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Mysterious Stories Podcasts

Gotham’s Greatest Ghosts: The Bowery Boys Halloween Specials

Our first ghost stories show was released on October 11, 2007, featuring New York City’s famous haunted tales and urban legends (with historical context). Since that time we have released seventeen Halloween-related shows as well as a recording of our Joe’s Pub live show. Take a spooky trip down memory lane with a re-listen to… Read More

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Gilded Age New York Podcasts

The Gilded Age Mansions of Fifth Avenue: At Home with the Astors and Vanderbilts

So we don’t know if you’ve heard, but New York City is an expensive place to live these days. So we thought it might be time to revisit the tale of the city’s most famous district of luxury — Fifth Avenue.   For about a hundred years, this avenue was mostly residential— but residences of the most… Read More

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Events Mysterious Stories

The Bowery Boys Live: Ghost Stories of New York TICKETS ON SALE (OCT. 26)

It’s never too late to start planning for the spooky season with all your seasonal favorites — new sweaters, pumpkin spice latte and Bowery Boys ghost stories podcasts. Our three shows at Joe’s Pub on Oct 27, 30 and 31 are sold out, but we have JUST ADDED one more show — on Thursday, October… Read More

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Mysterious Stories Podcasts

The Bowery Boys Halloween Special: Ghosts of the Gilded Age

This newly edited edition of this episode of the Bowery Boys is now running on the The Gilded Gentleman podcast. Listen today: PODCAST Four strange and spooky tales taken from New York City newspaper articles published during the Gilded Age For this year’s 10th annual Bowery Boys Halloween special, we’re highlighting haunted tales from the… Read More

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Landmarks Mysterious Stories Podcasts

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. Greg and Tom again dive into another batch of terrifying ghost stories, using actual newspaper reports and popular urban legends to reveal a… Read More

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American History Museums Podcasts

Theodore Roosevelt’s Wild Kingdom: American 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. He killed thousands of animals over his lifetime as a hunter-naturalist, most notably… Read More

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Music History Neighborhoods Podcasts Writers and Artists

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

PODCAST The rebirth of the East Village in the late 1970s and the flowering of a new and original New York subculture — what Edmund White called “the Downtown Scene” — arose from the shadow of urban devastation and was anchored by a community that reclaimed its own deteriorating neighborhood. In the last episode (Creating… Read More

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Friday Night Fever

Recollections of the Electric Circus: “If you remembered much of what happened, you weren’t really there.”

The interior of the Electric Circus on St. Mark’s Place. Pic courtesy Christian Montone/flickrWARNING The article contains a couple light spoilers about last night’s ‘Mad Men’ on AMC.  If you’re a fan of the show, come back once you’re watched the episode.  But these posts are about a specific element of New York history from… Read More

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Neighborhoods Podcasts Politics and Protest

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… Read More

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Health and Living Neighborhoods

Liz Christy and the Community Gardens of the East Village

The residents of the Lower East Side one century ago would probably have never have said to themselves, “What a grand place to plant flowers!” But it would be their very tenement lots that would later lead to the sprouting of so many East Village neighborhood gardens, some of the most wonderful community gardens in… Read More

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Museums Neighborhoods The Immigrant Experience

A Visit to the Ukrainian Museum in the East Village

There’s a small pocket of the East Village still referred to today as “Little Ukraine” (or Ukrainian Village), located at 6th and 7th Streets between First and Third Avenues. Once populated in the late 19th century with thousands of newly arrived Ukrainian immigrants, this area has grown notably smaller in recent years, more distinguished today… Read More

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Parks and Recreation Podcasts

The rebellious history of Tompkins Square Park

This episode on the history of Tompkins Square Park ties right into an all-new two-part episode coming in September, the first part coming at you next week.  Central Park has frequently been called ‘the people’s park,” but we think Tompkins Square Park may have a better claim to that title.  From its inception, this East Village recreational… Read More

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Bridges Parks and Recreation Podcasts

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. You’re all invited to walk along with Greg through the oldest portion of… Read More

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Brooklyn History On The Waterfront Podcasts

The Brooklyn Navy Yard and Vinegar Hill: Where American History Meets the Waterfront

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. The Navy Yard’s origins within Wallabout Bay tie it to the birth of the United States itself, the spot where thousands of… Read More

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Amusements and Thrills The Gilded Gentleman

How The Gilded Age Played: A Sweet Summertime Show With Esther Crain

On the latest episode of The Gilded Gentleman, returning guest Esther Crain, author and creator of Ephemeral New York, joins Carl for a look at how New Yorkers stayed cool on summer days in the Gilded Age.  As New York continued its march up the island of Manhattan, there were few places where New Yorkers that couldn’t escape… Read More