The Bowery Boys: New York City History  By  cover art

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

By: Tom Meyers Greg Young
  • Summary

  • The tides of American history lead through the streets of New York City — from the huddled masses on Ellis Island to the sleazy theaters of 1970s Times Square. The elevated railroad to the Underground Railroad. Hamilton to Hammerstein! Greg and Tom explore more than 400 years of action-packed stories, featuring both classic and forgotten figures who have shaped the world.
    Bowery Boys Media
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Episodes
  • The Age of Innocence: Inside Edith Wharton's Classic Novel
    Mar 22 2024

    Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence is a perfect novel to read in the spring — maybe its all the flowers — so I finally picked it up to re-read, in part due to this excellent episode from the Gilded Gentleman which we are presenting to you this week.

    The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s most famous novel, an enduring classic of Old New York that has been rediscovered by a new generation. What is it about this story of Newland Archer, May Welland and Countess Olenska that readers respond to today?

    Noted Wharton scholar Dr. Emily Orlando joins Carl Raymond on The Gilded Gentleman podcast to delve into the background of this novel, take a deep dive into the personalities of the major characters and discuss what Wharton wanted to say in her masterpiece.

    Edith Wharton published The Age of Innocence at a very important moment in her life.

    When the novel came out in 1920, she had been living in France full-time for nearly 10 years and had seen the devastating effects of World War I up close. Her response was to look back with a sense of nostalgia to the time of her childhood to recreate that staid, restrictive world of New York in the 1870s. A world that, despite its elite social cruelty, seemed to have some kind of moral center (at least to her).

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    48 mins
  • #428 The New York Game: Baseball in the Early Years
    Mar 15 2024

    Baseball, as American as apple pie, really is “the New York game.” While its precursors come from many places – from Jamestown to Prague – the rules of American baseball and the modern ways of enjoying it were born from the urban experience and, in particular, the 19th-century New York region.

    The sport (in the form that we know it today) developed in the early 1800s, played in Manhattan’s many open lots or New Jersey public parklands and soon organized into regular teams and eventually leagues. The way that New Yorkers played baseball was soon the way most Americans played by the late 19th century.

    But it wasn’t until the invention of regular ball fields – catering to paying customers – that baseball became truly an urban recreational experience. And that too was revolutionized in New York.

    Just in time for spring and the new Major League baseball season, Tom and Greg are joined by the acclaimed Kevin Baker, author of The New York Game: Baseball and the Rise of a New City to discuss the early history of the sport and its unique connections to New York City.

    This show is truly the ultimate origin story of New York baseball, featuring tales of the city’s oldest and most legendary sports teams – the Yankees, the Dodgers, and the Giants. AND the New York Metropolitans – a different team than today’s Mets located in Queens.

    Where was baseball played? Kevin shares the secrets of New York baseball’s earliest venues – from the many Polo Grounds in upper Manhattan to Ebbets Field in Brooklyn

    This is a true five-borough origin story! With stops at Hilltop Park (Manhattan), Yankee Stadium (Bronx), Fashion Race Course (Queens), Washington Park (Brooklyn), and St. George Cricket Grounds (Staten Island) among many other sites.

    FEATURING the surprising link between baseball and Boss Tweed and his notorious political machine Tammany Hall

    PLUS How did segregation distort the game and where did Black ballplayers play the sport? What was baseball like before Jackie Robinson?

    Visit our website for more information

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    1 hr and 9 mins
  • #427 The Chrysler Building and the Great Skyscraper Race
    Mar 1 2024

    The Chrysler Building remains one of America's most beautiful skyscrapers and a grand evocation of Jazz Age New York. But this architectural tribute to the automobile is also the greatest reminder of a furious construction surge that transformed the city in the 1920s.

    After World War I, New York became newly prosperous, one of the undisputed business capitals of the world. The tallest building was the Woolworth Building, but the city's rise in prominence demanded new, taller towers, taking advantage of improvements in steel-frame construction and a clever 'wedding cake' zoning law that allowed for ever-higher buildings.

    Into this world came William Van Alen and H. Craig Severance, two former architectural partners who had unamicably separated and were now designing rival skyscrapers. Each man wanted to make the tallest building in the world.

    But Van Alan had the upper hand, backed by one of America's most famous businessmen -- Walter Chrysler. His automobiles were the coolest, sleekest vehicles in the marketplace. His brand required a skyscraper of radical design and surprising height.

    In 1930, the Chrysler became the tallest building in the world, a title it held until the Empire State Building.

    Just ten years ago, the Chrysler Building was the fourth tallest in New York City. Today, however, it's the thirteenth tallest building in the city. And that's because of a new skyscraper surge shaping the city's skyline, with supertalls making the skyscrapers of old feel very small in comparison.

    It can be bewildering to see the skyline change so rapidly. But that's exactly how New Yorkers felt exactly one century ago.

    Visit our website for pictures and other episodes

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    1 hr and 25 mins

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Excellent podcast!

As you listen to them and their corny puns, you'll barely believe those two clowns could put together a decent podcast, but they've done it! Sure, it helps that their canvas is New York City history - reducing the chances that even THEY could screw it up ; but they do an excellent - and even original and unconventional - job at it....somehow. Even when podcasting through cold viruses, they manage to stay convivial and original. Well worth a listen.

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