The Untapped New York Podcast

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World's Fair Mosaics Removed from Flushing Meadows-Corona Park! Oct 16, 2025

Show notes

Sad news from Queens...After multiple patchwork repairs, a set of colorful mosaics depicting highlights from the 1939-40 and 1964-65 World's Fairs have been completely replaced with pavers. Michelle, Justin and Nicole discuss this piece of very sad news, broken by Untapped New York and the most read article this month so far. The Passarelle Plaza mosaics were installed in 1997 to commemorate the 1939-40 and 1964-65 World's Fairs. Now, they are another lost relic of World's Fair history.

Our goal at Untapped New York is to surprise lifelong New Yorkers, so we keep digging until we find the story you've never heard, the hidden gems you've never seen. Think of the tennis court hidden above Grand Central, the abandoned subway stations under your feet, or the scandals inside 5th Ave's Gilded Age mansions. Go to untappednewyorktours to discover dozens of small group walking tours, all led by local guides who love th

Pandas in NYC, Oh My! Oct 09, 2025

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In this episode, we’re talking about a very adorable secret: pandas in New York City! Who doesn’t love pandas? In fact, the story of how pandas came to America is deeply tied to New York City. We're joined by an expert on this story, Nathalia Holt, author of The Beast in the Clouds: The Roosevelt Brothers' Deadly Quest to Find the Mythical Giant Panda. Learn the New York City origin story behind the discovery of the panda, about Theodore Roosevelt and his sons in Prohibition Era New York, all the pandas who have graced the Big Apple with their presence over the years, the first American (a woman!) to bring back a panda cub from China, and the passionate attempts to bring pandas back in recent years by some very notable New Yorkers.

Correction: When the podcast episode refers to Hyde Park, it should be Sagamore Hill.

Music by Kittens Ablaze.

mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues

mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring...

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

The Champagne Vaults in the Brooklyn Bridge Oct 02, 2025

Show notes

We delve into one of our favorite New York City secrets: the champagne and wine vaults inside the Brooklyn Bridge. If you haven't heard of this delicious tidbit, you're in for a ride through a bygone New York. If you do know about it, Michelle and Justin from Untapped New York are sharing additional insider secrets about this subject that are not publicly known, or have ever been written about. Cheers!

(01:25) Brooklyn Bridge

Music by Kittens Ablaze.

A WWII Resistance Spy and Her NYC Connections Sep 08, 2025

Show notes

A conversation between Michelle Young, Untapped New York's founder and Justin Rivers, our Chief Experience Officer, about Michelle's newest book, The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Hero Rose Valland. Michelle and Justin delve into who Rose Valland was and the brave things she did, the story of Jewish art dealer Paul Rosenberg and his family, which allowed Michelle to write about her first love, New York City, and Rosenberg's clients including characters like Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse. There’s also a wild World’s Fair connection in the book.

Music by Kittens Ablaze. Additional music by Mykola Sosin from Pixabay.

mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues

mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring...

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Amelia Earhart's NYC Haunts Jul 16, 2025

Show notes

We’re kicking off season 4 of the Untapped New York Podcast with New York City literary sensation, Laurie Gwen Shapiro, whose newest book The Aviator and the Showman, just came out about Amelia Earhart’s marriage with publisher George Putnam, which set her on a collision course with fate. Because we’re a New York City obsessed podcast, we’ll be talking with Laurie about all of Amelia’s New York City connections (there are many!)—from studying at Columbia, riding the subway, and eating Chinese food, to meeting Putnam at the center of the Jazz Age publishing world in Midtown Manhattan, and more.

mosaic: Exploring Jewish Issues

mosaic is Jewish Federation of Palm Beach County's news magazine show, exploring...

Listen on: Apple Podcasts Spotify

Why is the FDR Drive Purple? Feb 27, 2025

Show notes

In the latest episode of the Untapped New York Podcast, Michelle Young, author, journalist, and the founder of Untapped New York, tracks down the answer to her latest burning question about New York City: Why is the FDR Drive Purple? If you’ve been wondering or…have yet to notice, prepare to have your mind blown. A lot of myths abound, none of them true.

