Best Greg Monroe Podcasts (2024)

1
#431 Park Avenue: History with a Penthouse View 1:19:32

10d ago1:19:32

1:19:32

The story of a filthy and dangerous train ditch that became one of the swankiest addresses in the world -- Park Avenue. For over 100 years, a Park Avenue address meant wealth, glamour and the high life. The Fred Astaire version of the Irving Berlin classic "Puttin' on the Ritz" revised the lyrics to pay tribute to Park Avenue: "High hats and Arrow …

1
#430 The Story of Flushing: Queens History, Old and New 1:35:11

24d ago1:35:11

1:35:11

Few areas of the United States have as endured as long as Flushing, Queens, a neighborhood with almost over 375 years of history and an evolving cultural landscape that includes Quakers, trees, Hollywood films, world fairs, and new Asian immigration. In this special on-location episode of the Bowery Boys, Greg and special guest Kieran Gannon explor…

1
#429 The Moores: A Black Family in 1860s New York 1:05:50

1M ago1:05:50

1:05:50

In today’s episode, Tom visits the Tenement Museum on the Lower East Side to walk through the reconstructed two-room apartment of an African-American couple, Joseph and Rachel Moore, who lived in 1870 on Laurens Street in today’s Soho neighborhood. Both Joseph and Rachel moved to New York when they were about 20 years old, in the late 1840s and 185…

1
The Age of Innocence: Inside Edith Wharton's Classic Novel 48:15

2M ago48:15

48:15

Edith Wharton’s Age of Innocence is a perfect novel to read in the spring — maybe its all the flowers — so I finally picked it up to re-read, in part due to this excellent episode from the Gilded Gentleman which we are presenting to you this week. The Age of Innocence is Edith Wharton’s most famous novel, an enduring classic of Old New York that ha…

1
#428 The New York Game: Baseball in the Early Years 1:09:10

2M ago1:09:10

1:09:10

Baseball, as American as apple pie, really is “the New York game.” While its precursors come from many places – from Jamestown to Prague – the rules of American baseball and the modern ways of enjoying it were born from the urban experience and, in particular, the 19th-century New York region. The sport (in the form that we know it today) developed…

1
#427 The Chrysler Building and the Great Skyscraper Race 1:25:09

2M ago1:25:09

1:25:09

The Chrysler Building remains one of America's most beautiful skyscrapers and a grand evocation of Jazz Age New York. But this architectural tribute to the automobile is also the greatest reminder of a furious construction surge that transformed the city in the 1920s. After World War I, New York became newly prosperous, one of the undisputed busine…

1
#426 Behind the Domino Sign: Brooklyn's Bittersweet Empire 1:13:53

3M ago1:13:53

1:13:53

The Brooklyn waterfront was once decorated with a yellow Domino Sugar sign, affixed to an aging refinery along a row of deteriorating industrial structures facing the East River. The Domino Sugar Refinery, completed in 1883 (replacing an older refinery after a devastating fire), was more than a factory. During the Gilded Age and into the 20th centu…

1
#425 It Happened at Madison Square Park 1:24:10

3M ago1:24:10

1:24:10

So much has happened in and around Madison Square Park -- the leafy retreat at the intersections of Broadway, Fifth Avenue and 23rd Street -- that telling its entire story requires an extra-sized episode, in honor of our 425th episode. Madison Square Park was the epicenter of New York culture from the years following the Civil War to the early 20th…

1
Rewind: Truman Capote and the Black and White Ball 52:22

4M ago52:22

52:22

FX is debuting a new series created by Ryan Murphy — called Feud: Capote and the Swans -- regarding writer Truman Capote's relationship with several famed New York society women. And it's such a New York story that listeners have asked if we’re going to record a tie-in show to that series. Well, here it is! Capote -- who was born 100 years ago this…

