19th Century NoHo: Glamour, Greed, Money, and Murder
Today's New York neighborhood called NoHo, wedged between Greenwich Village and the East Village, holds the stories of many people and places that then went on to become deeply associated with the great Gilded Age.The Astor family began their dynasty here in both investment and real estate as did the well-known Dutch-American merchant family the Schermerhorns.Caroline Schermerhorn, who became the famed Mrs. Astor, grew up right here on Bond Street along with many members of her family. NoHo today still contains many remnants of its early 19th-century glamorous past and sites where the tensions between the wealthy residents of the Lafayette Place neighborhood clashed with the growing immigrant population just one street away on the Bowery. Bowery Boys Walks tour guide Aaron Schielke joins Carl Raymond of the Gilded Gentleman podcast for a look at this fascinating neighborhood, which includes stories of the rich and famous, as well as the macabre details of a grisly 19th-century murder that took place on Bond Street that remains unsolved to this day. Take a Bowery Boys Walks tour with Aaron! Find dates to his NoHo tours here and other walking tours here.This episode was originally released in the Gilded Gentleman feed in March 2025. The show was edited and produced by Kieran Gannon.
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The Boy Mayor of New York
As New York City enters the final stages of a rather strange mayoral election in 2025, let’s look back on a decidedly more unusual contest over 110 years ago, pitting Tammany Hall and their estranged ally (Mayor William Jay Gaynor) up against a baby-faced newcomer, the (second) youngest man ever to become the mayor of New York City.John Purroy Mitchel, the Bronx-born grandson of an Irish revolutionary, was a rising star in New York City, aggressively sweeping away incompetence and snipping away at government excess. Under his watch, two of New York’s borough presidents were fired, just for being ineffectual! Mitchel made an ideal candidate for mayor in an era where Tammany Hall cronyism still dominated the nature of New York City.Nobody could predict the strange events that befell the city during the election of 1913, unfortunate and even bizarre incidents that catapulted this young man to City Hall and gave him the nickname "The Boy Mayor of New York."But things did not turn out as planned. He won his election with the greatest victory margin in New York City history. He left office four years later with an equally large margin of defeat. Tune in to our tale of this oft-ignored figure in New York City history, an example of good intentions gone wrong and — due to his tragic end — the only mayor honored with a memorial in Central Park.Visit the website for images from this podcast. Get your tickets to the Bowery Boys Ghost Stories of New York City live show at Joe's Pub here.This show is a reissue of a show that originally ran in September 2012; however, we think you’ll find more than a few similarities in this tale to the current 2025 mayoral election landscape. This show was refreshed and remastered by Kieran Gannon.
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#468 Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue": A Jazz-Age Drama
On January 3, 1924, 25-year-old George Gershwin was shooting pool in a Manhattan billiard hall when his brother Ira Gershwin read aloud a shocking newspaper article: "George Gershwin is at work on a jazz concerto." There was just one problem—George had never agreed to write any such piece.What happened next would change American music forever. In just five weeks, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants raced to compose what would become "Rhapsody in Blue," breaking down the barriers between popular music and the concert hall. From that snowy February night at Aeolian Hall to today's reinterpretations by contemporary artists, this is the story of how a newspaper lie became a masterpiece—and how one young composer captured the sound of Jazz Age New York in music.Featuring original audio clips of George Gershwin, Ira Gershwin, and orchestrator Ferde Grofé, plus the historic 1924 recording of the premiere performance.The Bowery Boys podcast is supported by Founded by NYC, celebrating New York City's 400th anniversary in 2025.This show was edited by Kieran Gannon
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History Daily: Pirate Tales!
We love the podcast History Daily, a co-production from award winning podcasters Airship and Noiser, so we're presenting two episodes with a very similar theme -- pirates!-- July 6, 1699. The arrest of Captain William Kidd ends the reign of plunder of one of history's most infamous pirates and sparks rumors of buried treasure-- November 16th, 1720. The trials of notorious pirates Anne Bonny, Mary Read, and John Rackham began in Spanish Town, Jamaica.Subscirbe to History Daily wherever you get your podcasts including Apple and SpotifyGet your tickets to the Bowery Boys Ghost Stories of New York City show, live at Joe's Pub
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#467 The Brooklyn Theatre Fire: The Forgotten Gilded Age Tragedy
On the evening of December 5, 1876, the glorious Brooklyn Theatre caught fire, trapping its audience in a nightmare of flame and smoke. The theater sat near Brooklyn City Hall (today's Brooklyn Borough Hall), and the blaze which destroyed it could be seen as far away as Prospect Park.The terrible truth emerged by the morning -- almost 300 people died in this disaster. To this day, it remains the worst disaster in Brooklyn's history in terms of lives lost. Of individual one-day disasters in New York City, only the attacks on the World Trade Center and the General Slocum disaster have taken more lives.But you wouldn't know it from walking through Cadman Plaza today, a bustling public area popular with skateboarders and office workers on lunch breaks. Several historic monuments decorate the plaza today -- but none mark this troubling event in Brooklyn's history.It's a tragic story that also gives us a glimpse into daily life in Gilded Age Brooklyn. And this is a story of the theater world as well -- of a popular play which took American culture by storm, and of an actress whose reputation would be forever linked with the disaster. Why was star Kate Claxton unfairly called "the fire witch" in the press?Visit our website for many images and illustrations from this tragic event.This episode was edited by Kieran Gannon.
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.
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