenants, the sight of a hunched-over man in a cap driving people insane;

— In the shadow of the Brooklyn Bridge, a small apartment in today’s Two Bridges neighborhood becomes possessed by a poltergeist with a penchant for throwing furniture …. and punches. One vainglorious showoff named Jackie Hagerty learns the hard way;

— And before the days of Riverside Drive, a rustic old mansion once sat on the banks of the Upper West Side, with a mysterious locked room that must never be opened.