Posted: Dec 27, 2013 | 6:56 PM
by Jared Goldstein
Dec 27th in NYC History:
1657 the establishment of religious tolerance via Flushing's Remonstrance against Quaker discrimination.
1892 The Cathedral Church of St John the Divine construction commenced.
1932 Radio City Music Hall opened.
Posted: Dec 6, 2013 | 3:42 PM
by Jared Goldstein
St. Nicholas Day was the occasion in 1810 for New York City leaders to herald our own gift giver, Santa Claus.
WHAT?!
'Tis the season to find out why, and take the Santa Claus the NYC Tour. Most of Santa's international history began here in NYC where he brought peace, prosperity, and patriotism to the Christmas Season.
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Posted: Nov 19, 2013 | 11:00 PM
by Jared Goldstein
New York’s Oldest Christmas Tradition
A Holiday Reading of ’Twas The Night Before Christmas, A Visit From St. Nicholas
with Bishop of New York Andrew M. L. Dietsche
Sunday, December 22, 2013, 4pm
slide show at 3pm
Prelude Music at 3:30pm
The Church of the Intercession
Broadway & West 155th street
FREE, open to the public, and wheelchair accessible
Following the reading, join St. Nicholas in a lantern procession and wreath-laying at author Clement Clarke Moore’s tomb at Trinity Church Cemetery & Mausoleum, located across the street from the church.
A reception follows.
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Posted: Sep 26, 2013 | 12:25 AM
by Jared Goldstein
There's a lot we can do on Christmas Nights and Days.
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At 11AM on Sunday 12/22/13 there is Gospel singing in a Baptist Church.
Then Brunch at Melba's foodie fusion Soul Food, and a tour of Harlem to Sugar Hill and Washington Heights.
This will get us on time for the 103rd Annual Reading of Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit From St. Nicholas" and then a candlelight processional visit to his grave will be Sunday evening, December 22nd starting at 3:30.
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We can tour fabulous 5th Avenue where there is a foodie food court under the Plaza, visit the famous stores and store windows, and experience Rockefeller Center and its Christmas Tree.
This takes about three hours.
Add in another hour for Lord & Taylor's and Macy's windows, and another 45 minutes for a visit to Santa Land.
Add in an hour-and-a-half for a visit to Little Italy's lights and cannolis.
** ** ** ** **
For daytime foodies there is Greenwich Village, the High Line, and the Chelsea Market, which would take about four hours. This option is not Christmas-y per se, but NYC is festooned with holiday lights, and these are such charming and happening areas.
For an extra hour we can see where Clement Clarke Moore wrote "A Visit From St. Nicholas" and see Madison Square Park, the Flatiron District, once the Toy District, where the first outdoor electric Christmas Tree was lit, and warm up with hot chocolate and snacks at Eataly, the gourmand's playground.
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Posted: Sep 24, 2013 | 10:18 PM
by Jared Goldstein
Happy Birthday to these New Yorkers:
The Bill of Rights
and
Jim Henson.
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Posted: Aug 13, 2013 | 11:28 PM
by Jared Goldstein
1947: Author Danielle Steele born in NYC.
1980: President Jimmy Carter and Vice President Walter Mondale were nominated for a second term at the Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden.
Posted: Aug 12, 2013 | 9:20 PM
by Jared Goldstein
1851: Ethical Culture Society and pioneer of humanistic Judaism, Columbia University's Felix Adler born in Germany.
We see the Ethical Culture society on Upper West Side tours.
1912: Columbia's Salvador Luria who won the Biology Nobel Prize winning biologist in 1969, born in Italy. He died 2/6/1991.
1942: Disney's "Bambi" premiered at Radio City Music Hall.
We see Radio City Music Hall on Rockefeller Center tours.
1944: Beat figure Lucien Carr killed David Kammerer. NYC born and Columbia student, Carr introduced Kerouac, Ginsberg and Burroughs before killing his sometime friend and consistent stalker Kammerer in Riverside Park near the campus. His Beat circle convinced him to turn himself in after which he was convicted of manslaughter. Carr is the father of novelist Caleb Carr, who was not close with his father.
