EPISODE 304: The Miracle on Eldridge Street 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. Today the Museum at Eldridge Street maintains the synagogue, built in 1887 as one of the first houses of worship… Read More
Category: Podcasts
EPISODE 303: Building Stuyvesant Town, A Mid-Century Controversy The residential complexes Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village, built in the late 1940s, incorporating thousands of apartments within a manicured “campus” on the east side, seemed to provide the perfect solution for New York City’s 20th-century housing woes. For Robert Moses, it provided a reason to… Read More
As a celebration of filmmaker Martin Scorsese (whose film The Irishman opens this month), we’ve just released an episode of the Bowery Boys Movie Club to the general Bowery Boys: New York City History audience. This is an exclusive podcast for those who support us on Patreon. For current patrons, we’ve also just released a… Read More
PODCAST Welcome to the unlucky 13th Annual Bowery Boys ghost stories podcast, where history combines with folklore for a bone-chilling listening experience. In this year’s Halloween-themed special, Greg and Tom take you into some truly haunted private residences from throughout New York City history. These rowhouses, brownstones and mansion all have one thing in common… Read More
PODCAST EPISODE 300 — Andrew Haswell Green helped build Central Park and much of upper Manhattan, oversaw the formation of the New York Public Library, assisted in the foundation of great institutions such as the American Museum of Natural History and the Bronx Zoo, and even organized the city’s first significant historical preservation group, saving New… Read More
PODCAST (Episode 299): Part Two of our series on the history of Brooklyn Heights, one of New York City’s oldest neighborhoods. By the 1880s, Brooklyn Heights had evolved from America’s first suburb into the City of Brooklyn’s most exclusive neighborhood, a tree-lined destination of fine architecture and glorious institutions. The Heights would go on a roller-coaster… Read More
PODCAST: The origin story of America’s first suburb. EPISODE 298: This is the first of a two-part celebration of Brooklyn Heights, a picturesque neighborhood of architectural wonder, situated on a plateau just south of the Brooklyn Bridge. A stroll through Brooklyn Heights presents you with a unique collection of 19th century homes — from wooden houses… Read More
PODCAST: A history of all things trash in New York City. Picture New York City under mountains of filth, heaving from clogged gutters and overflowing from trash cans. Imagine the unbearable smell rotting food and animal corpses left on the curb. And what about snow, piled up and untouched, leaving roads entirely impassable? This was… Read More
PODCAST The epic tale of Ellis Island and the process by which millions of new immigrants entered the United States. For millions of Americans, Ellis Island is the symbol of introduction, the immigrant depot that processed their ancestors and offered an opening into a new American life. But for some, it would truly be an ‘Island… Read More
This is a podcast about kindness and care. About the bold Progressive Era pioneers who saved the lives of thousands of people in need — from the Lower East Side to Washington Heights, from Hell’s Kitchen to Fort Greene. Within just a few decades – between the 1880s and the 1920s – so much social change… Read More
PODCAST 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? The story of Steve Brodie has all the ingredients of a Horatio Alger story. He worked the streets as a newsboy when he… Read More
PODCAST A tour of historic sites in Washington Heights and Inwood, an unusual set of landmarks and curious destinations that comprise almost 400 years of Upper Manhattan history. In Washington Heights and Inwood, the two Manhattan neighborhoods above West 155th Street, the New York grid plan begins to become irrelevant, with avenues and streets preferring to conform to northern Manhattan’s more… Read More
PODCAST Many stories of 19th century New York City seem to lead to the Tombs, a stark prison complex with menacing architecture and a fearful reputation. Some might find it strange that the Manhattan Detention Complex — one of New York City’s municipal jails — should be located next to the bustling neighborhoods of Chinatown and Little Italy. Stranger still is… Read More
PODCAST Some delicious bagel history! How did the bagel go from the basement bakeries of the Lower East Side to the supermarkets and breakfast tables of the entire country? The most iconic New York City foods — bagels, pizza, hot dogs — are portable, adaptable and closely associated with the city’s history through its immigrant… Read More
“By the pricking of my thumbs / something wicked this way comes” — Macbeth PODCAST In old New York, one hundred and seventy years ago, a theatrical rivalry between two leading actors of the day sparked a terrible night of violence — one of the most horrible moments in New York City history. England’s great… Read More