Podcasts about Garment District

In this episode of Gangland Wire, host Gary Jenkins, retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective, continues his deep dive into organized crime history with prolific Mafia author Jeffrey Sussman. Sussman, the author of eight books on organized crime, joins Jenkins for a wide-ranging conversation that spans the rise, violence, prosecutions, and survival tactics of La Cosa Nostra in America. Drawing from works like Backbeat Gangsters and his latest release Mafia Hits, Misses Wars and Prosecutions, Sussman offers sharp insight into how the Mafia enforced silence, eliminated enemies, and adapted to government pressure. The discussion opens with omertà, the Mafia's infamous code of silence, and how mob warfare enforced loyalty through fear. Sussman recounts notorious hits and mob wars that shaped organized crime, then shifts to landmark prosecutions led by Thomas Dewey, whose relentless pursuit of Murder Incorporated dismantled the mob's most feared execution squad. Jenkins and Sussman examine the disastrous Appalachian Conference, where Vito Genovese overplayed his hand, drawing national attention to the Mafia and setting the stage for informants like Joe Valachi to break decades of secrecy. The episode also explores the Mafia's darkest execution methods, including lupara bianca—murders designed to leave no body and no evidence—along with chilling stories involving Mad Sam DeStefano. The assassination attempt on Joe Colombo, and its ties to Joey Gallo, highlight how ego and publicity often proved fatal in the mob world. The episode concludes with Sussman previewing his upcoming book on the Garment District, blending personal family history with organized crime's grip on American industry. Together, Jenkins and Sussman deliver a sweeping, chronological look at how the Mafia rose, fractured, and endured—leaving a permanent mark on American culture. Get his book Mafia Hits, Misses, Wars, and Prosecutions. ⏱️ Episode Chapters 00:00 – Introduction and Jeffrey Sussman's Mafia work 03:45 – Omertà and enforcing silence 07:30 – Mafia hits and internal wars 12:10 – Thomas Dewey and Murder Incorporated 18:40 – St. Valentine's Day Massacre 23:30 – Formation of the Five Families 28:50 – Italian and Jewish mob alliances 34:20 – Capone, Lansky, and Luciano 39:45 – Appalachian Conference fallout 45:10 – Vito Genovese and Joe Valachi 50:30 – Lupara blanca and body disposal 55:20 – Mad Sam DeStefano's brutality 59:40 – Joe Colombo assassination 1:05:30 – Betrayal and mob survival 1:10:50 – Sussman's upcoming Garment District book   [0:00] Hey, welcome, all you Wiretipers, back here in the studio of Gangland Wire, as you can see. This is Gary Jenkins, retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective and later sergeant. I have a guest today. He is a prolific author about the mob in the United States. We have several interviews in the archives with Jeffrey Sussman. Welcome, Jeffrey. Thank you, Gary. It’s a pleasure to be with you once again. All right. How many mob books you got? Eight or nine, I think. Eight or nine. I know you’ve covered Tinseltown, the L.A. Families, the crime in L.A., the Chicago. What are some of those? I did Las Vegas, which had a number of the Chicago outfit members in it. I did Big Apple Gangsters. Oh, yeah. My last one was Backbeat Gangsters about the rock music business. Oh, yeah. And then I did also one about boxing and the mob, how the mob controlled boxing. And then my new book is Mafia Hits, Misses Wars and Prosecutions. The update is February 19th. All right. Guys, when I release this, we’re doing this, actually, we’re doing this before Christmas. But when this comes out, while you’ll be able to go to the Amazon link that I’ll have in there, get that book, we’ll have, you’ll see a picture of it as we go along. So you’ll know what the cover looks like. It sounds really interesting, especially about the Mafia Misses. But I’m sure that’s interesting. [1:29] Well, the mob, that’s their way of enforcing their rules. The omerta, somebody talks, they’re going to rub you out, supposedly. And by mob, we’re talking about primarily La Cosa Nostra, Sicilian-based organized crime in the United States. Yeah. The five families particularly have brought this up front. The five families have really perfected this as an art, killing their rivals, killing people that threaten them in any way, killing people that they even had a contract on Tom Dewey, the prosecutor, I believe, at one time. That would be a bomb miss, wouldn’t it? Yeah, actually, what happened with that is Dutch Schultz wanted the commission to take out a contract on Tom Dewey, and they said, no, we can’t do that, because if we do that, it’ll bring down too much heat on us. And so the mob wound up killing Dutch Schultz because he was too much of a threat to them in some ways. But the irony was that if they had killed him, Lucky Luciano never would have been prosecuted. He was prosecuted by Thomas Dewey. Lucky Bookhalter never would have been prosecuted and gone to the electric chair, several others as well. So, by not killing Dewey, they set themselves up to be arrested and get either very long prison terms or go to the electric chair. [2:57] Yeah, Dewey sent, I think it was four members of Murder Incorporated to the electric chair and the head of it, the Lepke book halter. And then he arrested and got a conviction against Lucky Luciano for pimping and pandering, which should have been a fairly short sentence, just a couple of years. But he had him sentenced to 50 years in prison, which is amazing, the pimping. [3:20] So if they had killed Thomas Dewey, they probably would have been better off. But that’s 2020 hindsight. Yeah, hindsight’s always 2020. And a cost-benefit analysis, if you want to apply that, why the cost of killing Tom Dooley might have been much less than the actual benefit was. That’s right. Exactly. And they came to realize that, but it was too late for them. I think they always do a cost-benefit analysis in some manner. How much heat’s going to come down from this? Can we take the heat? Because I know in Kansas City, our mob boss, Nick Savella, was in the penitentiary. He was about to get out, and he sent word out, said I want all unfinished business taken care of by the time I get out. Because when I get out, I do not want all these headlines, because murder generates headlines. And so there was like three murders in rapid succession right after that. [4:13] So they worry about the press and hits, murders generate press. So let’s go back and talk about some particular ones. One of the most famous ones was the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. Do you cover that? [4:26] Yeah, I start with the assassination of Arnold Rothstein in 1928, and then I go right into the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. I go into the Castel Marari’s War, the birth of the five families. They had a famous meeting at the Franconia Hotel where the Jewish and Italian gangsters decided to form an alliance rather than fight one another. I went through the trial and conviction of Al Capone, the Bug and Meyer gang. Which evolved into Murder Incorporated, and then how Mayor LaGuardia went after the mob in New York and drove out Frank Costello, who had all the slot machines in New York, drove him down to Louisiana, where Frank Costello paid Huey Long a million dollars to let him operate slot machines all around New Orleans and the rest of Louisiana. And then there was William Dwyer, O’Dwyer, and Burton Turkus, who prosecuted the mob, other members of Murder Incorporated, and then how the federal government was using deportation to get rid of a lot of the mobsters, and how the mafia insinuated itself with entertainers and was controlling entertainers like Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis and others. [5:44] And then the Appalachian Conference, and what an embarrassment that was to Vito Genovese, who wanted to declare himself the boss of bosses. Instead, he became the schmuck of schmucks because the FBI invaded this. And there was a theory that this was really set up, Meyer Lansky, Carl Gambino, and Lucky Luciano, because they didn’t want Vito Genovese to become the boss of bosses because Vito Genovese was responsible for the attempted murder of Frank Costello, and they wanted to get rid of him. After they embarrassed him with Appalachian, And then they set him up for a drug buy. Which is ridiculous because you don’t have the head of a mafia family going out on the street and buying heroin from someone. But that’s what they got him for. And they sent him off to prison for 15 years where he died. But in the realm of unintended consequences, which we just heard some, he goes down to Atlanta and a guy named Joe Valacci is down there. And he thinks that Vito Genovese is given to the fisheye and maybe wants to have him killed. [6:52] If Vito Genovese is not in Atlanta, Joe Valacci does not turn and become the first big important witness against the mob in the United States that couple that with Appalachian. And embarrassment to the FBI and then this Joe Valacci coming out with all these stories explaining what all that meant, the organized crime in the United States, why we may not have the investigation that subsequently came out of all that. It’s crazy, huh? Yeah, exactly. In terms of unintended consequences, because if Vito Genovese hadn’t given the kiss of death, supposedly, to Joe Valacci, you never would have had Joe Valacci’s testimony about how the mob operates. He opened so many doors and told so many secrets. It was a real revelation to the world. [7:42] Now, what about these murders? And I understand they call them a lupara blanca, where the body is never found. Did you talk about any of those or look into that at all? [7:53] We’ve had them in Kansas City, where it’s obviously a mob murder. They even will send a message to the family. We had one where the guy disappeared. Nobody ever found his body. But somebody called the family and said, hey, go up on Gladstone Drive and check this trash can. And then they find the guy’s clothes and his driver’s license, everything in there. Now, did you go into any of those blanks? Yeah, there were a number of mob hits, especially during the murder ink era where they would dispose of the bodies and no one would ever find them. But they would leave clues around for members of the family just so they would know that their father or their son or their brother, whoever was no longer in this world. [8:39] Yeah, that was done quite a bit. And when the Westies, which was an Irish gang that operated on the west side of New York, they believed that if you never found the corpse, you could never convict them of murder. So they used to take their dead bodies out to an island in the East River and chop them into little pieces and then dump them in the river and no one would ever find them. And supposedly they did that with dozens and dozens of bodies. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah, and it is. It’s hard to prosecute without the body. It’s been done, but it’s really hard to do. You’ve got to have a really lot of circumstantial evidence to approve a murder without a body. And when Albert Anastasia and Leffy Foucault, who were running Murder Incorporated, they believed two things. One, that if you didn’t find the body, it would be hard to prosecute. And if you couldn’t show a motive, that would be the other thing that would make it difficult. So there would be absolutely no connection between the person who killed the victim and the victim. There was no connection whatsoever. So it was almost as if it was a stranger. In fact, it was a stranger who would commit the murder and then disappear and make sure that the body also disappeared. So you’d have neither motive nor body. Interesting. Pretty stiff penalty for murder. So I understand why you take some extra. Exactly. [10:08] Yeah, that tried to disassociate yourself from any motive for the body. There’s a guy in Chicago named Mad Sam DeStefano. Oh, sure. Lone shark and particularly egregious person when it came to collecting and was responsible for some murders and tortures. And they claim that he would buddy up to the person he knew he wanted to have killed and give him a watch. So then when the police came back around, he’d say, he was my friend. I gave him a present. I gave him that watch. Look and see. Ask his wife. I gave him a watch. Yeah. And I think it was Anthony Spolatro who was charged by the outfit of getting rid of Sam DiStefano because he was a friend. He had been like a protege of Crazy Sam. And so Sam didn’t suspect him as the person who would come and kill him. Yeah, that’s common clue. They say, look out. When a friend comes around and it seems a little bit funny and they want her particularly nice to you and you know you’re in trouble, anyhow, look out. Because that’s the guy that’s going to get you. Exactly. At least set you up. Maybe they have somebody else come in and pull the trigger, somebody that’ll leave town or whatever, but your friend’s going to set you up, make you comfortable. [11:24] Yeah, I think that’s exactly how it happened. We talked a little bit about the Joe Colombo murder. Did you look at that? Yes. [11:31] Tell us about that, because I’m really interested in that. I’d kind of like to do a larger story, just focusing on that, what really happened there, because that’s a mystery. Did this Jerome Johnson, this black guy, do it? Why would he do it? Nobody ever came out and connected him directly to Joey Gallo, and that’s the claim. So talk about that one. What happened is Joe Colombo formed the Italian Anti-Defamation League because he thought Italians were being blamed for too many things. And Colombo was responsible for having the producers of the movie The Godfather never use the word mafia in the movie, never use La Cosa Nostra in the movie. And he was making a big splash for himself. And this was driving a lot of people in the mafia a little crazy. They’re getting nervous because he was getting so much attention for himself, and it’s not the kind of attention they wanted. And Gambino was particularly upset about this. And Joey Gallo had been in prison, and he had been involved in the war against Profaci earlier on. And when he got out of prison, he felt that the new head of the Profaci family, who was Joe Colombo, should honor him with the amount of time that he spent in prison. And Joe Colombo offered him $1,000. [12:57] And Gallo was incensed by that. He expected $100,000. [13:02] And so he started another war with Colombo. [13:09] This would be good for Carlo Gambino because then he could use Joey Gallo to get rid of someone and his hands wouldn’t appear to be anywhere near this. And when Joey Gallo was in prison, he befriended a lot of black gangsters who were drug dealers and showed them how to succeed in the drug dealing business. And his attitude was that the mafia was very prejudiced against black people, but he thought that was stupid. He thought that we should use black criminals the same way we use any other criminals. And so he befriended a lot of blacks when he was in prison. And no one really knows how exactly he came in contact with Jerome Johnson. But anyway, Jerome Johnson was given the mission of assassinating Joe Colombo at a demonstration where Joe Colombo would be speaking about the Italian American Anti-Defamation League, which had attracted a lot of entertainers. Frank Sinatra was on the board of it. They raised a lot of money. I spoke to some Italian friends of mine at the time, and they said that people from the Italian Anti-Defamation League went around to small Italian-run stores, pizza parlors, shoe repair stores, whatever, and had them closed down for that day so that these people should attend the rally. And the rally was being held, I believe, in Columbus Circle. [14:36] And Jerome Johnson was there, and he had a press pass. So he was permitted to get very close to Joe Colombo because it appeared that he was a reporter or a photographer for a newspaper. And as soon as he got close enough, he pumped a couple of bullets into Joe Colombo’s head. Immediately, three or four gangsters descended on Jerome Johnson and killed him immediately. [15:02] And those three or four people who killed him, they disappeared into the crowd. No one ever found them again. I know. I wish we’d had cell phone footage from that. No one wouldn’t have gotten away if everybody had their cell phones out that day when they would have seen everything that happened. [15:21] Exactly. Columbo existed in a vegetative state. I think it was for about seven years before he finally died. I didn’t realize it was that long. Wow. Yeah, but he was semi-conscious. He couldn’t communicate. He was paralyzed. But the The Colombo family believed that it was Joey Gallo who was responsible for this. Joey Gallo and his new wife had been having a dinner with friends at the Copacabana nightclub in New York. They were joined at their table by Don Rickles, who had been performing that night. Comedian David Steinberg, who had been the best man at Joey Gallo’s wedding to a second wife, was there. And he suggested to them that they left the Copacabana about three o’clock in the morning. And he suggested to them that they all go down to Little Italy, go to Chinatown, and we’ll have a late dinner there. So Rick Olson and Steinberg said, it’s too late for us. You go and enjoy yourself and we’ll see you another time. Joey Gallo, his bodyguard, a Greek guy, I can’t remember his name exactly. Peter Dacopoulos. That’s it. And his wife, and Decapolis’ girlfriend and Joey Gallo’s stepdaughter. They all drove downtown. They couldn’t find anything open in Chinatown, so they drove over to Little Italy, and they went into Umberto’s Clam House. [16:49] And it was very strange, because supposedly a gangster would never do this. Joe Colombo was sitting with his back to the door. [16:58] Usually, your back is to the wall, and you’re facing the door. Oh, Joey Gallo was sitting with his back to the door. Yeah, I meant Joey Gallo. Yeah. Go ahead. And there was kind of a lonely guy sitting at the bar having a drink, and no one paid any attention to him. He was a mob wannabe, and he recognized Joey Gallo, and he went to a mob social club that was a few blocks away that was a hangout for Colombo gangsters. And when he came in and told them that joey gallo was there and the one of the guys there called a capo from the colombo family and told him who they saw and so forth and apparently he instructed them to go and get rid of him and so they took the mob wannabe guy and they got in two cars and they drove down to or around the block whatever it was to umberto’s clam house they went in and they immediately started shooting. And Colombo flipped over the table. I’m sorry, Joey Gallo flipped over the table and had his wife and girlfriend in the step door to get behind the table. And he and Peter were firing back at these guys. [18:07] Peter got shot in the ass and complained about it for many months afterwards, and Joey Gallo ran out onto the street chasing them, and he got shot in the neck, and I think it hit his carotid artery, and he bled to death on the sidewalk. And the guys from the Columbo and the Columbo wannabe guy, they quickly drove up to an apartment on the Upper East Side where the Columbo capo was. And he told them to go to a safe house in Nyack, New York, where they went. And meanwhile, the mob wannabe guy who had fingered Columbo, he’s getting very nervous. He feels that his life isn’t worth too much. He’s in over his head. [18:51] Right. So he sneaks out in the middle of the night and takes a plane to California to live with his sister. And he tries to get into the witness protection program, but they don’t believe him. They don’t believe he has enough evidence to make it worthwhile. No one knows exactly what happened to him afterwards. And the guys who supposedly killed Gallo, nothing really happened to them either. There was a huge funeral for Joey Gallo in Brooklyn. And it was like one of those old mob funerals that you see in a movie with a hundred flower cars and people lining the streets. And I think it was Joey Gallo’s mother who threw herself into the grave on top of the coffin. Oh, really? And Joey Gallo’s. [19:38] He had two brothers, one of whom had died of cancer, and the other one wound up going into another mob family. That was part of the peace deal. I can’t remember if it was the Gambino family or the Genovese family. He went into one of those two families. I think it was Gambino family, that Albert Kidd Twist gallo, I think was his name. And I think it was the Gambino family. He just kept a low profile until he died of natural causes. I think he’s dead now. He never heard from him again, basically. Exactly. [20:06] Interesting. That’s a heck of a story. A lot more stories like that in there, too. I bet. What was your favorite story out of that, or the one that shocked you or you learned something? Maybe something that you learned that you didn’t know or cut through some myth. [20:20] Probably, I’m just looking at my notes here to see what really fascinated me the most. I think the evolution of the Bug and Meyer gang. This guy, Ralph Salerno, who was a fascinating guy who headed the New York Prime Strike Force, Mafia investigators He’s been dead for about I think 10 or 15 years But I spent about Two or three hours Interviewing him A long time ago Didn’t he write a book Didn’t he write a book Called The Crime Confederation Or something like that Yes he did Yeah And it’s excellent So he knew Meyer Lansky He had met Bugsy Siegel Back once In the early 1940s He knew Frank Costello He knew all of these people And it was fascinating To, to hear his stories. And he said that during the time of the Bug and Meyer gang, they were the most vicious gang in New York. And they had a complete menu for crimes that they would commit on your behalf. Burglaries, murders, throwing people out of windows, breaking arms and legs, killing by stabbing, killing by shooting, killing by knifing. And each one had a price. And he said they actually had it printed. It was like a menu and you could check off what you wanted. [21:40] Crazy. And then he said, as they got more and more involved in prohibition, they got out of this and it evolved into Murder Incorporated, which had about 400 members, primarily Jewish and Italian gangsters. And it was run by Albert Anastasia and Lepke Bookhalter. [22:05] And when Thomas Dewey came into power, he wanted very much to convict these guys, but, Murder Incorporated had this fascinating idea that every member of Murder Incorporated would receive a monthly retainer and then it paid a special price for committing murders. And the more ambitious the member was, the more murders he would commit. So there were a couple who were really very ambitious and did a lot of murders. And each one had a specialty. So there was this one guy named Abe Hidtwist Relis, who only killed people with an ice pick in the back of the neck. And then he would leave the body in a car, talking about getting rid of bodies, and he would burn the body and leave it in the car and let other people know who were the relatives that he had been done away with. And then there was a guy named Pittsburgh Phil, who was the most ambitious of them, who supposedly committed about 100 to 150 murders because he just loved getting money for each one that he committed. [23:15] Then there was a guy named Louis Capone, who’s no relation to Al. He worked with a partner named Mendy Weiss, and the two of them went out and killed people together. They thought it was a fun event for them. It was like a boy’s night out. Who we’re going to kill today. Weren’t they two of them that got the electric chair? Yes, they did. And there’s a picture of them on the train up to Singh on their way to the electric chair. And they’re laughing. This is nothing. This is just another fun time for us. And yeah, I think there were four of them who finally went to the electric chair. And then one member of this was a guy named Charlie the Bud Workman, who finally got indicted for the murder of Dutch Schultz. He was the one who carried out the murder of Dutch Schultz for the mob. And he got, I think he was 30 years in prison. But according to his son… [24:13] Who is a PGA golfer, who is well-known in PGA circles as a very good golf competitor, said that the mob took care of his family for the entire time that Workman was in prison because he never spoke about anybody else. He really observed the rules of a murder, and they appreciated him for that. So that whole episode was like a corporation murder, which is why they called it Murder, Inc., that would go out and kill people on orders only from the mafia. They only worked for the mafia. You couldn’t hire them if you weren’t a member of the mafia. And it had to go through a mafia boss for the instructions to come down to them. A soldier couldn’t tell them what to do. Even a capo couldn’t tell them. It had to go up to a boss, the boss had to approve it, and then assign someone to do it. And they all worked out of a candy store in Brooklyn called Midnight Roses because it was open 24 hours a day. And the phone would ring there from giving whoever it was instructions about who was to be killed, where they were to be killed, how they were to do it, and so forth and so on. [25:27] So what was also interesting is even though Bugsy Siegel had left the Bug and Meyer gang, he still loved participating in murder. He liked killing people. And his partner in these murders was a guy named Frankie Carbo, who became a big deal in boxing. He controlled most of the boxing in America up until at the time of Sonny Liston. And his partner in this was a man named Blinky Palermo. [25:59] And according to Ralph Natale, who for a while had been the boss of the Philadelphia crime family, it was Frankie Carbo who was sent by the mob to kill Bugsy Siegel. Because if he was caught or Bugsy Siegel saw him around, he wouldn’t suspect that he was his killer because they were friends and they had operated as partners together. So this goes back to what we were talking about earlier. It’s your friend who comes closest to you and then arranges you to be assassinated. So I found that whole story just fascinating. Interesting. I’ll tell you what. And there’s those and a whole lot more stories in this, isn’t there, Jeff? Yes, there are. I think that the book covers pretty much the mob history, beginning with the founding of the five families, going all the way up through Sammy the Bulgurvano’s testimony against John Gotti and the commission trial, where they decapitated the heads of the five families. Not literally, folks. Not literally. Not literally. We didn’t literally decapitate. Rudy Giuliano, he tried to. He tried to. He tried to. Metaphorically, he decapitated the heads of the five families. Exactly. [27:15] You know, what was interesting, though, is in the 1930s, you had Thomas Dewey. In the 1960s, you had Robert Kennedy, who went after the mob. And then later on, you had Rudy Giuliani going after the mob. And the mob always managed to reorganize itself and figure out a new way of existing. They were very opportunistic and they always managed to find a way to keep going, even if it was very low key, which is what it is now, where they operate in the shadows and they don’t have any John Gottis or Al Capone’s out there getting a lot of attention for themselves. They’re still out there doing things. Yeah. Yeah. They finally learned something about that getting publicity. And most recently, they put together a whole scheme, and this goes way back, of cheating people. Big whales, I call them whales, of rich men that like to gamble and brush up against kind of the dark side and cheat them at cards. They’ve been doing that for years. They just do it under goes to clear black to the Friars Club scam in Los Angeles where Ronnie Roselli and some others had a spotter, would see who had what cards in what’s hands, then would tell another player. And so now there’s just more electronic, but the same game just upgraded to electronics. [28:30] That’s right. What someone I spoke to interviewed said, he said they’re very involved in electronic gambling poker machines and that kind of thing. And a lot of offshore gambling and offshore money laundering. And to some extent, even drug dealing now. And they’re still very involved in New York in the construction business. Oh, really? Yeah. Union business. They’re still in it, huh? And I know in Kansas City, there’s a couple of examples where they put money into a buy here, pay here car dealership into a title loan place because there’s a huge rate of interest on those things. And there’s a lot of scams that go down out of those places, especially the old crap cars and put them together and sell them to poor people for they’ve got $500 in the car and they sell it to them for $2,000. They charge them a 25% interest and then go repo it when the car breaks down, turn around and patch it up and sell it again. So there’s always schemes going on out there to mob will put their money into. Oh, it’s incredible. I knew of one scheme where they would They would sell trucks to people and give them a special route. And so on that route, they could make enough money to pay off the loan on the truck. But then they would take away the route from them. They couldn’t pay off the truck. So they would repossess the truck and sell it to someone else and do it all over again. [29:50] Oh, I know. They got to tell you that. And Joey Messino and the Bananos, they organized the tow main wagons, the lunch truck, the snack wagons. Right, exactly. Organize them. And then they start extorting money, formed an association. And then to get to good spots, then you had to kick money to them. And just to be part of the organization, that was kicking money to them. There’s always something. They always manage to find a place where they can make money. And it’s like whack-a-mole. You can stop them here, you can stop them there, and then they pop up in three other places. [30:24] Really all right jeffrey susman i’m so happy to talk to you again i haven’t talked to you for a while and i hope everything else is everything’s going okay for you in new york city yep i’m working on a new book uh what are you working on now oh my god you are so prolific i look on your amazon page just when i was getting ready to do this trying to think of some of those other titles Oh, my God. I’m working on a book about the Garment Center. Ah, interesting. Only because my family was involved in that business, and they had to deal with the mob in various ways, with trucking companies, unions, and so forth. And since I knew that, and I had a lot of information, a lot of contacts, I thought I would tackle that next. I remember when I had my marketing PR business back in the 1970s. [31:16] I had a client who was in the fitness business, and I had a cousin of my mother’s who was a very famous dress designer at the time, and he had a big showroom on 7th Avenue, which is in the garment center. I went to see him because I wanted to see if I could get a deal for my client to manufacture exercise clothes and brand it with her name. I made a date to have lunch with this cousin of mine, and he said, come up to my showroom. we’ll meet for lunch, And so I got to the showroom, and I called out his name when I walked in. It was empty. And this guy comes running out of the back, and he just has a shirt on, and he has a shoulder holster, .38 caliber gun in it. And he says to me, who the F are you? I said, I’m so-and-so’s cousin. I’m here to have lunch with him. He disappeared into the back. And a couple of minutes later my mother’s cousin comes out and i said who was that what was that about he says i don’t want to talk about it now i’ll tell you all for lunch so we go down to a restaurant around the corner and i asked him again and he says he said he couldn’t have his dresses delivered to any department store unless he made a deal with yeah i forgot if it was the gambinos or the lucasies that he had to take this guy on as a partner otherwise the trucks wouldn’t deliver his garments. And there was nothing he could do about it. It was either that or go out of business. [32:45] I’ll tell you what, they’re voracious. They’re greedy and voracious and don’t care. Just give me those, show me the money. That’s all it is. It’s all about money and any way to get it. And then there’s always a threat of murder behind it. If you don’t cooperate, think of the worst thing that can happen to you. And that’s what’ll happen. Yeah. I’ve had guys over the years tell I’m like, oh, you ought to throw in with one of those ex-mobsters that’s doing podcasts and try to do something with them. I say, I ain’t doing business with them. They play by their rules. I play by society’s rules. And I don’t have time to mess with that. Yeah. And that was a smart thing to do. Because also, when I had this fitness client, I met someone who was… I didn’t know what was connected to the mob, but a mutual friend, this guy said that he wanted to set up fitness centers all around the country for my clients. So I mentioned this to a mutual friend and he said, whatever you don’t go into business with this guy, I said, regret it for the rest of your life. So I advised my client not to do it. [33:49] Yeah. Cause initially before we knew that it sounded like a great opportunity. And then when you investigate, it’s not such a great opportunity. Yeah, really. Speaking of that, we tell stories for hours. I just heard a story. We had a relocated mobster, a guy that testified against Gigante, came here to Kansas City. And he was, of course, under witness protection and he’s got an assumed name. And he befriends a guy that has a fitness center. He has a franchise of Gold’s Gym or something. And he has a fitness center. And he talks this guy into taking him on, investing a little money in it, taking him on as his partner. Within the next couple of years, this mobster, he’s got two of his kids working there and neither one of them are really doing anything, but they’re drawing a salary and the money’s trickling out. And the guy, the local guy, he just walks away from it because this guy’s planned by the mob’s rules. So he just ended up walking away from it, did something else. So it’s do not go into business with these guys. No, never. Never. [34:48] Jeffrey Suspett, it’s a pleasure to have you back on the show. Thank you so much. It’s a pleasure to be with you again, Gary. It’s always a pleasure. Thank you very much.