We visit Columbia on Uptown tours, Columbia Tours, and Beat New York tours.
1975: Bruce Springsteen starts a five day run at the Bottom Line in Greenwich Village. Within a few months he will grace the covers of Time and Newsweek magazines.
We visit Greenwich Village on Greenwich Village Walking tours exploring pop musical heritage.
1995: Yankee slugger Mickey Mantle died of cancer.
Posted: Aug 12, 2013 | 8:42 PM
by Jared Goldstein
1790: The American Capitol in New York City moved south to Philadelphia.
We see the site of the capitol on Downtown tours, Colonial NYC Tours, Financial District tours, Wall Street tours, Santa Claus the NYC tour, and George Washington's NYC. On some of these tours we learn how NYC lost its capitol but kept its capital, and what that had to do with Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson. George Washington left NYC as soon as possible, never to return.
1851: Isaac Singer patented his sewing machine, the first ready-made home appliance. It was also suitable for factories. He allowed financing to purchase them, and revolutionized mass production of clothing in NYC where he lived and ran his corporation.
We see the remaining Singer Building on SoHo tours.
1856: Financier and philanthropist Diamond Jim Brady born in NYC. He died 4/13/1917.
1950: Happy Birthday, Kid Creole. Born in NYC.
1988: Jean-Michel Basquiat (December 22, 1960 - August 12, 1988) died of drug related causes in his 57 Great Jones Street loft in an odd building that Andy Warhol owned. Basquiat could likely be the first international black superstar artist. Ten years earlier, after dropping out of Edward R. Murrow High School in Brooklyn, he started in graffiti.
We see 57 Great Jones Street on East Village Tours, and we learn the difference between that street and Jones Street in Greenwich Village.
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Posted: Aug 7, 2013 | 1:23 PM
by Jared Goldstein
1904: Ralph Bunche, the American diplomat and civil rights leader who won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1950, born. He died 12/9/1971.
We visit Ralph Bunche Park on my 42nd Street Tour.
1912: The Progressive Party nominated NYC's Theodore Roosevelt for President after two terms as a Republican President. Roosevelt lost to Wilson.
1919: Actors strike.
1958: Alberto Salazar, NY Marathon winner, born.
1974: Philippe Petit illegally tightroped in between the Twin Towers a quarter of a mile up without a net. Audacious, inspiring, brings people together: this work of art is the opposite of terrorism.
We visit the World Trade Center and explore Petit's legacy on The World Trade Center tour and on my other World Trade Center tours.
1998: Two Queens residents are killed, along with 248 others, in the African Embassies Bombings. The terrorists' trial will be postponed three years later due to the attacks on the World Trade Center on 9/11/2001.
2011: Former NYS Governor Hugh Carey, who helped bail NYC out in the 1970s, died at 92.
Posted: Aug 6, 2013 | 1:00 PM
1911: Lucille Ball, radio, television and film star, producer, and comic actress born. She died 4/26/1989.
1928: Artist Andy Warhol born in Pennsylvania.
1988: Tompkins Square Park and Avenue A police rioting. Homelessness and crime were the backdrop. Tompkins Square Park was an out-of-control refuge for the homeless but also musicians, punks, artists, drug addicts, and dealers. Even during the day there was a sense of danger and craziness.
The city sought to impose a curfew on the park, evicting the homeless.
Tensions brewed for a week. An 11:30 PM protest was followed by an attack from the NYPD, not only against battling protesters, but also anyone on the streets nearby. Cops were beating people in stores, chasing down pedestrians and beating them with clubs. Their badge numbers covered with tape.
Normally, 'police riots' are dismissed as propaganda, but two neighborhood artists and techies were armed with a new technology, hand-held video camcorders which documented the bloody excessive violence.
A hundred charges of police brutality were filed leading to two officers being charged for excessive force.
2009: The Bronx' Sonia Sotomayor was confirmed as the first Hispanic Supreme Court justice.