The Bowery Boys

05/01/2026

A fresh new podcast for the new year! On a new episode of the Bowery Boys, hear about the unlikeliest man to ever be president of the United States and how an Upper East Side recluse became his conscience during a tumultuous period of the Gilded Age:

On Lexington Avenue sits a special food store named Kalustyan’s with a second floor stocked with international spices, syrups and bitters. In 1881, this was the home of Chester A. Arthur, and it was here in the early morning hours of September 20, that he became the 21st President of the United St...

02/01/2026

Chester A Arthur, the 21st president of the United States, once lived at 123 Lexington Avenue in the neighborhood of Kip’s Bay or, more specifically, in the food district nicknamed Curry Row for its collection of Indian restaurants and food shops.

But it was here that he was also inaugurated on the early morning of September 20, 1881 under dark and tragic circumstances.

Learn more in the latest Bowery Boys podcast (episode 477) — Chester A Arthur: The Gentleman Boss. Listen today on Apple, Spotify or wherever you get your audio podcasts.

30/12/2025

One final podcast for 2025! A history of the Times Square New Year's Eve celebration -- from the first ball drop to Dick Clark's Rockin' Eve. Plus a look at the first Chinese New Year celebration in New York City. A special presentation now available in the Gilded Gentleman podcast feed:

PODCAST The ultimate history of New Year’s celebrations in New York City. This is the story of the many ways in which New Yorkers have ushered in the coming year, a moment of rebirth, reconciliation, reverence and jubilation. In a mix of the old and new, we present a history of early New Year’s...

21/12/2025

Christmas time in Red Hook, Brooklyn —courtesy the neighborhood bar Docky’s where there is a lovely display.

20/12/2025

New Yorkers have been using MetroCards on city subways and buses since the early 1990s but now the fun yellow cards are being replaced with OMNI (a tap card system) and will no longer be sold after this year.

Fortunately they are being memorialized in a new show at the New York Transit Museum — Farewell MetroCard! On the new Bowery Boys podcast Subway Tokens, MetroCards and Other Historic Fare, Greg and Tom chat with Jodi Shapiro of the Transit Museum about the unique legacy of the MetroCard.

In fact the Bowery Boys walk you through the entire history of mass transit fare in this episode. Listen today!

19/12/2025

On the new Bowery Boys podcast: The history of paying for the subway, from the nickel fare to the beloved subway token. And a chat with Jodi Shapiro from the New York Transit Museum about their latest tribute to the MetroCard, which is headed for retirement. Listen today!

New Yorkers have gotten around their cities by subways, buses, elevated trains, streetcars and ferries. And the ways in which they have paid for them have changed as well. And keeps changing! This month, the city is saying farewell to the MetroCard, the magnetic-stripe card that has gotten the town....

13/12/2025

Thanks to every one of you who came out to see us at City Winery last night for the latest installment of Bowery Boys History Live! Featuring Aaron Radford-Wattley (author of Hot Victorians), clock whisperer Kyle Supley and the Gilded Gentleman himself, Carl Raymond.

More to come in 2026. Happy holidays!

12/12/2025

This month we mark the 190th anniversary of one of the greatest tragedies to ever befall the city of New York — the Great Fire of 1835 which destroyed hundreds of buildings and very nearly gutted the city’s economy right at the moment that it was beginning to thrive due to the Erie Canal.

What made this fire so especially awful? Why couldn’t they get it under control? And what malevolent forces even worked to spread the blaze?

Learn more in the latest Bowery Boys podcast.

11/12/2025

Did you enjoy the Ken Burns mini-series The American Revolution? The publication New York Groove has a good round-up of Revolutionary War sites in New York and I'm quoted throughout the article with my favorites:

A guide to what to do with yourself once you've finished the new Ken Burns