Changing algorithms, the constant time investment, and, with the rise of AI, even more content to compete with for customers' attention make many of us want to avoid social media altogether. However, it can seem like a necessary evil. Isn't every brand on social platforms? But what if staying off socials as a fashion brand isn't just the right choice for your mental health as a founder, but also for your business strategy? This is the choice that Maria Alejandra Alvarado has made for her luxury workwear brand ZADIMA. In episode 127, she shares how she's connecting with people to market her brand instead of competing with algorithms. For Maria, it felt like a natural fit that aligns with her business. María Alejandra Alvarado is a marketing leader with nearly 15 years of experience shaping brand and product launch strategies for global companies. For the past three years, she's been building ZADIMA — a brand born from her desire to help modern professionals dress beautifully and intentionally, without adding more decisions to already full days. Frustrated by the lack of color, personality, and quality in workwear, María set out to create pieces that combine great tailoring, elegant silhouettes, and luxurious Italian fabrics. Each garment is crafted from exquisite Italian deadstock textiles in a woman-owned atelier in Manhattan's Garment District, designed to make women feel confident, polished, and effortlessly themselves. This episode explores: Fitting the customer The smart questions Maria asked while gathering customer research The ways that knowing her customer helped Maria make decisions about fabric, designs, and colors  Fitting the lifestyle How the lifestyle of the Zadima customer shaped the marketing strategy The practical ways Maria generates word-of-mouth referrals How Maria represents her brand as the founder How Maria prioritizes tasks in her business Fitting the values Why Maria decided to produce her collection in NY How Maria uses AI tools in alignment with her relationships and quality-focused business values People and resources mentioned in this episode: ZADIMA website ZADIMA email Maria's LinkedIn Do you want fashion business tips and resources like this sent straight to your inbox? Sign up for the How Fitting newsletter to receive new podcast episodes plus daily content on creating fashion that fits your customer, lifestyle, and values.

Subscribe to The FoundHer Files. Practical advice for your small business. No fluff. No gatekeeping. Just what works...because we're better together. SUBSCRIBE HEREWhat does it take to turn a small idea into a brand that ends up on the racks at Bergdorf Goodman? For Ramy Brook Sharp, it started with a few silk tops, a gap in her own wardrobe, and a belief that women deserved fashion that felt both beautiful and effortless. Lindsay Pinchuk sits down with Ramy to unpack how those early living room trunk shows, personal fabric runs through New York's Garment District, and countless lessons learned through trial and error shaped what would become the Ramy Brook brand.Ramy talks about what listening to her customers taught her, like how a simple request for bra-friendly tops completely changed her design philosophy, and how one connection with a personal shopper at Bergdorf Goodman turned into a career-defining moment. She reflects on what it means to start a business later in life and why experience and curiosity can be powerful advantages when building something new.This episode invites you to think differently about growth, resilience, and what it really means to create something that lasts.Episode Breakdown:00:00 How Ramy Brook Built a Fashion Brand from Scratch01:39 The Closet Problem That Sparked an Idea04:41 Launching Through Trunk Shows and Word-of-Mouth Marketing06:52 Listening to Customers and Designing for Real Women09:23 The Bergdorf Goodman Breakthrough16:55 Starting a Business at 42 and Leveraging Life Experience24:44 How AI and Innovation Shape the Future of Ramy Brook32:59 Three Lessons Every Aspiring Founder Should HearConnect with Ramy Brook Sharp:Follow Ramy Brook on InstagramFollow Ramy on InstagramFollow Lindsay @dearfoundher on InstagramInterested in leveling up your marketing? Get on the waitlist for Marketing Made Simple for Small Business.Join the Dear FoundHer... Forum Networking CommunityFoundHer Faves:Inspiro Tequila Juliet Wine:Sav Blanc Pinot Noir Maelove Laura Geller Beauty Thirdlove Devotion Nutrition Podcast production and show notes provided by HiveCast.fm Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In this podcast, Shimon Shkury, President and Founder of Ariel Property Advisors, and his guests Barbara Blair, President of the Garment District Alliance, and Howard Raber, a Director in Investment Sales at Ariel, unpack the recently approved Midtown South Mixed-Use (MSMX) Plan, which replaces outdated manufacturing zoning with residential use. The Midtown South rezoning spans 42 blocks across four distinct quadrants—roughly between 23rd and 41st Streets and Fifth and Eighth Avenues—and is expected to create nearly 10,000 new homes, of which close to 3,000 will be permanently affordable.Raber said that owners and developers are tremendously optimistic about the Midtown South rezoning plan because it will allow both office-to-residential conversions and ground-up residential developments. Blair noted that adding housing to the Garment District, when combined with the 54 existing hotels, will create a 24/7 live/work environment that will bring in better amenities and retail to the neighborhood.

Date: 7/22/2025 - Designed to keep you informed without the fluff, this series delivers sharp, essential updates to help you stay ahead in fashion and business. This week, Bret and Emily discuss France's New Law, Printemps, and the New York City Garment District. #clothingbrief #fashionnews

The Garment District in New York City undergoes a fascinating transformation from its origins as a red-light district known as "The Tenderloin" to becoming the epicenter of American fashion manufacturing and design. We explore how this neighborhood shaped the American fashion industry through crisis, innovation, and cultural shifts.My links : https://linktr.ee/magnifiquepodSupport the show

This month on Arts in the City…we head to Rockaway Beach; explore our city's history of dance; check out Rooftop Films; meet a designer revitalizing the Garment District; and chat with legendary Broadway producer Jeffrey Seller.

Beneath the glitter of New York's Garment District lay a criminal empire stitched together with fear, blood, and billions. In this shocking new installment of our Mafia series, we reveal how Carlo Gambino, the shadowy mastermind behind one of America's most powerful crime families, seized control of the fashion industry — not with style, but with steel and strategy.

Our fashion choices can change more than just our appearance—they can revive an entire culture of craftsmanship! I sat down with George Kalajian, a fifth-generation artisan with a deep passion for fashion. We talked about New York's once-thriving garment district, and how the rise of fast fashion didn't just change the way we shop—it nearly erased the soul of American-made quality. George shared how our obsession with cheap, fast fashion has led to a loss of skills, artistry, and pride. He shared how what used to be considered standard quality is now labeled “luxury” simply because so few people know how to make things well anymore. But there's hope! Through mentorship programs like Project Golden Bear, George is rebuilding the future of fashion one apprentice at a time. If you care about craftsmanship, sustainability, or simply want to buy better, tune in now. Let's bring heart and integrity back to fashion together!“What is considered to be luxury today is what was just well-made 40 or 50 years ago.” ~ George KalajianIn this Episode:- Introducing George Kalajian- The garment district then and now- The shift to overseas production - The decline of craftsmanship- Reviving artistry in fashion: Project Golden Bear- Challenges of fast fashion and decline in fabric quality- The economic impact of consumer fashion choices - A historical perspective on luxury fashion- Future plans and contact informationAbout George KalajianGeorge Kalajian is a master craftsman and owner of Tom's Sons International Pleating, a family business in New York City's Garment District with over 150 years of heritage. His expertise in pleating has made him a trusted collaborator for iconic fashion brands like Oscar de la Renta, Coach, Vera Wang and Ralph Lauren, as well as major productions like the MET Gala and Hollywood films. Co-author of Pleating: Fundamentals for Fashion Design, George carries on the legacy of his father, Leon, ensuring that the art of pleating continues to inspire and evolve.Connect with George Kalajian:Website: https://internationalpleating.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgekalajiantomssonsinternationalpleating Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/internationalpleating/ Connect with me here:

In this week's two-part episode, we recap our recent fashion history day tours of NYC and hear from a few of the past Dressed guests who joined us along the way. In Part II, we chat about our “behind the seams” morning tours of two of the oldest, family owned and operated businesses in New York's legendary Garment District and our fashion history-packed afternoon at the New York Historical Society! Featured past Dressed guests: M&S Schmalberg's website and Instagram, Dressed interview Tom's Sons International Pleating's website and Instagram, Project Golden Bear, Four Empty Walls documentary, Dressed interview Cheyney McKnight's website, Instagram, Dressed Interview Real Clothes Real Lives exhibition, Dressed interview with Keren Ben-Horin and Kiki Smith Want more Dressed: The History of Fashion?  Our website and classes Our Instagram Our bookshelf with over 150 of our favorite fashion history titles Dressed is a part of the AirWave Media network Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode we sample Maker's Mark The Lost Recipe Series Edition 01 while talking about turning off the notifications, somebody lost the bourbon but we found it, a cinnamon bun cigar blend, tastes expensive and it is, last year's Easter chocolate, the way back of the palette, chewing on a popsicle stick, why Spring done broke, a hell of a Huddle House, Hattie B's, the worst banana pudding ever, screaming flying V at the top of my lungs, y'all got fiddles in Quebec, headed to NYC, St. Patrick's Cathedral on St. Patrick's Day, Tavern on the Green, shopping in the Garment District, spending 90% of your childhood in a fabric shop, The Starbucks Roastery, Niagara Falls, sticky toffee pudding, a12 hour drive after a flight, being due for a bad weather trip, experiencing new things with people you love, and easy travel versus difficult travel.  Support Us On Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/DrepandStone We'd love to hear from you! https://linktr.ee/DrepandStone Don't forget to subscribe! Music by @joakimkarudmusic Episode #288

On today's show, we're chatting with handbag industry and design expert, Emily Blumenthal, who is the founder of The Handbag Awards and National Handbag Designer Day, and professor of entrepreneurship at FIT, and host the Handbag Designer 101 podcast. This episode is all about – you guessed it! – vintage handbags, including the story of how Emily got her original handbag designs on Sex and the City, and so much other great vintage handbag lore. I think you're really gonna love it –  so let's dive right in!  DISCUSSED IN THE EPISODE: [2:29] Growing up with a dad who worked in New York's Garment District [6:06] Designing handbags while hanging out behind the DJ booth at the clubs in college. [9:45] How she got her handbag everywhere – including Sex and the City! – by hustling. [15:34] Developing a deep knowledge of handbag history while hosting The Handbag Awards.  [19:55] So much design inspiration is taken from vintage!  [26:30] On “dupe” culture and trademarks. [30:01] How fast fashion has changed the handbag industry. [33:45] On the concept of vintage “It” bags. EPISODE MENTIONS:  Handbag Designer 101 Substack newsletter The Handbag Designer 101 Podcast @handbagdesigner on Instagram Emily's video on dupe culture Her letter on ‘getting ahead of the dupe' The Sex and the City scene The History of Women's Handbags Part 1, Two, Three, and Four The Armani Privé post The story of Hermè, Henry Ford, and the zipper The talk with the United States Patent & Trademark Organization (USPTO) on patents Handbags to look for when you're vintage shopping LET'S CONNECT: 

Not all polos are created equal, and neither are the brands behind them. On the latest TGJ Podcast, Tom Coyne visits Holderness & Bourne HQ in New York to sit down with co-founders Alex Holderness and John Bourne—two Yale grads who traded Wall Street for the Garment District with no prior fashion experience and a relentless drive to make the perfect polo. Alex and John share their advice for turning an idea into a physical product, navigating the golf industry, working with your friends and creating a product that cuts through the noise. Yes: the names stitched on pro shop labels around the world are actual people, and they have a story to tell. The Golfer's Journal and this podcast are made possible by reader support. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider becoming a member here: https://glfrsj.nl/MembershipsYTThe Golfer's Journal Podcast is presented by Titleist

Not all polos are created equal, and neither are the brands behind them. On the latest TGJ Podcast, Tom Coyne visits Holderness & Bourne HQ in New York to sit down with co-founders Alex Holderness and John Bourne—two Yale grads who traded Wall Street for the Garment District with no prior fashion experience and a relentless drive to make the perfect polo. Alex and John share their advice for turning an idea into a physical product, navigating the golf industry, working with your friends and creating a product that cuts through the noise. Yes: the names stitched on pro shop labels around the world are actual people, and they have a story to tell. The Golfer's Journal and this podcast are made possible by reader support. If you enjoyed this episode, please consider becoming a member here: https://glfrsj.nl/MembershipsYTThe Golfer's Journal Podcast is presented by Titleist

On the latest episode of Schneps Connects, we dive into the transformation of New York City's Garment District with Barbara A. Blair, President of … Read More

In today's episode, Shelley and Phil taste through two of their favorite varietals, Carménère and Cabernet Franc. Both were purchased here in Coeur d'Alene, are priced right and are VERY good! International Carménère Day is this Sunday and Cabernet Franc Day is Wednesday, December 4. Grab one or both of these wines and taste throught with us. #HappyFriday! #ItsWineTime! #Cheersing Wines this episode:2021 Axel  Carménère ($21 at Pilgrim's Market)

When husband and wife Carolyn and Joseph Ferrara launched Ferrara Manufacturing in 1987, they set out to make the best womenswear in the business, all from their New York City's Garment District factory. They had no idea that NAFTA was about to rock the U.S. garment industry to its core, but they fought through the tumult and found success in working with brands like Ralph Lauren. Their daughter, Gabrielle Ferrara, Ferrara Manufacturing's chief operating officer, shares how the family-owned, women-owned, union-represented company's knack for innovation has helped it navigate the headwinds of offshoring and find new opportunities through the latest manufacturing technology.  Photo courtesy of Gabrielle Ferrara

GUEST- ALEX STONE // 2 workers killed at Atlanta Delta facility after reported tire explosion // SEATAC IMPACT - Thousands of travelers, airport operations impacted by Port of Seattle cyberattack Crime Round-up // Burglary crew arrested in Compton following armed home invasion in Sherman Oaks // Men in Rolls Royce, Ferrari targeted in attempted carjacking at Fashion Island mall in O.C // Burglars smash through walls to ransack Garment District businesses // GUEST - Steve Gregory // California deploys first C-130 Hercules made to fight wildfires // Disgraced Attorney Thomas Girardi Found Guilty of Stealing $15M From Clients 

Welcome Back, Fashion Besties! How's your week been? Have you been keeping up with all our fabulous episodes? Today, we have a very special guest returning to the show. You loved him on Episode 89, “How to Pose in Photos,” and now he's back for more! Please welcome back Andrew Werner, the fashion photographer extraordinaire, accessory designer, and all-around fabulous human being!