No, the New York State D.O.T. did not just happen to have a ton of extra purple paint. It's also not inspired by the color of someone's tie in New York City government. And the color choice wasn't an accident but how it looks today is not how it was intended.

To get down to the root of it, Michelle went to the source and interviewed Gregg Pasquarelli, founding partner at ShoP Architects and Cathy Jones, project director at SHoP, who designed the Master Plan for the East River Waterfront. They have the definitive answer on the unusual pastel color choice, and also what has gone wrong. The trio also spoke about all things FDR Drive—including all the films that have been shot there.

A Harrowing Tale of NYPD Corruption, the Mafia and Murder Jan 23, 2025

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The new book The Blood and the Badge, by former New York Times editor Michael Cannell, chronicles a true tale of police corruption, mafia, and murderous mayhem in 1980s New York City. Nicholas Pileggi, author of Wiseguy describes the book as a “harrowing story...Cannell misses nothing." In our latest episode of the Untapped New York podcast, Untapped New York founder Michelle Young (the author of the forthcoming book The Art Spy) talks with Cannell about the crazier than fiction story.

The Blood and the Badge unpacks the rise and fall of two NYPD detectives, Louis Eppolito and Stephen Caracappa, who ended up on the mafia payroll for decades. Eppolito, whom Cannell describes as a "loud, boorish, vulgar guy," and a "loose cannon," came from a mafia family and initially rejected a life of crime but gradually came back to the other side. Caracappa was the polar opposite of Eppolito and truly cold-blooded. The two leave behind a wake of deaths and destruction, and almost get away with it all. In our podcast episode, Michelle also shares her unexpected personal connection to some characters in The Blood and the Badge.

The Stolen Queen: A Mystery Whodunnit Set in the Met Museum Jan 07, 2025

Show notes

The Stolen Queen, the newest historical fiction novel by New York Times bestselling author Fiona Davis, publishes today, January 7, and is set in the hallowed halls of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. When the Met’s prized Egyptian artifact goes missing, an unlikely female duo—curator and anthropologist Charlotte Cross and eighteen-year-old Annie Jenkins from the Met’s costume department—team up to investigate the theft, unraveling decades old secrets particularly in Charlotte’s own past. Charlotte is an enigmatic figure, and Annie is peppy, indefatigable young woman at the start of her career. Fiona Davis describes The Stolen Queen as "mummies and glamour."

Here at Untapped New York, we're kicking off 2025 with a new podcast episode featuring Fiona in conversation with our founder, Michelle Young whose own narrative non-fiction book The Art Spy: The Extraordinary Untold Tale of WWII Resistance Spy Rose Valland publishes in May.
Other books mentioned in the podcast include Patrick Bringley's All the Beauty in the World, and Lynne Olson's Empress of the Nile.

Secret New York: An Unusual Guide Dec 03, 2024

Show notes

The newest edition of Secret New York, An Unusual Guide, is out! Michelle Young, founder of Untapped New York and author of "Secret New York," interviews her co-author Hannah Frishberg, a native New Yorker and arts and culture reporter with Gothamist/WNYC. Discover some of the exciting new entries in the guidebook, including the IFC Center's spy holes, the Hess Triangle, a section of the Berlin Wall, and two quirky lighthouses in the Bronx and Staten Island. They also highlight the Red Room at One Wall Street, set to reopen in the spring. Michelle and Hannah also kick off our newest series, "Meet a New Yorker"!
Get an autographed copy of Secret New York, An Unusual Guide!

Take the 5: The Pets of NYC Nov 10, 2024

Show notes

This week's "Take the 5" podcast episode is all about the pets and animals of New York City. We recorded the episode on Election Day, not knowing who would become President. But regardless of the outcome at the time, we hoped it will be a respite from political news for all of you!

Michelle, Justin, and Nicole talk about the new Pets of NYC exhibition at New York Historical, the former Canine Chief of Engine 203, the euthanization of squirrel Instagram star, Peanut, and more. We even have an audio reading from Peggy Gavan, author of the The Bravest Pets of Gotham: Tales of Four-Legged Firefighters of Old New York. Michelle also talks about her experience when rats moved into her car during the pandemic.

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