The Bowery Boys: New York City History

It's 1964, and we're heading out to Flushing Meadows, Queens, where Robert Moses has constructed the World's Fair of his dreams -- for a second time. Join us for this tale of yesterday's World of Tomorrow...Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys 

The biggest surprise behind the revolutionary creation of the Museum of Modern Art is that the characters who put it together were almost as colorful as the art they championed. Tag along as we peek behind the canvas of New York's oldest temple of the avant garde. PLUS: We debut our first Bowery Girl!www.boweryboyspodcast.comSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Castle Clinton, built to defend New York City from a war that never arrived, has worn a lot of hats in its almost 200 year history; it's been a performance hall, an immigration center and an aquarium! And you can find it in Battery Park, today host to a variety of monuments and made from the materials of ole Fort Amsterdam.www.boweryboyspodcast.comSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Cooper Union is one of New York City's more storied institutions, not only fostering the best and brightest of art and architecture, but playing host to presidents and activists. Also, find out a little about its amazingly resourceful founder, Peter Cooper.www.boweryboyspodcast.comSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

This is our "potpourri" episode with a little bit of everything in it. We open up some of our favorite readers mail, we take you behind the scenes of how we put together an episode, and we describe three of our very favorite history-related websites that you should check out. But it wouldn't be a podcast without some history, right? So we take a brief stroll down the Bowery, with over 200 years of history of this famous street. But has anything really changed? www.boweryboyspodcast.comSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

The Bowery Boys explore the story and the family behind the Brooklyn Bridge, one of New York's most treasured landmarks -- caissons, anchorages and all.  Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys 

Times Square's New Years Eve celebration would not be the same without One Times Square and its annual ball drop. But the quirky history of this sometimes abused building reaches all the way back to the naming of Times Square and its original tenent -- the New York Times.www.boweryboyspodcast.comSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

It got off to a rocky start, but the Plaza Hotel has become one of the most recognizable landmarks in New York City. We take a look at its kooky history, from its days as an upper class 'transient hotel' to a party place for celebrities. Starring: Henry Hardenberg, Eloise, Truman Capote and of course the unsinkable Mrs. Patrick Campbell.www.boweryboyspodcast.comSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Behind the glamour of New York's greatest stage, Radio City Music Hall is a story involving a toothpaste tube designer, an allergy to Brazil nuts, a hydraulic lift protected from the Nazis, and a grandstanding but forgotten man by the name of Roxy. PLUS: The Bowery Boys go backstage (figuratively) with the Rockettes.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys 

What are the Bowery Boys doing in Chicago? Just a little detour in our search for the origins of the Flatiron Building, the wedge shaped, wind producing oddity -- built as an office space in a department store neighborhood which grew to become one of the most romantic, elegant buildings in New York City.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys 

A true five-borough episode! The New York City Marathon hosts thousands of runners from all over the world, the dream project of the New York Road Runners and in particular one Fred Lebow, an employee of the Fashion District turned athletic icon. Find out how he launched a massive race in the midst of bankrupt New York. Also -- our guest host Tanya Bielski-Braham takes us on a speedy tour of the course, from the Verrazano-Narrow Bridge to Tavern on the Green.www.boweryboyspodcast.comSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

For our very special 25th episode, we give you all sorts of Bowery boys -- the cultural and fashion trends of the 1840s, the notorious enemy of the Five Points gangs, and that slapstick bunch of New York actors from the 1930s and 1940s. And of course, a little bit about us!NOTE: B'hoy and G'hal are really pronounced with more of an Irish brogue (think 'buoy' or 'gah-al'). But to emphasize these words (in comparison to boy and girl) we are pushing up the H sounds.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys 

During the 1940s and 1950s, any celebrity worth their weight in fame either frequented or performed at the Copacabana, a swanky nightclub known for its showgirls, its Chinese food and its mafia ties. On this mini-podcast, we take you on a night on the town with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr, and a rowdy table of New York Yankees.www.boweryboyspodcast.comSupport the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Did you know that the man whose name adorns one of the most successful department stores in the world was a sailor turned failed businessman? Or why Macy's Department Store ALMOST takes up an entire city block? Or how many clowns have been in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade? The Bowery Boys let you in on those answers and lots of other fun facts about one of New York City's premier retailers. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys 

The spiral-ramped wonder that is the Guggenheim Museum began as the dream of two colorful characters -- a severe German artist and her rich patron art-lover. So how did they convince the most famous architect in the world to sign on to their dream for a modern art "museum temple"? Come meander with us through the Guggenheim's quirky history. Co-starring Robert Moses! Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys 

The Bowery Boys take on the history of New York City's most 'forgotten' borough, from its beginnings as a British outpost during the Revolutionary War to the controversy over that big stinky landfill. And we do it all in exactly the time it takes for the Staten Island ferry to take you across the New York harbor! (No really, try it.)Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

We're going to the 'original' Waldorf-Astoria Hotel in this podcast to hang with the filthy rich. Our guides are the styling and eccentric Astor family, the centerpiece of 19th Century New York wealth and society. Come along as we weave through a family tree of Williams and John Jacobs, not to mention THE Mrs. Astor, the one and only (even if there were really two).Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys 

It's the only area of Manhattan that actually belongs to the entire world (literally). Come along with the Bowery Boys as we cut the security line to uncover the true story about the unusual headquarters of the United Nations, and why they ended up in New York City in the first place. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys 

In this mini-podcast, we bring you New York City's first internationally famous writer Washington Irving and his creepy tale of the Headless Horseman. We'll tell you where you can go to celebrate his life and work, and what famous Irving landmark has nothing really to do with him.Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys 

The most desirable woman in downtown Manhattan -- the 'beautiful cigar girl' Mary Rogers -- is found horribly murdered along the Hoboken shore. Hear some of the stories of the murder's prime suspects and marvel at the excessive attentions of the penny press. Also: the deductive Edgar Allen Poe writes one of the first detective stories, and the notorious Madame Restell, who has a surprising connection to the murder. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys