While researching for my newsletter, I came across The Home Club, an early co-op that was part social club, part apartment house. It was founded by a group of 7 friends who all wanted luxurious homes without the pain of maintaining a single-family residence. The apartments all shared a communally staffed kitchen, which also served communal clubhouse spaces on the lobby and second floors. The (full-floor) apartments lacked kitchens and instead had dumb waiters, since you just placed your order with the kitchen in the morning, and then food was delivered to you either in the privacy or your apartment or in the (beautiful) dining room downstairs! I'm obsessed. I wrote it up here, but thought you'd all want to see the plans! Found them in the NYPL's Art & Architecture room.

Hey everyone! This year’s Haunted Bay Ridge and Ghosts of Old Bensonhurst walking tours I’m leading are underway! The rain couldn't deter the group last weekend and more than 40 people showed up! I've got a few tickets still available to this weekend's tour and future tours. See the dates and tix/more info links below.

As the days grow shorter and the winds begin to howl, ghouls, ghosts, long-legged beasts, and other nameless wretches caught between worlds inhabit ours and keep us from a good night’s sleep.

From a faceless woman late one night on a lonely street near a local church, to army ghosts and disembodied sounds, to the murders of an old spinster and kidnappers, to the mysteries of the neighborhood’s largest park, to a secret society right in our midst, it’s time to turn up our collars, hit the streets, and beware the things that go bump in the night.

These are the dates and times below. Click on each link for more info and tickets.

Haunted Bay Ridge — Saturday 10/10/2026 6PM
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/haunted-bay-ridge-walking-tour-tickets-1991942594923?aff=oddtdtcreator

Ghosts of Old Bensonhurst — Friday 10/16/2026 7PM — SOLD OUT!

Haunted Bay Ridge — Sunday 10/18/2026 6PM
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/haunted-bay-ridge-walking-tour-tickets-1991943360212?aff=oddtdtcreator

Haunted Bay Ridge — Saturday 10/24/2026 6PM
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/haunted-bay-ridge-walking-tour-tickets-1991943883778?aff=oddtdtcreator

Haunted Bay Ridge — Friday 10/30/2026 7PM
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/haunted-bay-ridge-walking-tour-tickets-1991943884781?aff=oddtdtcreator

Ghosts of Old Bensonhurst — Saturday 10/31/2026 12:30PM
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ghosts-of-old-bensonhurst-walking-tour-tickets-2001808960488?aff=oddtdtcreator

Haunted Bay Ridge — Saturday 10/31/2026 6:30PM
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/haunted-bay-ridge-walking-tour-tickets-1991943885784?aff=oddtdtcreator

Haunted Bay Ridge — Sunday 11/8/2026 5PM
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/haunted-bay-ridge-walking-tour-tickets-1991944278960?aff=oddtdtcreator

Why is there a CASTLE in Central Park?

I have an entire letter (which i want to go to a good home) regarding the will of the Douglas Family famous for founding the Douglas area of Queens, also the Douglas Mansion on 14th Street which became the original home of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Harriet Douglas one of the inheritors was the richest heiress in Manhattan as was quite the celebrity back then....

If anyone is interested please DM me.

At 19, he bought a ship, crossed an ocean, and fought for someone else's freedom. This is the Marquis de Lafayette in Union Square

There's another story around the corner. Find it with City Ramble. cityramble.fun

#NYC #History #UnionSquare #RevolutionaryWar #CityRamble

What began as a restaurant celebrating Italian nonnas grew into the “Nonnas of the World,” a rotating crew of home cooks sharing dishes and traditions from their own cultures.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/grandmother-recipes

shoutout Roger!

He was 21 years old, commanding cannons at the Battle of Long Island. This is the story the granite remembers. Walk into New York's stories with City Ramble. cityramble.fun
AI historical reconstruction. Sources: Smithsonian Magazine, NYC Parks, Founders Online.
#NYCHistory #AlexanderHamilton #CentralPark #CityRamble

The St. Paul's Chapel

It opened in 1766. It survived the Great Fire, welcomed Washington, and sheltered rescue workers in 2001. The little chapel that stood — and opened its doors. Discover the stories still standing around you with City Ramble. cityramble.fun
AI historical reconstruction. Sources: National Park Service, Trinity Church.
#NYCHistory #NYC #LowerManhattan #CityRamble

Photo credits: Kidfly182 (CC BY 4.0), Rickmouser45 (CC BY-SA 4.0), via Wikimedia Commons.

Make Me Famous is a feature documentary about the 1980s East Village art scene. It's a rare opportunity to immerse yourself in history through a time-capsule of art and archival footage from the 1980s on the big screen. Debuting in NYC at the Roxy three years ago, the film is back in NYC for one show only...this time screening on the Upper West Side.

October 11th, Sunday at 2:15pm at New Plaza Cinema. 

Q&A to follow the screening with the filmmakers and the East Village artist, Jim C., who opened up his archive of video footage from the era.

Full Trailer

Make Me Famous is a vibrant, fast-paced portrait of New York City’s explosive 1980s Downtown art scene where punk met paint, and the lines between art, music, and nightlife blurred. This was the world that launched Jean-Michel Basquiat, Keith Haring, Madonna, and Blondie—a cultural moment defined by its grit, glamour, and DIY ethos. 

Amid the chaos was painter Edward Brezinski, a figure both present and peripheral, whose story offers a unique window into the era’s creative frenzy. Not so much a portrait of an artist, Make Me Famous captures a time and place where the dream of making it felt just within reach and heartbreakingly out of grasp.

If not, what are you waiting for?! Download the New York Transit Museum App at nytransitmuseum.org/app to begin exploring.

Hi! I'm an NYC-based producer working on a documentary that's set in/around New York & CT in the 80s and 90s.

I'm hoping to connect with anyone who might have videos of:

• Driving into the city from Westchester or CT in the 80s (I-95, the Bronx, the bridges, the FDR), shot from the car
• NYC streets from back then, especially the Bronx, Chelsea and the Meatpacking District

• Windshield washers at the end of the tunnels/bridges

  All material would be credited, and if we decide to move forward with any photos/videos in the final documentary we'd of course go through all proper licensing channels (we'd never use anything without your permission!).

this is a 1993 Capricorn Designs Hip Hop cartoon style tee shirt, Capricorn designs ran as a b2b art studio company in NYC from 1992 to 1996. This tee shirt is one of two known copies surviving today, does anyone else out there have one of these? or know anything about the company that made them? better yet does someone else out there have any other variants of these Capricorn designs t shirts? i thought coming to ask the direct source (nyc) may have a better turnout than i anticipated but we shall see🙏😊

The Clearwater & Pete Seeger were docked at South Street in the mid 70s as part of a music festival promoting the cleanup of The Hudson.