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Podcasts

PODCAST: The Creation of Central Park

Above: Central Park’s first recreation was ice skating, almost as soon as the lake was completed in 1858. The Dakota Apartments look like a ski resort. Come with us to the beginnings of New York’s most popular and most ambitious park — from the inkling of an idea to the arduous construction. Learn who got… Read More

Who is the Queen of Central Park?

Above: the grotesque face of Mother Goose in Central Park. What did she ever do to deserve her own statue? While mulling over the list of famous people great and small depicted in Central Park sculpture — Ludwig van Beethoven! Duke Ellington! Alexander Hamilton! — I was reminded of one curious and well-known fact: Not… Read More

Central Park’s obscure sculpture celebrities

Hallack reclines under the leafy Central Park mall Frederick Law Olmsted would have preferred Central Park have no sculptures, yet almost from the moment the park opened, monuments to the great men of the day began sprouting up. Yet for every William Shakespeare and Christopher Columbus, there are an equal number of completely forgotten individuals,… Read More

Spawn of the Statue of Liberty

You know an area of New York has achieved tourist saturation when the first ten people you see are all identically dressed as the Statue of Liberty. Performance artists regularly delight audiences near the city’s marquee tourist attractions — South Street Seaport, Central Park, Times Square. Most are truly worthy of the attention: the charismatic… Read More

Pope-fest 2008: The Holy (Sight) See

Pope John Paul greets the crowds at Yankee Stadium Welcome Benedict! I’m not Catholic, but I do love a good papal visit to New York City. Nothing could be more absurd. The leader of the Catholic Church, a man who traces his spiritual lineage all the way back to the apostles — delivering mass at… Read More

Know Your Mayors: Fernando Wood

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. And now we come to one of New York’s most notorious, absolutely in the top 10% of the most corrupt mayors ever in our fair… Read More

Beyond Park Avenue: NYC’s biggest parklands

And now for something that may surprise you — the top five largest parks in New York City, according to the New York Department of Parks & Recreation: 5. Central Park It seems unfathomable that Central Park isn’t number one. And downright impossible that it’s number FIVE in all the city. In truth the Olmstead-designed… Read More

A ghostly walk through Woodlawn (part 1)

(For of all, I apologize, I had tons of photographs from my trip to Woodlawn that are not uploading properly. For now, I’m just using file photographs and will try and correct the problem later.) Woodlawn Cemetary is still considered an oasis of calm and tranquility, and the dead quite enjoy it. Although a trek… Read More

Columbus Dazed

(the view of Columbus Circle and adjoining Merchants Gate to Central Park, from the second floor vantage of the Time Warner Center, click photo to see detail) The Columbus Day Parade yesterday sailed through midtown turning everyone Italian, with not too much focus on the man who, in 1492, ‘discovered’ America, or so they said… Read More

Categories
Podcasts

PODCAST: Central Park Zoo

From an odd assortment of abandoned creatures, to one of the most notorious zoos in the world, take a tour with us through Central Park’s storybook zoo. In the podcast I erroneously stated that a famous political cartoon using the Central Park Zoo as a political metaphor also featured Ulysses S Grant depicted as an… Read More

NYC NOIR: “He has his father’s eyes!”

The Film Forum is in the midst of their five week NYC Noir screening series, featuring some of the best thrillers, mysteries and action films set on the streets of the city. In this blog every Thursday of the series, we’ll feature a bit about one of the films, and encourage you to go check… Read More

Man(hattan’s) Best Friend: Famous Dogs of New York

Take a stroll with us as we chart New York’s most famous canine crusaders, from a Central Park icon to the biggest star on Broadway history ever found in a kennel. Oh and watch where you step. Listen to it for free on iTunes or other podcasting services. Or you can download or listen to… Read More