1
#424 Kosciuszko! The Man. The Bridge. The Legend. 50:27

4M ago50:27

50:27

The Kosciuszko Bridge is one of New York City's most essential pieces of infrastructure, the hyphen in the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway that connects the two boroughs over Newtown Creek, the 3.5 mile creek which empties into the East River. The bridge is interestingly named for the Polish national hero Tadeusz Kościuszko who fought during the America…

1
#423 Leonard Bernstein's New York, New York 1:10:35

5M ago1:10:35

1:10:35

On the morning of November 14th, 1943, Leonard Bernstein, the talented 25-year-old assistant conductor of the New York Philharmonic, got a phone call saying he would at last be leading the respected orchestral group — in six hours, that afternoon, with no time to rehearse. The sudden thrust into the spotlight transformed Bernstein into a national c…

1
#422 Grace Church: A Most Fashionable History 1:03:55

5M ago1:03:55

1:03:55

Manhattan's Grace Church sits at a unique bend on Broadway and East 10th Street, making it seem that the historic house of worship is rising out of the street itself. But Grace is also at another important intersection -- where religion and high society greeted one another during the Gilded Age. Grace is one of the important Episcopal churches in A…

1
Christmas in Old New York: Holiday History 53:04

5M ago53:04

53:04

This week we're highlighting an especially festive episode of the Gilded Gentleman Podcast, a show with double the holiday fun, tracing the history of Christmas and holiday celebrations over 19th-century New York City history. Licensed New York City tour guide and speaker Jeff Dobbins joins host Carl Raymond for a look at the city’s holiday traditi…

1
#421 Evacuation Day: Forgotten Holiday of the American Revolution 1:04:55

6M ago1:04:55

1:04:55

For decades New Yorkers celebrated Evacuation Day every November 25, a holiday marking the 1783 departure of British forces from the city they had occupied for several years during the Revolutionary War. The events of that departure -- that evacuation -- inspired annual celebrations of patriotism, unity, and a bit of rowdiness. Evacuation Day was h…

1
#420 Garbo Walks: Old Hollywood in New York 51:25

6M ago51:25

51:25

Greta Garbo in New York! A story of freedom, glamour, and melancholy, set at the intersection of classic Hollywood and mid-century New York City. The biography of a legendary star who became the city's most famous 'celebrity sighting' for many decades while out on her regular, meandering walks. Garbo had once been Hollywood's biggest star, a screen…

1
The Official Gilded Age Podcast: S2 E1 with Lord Julian Fellowes 55:01

6M ago55:01

55:01

Here's the first episode of HBO's The Official Gilded Age Podcast, hosted by Tom Meyers of the Bowery Boys Podcast and Alicia Malone of Turner Classic Movies (TCM), the official companion podcast for the HBO series The Gilded Age, streaming on Max. Each week Tom and Alicia will discuss what happened on screen and the real people, places and events …

1
Rewind: The Gilded Age Mansions of Fifth Avenue 1:30:57

6M ago1:30:57

1:30:57

So we don't know if you’ve heard, but New York City is an expensive place to live these days. So we thought it might be time to revisit the tale of the city’s most famous district of luxury — Fifth Avenue. For about a hundred years, this avenue was mostly residential -- but residences of the most extravagant kind. At the heart of New York’s Gilded …

1
#419 Ghost Stories by Gaslight 1:11:50

7M ago1:11:50

1:11:50

A brand new batch of haunted houses and spooky stories, all from the gaslight era of New York City, the illuminating glow of the 19th century revealing the spirits of another world. Greg and Tom again dive into another batch of terrifying ghost stories, using actual newspaper reports and popular urban legends to reveal a different side to the city'…

1
#418 Theodore Roosevelt's Wild Kingdom 53:18

7M ago53:18

53:18

Theodore Roosevelt was both a New Yorker and an outdoorsman, a politician and a naturalist, a conservationist and a hunter. His connection with the natural world began at birth in his Manhattan brownstone home and ended with his death in Sagamore Hill. He killed thousands of animals over his lifetime as a hunter-naturalist, most notably one of the …

