Cityscape

[Editor's Note: This is an encore presentation of "Cityscape" from July 24, 2019.] Thousands of people flock to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx every baseball season to take in a game. Many, of course, will purchase something while there — perhaps a hot dog, a beer, or a hat. On this week's "Cityscape," we're looking at Yankee Stadium, not from the fan perspective, but from the view of a vendor, and a longtime one at that. Stewart J. Zully began vending at Yankee Stadium when he was just 15, and he continued working there into his fifties. Zully describes his experiences as a vendor in his new book, "My Life in Yankee Stadium: 40 Years As a Vendor and Other Tales of Growing Up Somewhat Sane in The Bronx."

[Editor's Note: This is an encore presentation of "Cityscape" from May 19, 2021.] The new album "Songs for Unconventional Vehicles" is a collection of music about some of the strangest cars, trains, planes, submersibles, dirigibles and rockets. It's a companion to Brooklyn-based musician, composer and author Michael Hearst's children's book "Unconventional Vehicles." Hearst is also the brains behind some other very cool book and music projects, including "Unusual Creatures," "Extraordinary People" and "Curious Constructions." He's our guest on this week's "Cityscape."

[Editor's Note: All month, FUV is celebrating Women's History Month, including with some encore presentations of "Cityscape." This episode is from May 29, 2019.] Can changing your wardrobe change your life? Dawnn Karen thinks so. The New York City-based fashion psychologist is our guest on this week's "Cityscape."

[Editor's Note: All month, FUV is celebrating Women's History Month, including with some encore presentations of "Cityscape." This episode is from February 6, 2019.] In her novel, Flying Jenny, author Theasa Tuohy tells the story of barnstorming pilots who thrilled the public with their daring feats in cities large and small in the 1920s. Flying Jenny follows fictional character Jenny Flynn. She's a 17-year-old pilot who's based on real-life pilot Elinor Smith. While not as well known as Amelia Earhart is today, Smith did an amazing thing in October of 1928. She flew her plane under New York City's four East River bridges. Tuohy joins us on this week's "Cityscape" to talk more about that story and her novel, Flying Jenny.

[Editor's Note: All month, FUV is celebrating Women's History Month, including with some encore presentations of "Cityscape." This episode is from January 20, 2021.] The music industry still has a long way to go for gender equality. Research shows that women remain woefully underrepresented in the industry. Enter All the Ladies, a new children's album that was created in protest of the lack of female representation in the music industry. The collection of 11 songs is focused on general equality, female empowerment and breaking glass ceilings. In this edition of Cityscape, we're talking with the album's creator, Joanie Leeds.

[Editor's Note: This is an encore presentation of "Cityscape" from October 19, 2019.] The Statue of Liberty is one of the most instantly recognizable symbols of America. But, how did Lady Liberty find her home in the waters of New York Bay? It's a story of hopes and dreams and failures and successes, and one that features a number of significant people in history. A new book takes a deep dive into the history of the Statue of Liberty. It's called Lady Liberty: An Illustrated History of America's Most Storied Woman. The book includes essays by Joan Marans Dim and paintings by Antonio Masi. Joan and Antonio are our guests on this week's Cityscape.

[Editor's Note: This is an encore presentation of Cityscape from December 22, 2019.] New York City is home to famously unique bookstores like the Strand, Argosy Bookstore, and the Drama Book Shop. But it's no mystery why one specialty bookstore in NYC has been open for forty years. The Mysterious Bookshop is one of the oldest and largest mystery fiction specialty bookstores in the United States. It was originally located in midtown when it opened in 1979, but it now calls Tribeca home. We joined Otto Penzler, the owner, at the shop to talk about the store's collection of whodunits.

New York City is famous for a lot of things — great pizza, great theatre, and definitely great fashion. For over a century, New York has been a major hub of innovations in the fashion world. In this episode of Cityscape, we're talking about why. Joining us is Ariel Viera, a videographer with a special interest in New York City's fashion history. We're also chatting with street style photographer Johnny Cirillo (@watchingnewyork on Instagram) and New York-based TikTok fashion icon Clara Perlmutter (@tinyjewishgirl).

