The Underground Railroad was an organization of safe houses, churches, schools, and brave people willing to break the law to help slaves escape to safety. New York City was the site of several important locations, including Plymouth Church, "the Grand Central Station" of the Underground Railroad. Kate and Kathleen discuss the political mood in NYC at the time and the major "stations" and "conductors" along the dangerous trek to freedom. Two different groups lead walking tours of major Undergroun...
Feb 09, 2013•36 min
Today it is merely a symbol of corruption in city government, but Tammany Hall was once the political machine to end all political machines. New York City politics were controlled thanks to those ubiquitous tools of leadership: graft, corruption, patronage, cronyism, and exploitation. From its beginning in 1786 until 1936, when Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia dealt Tammany Hall's death blow, their influence could be felt far and wide. Kate and Kathleen describe the leaders, their methods, and all their...
Jan 12, 2013•55 min
Secret subway stations are the lonely places where trains and riders no longer go. Many of the “ghost stations” were abandoned when the Metropolitan Transit Authority (MTA) unified the Interboro Rapid Transit (IRT) and Brooklyn- Manhattan Transit (BMT) lines, which resulted in redundant stations all over the city. Some stations couldn’t be renovated to accommodate increased ridership (like lengthened platforms and 10-car trains). One of these stations, City Hall, is stunning, while another, Myrt...
Nov 22, 2012•33 min
What happens when a group's simmering rage boils over? Kate and Kathleen describe 3 of the many riots that New York City has seen: the Draft Riots, the Stonewall riot, and the Crown Heights riot. Hear about the complex social problems that led up to them, the days of violence, and what changed (if anything) as a result. MeasuringWorth.com is the site to check when you want to compute the relative value of a U.S. dollar amount over time. For example, I learned that the $3 admission to Stonewall i...
Nov 15, 2012•1 hr 19 min
The Queens Museum of Art, in Flushing Meadows Corona Park, has the coolest thing you've never seen: The Panorama of the City of New York. It's a model of the whole damn city-- all 5 boroughs. It contains every building in the city built before 1992 (the year it was last updated). It was built by (who else?) Robert Moses for the 1964-1965 World's Fair. It took 3 years to create, has over 895,000 structures, and had a margin of error less than 1%. Kate and Kathleen tell you all about it in this sp...
Oct 19, 2012•26 min
During the Revolutionary War, British forces imprisoned 11,000 captured Americans in foul, overcrowded, disease-infested, rotting ships with scarce food, water air, space or even sunlight. This is one of the most tragic, but little-known, events in American history. Three times as many Americans were allowed to die in the prisons and prison ships than were killed in the combat during the entire war. In the summer, they suffered from suffocation. In the winter there was no heat, and few blankets ...
Sep 21, 2012•36 min
Like Maine's lobster, New York's oyster used to be our iconic food. New Yorkers feasted on them, exported them, and bragged about them. This attracted visitors (including Charles Dickens!) to our town, where you could find oysters of every possible preparation, if you were careful to walk around the enormous heaps of oyster shells (which are called "middens") on the sidewalks. Oysters could be had at fancy restaurants like Delmonico's, oyster cellars like Downing's, and even the eternally ubiqui...
Sep 20, 2012•27 min
From 1806 to 1966, The Brooklyn Navy Yard in Wallabout Bay, Brooklyn, constructed and repaired our nation's ships-- especially battleships-- in its 4 dry docks. The 200 acres were covered with offices, store-houses, factories, hospitals, barracks, and extrordinarily lavish homes for admirals and the Commandant. At its maximum operation during WWII, over 70,000 peole worked there around the clock. Ships that played major roles in American history, like the Maine (its unexplained explosion in Hava...
Sep 18, 2012•41 min
In the second part of the Robert Moses podcast, Kate and Kathleen discuss Moses’ downfall: his compromises, his miscalculations, and his failures. While the U.N. worked out as planned, the Mid- Manhattan Expressway, the Battery Bridge, and World’s Fair certainly didn't. Hear about the increasingly critical press coverage of his works, which fed New Yorkers’ growing disillusionment with their Master Builder. To check out after listening: Andrew Lynch’s amazing maps of unbuilt Robert Moses express...
Aug 11, 2012•51 min
It's almost impossible to overstate the impact Robert Moses ("Master Builder") had on New York City, Long Island, and New York State. Head of the Parks Commission plus countless other titles, he's the man who brought us the Brooklyn- Queens Expressway, the Long Island Expressway, the Cross- Bronx Expressway, the Triboro Bridge, the U.N., the 1964 World's Fair, hundreds of parks and beaches, massive block- like housing projects, and much much MUCH much more. This is just the tip of the iceberg. I...
Jul 18, 2012•1 hr 15 min
Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia was one of the greatest mayors in US history. New Yorkers agree-- they reelected him twice. The Progressive Republican ran the city from 1934 to 1945, managing to turn around the city after the Depression, defeat Tammany Hall, and crack down on the mob starting with having Lucky Luciano arrested on LaGuardia's very first day in office. A straight shooter with zero tolerance for bullshit, this is the guy who said "Prohibition cannot be enforced for the simple reason that ...
