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"You can both celebrate them and advocate for them at the same time." This episode is sponsored-in-part by Maddie's Fund, OcuTrap, and Drop Traps: Beginning and Advanced Certification Workshop. Dan Rimada didn't set out to start a movement. He just started noticing cats. During the stillness of COVID, when New York City slowed down enough to actually look around, he began noticing the cats living in the bodegas of his Fort Greene, Brooklyn neighborhood and photographing them on his iPhone. What began as a hyper-local Instagram project quickly grew into something much larger — a citywide archive, an advocacy platform, a walking tour company, and now a forthcoming book. Today, Bodega Cats of New York is the most detailed documentation of working cats in New York City corner stores ever assembled, built on four years of relationship-building across all five boroughs. At the heart of Dan's work is a real tension: bodega cats are beloved New York City cultural icons — neighborhood anchors, pest controllers, familiar faces — and they are technically illegal. Under current New York City Health Code, keeping a live animal in a food establishment can result in fines between $200 and $1,500. Dan's 14,000-signature petition changed that conversation. It led to City Council legislation that would eliminate those fines and fund spay/neuter and vaccinations for bodega cats — with Council Member Frank Morano now carrying the bill forward after Keith Powers was term-limited out. A parallel state-level bill, introduced by Assembly Member Linda Rosenthal, goes further, establishing official care standards: designated cat zones, clean water, nutritious food, rest areas, and mandatory spay/neuter. The two bills are designed to work in tandem. Dan also co-founded Cats About Town Tours with cat historian Peggy Gavan, whose blog hatchingcatnyc.com and books on New York City's animal history made her the perfect partner. The tours run through Brooklyn Heights, the Lower East Side, and the Financial District, uncovering the hidden feline history of New York from the 1800s and 1900s — and every ticket sold triggers food donations to a 501(c)(3) cat rescue. His book, Bodega Cats of New York, featuring photography by Gulce Kilkis, arrives from Quarto Publishing in October 2026. Press Play Now For: How a COVID-era iPhone project in Fort Greene grew into New York City's most comprehensive bodega cat archive What a bodega actually is — and why working cats have been part of that culture for generations Why bodega cats are currently illegal under NYC Health Code, and what the legislation would change The two-pronged legislative strategy: the city council bill and the state-level Assembly bill, and how they work together How Dan's $7,400 fundraiser and 14,000-signature petition translated into real legislative action The spay/neuter and vaccination funding mechanism proposed in the city bill — and where the money could come from Why some rescue groups want an outright ban on bodega cats, and Dan's more pragmatic take The story behind Cats About Town Tours and the hidden cat history woven into New York City's streets What to expect from the Bodega Cats of New York book, coming October 2026 Resources & Links Bodega Cats of New York — Dan's archive, advocacy updates, and book waitlist at bodegacatsofnewyork.com @bodegacatsofnewyork on Instagram Cats About Town Tours — NYC's cat history walking tours, running April through November The Hatching Cat of Gotham — Peggy Gavan's blog on the history of cats (and dogs) in New York City
Interpol han vuelto a Nueva York para grabar su nuevo disco, al Lower East Side, el barrio donde cocinaron su sonido hace más de dos décadas. Ese nuevo álbum verá la luz a finales de agosto y se titulará 'This Mirror Weighs a Ton', como una de las dos canciones nuevas que te avanzamos en esta sesión, donde también escuchamos las últimas novedades de Ty Segall -el californiano también ha anunciado nuevo álbum-, Mike D -el ex integrante de Beastie Boys publicará su primer disco en solitario-, MNFST. -nuevo proyecto barcelonés que combina punk y nu metal-, The Avalanches o Tom Morello.Playlist:KNEECAP - FenianFAT DOG - Go Fuck UrselfADULT DVD - Real Tree LeeTHE AVALANCHES - Every Single Weekend (feat. Jamie xx)THE AVALANCHES - Because I'm MeMIKE D - True ColorsBEASTIE BOYS - Fight For Your RightINTERPOL - C'mereINTERPOL - This Mirror Weighs a TonINTERPOL - See Out LoudLEVITANTS - SeñalesMNFST. - UNICORN.THE WARNING - EgoTOM MORELLO - Adjourn It (feat. Serj Tankian & Roman Morello)AUDIOSLAVE - CochiseHERMANA FURIA - Vis a visDAPHNE - Laika (Live Session 2026)ZONA ZERO - Cara a caraARCTIC MONKEYS - R U Mine?TY SEGALL - The FakerTY SEGALL - Black PaintKING TUFF - Stairway To NowhereFATHER JOHN MISTY - The Old LawLEIVA - GiganteLOS ZIGARROS - No pain no gainTARQUE - Piel de toroLED ZEPPELIN – KashmirEscuchar audio
Film Festival Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2216905 PAtreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast SUMMARY This week on Total Replay! Dave opens with a heartfelt intro about the Total Replay series — replaying all early episodes with Chris O'Connor, Dave's co-creator who died of a fentanyl overdose in July 2018. Dave explains why these replays matter: listeners who came later are getting to know Chris for the first time, and can trace his recovery, his relapse, and his death in real time across 130 episodes. Dave promotes the Dopey Film Festival (June 26, SVA Theatre, NYC), reads Patreon and Spotify comments — including a standout from a listener now 1.5 years sober who used to listen while walking to cop — and recaps the Knicks NBA Finals run. The replayed episode is #30 — a two-hour classic with Dave, Chris, and a special guest called only "Jay," a musician from a prominent 90s band who remains anonymous. Jay gave Dave his first bag of weed in 1994. The episode covers: Jay's origin story (karate → weed → crack senior year of high school → speedballing → 20+ years of heroin); kicking dope in Jerusalem while on tour; copping in Austin at South by Southwest while sick on fake methadone; Dave's multiple arrest stories including being arrested twice in one day on the Lower East Side, getting jumped and pistol-whipped, buying drugs at Barnes & Noble, and getting arrested sober for putting up a sticker and giving his hoodie to a teenager in jail. Closes with Jay's 16 years of sobriety and how getting clean made him a better performer, plus a deep discussion of Syd Barrett, AA traditions, Under Earners Anonymous, Sex and Love Addicts, and a listener email from Scott — a truck driver 7 weeks clean. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Dopey Film Festival Tickets: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2216905 Patreon: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Long Summary This week's Total Replay features Dopey Episode 30, originally recorded in the Lower East Side apartment when Chris and Dave were still figuring out what the show would become. Dave opens by explaining why Episode 29 won't be replayed. It was Ray Brown's first appearance on Dopey, but Ray has repeatedly requested that his early appearances remain offline. Dave pays tribute to Ray and plugs the upcoming Dopey Recovery Film Festival before reflecting on how strange it is to revisit these early episodes. The episode begins with Chris bringing his then-girlfriend Karen onto the show. Karen and Chris discuss meeting on Tinder, their awkward early dates, Chris almost ghosting her, and the bizarre process of figuring out whether they were actually boyfriend and girlfriend. Dave relentlessly interrogates both of them about their relationship while Karen patiently tolerates the nonsense. Karen reveals she had already listened to Dopey before Chris realized it and shares what it was like hearing some of Chris's wilder stories for the first time. The conversation includes a hilarious story about Karen drunkenly inviting Chris over, only for him to arrive and find her passed out on the toilet. The show then veers into classic early Dopey territory: recovery debates, methadone arguments, active addicts, prison stories, and discussions about whether people on maintenance medications should qualify at meetings. The centerpiece of the episode is Chris's legendary LSD story: After relapsing while working at a sober living house, Chris begins ordering drugs from the Silk Road. He buys heroin, cocaine, and some incredibly strong LSD. While attempting to maintain the appearance of sobriety, he takes acid during a screening of The Wolf of Wall Street with his girlfriend Tina. By the time they return home, Chris is tripping hard and realizes his girlfriend is going to notice. His solution? Convince her he's experiencing HPPD (Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder) brought on by meditation. Chris leads a meditation session, then pretends he's suddenly having an LSD flashback. Initially Tina believes him. Eventually guilt gets the better of him and he confesses. Then he immediately tries to convince her he didn't actually take acid after all, causing her to question her own reality before finally admitting the truth again. The story ends with Tina kicking him out while Chris, deep into the trip, worries less about the relationship and more about whether she'll make him carry home a gigantic cast-iron piggy bank he had previously given her as a gift. The episode closes with a discussion about recovery, why addicts laugh at horrifying things they've done, and how the absurdity of addiction becomes funny only after enough distance and healing. A bonafide dopey classic! Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Travel through time with the Breaking Form ladies as we revisit some queer times and places.Support Breaking Form by reviewing the show on Apple Podcasts here.Aaron's STOP LYING is available from the Pitt Poetry Series. BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE is available from Bridwell Press. James's ROMANTIC COMEDY is available from Four Way Books. Notes:Check out Felice Picano's website https://www.felicepicano.net/, and this tribute to the writer, who died in 2025 at the age of 81. For more about how Saint Sebastian became a queer icon, read here. Leslie Feinberg's Stone Butch Blues is available in many formats on Feinberg's website: https://www.lesliefeinberg.net/In addition to publishing poetry and prose, Darrell g.h. Schramm writes for national and international rose publications, especially on heritage roses. He edits Rose Letter, a small quarterly of the Heritage Roses Group, and a newsletter The Vintage Rose for The Friends of Vintage Roses. For many years, he taught rhetoric at the University of San Francisco.Member of the Family: Gay Men Write About Their Families was edited by John Preston and published by Plume in 1994.Check out "The Truth That Must Be Told: Gay Subjectivity, Homophobia, and Social History in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'" by Dean Shackleford in The Tennessee Williams Annual Review (available through jstor). Read more of Richard McCann's poem "Days of 1990" from Ghost Letters (buy it from Alice James Books here).The book David Wojnarowicz: A Definitive History of Five or Six Years on the Lower East Side was edited by by Sylvère Lotringer, Giancarlo Ambrosino, Chris Kraus, Hedi El Kholti, Justin Cavin, and Jennifer Doyle, and it was published by Semiotext(e). The book resulted from Wojnarowicz's meetings with Lotringer; they'd arranged to meet In February 1991 to conduct a long-awaited dialogue on Wojnarowicz's work. Wojnarowicz was then at the peak of his notoriety as the fiercest antagonist of morals crusader Senator Jesse Helms–a notoriety that Wojnarowicz alternately embraced and rejected. Already suffering the last stages of AIDS, David saw his dialogue with Lotringer as a chance to set the record straight on his aspirations, his personal history, and his political views. Check out this video of Wojnarowicz reading "All I Can Feel Is the Pressure"
Journalist Arun Gupta returns to CounterPunch Radio to discuss the state of the left, antiwar politics, and much more. Arun talks to host Eric Draitser and provides his analysis of the No Kings movement and how leftists should understand it, as well as a retrospective of the antiwar movements around Iraq and Vietnam. He explores the importance of physical community and organization using the example of New York’s Lower East Side, where he resides. The conversation also touches on the Left’s historic role in countering the hegemonic view of global affairs. A devoted leftist, Marxist, investigative journalist, chef, and food tour guide, Arun Gupta always brings incisive analysis and thoughtful critique to CounterPunch. The post The State of the US Left w/ Arun Gupta appeared first on CounterPunch.org.
