The Brooklyn Army Terminal

Interview: Greg Young of The Bowery Boys Podcast

Easily the best podcast about New York City history is The Bowery Boys, created and still hosted today by Greg Young and Tom Meyers. On each episode, these two uber-NYC enthusiasts deep-dive into so many aspects of this city's history: the people, neighborhoods, events, and eccentricities that have formed this most amazing of places. They go way back in history and make it relevant to life in the city today. The enthusiasm and joy that Greg and Tom bring to each episode is infectious, and the show has gone beyond the podcast into books and tours. 

It's brilliant and extremely fun, and I get excited every time I see a new episode pop up in my IPhone. 

The Bowery Boys, still going strong after more than a decade, is extremely popular with listeners from all over the world. Greg Young was kind enough to answer some questions for Mr NYC about the podcast, the city, its history, and his favorite NYC-related things.  

Tell us what inspired you and your co-host Tom Meyers to create The Bowery Boys podcast. What makes you keep doing it after 11 years? And why call is the "Bowery" boys? 

We started the podcast in 2007 as a way to keep us inspired about the city and to learn more about our neighborhood at the time (which was the Lower East Side). We have not been exhausted by the information we continue to find about the city, so we keep doing the show! The Bowery Boys were a 19th century gang that roamed the streets of Five Points, the notorious slum that once sat near Chinatown today. Although we like to also consider ourselves in the tradition of the ‘Bowery b’hoys’ and ‘Bowery g’hals’ of the 1830s and 40s, Irish-phrased slang for the new young Irish immigrant populations that were moving into lower Manhattan at the time.

While the podcast is about the history of NYC, it seems focused on how the history of the physical city intersects with its cultural and social history -- as well as its "mystique." Is this is a good way to describe the podcast or am I missing something? What else would you say the podcast is about? 

All of that – and more! I’d say the meaning of our show has evolved as well, especially now that we’ve done it for 11 years. Things we talked about at the beginning have changed or are now entirely gone. It’s interesting listening to our early shows just to compare how the city has developed – in some ways good, others bad. For instance, it’s almost amusing to hear our early shows on the High Line and the Meat-Packing District, recorded years before Hudson Yards project was dreamt up. 

How do you guys go about finding subjects to discuss and what is your research process like? How do you avoid being repetitive? 

Topics develop out of research or are inspired by current events or pop culture moments. For instance, our next show is on the history of the New York comedy scene, inspired by our affection for the The Marvelous Mrs Maisel on Amazon. And it’s okay to be a little repetitive, we have discovered. Sometimes it’s worthwhile to approach subjects again from a different point of view. We just recently did a show on Emma Lazarus, incorporating the history of the Statue of Liberty into that, but from the angle of immigration (a hot button issue these days). 

The podcast goes pretty far back into the history of NYC. Are you guys most interested in NYC before the 1950s and '60s or do you ever like to get into recent history? 

We do whatever interests us. When we do recent history, we like to interview people who remembered the history. Sometimes, due to time constraints, its just easier for us to talk about older topics but technically no decade is off limits. Our comedy show in two weeks will have a whole section about the 1990s. 

Do you have to fight the urge to make the podcast Manhattan-centric and is it harder to do episodes about the outer boroughs? 

It drives me crazy because I’d love to do more about the outer boroughs. But we have such a diverse audience at this point – with as many listeners outside New York City as in – and Manhattan tales are still the most popular. PLUS you can’t overlook how important New York (which was just Manhattan until 1898) is in American history. That said, there will be a LOT more Brooklyn and Queens in the coming year. 

Tell us about some of your favorite episodes and what made them so special? 

So many ways to answer this! We love our ghost story shows of course – we get to be melodramatic and over-produced – and we love our big infrastructure shows the most (like the subway, Robert Moses, Jane Jacobs, the grid plan). Personally speaking, I love the music shows. I come from a career in the music industry and was so thrilled to do shows on Billie Holiday and The Cotton Club that were brimming with music. 

What are some of your favorite pieces of NYC historical trivia -- and what things about the city's history do you think are important for anyone who lives here to know? 

I’m currently obsessed with the origins of place names. Find an interestingly names street and go down a rabbit hole of how it got its name. For instance, there are a row of streets in Greenpoint that are alphabetical north to south (Ash Street, Box Street, Clay Street etc.) and its all to do with the 19th century industry that once lined the waterfront there. 

Have you ever read The Power Broker and what are your thoughts on the legacy of Robert Moses? 

One of my favorite books of course! I’ll say this – our city could probably use a 1930s Robert Moses right about now, to erase and reverse some of the damage that 1950s and 60s Robert Moses did to this city. 

