The Bowery Boys: New York City History
Were you in Bryant Park yesterday? Did you happen to imagine that you sniffed a very slight whiff of smoke? It was just a ghostly reminder of one of the most famous fires in all of New York history — the destruction of the legendary Crystal Palace exhibition hall, which sat here for five glorious… Read More
Bird in the sky: The delicate Ms. Millman makes it look easyLast night on my walk home, I observed something you just don’t always see everyday — a renegade acrobat dangling from the top of the Williamsburg Bridge! The perilous pair, Seanna Sharpe and Savage Skinner, performed this foolhardy trapeze as traffic whizzed by below them, and… Read More
Williamsburg, Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges, well before the FDR Drive. New York Times architectural critic Montgomery Schuyler passed away in 1914, just as New York was entering a new era of the skyscraper. Schuyler was “a stanch advocate … who believed it was a legitimate development and architectural expression of the times.” An unfortunate loss,… Read More
[from Flickr, taken by ajagendorf25] We love the Manhattan Bridge, but there’s no doubt it’s had a rocky history. For one hundred years, it’s withstood more than just comparisons to its far more iconic neighbor, the Brooklyn Bridge. Built to relieve pressure on the East River’s best known bridge, the Manhattan Bridge went through two… Read More
Hovering over the Brooklyn Bridge, 1982, Jet Lowe photographer (Photo courtesy LOC) Click photo for larger view
Illustration of Brodie’s infamous jump, from a 1939-40 World’s Fair brochure George Dessel’s Old New York, advertising the Old New York section of the fiar created by Messmore and Damon Apparently, it’s still the rage to jump from the Brooklyn Bridge, as a forlorn soul (or misguided daredevil) plunged off the side last night, according… Read More
From a pamphlet celebrating the Brooklyn Bridge’s 50th anniversary in 1933. (Click photo for larger view.)
Sarah Bernhardt may be the most famous and most mysterious actress who ever lived and certainly “the greatest celebrity of her era.” Working mostly in the days before recorded medium (there are exceptions), Bernhardt crafted a legend matched by outrageous behavior and provocative stage performance. Naturally, she brought both with her when she came to… Read More
Above: a cartoon mocking Edson’s hiring practices (courtesy New York Public Library Digital Gallery) KNOW YOUR MAYORS Our modest little series about some of the greatest, notorious, most important, even most useless, mayors of New York City. Other entrants in our mayoral survey can be found here. Mayor Franklin Edson In office: 1883-1884 Although the… Read More
Photgraphed by Leonard Mccombe, courtesy Life archives
No regular post today, just a shot I took of the East River a couple weeks ago when it was strangely overcast at around 3pm, and the suns reflection on the water turned it green, giving it an unnatural feel and the Brooklyn Bridge a toyish quality. (Click to make bigger)
This Memorial Day the city is celebrating the 125th birthday of the Brooklyn Bridge. What are you doing to celebrate? Go here for a list of the official list of events in honor of Roebling’s baby. Or listen here to hear our podcast on the birth of the bridge.
Is there an image of old New York that better captures the era than a scrappy young newsboy shouting EXTRA! on a street corner? Sadly the only newsies today are those glum middle-aged ladies and older men who pass out the AM New York free newspapers. They’re nothing like the newsies of old, full of… Read More
Our modest little series about some of the greatest, notorious, most important, even most useless, mayors of New York City. Other entrants in our mayoral survey can be found here. Walk from Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge, take the first ramp off the bridge, turn right to Cadman Plaza, and you will run smack dab… Read More
Our modest little series about some of the greatest, notorious, most important, even most useless, mayors of New York City. Other entrants in our mayoral survey can be found here. Abram Hewitt could easily be considered a very pivotal mayor in New York City, given the significant development and personal connections he had to the… Read More