FILM FESTIVAL TICKETS: https://buytickets.at/thedopeyfoundation/2216905 PATREON: www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Summary On this Dopey Monday Total Replay, Dave looks back at Dopey Episode 28, one of the strangest and creepiest early episodes of the show. It features Dave, Chris, and graphic-design Ryan — the guy who made the original Dopey logo — talking through old Lower East Side drug energy, the first major Dopey fan emails, weird ego stuff, drug stories, recovery, Rob Reiner, Nick Reiner, and a whole lot of eerie foreshadowing. Dave reflects on how painful it is to hear Chris again, knowing he died in 2018, and uses the episode to make a simple but brutal point: if Chris had stayed in recovery, he probably wouldn't have died. The replay itself is classic early Dopey: messy, funny, dark, uncomfortable, and weirdly prophetic. Ryan tells a story about refusing to leave a drug pickup even after a guy puts a gun to his head. Chris talks about addiction, genetics, rats drinking heroin water, and recovery. Dylan randomly calls in right as Dave is talking about Dylan from 90210, which feels like Dopey synchronicity. The episode also includes the first big fan email from Tina in Philadelphia, Dave getting wounded by being called “Dan,” and a long, now-haunting conversation about Rob Reiner and Nick Reiner before Nick ever appeared on Dopey. It's funny, painful, and very Dopey. PLUS Drugs, addiction and dumb shit on the new/old 10 year anniversary of this episode!(of Dopey) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
He sold the family business, watched someone else run it into the ground, and then bought it back. Rose Hamilton, CEO of Compass Rose Ventures and co-host of The Story of a Brand Show, sits down with Ryan Alovis, CEO of LensDirect.com, for one of the most honest and layered founder conversations the show has ever hosted. LensDirect has been in Ryan's family for a hundred years; from a great-grandfather selling frames off a pushcart on the Lower East Side to one of the most fiercely independent online vision care companies in America. This is not a comeback story. It's a discipline story. * The buyback nobody saw coming. After LensDirect was sold by his family in 2004, Ryan spent years building subscription businesses before he spotted an opportunity to acquire it back. What he bought wasn't a thriving business — it was bruised, small, and undervalued. He saw the soul everyone else had overlooked. * Independence as a competitive strategy. In a category racing toward consolidation and capital, Ryan made a deliberate choice to stay independent, stay lean, and build brick by brick — even when overcapitalized competitors made it look like they were winning. * The $10 million bet that almost didn't pay off. Ryan made a massive infrastructure investment right before COVID hit. He breaks down why that decision — which could have sunk everything — ultimately became one of the defining moves in LensDirect's modern chapter. * Growth without identity is just expansion. Ryan and Rose dig into what it really means to modernize a legacy brand without erasing its soul — and why protecting the core identity matters more than chasing every shiny opportunity the market throws at you. * Working with family is a leadership story. From his father to his brother, LensDirect has always had family threads running through it. Ryan shares what he's learned about patience, boundaries, and why there can only be one person calling the real shots. Join us in listening to this episode for a masterclass in founder discipline, brand identity, and what it really means to earn the right to exist in a competitive category — brick by brick. Whether you're building, acquiring, or figuring out your brand's next chapter, this conversation will give you a lot to think about. For more on LensDirect visit: https://www.lensdirect.com/ If you enjoyed this episode, please leave The Story of a Brand Show a rating and review. Plus, don't forget to follow us on Apple and Spotify. Your support helps us bring you more content like this!
Chef David Burke joins Mark and Francis at the New Jersey Wine & Food Festival for a conversation about Jersey dining, restaurant ambition, early kitchen life, and the creative ideas that become a chef's signature.Why This Episode MattersDavid Burke's career runs through New Jersey, New York City, and a national restaurant footprint, but this conversation brings him back to the Jersey roots that shaped him.David, Mark, and Francis dig into the business realities behind restaurant growth, especially real estate, rising costs, payroll, and the value of owning the building.The episode looks at how New Jersey dining has changed, from quiet weeknights and liquor-license hurdles to a stronger local restaurant culture.David's early kitchen stories capture a version of restaurant life that was chaotic, skilled, rough around the edges, and completely captivating.The conversation shows how a signature dish is born: part imagination, part logistics, part stubbornness, and part “somebody please build me the thing.”BanterMark and Francis open with lab-grown cocoa, chocolate anxiety, and the future of a world where even dessert may need a science department. Mark then shares a Lower East Side fried chicken quest that very much did not lead to fried chicken — a classic Restaurant Guys situation involving food curiosity, one neon rooster, and the internet saving him from a very different afternoon.The ConversationDavid Burke joins Mark and Francis at the New Jersey Wine & Food Festival, where they start by noting that after 20 years of the podcast, David is somehow only now making his first appearance. David talks about running ten restaurants, the ambition that keeps chefs saying yes to new opportunities, and why New Jersey became an important part of his restaurant life after years in New York.The conversation turns to real estate, rising costs, early dining, and the business advantage of owning the building, something they all see as central to long-term restaurant survival. David also looks back on his Hazlet beginnings, from dishwashing to being dazzled by club sandwiches, sauté pans, salty line cooks, and rock stars moving through the back door.The final stretch gets into David's gift for signature dishes, especially the path from a Peking duck idea to clothesline bacon. It is a very David Burke story: big visual concept, practical headaches, custom hardware, and eventually a dish that became so recognizable people copied it around the world.Timestamps00:00 Mark and Francis open with lab-grown cocoa and a Lower East Side fried chicken misunderstanding06:30 David Burke joins them at the New Jersey Wine & Food Festival09:15 New Jersey restaurants, real estate, and the value of owning the building12:15 David's Hazlet roots and first kitchen jobs23:00 Signature dishes, clothesline bacon, and big restaurant ideas30:30 Jersey chefs, friendship, and making time outside the work grindOn Friday, May 22 we'll be celebrating our 34th Anniversary with a 34 Bottle Walk Around Tasting. Join us!https://www.stageleft.com/event/52226-34th-anniversary-party-ft-34-bottle-wine-spirits-tasting/ Subscribe: Restaurant Guys' Regularhttps://restaurantguysregulars.buzzsprout.com/Magyar Bankhttps://www.magbank.com/Stage Left Wine Shophttps://www.stageleftwineshop.com/Our PlacesStage Left Steakhttps://www.stageleft.com/Catherine Lombardi Restauranthttps://www.catherinelombardi.com/Stage Left Wineshophttps://www.stageleftwineshop.com/Reach Out to The Guys!TheGuys@restaurantguyspodcast.com
The Tenement Museum preserves and interprets the personal stories of residents of two buildings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Ninety-seven Orchard Street opened in 1863 and housed a succession of European immigrants until the double blow of the Great Depression and the impact of the 1924 Johnson Reed Act forced the landlord to evict the tenants. Down the block, 103 Orchard, built in 1888, kept its doors open throughout the twentieth century, hosting Jewish and Italian immigrants in its early years, and Holocaust refugees, Puerto Rican migrants and Chinese immigrants in its later years. This program traces how immigration law impacted the residents of these buildings, and how they carved out new lives once they arrived. Census records, newspaper articles and oral histories—with a focus on YIVO primary sources—will be used to bring the families' situations to life and situate them in their contexts. This lecture originally took place on June 24, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies
The Tenement Museum preserves and interprets the personal stories of residents of two buildings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Ninety-seven Orchard Street opened in 1863 and housed a succession of European immigrants until the double blow of the Great Depression and the impact of the 1924 Johnson Reed Act forced the landlord to evict the tenants. Down the block, 103 Orchard, built in 1888, kept its doors open throughout the twentieth century, hosting Jewish and Italian immigrants in its early years, and Holocaust refugees, Puerto Rican migrants and Chinese immigrants in its later years. This program traces how immigration law impacted the residents of these buildings, and how they carved out new lives once they arrived. Census records, newspaper articles and oral histories—with a focus on YIVO primary sources—will be used to bring the families' situations to life and situate them in their contexts. This lecture originally took place on June 24, 2021. 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
The Tenement Museum preserves and interprets the personal stories of residents of two buildings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Ninety-seven Orchard Street opened in 1863 and housed a succession of European immigrants until the double blow of the Great Depression and the impact of the 1924 Johnson Reed Act forced the landlord to evict the tenants. Down the block, 103 Orchard, built in 1888, kept its doors open throughout the twentieth century, hosting Jewish and Italian immigrants in its early years, and Holocaust refugees, Puerto Rican migrants and Chinese immigrants in its later years. This program traces how immigration law impacted the residents of these buildings, and how they carved out new lives once they arrived. Census records, newspaper articles and oral histories—with a focus on YIVO primary sources—will be used to bring the families' situations to life and situate them in their contexts. This lecture originally took place on June 24, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies
The Tenement Museum preserves and interprets the personal stories of residents of two buildings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Ninety-seven Orchard Street opened in 1863 and housed a succession of European immigrants until the double blow of the Great Depression and the impact of the 1924 Johnson Reed Act forced the landlord to evict the tenants. Down the block, 103 Orchard, built in 1888, kept its doors open throughout the twentieth century, hosting Jewish and Italian immigrants in its early years, and Holocaust refugees, Puerto Rican migrants and Chinese immigrants in its later years. This program traces how immigration law impacted the residents of these buildings, and how they carved out new lives once they arrived. Census records, newspaper articles and oral histories—with a focus on YIVO primary sources—will be used to bring the families' situations to life and situate them in their contexts. This lecture originally took place on June 24, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/law