What are favorite NYC neighborhoods and why?

I have about a million, but I always suggest people visit Roosevelt Island. You’d be surprised how many native New Yorkers have never been. It’s got a ton of history and some excellent views. Plus – SMALLPOX HOSPITAL RUINS. 

What are some of your favorite NYC movies, TV shows, and novels? Which movies, in your opinion, show off the city the best or makes people really understand why life is (or was) like here? 

The aforementioned Mrs Maisel, Mad Men, The Knick – are all excellent portrayals of New York. The Alienist was often good, even though it was filmed in Europe. In terms of recent movies – believe it or not, Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them actually does an amazing job at re-imagining 1920s New York. Loved the Saiorse Ronan movie Brooklyn, the Oscar Isaac movies A Most Violent Year and Inside Llewyn Davis. I just recently re-watched Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence and thought it really held up. 

As the city becomes more and more gentrified, do you think NYC is in danger of losing parts of its history or has historical preservation done enough to, well, preserve it? Tell us your thoughts about how you think NYC should keep its history while also moving into the future? 

New York City always needs to keep changing; it can’t afford to be a museum artifact like Paris or Rome. We’ve got excellent preservation laws in place and well-regarded community groups fighting to save those artifacts that are most endangered. But I do worry about classic mom-and-pop places disappearing with skyrocketing rents. There are some excellent ideas in play to help save them, but the best way to save those types of businesses is to actually frequent them, spend money at them. We can’t lament the loss of a classic diner or a deli if we’ve never bothered to step foot in it. 

What are your hopes for The Bowery Boys podcast moving forward? What does the future hold? 

More live shows, a new spin-off show for 2019, and another book! 

Finally, what do you love most about NYC? 

My answer changes every week. Last week’s answer – the beauty of snow falling in a brownstone neighborhood with a canopy of trees. The week before – my local bakery’s bagels. Next week’s answer – visiting the American Museum of Natural History on Wednesday to watch workers inflate the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade floats. 

Thanks Greg!

You can find podcast episodes and more info about where to download them here. 

Mr NYC in California

This is another "blast from the past", my memories of traveling in California in the 1990s and early 2000s. 

I've actually been there several times and love, love, love it. Sadly I haven't been in over 15 years but, here they are, my favorite places to go and things to do that, if you ever find yourself in the Golden State, you might enjoy as well:

Los Angeles: I didn't spend a lot of time there but my main memories of LA were doing the Universal Studios tour (got to see the backlot where Back to the Future was shot) and the Nixon Museum (where they sanitize the disgraced man's legacy). I also went to the taping for the pilot of a very bad TV show where the warm up comedian was funnier than the actual show.  

The best part of LA -- leaving it, and driving up to Northern California. We drove along the Pacific Coast Highway, one of the most mind-blowing vistas in the world. We also saw Monterey and Carmel, two gorgeous towns between the state's two major cities (Clint Eastwood himself was Mayor of Carmel at one time). 

San Francisco: the Haight-Ashbury neighborhood was interesting. This was ground zero for the counter-culture, where The Greatful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, and other great bands came to define the 1960s and American rebellion. My brother, his friend, and I walked around there on a Sunday night and we saw lots of young white homeless people who asked us for money for "kitty food." Then we went into an ice cream store where the young lady behind the counter wore just overalls and sunglasses -- at 9 PM at night. I don't remember the flavor of ice cream I ordered but I do recall her telling me that my selection was "mellow." I kid you not, this happened. I don't remember much of the food I ate in SF but the Stinking Rose restaurant was amazing. It's a place where they serve garlic on everything so be sure to go with people who really like you. Palo Alto: I loved Antonio’s Nuthouse, an “iconic” bar with lots of peanuts on the ground. There was also a gorgeous movie revival house (don't remember the name) there where we saw a screening of Lawrence of Arabia. Before the show there was a man playing music on a beautifully restored organ.

The Coppola ranch is something you must see. It is, obviously, gorgeous, and you can buy lots of great wine from the vineyard there. Also, if you're a big fan of Coppola's movies, you can see the desk from The Godfather, the "solid gold telephone" from II, surfboards from Apocalypse Now, and the great man's Oscars and Palm D'Or awards.

Santa Cruz: this area is near SF and is, obviously, stunning. I remember eating two great breakfasts there: one a veranda of a beautiful house and another at a restaurant on the end of a pier, the moutains surrounding us. 

