The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Latest Episodes:

#401 The World Before Wordle: Talking Puzzles With AJ Jacobs Dec 21, 2022

Show notes

Crosswords, jigsaws, mazes, rebuses, Rubik's cubes, Myst, Words With Friends -- and now Wordle? Not only have people loved puzzles for centuries, they've actually gone wild for them. Every few years, a new tantalizing puzzle comes along to captivate the nation.

But each of these little games has an extraordinary history and for this special show, we have the "the puzzler" himself to help us unravel these unique mysteries.

Joining the show today is AJ Jacobs, author of The Puzzler: One Man’s Quest to Solve the Most Baffling Puzzles Ever, from Crosswords to Jigsaws to the Meaning of Life, who leads Greg and Tom down a maze of fascinating origins for the world's most popular puzzles -- many with a connection to New York City.

FEATURING:

-- Sam Loyd, the ultimate puzzle huckster
-- The utterly madcap Rebus Craze of 1937
-- The Secretand the possible treasure buried underneath New York's very streets
-- Stephen Sondheim's glorious contributions to the puzzling world

Visit the website for more information and images

Podcasts mentioned on this show:'

The Straw Hat Riots of 1922

Nellie Bly: Undercover in the Madhouse

Pulitzer vs Hearst: The Rise of Yellow Journalism

PLUS: A special New York City-themed anagram game!

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The Mysteries of Absinthe: Dancing With The Green Fairy Dec 16, 2022

Show notes

A Special Presentation: We know some of you like to celebrate the holiday spirit with actual alcoholic spirits so we thought you'd enjoy this episode of The Gilded Gentleman, the Bowery Boys spin-off podcast hosted by Carl Raymond, which lays out everything you've wanted to know (but were afraid to ask) about absinthe -- aka the green fairy.

Absinthe was one of the most popular and most mysterious drinks in the Belle Epoque and late Victorian and Edwardian worlds, fueling Paris and London's cafe society and artistic circles

Brilliant men like Henri Toulouse-Lautrec, Marcel Proust and Oscar Wilde were proponents of the 'green fairy' along with members of the upper classes as well as everyday workers. Myths sprang up that the elixir created dramatic hallucinations and even provoked ghastly crimes. It became banned throughout most of Europe and even in the United States by the early 20th century.

Join Carl and his guest Don Spiro, creator of New York's Green Fairy Society to discuss and demystify the myths and legends of this most evocative of spirits.

And after you're done with this episode, head over and listen to the latest episode of The Gilded Gentleman, also featuring Don Spiro. Only this time they're talking about the history of champagne.

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#400 Jacob Riis: 'The Other Half' of the Gilded Age Dec 09, 2022

Show notes

In 1890 the Danish-American journalist Jacob Riis turned his eye-opening reporting and lecture series into a ground-breaking book called How The Other Half Lives, a best seller which awoke Americans to the plight of the poor and laid the groundwork for the Progressive Era.

Riis exposed more than a humanitarian crisis. He laid bare the city's complacent Gilded Age divide in revolutionary ways, most notably with the use of a new tool -- documentary photography.

For our 400th episode, following our tradition of exploring the legacies of urban planners in past centennial shows (#100 Robert Moses, #200 Jane Jacobs, #300 Andrew Haswell Green), we finally look at the life of the crusading police reporter and social reformer who forced upper and middle class New Yorker to examine the living conditions within the city's poorest neighborhoods.

Riis was himself an immigrant who spent his first years in the United States drifting from place to place, living on the street, his only companion a faithful dog. Journalism quite literally saved Riis, providing him with both a stable living and a purpose, especially after he became a police reporter for the New York Tribune in 1877.

But it was his fascination with visual media -- magic lantern shows and later flash photography -- which set him apart from other crusading writers of the period like Nellie Bly (who we only wish had a camera with her!)

Jacob Riis' culminating work How The Other Half Lives made him one of America's most famous writers -- his friend Theodore Roosevelt called Riss "the model American citizen" -- but the book has an imperfect legacy today, with Riis’ broad characterizations of the people he was writing about undercutting the book's noble purposes.

PLUS: The legacy of Riis lives in a very popular Queens beach. And Robert Moses chimes in!