The Tenement Museum preserves and interprets the personal stories of residents of two buildings on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Ninety-seven Orchard Street opened in 1863 and housed a succession of European immigrants until the double blow of the Great Depression and the impact of the 1924 Johnson Reed Act forced the landlord to evict the tenants. Down the block, 103 Orchard, built in 1888, kept its doors open throughout the twentieth century, hosting Jewish and Italian immigrants in its early years, and Holocaust refugees, Puerto Rican migrants and Chinese immigrants in its later years. This program traces how immigration law impacted the residents of these buildings, and how they carved out new lives once they arrived. Census records, newspaper articles and oral histories—with a focus on YIVO primary sources—will be used to bring the families' situations to life and situate them in their contexts. This lecture originally took place on June 24, 2021. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The phone calls could be harsh. Daniel Freedman talked to a lot of shop owners. They told him anthologies didn't sell. He explained that Stimulus was not an anthology; it was a short story collection. They continued to express cynicism. He went ahead and assembled an astonishing array of stories, galloping through numerous tones and showcasing an awesome stable of collaborators. Stimulus flaunts the heights that this medium can soar, and obliterates house style tastes. It's on those LCS shelves now. Here's your chance to prove the glass-half-empty folks that audiences crave structures free from corporate designs. The comics in Stimulus should have your mouth watering. They're science fiction and fantasy slanted idea outburts illustrated by - hold your breath - Robert Sammelin (Kali), Tomm Coker (Black Monday Murders), Filya Bratukhin(Nature's Labyrinth), Amilcar Pina (Galactic), Dilraj Mann (Dalstron Monsterzz), Lorenzo Nuti (Dragonero/Conan), Arianna Farricella (College Apocalypse), Gavin Dias (PENTHOUSE Comics), Debbie Tsoi (Split Fiction), Stefano Realdini (Captain Gaia), Dan Morison (HELL-BENT), and Henrik Sahlstrom (Mirror's Edge: Exordium). This week, we had a blast chatting with Daniel Freedman about Stimulus. The short story collection spans more than ten years of his life, and each tale explores Freedman working himself out as well as the world he finds himself trapped in. We discuss the autobiographic nature of all storytelling, the power of a short story collection, and why comics allow him to create where other mediums do not. And before all that, our kid on the beat cub reporter, Brad, regales Lisa with his journey to the Lower East Side and the Jack Kirby Way street-naming ceremony on May 11th. He discusses what and who he saw on Essex Street and even offers audio recordings of Jack Kirby Way presenters Roy Schwartz, NYC Council Member Christopher Marte, Tom Brevoort, Paul Levitz, and Jim Steranko. The King of Comics finally getting his name on an NYC street is a historic moment. Let's all celebrate as comic book readers. Stimulus is out now in trade paperback from Dark Horse Comics. Make sure you're following Daniel Freedman on Instagram. This Week's Sponsors The Future is Calling! 2000 AD is the Galaxy's Greatest Comic, with new issues published every single week! Every 32-page issue of 2000 AD brings you the best in sci-fi and horror, featuring characters like Judge Dredd, Rogue Trooper, and more. Get a print subscription to 2000 AD and it'll arrive to your mailbox every week - and your first issue is free! Or subscribe digitally, and you can download DRM-free copies of each issue for only $9 a month. That's 128 pages of incredible comics every month for less than $10! Head to 2000AD.com and click on ‘subscribe' now – or download the 2000 AD app and start reading today! Other Relevant Links to This Week's Episode: Subscribe to the Comic Book Couples Counseling YouTube Channel Watch The Stacks, Comic Creators Name Their Favorite Comics Previously on CBCC: Todd McFarlane on Spawn Jack Kirby Way, as reported by The Beat Comic Book Club: Supergirl: Woman of Tomorrow at Meanwhile...Coffee in Herndon, Virginia, on 5/3 at 3:30 PM Final Round of Plugs (PHEW): Support the Podcast by Joining OUR PATREON COMMUNITY. And, of course, follow Comic Book Couples Counseling on Facebook, on Instagram, and on Bluesky @CBCCPodcast, and you can follow hosts Brad Gullickson @MouthDork & Lisa Gullickson @sidewalksiren. Send us your Words of Affirmation by leaving us a 5-star Review on Apple Podcasts. Continue your conversation with CBCC by hopping over to our website, where we have reviews, essays, and numerous interviews with comic book creators. Podcast logo by Jesse Lonergan and Hassan Otsmane-Elhaou.
Sharon Kitroser is a fundraising strategist, partnership builder, and nonprofit coach with a background that spans more than 25 years in media and advertising and another decade in fundraising and nonprofit leadership. Today, Sharon is the co-founder of Team Kat & Mouse, where she helps organizations grow fundraising revenue through coaching, storytelling, corporate partnerships, and practical fundraising strategy. Before that, she led partnership and development work for organizations such as the American Red Cross and the Gift of Life Marrow Registry. In this episode, our conversation ranges from Sharon's family roots on the Lower East Side, Europe, and South Africa to living upstairs from the Marx Brothers, life in radio, corporate fundraising, mental health, shocking family secrets, and why both children—and clients—sometimes need the freedom to skin their knees and learn resilience and independence.
The Garment District in Midtown Manhattan has been the center of American fashion for almost one hundred years. The lofts and office buildings here still buzz with the business of making clothing — from design to distribution. But the district has become endangered today as clothing manufacturers move out and the entire industry faces new challenges from online sales and overseas production. During the mid-19th century, garment production thrived in New York thanks to thousands of arriving immigrants skilled in making clothes. Most clothing in the United States was made below 14th Street, in the city's tenement neighborhoods, especially the Lower East Side. As the industry grew more prominent, the residents and merchants of Fifth Avenue feared it would overtake their fashionable street. So, by the 1930s, a new district was born. Hardly a stitch was sewn in the United States without passing through the blocks between 34th Street and 42nd Street, west of Sixth Avenue. Listen in as we describe the Garment District's chaotic flurry of activity — from the fabulous showrooms of the world's greatest designers to the nitty-gritty bustle of its crowded streets. Visit our website for images related to this subject and other podcasts related to the Garment District and New York's garment-making history. In celebration of Made In NYC Week, we present our tribute to New York City's active and thriving garment industry. A version of this show was originally presented in January 2016. Now with a new introduction and ending, this show was reedited by Kieran Gannon. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
LISTEN WITHOUT ADS ON PATREON! www.patreon.com/dopeypodcast Dopey Episode Summary This Week on Dopey! We open the show in full single-dad chaos mode—juggling pickups, tutoring, dance class, concerts, naps gone wrong, and trying to make it home in time for the Knicks game. He announces the upcoming Dopey Recovery Short Film Festival, then reads an extremely heavy anonymous listener email about sexual compulsion, addiction, shame, and finding support through SLAA. The episode then shifts into classic Dopey mode with a wild voicemail involving cocaine psychosis, being naked with a fork, a pheasant-feather hat, and a guy selling condoms on campus. We dives into Spotify and Patreon comments from the Andy Dick episode, reading praise, criticism, jokes, sobriety milestones, and fan reactions. Then the show turns into the main event: a long, gritty, hilarious and vulnerable interview with Zoe Hansen. Zoe talks about growing up in wealthy but emotionally barren Chelsea, London, getting kicked out of school, discovering punk rock, heroin at 15, and moving to New York at 17. She describes working in hair and nightlife before entering the sex industry to support her habit, eventually becoming a seasoned brothel worker and heroin addict in late-80s Manhattan. She tells incredible stories about brothel life, clients, police raids, methadone stash strategies, Lower East Side heroin stamps, speedballing in Hell's Kitchen, dying briefly after a cocaine overdose in the Chelsea Hotel, waking blind, and living in the room where Nancy Spungen died. Zoe also reflects on spirituality, trauma, recovery, old New York, and writing her memoir Going Down in Gotham. A true Dopey legend episode. All that and MORE MORE MORE this week on a brand new episode - of your favorite good old Dopey show! Check our new sponsor: www.workithealth.com/dopey Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
WNYC Arts & Culture Editor Matthew Schnipper is back with a rundown of what's worth your train swipes this week. We cover the Queens Night Market's last year of $6 food before prices go up, a Martha Cooper retrospective at the Bronx Documentary Center celebrating one of graffiti's earliest documenters, and whether the Lower East Side's booming vintage shops can sustain the hype. Plus: Mayor Mamdani attempts a Mario Kart metaphor, pioneer trans DJ Lena Bradford celebrates 3 decades of DJing, and a Wallace Shawn mini retrospective at Metrograph. -Got any questions, comments or story ideas? Send us a message at NYCNow@WNYC.org
More of my interview with ‘Somebody Somewhere' Emmy winner Jeff Hiller. Jeff and I share favorite audition stories, the surprising way Jeff got their equity card (involves a themed restaurant) and the backstory of iconic playwright Tony Kushner officiating my wedding. This episode was recorded at Betty on the Lower East Side, NYC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Episode 108. In conversation with Vita Haas and Lucy Weisner of NYC's beloved Cafe Forgot, an independent experimental multi brand retailer located in the Lower East Side. We get into the early days before the store and how their concept came about, collaborating and showcasing their friends work, the fun stores that no longer exist in the city, the lessons that came from operating as a pop up shop, what it was like to finally have a permanent location, using intuition to curate their store, evolving with the designers they carry, what's needed for a self sustaining business, how important independent retail is for emerging designers, what they have learned from the designers they work with, how tough it is to be an indie retailer and an indie designer in NYC, is the retail landscape changing? And so much more
Hailing from the Lower East Side of NYC, starting out as a club dancer from back in the day holding her own on any dancefloor, making the transition behind the deck's became a natural progression. Lady Curly adds to the LABR journey her long time running show Sounds Of A Dancer bring you her raw, unapologetic expression from the concept of the mind of a dancer. You won't forget the first time you heard DJ Dat Gurl Curly.Everything #LABR can be found at https://labr.onlineOur Mastodon account: https://ravenation.club/@labrIf you're on the go?https://www.radio-browser.info/usersDo A Search for LABR, & There You Are. Streaming 24/7 all the LABR Collective Members shows that you might've missed. And a few extra's in between.Enjoying this love we're spreading? Want to support LABR - Love a Brother Radio in spreading that love? Now you can.https://labr.online/donate Any little thing helps us feed the Keebler Elves to keep the wheels turning in the background. We're a 2 1/2 person operation. And a lot goes into making this work properly. With that said, we all thank you in advance for any support you lend. But most importantly. For your ears.
