In the fourth part of our transportation series BOWERY BOYS ON THE GO, we finally take a look at the birth of the New York City subway. After decades of outright avoiding underground transit as a legitimate option, the city got back on track with the help of August Belmont and the newly formed Interborough Rapid Transit. We'll tell you about the construction of the first line, traveling miles underground through Manhattan and into the Bronx. How did the city cope with this massive project? And w...
Aug 06, 2010•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast For the third part of our Bowery Boys On The Go series, looking back at the history of New York City public transportation, it's a look at the long gone, forgotten methods of getting around the city. The streets were mostly dominated by horse-based transport, but this was smelly and slow -- not to mention awful on the animals. So the city experimented with new ways of moving the masses: by cable car (exported form San Francisco), the trolley and the monorail. Along the way, you'll find out the c...
Jul 23, 2010•20 min•Transcript available on Metacast Before there were subways, New York City transported travelers up and down the length of Manhattan by elevated railroad, an almost unreal spectacle to consider today. Steam engines sat high above several avenues in the city, offering passengers not just a faster trek to the northern reaches of Manhattan, but a totally new way to see the city in the 19th century. Welcome to our second podcast in our series Bowery Boys On The Go, a look at the history of New York City transportation. Before we get...
Jul 08, 2010•45 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Staten Island Ferry is one of the last remaining vestiges of an entire ferry system in New York, taking people between Manhattan and its future boroughs long before any bridges were built. In Staten Island, the northern shores were spiked in piers, competing ferry operators braving the busy waters of New York harbor.In the first of our summer-long podcasts BOWERY BOYS ON THE GO on New York public transportation, I look at the history of Staten Island's famous ferry, its early precursors, its...
Jun 25, 2010•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast Extra! Extra! Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst vs. the newsboys! Pandemonium in the streets! One hot summer in July 1899, thousands of corner newsboys went on strike against the New York Journal and the New York World. Throngs filled the streets of downtown Manhattan for two weeks and prevented the two largest papers in the country from getting distributed.In this episode, we look at the development of the sensationalist New York press -- the birth of yellow journalism -- from its ver...
Jun 11, 2010•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast Modern American rock music would have been a whole lot different without the rundown dive mecca CBGB's, a beat-up former flophouse bar that made stars out of young musicians and helped shape the musical edge of downtown Manhattan. Owner Hilly Kristal may have initially envisioned a place for 'Country Blue Grass and Blues', but the music spawned by this little hole in the wall would define the contours of American punk and new wave.The Ramones, Blondie, the Talking Heads and hundreds of others ba...
May 28, 2010•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast We're playing Good Cop / Bad Cop this week, as we take a close look at four events from the early history of the New York Police Department. You'll meet shining stars of the force like Jacob Hays, who kept the peace in the early 19th century armed with a mean billyclub -- and the only man to ever hold the title of High Constable of New York. And then you'll encounter Joseph Petrosino, the Italian immigrant turned secret weapon in the early battles against organized crime.Not all the early men in...
May 14, 2010•49 min•Transcript available on Metacast Today it's known as Brooklyn's thriving Russian community next door to the amusements of the neighborhood of Coney Island. But a hundred years ago, the neighborhoods of Brighton Beach and Manhattan Beach were the homes of lavish hotels catering to the upper and upper middle classes. While many people were playing at Coney Island's Steeplechase Park, Dreamland and Luna Park, the wealthiest were playing at the three most toniest hotels -- Brighton Beach Hotel, the Oriental Hotel and Manhattan Beac...
Apr 30, 2010•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast New York City's most exotic residents inhabit hundreds of leafy acres in the Bronx at the once-named New York Zoological Park. Sculpted out of the former DeLancey family estate and tucked next to the Bronx River, the Bronx Zoo houses hundreds of different species from across the globe, many endangered and quite foreign to most American zoos. The well meaning attempts of its founders, however, have sometimes been mired in controversy. The highlight of the show -- and the institution's lowest mome...
Apr 16, 2010•40 min•Transcript available on Metacast We obviously had to spend our anniversary show with the Power Broker himself, everybody's favorite Parks Commissioner -- Robert Moses. A healthy debate about Moses will divide your friends, and we provide the resources to make your case for both sides. Robert Moses was one of the most powerful men in New York from the late 1920s until the late 1960s, using multiple appointed positions in state and local government to make his vast dream of a modern New York comes to fruition. That dream included...