In Episode 171, your psychic friend and faithful deejay spins choice cuts from The Garment District, Magic Hero vs. Rock People, C Turtle, Orchestre Poly-Rythmo De Cotonou, and so many more.A free form radio show giving you what the algorithm won't since 2020,

UNSOLVED MISSING MEN: 4/4: Men Without Work: Post-Pandemic Edition (2022) (New Threats to Freedom Series)  by  Nicholas Eberstadt  (Author) https://www.amazon.com/Men-Without-Work-Post-Pandemic-Threats/dp/1599475979 Nicholas Eberstadt's landmark 2016 study, Men Without Work,cast a spotlight on the collapse of work for men in modern America. Rosy reports of low unemployment rates and “full or near full employment” conditions, he contends, were overlooking a quiet, continuing crisis: Depression-era work rates for American men of “prime working age” (25–54).    The grim truth: over six million prime-age men were neither working nor looking for work. Conventional unemployment measures ignored these labor force dropouts, but their ranks had been rising relentlessly for half a century. Eberstadt's unflinching analysis was, in the words of The New York Times, “an unsettling portrait not just of male unemployment, but also of lives deeply alienated from civil society.” 1936 Garment District

In the middle decades of the twentieth century in New York City, Dubrow's cafeterias in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and the garment district of Manhattan were places to get out of your apartment, have coffee with friends, or enjoy a hearty but affordable meal. They were grounded in the world of Jewish immigrants and their children, and they thrived in years when Flatbush and the Garment District each had a distinctly Jewish character. The cafeterias were also places where working class and modestly middle class New Yorkers of European ancestry, with few great luxuries in their lives, could enjoy a taste of culinary abundance. Under demographic changes, economic decay and high crime in the 1970s and 1980s, the world that produced Dubrow's came apart. The Brooklyn branch of Dubrow's closed in 1978, the Manhattan branch in 1985. But before Dubrow's cafeterias were shuttered, Marcia Bricker Halperin captured their mood and their patrons in black and white photographs. These pictures, along with essays by the playwright Donald Margulies and the historian Deborah Dash Moore, constitute Marcia's book Kibitz and Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow's Cafeteria, published by Cornell University Press (2023) and winner of a National Jewish Book Council prize for Food Writing and Cookbooks. Robert W. Snyder, Manhattan Borough Historian and professor emeritus at Rutgers University, is editing an anthology of New Yorkers' memories of the COVID-19 pandemic for Cornell University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In the middle decades of the twentieth century in New York City, Dubrow's cafeterias in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and the garment district of Manhattan were places to get out of your apartment, have coffee with friends, or enjoy a hearty but affordable meal. They were grounded in the world of Jewish immigrants and their children, and they thrived in years when Flatbush and the Garment District each had a distinctly Jewish character. The cafeterias were also places where working class and modestly middle class New Yorkers of European ancestry, with few great luxuries in their lives, could enjoy a taste of culinary abundance. Under demographic changes, economic decay and high crime in the 1970s and 1980s, the world that produced Dubrow's came apart. The Brooklyn branch of Dubrow's closed in 1978, the Manhattan branch in 1985. But before Dubrow's cafeterias were shuttered, Marcia Bricker Halperin captured their mood and their patrons in black and white photographs. These pictures, along with essays by the playwright Donald Margulies and the historian Deborah Dash Moore, constitute Marcia's book Kibitz and Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow's Cafeteria, published by Cornell University Press (2023) and winner of a National Jewish Book Council prize for Food Writing and Cookbooks. Robert W. Snyder, Manhattan Borough Historian and professor emeritus at Rutgers University, is editing an anthology of New Yorkers' memories of the COVID-19 pandemic for Cornell University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/history

In the middle decades of the twentieth century in New York City, Dubrow's cafeterias in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and the garment district of Manhattan were places to get out of your apartment, have coffee with friends, or enjoy a hearty but affordable meal. They were grounded in the world of Jewish immigrants and their children, and they thrived in years when Flatbush and the Garment District each had a distinctly Jewish character. The cafeterias were also places where working class and modestly middle class New Yorkers of European ancestry, with few great luxuries in their lives, could enjoy a taste of culinary abundance. Under demographic changes, economic decay and high crime in the 1970s and 1980s, the world that produced Dubrow's came apart. The Brooklyn branch of Dubrow's closed in 1978, the Manhattan branch in 1985. But before Dubrow's cafeterias were shuttered, Marcia Bricker Halperin captured their mood and their patrons in black and white photographs. These pictures, along with essays by the playwright Donald Margulies and the historian Deborah Dash Moore, constitute Marcia's book Kibitz and Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow's Cafeteria, published by Cornell University Press (2023) and winner of a National Jewish Book Council prize for Food Writing and Cookbooks. Robert W. Snyder, Manhattan Borough Historian and professor emeritus at Rutgers University, is editing an anthology of New Yorkers' memories of the COVID-19 pandemic for Cornell University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies

In the middle decades of the twentieth century in New York City, Dubrow's cafeterias in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and the garment district of Manhattan were places to get out of your apartment, have coffee with friends, or enjoy a hearty but affordable meal. They were grounded in the world of Jewish immigrants and their children, and they thrived in years when Flatbush and the Garment District each had a distinctly Jewish character. The cafeterias were also places where working class and modestly middle class New Yorkers of European ancestry, with few great luxuries in their lives, could enjoy a taste of culinary abundance. Under demographic changes, economic decay and high crime in the 1970s and 1980s, the world that produced Dubrow's came apart. The Brooklyn branch of Dubrow's closed in 1978, the Manhattan branch in 1985. But before Dubrow's cafeterias were shuttered, Marcia Bricker Halperin captured their mood and their patrons in black and white photographs. These pictures, along with essays by the playwright Donald Margulies and the historian Deborah Dash Moore, constitute Marcia's book Kibitz and Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow's Cafeteria, published by Cornell University Press (2023) and winner of a National Jewish Book Council prize for Food Writing and Cookbooks. Robert W. Snyder, Manhattan Borough Historian and professor emeritus at Rutgers University, is editing an anthology of New Yorkers' memories of the COVID-19 pandemic for Cornell University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/food

In the middle decades of the twentieth century in New York City, Dubrow's cafeterias in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and the garment district of Manhattan were places to get out of your apartment, have coffee with friends, or enjoy a hearty but affordable meal. They were grounded in the world of Jewish immigrants and their children, and they thrived in years when Flatbush and the Garment District each had a distinctly Jewish character. The cafeterias were also places where working class and modestly middle class New Yorkers of European ancestry, with few great luxuries in their lives, could enjoy a taste of culinary abundance. Under demographic changes, economic decay and high crime in the 1970s and 1980s, the world that produced Dubrow's came apart. The Brooklyn branch of Dubrow's closed in 1978, the Manhattan branch in 1985. But before Dubrow's cafeterias were shuttered, Marcia Bricker Halperin captured their mood and their patrons in black and white photographs. These pictures, along with essays by the playwright Donald Margulies and the historian Deborah Dash Moore, constitute Marcia's book Kibitz and Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow's Cafeteria, published by Cornell University Press (2023) and winner of a National Jewish Book Council prize for Food Writing and Cookbooks. Robert W. Snyder, Manhattan Borough Historian and professor emeritus at Rutgers University, is editing an anthology of New Yorkers' memories of the COVID-19 pandemic for Cornell University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies

In the middle decades of the twentieth century in New York City, Dubrow's cafeterias in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and the garment district of Manhattan were places to get out of your apartment, have coffee with friends, or enjoy a hearty but affordable meal. They were grounded in the world of Jewish immigrants and their children, and they thrived in years when Flatbush and the Garment District each had a distinctly Jewish character. The cafeterias were also places where working class and modestly middle class New Yorkers of European ancestry, with few great luxuries in their lives, could enjoy a taste of culinary abundance. Under demographic changes, economic decay and high crime in the 1970s and 1980s, the world that produced Dubrow's came apart. The Brooklyn branch of Dubrow's closed in 1978, the Manhattan branch in 1985. But before Dubrow's cafeterias were shuttered, Marcia Bricker Halperin captured their mood and their patrons in black and white photographs. These pictures, along with essays by the playwright Donald Margulies and the historian Deborah Dash Moore, constitute Marcia's book Kibitz and Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow's Cafeteria, published by Cornell University Press (2023) and winner of a National Jewish Book Council prize for Food Writing and Cookbooks. Robert W. Snyder, Manhattan Borough Historian and professor emeritus at Rutgers University, is editing an anthology of New Yorkers' memories of the COVID-19 pandemic for Cornell University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the middle decades of the twentieth century in New York City, Dubrow's cafeterias in the Flatbush section of Brooklyn and the garment district of Manhattan were places to get out of your apartment, have coffee with friends, or enjoy a hearty but affordable meal. They were grounded in the world of Jewish immigrants and their children, and they thrived in years when Flatbush and the Garment District each had a distinctly Jewish character. The cafeterias were also places where working class and modestly middle class New Yorkers of European ancestry, with few great luxuries in their lives, could enjoy a taste of culinary abundance. Under demographic changes, economic decay and high crime in the 1970s and 1980s, the world that produced Dubrow's came apart. The Brooklyn branch of Dubrow's closed in 1978, the Manhattan branch in 1985. But before Dubrow's cafeterias were shuttered, Marcia Bricker Halperin captured their mood and their patrons in black and white photographs. These pictures, along with essays by the playwright Donald Margulies and the historian Deborah Dash Moore, constitute Marcia's book Kibitz and Nosh: When We All Met at Dubrow's Cafeteria, published by Cornell University Press (2023) and winner of a National Jewish Book Council prize for Food Writing and Cookbooks. Robert W. Snyder, Manhattan Borough Historian and professor emeritus at Rutgers University, is editing an anthology of New Yorkers' memories of the COVID-19 pandemic for Cornell University Press. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/photography