When Kenta Goto left Pegu Club to open his own place on the Lower East Side, he was stepping into unfamiliar territory. He knew how to run a great bar program — but building a business from the ground up was something else entirely. So he did what came naturally: he studied. Kenta read everything he could about owning and operating a business, and that preparation paid off. From day one, Bar Goto clicked, eventually growing into one of the city's most beloved bars and expanding with a second location in Brooklyn.On this episode of The Buildout, Kenta sits down with Adam to talk about taking the leap from star bartender to owner, what he learned while preparing to open, and how Bar Goto became a lasting New York success.Follow us: https://www.instagram.com/buildoutpodcastBar Goto: https://www.instagram.com/bargoto_nycKenta Goto: https://www.instagram.com/kenta_sanVinePair: https://www.instagram.com/vinepairHosted by VinePair Co-Founder: https://www.instagram.com/adamteeterProduced and edited by: https://www.instagram.com/dolldoctor Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
‘Somebody Somewhere' Emmy winner Jeff Hiller joined the show. Over baked eggs and an omelet, Jeff tells me about portraying a rare depiction of a gay man of faith in ‘Somebody Somewhere' and what it was like to audition for ‘Pluribus.' Plus, we get into the roles that paid the bills for many years, including repeat roles as the bitchy waiter – and Jeff will be the first to tell you, it isn't as easy as it sounds. This episode was recorded at Betty on the Lower East Side, NYC. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
The print adaptation of Jason Reynolds acclaimed, award-winning audiobook Soundtrack (Crown Books, 2026)—a stirring story of music, friendship, and finding your voice in 2000s New York City. Stuy Grey plays the drums, just like his mom, a founding member of the all-black punk band the Bed-Stuy Magic Dusters. He teaches himself by watching videos of tap dancers. Now he's left home, estranged from his mom and her abusive boyfriend. He's camping out with his uncle on the Lower East Side. His landlord, Dunks, has chops: He shreds on only five strings. Add Alexis on bass guitar and Keith on horn: These teens are a band, busking in New York City subway stations to scrape enough money to record an album. As their popularity grows, so do the pressures, from complicated family dynamics to the glare of unexpected public attention. And when the police start looking for their bassist, Stuy faces his toughest decision yet. Adapted from the acclaimed Listening Library original audiobook and written with Jason Reynolds's signature rhythm, heart, and honesty, Soundtrack: A Novel is a raw, resonant story about friendship, creativity, and what it truly means to find, and fight for, your voice. 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
The print adaptation of Jason Reynolds acclaimed, award-winning audiobook Soundtrack (Crown Books, 2026)—a stirring story of music, friendship, and finding your voice in 2000s New York City. Stuy Grey plays the drums, just like his mom, a founding member of the all-black punk band the Bed-Stuy Magic Dusters. He teaches himself by watching videos of tap dancers. Now he's left home, estranged from his mom and her abusive boyfriend. He's camping out with his uncle on the Lower East Side. His landlord, Dunks, has chops: He shreds on only five strings. Add Alexis on bass guitar and Keith on horn: These teens are a band, busking in New York City subway stations to scrape enough money to record an album. As their popularity grows, so do the pressures, from complicated family dynamics to the glare of unexpected public attention. And when the police start looking for their bassist, Stuy faces his toughest decision yet. Adapted from the acclaimed Listening Library original audiobook and written with Jason Reynolds's signature rhythm, heart, and honesty, Soundtrack: A Novel is a raw, resonant story about friendship, creativity, and what it truly means to find, and fight for, your voice. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/literature
Since Cyndi Ramirez Fulton opened Chill House on New York's Lower East Side in 2017, the brand has grown from a cult downtown spa into a nationwide product line, culminating in a 2025 acquisition by Kiss Beauty Group, with Cyndi still at the helm. On today's episode, Cyndi takes us back to growing up in Queens as the daughter of a Colombian esthetician and how that environment shaped her relationship with beauty and her entrepreneurial instincts. She opens up about her years in New York nightlife, the scrappy blog that helped her find her voice, and how she landed on the idea for Chill House after not being able to find a spa that was right for her. Cyndi is refreshingly honest about the parts that don't make it onto the glossy Instagram grid: the economics of the spa business that were "always a little broken," the fundraising struggles that led to the Kiss deal, and the very real guilt and joy of building a business alongside a family. We also get into the pivot to Chill Tips press-on nails, why press-ons have genuinely changed her life, and her favorite beauty products for navigating two very different climates. Cyndi's Favorites: Haus Labs Foundation Olaplex Shampoo and ConditionerOlaplex Leave InCrown Affair Mousse Westman Atelier Brow PencilChill House bestsellers: Sea Siren, Bougie Butter, and Acid WashRate, Subscribe & Review the Podcast on Apple Join the Naked Beauty Community on IG: @nakedbeautyplanet Thanks for all the love and support. Tag me while you're listening @nakedbeautyplanet & as always love to hear your thoughts :) Check out nakedbeautypodcast.com for all previous episodes & search episodes by topicShop My Favorite Products & Pod Discounts on my ShopMyShelfStay in touch with me: @brookedevardFollow Cyndi @cyndiramirez Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode of Gangland Wire, I sit down with Salt Lake City author Flats to discuss his book, Ice Pick Willie: The Life and Times of Israel Alderman. We take a deep dive into the shadowy world of Israel “Icepick Willie” Alderman—a largely forgotten but deeply embedded figure in early 20th-century organized crime. Willie's criminal career traces back to Prohibition-era New York, where he began as a jewelry thief before evolving into something far more lethal. His nickname came from his preferred weapon: an ordinary household ice pick. In the 1920s, it was common, inconspicuous, and devastatingly effective. Flats explains how Willie's method allowed him to carry out murders quietly and efficiently, often avoiding the attention that accompanied more public gangland shootings. We follow Willie's movements from New York to Minneapolis and eventually into the orbit of Chicago's violent underworld. Along the way, he intersected with major figures of organized crime, including Meyer Lansky, Charles Luciano, and Bugs Moran. Flats outlines the shifting alliances and rivalries that defined the era, placing Willie within the broader context of gang wars that culminated in events like the St. Valentine’s Day Massacre. The conversation also examines Willie's transition from violent enforcer to gambling operative as organized crime evolved and shifted westward. As Las Vegas rose with legalized gambling, figures like Willie adapted—moving from street-level brutality to more structured rackets under established mob leadership. Despite brushing against major historical events and powerful crime bosses, Icepick Willie faded into relative obscurity. Flats and I explore why certain gangsters become legends while others—equally dangerous and influential—slip into the margins of history. We also touch on Willie's odd cultural afterlife, including regional pop-culture references that keep his name alive in unexpected ways. This episode provides both a character study of a cold and calculated killer and a broader examination of how organized crime adapted from Prohibition chaos to structured syndicates. It's a detailed look at a man who operated in the shadows—lethal, efficient, and nearly forgotten. Flats' book, Ice Pick Willie: The Life and Times of Israel Alderman, is available now on Amazon. Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” Subscribe to the website for weekly notifications about updates and other Mob information. To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent ‘Brothers against Brothers’ or ‘Gangland Wire,’ the documentaries click here. To purchase one of my books, click here. Transcript [0:00] Hey, welcome all you wiretappers. Good to be back here in the studio of Gangland [0:03] Wire. This is Gary Jenkins. As most of you, I’m a retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective turned podcaster and documentary filmmaker. I got a couple of documentary films you can rent on Amazon if you choose. I’ll have links in the show notes. Or just go to Amazon and search my name and you’ll find my stuff. But anyhow, today I have a friend of mine from Salt Lake City called Flats. And he’s just Flats, all right? And he’s written a book about a man named Icepick Willie. Now, Icepick Willie has got a great, cool nickname. I’m surprised that he didn’t last through history a little better because people had an easy-to-remembering cool nickname. His real name is Israel Alderman. Now, Flats has been researching him. He got a hold of me because I did a show on David Berman, who ended up in Las Vegas. He was a Jewish gambler from Minneapolis. And ice pick ends up out there connected to him somehow. And I didn’t really stumble. I stumbled a little bit across that, but I couldn’t remember what it was. But anyhow, welcome flats. [1:09] Glad to be here. Thanks for inviting me. All right. Go ahead. I’m sorry. I’m always open for any chance to talk about Ice Pick Willie, one of my favorite people. And if you guys out there know anything about Ice Pick Willie, get a hold of me and I’ll connect you up with Flats. And I’ll have his Gmail in the show notes. But either that or get a hold of me pretty easy. Any rumors or stories, lies, anything about him. [1:38] But in the meantime, in a couple of weeks, actually, by the time this podcast is out, that book’s going to be up on Amazon. But you can always go back. You can always pull those down and add more information in and then put them back up if you want. So that’s a good way to go. Nicknames are interesting. I once talked about doing a show on nicknames and how people got them, and I just never got around to it. And many times you can see how people get their nicknames. Al Capone, Scarface Al. He’s got the big scar on his face, right? Here’s one. One of Icepick’s Willie’s contemporaries, a guy named Albert, was it Tannenbaum? Yeah, Tannenbaum. And he was called Tick Tock. And I looked that up because, like I said, he was a contemporary of Icepick Willie’s. And he got the name Tick Tock because somebody said you move all the time. You’re always like a watch. You’re Tick Tocking all the time. And, of course, there’s Anthony Accardo, who they called Joe Batters. And his guys gave him that. They used to call him Joe. And that was because he beat up somebody with a baseball bat so bad that Al Capone said, you’re a real Joe batters. But he also, many times the press will give people these nicknames. And they gave Anthony Accardo the nickname of the big tuna because he was big. And they had a picture of him with a huge big tuna he had caught. There’s Joe Bananas Bonnano. That speaks for itself, Joe Bananas. And I think the press gave him that. First question, Flats, you know how Icepick Willie got his nickname? The nickname came… [3:06] From when he was in Minneapolis, he apparently picked it up. And this