Mar 19, 2010•1 hr 7 min•Transcript available on Metacast Madison Square Garden is certainly the recognizable name in arena entertaining, hosting sports, concerts, even political conventions. But it adopted that reputation from three other buildings which also called themselves 'Madison Square Garden'. The first, inspired by P.T Barnum and a popular bandleader, staked its claim in the hottest area of New York in the 1870s. The second, a classic designed by the city's most famous architect, featured both trendy new sports and high society events. The th...
Feb 19, 2010•46 min•Transcript available on Metacast I 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 different engineers -- and a couple different ambitious designs -- before finally being completed by another architect who then went on in 1940 to design one of the WORST bridges in America. And what se...
Feb 05, 2010•17 min•Transcript available on Metacast Before Delmonico's, New Yorkers ate in taverns or oyster houses. But the city caught the fine dining bug at this family-owned business, Delmonico's Restaurant Francais, which standardized everything you know about restaurants today. Find out about "menus", "fresh ingredients", "dining rooms for ladies" and other unusual and exotic Delmonico innovations. www.boweryboyspodcast.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys...
Jan 29, 2010•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast Trinity Church, with its distinctive spire staring down upon the west end of Wall Street, is more than just a house of worship. Over three different church buildings have sat at this site, and the current one by architect Richard Upjohn is one of America's finest examples of Gothic Revival architecture. The church collected Manhattan's upper crust for decades and functions as one of the city's most powerful landowners. Listen to our short history on the New York institution and find out who's bu...
Jan 22, 2010•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast The Cloisters, home of the Metropolitan Museum's repository for medieval treasures, was a labor of love for many lovers of great European art. In this podcast, I highlight three of the most important men in its history -- a passionate sculptor, a generous multimillionaire and a jet-setting curator. Equally as fascinating is the upper Manhattan park that houses the museum, a site of a Revolutionary War fort of the same name and the exploits of the war's most heroic women. www.boweryboyspodcast.co...
Dec 25, 2009•18 min•Transcript available on Metacast The modern music industry begins.... on 28th Street? A seemingly nondescript street in midtown Manhattan contains some of the most important buildings where early American pop music was created. Tin Pan Alley was a bustling and frenzied area, the most creative area of the city, with songwriters -- and song pluggers -- churning out iconic music. Sing along as we talk about the greatest songwriters and the process they went through to create the most influential tunes of the century. www.boweryboy...
Dec 11, 2009•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast Avast ye mateys, there were indeed pirates in New York! Not only did they operate throughout the New York region in the 19th century, most of their grave misdeeds were focused around the East River waterfront, and in particular, Corlear's Hook. Once a sandy beach, Corlear's Hook, at the bend in the river in lower Manhattan, has a history that include mass slaughter, innovations of the shipping trade, the heart of New York prostitution and the birth of the tenement. And in the last half of the 19...
Nov 28, 2009•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast New York City Hall sits majestically inside a nostalgic, well-manicured park, topped with a beautiful old fountain straight out of gaslight-era New York. But its serenity belies the frantic pace of government inside City Hall walls, and disguises a tumultuous, vibrant history. There have actually been two other city halls -- one an actual tavern, the other a temporary seat of national government -- and the one we're familiar with today is a little less than 200 years old. Join us as we explore t...
Nov 13, 2009•41 min•Transcript available on Metacast Henry Steinway, a German immigrant who came to New York in 1850, made his name in various showrooms and factories in downtown Manhattan, enticing the wealthy with his award-winning quality pianos. At their grand Steinway Hall on 14th Street, the family turned a popular concert venue into a clever marketing opportunity. But their ultimate fate would lie outside of Manhattan; the Steinways would graduate from an innovative factory on Park Avenue to their very own company village in Queens, the bas...
Oct 23, 2009•19 min•Transcript available on Metacast It's time for our third annual 'ghost stories' episode, our mix of historical facts and spooky legends from the annals of New York's past. For this round of scary tales, we visit a famous 19th century townhouse haunted by a lonely spinster, a West Village speakeasy with some guests who still haven't gone home, and the site of a former restaurant that might be possessed with the spirit of a famous folk singer. ALSO: we go back all the way to New Amsterdam for an old legend involving Peter Stuyves...
