The Bowery Boys: New York City History

• #449 Italian Harlem: New York's Forgotten Little Italy

  One of America's first great Italian neighborhoods was once in East Harlem, once filled with more southern Italians than Sicily itself, a neighborhood almost entirely gone today except for a couple restaurants, a church and a long-standing religious festival.This is, of course, not New York's' famous "Little Italy," the festive tourist area in lower Manhattan built from another 19th-century Italian neighborhood on Mulberry Street. The bustling street life of old Italian Harlem exists mostly in memory now.If you wander around any modern American neighborhood with a strong Italian presence, you'll find yourself around people who can trace their lineage back through the streets of Italian Harlem. Perhaps that includes yourself.But it's not all warm nostalgia and fond recollections. Life could be quite hard in Italian Harlem, thanks to the nearby industrial environment, the deteriorating living conditions and the street crime, the early years of New York organized crime.So who were these first Italian settlers who left their homes for what would become a hard urban life in upper Manhattan? What drew them to the city? What traditions did they bring? And in the end, what did they leave behind, when so many moved out to the four corners of the United States?Visit the Bowery Boys website for more adventures into New York City historyThis show was produced by Kieran Gannon.FURTHER LISTENING: Past Bowery Boys episodes with links to this show-- The Story of Little Italy-- Nuyorican: The Great Puerto Rican Migration-- Columbus CircleJoin us on Patreon for extra podcasts and lots of other goodiesShare your love of the city’s history with a Bowery Boys Walks gift certificate! Our digital gift cards let your loved ones choose their perfect tour and date.Grab a Bowery Boys tee-shirt, mug or water bottle at our merchandise store.

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• The Return of the Waldorf Astoria (Rewind)

  A star of the New York City skyline is reborn -- the Waldorf Astoria is reopening in 2025! And so we thought we'd again raise a toast to one of the world's most famous hotels, an Art Deco classic attached to the Gilded Age's most prestigious name in luxury and refinement.Now, you might think you know this story -- the famous lobby clock, Peacock Alley, cocktail bars! -- but do we have some surprises for you.The Waldorf Astoria — once the Waldorf-Astoria and even the Waldorf=Astoria — has been a premier name in hotel accommodations since the opening of the very first edition on 34th Street and Fifth Avenue (the location of today’s Empire State Building).But the history of the current incarnation on Park Avenue contains the twists and turns of world events, from World War II to recent diplomatic dramas. In essence, the Waldorf Astoria has become the world’s convention center.Step past the extraordinary Art Deco trappings, and you’ll find rooms which have hosted a plethora of important gatherings, not to mention the frequent homes to Hollywood movie stars.To celebrate the renovated hotel's reopening this spring, the Bowery Boys present a newly re-edited and re-mastered version of their original show from 2016.This show was re-edited and remastered by Kieran Gannon.Join us on Patreon for extra podcasts and lots of other goodiesShare your love of the city’s history with a Bowery Boys Walks gift certificate! Our digital gift cards let your loved ones choose their perfect tour and date.Grab a Bowery Boys tee-shirt, mug or water bottle at our merchandise store.

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• #448 Inside the Memory Palace with Nate DiMeo

  There were very few history podcasts around back in the year 2008, but the Bowery Boys Podcast was certainly here ... and so was The Memory Palace, hosted by Nate DiMeo, presenting small, often forgotten vignettes from history in a descriptive, narrative format.In this special interview episode, Greg talks with Nate on the occasion of his new companion book "The Memory Palace: True Short Stories of the Past" (Penguin Random House) which features many of his fable-like historical portraits, including many from New York City history -- from revolutionary amusements on Coney Island to less frequented corridors within the Metropolitan Museum of ArtAnd Greg and Nate go deep on the relationship between history and memory, on the reliability of memory to help us relive the past and how our own experiences can help fill in the gaps within histories that seem lost to us today. Featuring a couple of elephants, the Wallendas, Parks and Recreation, the X-Men, a very large painting of Versailles, and the big secret about the monster hiding in your closet right now.Listen to episodes of The Memory Palace here. it's also available on Spotify, Apple and the other podcast players, the same places you find the Bowery Boys. This episode was produced by Kieran Gannon. To donate to those affected by the California wildfires, head over to these verified fundraisers at GoFundMeJoin us on Patreon for extra podcasts and lots of other goodiesShare your love of the city’s history with a Bowery Boys Walks gift certificate! Our digital gift cards let your loved ones choose their perfect tour and date.Grab a Bowery Boys tee-shirt, mug or water bottle at our merchandise store. 

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• The World of Tiffany Glass: Lighting the Gilded Age

  Just the name "Tiffany" evokes the glamour and elegance of the Gilded Age. But there is much more to the story than just the eponymous retailer who continues to sell fine jewelry and decorative objects today. In this episode of the Gilded Gentleman podcast, Carl Raymond is joined by Lindsy R. Parrott, the Executive Director of The Neustadt Collection, one of the country's most important collections of Tiffany glass and archival materials, to discuss the two Tiffanys - Charles Lewis Tiffany who began the original retail silver and jewelry and his son Louis Comfort Tiffany who created revolutionary designs in stained glass.   Subscribe and follow The Gilded Gentleman Podcast for more tales of America during the Gilded Age.This episode was edited by Kieran Gannon

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• #447 Bob Dylan's Greenwich Village

   Greenwich Village is one of America's great music capitals, an extraordinary distinction for an old neighborhood of tenements, townhouses, dive bars and a college campus.So many musical titans of jazz, folk, pop and rock and roll got their start in the Village's many small nightclubs and coffeehouses, working alongside artists, writers, actors and comedians to create an American cultural mecca unlike any other.And it was here, on January 24, 1961, that a nineteen-year-old young man from Minnesota entered the fray -- Robert Zimmerman, otherwise known as Bob Dylan.The Village completely transformed the young folk singer into the voice of a generation, working out his transformation on the minuscule stages of the Gaslight, Cafe Wha? and Gerde's Folk City.But this show isn't strictly about Dylan's ascent to greatness, but the neighborhood -- the people, the streets, the basements! -- which cultivated artists like Dylan (and Billie Holiday and Nina Simone and Pete Seeger and Barbra Streisand and Joan Baez and so on.)PLUS: Bob Moses and Jane Jacobs stop by for a hootenanny (and a protest)Visit the website for a list of music credits, research sources and further listening ideasJoin us on Patreon for extra podcasts and lots of other goodiesShare your love of the city’s history with a Bowery Boys Walks gift certificate! Our digital gift cards let your loved ones choose their perfect tour and date.Grab a Bowery Boys tee-shirt, mug or water bottle at our merchandise store.

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