1
#417 Walking the East Village 1976-1996 1:11:16

8M ago1:11:16

1:11:16

The rebirth of the East Village in the late 1970s and the flowering of a new and original New York subculture -- what Edmund White called "the Downtown Scene" -- arose from the shadow of urban devastation and was anchored by a community that reclaimed its own deteriorating neighborhood. In the last episode (Creating the East Village 1955-1975) this…

1
#416 Creating the East Village 1955-1975 58:07

8M ago58:07

58:07

Before 1955 nobody used the phrase "East Village" to describe the historic northern portion of the Lower East Side, the New York tenement district with a rich German and Eastern European heritage. But when the Third Avenue El was torn down that year, those who were attracted to the culture of Greenwich Village -- with its coffeehouses, poets and ja…

1
Rewind: The Rebellious History of Tompkins Square Park 45:32

9M ago45:32

45:32

This episode on the history of Tompkins Square Park ties right into an all-new two-part episode coming in September, the first part coming at you next week. Tompkins Square Park is the heart and soul of the East Village. And it's also one of New York City's oldest parks! However this was not a park designed for the service of the upper classes in t…

1
#415 The Early Years of Central Park 55:39

9M ago55:39

55:39

Stroll the romantic, rambling paths of historic Central Park in this week's episode, turning back the clock to the 1860s and 70s, a time of children ice skating on The Lake, carriage rides through the Mall, and bewildering excursions through The Ramble. You’re all invited to walk along with Greg through the oldest portion of Central Park. Not only …

1
#414 The Brooklyn Navy Yard and Vinegar Hill 59:34

9M ago59:34

59:34

The tale of the Brooklyn Navy Yard is one of New York's true epic adventures, mirroring the course of American history via the ships manufactured here and the people employed to make them. The Navy Yard's origins within Wallabout Bay tie it to the birth of the United States itself, the spot where thousands of men and women were kept in prison ships…

1
#413 The New Storytellers: Landmarks, Diners and Everyday New Yorkers 1:04:01

10M ago1:04:01

1:04:01

Instead of looking back to the history of New York City in this episode, we are looking forwardto the future -- to the new generation of creators who are celebrating New York and telling its story through mediums that are not podcasts or books. Today we are celebrating the historians, journalists and photographers who bring New York City to life on…

1
A Gilded Age Tour Up the Island of Manhattan 1:01:48

10M ago1:01:48

1:01:48

It’s one of the great narratives of American urban history — the northward trek of New York society up the island of Manhattan during the 19th century. Bringing you this special story today is writer, tour guide and historian Keith Taillon from KeithYorkCity, joining Carl Raymond from the Gilded Gentleman podcast to analyze this unique social migra…

1
Rewind: The Deadly Draft Riots of 1863 50:03

10M ago50:03

50:03

This month we are marking the 160th anniversary of one of the most dramatic moments in New York City history – the Civil War Draft Riots which stormed through the city from July 13 to July 16, 1863. Thousands of people took to the streets of Manhattan in violent protest, fueled initially by anger over conscription to the Union Army which sent New Y…

1
The Making of the Pledge of Allegiance 29:44

10M ago29:44

29:44

The Pledge of Allegiance feels like an American tradition that traces itself back to the Founding Fathers, but, in fact, the original version is only written in 1892. (And the version you may be familiar with from elementary school is less than 70 years old.) This is the story of the invention of the Pledge, a set of words that have come to embody …

1
#412 The New York Parking Wars 1:05:18

11M ago1:05:18

1:05:18

Take a look at a historic photograph of New York from the 1930s and you'll see automats, newsies, elevated trains and men in fedoras. What you won't see -- dozens and dozens of automobiles on the curb. In a city with skyrocketing real estate values, why are most city streets still devoted to free car storage? It's a situation we're all so used to t…

1
#411 Miss Subways: Queens of the New York Commute 51:43

11M ago51:43

51:43

From 1941 and 1976, dozens of young women and high school girls were bestowed the honor of Miss Subways with her smiling photograph hanging within the cars of the New York subway system. This was not a beauty pageant, but rather an advertising campaign which promoted the subway and drew the eyes of commuters to the train car's many advertisements f…