Visit the website for more information

FURTHER READING
The Battle with the Slum / Jacob Riis
The Children of the Poor / Jacob Riis
How The Other Half Lives / Jacob Riis
The Making Of An American / Jacob Riis
The Other Half: The Life of Jacob Riis and the World of Immigrant America / Tom Buk-Swienty
Jacob A. Riis and the American City / James B. Lane
Jacob Riis: Reporter and Reformer / Janet B. Pascal
Rediscovering Jacob Riis: Exposure Journalism and Photography in Turn-of-the-Century New York / Bonnie Yochelson and Daniel Czitrom

After listening to this show, check out these past Bowery Boys episodes with similar themes:

-- The First Ambulance
-- Has Jack the Ripper Come to Town?
-- Case Files of the New York Police Department 1800-1915
-- Women of the Progressive Era

Stories from this website:
"The original IMAX: Jacob Riis and His Magic Lantern"
"The harsh lives of New York City street kids, captured — in a flash — by Jacob Riis"
"Jacob Riis’ Not-so-Rockin’ ‘Sane’ New Years Celebration"
"The legendary police headquarters at 300 Mulberry Street"
"Finding Pietro"

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#399 The Changing Lower East Side: A View From Seward Park Nov 24, 2022

Show notes

To wrap up our 15th anniversary celebration -- and to set up our big 400th episode -- we take a fond look at one corner of New York City which taught us to love local history.

Perhaps you know this area for Seward Park, the first municipal playground in the United States, or for Straus Square, named for Nathan Straus, philanthropist and co-owner (with his brother Isidor) of Macy's Department Store. Today, trendy artists and influencers instead spend their weekends in Dimes Square, just one block (and seemingly one world) away.

In the 19th century, as Rutgers Square, this area became a small portion of a large German immigrant community called Kleindeutschland. In an inconceivable historical moment, a statue was almost raised here -- to William 'Boss' Tweed, leader of Tammany Hall.

By the late 19th century, this place was the center for American Jewish culture, and East Broadway became Yiddish publishers row, hosting newspapers and magazines from a host of perspectives. In the 20th century, thanks to a mid-century housing boom (fueled partially by the labor unions firmly rooted to this place), some also called it Cooperative Village, with hundreds of old, deteriorating tenements replaced with new high rises.

It's a neighborhood that means so much to so many -- and we hope you learn to love it all yourself, no matter what you call it.

PLUS: We're join by staff members of the Forward, celebrating its 125th year of publication. Forward archivist Chana Pollack joins us along with Ginna Green and Lynn Harris, hosts of the the newspaper column-turned-podcast version A Bintel Brief.

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#398 Marilyn Monroe in New York Nov 11, 2022

Show notes

In late December 1954 Marilyn Monroe came to New York City wearing a disguise.

Monroe -- the biggest movie star in the world when she arrived -- came to the East Coast to reinvent herself and her career. The year 1955 would be a turning point in her life and it all played out on the streets of the city. She intended to spend most of her life here.

It was a year of discovery -- exploring the city, working on her craft and being the toast of the town.

She came to New York to become a better actress via the Actors Studio and the influence of Lee Strasberg. But she also managed to see the most glamorous corners of New York and eventually -- she fell in love.

Contemporary portrayals of her life have focused on the most salacious, most intimate details of her biography. Many tend to rob her of her personal agency. But in this show we hope to show a very different side to Monroe's life. And a deep connection with New York City that never left her.

FEATURING: Hip New York in the 1950s with Frank Sinatra, Marlon Brando, Marlene Dietrich and many others.

PLUS: As an extra treat we’ll be joined by Alicia Malone of TCM (and Tom's co-host on “The Official Gilded Age Podcast”) and author of the 2021 book Girls on Film: Lessons from a Life of Watching Women in Movies

VISIT THE WEBSITE for images and more information

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Rewind: Birth of the Five Boroughs Oct 28, 2022

Show notes

On January 1, 2023, New York City will celebrate a special moment, the 125th anniversary of the formation of Greater New York and the creation of the five boroughs — The Bronx, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens and Staten Island.

In honor of this special moment in New York City history, we are celebrating a bit early, reissuing our episode (originally #150) on the Consolidation and the formation of the boroughs, with a new introduction.

And stay tuned for new episodes of the Bowery Boys Podcast for the rest of the year!

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Here’s the story of how two very big cities and a whole bunch of small towns and villages — completely different in nature, from farmland to skyscraper — became the greatest city in the world.

This is the tale of Greater New York, the forming of the five boroughs into one metropolis, a consolidation of massive civic interests which became official on January 1, 1898. But this is not a story of interested parties, united in a common goal.

In fact, Manhattan (comprising, with some areas north of the Harlem River, the city of New York) was in a bit of a battle with anti-consolidation forces, mostly in Brooklyn, who saw the merging of two biggest cities in America as the end of the noble autonomy for that former Dutch city on the western shore of Long Island. You’ll be stunned to hear how easily it could have all fallen apart!

