This week on The Historians Podcast Jim Kaplan reports on the history of Manhattan’s South Street Seaport and a proposal to build a new high rise in the area of that historic district. [Read more…] about South Street Seaport Historic District (Historians Podcast)
Manhattan
Manhattan ‘Flash’ Culture: Madams and Sporting Men
Throughout the nineteenth century, prostitution was rife in American cities. In 1820 there were an estimated two hundred brothels in New York, growing to more than six hundred after the Civil War. By the early 1840s the city was the nation’s whoring capital, its own Gomorrah.
Most houses of assignation before the Civil War were owned and controlled by women. Some madams made spectacular careers, nobody more so than Fanny White whose Mercer Street brothel was, from 1851 onward, a meeting place for Congressmen, dignitaries and diplomats – a Manhattan whoreocracy. [Read more…] about Manhattan ‘Flash’ Culture: Madams and Sporting Men
Napoleon’s Private Parts On Fifth Avenue: A Cautionary Tale
The culture of ancient Rome banned the moving or dividing of corpses. Christians of the third and fourth centuries maintained the desire for proper burial. A call for corporeal integrity runs throughout medieval culture. Bodies intact were ready for the Last Judgment when soul and body were reunited. [Read more…] about Napoleon’s Private Parts On Fifth Avenue: A Cautionary Tale
Profile: Bruce & Wendy Wasserstein and NYC’s Revival
Bruce Wasserstein, the financier and corporate takeover adviser, and his sister Wendy Wasserstein, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright and author, were among the most accomplished and famous New Yorkers of the late 20th and early 21st centuries.
Both died suddenly and somewhat prematurely — Bruce in October 2009 at the age of 61 of a reported aneurism and Wendy at the age of 55 in January 2006 reportedly of lymphoma, but not before they had reached the pinnacle of their chosen professions — Bruce in finance and Wendy in the theater.
Their success was achieved through a combination of shrewd insight and highly effective self-promotion, and the good fortune to live through a period of economic and social revival in New York City, in which they were active participants. [Read more…] about Profile: Bruce & Wendy Wasserstein and NYC’s Revival
Francis ‘Two Gun’ Crowley’s 1931 Killing Spree
Francis “Two Gun” Crowley earned his nickname during a mad spree in 1931 that included murder on a Long Island country lane and a chaotic battle with police on 90th St. in Manhattan. It ended in Crowley’s death in the electric chair less than a year later. [Read more…] about Francis ‘Two Gun’ Crowley’s 1931 Killing Spree
New Book: The Great Kosher Meat War of 1902
Book purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.
Scott D. Seligman’s new book The Great Kosher Meat War of 1902: Immigrant Housewives and the Riots That Shook New York City (Potomac Books, 2020) is a full account of the Great Kosher Meat War of 1902, a milestone in the history of Jewish-American women. [Read more…] about New Book: The Great Kosher Meat War of 1902
NYC Museum Unveils Memorial to COVID-19 Dead
The Morris-Jumel Mansion in Manhattan has opened a new, outdoor public art installation, CoVIDA – Homage to Victims of the Pandemic, this month. The living memorial will be on view at Manhattan’s Roger Morris Park until December 31, 2020. [Read more…] about NYC Museum Unveils Memorial to COVID-19 Dead
Notable NYers of Manhattan: Bloomingdale-Morningside Heights
Book purchases made through this link support New York Almanack‘s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.
The new book Notable New Yorkers of Manhattan’s Upper West Side: Bloomingdale-Morningside Heights (Empire State Editions, 2020) is a compilation of stories of nearly 600 former residents who once called Manhattan’s Upper West Side home. [Read more…] about Notable NYers of Manhattan: Bloomingdale-Morningside Heights
Upper West Side Women Suffragists Program Thursday
Landmark West, the historic preservation organization for the Upper West Side of Manhattan, is set to host Dr. Nina Harkrader, who will share true tales of the Upper West Side Women who made significant contributions to achieving women’s suffrage, on Thursday, November 19th. [Read more…] about Upper West Side Women Suffragists Program Thursday
Slang, Stirrups, Paris in the 20s, and the Invention of the Bloody Mary
Although much remains unclear about the origins of Cockney rhyming slang, there is a consensus that it stems from London’s East End, dates back to the 1840s, and is alive and thriving. One slang expression reads “on one’s tod,” meaning: on one’s own; all alone. The phrase is a shortened version of the original “on one’s Tod Sloan.”
In full, these four words offer a multi-colored mosaic of socio-cultural events involving Manhattan, London, and Paris. [Read more…] about Slang, Stirrups, Paris in the 20s, and the Invention of the Bloody Mary