BOOK REVIEW

“The Bowery Boys: Adventures in Old New York: an unconventional exploration of Manhattan’s historic neighborhoods, secret spots and colorful characters” by Greg Young and Tom Meyers. Berkeley, Calif.: Ulysses Press, 2016. 508 pages, $17.95 (paperback).

Greg Young and Tom Meyers co-founded the podcast “Bowery Boys: New York City History” in 2007 and over the following years discussed many of the major events and locations associated with Manhattan’s history. In the introduction to their book, they say “New York keeps changing, keeps rising, so New Yorkers don’t experience their city’s history in an easily digestible fashion. Often, they don’t experience it at all, as the speed and intensity of city life turn it into one big blur.”

In their book, they define Old New York as the pre-1898 city before the merger of the boroughs and they divide their adventures into chapters on individual neighborhoods, each preceded by a detailed map listing major sites in the area. In welcoming their readers to their adventure, the authors express their hope that readers will stick with the book at first and then just get lost on their scavenger hunt through history and discover “a rich new world of characters and experiences at spots around town that you might think you already know.”

In the section on the former Bedloe’s Island (now named Liberty Island because of the Statue of Liberty erected there), readers learn that this place once housed a pesthouse that enforced quarantine on those carrying dreaded diseases. In addition, Captain Kidd was thought to have buried some treasure in this area and treasure-seekers unearthed the spirit of a pirate Kidd had murdered to guard his treasure. The authors warn that even today no visitors are allowed on the island after dark. “Are they afraid we’ll find something?”

In chapter 11 on The Bowery and Astor Place, we learn about the Astor Place Riot in 1849. Today, it is hard to imagine a riot breaking out between rival groups each supporting their favorite actor. However, in 1849 local actor Edwin Forrest’s performances were popular with working-class audiences and they resented his rivalry with British actor William Macready and disrupted his performance of “Macbeth” by throwing “wilted vegetables and rotten eggs” on stage.

A few days later, on the occasion of his final appearance, thousands of rioters gathered outside the Astor Place Opera House, throwing cobblestones and threatening to burn down the building. The state militia was called in and began firing into the crowd to disperse it. About 25 people were killed in this shocking incident. In this area today, four of the original nine houses in La Grange Terrace are preserved in Colonnade Row (428-434 Lafayette Place).

In the chapter on Greenwich Village, we learn that the “House of Death” at 14 W. 10th St. was inhabited by Mark Twain around 1900. His spirit and more than 20 other ghosts have reportedly haunted this abode since the 1930s. The authors quipped: “Of course, rents being as high as they are, many of these longtime specters have reportedly moved to Brooklyn.”

In discussing the statue of Edwin Booth erected in 1918 in Gramercy Park, the authors mention that a statue of William Shakespeare placed in Central Park in 1864 was funded by proceeds from a single performance of “Julius Caesar” in November of that year that featured the three Booth brothers: Edwin, John Wilkes and Junius. This fact is even more compelling when readers realize that only months later John Wilkes Booth shouted Shakespeare’s line from that play, “Sic semper tyrannis!” (Ever thus to tyrants!), as he jumped to the stage after shooting President Abraham Lincoln.

Also in the Gramercy Park area is the 69th Regiment Armory at 68 Lexington Ave. It was built in 1906 to house military personnel and equipment, but in 1913, the Armory Show shocked New York by displaying the first significant collection of modern art in the U.S. and included works by Gaughin, Van Gogh and a young Picasso. Duchamps’ “Nude Descending a Staircase, No. 2” was described by one critic as “an explosion in a shingle factory.” The exterior of this building is still impressive, but the interior was converted into apartments in 1982.

When the city decided to extend Seventh Avenue below 14th Street in the 1910s, it used the power of eminent domain to plow through the West Village after acquiring properties along the way. A property owner named Hess who resented this action, even though he was well compensated, noticed that a small slice of his former property was not on the surveyor’s map. He refused to turn that part over and chose to continue resistance by erecting a tile plaque stating: “Property of the Hess estate which has never been dedicated for public purposes.”

In the Rockefeller Center area once stood the Elgin Botanical Garden, planted in the early 1800s by Dr. David Hosack, best known as the physician who treated Alexander Hamilton after his fatal duel with Aaron Burr. This exotic garden eventually outgrew its environs as Hosack seriously overspent to supply it and the state bought the land and turned it over to Columbia University. In the Madison Square area, the Flatiron Building was built in 1902 by the Fuller Company. This unusual structure was soon blamed for creating sudden wind gusts and the site became famous when men discovered that ladies’ skirts were frequently lifted by these winds and police had to threaten arrest for anyone loitering by the north corner for more than two minutes.

In Little Italy at 53½ Spring St. in 1905, baker Gennaro Lombardi watched all of the people hustling to and from work in that area and decided to create a tomato pie they could pick up for lunch. Realizing that many customers could not afford the nickel that a whole pie cost then, he began slicing them up and charging by the inch, thus creating the pizza slice.

There are a few sections where information may be misleading or where additional details would have been helpful. For example, in chapter 20, Hell’s Kitchen and Columbus Circle, the district covered is 40th Street to 60th Street and Eighth Avenue to the Hudson River. The authors then proceed to mention that the name Hell’s Kitchen originally referred to a tenement at 553 W. 39th St., yet they define 40th Street as the southern boundary of the district called Hell’s Kitchen and thus dismiss 10 blocks of the city where newspapers regularly referred to events as taking place in Hell’s Kitchen. In addition, the Tenderloin district is expanded beyond Eighth Avenue all the way to the Hudson River, thus swallowing up the lower section of Hell’s Kitchen.

When discussing one of Manhattan’s oldest buildings, Fraunces Tavern, located way downtown at 54 Pearl St., the authors correctly refer to the structure as the site of meetings during the Revolutionary War and the place where George Washington gave his Farewell Address to his Continental Army officers and where both Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr worked briefly. They even refer to the terrorist bombing that took place there in 1975, but they omit any reference to the building’s use as a German beer hall and inn named Beaumeyer’s Broad Street House in the early 19th century.

There is one glaring error in their discussion of the quotation inscribed in the Farley Post Office on the West side (and replicated in post offices around the country a little over a century ago) to the effect that: Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. The authors correctly attribute the quote to Herodotus, but they think he was describing the postal system of ancient Rome when in fact he was discussing the messenger system of the ancient Persians, at a time when Rome was still a very small area.

These are minor problems, however, and I recommend “Adventures in Old New York” as a wonderful guidebook to use in exploring the city and becoming acquainted with numerous interesting sites in the Big Apple. The book’s bibliography, index, maps, numerous illustrations and list of favorite websites are also useful additions. For anyone who enjoys New York City and the great variety of fantastic experiences it offers, as I do, the Bowery Boys have assembled a virtual treasure trove.