In this podcast is the story of Manhattan, Brooklyn, the Bronx, Queens and Staten Island (or Richmond, if you will) and their journey to become one. And how, rather recently in fact, one of those boroughs would grow uncomfortable with the arrangement.

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Other Bowery Boys podcasts to listen to with similar themes:

The Father of Greater New York: The Story of Andrew Haswell Green

The Bronx is Born: Before It Was A Borough

The Staten Island Ferry: Its Story, From Sail To Steam

The History of Astoria and Long Island City

The Story of Brooklyn Heights

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#397 Ghost Stories of the Hudson River Oct 14, 2022

Show notes

Beware! The ghosts and goblins of the Hudson River Valley have been awakened.

In this year's annual celebration of New York urban legends and folktales, Tom and Greg journey up the Hudson River to explore the region's spookiest stories.

Tales of mystery and the supernatural have possessed the villages and towns of the Hudson River Valley since ancient times, when native tribes whispered of strange places and islands one simply didn't visit.

When Dutch settlers arrived in the 17th century, they brought their own mythology, populating the dark mountains with evil, mischievous creatures. These stories have carried over into modern times and continue to fascinate (and terrify) the residents of this beautiful area of New York State.

The Bowery Boys put on their most menacing and spooky voices to tell several stories of the region including:

-- A ghost-filled mansion in Nyack, New York that holds a unique place among all American supernatural sites. The house is legally haunted.

-- The unsettling tale behind those mysterious ruins known as Bannerman Castle

-- A ghastly death in the Colonial-era Catskills leads to a disturbing life sentence and the appearance of several hellish creatures

-- The secrets of Kingston's Old Dutch Church and an entity which may trapped beneath its holy steeple

PLUS: Who is the Heer of Dunderberg? And why should you run shrieking in fright if you happen to see him on a cold, stormy evening?

Check out the entire collection of Bowery Boys ghost story podcasts here.

boweryboyshistory.com

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Rewind: An Evening at Sardi's Sep 30, 2022

Show notes

In honor of an exciting new theater season, we're revisiting our 2011 episode on the history of Sardi's restaurant, updated to cover the trials and triumphs of the past decade.

The famous faces on the walls of Sardi's Restaurant represent the entertainment elite of the 20th Century, and all of them made this place on West 44th Street their unofficial home. Known for its caricatures and its Broadway opening-night traditions, Sardi's fed the stars of the golden age and became a hotspot for producers, directors and writers -- and, of course, those struggling to get their attention.

When Vincent Sardi opened his first restaurant in 1921, Prohibition had begun, and the midtown Broadway tradition was barely a couple decades old. By the time the current place threw open its doors (thanks to the Shuberts) in 1927, Broadway's stages were red hot, and Sardi found himself at the center of New York City show business world.

We have nuggets from the old days -- starring John Barrymore, Tallulah Bankhead, Carol Channing and a cast of thousands -- and the scoop on those famous (and often unflattering) framed caricatures. So sidle up to the Little Bar, order yourself a stiff drink and eavesdrop in on this tale of Broadway's longest dinner party.

Support the show at Patreon.com/BoweryBoys

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#396 Samuel Tilden and the Presidential Election of 1876 Sep 16, 2022

Show notes

You may have heard about the messy, chaotic and truly horrible presidential election of 1876 -- pitting Democrat Samuel Tilden and Republican Rutherford B Hayes -- but did you know that New York City plays a huge role in this moment in American history?

Tilden, the governor of New York, was a political superstar, a reformer famous for taking down Boss Tweed and the corrupt machinations of Tammany Hall. From his home in Gramercy Park, the extremely wealthy governor could kept himself updated on the election by a personal telegraph line.

In a way, the presidential election came to him -- or at least to his neighborhood. The Democratic national headquarters sat only a few blocks south, while the Republican national headquarters made the Fifth Avenue Hotel (off Madison Square) its home.

All this would have made the 1876 national election somewhat unusual already -- New York City seemed to be at the center of it -- but the strange series of events spawned by a most contentious Election Day would send the entire country into pandemonium.

Not only was democracy itself on the line, but the fate of Reconstruction was also at stake. As were the rights of thousands of Black Southerners.

How did shadowy events which occurred at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in the early morning hours of November 8, 1876, change the course of American history? How did a flurry of telegrams and months of political chicanery cause an end to the country's post-Civil War ambitions?

FEATURING: A visit to Tilden's mansion on Gramercy Park, now the home of the National Arts Club!

PLUS: How was Daniel Sickles involved here?

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