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Pop Culture History

Andy Warhol Exhibition Opens In NYC May 10th

March 28, 2023 by Editorial Staff Leave a Comment

Thirty Are Better Than OneThe Brant Foundation has announced “Thirty Are Better Than One,” an exhibition of over 100 artworks by Andy Warhol, at its East Village location in New York City. On view from May 10th through July 31st, 2023, the survey spans the entirety of Warhol’s career, from his early drawings and intimate Polaroids to instantly recognizable silkscreens and sculptures. [Read more…] about Andy Warhol Exhibition Opens In NYC May 10th

Filed Under: Arts, History, New Exhibits, New York City Tagged With: Andy Warhol, Art History, Brant Foundation, Cultural History, Greenwich Village, Manhattan, New York City, Pop Culture History, printmaking

Secretariat’s Triple Crown at 50

March 9, 2023 by Editorial Staff 3 Comments

Secretariat by Marshall P. Hawkins2023 marks the 50th anniversary of the racehorse Secretariat (March 30, 1970 – October 4, 1989) winning the Triple Crown in 1973, a feat that had not been achieved since it was won by Citation in 1948.

Secretariat, also known as Big Red (a nickname shared with Man O’War), was the ninth winner of Triple Crown, setting and still holding record fastest time in all three races – the Kentucky Derby, the Belmont Stakes and the Preakness Stakes. He spent much of his career in New York State, and was notably beaten at Saratoga Race Course in 1973, but the only three races he ever lost were in New York State. [Read more…] about Secretariat’s Triple Crown at 50

Filed Under: Capital-Saratoga, History, New Exhibits, New York City Tagged With: Aqueduct Racetrack, Belmont Park, Gambling, Hempstead, Horses, Long Island, Nassau County, National Museum of Racing, National Sporting Library & Museum, Pop Culture History, Queens, Saratoga County, Saratoga Race Course, Saratoga Springs, Sports History, Vice

Madam C. J. Walker: Black Hair Care Entrepreneur

March 3, 2023 by Guest Contributor Leave a Comment

History Twins PodcastThe latest History Twins podcast is about Madam C. J. Walker (1867 – 1919), who made a fortune by developing and marketing a line of cosmetics and hair care products for Black women, especially through the business she founded, the Madam C. J. Walker Manufacturing Company.

The first child of her large family born free. Sarah Breedlove was a child near Delta, Louisiana where her parents die and she was orphaned by the age of seven. She moved to Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the age of 10, working as a domestic servant. [Read more…] about Madam C. J. Walker: Black Hair Care Entrepreneur

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Black History, Financial History, Greenburgh, Harlem, Harlem Renaissance, Labor History, New York City, Podcasts, Pop Culture History, Westchester County, Women, womens history

Weegee the Famous: Paparazzo of the Nameless

March 1, 2023 by Jaap Harskamp 1 Comment

Walter Santesso (centre) as freelance photographer Paparazzo in Federico Fellini’s 1960 film LaThe term paparazzo and its plural form paparazzi were first used in English in a Time magazine article dated April 14th, 1961, entitled “Paparazzi on the Prowl.” The piece put the spotlight on a new type of photographer that was giving Rome’s elegant district around Via Veneto an unpleasant reputation. [Read more…] about Weegee the Famous: Paparazzo of the Nameless

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: Art History, Coney Island, Crime and Justice, Cultural History, Documentary, Film History, Fires, Italian History, Jewish History, Journalism, Lower East Side, Manhattan, modernism, Museum of Modern Art, New York City, NYPD, Photography, Pop Culture History

Long Island In The 1980s

February 5, 2023 by Chris Kretz Leave a Comment

long island history project logoBayport and its immediate vicinity in Islip on the south shore of Long Island have some deep ties to history. There’s the Bayport Aerodrome with its vintage airplanes, the Meadowcroft Estate of John Ellis Roosevelt, and the roadside sphinx of the Anchorage Inn from the early 1900s.

But what would all this mean to a teenager in the early 1980s? Today we find out with Bayport native Rob Walch who grew up in the area during the age of video games and the Islanders dynasty. [Read more…] about Long Island In The 1980s

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Cultural History, Islip, Long Island, Podcasts, Pop Culture History, Suffolk County

America’s First Christmas Card & An Early Albany Department Store

December 24, 2022 by Editorial Staff 1 Comment

America's First Christmas Card, Designed and printed by Richard H. Pease for his "Pease's Great Variety Store in the Temple of Fancy" c.1851. Image courtesy of Manchester Metropolitan University Special Collections.Before F. W. Woolworths’, Whitney’s, or even Myer’s department store, there was Pease’s Great Variety Store, located in the Temple of Fancy at 516 and 518 Broadway in Albany, NY.

