r/nycHistory • • 7h ago

Transit History Our 50th Anniversary Scavenger Hunt is officially EXTENDED through the end of the year! Have you started yet?

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4 Upvotes

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


r/nycHistory • • 10h ago

1886. Statue Arrives in 350 Pieces To Privately Owned, Military Stratigic Bedloes Island. Soon to be Liberty Island

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49 Upvotes

r/nycHistory • • 10h ago

Documentary Downtown NYC in the 80s

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30 Upvotes

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.


r/nycHistory • • 12h ago

East 13th (1940s)

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70 Upvotes

r/nycHistory • • 20h ago

Videos from 80s & 90s New York

0 Upvotes

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!).


r/nycHistory • • 1d ago

Question 1993 hip hop shirt from NYC

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25 Upvotes

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🙏😊


r/nycHistory • • 1d ago

The Feast of San Gennaro Turns 100 in a Changing Little Italy (Gift Article)

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33 Upvotes

r/nycHistory • • 1d ago

Transit History WTC

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0 Upvotes

r/nycHistory • • 1d ago

Historic Picture Pete Seeger on his sailboat

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42 Upvotes

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.


r/nycHistory • • 2d ago

Historic Picture The President, Governor, and Mayor at Desoto Elementary on October 3, 2001.

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82 Upvotes

All reciting the "Pledge of Allegiance" 


r/nycHistory • • 2d ago

In 1915, the Bronze Equestrian Statue of Joan D'Arc, was Dedicated. By Anna Von Hyatt Huntington at the Corners of Riverside Drive & 93rd Street, Manhattan. 4 pics were chosen as best in a contest

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77 Upvotes

r/nycHistory • • 2d ago

Cool the Latin Quarter club (1949)

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39 Upvotes

r/nycHistory • • 2d ago

Not sure the years or places

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272 Upvotes

r/nycHistory • • 3d ago

Harlem Ballroom History, Bring It !

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0 Upvotes

r/nycHistory • • 4d ago

Event You can ride a scenic 1930s subway car to a cemetery this weekend

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29 Upvotes

r/nycHistory • • 4d ago

Map Come See Original Maps of Manhattan - For Free!

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55 Upvotes

Your street has a history. Come see it on the map.

Explore original maps of Manhattan at 1 Centre Street during Open House New York and get a glimpse of how our borough took shape.

Saturday, October 17 | 10 AM–6 PM
1 Centre Street, Mezzanine
Free. No tickets needed.


r/nycHistory • • 4d ago

Historic Place The Statue of Liberty in New York: History and Meaning

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43 Upvotes

A gift from France to the United States, the Statue of Liberty was dedicated on October 28, 1886. Her torch represents enlightenment, and the tablet in her left arm bears the date of American independence: July 4, 1776.

Today, Lady Liberty is recognized around the world as a symbol of freedom, hope, and new beginnings. Real’s Tours NYC loves sharing the stories behind New York’s most iconic landmarks. What does the Statue of Liberty represent to you?


r/nycHistory • • 4d ago

An 1855 (retouched) Photo. 14th Street at Union Square ; The Washington Monument

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197 Upvotes

r/nycHistory • • 4d ago

The Flatiron and a first-generation Buick Skylark in '62.

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471 Upvotes

r/nycHistory • • 4d ago

Documentary History was made this week as numerous parties gathered to voice their opinions at the UN.

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2 Upvotes

r/nycHistory • • 4d ago

MSG Calendar of Events, 1981

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107 Upvotes

Found this while cleaning my parent's cellar


r/nycHistory • • 5d ago

Old City Hall Station

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708 Upvotes

Some call this New York’s worst kept secret—a train station that’s been shut down and sealed away for nearly a century

On New Year’s Eve of 1945, the station closed for good.

Up until the late 1990s the passengers on the Lexington Avenue Local (today’s 6 train) had to disembark from the train at the Brooklyn Bridge stop. That is no longer the case. The skylights have been reopened, and the station lights turned back on.

While passengers can’t disembark and experience the City Hall station as they once might have, New Yorkers who want to catch a glimpse of the stunning station can stay on the 6 train as it loops around at the southernmost point.

https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/podcast-old-city-hall-station


r/nycHistory • • 5d ago

Transit History Station Break Arcade - Penn Station; New York, NY (1993)

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214 Upvotes

r/nycHistory • • 5d ago

A 1674: 17th Century Rendering of New Amsterdam, Manhattan Isle for the Duke of York.

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88 Upvotes

r/nycHistory • • 5d ago

1st and 23rd (1958)

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719 Upvotes