[Editor's Note: This is an encore presentation of Cityscape from January 29, 2020.] People move to New York City for a variety of reasons -- for a new job, to make it on Broadway, to go to college. But, for novelist, playwright and activist Joseph Caldwell, it was largely about finding sexual freedom. Caldwell's new memoir In the Shadow of the Bridge details his life as a gay man and lovestruck writer in New York City. His story captures the before, during and after of the AIDS epidemic, taking us all the way back to when you could rent an apartment in Manhattan for a mere $24 a month.

[Editor's Note: This is an encore presentation of Cityscape from November 20, 2019] Many of the neighborhoods in New York City's five boroughs have a rich and storied history, including Parkchester in the eastern Bronx. Parkchester was built as a planned community. It opened in 1940 and was celebrated as a “city within a city.” But, the neighborhood's early history involved the exclusion of African Americans and Latinos. It was a “whites only” development until the late 1960s. Author Jeffery Gurock takes readers through the history of Parkchester in his new book "Parkchester: A Bronx Tale of Race and Ethnicity." Gurock is our guest on this week's Cityscape.

[Editor's Note: This is an encore presentation of Cityscape from September 18, 2019.] Questions like “how's your social life?” or “did you spend time with family this weekend?” aren't typically asked during an annual checkup at the doctor's office. Most physicians tailor their questions to asking how a patient is physically feeling, not the status of their social calendar. But our guest on this week's "Cityscape" focuses on how factors like friendship and compassion can lead to a healthier life. Dr. Kelli Harding is an assistant clinical professor of psychiatry at Columbia University Irving Medical Center. Her new book is "The Rabbit Effect: Live Longer, Happier, and Healthier with the Groundbreaking Science of Kindness." It focuses on the science of human connection rather than traditional biological health.

Our guest this week is author and New Yorker cartoonist Ken Krimstein. He joins us to talk about his new graphic narrative called “When I Grow Up.” It brings to life the accounts of six Eastern European Jewish youths right before the start of World War II. It was long thought the Nazis destroyed the autobiographies, but they were discovered in 2017 hidden away in a Lithuanian church cellar.

She toured with Beyoncé and Victor Wooten, but now bassist Divinity Roxx is stepping into the spotlight with her first family music album. It's called Ready, Set Go! Divinity is our guest on this week's show to talk about her new album, as well as her two new picture books, life on the road with Beyoncé and more.

We all have stories from the pandemic. What was the last fun event you attended before going into quarantine? Did you reconnect with an old friend on Zoom to pass the time? What went through your mind when you got your first vaccination? Our guest this week has penned a book reflecting on her experiences during the pandemic, and she's encouraging others to put their pandemic stories on paper too. Kate Walter's new book is called "Behind the Mask: Living Alone in the Epicenter."

Bronx Bound Books is the newest bookstore rolling through the Bronx. The mobile store runs out of a bus and makes affordable reading material accessible to Bronx neighborhoods that otherwise lack independent bookstores. Books Through Bars NYC is a nonprofit organization that sends free books to people in prisons all over the country. People who are incarcerated can write letters to the organization requesting reading material, and Books Through Bars NYC fills those requests with everything from history books to comics to dictionaries. Joining us on this edition of Cityscape is Latanya Devaughn, owner of Bronx Bound Books, and Victoria Law, a co-founder of Books Through Bars NYC.

Celebrated actress Tovah Feldshuh has played some big names, including Golda Meir, Katherine Hepburn and Ruth Bader Ginsburg. But in her first book, Tovah introduces us to perhaps the biggest character in her life: her mother, Lily. In her memoir, “Lilyville: Mother, Daughter, and Other Roles I've Played,” Tova explores the bond between mother and daughter, and how we grow to understand our parents better as we age. Tovah joins us this week to talk about her new book and her latest show, "Becoming Dr. Ruth." The limited-run show runs through Sunday, January 2, 2022 at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in Battery Park City.

