The Bowery: the strange history of New York's oldest street

Description

Intro; Title Page; Copyright; Contents; Preface; Chapter 1: The Great Bouwerie; Chapter 2: Taverns and Tea Water; Chapter 3: Bowery Bunker Hill; Chapter 4: Pleasure Gardens; Chapter 5: Humbug; Chapter 6: The Mighty Mose; Chapter 7: Dead Rabbits and Plug Uglies; Chapter 8: Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts; Chapter 9: Women in Tights; Chapter 10: Suicide Hall; Chapter 11: Living Curiosities; Chapter 12: The Mayor of the Bowery; Chapter 13: Nickel Kickers; Chapter 14: I'll Never Go There Anymore; Chapter 15: Boulevard of the Forgotten; Chapter 16: Sneaky Pete; Chapter 17: Operation Bowery;"It was the street your mother warned you about--even if you lived in San Francisco. Long associated with skid row, saloons, freak shows, violence, and vice, the Bowery often showed the worst New York City had to offer. Yet there were times when it showed its best as well. The Bowery is New York's oldest street and Manhattan's broadest boulevard. Like the city itself, it has continually reinvented itself over the centuries. Named for the Dutch farms, or bouweries, of the area, the path's lurid character was established early when it became the site of New Amsterdam's first murder. A natural spring near the Five Points neighborhood led to breweries and taverns that became home to the gangs of New York--the "Bowery B'hoys," "Plug Uglies," and "Dead Rabbits." In the Gaslight Era, teenaged streetwalkers swallowed poison in McGurk's Suicide Hall. A brighter side to the street was reflected in places of amusement and culture over the years. A young P.T. Barnum got his start there, and Harry Houdini learned showmanship playing the music halls and dime museums. Poets, singers, hobos, gangsters, soldiers, travelers, preachers, storytellers, con-men, and reformers all gathered there. Its colorful cast of characters include Peter Stuyvesant, Steve Brodie, Carrie Nation, Stephen Foster, Stephen Crane, Carrie Joy Lovett, and even Abraham Lincoln. The Bowery: The Strange History of New York's Oldest Street traces the full story of this once notorious thoroughfare from its pre-colonial origins to the present day."--Goodreads.com. Intro Title Page Copyright Contents Preface Chapter 1: The Great Bouwerie Chapter 2: Taverns and Tea Water Chapter 3: Bowery Bunker Hill Chapter 4: Pleasure Gardens Chapter 5: Humbug Chapter 6: The Mighty Mose Chapter 7: Dead Rabbits and Plug Uglies Chapter 8: Dear Friends and Gentle Hearts Chapter 9: Women in Tights Chapter 10: Suicide Hall Chapter 11: Living Curiosities Chapter 12: The Mayor of the Bowery Chapter 13: Nickel Kickers Chapter 14: I'll Never Go There Anymore Chapter 15: Boulevard of the Forgotten Chapter 16: Sneaky Pete Chapter 17: Operation Bowery Chapter 18: A New Bowery?Acknowledgments Source Notes Bibliography Index Photos