Body-Snatchers, Hypnotists, and Beats: The Long, Strange History of St Mark’s...
Front view of St. Mark’s Church (via Manhattan Sideways) This is the story of how St. Mark’s Church evolved from a locus of respectable Episcopalian worship to a venue for expletive-ridden poetry...
View ArticleThe Country’s First Arabic Newspaper Took Root in Gilded-Age New York
In the final weeks of the 1892 presidential race between Republican President Benjamin Harrison and Democratic nominee Grover Cleveland, the writers and editors of the first Arabic-language newspaper...
View Article9 Doyers Street and the Gangs of New York Scorsese Didn’t Tell Us About
Martin Scorsese’s 2002 film Gangs of New York is a glimpse into the power struggles that plagued the neighborhoods of lower Manhattan in the late 19th century. It addresses universal and timeless...
View ArticleA Home For Little Wanderers, and the Occasional Arsonist
1940s Tax Lot photo. Credit: New York City Department of Records. The Saturday before Christmas, 1921, near Third Avenue and 12th Street, a truck struck and killed little Amelia Laredo, who was on her...
View ArticleThe Sip-In That ‘Legalized Gay Bars’ Before Stonewall
The building in 1969 and 50 years later in 2019. Courtesy Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation and NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission. On the quiet corner of West 10th Street and...
View ArticleThe Village East Cinema: From Yiddish Theater to Arthouse Cinema
Image via cinematreasures.org On Nov. 16, the Village East Cinema held a special screening of The Room, a maybe-the-worst-film-ever classic that has become a cult phenomenon. The screening included a...
View ArticleA Tale of Two Evas: Marriage, Deceit and the Underground Baby Trade
Sketch from Jan. 14, 1891 edition of the “Evening World.” Robert Ray Hamilton was 37 years old when he met his daughter for the first time. A year and a half later, he would die more famous than he...
View ArticleHow Mariners’ Temple Survived Fire and Flux in Chinatown
Mariners’ Temple today. (Photo: Kayla Stewart) On September 21, 1845, Rev. William R., Williams preached a sermon entitled “God’s presence in his sanctuary,” welcoming congregants back to their new...
View ArticleAfter Peter Luger, a Chophouse With Stakes in the New Williamsburg
Williamsburg Bridge in 1991 (Photo by Jet Lowe/Library of Congress) At the end of October, Pete Wells didn’t use his knife to cut through Peter Luger’s vaunted porterhouse— instead he drove it...
View ArticleFrom Governor’s Mansion to Russian Anarchist Hotbed
Drawing from Khleb Y Volia’s opening editorial; the caption reads, “Clear the road, old world,” while the flag reads Union of Russian Workers. On Nov. 7, 1919, the second anniversary of the Bolshevik...
View ArticleAt Kellogg’s Diner, Mediterranean Migrants Got a Piece of the Pie
Kellogg’s Diner, November 2018. The idea of a good life for Irene Siderakis was being able to stay at home with her four children. She got to live that dream until her husband, Christos, died suddenly...
View ArticleKidnappers, Quacks, and Go-Go Boys in One of Jared Kushner’s Buildings
This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses. Death! Destruction! Dutchmen! The history of one intersection in the East Village features murders, kidnappings,...
View ArticleAn ‘Orgy of Brutality’: Police Against Immigrants in the East Village
This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses. 29 Avenue A, 1939-1941 New York City Department of Records.The bullet tore through John Muller’s chest just...
View ArticleBefore Essex Crossing, a ‘Temple of Eden’ With an Incendiary History
This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses. From Fire and Water Engineering, 1907. The Essex is the tall, glassy residential and commercial building that...
View ArticleAfter 36 Years, Greenpoint Hospital Emerges From Twilight Sleep
This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses. A view of the Greenpoint Hospital complex from across Jackson Street, on the corner with Kingsland Ave. On the...
View ArticleA Factory That Saw ‘Smoky Skies, Blazing Blasts’ Awaits a New Chapter in...
This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses. (Photo: Emily Corona) Sol Graf was a vital-looking 36-year-old Jew in 1966 who, in the company of his wife and...
View ArticleFrom Batters to Battallions: A Brooklyn Armory Sits On Baseball History
This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses. Exterior of the armory today. The 47th Regiment Armory on Marcy Avenue has loomed over its neighbors since 1883....
View ArticleA Castle That Protected Soldiers Struggles to Do the Same For the Homeless
This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses. Allen Ross lives in a castle, but it feels more like purgatory. Ross is diabetic, arthritic and schizophrenic...
View ArticleAmerica’s Oldest Surviving Mosque Is in Williamsburg
This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses. 104 Powers Street. (Photo: Zuha Siddiqui) There’s a building at 104 Powers Street in Williamsburg, an...
View ArticleAn East Williamsburg Church Has Been Home to Germans, Latinos, and Now...
This week, we continue our series of deep dives into the histories of storied addresses. Rev. Rafael Perez leads a prayer at the St. Nicholas Roman Catholic Church on Dec. 9, 2018. On a recent Sunday,...
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