The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Did you know that there once was a Revolutionary War fort located in today’s Red Hook, Brooklyn? Hear about Red Hook’s role in the Battle of Brooklyn, plus other overlooked histories that can still be seen and felt. An outdoor panel at Louis Valentino Jr. Park and Pier in Red Hook, moderated by Greg Young…

All the dirt that’s (un)fit to print — the tale of the Gilded Age scandal sheet Town Topics and its duplicitous publisher William D’Alton Mann. Before the era of the tabloid, New Yorkers got their gossip fix from a publication known as Town Topics, where the shocking secrets of the Gilded Age were revealed. But its…

To get you in the mood for the weekend, every other Friday we’ll be celebrating ‘FRIDAY NIGHT FEVER’, featuring an old New York nightlife haunt, from the dance halls of 19th Century Bowery, to the massive warehouse spaces of the mid-90s. Past entries can be found HERE, including articles on New York’s oldest continuously operating…

The double-breasted, cigar-chewing gentlemen who gathered in the sumptuous rooms of the Fifth Avenue Hotel were occasional connoisseurs of New York City history, and in particular, these amateur historians spoke of the very street corner where their hotel stood. Before Madison Square, when the area was a barren parade ground, one Corporal Thompson opened a roadhouse…

The summer blockbuster Spider-Man: Homecoming may be the greatest New York City superhero movie ever. It doesn’t treat New York like a series of famous backdrops (although there certainly are a couple); it has a familiar landscape and there’s a particular care given to depicting Queens, the home of Peter Parker. There’s even a couple scenes with…