Jun 13, 2012•46 min
It's August 14, 1945, V-J Day, in Times Square. The war is finally over and everyone's celebrating. A sailor grabs a nurse and plants one on her. "Life" magazine photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt happens to be nearby, and the rest is history. Kate and Kathleen tell you all about the coincidences, mysteries, lawsuits, and controversies behind that image in this episode of ABC Gotham. To see the alternate picture of that exact same couple at the exact same moment (by US Navy photojournalist Victor J...
May 23, 2012•33 min
Stunning and unusual, with a basement dungeon and a tower you ascend by spiral staircase, Jefferson Market served as a courthouse, survived the 6th Ave elevated train, was saved from destruction, and finally became a branch of the New York Public Library system. Your ABC Gotham hosts Kathleen and Kate tell you all about famous court cases and the criminals that passed through here on their way to the women's correctional facility, which used to be next door. Special ABCG controversy: Kate loves ...
May 15, 2012•31 min
The largest cemetery in the United States is right here in New York City, on Hart Island in the Bronx. There's a sovereign nation on U Thant Island just below Roosevelt Island. And you'll find thriving seaside communities on City Island and Broad Channel. Learn about some of New York City's smaller, lesser- known islands with Kate and Kathleen in this episode of ABC Gotham. But keep your kayak away from the islands that are off- limits bird sanctuaries, or the double- crested cormorants will squ...
Apr 25, 2012•54 min
The Hell Gate, part of the East River that passes between Astoria in Queens and Randall/ Ward's Islands, is the site of hundreds of shipwrecks. Hear about the biggest sunken treasure in NYC history!
Apr 18, 2012•30 min
Crumbling ruins + free bicycle rentals + people in Revolutionary War uniforms + ice cream + art + hammocks + Buttermilk Channel = Governor's Island! Governors Island opens for the summer starting May 26, 2012!!
Apr 03, 2012•36 min
In Episode F, your hosts Kate and Kathleen describe the fetid rancid squalid nightmare that was the Five Points neighborhood. This was the worst slum in the history of the planet. (Okay, tied for worst with London's East End circa 1841.) Learn where it was and how it came about. Hear about the horrific living conditions, famous criminals from the area (including Hellcat Maggie!), and the reformers who helped spur unprecedented recovery. If you want to learn more: Five Points: The Book! Gangs of ...
Mar 28, 2012•49 min
The Trial of the Century was a smoking- hot mess that made a mockery of justice and ultimately destroyed the life of the luminously beautiful It Girl Evelyn Nesbit. Her cracked-out husband, Pittsburgh heir Harry K. Thaw, shot her paramour, world- class architect Stanford White, in the FACE, killing him before hundreds of witnesses. The resulting arrests, court cases, and aftermath gripped a nation obsessed with the kinky stories of the rich and famous. And NONE of this is exaggeration.
Mar 26, 2012•38 min
In Episode D, ABC Gotham's amateur historians Kate and Kathleen debunk some of the NYC stories you learned in school or heard from friends. Albino alligators in the sewers are just the beginning. There are a million myths in this town and we deliver the truth about the best of them. If your grandparents came through Ellis Island, if you're afraid of the Mole People, or if your neighborhood cops sometimes seem a bit TOO ticket- crazy, you need to listen to this one!
Mar 04, 2012•40 min
In Episode 3, ABC Gotham's amateur historians, Kate and Kathleen, discuss the history of contagions NYC, including intractable battles with yellow fever, cholera, smallpox, and Spanish influenza. This mega- episode will tell you about famous patients, major hospitals, heartless conspiracies, and the leisurely beginnings of the New York City Board of Health. You'll want to wash your hands both before and after hearing this podcast. Links to check out after listening: Amazing pictures of North Bro...
Feb 23, 2012•1 hr 21 min
In Episode 2, ABC Gotham's amateur historians, Kate and Kathleen, discuss beer and breweries in the 5 boroughs throughout history. We start in the 1850's with Knickerbocker, Ruppert, Ballantine, Schlitz, Rhenigold, and Piels, and take you all the way up to today with Brooklyn Brewery, Bronx Brewery, Sixpoint, and Chelsea. Beer is unstoppable! Neither Prohibition nor anti- German sentiment could stop NYC brewing for good. You better grab a pint for this episode, because all that talking is going ...
Feb 23, 2012•39 min
In Episode 1, ABC Gotham's amateur historians, Kate and Kathleen, discuss the Atlantic Avenue Tunnel. Built in 1844, closed under suspicious circumstances in 1861, rediscovered in 1980, and then closed in 2010 AGAIN under suspicious circumstance, there's definitely something going on here. This star- studded story includes contributions from Walt Whitman, John Wilkes Booth, H. P. Lovecraft, Bob Diamond, AND Electus Litchfield. (Who's Electus Litchfield? Tune in the find out!) (Photo: John Leita,...
Feb 01, 2012•36 min