is something which he admitted to later on in his life. He claimed to have taken about 11, 12 victims out by using an ice pick in the ear. [3:27] And ice picks were actually really common back in the 20s everywhere. People had them. Everyone had them in their homes. and they were a real popular tool among Murder Incorporated members. It’s a handy thing, small, quiet kind of a tool. [3:49] Normally, a knife-pick killing was something that took maybe three or four people, not counting the victim. They’d crowd around him and grab his arms, whatever, and then somebody’d do him, they’d haul him off. Uh, Willie had managed to turn this into a one man operation. He’d take his victim. [4:11] He’d be up at the bar with a drinking buddy, get this guy really liquored up, and he’d slip his ice pick out of his jacket. Boom, real quick in the air, ice pick’s gone, the guy’s down on the bar. Not much blood because it’s an ice pick. Forensics wasn’t real hot back in the 20s, so a lot of times they would diagnose this as a brain aneurysm. But the guy would slump over the bar, drunk, dead drunk, and then they’d just haul him off. The story is they’d take him in the back room, he’d go down the coal chute, which everybody had back then, out into a truck, they’d haul off the body. The people that went down the coal chute, they were all pretty much forgotten. But Willie, he seemed to have stuck around. Now, in Minneapolis, apparently he’s still a real popular figure. Memorable, which is funny because Minneapolis, for all my research, is the place there is the least documented evidence about. [5:19] But that seems to be that and Las Vegas are where he’s best known. There’s even a company in Minneapolis that does a nail polish they named Ice Rick Willie. It’s a popular culture thing there. Yeah. Now, did he start out in New York with Erlansky? He started out in New York. He grew up on the Lower East Side. Like so many people, Benny Siegel and Meyer, everybody came from there. Early on, and back by the 20s, Meyer had hooked up with Charlie Luciano, and most of the serious Jewish gangsters came under Meyer’s umbrella, so to speak. And this Willie supposedly, according to another author, this is when Willie hooked up with Meyer, was early on during Prohibition. But Willie didn’t start out as a bootlegger. He started out with a bunch of jewelry store robbers, but they were pretty notorious at him. God, his first record of him was, oh, when was it? About 1925. [6:34] He got a charge for robbery. Not a lot of details on it. The charge was dismissed, and it seems to be a pretty common thing throughout his entire life as far as resolution of his legal issue. But anyway, then right after Christmas, that’s in year 25, he was going by Izzy Alderman back then. Israel, Izzy was his nickname. He didn’t get into Willie till later, but he went into with a couple other guys and they hit a jewelry store for about $75,000 worth of jewelry. Oh, wow. That’s a pretty good chunk of change back then. That’s a score, man. That is a real score back then. Oh, yeah. And then a few months later, along with a couple other people, he hit another jewelry store in the Bronx, William Sims Robbery. This one was pretty well publicized. And they go in, they take the, everybody there, the owner, employees, customers, tie them up, they’re in the back room, they grab trays full of gems, usually diamonds, they’re out the door, never even touched the cash register. So they got about a hundred grand on that. Got away. Next morning. [7:59] Another jeweler, Sam Candle, as he was opening up his shop to let a friend in, some guys come pushing into the door. Izzy’s with them again. Once more, the same M.O., everybody’s in the back room tied up. Another hundred grand or so worth the gems. So they’re doing pretty good by now. Wow, yeah. I assume that whenever they fenced them, did you find out much about how they fenced them? Did the Italians get a piece of the action? Did they make him pay up, or did Meyer Lansky get a piece of that? I’m sure that Meyer was somehow connected to this. He got a piece of everything that was going on in the Jewish world. And originally, at that point in time, there was not a lot of interaction between the Italian mobsters and the Jewish mobsters. They had their own little thing that they kept to themselves. They felt safer that way. They could trust everybody. It was actually pretty much Meyer and Charlie Luciano that moved things past that point. I see. But up till then, everything was coming under Meyer’s thing. So they were doing pretty good until they did a robbery. [9:19] There was a jeweler, Aaron Roddark. Now, about 18 months earlier, he’d had an attempted robbery where he had shot and killed one of the robbers as they were running out of the store. So he got a bunch of publicity called the Fighting Jewelers in the press, a popular guy. About a year and a half later, another crew walks in. This is Izzy’s crew. [9:50] When they come in, same thing, the fighting jeweler, he goes for his gun. Doesn’t work out so well this time. This time, he’s shot and killed. But they didn’t get any jewels. They take off again. [10:05] But now they’re hot. This is big news. Fighting jewelers murdered. Big publicity, big public outcry. And cops are looking for them hot and heavy by now. [10:17] And by now, so a few weeks, couple weeks after the fighting jewelers murdered, one of Izzy’s crew was picked up, coming out of a doctor’s office, for a gunshot wound, where he’d been treated. Cots get word of this, they pick him up, and he immediately starts confessing to all the jewelry store robbers, giving up partners. They pick up a couple more people pretty soon everybody is just singing like canary it’s like the mormon tavern fire or something so the cops are looking for everybody they haven’t got they pick up almost everybody the two people are missing from the last robbery where the guy was murdered is Izzy Alderman and one of the other guys Robert Byrd. [11:09] So Izzy and Robert they know they’re hot They’ve got warrants out. They know the police are looking. They’ve got this information because they’re connected to whoever. So they leave town. They’re on their way to Chicago. They’re going to go there to hide out, take care of business for a couple reasons. One is Robert Berg has brother, Ollie, who is tied in with the Northside Bugs Moran gang in Chicago. Ago, Holly is also a jewelry driver and right about the time, right before. [11:47] His brother, Robert, gets to Chicago. Ollie and a couple guys are on an Illinois Central commuter train. They robbed three jewelry salesmen while they’re on the train of their jewels, managed to get off the train and get away. They got picked up about 12 hours later, though. So now his brother, Ollie, is in prison again, of course. But Robert is connected. They have connections to the Northside gang. Through the brother, through Ollie. And this is a safe place for them to go, relatively safe. At that point in time, Chicago’s got the beer wars going on, and so it wasn’t a real safe place to be. But they had out there, they’re there maybe a week or so. The cops raid a hotel room, they pick up Robert Burke. They also find a bunch of jewelry, which they trace back to the New York robbery. So they know this is all tied together now. They don’t get Willie. Izzy is still at that point. So Robert Berg, now he’s back to New York going to prison too. Izzy needs a new partner. Berg had a guy he was running around with, Red McLaughlin. [13:06] Red’s partner’s in jail, and Izzy’s partner’s in jail, so they came up a little bit. But now Red already at this point the cops are looking for him hot and heavy in Chicago a little while before they found him. [13:24] The cops saw him on the side of the road, Red was on the running board of the car, reaching through the window, choking the driver. The driver turned out to be, of course, a jewelry salesman with the jewelry in the car. Red explained to the cop that his friend was just having some kind of a fit, and he was trying to help him. The cop wasn’t going for it, and so Red was off to jail. He managed to get bailed out. And as soon as he’s out, he just goes off on all kinds of things. By now, the cops are looking for him for being involved in some kidnappings and bootlegging and murders. One newspaper article called him the man of a hundred brides. He’s like Lon Chaney of the criminal world or something. So now the cops are really hot after Red. He’s junk bail. He’s doing all this other stuff. There they raid a hotel, the Webster Hotel in Chicago. They’ve got a tip. That’s where they’re going to find him. Yeah. They don’t find Red, but they find his buddy in there. They find him, and he’s got a suitcase full of guns. [14:38] But no, he knows this is turned out to be actually Izzy Alderman, but he knows the cops are looking for Izzy Alderman. So he tells the cops his name’s Robert Lewis. They don’t know any better. Things are different back then. Yeah. He also told them that he was a bootlegger from Detroit. And that, I guess, would explain having a suitcase full of guns. And when they get ready to arrest him, he tells the cops they’re going to be wasting their time because he says he has some high connections in the illegal liquor business in town here. And apparently he was right because all of his charges were dismissed as soon as they haul him in once again. Back then, it seemed in Chicago, because of Al Capone, Bugs Moran. [15:30] New York with Meyer and Charlie, Prohibition contributed to it a lot. Corruption was just fantastic. So you could buy your people’s way out of everything, which was nice if that’s what you were doing. Yeah so anyway Robert Bird disappears and now Willie all of his partners all of his connections everybody’s locked up missing dead something he’s out of work again but he’s in Chicago since 1927 they’re in the middle of the beer wars he’s a starker a tough muscle man starker’s Jewish term so he hooks up right away They were Bugs Moran on the North side. Bugs is more, the Bugs Moran gang, they were people like Frank Foster, Ed Newberry. He had other Jewish gangsters working with him at the time. So Lizzie fit in pretty good. And it isn’t long at all, maybe a month later, he gets cops pull over a car. They find Frank Foster and Izzy Alderman in there. And they’ve got guns, of course. And once again, the charges just disappear. Everybody goes on their way. [16:51] So things are rolling along. The beer wars are going good. And now we get into the taxi cab wars. because in Chicago back then, that’s how you settled everything. You had a war. There were two cab companies mostly going on in Chicago at the time, and they were shooting up each other’s cab offices and throwing bombs and shooting up cabs. So the Yellow Cab Company puts out a hefty reward for the people involved, which leads to another made by the cops on this time. It was a Broadway apartment where there were supposed to be people involved in all of this. [17:30] Among the people they find, first off, Frank Foster, who at the time was a high-ranking member of Bugs Moran’s group on the north side. They also find another bunch of people, one of them named Harry Davidson. This was, again, Izzy Alderman, but he knew that the cops were looking for Izzy Alderman, and they were looking for Robert Lewis by then. So that was Harry Davidson, and that worked out. And, of course, everybody gets charged with concealed weapons, and then the charges are dropped, and catch and release. Yeah, catch and release Chicago. It was really interesting. So shortly after this, of course, this is 1929 in Chicago, and it’s Valentine’s Day. We all know what happened there. Now this brought major heat, major attention