Coney Island has a long and storied history. While its heyday may be long gone, the seaside area is still known as a place for fun and excitement, as well as a good hot dog! Photographer Larry Racioppo has captured images of Coney Island during some of its darkest and brightest days. His new book "Coney Island Baby" includes photographs depicting Coney Island in the late 1970s, when a series of fires devastated its amusement area. But, it also shows happier times, including images of the early days of the famed Mermaid Parade, one of the events that helped to usher in a new era on Coney Island. Larry Racioppo is our guest on this week's Cityscape, along with writer, historian and journalist Kevin Baker and Dick Zigun, Founder of Coney Island USA. Both Kevin and Dick contributed essays to Larry's book.

In this episode of Building Brooklyn, we hear the story of Canarsie in reverse, from the racial unrest in the 1990s, to the anti-integration school boycotts in the 1960s, the community of Canarsie's Black residents in the 19th century, all the way back to Brooklyn's first residents, the Native Lenape people, who gave the neighborhood its name.

Brooklyn is constantly changing. This episode takes a look at the changes on just one street in one neighborhood: Eighth Avenue in Sunset Park, which many call Brooklyn's Chinatown. In the early 1990s, BPL and the Museum of Chinese in America collected oral histories about Sunset Park. We dive back into that archive, with help from Professor Tarry Hum, urban planner and former Sunset Parker.

In the early 1900s, if you walked around Sunset Park, you might have heard Finnish being spoken on the streets. That's because the neighborhood was home to the largest concentration of Finns in New York City, and though most have since gone from Brooklyn, they left behind their co-operative spirit. The Finns built the first non-profit co-operative apartment buildings in the nation, many of which are still standing today.

WFUV's Cityscape is pleased to bring you Building Brooklyn, a mini-series from Brooklyn Public Library about four neighborhoods that made Brooklyn the vibrant, diverse borough it is today. Episode #2: At the start of World War II, 200 women were employed at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. That number ballooned to 7,000 at the height of the war, but afterward, women workers were gone as rapidly as they appeared. We tell the story using oral histories from women who worked at the yard, and an interview with author Jennifer Egan, who helped create the collection and used it as research for her award-winning novel, Manhattan Beach.

WFUV'S Cityscape is pleased to bring you Building Brooklyn, a mini-series from Brooklyn Public Library about four neighborhoods that made Brooklyn the vibrant, diverse borough it is today. Episode #1: In the middle of the 20th century, a ten square block area in North Gowanus was home to the largest Mohawk settlement outside of Canada. We hear about the Mohawk women who built that community while their husbands and fathers were building skyscrapers. And, we go back hundreds of years in Gowanus and tell the story of the original inhabitants of Brooklyn: the Lenape people, who gave the neighborhood its name.

It's hard to think of a sector that was not impacted by the Coronavirus pandemic. But, thanks to innovative thinking and persistence, the beat went on for many industries and establishments, including Cowboy Technical Services in Brooklyn. Eric Ambel and Tim Hatfield opened their recording studio more than 20 years ago. On this week's Cityscape, Eric and Tim share the story behind Cowboy Technical Services, how music production has evolved over the years, and what steps they took to make sure COVID-19 didn't silence the making of new albums.

For the past 20 years, photographer Frank Ritter has been documenting the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, as well as the rebuilding efforts at the World Trade Center site. His photos capture acts of remembrance, celebrations of heroism, and many other scenes that tell the continuing story of the 9/11 tragedy. Frank's photos are now featured in a new book called 9/11 Remembrance. Renewal. Hope. A Twenty Year Journey. Frank is our guest on this week's Cityscape.

