The Bowery Boys: New York City History
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… Read More
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
A toast to the great 20th-century architect Eero Saarinen! The Modernist icon was born on this date in 1910 in Finland. He immigrated to the United States with his parents when he was thirteen years old. His father Eliel Saarinen was himself a brilliant architect; his son would learn from the best. Eero Saarinen was a versatile furniture designer… Read More
Eugenics, as with any creation from a mad scientist, was developed to advance the human race, built from the studies of Charles Darwin and Gregor Mendel. Shouldn’t we pass only mankind’s most laudable attributes to the next generation? Who wouldn‘t want to weed out disease and deformity? Instead, it became one of the most insidious tools of the 20th… Read More
The passage of the 18th Amendment in 1919 — prohibiting the sale of alcohol in the United States — failed to sober up the country. It merely drove its unquenchable thirst underground. Prohibition came about because of an extraordinary union of disparate groups — religious folks, racists, progressives, nativists — all possessing different motivations for… Read More
“The Raven” was first published in the New York Evening Mirror on January 29, 1845, and would come to define the morbid brilliance of its author Edgar Allan Poe. Poe and his sickly young wife Virginia arrived in New York in 1844, lodging at a dairy farm at today’s  West 84th Street, between Broadway and… Read More
The Bowery Boys podcast is brought to you by…. Squarespace, the all-in-one platform that makes it fast and easy to create your own professional website, portfolio, and online store. For a free trial and 10% off, visit Squarespace.com and enter offer code BOWERY at checkout. A better web starts with your website. and by… … Read More
Thanks for voting! The poll is now closed. We’re off to turn your opinions into future Bowery Boys podcasts. Top results: More neighborhood-centric history, true crime and law enforcement, and shows on early history. Previously: We’ve got our podcasts planned out for the next few months, but we need your help in determining the types… Read More
A photo from her nightclub and theater years, G. Paul Bishop Jr. photographer ““I never agreed with Thomas Wolfe,†she remarked quietly. “I never thought you can’t go home again. I’ve been coming home to Harlem for 50 years.‗ from a terrific story in the New York Times from 2007 about her ornately colorful Harlem… Read More
Pete Seeger with Woody Guthrie, performing at the Music Inn in Lenox, Massachusetts, 1950 (Photo courtesy NPR) “I have sung in hobo jungles, and I have sung for the Rockefellers, and I am proud that I have never refused to sing for anybody.” — Pete SeegerPete Seeger with the Weavers — Washington Square Blues … Read More
I’m not sure if the Madison Square annual Christmas tree was really the biggest in the entire world — as the 1913 Evening World at right suggests — but it was most certainly the largest in New York City. Its closest competitor in size would have been the City Hall Christmas tree. This unique tradition… Read More
Our designer is the exceptionally talented Thomas Cabus. You can take a look at some of his other work — including the design of the award-winning Circle of 6 app — at this link.
Due to the temporary shutdown of the federal government,the Library of Congress is closed to the public and researchers beginning October 1, 2013 until further notice. [site] The Library of Congress is my number one source of information for the Bowery Boys, through their newspaper archive and their amazing collection of photographs. Due to the… Read More
A Wrigley’s Spearmint chewing gum ad from a 1911 New York Tribune advises you to choose gum, not explosives. From the New-York tribune. (New York [N.Y.]), 25 June 1911. Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress.
All pictures courtesy New York Public Library, except number three, courtesy the Museum of the City of New York