1
#410 The Roeblings: The Family Who Built The Brooklyn Bridge 1:20:19

12M ago1:20:19

1:20:19

The Brooklyn Bridge, which was officially opened to New Yorkers 140 years ago this year, is not only a symbol of the American Gilded Age, it’s a monument to the genius, perseverance and oversight of one family. This episode is arranged as a series of three mini biographies of three family members -- John Roebling, his son Washington Roebling and Wa…

1
Rewind: The Birth of the Broadway Musical 1:03:51

12M ago1:03:51

1:03:51

The Broadway musical is one of New York City's greatest inventions, over 160 years in the making! It's one of the truly American art forms, fueling one of the city's most vibrant entertainment businesses and defining its most popular tourist attraction -- Times Square. But why Broadway, exactly? Why not the Bowery or Fifth Avenue? And how did our f…

1
The Golden Age of Hip-Hop on Film ... T. Eric Monroe 45:14

1y ago45:14

45:14

You have probably seen the work of TDOT as he is known on the streets -- I got the chance to speak to photograpaher T. Eric Monroe about his work during the 90's golden age of hip hop music. He shares many candid details about his experiences and even gives some great advice: chasing images on his own dime getting published in Thrasher, the Source …

1
#409 The Great New York City Pizza Tour 1:11:16

1y ago1:11:16

1:11:16

The history of pizza in the United States begins in Manhattan in the late 19th century, on the streets of Little Italy (and Nolita), within immigrant-run bakeries that transformed a traditional southern Italian food into something remarkable. But new research discovered in recent years has changed New York food history, revealing an origin tale sli…

1
#408 The Titanic and the Fate of Pier 54 1:02:13

1y ago1:02:13

1:02:13

In the early morning hours of April 15, 1912. the White Star ocean liner RMS Titanic struck an iceberg en route to New York City and sank in the Atlantic Ocean. Survivors were rescued by the Cunard liner Carpathia and brought to their berth at Pier 54 on the rainy evening of April 18. On that very spot today, a fanciful waterfront development juts …

1
5 minutes with a famous celebrity ... Jesse Dittmar 33:59

1y ago33:59

33:59

Ever wonder what it's like to photograph some of the most famous people around -- Jesse Dittmar has plenty of experience doing exactly that. Jesse and I had a great chat and discussed: getting his professional start at 28 preparation is everything having 5 minutes to do an entire shoot intentionally overexposing film creating a book using the print…

1
#407 New York by Gaslight: Illuminating the 19th Century 58:05

1y ago58:05

58:05

Enter the magical world of New York by gaslight, the city illuminated by the soft, revolutionary glow of lamps powered by gas, an innovative utility which transformed urban life in the 19th century. Before the introduction of gaslight in the 1820s, New York was a much darker and quieter place after sunset, its streets lit only by dull, foul-smellin…

1
A Brothel in Nevada ... Victory Tischler-Blue 41:39

1y ago41:39

41:39

I had the honor of speaking to photographer Victory Tischler-Blue about her career and life journey. Among many of her achievements, her ongoing photo series about a brothel in Nevada has been most fascinating. We discuss: a former rock n roll star being a multi-hyphenate meeting "Bobbie" the madame 'Wild Dogs' ... documenting the brothel a show at…

1
Rewind: When The Irish Came To New York 54:19

1y ago54:19

54:19

We just reedited and reworked our 2017 show on Irish immigration in time for St. Patrick’s Day and a celebration of all things Irish! So much has changed in our world since 2017 and this history feels more relevant and impactful than ever before. You don’t have a New York City without the Irish. In fact, you don’t have a United States of America as…

1
From Brooklyn to Grenada ... Elijah Mogoli 38:56

1y ago38:56

38:56

Photographer Elijah Mogoli walks us through his journey as a street photographer born and raised in NYC. He tackles a few areas that most street photographers don't ever think of going to. We discuss: photographing 'Jouvert' in both Grenada and Brooklyn 34th and 8th not imposing one's style onto a new area or location being an impulsive photographe…

