The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Perched over the Hudson River near the city of Hudson sits Olana State Historic Site, once the wondrous home of painter Frederic Church. This Gilded Age mansion is unlike any in the valley, mystical and imposing, evoking Persian and Moorish architectural styles and reflecting the art and ambitions of its former owner. Church was more than a Hudson River School painter; he was an adventurer and dreamer, bringing the vistas of the world to America within his massive landscape creations. In 1859, when his Heart of the Andes made its New York debut, thousands lined up to soak in its impossible beauty. Victoria Johnson, author of the new biography Glorious Country: How the Artist Frederic Church Brought the World to America and America to the World, has walked in his footsteps — from the Ecuadorian volcano Cotopaxi to the heights of ancient Petra. She joins Greg and Tom on the podcast this week to discuss Church’s unusual life — both as a New Yorker and as a daring traveler. After this show, you may never look at a landscape painting the same way again. This show was edited and produced by Kieran Gannon Visit the website to take a look at some of Church's paintings, as well as a list of other Bowery Boys podcasts related to this show.  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Garment District in Midtown Manhattan has been the center of American fashion for almost one hundred years. The lofts and office buildings here still buzz with the business of making clothing — from design to distribution. But the district has become endangered today as clothing manufacturers move out and the entire industry faces new challenges from online sales and overseas production. During the mid-19th century, garment production thrived in New York thanks to thousands of arriving immigrants skilled in making clothes. Most clothing in the United States was made below 14th Street, in the city’s tenement neighborhoods, especially the Lower East Side. As the industry grew more prominent, the residents and merchants of Fifth Avenue feared it would overtake their fashionable street. So, by the 1930s, a new district was born. Hardly a stitch was sewn in the United States without passing through the blocks between 34th Street and 42nd Street, west of Sixth Avenue. Listen in as we describe the Garment District’s chaotic flurry of activity — from the fabulous showrooms of the world’s greatest designers to the nitty-gritty bustle of its crowded streets. Visit our website for images related to this subject and other podcasts related to the Garment District and New York's garment-making history. In celebration of Made In NYC Week, we present our tribute to New York City's active and thriving garment industry. A version of this show was originally presented in January 2016. Now with a new introduction and ending, this show was reedited by Kieran Gannon. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In our modern world, people are turning to all sorts of unusual beliefs and fringe disciplines just outside the bounds of medical science and psychology, all in search of a better understanding of the human mind and the origins of personality. In the mid-19th century, New Yorkers with similar questions became obsessed with the unusual practice of phrenology, which promised to unlock the secrets of the brain through a careful examination and mapping of the human skull. By the 1840s, visitors to New York City Hall and Barnum’s American Museum could walk just a short distance to the curiosity cabinet run by the Fowler family, a group of phrenologists and publishers who helped popularize this now-debunked practice. At this very odd tourist attraction, visitors could examine rows of skulls and casts of skulls taken from both celebrated figures in human history and some of the world’s most infamous criminals. Phrenology attracted the interest of some of the 19th century’s most notable figures, including P. T. Barnum and Walt Whitman. The Fowlers’ empire of unusual disciplines soon expanded to include mesmerism and even spiritualism. But there was also a darker side to phrenology: it was used by many to justify elitist and racist philosophies. Greg is joined in the studio by Paul Stob, author of the new book Empire of Skulls: Phrenology, the Fowler Family, and a New Nation’s Quest to Unlock the Secrets of the Mind, to explore this strange craze, what people believed they saw when they looked at the skull, and why New York City played such a crucial role in its rise. Visit the website for more images and others relating to this topic. You can also watch this show on YouTube This show was produced and edited by Kieran Gannon. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Robert Hudson, assistant director at Carnegie Hall’s Rose Archives, and Kathleen Sabogal, director of the Rose Museum & Archives, guide listeners through the Hall’s inner treasures. They showcase rare artifacts, recount historic performances and civic gatherings, reveal hidden stories like speakeasy keys and suffrage buttons, and explore landmark premieres and preservation battles.

A lively look at how Lower East Side streets teemed with pushcarts selling everything from fish and pickles to household goods. The story follows immigrant peddlers, municipal efforts to regulate markets, and LaGuardia’s push to replace street vendors with indoor markets. It traces the rise, decline, and modern revival of the Essex Street Market amid changing neighborhoods and supermarket competition.

In 1889, Robert Ray Hamilton, great-grandson of Alexander Hamilton, became ensnared in a sensational web of deceit — forged identities, attempted murder, and brazen fraud that captured headlines across the country. Although this gripping saga played out over a two-year period, it has largely faded from public memory.  In his book The Scandalous Hamiltons, author Bill Shaffer resurrects the scandal in vivid detail. Bill joins The Gilded Gentleman to unravel this astonishing true-crime drama, a story that shocked Gilded Age readers and is sure to raise eyebrows even today. This show is brought to you by The Gilded Gentleman podcast, produced by the Bowery Boys and edited and produced by Kieran Gannon.   Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Why is the West Village both historically important and incredibly expensive? In the final part of our West Village mini-series, we look at the elements that define the modern neighborhood — from battles with Robert Moses to the protests that galvanized the gay-rights movement. The 19th-century charms of the old Village seem timeless, but they survive thanks to the 1969 Greenwich Village Historic District. The fight to save the neighborhood, however, began two decades earlier, and those early conflicts even popularized the name “West Village.” Jane Jacobs, fresh off the publication of her landmark book The Death and Life of Great American Cities, would become the leading voice in protecting this uniquely New York enclave. That same year, clashes between police and patrons at the Stonewall Inn united the area’s LGBT residents, culminating in the first Christopher Street Liberation Day Parade (today’s NYC Pride March). A vibrant, radical queer culture flourished — from leather bars to the Christopher Street Piers. In the 1980s, thousands of New Yorkers died of AIDS, and St. Vincent’s Hospital became known for its pioneering care. Today, long-running establishments like the Monster and Julius’ form a kind of “legacy cultural district,” linking present-day nightlife to those transformative years. In the 1990s, pop-cultural phenomena Friends and Sex and the City (which made one Perry Street brownstone famous) brought international attention to the neighborhood. By the 21st century, the West Village had become a luxury enclave, even as its history was further elevated with Stonewall’s designation as a U.S. National Monument. This episode was produced and edited by Kieran Gannon Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

A stroll through how the West Village became a lively, layered neighborhood. Stories of Irish longshoremen, waterfront life, and tenement conversions paint its working‑class roots. The straightening of Seventh Avenue and the tiny Hess Triangle show urban upheaval. Prohibition-era speakeasies, Jazz Age clubs, and off‑Broadway theaters reveal the area’s bohemian cultural boom.

A stroll through the West Village's tangled streets, tracing its Dutch and Lenape roots and colonial estates. Stories of buried creeks, potter's fields, early prisons, and yellow fever-driven migration. How the irregular lanes resisted the city's grid and produced odd intersections and preserved carriage houses and squares.

A dramatic retelling of the blizzard that paralyzed 19th century New York. They describe how colliding storms, hurricane-force winds, and three-story drifts halted trains, ferries, and communication lines. Vivid scenes of stranded travelers, rooftop escapes, flood-causing bonfires, and the push to bury wires and build underground transit follow the storm’s chaos.