Curtains are rising again at New York City theaters. Epic Players is among the companies returning to the stage after the COVID-19 pandemic upended live performances. The Brooklyn-based theater company was founded five years ago to provide opportunities for performers with developmental disabilities to represent themselves on stage and screen. Epic Players will be performing its show EPIC Villains: A Wickedly Inclusive Cabaret at Joe's Pub at the Public Theater on October 24th and 25th at 8 pm. Joining us on this week's Cityscape are Aubrie Therrien, Executive Artistic Director at EPIC Players, and Ellie Sondock, a New York-based neurodiverse actress and proud member of EPIC Players.

Hummingbears, a red wish tree, and a gorilla who lives in a shopping mall. You'll find all of these fantastical images and more in the children's books of Katherine Applegate. Applegate is a New York Times best-selling author. Her book "The One and Only Ivan" won a Newbery Medal. Applegate is now out with a new book called Willodeen. It's the story of an 11-year-old girl who loves animals and wants to care for the earth. On this week's Cityscape, Applegate shares how she aims to inspire kids to foster a love of reading and a curiosity about the world around them.

Conversations about criminal justice reform often revolve around police and prosecutors. But, our guest this week says it's high time to take a different approach to helping untangle people who are caught up in cycles of criminalization, poverty and incarceration. Emily Galvin-Almanza is the Co-Founder and Executive Director of Partners for Justice. She's been a public defender in California and New York.

Dan and Claudia Zanes are our guests on this week's Cityscape to talk about their new album, Let Love Be Your Guide from Smithsonian Folkways. The album was conceived during the COVID-19 pandemic and the 2020 Black Lives Matter uprisings, and includes themes of anti-racism, social justice and the joys of community. *** If the name Dan Zanes is familiar to you, it's because he's the former lead singer of the 1980s rock band The Del Fuegos.***

In the last decade, it's become easier than ever to find romance without leaving the comfort of your couch. Online dating sites and apps have become increasingly popular, but there are still New Yorkers keeping it old school in their dating lives. On this week's Cityscape, we're delving into the world of matchmaking, relationship coaching and speed dating in New York City to find out why some people are taking a less conventional approach to modern dating.

Even in the concrete jungle, nature is far from elusive. The New York City Parks Department oversees more than 30,000 acres of land in all five boroughs. Parks have long provided a welcome respite from busy street life, but for a lot of people they became even more vital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Urban Park Rangers have been helping New Yorkers and visitors discover and explore the city's natural world since 1979. In this episode of Cityscape, Urban Park Ranger Andrew Brownjohn talks about his role as an Urban Park Ranger, and discusses some of the most fascinating natural wonders New York City has to offer.

If you're in Brooklyn this September, don't be surprised if you pass a few people on the streets in sky-high wigs and even higher heels. Bushwig, an annual festival of drag, music and love takes place September 11th and 12th. The event draws hundreds of drag performers of all styles and sizes. This is the festival's 10th edition. But if you can't make it, don't worry. The vibrant and ever-changing New York City drag scene always has something new and exciting going on, no matter what time of year. This week, we're exploring the origins of drag in New York City, how it has evolved in the last few decades, and meeting some of the drag performers bringing their own flair to the city's drag scene today.

From cancel culture to COVID-19 shutdowns, comedians and club owners have had to roll with the punches, while keeping their punchlines sharp. Our guest this week knows quite a bit about the comedy industry and its many phases. Al Martin is a New York City stand up comedian turned comedy club owner. He joins us to talk about the impact of COVID-19 on the comedy business, as well as to reflect on his over 30-year career making people laugh.

For centuries people have had a fascination with gemstones. They've inspired myths, been used for medicinal purposes, as well as to create jewelry. After all, a kiss on the hand may be quite continental, but diamonds are a girl's best friend, or so sang Marilyn Monroe. But, where do gems that wind up on your ring or necklace come from, and how do they form? On this week's show, we're digging into the world of gems and minerals with Doctor George Harlow. He's a curator emeritus in the American Museum of Natural History's Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences and Division of Physical Sciences. Dr. Harlow joins us to talk about his own journey in geology, as well as the re-opening of the museum's Allison and Roberto Mignone Halls of Gems and Minerals. The 11,000-square-foot Halls are now back in business after a major overhaul.