from everyone nationwide, the student. [18:30] And surprisingly, later in life, like I said, he used to almost brag about his activity as he got older. One of the things he would tell people is that he missed the St. Valentine’s Day massacre because he was in the bathroom. Yeah, I was going to say, he missed that. The bathroom wasn’t in SMT partage, if that was the case. They had an outhouse, Flats. They had an outhouse out back. That’s true. Yeah, he was close enough to do that activity. Yeah. He was just caught up in the middle of all the major things happening throughout Gangland at that point in time. Really? How does he end up in Minneapolis? It’s reasonably close to Chicago, and there are some connections. It is. [19:19] Before he ends up back in Minneapolis, first he ends up back in New York. What happens now in New York, they’ve got their own problems going on between the two gangs back then. Yeah, they had the Castle Marie’s War during that time, I believe, or sometime around then. It broke out. Actually, it happens right after he gets shot. But as he gets picked up, there’d been a shooting that they had. First, they had the Easter Massacre, where a few people get shot up. And then the Fox Lake Massacre. Like I said, everything in Chicago was wars or massacres. And by the time the Fox Lake massacre happened, it was after the Valentine’s Day thing. Izzy Alderman, Frank Foster, Ted Newberry, and probably at least 6, 8, 10 other people affected. They left the Northside gang, and they moved south and joined up with El Capote. [20:21] Obviously, they could see where everything’s going. I mean, everyone at the outside is winning. But the authorities were aware of it. So after the Easter massacre and the Fox Lake massacre, now the cops know there’s going to be all kinds of retaliation. Fox Lake thing, Al Capone’s people got shot up. So cops are out on the street looking for people. They pull over a car racing down the street. They find Frank Foster, Izzy Alderman again, out with their guns. Once again, they get hauled in, arrested, catching release. Shortly after this, now we get a reporter, Jake Lingle. Jake Lingle, he was crooked. He was on the take. He was one of these $65 a week reporters who vacations in Hawaii and has an apartment on Lake George Drive, that kind of thing. He even said he had a fancy piece of gold jewelry that was a gift from Al Capone. Anyway, he gets into trouble with people there. He gets killed. [21:32] Now, everybody knows you can’t. The people you don’t kill are cops and newsmen. Jake Lengel gets killed, and now, once again, it’s like St. Valentine’s Day all over again. Big public outcry. Cops are hot and heavy. They know somehow Izzy Alderman is somehow tied into this. Frank Foster’s tied into it. So they’re hunting them. And a few months later, a cop spots Izzy. He’s in a restaurant with another guy, Joe Condi. They’re eating dinner. Cop recognized Izzy because he was really, which is surprising, he was really well known then to the cops, to the press, to other gangsters. [22:19] And yet today, who was Izzy Aldenman? Who was Ice-Pick Willie? So time goes by. But the cop spots him, recognizes him, grabs, snatters him up, and arrests him. As soon as they come out of the restaurant, runs him in for questioning for the Lingle murder. They get him in. There’s nothing they can tie him to the Lingle case with. So they charge him with vagrants. This is a new deal, a new tool that prosecutors are using in Chicago. Yeah. We know you’re a gangster. We can’t prove anything, so we’re going to arrest you for vagrancy because you have no physical means of support. You don’t have a job. [23:07] When Izzy was arrested at this time, he had about $650 in his pocket. This is worth like over 12 grand today so yeah the economy’s good when vagrants are carrying that kind of money obviously but they get arrested charged with first they’re brought in before a judge one judge mccordy he says there’s nothing to hold them on the lingual thing so they’re free to go the minute they walk out of the court building they get arrested charged with vacancy taken in front of another judge, Judge Lyle. Now, Judge Lyle, he’s known, he’s a holy terror when it comes to gangsters. He’s just after them. And even he admits the vagrancy thing, I’m not sure it’s really valid, but we’re going to charge you anyway. First thing is, he says, is I want a lawyer. So the judge tells the court reporter, the defendant has no comment at this time. And then in what’s probably the shortest trial in history, Izzy and his buddy are found guilty. [24:21] And shipped away to jail in a matter of like 10 minutes or something. How long was the sentence for? How long was the sentence for? They were sentenced to six months in jail. Okay. Surveillance. Okay. So now their lawyer comes back, goes back to the first judge, McGordy, who had released them on the Lingle chart. [24:49] And he convinced her, I don’t know, for whatever reason, Judge McGurdy says, no, I have jurisdiction in this case because they were brought before me first. And so he issues a bond and sets them free again. As soon as they walk out of the courthouse, they’re re-arrested again for vagrancy. At this point, their lawyer, the lawyer’s upset. And he’s telling, he tells the cops, that’s it. If you’re going to take them in on this bullshit again, you got to take me too. So they all went down to the station, the lawyer with them, charged with vagrancy again, locked up. Judge Lyle, like I say, Judge Lyle was not a friend of these people. He missed their fail at $10,000 on the vagrancy charge. And then he immediately changed it to $20,000 a piece because he was afraid they might make the $10,000 bail. These vagrants, mind you. So they’re backed off in jail. [25:56] Late that night, the lawyer, who’s also out of jail at this point, finds another judge who is either totally unaware of this case or he’s very aware of it. Either way, this judge says, oh, no, that’s way too much bail for vagrancy. The bail should be $100 for that. And as he says, they’re bailing at $100. They’re out again. Boom. So the next day, they go to court facing the, vagrancy charge in front of Judge Lyle. Judge Lyle immediately says, no, your bond was issued falsely, charges him with another $20,000 bail, has him re-arrested. Oh, my God. So they get their bond reduced to $10,000. They bail out of jail. They go to court. [26:51] Finally, on the vagrancy charges, maybe a month later. They’ve been dealing with this now for almost two months. Vagrancy charge. First day of the actual vagrancy trial, Izzy goes in, they arrest him for the burglaries back in New York, charging with hoax. So now they’re ignoring the vagrancy charge. They’ve got him locked up. They’re holding him for extradition to New York. He fights this still. He holds out finally in December, just a couple days before Christmas. He ends up back in New York to face the vagrants. He’s charged with the robberies and the murder of the fighting jeweler. Finally, everything gets dropped back in New York. You know, this is Meyer and Charlie’s area. All the charges are dropped. He’s free and clear again. He’s back home, so he sticks around. and it’s just in time because, as you mentioned, the Castle Marie’s war breaks out like a month later. [27:57] There’s no actual evidence, a lot of evidence of his involvement, but coincidentally, he is charged with murder about a month after the war breaks out. And, of course, his charges drop again, too, like they are. And then as the war goes on, first, Charlie Luciano, he swapped, changed his sides, they whacked Joe the boss, and then they set up Maranzano. [28:27] And Salvador Marenzano gets shot and killed in a restaurant, supposedly by a hit squad of Jewish gangsters that Meyer organized, because Meyer and Charlie were pretty close at this point in time. It isn’t sure who all was involved in that. Benny Siegel was supposed to be one of the shooters. And there’s no mention of Izzy being involved in it, but once again, just coincidentally, he left for France a couple of weeks after the shooting, where he stays until the end of the year when they first held at a couple of conferences. The one where Charlie Luciano organized pretty much the Italian crime family And then a couple months later, Meyer had one where he organized Jewish people, except Meyer had more of a national thing, whereas Charlie’s was more of the New York Five family kind of thing. [29:37] So anyway, at this time, I guess moving along here, Dave Berman, as you’re familiar with, being a Jewish mobster out of the Midwest, he’d come under Meyer’s umbrella. And then in 1927, he gets called to New York. He ends up in New York. At the time, Meyer, the Bugs and Meyer gang, especially being Budgie Siegel and Meyer Lansky, had this thing going where they were kidnapping rival bootleggers. Bootlegging was big business. Meyer was taking control of all of that. It was coming, especially coming in from Canada, which is where the Midwest came in, coming in by boatloads from Canada. We were drinking Canada Dry. Yeah, good one. So Dave Berman, he ends up in New York. Another bootlegger named Abe Sharlin gets kidnapped. [30:45] And the family agrees to pay like a $50,000 ransom to get him back. So when the two guys show up to collect the ransom, instead of a pile of money, there’s a pile of cops waiting for him. Immediately, a shootout breaks out. The one guy jumps out of the car, pulls out his gun, big shootout, people running everywhere. One guy shot and killed. The other guy, he surrenders. That’s Dave Berman. So Dave Berman, it’s, doing this for Meyer, but the cops don’t know that for sure. But they arrest him. He’s off to Sing for seven years for kidnapping. [31:27] Actually, back then, Sing, the prison in Ossining, New York, sat on the river, and so most people sent there, prisoners were shipped up there by boat. That’s where the term sent up the river. I didn’t realize that. Cool. So he does his time while he’s locked up there there’s not a lot of Willie doesn’t show up a lot but there is one specific mention of him, B Kittle he was a nightclub singer back in the early 30s young girl goes to New York chasing her dream ends up working at the nightclub that just happens to be to hang out for the mobsters. She doesn’t know this, but… And actually, she ends up marrying Mo Sedway later on. And Mo Sedway was one of Meyer Lansky’s close people, Benny’s people. She does remark, though, that she remembers there were two guys she’d always see sitting over at a table in the corner drinking together. One of them, she said, was Izzy Alderman, who she said was a lieutenant for Moe Sedway, and the other was Fat Irish Green. [32:51] Fat Irish Green was Benny’s bodyguard, hang-around-everywhere kind of guy. We always see the same people popping up all through this thing. Izzy’s plugged into this bunch. So anyway, we jump ahead a couple years. Dave Berman gets out of prison. Gets out of prison immediately. Meets up with Mo Sedway and Meyer and Charlie, everybody there. Dave’s been a stand-up guy. He kept his mouth shut about everything. He took his beef. He was good about it. But the story goes, they offer him a million dollars in cash for his loyalty. Fire took the judge. More employers should be like him. [33:42] Dave said he didn’t want the money. He wanted to be, he wanted control of gambling in Minneapolis. His mother lived there. His brother, Chickie, was there running small-time gambling thing. That’s where he wanted to go. And they say, okie-dokie, which I think is a good example of the influence, shall we say, that the East Coast group had over the rest of the country. They can just, I’ll give you this city in the Midwest. But before A.V. heads