Oct 09, 2009•39 min•Transcript available on Metacast We're going back to school with one of New York's oldest continually operating institutions -- Columbia University. Or should we say, King's College, the pre-Revolution New York school that spawned religious controversy and a few Founding Fathers to boot. Listen in as we chart its locations throughout the city -- from the vicinity of Trinity Church to midtown Manhattan. And finally to its permanent home on the 'Academic Acropolis' in Morningside Heights. www.boweryboyspodcast.com Support the sho...
Sep 13, 2009•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast Arguably New York's least conventional hotel, the Chelsea Hotel (or rather, the Hotel Chelsea) is the one of New York's counter-culture centers, a glamorous, art-filled Tower of Babel for both creativity and debauchery. From Mark Twain to Andy Warhol, it's been both inspiration and location for artistic wonder. We wind back the clock to the beginnings of Chelsea and to the hotel's early years as one of the city's cooperative apartment buildings. What made the Chelsea so different? And why are pe...
Aug 14, 2009•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast For millions of Americans, Ellis Island is the symbol of introduction, the immigrant depot that processed their ancestors and offered an opening into a new American life. But for some, it would truly be an 'Island of Tears', a place where they would be excluded from that life. How did an island with such humble beginnings -- 'Little Oyster Island', barely a sliver of land in the New York harbor -- become so crucial? Who is the 'Ellis' of Ellis Island? And how did it survive decades of neglect to...
Aug 01, 2009•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast New Yorkers are serious about their pizza, and it all started with a tiny grocery store in today's Little Italy and a group of young men who became the masters of pizza making. In this podcast, you'll find out all about the city's oldest and most revered pizzerias -- Lombardi's, Totonno's, John's, Grimaldi's and Patsy's in all its variations. But if those are the greatest names in New York-style pizza, then who the heck is Ray -- Original, Famous or otherwise? www.boweryboyspodcast.com Support t...
Jul 17, 2009•26 min•Transcript available on Metacast You cannot understand New York without understanding its most corrupt politician -- William 'Boss' Tweed, a larger than life personality with lofty ambitions to steal millions of dollars from the city. With the help of his 'Tweed Ring', the former chair-maker had complete control over the city -- what was being built, how much it would cost and who was being paid. How do you bring down a corrupt government when it seems almost everybody's in on it? We reveal the downfall of the Tweed ring and th...
Jul 02, 2009•38 min•Transcript available on Metacast EPISODE 88 What started in a tiny East Village basement grew to become one of New York's most enduring summer traditions, Shakespeare in the Park, featuring world class actors performing the greatest dramas of the age. But another drama was brewing just as things were getting started. It's Robert Moses vs. Shakespeare! Joseph Papp vs. the city! ALSO: Learn how the Public Theater got off the ground and helped save an Astor landmark in the process. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryb...
Jun 19, 2009•16 min•Transcript available on Metacast Prospect Park, Brooklyn's biggest public space and home to the borough's only natural forest, was a sequel for Olmsted and Vaux after their revolutionary creation Central Park. But can these two landscape architects still work together or will their egos get in the way? And what happens to their dream when McKim, Meade and White and Robert Moses get to it? ALSO: what glamorous 1960s movie actor is buried here? www.boweryboyspodcast.com Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys...
Jun 05, 2009•35 min•Transcript available on Metacast We turn the clock back to the very beginnings of New York history -- to the European discovery of Manahatta and the voyages of Henry Hudson. Originally looking for a passage to Asia, Hudson fell upon New York harbor and the Lenape inhabitants of lands that would later make up New York City. The river that was eventually named after Hudson may not have provided access to Asia, but it did offer something else that attracted the Dutch and eventually the very first settlement, New Amsterdam. I'll te...
May 22, 2009•15 min•Transcript available on Metacast Originally a quiet island of orchards and stone quarries, the place we call Roosevelt Island today was once New York's 'city of asylums', the place where it sent its infirm, its incarcerated, its insane. Today it has the peculiar air of a small town with one of the best views in the world. Find out about its numerous names (from Hog's Island to Welfare Island), its many former institutions, and the stories behind the island's several existing ruins, including the ghostly remains of a smallpox ho...
May 08, 2009•42 min•Transcript available on Metacast A 6-foot plump gold impish figure stares down at you as you look up to observe the gorgeous red-brick design of the Puck Building, built for one of the 19th century's most popular illustrated publications. But this architectural masterpiece was very nearly wiped away by a sudden decision by the city. How did it survive?Puck's utterance "What Fools These Mortals Be!" is the slogan for Puck Magazine and words written by Shakespeare. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys...
Apr 24, 2009•21 min•Transcript available on Metacast 
