The Bowery Boys: New York City History
PODCAST Tribeca (or TriBeCa, Triangle Below Canal) is a breathtaking neighborhood of astounding architectural richness. But how much do you know about this trendy destination and its patchwork of different histories? You’ll be surprised to learn about the many facets of this unusual place, including: — Lispenard’s Meadow, tracing back to the property’s first Dutch settlers; — St. John’s Park,… Read More
PODCAST The story of the devastating snowstorm that changed New York City forever. This year marks the 130th anniversary of one of the worst storms to ever wreak havoc upon New York City, the now-legendary mix of wind and snow called the Great Blizzard of 1888. The battering snow-hurricane of 1888, with its freezing temperatures and crazy… Read More
HISTORY BEHIND THE SCENE What’s the real story behind that historical scene from your favorite TV show or feature film? A semi-regular feature on the Bowery Boys blog, we will be reviving this series as we follow along with TNT’s limited series The Alienist. Look for other articles here about other historically themed television shows (Mad Men, The… Read More
PODCAST The history of Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood — from its industrial past to its hi-tech future. Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass (DUMBO) is, we think, a rather drab name for a historically significant place in Brooklyn where some of the daily habits of everyday Americans were invented. This industrial area between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges traces… Read More
PODCAST The story of how Grand Central was saved from the wrecking ball. The survival of New York City’s greatest train station is no accident. The preservation of Grand Central Terminal helped create the protections for all of America’s greatest landmarks. By the 1950s, this glorious piece of architecture — opened in 1913 as a sensational example of Beaux-Arts… Read More
Grand Central Terminal has seen millions of people rush across its Main Concourse over the past one hundred years, and more than a few movies have captured that commuter ebb and flow. But while Grand Central is occasionally a backdrop for romance — especially during World War II, when returning soldiers would arrive to meet… Read More
HISTORY BEHIND THE SCENE What’s the real story behind that historical scene from your favorite TV show or feature film? A semi-regular feature on the Bowery Boys blog, we will be reviving this series as we follow along with TNT’s limited series The Alienist. Look for other articles here about other historically themed television shows (Mad Men, The… Read More
PODCAST What was it like to experience that epic symbol of New York City – the world famous New York City subway system – for the first time? In this episode, we imagine what opening day was like for the first New York straphangers. We begin by recounting the subway system’s construction and registering the excitement of New… Read More
PODCAST For thousands of people escaping the bonds of slavery in the South, the journey to freedom wound its way through New York City via the Underground Railroad. The Underground Railroad was a loose, clandestine network of homes, businesses and churches, operated by freed black people and white abolitionists who put it upon themselves —… Read More
In the early and mid-nineteenth century, the Underground Railroad secretly escorted tens of thousands of Southern enslaved people to Northern destinations, where slavery was illegal. The African American publisher David Ruggles was born a freeman in Connecticut and moved to New York to energize the emerging abolitionist move- meant via the New York Vigilance Committee,… Read More
HISTORY BEHIND THE SCENE What’s the real story behind that historical scene from your favorite TV show or feature film? A semi-regular feature on the Bowery Boys blog, I’ll be reviving this series as we follow along with TNT’s limited series The Alienist. Look for other articles here about other historically themed television shows (Mad… Read More
Journalism history is on full, optimistic display in the Academy Award Best Picture nominee The Post, starring Meryl Streep as Washington Post publisher Katharine Graham. In this fast-paced drama, Graham heads a newsroom (headed by Ben Bradlee, played by Tom Hanks) in possession of the Pentagon Papers, damning reports exposing the U.S. government’s clandestine decision-making… Read More
“The nomination of Arthur is a ridiculous burlesque …. He never held an office except the one he was removed from. His nomination attached to the ticket all the odium of machine politics and will greatly endanger the success of [James] Garfield. I cannot but wonder why a convention, even in the heat and hurry… Read More
HISTORY BEHIND THE SCENE What’s the real story behind that historical scene from your favorite TV show or feature film? A semi-regular feature on the Bowery Boys website, I’ll be reviving this series as we follow along with TNT’s limited series The Alienist. Look for other articles here about other historically themed television shows (Mad… Read More
PODCAST The unbelievable story of the most infamous dance hall in New York City. The old saloons and dance halls of the Bowery are familiar to anyone with a love of New York City history, their debauched and surly reputations appealing in a prurient way, a reminder of a time of great abandon. The Bowery… Read More