Lisa Sun shares her tools for building true, lasting confidence. — YOU'LL LEARN — 1) What gravitas really means2) The Six Forces ruining your confidence3) How to discover your “confidence language”Subscribe or visit AwesomeAtYourJob.com/ep936 for clickable versions of the links below. — ABOUT LISA — Lisa Sun is the founder and CEO of GRAVITAS, a company on a mission to catalyze confidence. GRAVITAS offers innovative size-inclusive apparel, styling solutions, and content designed to make over women from the inside out.Prior to founding GRAVITAS, Sun spent 11 years at McKinsey & Company, where she advised leading luxury fashion and beauty brands and retailers in the U.S., Asia, Europe, and Latin America on strategic and operational issues. Her first collection was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, People, and the Today Show in the same month. Sun and GRAVITAS have been featured on CNN and in Forbes, Fast Company, New York Magazine, Elle, Marie Claire, InStyle, and more. GRAVITAS includes among its activities a commitment to AAPI causes and New York City's Garment District. Often called the “dress whisperer,” Lisa is also a highly sought-after public speaker who likes to impart her hard-won knowledge on gravitas and how to best harness it to other women. • Book: Gravitas: The 8 Strengths That Redefine Confidence • LinkedIn: Lisa Sun • Quiz: MyConfidenceLanguage.com — RESOURCES MENTIONED IN THE SHOW — • Book: How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie • Book: Mindset: The New Psychology of Success by Carol Dweck • HBR Article: Stop Telling Women They Have Imposter Syndrome by Ruchika Tulshyan and Jodi-Ann Burey • Past episode: 327: Unclog Your Brain through Unfocusing with Dr. Srini Pillay • Past episode: 852: Dale Carnegie's Timeless Wisdom on Building Mental Resilience and Strong Relationships with Joe Hart See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

About This EpisodeLisa Sun, CEO and founder of GRAVITAS, is an expert voice on the topic of confidence and being your truest self. This discussion provides a multifaceted view of what it means to live a life characterized by boldness and gravitas. Lisa emphasizes how our mindset drives our behavior, and she explains the internal and external forces that can influence our sense of self-worth and confidence, providing examples from her own professional journey shifting from the corporate world to founding her own business. Lisa also describes the 8 Superpowers of Confidence, a new paradigm for understanding our own innate strengths, and the focus of her newest book, Gravitas: The 8 Strengths That Redefine Confidence. Ranging from leading and performing to knowing and believing, among others, these superpowers enable us to further understand our own sense of confidence and how to best build a team with complimentary superpowers. Tune in for an enlightening episode that will help you understand and unleash the confidence you have within. About Lisa SunLisa Sun is the founder and CEO of GRAVITAS, a company on a mission to catalyze confidence. GRAVITAS offers innovative size-inclusive apparel, styling solutions, and content designed to makeover women from the inside out. Prior to founding GRAVITAS, Sun spent 11 years at McKinsey & Company, where she advised leading luxury fashion and beauty brands and retailers in the U.S., Asia, Europe, and Latin America on strategic and operational issues. Her first collection was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, People, and the Today show in the same month. Sun and GRAVITAS have been featured on CNN and in Forbes, Fast Company, New York magazine, Elle, Marie Claire, InStyle, and more. GRAVITAS includes among its activities a commitment to AAPI causes and New York City's Garment District. Often called the “dress whisperer,” Lisa is also a highly sought-after public speaker who likes to impart her hard-won knowledge on gravitas and how to best harness it to other women.  Additional ResourcesWebsite: https://www.gravitasnewyork.com/Discover Your Confidence Language: https://gravitasnewyork.com/pages/my-confidence-language-quizBuy Lisa's New Book, Gravitas: The 8 Strengths That Redefine ConfidenceInstagram: @LisaLSun   @GravitasNewYorkLinkedIn: @LisaSun

This Episode is for all the Fashionistas! We are joined by Cindy Castro, a prominent Latina fashion designer based in New York City. Originally from Ecuador, she pursued her dream of becoming a fashion designer.With a decade of industry experience, Cindy embarked on her mission to create her own women's ready-to-wear (RTW) line. Her brand, Cindy Castro New York, is characterized by a strong commitment to sustainability, social responsibility, and remarkable craftsmanship. In this conversation, Cindy discusses her motivation to establish Cindy Castro New York with a strong focus on sustainability, social responsibility, and craftsmanship, emphasizing her mission to disrupt the industry as one of the first Latinas leading sustainable fashion. Cindy's designs are influenced by her cultural roots and commitment to sustainability, and she highlights her decision to produce over 50% of her clothing locally in the Garment District, collaborating with Latino immigrants and minorities in New York. Leave this episode feeling inspired to start your own personal journey toward sustainable fashion! Check out Cindy Castro New York: Cindy Castro New York Official Site | RTW Luxury Sustainable Brand – 2023 Cindy Castro New York, LLC Special Offer for Tamarindo Listeners We're partnering with AlmaExplores.com to offer listeners a $50 discount to travel to Michoacan Mexico for Dia de Muertos Oct. 29 - Nov. 2, 2024.  Use the discount code EARLYTAMARINDO24 at checkout: https://www.wetravel.com/trips/celebrate-day-of-the-dead-in-morelia-michoacan-copy-alma-lopez-morelia-53190872 Tamarindo is a lighthearted show hosted by Brenda Gonzalez and Delsy Sandoval talking about politics, culture, and self-development. We're here to uplift our community through powerful conversations with changemakers, creatives, and healers. Join us as we delve into discussions on race, gender, representation, and life! You can get in touch with us at www.tamarindopodcast.com Brenda Gonzalez and Delsy Sandoval are executive producers of Tamarindo podcast with production support by Karina Riveroll of Sonoro Media. Jeff Ricards produced our theme song. If you want to support our work, please rate and review our show here.  SUPPORT OUR SHOW Contribute to the show: https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/tamarindopodcast1 Follow Tamarindo on instagram @tamarindopodcast and on twitter at @tamarindocast  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Remote Work and City Decline: Lessons From the Garment District (Clay Gillette) Clay Gillette is the Max E. Greenberg Professor of Contract Law at New York University School of Law. He is the author of Remote Work and City Decline: Lessons from the Garment District, 15 Journal of Legal Analysis 201 (2023). Appendices: Clay Gillette: the book In a Bad State (by David Schleicher), work by Joan Didion, TV shows Borgen, Fauda, Shtisel, and The Beauty Queen of Jerusalem, and the movie Oppenheimer. Greg Shill: the novel A Confederacy of Dunces, the New Yorker short story series Sell Out, and the TV show Rough Diamonds. Jeff Lin: journal articles Networking off Madison Avenue and The Curley Effect: The Economics of Shaping the Electorate, and Trees? Not in My Backyard. (Jerusalem Demsas) in the Atlantic. Follow us on the web or on Twitter/X: @denselyspeaking, @jeffrlin, @greg_shill. The hosts are also on Bluesky at @jeffrlin and @gregshill. Producer: Courtney Campbell The views expressed on the show are those of the participants, and do not necessarily represent the views of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, the Federal Reserve System, or any of the other institutions with which the hosts or guests are affiliated.

On this new Whisper in the Wings from Stage Whisper, we sat down with creator/performer Debora Balardini to talk about her new work, Backlash to Brazilian Happiness. Be sure to tune in to learn more about this tragic and fascinating show, and then head down to the heart of the Garment District to see this wonderful production!Backlash to Brazilian HappinessNow- November 20th at 7pm@ The TankTickets and more information are available at thetanknyc.org and at group.br.comAnd be sure to follow Deborah and her company to stay up to date on all their upcoming projects and productions:deborabalardini.comgroup.br.com@deborabalardini@groupdotbr

The musical "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" marked the Broadway debut of Barbra Streisand and told the story of a businessman trying to make a name for himself in New York City's Garment District in the 1930s. A new revival at Classic Stage Company features an updated book by John Weidman, son of Jerome Weidman, the author of the original novel and the book for the original musical. Weidman joins us to discuss, alongside stars Santino Fontana and Judy Kuhn. "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" is running through December 17.

The musical "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" marked the Broadway debut of Barbra Streisand and told the story of a businessman trying to make a name for himself in New York City's Garment District in the 1930s. A new revival at Classic Stage Company features an updated book by John Weidman, son of Jerome Weidman, the author of the original novel and the book for the original musical. Weidman joins us to discuss, alongside stars Santino Fontana and Judy Kuhn. "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" is running through December 17.

Lisa Sun is the author of Gravitas: The 8 Strengths the Redefine Confidence. She is the founder and CEO of GRAVITAS, a company on a mission to catalyze confidence. GRAVITAS offers innovative size-inclusive apparel, styling solutions, and content designed to make over women from the inside out. Prior to founding GRAVITAS, Sun spent 11 years at McKinsey & Company, where she advised leading luxury fashion and beauty brands and retailers in the U.S., Asia, Europe, and Latin America on strategic and operational issues. Her first collection was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, People, and The Today show in the same month. Sun and GRAVITAS have been featured on CNN and in Forbes, Fast Company, New York magazine, Elle, Marie Claire, InStyle, and more. GRAVITAS includes among its activities a commitment to AAPI causes and New York City's Garment District. Often called the “dress whisperer,” Lisa is also a highly sought-after public speaker who likes to impart her hard-won knowledge on gravitas and how to best harness it to other women. https://gravitasnewyork.com/pages/my-confidence-language-quiz https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-sun-793777 This episode is brought to you by... The Long-Distance Team. Remote leadership experts, Kevin Eikenberry and Wayne Turmel, help leaders navigate the new world of remote and hybrid teams to design the culture they desire for their teams and organizations in their new book! Book Recommendations Gravitas: The 8 Strengths That Redefine Confidence by Lisa Sun  Asian American Dreams by Helen Zia  Related Episodes Sparking Leadership Confidence with Angie Morgan