If you regularly cross over the George Washington Bridge, then you know that even in a pandemic, traffic can be plentiful. The GWB is one of the region's most iconic structures. The span connects Fort Lee, New Jersey to Washington Heights in Manhattan. It's become the busiest bridge in the world, with more than 100 million vehicles crossing it ever year. Michael Aaron Rockland is a writer and professor of American Studies at Rutgers University. In his book, The George Washington Bridge: Poetry in Steel, Rockland details the bridge's history, its longstanding rivalry with the Brooklyn Bridge and its place in American culture. We spoke with Rockland just before the pandemic took hold in February of 2020.

Family music artist Flor Bromley lives in New York, but is native to Peru. Her new album, Pachamama., focuses on her indigenous roots and fuses native music with popular genres. Bromley is our guest on this week's Cityscape to talk about her latest work and her musical journey overall.

According to the U.S. government, overdose deaths soared to a record 93-thousand last year in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. Floyd Mitchell is a harm reduction coordinator at The Alliance for Positive Change in New York City. Given the surge in opioid use – and overdoses nationally – his work has become even more vital. Floyd is a part of the Alliance's Lower East Side Harm Reduction Center. He is our guest on this week's Cityscape.

It's not everyday we think about the role smell plays in our lives. But, its scents like sunscreen that transport us to a day at the beach, or pine that reminds us of summer camp. Scents hold many of our best memories, and perhaps no one knows this better than Sue Phillips. She's the founder of Scenterprises. Sue has created fragrances for the stars. She's also helped to develop and market perfumes for companies like Tiffany & Co., Lancome and Elizabeth Arden. Sue is our guest on this week's Cityscape to talk about how she how she became a "Scentrepreneur," and how she's now helping people stricken with COVID-19 learn to smell again.

Our guest this week is in the business of helping at-risk kids get on more stable ground. Gabriele Delmonaco is President and Executive Director of A Chance In Life. The international nonprofit provides shelter, food and education to nearly 4,000 homeless, vulnerable and refugee youth in nine countries. They recently opened a facility in the North Shore of Staten Island where 1 out of every 3 kids lives in poverty -- that's twice the national rate. Nearly 20% of the area's young people are disconnected from school and employment. At A Chance in Life, young people ages 12-24 take part in programs that offer tutoring, financial literacy, mental health counseling, leadership development and more.

Theatre has long helped to break barriers and build community. Queens Theatre is a great example of that. It's been training Deaf and disabled theatre professionals for years. Their services have become that much more important as people with disabilities grapple with significant job losses due to the pandemic. As cultural institutions continue to reopen, Queens Theatre recently hosted two weeks of workshops to build skills, knowledge and confidence to support participants. Our guests this week are Gregg Mozgala, who leads the Theatre for All programming at Queens Theatre, and Alejandra Ospina, one of the first graduates of the program. They're with us to talk about the challenges those with disabilities face, how the pandemic has impacted them, and how the Theatre for All program is working to effect changes in the larger industry.

After a year of isolation, a lot of us want nothing more than to get out there and interact with other people. New York City's public markets are one way to ease your way back into socialization. The company Urbanspace is the brains behind some very nifty food halls and seasonal markets in locations such as Times Square, Bryant Park, Union Square and Columbus Circle. Our guest this week is Urbanspace President Eldon Scott.

Bars and nightclubs took a big hit during the pandemic. Many were forced to close their doors for good. But, the shuttering of Lesbian bars, in particular, is something that has been an ongoing trend, even before COVID-19 gripped the nation. There are now just over 20 Lesbian bars in America. Three of them are in New York City. Enter filmmakers Erica Rose and Elina Street. They're on a mission to celebrate, support and preserve the nation's remaining Lesbian bars. We recently caught up with Erica and Elina to chat about their documentary titled The Lesbian Bar Project, as well as the importance of queer spaces.