San Simeon or the ”Hearst Castle”: this is the great estate built by William Randolf Hearst that inspired Xanadu from "Citizen Kane”. The Castle is an incredible marble  monument to aquisition, paintings and fabrics adorning every wall. There are swimming pools everywhere where Heart, Marion Davies, Charlie Chaplin and others used to party. The estate is massive, full of wild animals, and is roughly half the size of Rhode Island -- it's that big. San Simeon is a monument to American nobility -- an man-made tribute of a man to himself. I hope to return to California at some point in the future to see a lot more. And, when I do, I can't wait to blog all about it. 

P.S. California has a brand new Governor, Gavin Newsom, who was once mayor of San Fracisco and will take office in January.

P.P.S. Here's an interesting thing that happened to me in California: on my last night in LA, I returned late to the place where I was staying when I got a message from my mom that a "large package" had arrived from the top college I had applied to. The next morning, on a payphone at LAX next to the gate for my flight home, my dad told me over the phone that I'd been accepted. It was a life-changing moment -- a golden moment in the Golden State. 

Contra-peak!

I've become a big fan of the new New York City Transit head Andy Byford -- the affable Brit imported to our city to "turnaround" the ailing subway system. He did it in Toronto and other places so hopefully he'll work his magic here as well.

He seems to be doing so -- this amazing radio interview he did gives a great overview of the many improvements that have been made to the subways just this year and the concrete plans he has for next year. Also, he talks a great deal about how the new Amazon facility in LIC will affect the subways and commuting in the future. Byford has a great tactical mind, an ability to solve short-term problems with a long-term outlook. He's got transportation in his bones. 

You should listen to this interview. My favorite part, however, is when he talks about how, with the new Amazon facility, there might be a lot of "reverse commuting" that Byford calls "contra-peak."

So, whenever you're going against the grain, whenever you're going one way when everyone else is going another, tell them you're going "contra-peak."

"The World Before Your Feet": A Documentary

This blog celebrates all things NYC but perhaps no one has celebrated it quite like a guy named Matt Green -- who literally walked on every block in every street, and in every park, and passed  by every house and every building, across all five boroughs, some eight-thousand miles. It took him six years to complete and cost him his apartment, his job, and two girlfriends. 

This journey of a lifetime, this incredible accomplishment, is the subject of a recently released documenary The World Before Your Feet that is now playing in theaters.

I haven't seen it yet but, obviously, want to. According to the reviews, the documentary is less about a guy exploring his city but more a study of obession, of striking out to accomplish something while everyone else in your life things your crazy to do so.

I love NYC and would love to see a lot more of it but I don't know if I have the physical or mental stamina to do something like this. But this guy was brave enough to do it and it's literally made him a movie star. 

See, obsession gets you somewhere. 

Andy Wahol & The Velvet Underground in the NYC Memory

This weekend the wife and I checked out the Velvet Underground Experience (it's not at a museum but an exhibition space). 

This exhibit is not just "about" the Velvet Undergound -- as the name denotes, it's an immerse experience that transports you back into the world of the downtown 1960s New York arts scene, the time and place from where the Velvets emerged. It gives you a good sense of the cultural excitement, the political tumult, the social experimentation, the wildness and sexiness of a very different time and city that birthed one of the greatest, most musically brilliant bands in history. There are photographs and videos of the leading cultural figures of that time, including Lou Reed, Andy Warhol, and Allan Ginsberg (you are greeted at the beginning of this exhibit by an audiovisual recording of Ginsberg reading his great poem "America"), to put you into the mood and mindset of 1960s NYC.

Throughout the exhibit you learn about how the VU came to be formed and their musical evolution. There are these wonderful booklets that you can read that are short bios of Lou Reed, John Cale, Sterling Morrison and Moe Tucker -- the real Fab Four. There are also bios of the people who influenced and worked with the band, including the singer Nico. There is lots of "projection" in this exhibit, including a place where you literally lie on the ground (on pads thankfully) and look up at short films of the Velvets and The Factory's early years.

While the exhibit is amazing in many ways it also feels incomplete -- the exhibit focuses mostly on the Velvets early years and their relationship with Warhol (who only produced the band's first album). There is very little about the band's end or their penultimate album that produced perhaps the band's greatest song ever -- "Sweet Jane." Also, considering that this is one of the most influentual bands in history, the exhibit gives short shrift to its influence and legacy (there's only a wall with some posters and recordings of covers of the band's songs -- not much). Still, if you're a fan of the VU, and of this now legendary time and place, it's worth checking out.

And, if you can't get enough of Andy Warhol, you can go check out the big exhibit about him at the Whitney (I haven't seen it yet but hope to). You can also read these articles (here and here) about Andy Warhol and life at The Factory. When Warhol died in 1987, he went from man to myth -- and these articles try to seperate the two.