ABOUT Lisa Sun:Lisa's LinkedIn Profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lisa-sun-793777/Websites:To learn more about Lisa's book:  https://gravitasnewyork.com/pages/gravitas-book-the-8-strengths-that-redefine-confidenceLearn more about our forthcoming book, GRAVITAS: The 8 Strengths That Redefine ConfidenceTo discover your superpowers: www.MyConfidenceLanguage.comwww.GravitasNewYork.comBIO:Lisa Sun is the founder and CEO of GRAVITAS, a company on a mission to catalyze confidence. GRAVITAS offers innovative size-inclusive apparel, styling solutions, and content designed to make over women from the inside out. Prior to founding GRAVITAS, Sun spent 11 years at McKinsey & Company, where she advised leading luxury fashion and beauty brands and retailers in the U.S., Asia, Europe, and Latin America on strategic and operational issues. Her first collection was featured in O, The Oprah Magazine, People, and the Todays how in the same month.Sun and GRAVITAS have been featured on CNN and in Forbes, Fast Company, New York magazine, Elle, Marie Claire, InStyle, and more. GRAVITAS includes among its activities a commitment to AAPI causes and New York City's Garment District. Often called the “dress whisperer,” Lisa is also a highly sought-after public speaker who likes to impart her hard-won knowledge on gravitas and how to best harness it to other women.SHOW INTRO: Welcome to the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast.These dynamic dialogues based on our acronym DATA - design, architecture, technology, and the arts crosses over disciplines but maintains a common thread of people who are passionate about the world we live in and human's influence on it, the ways we craft the built environment to maximize human experience, increasing our understanding of human behavior and searching for the New Possible.The NXTLVL Experience Design podcast is presented by VMSD. VMSD is the publisher of VMSD magazine and brings us, in the brand experience world, the International Retail Design Conference. The IRDC is one of the best retail design conferences that there is bringing together the world of retailers, brands and experience placemakers every year for two days of engaging conversations and pushing the discourse forward on what makes retailing relevant.You will find the archive of the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast on VMSD.com.Thanks also goes to Shop Association the only global retail trade association dedicated to elevating the in-store experience. SHOP Association represents companies and affiliates from 25 countries and brings value to their members through research, networking, education, events and awards. Check then out on SHOPAssociation.orgIn this episode I talk with Lisa Sun the Founder and CEO of the apparel brand Gravitas and the author of the recently published, runaway best seller titled - “Gravitas: The 8 Strengths That Redefine Confidence.”But first a few thoughts.****************In the spring of 2022, I was in New York for the annual Vision Monday Leadership Summit. This event was being called “Discover & Recalibrate! Trends, Ideas and Tactics for Confronting Radical Change.” This 13th Annual gatherings brought into sharp focus the megatrends shaped by the COVID-19 pandemic.A lot of change has occurred in the world from the spring of 2020 up to this event. The COVID pandemic had shifted our worlds. The uncertainty and ambiguity brought about by the evolving circumstance of a global pandemic was a cause for pause. A time to re-evaluate and find strategies to address new challenges that faced us all.My talk focused on navigating the fluid world of exponential change, facing down the unknown and looking for ways to remain buoyant in the sea of change all around us. I suggested that cultural mindsets had been shifting over the past few years and that they had been hastened in the context of the global pandemic. When brands, their goods, services and experiences, are at odds with evolving culture, they can lose their value even if their legacy stays strong. As cultural transformation happens, brands need to learn how to navigate cultural complexity and create a different future that is aligned with the pace of change. In a post-pandemic, experience-seeking economy, health, safety and welfare are a baseline in the guest expectation set. But addressing evolving customer needs was now well beyond making sure customers were safe while shopping, visiting a hotel or simply being out in the community. How do we keep up with the pace of change? As the pace of change speeds along how can we finding meaning in the in-between of the last and the next big thing? I focused on how can changing your mindset about change allow us to see the ‘now' as an emergent space of creative possibility?Changing your mindset – reframing the context – seeing the interdependency of things – looking for opportunity in upheaval… these all seemed to be front-row-center how we needed to adjust to a new world order.As I was in the speaker's green room waiting for my time slot to come up, in bounds a woman with an air of openness, humility and eagerness to connect. There was an energy of confidence that emanated from her. She seemed to stand her ground, command her conversations and did so while not imposing on you but welcoming you into a shared space of empathic connection. I thought to my self, that I had to make sure that is saw that presentation.When Lisa Sun hit the stage, she was direct and vulnerable. She was hilarious with her impressions of her Taiwanese mother who she says was a Tiger Mom before it became a thing with publishing of Amy Chua's book that popularized the term. She shared her personal journey, living with her immigrant parents in Rancho Cucamonga who ran the only Chinese restaurant withing 40 miles of her home. Her first job out of college was working in a scrap metal yard, then worked for 11 years at McKinsey and Company where she spent on average 250 days a year on the road. She decided to take an 11 month sojourn to travel the world ending her trip with passing through Taiwan where her parents had retired. Her mother tried convinced her to spend half of her life's saving to create her own business rather than going back to the corporate consulting world. A fateful yearly performance review led to an epiphany and that in turn led her to her company Gravitas being born.Today Lisa Sun is the founder and CEO of GRAVITAS, a company on a mission to catalyze confidence. GRAVITAS offers innovative size-inclusive apparel, styling solutions, and content designed to make over women from the inside out.Her first collection was featured inO, The Oprah Magazine, People,and theToday show in the same month.Lisa Sun and GRAVITAS have been featured on CNN and inForbes, Fast Company,New York magazine, Elle, Marie Claire,InStyle, and more. Often called the “dress whisperer,” Lisa is also a highly sought-after public speaker who likes to impart her hard-won knowledge on having gravitas and how to best harness it in other people.10 + years after starting Gravitas the company, “Gravitas: the book, subtitled “The 8 Strengths That Redefine Confidence” has been published. In her book Lisa Sun shares her journey of self-discovery and combines it with proprietary research, real-world examples, and anecdotes from other successful women who have championed their own definition of self-worth.When I think back to the Vision Monday Leadership Summit and it being called “Discover & Recalibrate! Trends, Ideas and Tactics for Confronting Radical Change” I was talking about the radical environmental contextual change all around us and how that would influence change in the way we re-thought the design of our companies, brand experience places and re-writing long-held narratives that were no longer suited to a world of rapid change.I think Lisa's talk was signaling the need for personal radical change. Seeking for a view of oneself that required a mindset shift to believing in a sense of self-empowerment - welcoming change as a vehicle for personal growth. Gravitas, both the apparel company and the book, seek to “catalyze confidence.” ABOUT DAVID KEPRON:LinkedIn Profile: linkedin.com/in/david-kepron-9a1582bWebsites: https://www.davidkepron.com    (personal website)vmsd.com/taxonomy/term/8645  (Blog)Email: david.kepron@NXTLVLexperiencedesign.comTwitter: DavidKepronPersonal Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/davidkepron/NXTLVL Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nxtlvl_experience_design/Bio:David Kepron is a multifaceted creative professional with a deep curiosity to understand ‘why', ‘what's now' and ‘what's next'. He brings together his background as an architect, artist, educator, author, podcast host and builder to the making of meaningful and empathically-focused, community-centric customer connections at brand experience places around the globe. David is a former VP - Global Design Strategies at Marriott International. While at Marriott, his focus was on the creation of compelling customer experiences within Marriott's “Premium Distinctive” segment which included: Westin, Renaissance, Le Meridien, Autograph Collection, Tribute Portfolio, Design Hotels and Gaylord hotels. In 2020 Kepron founded NXTLVL Experience Design, a strategy and design consultancy, where he combines his multidisciplinary approach to the creation of relevant brand engagements with his passion for social and cultural anthropology, neuroscience and emerging digital technologies. As a frequently requested international speaker at corporate events and international conferences focusing on CX, digital transformation, retail, hospitality, emerging technology, David shares his expertise on subjects ranging from consumer behaviors and trends, brain science and buying behavior, store design and visual merchandising, hotel design and strategy as well as creativity and innovation. In his talks, David shares visionary ideas on how brand strategy, brain science and emerging technologies are changing guest expectations about relationships they want to have with brands and how companies can remain relevant in a digitally enabled marketplace. David currently shares his experience and insight on various industry boards including: VMSD magazine's Editorial Advisory Board, the Interactive Customer Experience Association, Sign Research Foundation's Program Committee as well as the Center For Retail Transformation at George Mason University.He has held teaching positions at New York's Fashion Institute of Technology (F.I.T.), the Department of Architecture & Interior Design of Drexel University in Philadelphia, the Laboratory Institute of Merchandising (L.I.M.) in New York, the International Academy of Merchandising and Design in Montreal and he served as the Director of the Visual Merchandising Department at LaSalle International Fashion School (L.I.F.S.) in Singapore.  In 2014 Kepron published his first book titled: “Retail (r)Evolution: Why Creating Right-Brain Stores Will Shape the Future of Shopping in a Digitally Driven World” and he is currently working on his second book to be published soon. David also writes a popular blog called “Brain Food” which is published monthly on vmsd.com. ************************************************************************************************************************************The next level experience design podcast is presented by VMSD magazine and Smartwork Media. It is hosted and executive produced by David Kepron. Our original music and audio production by Kano Sound. The content of this podcast is copywrite to David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design. Any publication or rebroadcast of the content is prohibited without the expressed written consent of David Kepron and NXTLVL Experience Design.Make sure to tune in for more NXTLVL “Dialogues on DATA: Design Architecture Technology and the Arts” wherever you find your favorite podcasts and make sure to visit vmsd.com and look for the tab for the NXTLVL Experience Design podcast there too.

Link to the show notes.

Uh-huh, you know what it is, Jim and Larry (x4). This week, the boys have survived market to tell all, have their quarterly emotional check-in, is a rapper cloning your footwear good or bad for your personal style, new money Lawrence regales an equally pathetic and pissed off shirt tale, reviewing the Drake tour ahead of hopefully running it back later this week, breaking down a Philipp Plein in-store event by the numbers before playing a PP-fied game of The Price Is Right, James takes a solo drive and checks out the audio erotica podcast community, finally getting locked in with your boy despite his commitment to the bit, a night of badges vs. lenses, drinking floor model beers, the genius of Mr. Claw, storm chasing cheeks in the Garment District, the worst picture ever taken finally gets a literal shot at redemption, do Zoë Kravitz and Channing Tatum deliver in person, fielding an army of child soldiers for a Nike soccer tourney, old men yell at beer pong, reviewing TF's latest brand community activation live show game tape and much more. For more Throwing Fits, check us out on Patreon: www.patreon.com/throwingfits.

