The Bowery Boys: New York City History
Here’s the whole menu of our 2009 podcasts. As always, you can download them all for free from iTunes and or your favorite podcast aggregator. The original blog page for each is listed below, along with a link to download directly from our satellite site. WEBSTER HALLBlog page: Webster Hall, more than a dance hallDownload… Read More
(Photo courtesy of Only In Holland) In 2009, New York went Dutch. One hundred years ago, the city threw an elaborate party, the self-important, historically aware (often inaccurate) and undeniably prideful Hudson-Fulton Celebration, honoring the 300th anniversary of Henry Hudson sailing into New York harbor and Robert Fulton’s invention of the steamship. Although we didn’t… Read More
PODCAST The Cloisters, home of the Metropolitan Museum’s repository for medieval treasures, was a labor of love for many lovers of great European art. In this podcast, I highlight three of the most important men in its history — a passionate sculptor, a generous multimillionaire and a jet-setting curator. Equally as fascinating is the upper… Read More
A rush of foot traffic at Macy’s Department Store the week before Christmas, 1942 (photo by Marjory Collins, courtesy LOC) Upstairs Witih Alice: What’s it like living upstairs to history? Ask Paul Moakley, curator at the Alice Austen House in Staten Island. [New York Times] I Feel Like Chicken Tonight: The heartwarming story of a… Read More
DANGER! Found on a Williamsburg sidewalk (Photo by Sean Nowicke. Other contemporary Williamsburg images found here) The blog is a little slow this week due to us moving our podcast recording schedule up. However I’ll be back on course by Friday, and with a new full-length show with both of us to boot!Do you want… Read More
There’ll be a new — shall I say, swashbuckling — new podcast on Friday afternoon. Have a great holiday everyone! And remember to vote in the 2009 Podcast Awards (see sidebar). Below: New Amsterdam becomes New York, from dead animal pelts to, um, a unicorn? Okay I have no idea what this print really means.… Read More
Artist Charles Jay Budd depicts spectral lambs (?) terrorizing the New York Stock Exchange — Life Magazine, 1905 Slithering spooks: With ghosts all over the city, are you surprised that the Bronx Zoo may also be haunted, by ghost reptiles? [Virtual Dime Museum] Rewinding Rosemary: WOW. Scouting NY takes a look at Rosemary’s Baby and… Read More
Above: 782 Eighth Avenue, the caption reads: “House in which Miss Sigel was killed.” Who is that person standing right next to the handwriting? According to Shorpy (where you can find the full-sized picture), Miss Sigel “was found in 1909 bound in a trunk in her lover Leon Ling’s fourth-floor apartment at 782 Eighth Avenue… Read More
ABOVE Broadway Scares: Wood engraving from 1871. “The ‘Pepper’s Ghost’ apparatus adapted for the stage. The actor’s illuminated shape is projected onto the stage via an inclined plate of glass.” (image courtesy NYPL) Surreal Estate: On this week’s podcast, we talked about the various ghosts supposedly haunting 12 Gay Street in the West Village. Well,… Read More
Manhattan overhead, circa 1971 Notice the World Trade Center still under construction and the complete absence of Battery Park City Courtesy Life Henry Groskinsky, photgrapher
ABOVE: CBS Radio Theater, later known as the Ed Sullivan Theater, home of David Letterman and his scandals (Circa late 1930s, photo by the Wurtz Brothers, courtesy NYPL) QUEENS: The New York Times ponders the question of New York’s oldest tree. We also pondered the same question a few months ago. The Queen’s Giant is… Read More
French sailors in Central Park, June 1943 (Pic courtesy Library of Congress) Tres tragique! The Café des Artistes, a 92 year old staple of the Upper West Side, originally opened as a haven for literally starving artists, closed for good over the weekend. [Eater] Meanwhile, in Central Park, Tavern On The Green isn’t going away,… Read More
The Bowery Boys finally exist in the Twitter world! But how, exactly, do you apply what we do to a medium that’s brief, spontaneous and decidedly unhistoric? On top of updates and previews about our podcasts, we’ll also attempt to highlight history-related activities in the city, as well as observations as we walk around researching… Read More
The lovely ladies of Long Island City 1898 CALL FOR SUGGESTIONS! We’re planning out our podcast episodes for the remainer of the year and we’d like your suggestions. We are readily aware that most of our shows are very Manhattan and Brooklyn centric. Since our show is very landmark or personality-centric, sometimes the other boroughs… Read More
ABOVE: Battery Park in “ye olden time” from the NYPL Picture Collection No new podcast this week, but here’s a link for one of our older shows from early 2008 on the history of Castle Clinton and Battery Park. We’ve enhanced some of the older shows with some rather cool old images that magically pop… Read More