there, interestingly enough, there’s a couple of treasury bond robberies, big treasury bond robberies that happened in New York. They need total like over $2 million. [34:31] Big bucks and the FBI tracks down some of the bonds to a Minneapolis gangster, so when they arrest him along with him the Minneapolis gangster his name was Royce Boris Royce not that it’s a big deal but with him they pick up Davey Berman Davey the Jew is what he was called at that time they weren’t quite as politically correct, They got Dave Berman, they got Moe Subway, and there was a guy that the newspapers called, one account called him Jacob Irish Greenberg, and another one called him Jack Green Greenberg. So this would have been Fat Irish Green, it was Jacob Greenberg. [35:21] Once again, by the time it was done, acquittals all the way around. Wonderful things for him. Now Davey Berman pays off to Minneapolis to join his brother in the gambling thing. He gets there. Brother Chickie was running gambling initially. Isidore, or Kid Khan, was in charge. Isidore Bloomfield was in charge of the Minneapolis thing. And his brother, Yiddy Bloom. Yeah. But, of course, Davey’s here now. Since Kid Khan and his bunch were also Jewish popsters, that means they are linked to Meyer. And when Meyer says, okay, here’s Davey, now that’s how it goes. Davey immediately starts expanding the gambling joints into horse booking and race wire and craft games and everything. And he’s a good businessman. He’s sharp. And he’s learned a lot, apparently, from Meyer because he knows how to keep his name and people out of the name. Back then in Minneapolis, they had a deal. It was called the O’Connor Existence. [36:41] For the it was a deal that the local police had with gangster you could come to our town, and we won’t bother you we’ll leave you alone three conditions you check in with us when you get here so we know you’re here you of course make various payments to the necessary police and city officials and it was an orphan’s fund to the widows and orphans fund the police, and you promised that you will not commit any crimes major crimes while you’re in twin cities minneapolis st paul and if they’d agree to that they could stay there safely no matter who was looking for them so this also made it kind of more attractive i think for dave burman and people like him because obviously all you got to do is pay people off you’re good to go yeah kind of like the hot springs of the north, huh? Oh, yeah. So, once again, with this kind of ability, you don’t find a lot of mention of. [37:52] Dave Berman or his crew, especially in Minneapolis, and some of the police records have been lost there over the years. So that made it a little harder, too, to track things down. There are a couple of interesting things. For example, now, part of the Berman crew, one of them especially was Slippy Sherr, a guy named Phillip Sherr. They went by Slippy. He was really an interesting sort of guy. He was definitely a violent person he was constantly charged with assaults and murders and of course the charges were always dropped there was one occasion he was out with some friends in a bar they end up in an argument with the bar owner turns into a fight the bar owner goes outside flags down a motorcycle cop who’s going by the motorcycle cop goes back in with the bar owner and they proceed to get in a fist fight with Flippy and his friends, they get lumped up pretty good. Later, when they go to court. [39:01] The officer made a remark in court about, he said, all in all, it was pretty fair fight all the way around. And he said, for the most part, they’re pretty nice guys when they’re not drinking. Yeah. So aren’t we all? He was that kind of the guy Flippi was bollocked, Oh, another example of that. Willie ends up, by the time he hits Minneapolis, he’s become Willie Alden. He’s given up the Izzy thing, trying to put that behind him. Now, his focus is gambling. He’s like Dave Berman. It’s a muscle, maybe, behind Dave Berman. But he’s mellowed out a lot, and you don’t hear a lot about him. In one incident, though, they were golfers of all things. They loved golfing. And this is the 30s. So, of course, they can only golf at the Jewish golf course. Jewish people weren’t allowed at the regular country club. They’re out golfing. Flippy, sure, he would always join them. We wanted to force them. They didn’t deal with golf well. They’d get upset easily. I know the feeling. I know. [40:19] So on one occasion, Flippi slices a ball over into a neighboring farmer’s field. There’s an 18-year-old kid over there farming his potato crop. And Flippi, being argumentative, is a problem breaks out over the ball, him and this kid. Pretty soon, Flippi’s over there in the field. First, he starts wailing on the kid with his fist. And then he starts beating on him with his golf club until he knocks him out. Oh, man. This is like a $30,000 golf club. Game for flippy by the time it’s over and probably got extra strokes on that hole while he was there. [41:03] That the berman crew ran in minneapolis was 613 hennepin this was they were regularly it seemed like it was an annual thing it’s probably a deal they hadn’t once a year the cops would hit 613 Hennepin, they’d raid it, they’d charge him with gambling, whatever, and they’d pay their fine, let it go. But like clockwork, if you check the newspapers, once a year, it’s 13 Hennepin. So finally, last time, 1940, they go in, and now their cops are hyped. Big, great, they ain’t got all these cops, they’re ready to get the door down, charge in. To get there, Doors are wide open. Cop belt all run in. There’s still hot coffee on the stove. There’s a chalkboard full of all the race results. Everything but people. The places. There’s nobody in the place. This upset him made more of an embarrassment, I think, than anything for the police. He finally got beat out on that one. [42:09] That was 613 Hennepin. Was that the address and the name of the spot, 613 Hennepin? Or was that Hennepin’s like a common name up in Minneapolis? It was called the TMA Club. Okay, and the address was 613 Hennepin. Yeah, it actually had a couple of different names, But the address, no matter what club was at that address, whatever they called, it was the same thing. Yeah, I got you. They just sold. Now, about this time, this is late 1930s, of course, I’m sure you’re familiar with the Silver Church thing, the support group, so to speak, in the States, right? Yeah, yeah. And Judge Perlman from New York got a hold of Meyer Lansky. Yeah. See if he could offer assistance. And among the people that Meyer called was Dave Berman, of course, in Minneapolis. And Dave said, sure, I’d be glad to help. And Willie would be glad to help, too. Dave was a little nervous about Willie’s assistance because they really didn’t want anybody killed. And he wasn’t sure about that with Willie. But as it turns out, they said that Silver Shirts held their meeting at the Elks Club in town. and J.B. Berman showed up with some friends and baseball bats. [43:32] It took him about 10 minutes to clear the place out. A couple more go-rounds like this and the silver shirts, all the… [43:42] Nazi groups, neo-Nazis, whatever, they changed their mind about having these kind of meetings there. Like in New York, when they had Nuremeyer brought his people in, they were not extremely friendly to the Nazis, which is understandable. So the Silver Shirts complained to the mayor, Mayor LaGuardia, demanding protection for their rallies and their marches. And the mayor is obligated by law to protect them, to provide them with the support. And he did. He rounded up all of the black and Jewish officers he could find and assigned them to that duty. His mother was Jewish. Yeah, crazy times. It’s hard to believe. If you don’t read it in history yourself, you wouldn’t know it. It’s really something that’s been a gift under the rug. We had those Nazi sympathizers right up to World War II. It was crazy. Oh, it was amazing. People like Charles Lindbergh, Henry Ford, who wrote The International Jew. At one time, if you bought a new Ford, you’d get a free copy of that book. [44:57] I read that somewhere, The International Jew, that Jewish conspiracy that’s supposed to take over the world and have all the money and everything. Yeah, that’s interesting. That’s ridiculous. They just want to take over gambling. It’s obvious. Yeah, really. Then they wanted to move all these guys you mentioned, Mo Sedway and Mayor Lansky, of course, and Buggy Siegel. They all end up out in Las Vegas. They take it all to Las Vegas, don’t they? Yeah, and like I said, right from the very beginning, you’ll see the same name over and over. Benny Siegel, Gus Greenbaum, Joe Stacker. They had an amazing bunch. And if you look at it, most of them died in bed. Yeah. [45:43] It was a whole different, probably, mindset than you’d see with the Italian gangsters at that time. These are people who managed to stay out of jail, stay out of the press, and stay out of the ground and make money. Yeah. A FBI agent here in Kansas City gave me a quote one time on a documentary I was doing. He was talking about this national crime syndicate. And he said, yeah, he said, the Italians provided the brawn, and the Jews provided the brains. Pretty much how well you got to Vegas, obviously the Jewish groups around the country had been running gambling. They were smart. Meyer especially was a visionary. This guy was a genius in Meyer’s mind. And he could see that, obviously, Prohibition, as wonderful as it was for them, wasn’t going to last forever. But he could see the future in gambling. And I’m sure he didn’t foresee Las Vegas back when Prohibition was repealed, but he did see the direction things were going. [46:55] He developed gambling all over the country. And then when Vegas came along, this was just a wonderful thing for legalized gambling. They had the expertise, the experience, the knowledge, all they needed. Because opening casino is an expensive venture, so they needed more money. The Italians provided extra cash, and the Jewish groups had all the experience and the knowledge to run there. That’s where, back in the one conference, the Fraconia conference that Meyer organized, where he organized the Jewish groups around the nation, at that time he convinced, both groups were convinced that it was time that they start working together and not be at odds with them. with each other. Yeah, no, it was actually, it turned out to be a real profitable agreement as time went on. Yeah, especially in Las Vegas, so. [47:55] I’ll tell you what, Flatsy, it’s a hell of a book. That’s a hell of a story you’ve got there, guys. [48:00] We’re not going to disclose everything because we’ve got to go on out to Las Vegas, but we’re not going to disclose everything. We want you to buy that book. It really sounds interesting. It’s really a walk through the history and the expansion of organized crime from the early days from the Castle of Racey War and Chicago and the Beer Wars to Minneapolis and on out to Las Vegas. It’s a hell of a story. and Ice-Pick Willie was there for all of it, it sounds to me like. That’s what I found so amazing is pretty much every major event in gangland history at that point in time, he would somehow evolve there. And yet, here like 50 years or so after he’s dead, nobody even remembers him. They will now. The people he knew, the people he associated with, the things he’s seen, what a life really guys the book is Ice Pick Willie the life and times of Israel Alderman and the author is Flats F-L-A-T-S and I will have a link to that book on Amazon when this comes out so thanks a lot Flats I really appreciate you coming on and telling those stories, you betcha thanks for having me.