1
#406 How Wall Street Got Its Name 57:10

1y ago57:10

57:10

Wall Street, today a canyon of tall buildings in New York's historic Financial District, is not only one of the most famous streets in the United States, it's also a stand-in for the entire American financial system. One of the first facts you learn as a student of New York City history is that Wall Street is named for an actual wall that once stre…

1
#405 Mona Lisa at the Metropolitan Museum of Art 59:53

1y ago59:53

59:53

Mona Lisa, Leonardo da Vinci's stoic portrait and one of the most valuable paintings on earth, came to America during the winter of 1963, a single-picture loan that was both a special favor to Jackie Kennedy and a symbolic tool during tense conversations between the United States and France about nuclear arms. Its first stop was the National Galler…

1
The First Woman Ever Photographed 29:07

1y ago29:07

29:07

Dorothy Catherine Draper is a truly forgotten figure in American history. She was the first woman to ever sit for a photograph — a daguerrotype, in the year 1840, upon the rooftop of the school which would become New York University. Catherine was the older sister of professor John William Draper, later the founder of the university’s school of med…

1
#404 Nighthawks and Automats: Edward Hopper's New York 1:11:43

1+ y ago1:11:43

1:11:43

Within the New York City of Edward Hopper's imagination, the skyscrapers have vanished, the sidewalks are mysteriously wide and all the diners and Chop Suey restaurants are sparsely populated with well-dressed lonely people. In this art-filled episode of the Bowery Boys, Tom and Greg look at Hopper's life, influence and specific fascination with th…

1
#403 The Fulton Fish Market: History at the Seaport 1:04:40

1+ y ago1:04:40

1:04:40

In the 19th century, the Fulton Fish Market in downtown Manhattan was to seafood what the Chicago stock yards were to the meat industry, the primary place where Americans got fish for their dinner tables. Over the decades it went from a retail market to a wholesale business, distributing fish across the country – although as you’ll hear, that was a…

1
Greg Girard -- Cinematic Night Photography 34:39

1+ y ago34:39

34:39

Greg Girard spent many years living and working as a photographer across Asia. Greg talks to us about how he ended up spending so much time abroad and how he developed a career in photography while touring and experiencing Shanghai, Hong Kong, and other great asian cities in the 70s and 80s. We cover: shooting slide film at night the glory of kodac…

1
Rewind: A Bar Named Julius', New York's Newest Landmark 1:03:42

1+ y ago1:03:42

1:03:42

New York City has a new landmark, a little bar in the West Village named Julius', officially recognized by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission on December 6th, 2022. Now it may not look like much from the outside, but it's here that one moment of protest (the Sip-In of 1966) set the stage for a political revolution, “a signature eve…

1
#402 Treasures from the World's Fair 1:05:30

1+ y ago1:05:30

1:05:30

Flushing-Meadows Corona Park in the borough of Queens is the home of the New York Mets, the U.S. Open, the Queens Zoo, the New York Hall of Science and many other recreational delights. But it will always be forever known as the launching pad for the future as represented in two extraordinary 20th century world's fairs. There is so much nostalgia t…

1
Side Streets: Good Diners, Great Pizza and Mars 2112 42:51

1+ y ago42:51

42:51

Greg and Tom -- with some help from producer Kieran Gannon -- reflect nostalgically upon old New York City restaurants from the 1990s (Mars 2112, anyone?), wonder what it was like to eat at a chop suey restaurant, praise the strange wonders of Chez Josephine and Congee Village and reveal their favorite places to get pizza in New York City. --- Here…

1
Be a student of photography ... Isaiah Winters 43:08

1+ y ago43:08

43:08

In this episode we chat with a real life photography professor -- Isaiah Winters. He helps us look through the different tools and resources available to anyone who wants to study photography. I highly recommend you listen to and apply the lessons covered in this discussion: the public library is your best friend don't buy gear, buy an education ho…

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