The Atlantic Yacht Club, located on the shores of Gravesend Bay in south Brooklyn, is perhaps best known for its contributions to New York sailing in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. For many years, it was one of the largest and most prestigious yacht clubs in New York City. [Read more…] about Atlantic Yacht Club: A Brief History
New York City
New York’s Whaling Industry: Some History
In 2011, the nonprofit Gotham Whale recorded just five humpbacks spotted off New York City. Since then, the number has soared. By 2018, sightings had jumped to 272. Less than a year later, 377 whales of different species were observed.
A recent Discover Magazine article cites two main factors that drive the increasing presence of whales. [Read more…] about New York’s Whaling Industry: Some History
Accessibility Improvements At FDR Four Freedoms State Park
Work to expand accessibility has started at Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park in New York City. Under a $1 million project scheduled to conclude in late spring, work will include a new incline platform lift at the granite Grand Stairway and renovation of two stone pathways to enhance accessibility. [Read more…] about Accessibility Improvements At FDR Four Freedoms State Park
South Street Seaport Historic District (Historians Podcast)
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 ‘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
Museums, Grave Robbing & The Dissection of Boxing ‘Giant’ Charles Freeman
Grave robbing has a long history in religion and science. As monasteries and churches were repositories of relics, religious institutions competed to take possession of bones, teeth, or skulls. Members of the clergy supported grave robbers – long before the word came into circulation – if a body, or parts thereof, were worthy of reverence. [Read more…] about Museums, Grave Robbing & The Dissection of Boxing ‘Giant’ Charles Freeman
It’s a Helluva Town: Roberta Brandes Gratz Virtual Author Talk
Book purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.
Roberta Brandes Gratz’s book It’s a Helluva Town: Joan K. Davidson, the J.M. Kaplan Fund, and the Fight for a Better New York (Bold Type Books, 2020) looks back at key moments in New York City’s development, starting with the history of the J.M. Kaplan Fund and its role in shaping the city from the Second World War to the present. [Read more…] about It’s a Helluva Town: Roberta Brandes Gratz Virtual Author Talk
Lipstick & Lady Chatterly: Modernism, Feminism, and Cosmetics
Chaja Rubinstein was born in December 1872 in a Krakow ghetto, the eldest of eight girls. Having escaped from an arranged Orthodox Jewish marriage, she would become a dominant personality in business circles in London, Paris, and New York. [Read more…] about Lipstick & Lady Chatterly: Modernism, Feminism, and Cosmetics
Historians Podcast Highlights of 2021
This week on The Historians Podcast: excerpts from 2021 podcasts including David Pietrusza – growing up in Amsterdam NY, public radio pioneer Will Lewis, Justice Robert Best – the historic Fulton County Courthouse, Darren Tracy – historic preservation, Jim Kaplan – New York City’s Wasserstein family, Jerry Snyder – Historic Amsterdam League and Oneida County historian Joseph Bottini – Oriskany’s Trinkaus Manor restaurant. [Read more…] about Historians Podcast Highlights of 2021
Long Crisis: New York City’s Path to Neoliberalism
Book purchases made through this link support New York Almanack’s mission to report new publications relevant to New York State.
Newspaper headlines beginning in the mid-1960s blared that New York City, known as the greatest city in the world, was in trouble. They depicted a metropolis overcome by poverty and crime, substandard schools, unmanageable bureaucracy, ballooning budget deficits, deserting businesses, and a vanishing middle class. By the mid-1970s, New York faced a situation perhaps graver than the urban crisis: the city could no longer pay its bills and was tumbling toward bankruptcy. [Read more…] about Long Crisis: New York City’s Path to Neoliberalism