As with other fancy goods stores, Pease’s catered to the middle and upper middle class selling highly decorated goods like ceramics, prints, furniture and other decorative household items that progressively thinking people might have wanted to purchase. [Read more…] about America’s First Christmas Card & An Early Albany Department Store

Filed Under: Arts, Capital-Saratoga, History, New Exhibits Tagged With: Albany, Albany County, Albany Institute For History and Art, Art History, Christmas, Cultural History, Holidays, Instagram, Pop Culture History

Comic Book Artist Jack Binder & Fort William Henry History

September 6, 2022 by Anthony F. Hall Leave a Comment

figures created by Jack BinderWhat might Lake George have looked like 265 years ago, on the eve of the French attack on Fort William Henry?

That’s the focus of the display in the entryway to the Fort museum and historical attraction. It includes three figures – an American provincial, a British regular and a ranger, all created by the late Jack Binder for the reconstructed fort, which opened to the public in 1955. [Read more…] about Comic Book Artist Jack Binder & Fort William Henry History

Filed Under: Adirondacks & NNY, Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: Archaeology, Art History, Battle of Lake George, Fort William Henry, French And Indian War, Jewish History, Lake George, Military History, New York City, painting, Pop Culture History, sculpture, Warren County

Four Nymphs, a Satyr and Manhattan’s Ladies’ Mile

May 8, 2022 by Jaap Harskamp Leave a Comment

Portrait of John David WolfeUntil the mid-1860s the Fifth Avenue area around Madison Square was Manhattan’s “aristocratic” heart. Its brownstone mansions were occupied by the city’s elite. The gradual incursion of commerce into this residential haven started with high-class hotels.

In 1864 Hoffmann House was one of the first to open its doors. Owned by Cassius H. Read, it was located on the corner of 25th Street & Broadway and contained tree hundred rooms with all the latest conveniences. The establishment proudly advertised its lavish furnishings, carefully chosen artworks, and refined French (Parisian) cuisine. At a time that hotel living was becoming a fashionable alternative to owning a family mansion for wealthy New Yorkers, Hoffmann House was recommended as the most comfortable and homelike residence in the metropolis.

During the 1880s the hotel’s “grand salon” became one of New York’s “secretive” attractions for a very specific reason. [Read more…] about Four Nymphs, a Satyr and Manhattan’s Ladies’ Mile

Filed Under: Arts, History, New York City Tagged With: American Museum of Natural History, Anthony Comstock, Art History, Crime and Justice, Cultural History, French History, Hudson River Railroad, James Fisk, Manhattan, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City, painting, Pop Culture History, Vice

Moll Flanders in Manhattan (Daniel Defoe and Martin Scorcese)

January 7, 2020 by Jaap Harskamp 2 Comments

moll flanders

Daniel Defoe’s The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders (1722) is the story of the notorious life and ultimate repentance of a woman who lived much of her adult life as a prostitute and thief. Set in London, the novel reflects immigrant urban life. It’s a tale told by a woman who does not reveal her real name, but to fellow streetwalkers she is known as Moll Flanders.

She was just six months old when her mother was imprisoned for stealing three pieces of fine “Holland” (imported Dutch fabric) from a draper in Cheapside. The baby was “sold” and spent time in the company of “gypsies” before running off as a child ending up in Colchester. The story starts amid the textile industry of Colchester and Norwich, noted for its refugees from the Low Countries. [Read more…] about Moll Flanders in Manhattan (Daniel Defoe and Martin Scorcese)

Filed Under: History, New York City Tagged With: Books, Film History, Literature, Manhattan, Pop Culture History, Vice, womens history

Blue Coal for Christmas: 1930s Glens Falls Radio

December 5, 2019 by Maury Thompson Leave a Comment

View down Glen Street toward Boxers Drug Store on the intersection of Glen and Warren Streets in late November 1968Are you getting Blue Coal for Christmas?

You might have asked Santa Claus that question, when he took to the air on WBGF radio 1370 of Glens Falls at 6:30 pm Dec. 6, 1930, sponsored by Merkel & Gelman department store.

But to be certain, you would have wanted a second opinion, because only “The Shadow knows!” [Read more…] about Blue Coal for Christmas: 1930s Glens Falls Radio

Filed Under: History Tagged With: Christmas, Glens Falls, Holidays, Media, Pop Culture History, Radio History, Santa Claus

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