The best surf spots in Santa Cruz are infamous for territorial locals and some occasionally aggressive confrontations.  But lately, not all of the offenders have been human. A five-year-old sea otter has become famous for stealing surfboards, and evading capture. Reporter: Erin Malsbury, KAZU California regulators are developing emergency rules to protect workers dying from inhaling silica dust, in shops making kitchen countertops. Reporter: Farida Jhabvala Romero, KQED Wednesday's winning Powerball ticket was bought in downtown Los Angeles' Garment District.  Reporter: Adolfo Guzman-Lopez, LAist 

Won't Take No For An Answer… For decades, Anna Sui has tapped into and helped define youth culture, grunge lifestyle, and rock-n-roll romanticism. Her baby-doll dresses, made iconic by Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, and Christy Turlington, reflected the changing tides ahead of the new millennium. Today, the multi-award-winning legend of fashion still produces all her clothes in NYC's Garment District and maintains the highest quality standards across her many product lines and licenses. She was an honored guest at SCAD Style 2023, from where today, Paula Wallace invites us all into the world of Anna Sui.

On this week's episode of the Northeast Newscast, Publisher Michael Bushnell is at the historic Garment District Museum at 8th and Broadway in downtown Kansas City. They discuss the history of garment factories in Kansas City and what visitors can expect. The garments on display are part of the Kansas City Museum's collections. While usually open by appointment only, it is open Wednesday through Saturday from 1o a.m.  to 4 p.m. while the Kansas City Museum is closed for HVAC upgrades.

This week's episode explores the different avenues for "style with a purpose", whether that may be choosing ethical options or purposefully updating your wardrobe. Opening the episode, host Kendall Becker shares her insight on how to curate a wardrobe that feels aligned to your personal values and style goals as well as intention when it comes to where you seek inspiration. Afterward, Kendall connects with Áwet Woldegebriel on his namesake, genderless label that was founded during COVID to support the Garment District workers in New York and leather goods company Parker Clay whose origin actually begins with a love story.  AWET New York: @awetnyc Parker Clay: @parkerclay About The Curated Podcast: Join Kendall Becker, New York City-based fashion editor & trend forecaster, as she connects with global creatives across luxury fashion, hospitality, and wellness to uncover the purpose, passion, and inspiration behind a guest's life path and showcase that unconventionality can be the perfect curation, too. Subscribe to The Curated wherever you get your podcasts as well as The Curated Edit on Substack for weekly inspiration from fashion finds to bucket list additions straight to your inbox. Plus, head to YouTube for travel videos, and stay up-to-date in-between episodes by following along on Instagram and TikTok.  The Curated Edit Newsletter on⁠ Substack⁠ The Curated World on YouTube: ⁠@kendall.becker⁠ The Curated Podcast's IG: ⁠@thecuratedbykendall ⁠ Kendall's IG: ⁠@kendall_becker ⁠ TikTok: ⁠@kendall.becker

In episode 35, Terri Stipanovich, founder and CEO of small-batch manufacturing factory The Collective Thread, shares how her background in the non-profit world and mission to empower women to earn a living wage led her to start The Collective Thread as a resource for emerging designers, training ground for industrial sewing, and a place for all to find meaning in creating something beautiful. In 2010 the founder of Faith that Works, now The Collective Thread, Terri Stipanovich traveled to East Africa on a vision trip. Terri was heartbroken when she saw refugee Somali women facing severe poverty and oppression. During that trip, she made a decision to start an organization that would empower refugee women both in her hometown of St. Louis, Mo, and in the Somali region of East Africa. After some years of working with women in both areas, she realized economic empowerment was the only sustainable solution to the issues she was passionately working to solve. At that point, The Collective Thread began to offer free sewing classes, which then led to living wage jobs for women both in Africa and St. Louis. It wasn't long before some St. Louis apparel brands approached Terri asking her team to take on their sewing needs. She knew this was a potential business opportunity that could fund the mission she had spent 10 years developing. But she needed experts in commercial sewing to succeed. Terri grew her team and expanded to a beautiful historic space in The Garment District in Downtown St. Louis. They purchased state-of-the-art equipment to increase their free sewing education classes to the community and to offer top-notch product development and small-batch manufacturing to companies in need of these services. They grew their management staff by hiring aspiring fashion designers and creating a winning team that has served over 50 brands fulfilling apparel design and manufacturing needs—all while staying true to The Collective Thread's mission to empower vulnerable women through new skills and a living wage job. In this episode, you'll learn: How working in non-profit world led Terri to into cut & sew manufacturing The mission that began it all How The Collective Thread got connected with the refugee community in Saint Louis The real cost of training new sewers and how The Collective Thread can afford to make it their focus Why a skilled sewing workforce is so important yet so undervalued Who makes up the team at The Collective Thread and who they work with The questions all designers should come prepared to answer when they first meet their factory and why those questions are important How The Collective Thread learned the hard way about needing to focus down and say no to certain client work The one thing that can make or break your relationship with your factory What things would make your brand the perfect fit to produce with The Collective Thread The biggest challenge that Terri faces in growing The Collective Thread People and resources mentioned in this episode: The Collective Thread website The Collective Thread Instagram Terri's email Book a consultation with Terri Saint Louis Fashion Fund

Soviet spies who betrayed the secret of the A-Bomb or innocent victims framed by Cold War hysteria, legal corruption and anti-Semitism? Over seventy years later the debate rages on. Julius Rosenberg, mug shot Julius and Ethel Rosenberg began their lives as two of the most unlikely individuals to ever acquire their eventual high profile notoriety.  Julius' immigrant father, Harry, worked in the Garment District, providing his family with a better than average income that allowed the Rosenbergs to live a lifestyle marginally better than many of their Lower East Side counterparts.  His mother, also an immigrant from Eastern Europe was an illiterate homemaker who took care of Julius and his four siblings.  Quite serious, even as a teenager, Julius was a good enough student to consider rabbinical studies.  A high school graduate at 16, he eventually settled on engineering, enrolling at the City College of New York.  Politically aware, he also became active in several associations associated with the Communist Party, especially the Young Communist League. Ethel Rosenberg, mug shot Ethel Greenglass came from a similar Lower East Side background as her eventual husband, her father working in the sewing machine repair shop on the ground floor beneath the family apartment.  Three years older than Julius, they met as a result of their political interests and involvement in the Young Communist League.  Ethel was an aspiring actress and singer from a young age and was preparing to perform on New Year's Eve, 1936, at a union benefit that Julius also attended.  After an introduction from a friend, Ethel agreed to Julius' request to walk her home and from then on, the couple was inseparable.  David Greenglass, mug shot David Greenglass' testimony against his own sister and brother-in-law, which even he admitted later was disingenuous and coached by the federal government, was lethal to the Rosenbergs. Ruth Greenglass, mug shot Only a minor player in the Rosenberg spy ring, the FBI and US Government threatened the Greenglass' if they did not cooperate and help with the prosecution of their own relatives. David and Ruth Greenglass during World War II David Greenglass' random assignment to the highly sensitive Manhattan Project to construct a nuclear weapon placed him in proximity to information that was of interest to his brother-in-law, Julius Rosenberg Atom spy Klaus Fuchs Fuchs' arrest and testimony led the FBI to both Harry Gold and eventually the Rosenbergs.  He was sentenced to fourteen years in prison, served nine and was released.  He then emigrated to East Germany, and worked on weapons research until his eventual retirement as a highly decorated Communist hero. Harry Gold Harry Gold was a Soviet espionage agent and courier who interacted between David Greenglass and Klaus Fuchs.  He testified against the Rosenbergs, received a thirty year jail sentence and was released after serving approximately fifteen years.  He worked as a hospital pathologist and died in 1972. The actual Jell-O box that was submitted as evidence during the Rosenberg trial Although a recreation, this piece of evidence was crucial to demonstrating the tradecraft and espionage capabilities of Julius Rosenberg.  Harry Gold presented one half of the box to David Greenglass to introduce himself and demonstrate that he was sent by Julius Rosenberg.  The Jell-O box used at the trial is now in the National Archives.  

Dan Epstein joins the SIAC panel to talk about the book he co-authored with Ron Blomberg, THE CAPTAIN & ME: ON AND OFF THE FIELD WITH THURMAN MUNSON. Come spend an hour in the land of 1970s baseball where the suits were polyester, the dance was disco, and the Yankees had a catcher who should have been in the Hall of Fame 35 years ago already.

This episode is a part three of our conversation surrounding George Floyd and the current state of the Black Community. This episode also includes special guest Bro. Jamaal Waith! Brother Waith attended The University of The District of Columbia. After his undergraduate studies Brother Waith dived head first into entrepreneurship. Brother Waith is the founder of “The Garment District”; a Washington, D.C. based clothing company that aims to merge ever changing fashion norms with the homegrown flavor of “Chocolate City”. In addition, Brother Waith is also the Co-Founder of Bouqe' Rolling Papers. As the name describes, Bouqe' is an natural rolling paper company. Brother Waith discusses the challenges of Black Entrepreneurship within the Cannabis industry. We also discuss our experiences with over policing, discrimination, and OUR LOVE FOR BLACK WOMEN!!! As always! Thank you for listening and let it sizzle!!! --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tlar-podcast/message

On this special broadcast of The Entrepreneurial Web from Della with my dear friend, Sarina Rao, we discuss how the road to happiness and success can be a meandering journey. Through her experiences in the Garment District, to opening an organic food market, to her current dabbling in the music industry, Sarina offers lots of inspiring thoughts on switching gears, getting your head out of the funk and recognizing abundance.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/the-entrepreneurial-web/donations

In Episode 69, your host, Lee, shares two words to stop using. Yep. Just two. You know, for now. Find out why the phrase "I know" needs to be replaced! You also find out which small fabric store in the Garment District to check out before heading to those more expensive shops. Ebad Fabrics on 8th Avenue is a great place to find simple textiles! And, find out how to have Lee record the outgoing voicemail message on your phone or landline - doesn't that sound like fun?! If you've wondered how to support Lee and the show, why not treat her to a cup of coffee - or a salad! Click here to support the show : ) Mentions/Resources: - Asian American Podcasters group - JOIN! - Ebad Fabrics, 550 Eighth Avenue between 37th and 38th streets, New York, NY (www.EbadFab.com) - Lee's kid's sports podcast: http://www.SebzWorldOfSports.com - Lee's OTHER podcast: http://www.PractiMama.com - Lee keeps it real with practical parenting tips! The House of Life NYC, a division of WLEE Media, LLC, is available at Apple Casts/iTunes, Spotify, Google Play, Stitcher and your favorite podcast app. (Lee is working on the issue with iHeart Radio.) Leave your comments and questions via voice for Lee at www.HouseOfLifeNYC.com - or call or email Lee at: lee @ wleefm.com or (212) 6 5 5 - 9 8 4 0. Lee can also be found on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.