The Bowery Boys: New York City History

• #455 House of Beauty: The Story of the Frick Collection

  We invite you to come with us inside one of America’s most interesting art museums – an institution that is BOTH an art gallery and a historic home.This is The Frick Collection, located at 1 East 70th Street, within the former Fifth Avenue mansion of Gilded Age mogul Henry Clay Frick, containing many pieces that the steel titan himself purchased, as well as many other incredible works of art from master painters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Goya, Turner, and Whistler.Frick himself had a rather complicated legacy. As a master financier and chairman of Andrew Carnegie's massive steel enterprise, Frick helped create the materials for America's railroads and bridges. But his intolerance of labor unions led to a bloody confrontation in the summer of 1892, making him, for a time, one of the most hated men in America.New Yorkers' love for the Frick Collection, however, remains far less complicated. The institution, which has been a museum since 1935, allows visitors to experience the work of the great master painters in an often regal and intimate setting, allowing people to imagine the fanciful life of the Gilded Age. The Frick Collection reopens this month after an extensive renovation (temporarily relocating the collection to the Breuer Building for a few years) and we've got a sneak preview, featuring Frick curator and art historian Aimee Ng.Visit the Bowery Boys website for more images and follow the Bowery Boys on Instagram, Threads, Facebook and Bluesky for even more.

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• #454 Special Delivery: A History of the Post Office

  The history of the United States Postal Service as it plays out in the streets of New York City -- from the first post road to the first postage stamps. From the most beautiful post office in the country to the forgotten Gilded Age landmark that was once considered the ugliest post office.The postal service has always served as the country's circulatory system, linking the densest urban areas to the most rural outposts, a necessary link in moments when the country feels very far apart in other ways. The early American colonies knew this. Benjamin Franklin knew this The Founding Fathers who placed the postal service within the Constitution knew this.And inventions such as the stagecoach, the steamship, the railroad, the pneumatic tube and even the electric car have helped keep the mail steadily flowing over the centuries.New York has even played a pivotal role in the development of the American mail service, from the creation of the Boston Post Road (the first mail road which snaked through Manhattan and the Bronx) to the first mail boxes. Even the first postage stamps were sold in New York -- within former church-turned-post office in lower Manhattan.Why are there so many post offices from the 1930s? Why is New York's largest post office next to Penn Station? And why does New York City have so many individual ZIP codes? And who, pray tell, is Barnabas Bates?Visit our website for more information and imagesMore information here on the Bowery Boys: Gilded Age Weekend This episode was produced and edited by Kieran Gannon

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• #453 All The Beauty In The World: Guarding the Met with Patrick Bringley

  A special bonus episode! Two years ago we featured Patrick Bringley on the show, the author of All The Beauty In The World (Simon & Schuster), regarding his experiences as a security guard at the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the life lessons he learned strolling silently past priceless works of art.The book has become a massive best-seller worldwide and has even become a cultural phenomenon in South Korea, selling more than a quarter million copies in that country alone. So we thought we'd bring Patrick back to the show, on the occasion of his new off-Broadway show based on the book.How do you transform an off-Broadway stage into the Metropolitan Museum of Art? What life lessons can you absorb from walking around museumThis episode was edited and produced by Kieran GannonTickets to All The Beauty In the World here.

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• #452 How New York Got Its Name

  It's one of the most foundational questions we could ever ask on this show -- how did New York City get its name?You may know that the English conquered the Dutch settlement of New Netherland (and its port town of New Amsterdam) in 1664, but the details of this history-making day have remained hazy -- until now.Russell Shorto brought the world of New Amsterdam and the early years before New York to life in his classic history The Island At The Center of The World. His new book Taking Manhattan: The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America functions as a sequel of sorts, revisiting the moment when New Amsterdam ceased to be -- and New York was born.Shorto joins Greg and Tom for a very spirited discussion of international warfare, displaced princes, frantic letter writing and ominous warships in the harbor.At the end of this story, you will not only know how New York -- the city, the state, the whole place, from Buffalo to Long Island -- got its name, you will know the exact forgotten historical figure who gave it that name.Visit the Bowery Boys website for more information. Get Russell Shorto's new book Taking ManhattanThis episode was produced and edited by Kieran Gannon

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• #451 The New Yorker Magazine: Talk of the Town for 100 Years

  The New Yorker turns one century old -- and it hasn't aged a day! The witty, cosmopolitan magazine was first published on February 21, 1925. And even though present-day issues are often quite contemporary in content, the magazine's tone and style still recall its glamorous Jazz Age origins.The New Yorker traces itself to members of that legendary group of wits known as the Algonquin Round Table -- renowned artists, critics and playwrights who met every day for lunch at the Algonquin Hotel.And in particular, to two married journalists – Harold Ross and Jane Grant – who infused the magazine with a very distinct cosmopolitan zest. High fashion, martinis and Midtown Manhattan mixed with the droll wit of a worldly literati.A new exhibition at the New York Public Library --  “A Century of the New Yorker” -- chronicles the magazine’s history, from its origins and creation by Harold Ross and Jane Grant to its current era, under the editorship of David Remnick.Greg and Tom interview the show's two curators Julie Golia and Julie Carlsen about the treasures on display from the New Yorker's glorious past -- from the magazine's first cover (featuring everybody's favorite snob Eustace Tilly) to artifacts and manuscripts from the world's greatest writers.Visit the website for more information and other Bowery Boys podcastsThis episode was edited by Kieran Gannon  

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