Perhaps it's not surprising that these exhibits are being mounted right now. The NYC of the 1960s feels like not only another time but also another planet, a world completely different from our own. Back then, NYC was a decaying city where culture was exploding. Today, the city is exploding (economically at least) but it has become culturally dull. We are no longer the city of The Factory -- we're the city of Amazon. No longer does someone like Andy Warhol define the future of NYC -- Jeff Bezos does (and he doesn't even live here!). 

And so we remember -- the history, the myth, the legacy -- of Andy Warhol and The Factory, Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground, of NYC then and now -- and of a past that haunts us, for better or worse, that still shapes the city we live in.

Freak Snow Storm in NYC 360

More, More, More Reiki in NYC

New Yorkers, and all Americans, are a stressed out bunch. It's odd that, in the richest city in the richest nation in history, the one thing we don't seem to be able to purchase is genuine relaxation and peace of mind. 

Quite the opposite in fact -- the more prosperous we are, the more stuff we have, the more technological and sociological developments we accrue -- the more exhausted, the more tense, the more stressed out we are. 

More more more! How do you like it?

Progress comes at the ultimate price of our mental, emotional, and physical well-being. Go to some of the least developed societies on earth and the people seem a lot more chillaxed.

Here in NYC, and elsewhere, whole industries exist to bring moments of calm to roiling lives. Masseurs, yogis, and spas all offer -- for a big price -- to temporarily relieve people of their stress. 

One of the weirder offerings to enter this fray is reiki, the "laying of hands", where people literally lie on table and a "specialist" lays hands on, or just above, the person in order to "re-channel energy" and relieve them of their stress and restore well-being. It's very "meta", very weird, very pseudoscience-y, and even people who enjoy other relaxation treatments find it strange.

But reiki is becoming mainstream. Even here in NYC, parents are apparently teaching their kids to do reiki in order to calm there school-related stress. I've never had a professional reiki session but I might and I might even teach it to my kids to relieve their stress -- but I don't necessary think it's worth the price tag to do it too often.

That said, I might try it and, if you want to try it out for yourself in NYC, just do a Google search and you'll find an enormous number of reiki specialists available to treat you. (Just keep in mind that some of them are, uh, well, not exactly legit.) 

El Chapo In NYC

El Chapo, the big time Mexican drug lord, basically the Pablo Escobar of our day (although Pablo was Colombian), is now standing trial right here in NYC.

It was, as you might say, a long time coming. 

El Chapo has been in and out of jail down in Mexico for years -- he'd get busted, be put into a high security prison, and then escape. His power and wealth were such that he could bribe numerous Mexican officials and hide with impunity. Finally, he was captured and extradited to the USA. Now he's in supermax lockup at the Manhattan correctional facility and then, every day, is trekked across the Brooklyn Bridge for his trial. 

I'm guessing that El Chapo will be convicted but, like all defendants in the American system, he's entitled to the presumption of innocence (haha) and a fair trial (good luck).

It's interesting how there's been no outrage about El Chapo being tried here in NYC. I remember a few years ago they were going to try one of the 9/11 terrorists and it became this loud politically-charged controversy. Naturally, this happened because, at the time, Obama was president and his Justice Department had decided to give him a civilian and not a military trial. The Republicans, as is their wont, decided to whip up racist warmongering hysteria about it, trying to make us believe that having this trial in NYC was a huge security threat. Now, of course, a racist Republican from NYC is president -- and not a peep.

Interesting. 

FYI - if you're interested in more of the history of the drug trade, the fourth season of Narcos, set in Mexico, begins soon on Netflix.

Stan Lee, RIP

The brilliant comic book creator and Marvel founder Stan Lee has died at age 95.

The list of classic characters he created and co-created is jaw-dropping: Spider-Man, Iron-Man, The Fantastic Four, The Incredible Hulk, Dr. Strange, and The Thing (amongst many others). 

A son of the the Upper West Side and Washington Heights, Stan Lee loved NYC and made it the backdrop for many of his characters. Peter Parker (aka Spider-Man) is from Queens and The Fantastic Four have their own Manhattan building.

Even though Stan Lee was a creator of superheroes, they were also recognizably human -- they might have superpowers but they had normal vulnerabilities and insecurities. They were New Yorkers to their cores -- tough but humane, smart but sensitive, aggressive but compassionate. Just like their creator. Just like NYC. 

RIP Stan Lee -- we won't see your likes again. Excelsior! 

P.S. Not only was Stan Lee a great creative mind but he was also a solider, a veteran of WWII.

And here they talk about The Thing in Reservoir Dogs.