At a time when many businesses were shutting their doors, LeAnn Darland and Tara Hankinson were opening their flagship brewery and taproom in Williamsburg, Brooklyn. LeAnn and Tara were both avid homebrewers. They met after leaving their corporate jobs in tech and media to join the beer industry. They opened TALEA in March of 2021. LeAnn and Tara are our guests this week to talk about their craft beer journey.

Musician Tracy Bonham rose to fame in 1996 with her hit single Mother Mother. Bonham says a lot of her early music was driven by anger, but her sound today is fueled by joy.  Over the past several years, Bonham has been busy teaching music to kids at the Brooklyn Preschool of Science. She is also now a mom and has recently released a new children's album called Young Maestros Vol. 1. Tracy Bonham is our guest on this week's Cityscape. 

She's known as the Sausage Queen. Cara Nicoletti is a 4th generation butcher. She and her company Seemore Meats and Veggies have been breaking new ground in the meat industry. Cara, who lives in Brooklyn, is one of the few women who own and operate a butcher business in the United States, and her company is all about making eating meat less of a burden on the environment. Cara is our guest on this week's Cityscape to talk about what it was like to grow up in the meat industry and her mission to make eating meat more sustainable.

As New Yorkers prepare to elect a new mayor for the first time in 8 years, a new book provides a deep dive into how the city evolved under four previous administrations -- Koch, Dinkins, Giuliani and Bloomberg. It's called New York, New York, New York: Four Decades of Success, Excess and Transformation. Author Thomas Dyja says over the last few decades, three different New York Cities have emerged. He joins us on this week's Cityscape to talk about these different versions of New York and more.

"C is for Cookie" and that's good enough, well, for a lot of us. On this week's Cityscape we're checking in with Zachary Schmahl, a self-described born cookie monster. Zachary is the owner of Schmackary's in Manhattan's Hell's Kitchen neighborhood. You'll often see a line of folks outside the shop waiting for their chance to bite into one of Zachary's "Lip-Schmackin' good cookies." Zachary joins us to talk about how he built his business and how he managed through the pandemic.  

Whoever said you can't go home, hasn't met Marty Kleinman. The Bronx-born storyteller returned to his home borough after spending several decades in Queens, Manhattan and Brooklyn. Kleinman is out with a new collection of short stories called A Shoebox Full of Money, inspired by his life in and away from the Bronx. He joins us on this week's Cityscape to talk about it. 

On this week's Cityscape we're checking in with one early childhood education program in Brooklyn that uses classic songs and original ones to create a unique music-centric learning experience for young ones. Alex Branson, creator and host of Lavender Blues, joins us to talk about her journey from being a nanny to becoming the "baby singer," and the benefits of music classes for young children, or “bunnies,” as she calls them. 

Libraries have long been a great escape for a lot of people – the perfect place to slip away from the hustle and bustle of life. But, when the pandemic forced libraries to shut their doors, library leaders had to move swiftly to make sure they could still serve their communities. Our guest this week is Dennis Walcott, President and CEO of the Queens Public Library. He joins us to talk about how the Queens Library pivoted during the pandemic, and how COVID-19 isn't putting a damper on the Library's125th anniversary celebrations.

As theaters crawl to a comeback in the pandemic, a former Rockette is among those kicking their way back onto a live stage. Lillian Colon was Radio City Music Hall's first Latina Rockette. But, the road to Radio City wasn't an easy one for Colon. She's now telling her story in a one-woman show at the Thalia Theater in Queens. But, before the curtain rises on her next performance, she's talking with us on Cityscape.

Many artists have been struggling throughout the pandemic. On this week's Cityscape, we're exploring the history of a program that helped artists through another challenging time in our history -- the 1970s economic crisis. Our guests say the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA) could serve as a model to help artists rebound from this time of hardship.