Hailing from the Lower East Side of NYC, starting out as a club dancer from back in the day holding her own on any dancefloor, making the transition behind the deck's became a natural progression. Lady Curly adds to the LABR journey her long time running show Sounds Of A Dancer bring you her raw, unapologetic expression from the concept of the mind of a dancer. You won't forget the first time you heard DJ Dat Gurl Curly.Everything #LABR can be found at https://labr.online Our Mastodon account: https://ravenation.club/@labr If you're on the go?https://www.radio-browser.info/usersDo A Search for LABR, & There You Are. Streaming 24/7 all the LABR Collective Members shows that you might've missed. And a few extra's in between.Enjoying this love we're spreading? Want to support LABR - Love a Brother Radio in spreading that love? Now you can.https://labr.online/donate Any little thing helps us feed the Keebler Elves to keep the wheels turning in the background. We're a 2 1/2 person operation. And a lot goes into making this work properly. With that said, we all thank you in advance for any support you lend. But most importantly. For your ears.
Hailing from the Lower East Side of NYC, starting out as a club dancer from back in the day holding her own on any dancefloor, making the transition behind the deck's became a natural progression. Lady Curly adds to the LABR journey her long time running show Sounds Of A Dancer bring you her raw, unapologetic expression from the concept of the mind of a dancer. You won't forget the first time you heard DJ Dat Gurl Curly.Everything #LABR can be found at https://labr.online Our Mastodon account: https://ravenation.club/@labr If you're on the go?https://www.radio-browser.info/usersDo A Search for LABR, & There You Are. Streaming 24/7 all the LABR Collective Members shows that you might've missed. And a few extra's in between.Enjoying this love we're spreading? Want to support LABR - Love a Brother Radio in spreading that love? Now you can.https://labr.online/donate Any little thing helps us feed the Keebler Elves to keep the wheels turning in the background. We're a 2 1/2 person operation. And a lot goes into making this work properly. With that said, we all thank you in advance for any support you lend. But most importantly. For your ears.
Once upon a time, the streets of the Lower East Side were lined with pushcarts and salespeople haggling with customers over the price of fruits, fish and pickles. Whatever became of them? New York's earliest marketplaces were large and surprisingly well regulated hubs for commerce that kept the city fed. When the city was small, they served the hungry population well. But by the mid 19th century, mass waves of immigration and the necessary expansion of the city meant a lack of affordable food options for the city's poorest residents in overcrowded tenement districts. Then along came the peddler, pushcart vendors who brought bargains of all types — edible and nonedible — to neighborhood streets throughout the city. In particular, on the Lower East Side, the pushcarts created makeshift marketplaces. Many shoppers loved the set-up! But not a certain mayor — Fiorello La Guardia, who promised to sweep away these old-fashioned pushcarts that packed the streets — and instead house some of those vendors in new municipal market buildings. For those immigrant peddlers, the Essex Street Market — in sight of the Williamsburg Bridge — would provide a diverse shopping experience representing a swirl of various cultures: Eastern European, Puerto Rican, Italian and more. But could these markets survive competition from supermarkets? Or the many economic changes of life in New York City? Originally released in November 2020. This show was re-edited and remastered by Kieran Gannon Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Pickles and New York go hand in hand. A new book, The Pickled City: The Story of New York Pickles, explores how pickles evolved in the city, from immigration-driven delis on the Lower East Side to dedicated pickle stores like The Pickle Guys. Authors Paul van Ravestein and Monique Mulder, who are also the principals of Mattmo, a branding agency in Amsterdam specializing in culinary history, discuss their research and interest in pickle history alongside Alan Kaufman, owner of The Pickle Guys. Plus, listeners share their favorite kind of pickle. Photo by WDnet via Wikimedia Commons
Send us Fan MailChristian Dryden and David Andreana from the Ritualists stop by the show to discuss the up coming UK tour, new music that might be coming out in the fall, AI and more. ****Rising from the NYC underground scene of the Lower East Side, The Ritualists first attained international critical acclaim for their debut album, Painted People, released just prior to the pandemic on Out of Line Music. The record, and particularly, its lead single “Ice Flower,” was hailed as a seamless blend of dark beauty & anthemic pop sensibilities. The follow-up effort, Baroque & Bleeding, produced by Brit-Pop icon, Ed Buller(Psychedelic Furs, White Lies, Pulp, Suede), has been described as “pure new romantic psychedelia,” by Duran Duran's Simon Le Bon, and continued the trend of critical adoration, along with regular airplay on SiriusXM. This momentum lead to multiple US tours and multiple collaborations, performing with members of Blondie, Love and Rockets, D Generation and The New York Dolls. The Ritualists now seek to build on their brand of “Gothic Art Rock” (Hollywood Life) with their latest, full-length effort, Too Pure to Cure (Suite484Music) produced by GRAMMY-winner, Mario McNulty (David Bowie, Prince, Willow). The band, which has oftentimes been identified as proudly embracing the more ornate elements of rock-and-roll, further tested such boundaries, as this newest release was honored on multiple "Best of 2025" lists & has been described as "Moody, melodic & undeniably magnetic" by Savoir Faire & "a heartfelt and adventurous offering from a band that seems poised to usher in a new era of new romantic art rock" by Regen MagazineThe Ritualists have announced their first-ever tour of the UK in support of their 3rd album, Too Pure to Cure.Christian Dryden and co. will embark on a short, but compelling run of shows across the UK, with stops in London, Manchester, Reading and Nottingham, from April 17th-22nd. The Gothic Art Rockers (Hollywood Life), will be showcasing material from the new album alongside selections from their critically-acclaimed back catalogue, much of which will be fresh to British Audiences.Their latest, full-length effort, released on all platforms through (Suite484Music) and produced by GRAMMY-winner, Mario McNulty (David Bowie, Prince, Willow), has been honored on multiple "Best of 2025" lists & described as "Moody, melodic and undeniably magnetic" and by Savoir Faire as "a heartfelt and adventurous offering from a band that seems poised to usher in a new era of new romantic art rock" by Regen MagazineTickets & More Info available through www.theritualists.com/event-listWebsite: https://www.theritualists.com/****If you would like to contact the show Dauna@betertopodcast.comFollow us on Social MediaYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCX0ETs2wpOHbCuhUNr0XFTw?view_as=subscriberInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/author_d.m.needom/Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/bettertopodcastwithdmneedomSupport the podcast here: https://www.patreon.com/bettertopodcastwithdmneedom©2026 BetteSupport the show
PUTF Podcast — Season 4, Episode 3 featuring Ali Rosa-SalasAli Rosa-Salas is a curator who believes that the arts are a public good. Raised by a Nuyorican family in South Brooklyn, she draws creative inspiration from New York City's cultural ecosystems. Ali is currently the Vice President of Visual and Performing Arts at the Henry Street Settlement and director of the Settlement's Lower East Side cultural institution, the Abrons Arts Center. When not at Abrons, she is probably taking a very long walk. Follow Ali:https://www.instagram.com/prdiva09/Photo courtesy of Ali.Mentioned in the episode:Abrons Arts Center: https://www.abronsartscenter.org/Abrons EXP: https://www.abronsartscenter.org/programs/abrons-expDeadline: April 12th, 2026PUTF's interview series is dedicated to spotlighting inspiring creatives from the PUTF community and beyond. Guests share their unique career journeys, stories, and visions. This new 4th season is shortened to approximately 30 minutes, with guests invited to focus on their projects and current work.Pick Up The Flow, is an online resource based in NYC striving to democratize access to opportunities. Opportunities are shared daily on this page and website, and weekly via our newsletter.Newsletter: https://putf.substack.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/pickuptheflownyc/Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@pickuptheflow#alirosasalas #nyc #community #lowereastside #creative #pickuptheflow #entrepreneurship #curator #radio #abrons #abronsartscenter #nyc #socialservice #henrystreetsettlement #art Join the newsletter: https://putf.substack.com/and follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pickuptheflownyc/Join the newsletter: https://putf.substack.com/and follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/pickuptheflownyc/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
This is the evening All Local for April 2, 2026.
For many Ashkenazi Jews in the United States, Christmastime sparks memories of egg rolls and General Tso's chicken. How did the affinity for Chinese food amongst many Jews begin? Trace this delicious history from the turn-of-the-century Lower East Side to today's take-out lo mein with Andrew Coe, author of Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States. This lecture originally took place on December 22, 2020. 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
For many Ashkenazi Jews in the United States, Christmastime sparks memories of egg rolls and General Tso's chicken. How did the affinity for Chinese food amongst many Jews begin? Trace this delicious history from the turn-of-the-century Lower East Side to today's take-out lo mein with Andrew Coe, author of Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States. This lecture originally took place on December 22, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/asian-american-studies
For many Ashkenazi Jews in the United States, Christmastime sparks memories of egg rolls and General Tso's chicken. How did the affinity for Chinese food amongst many Jews begin? Trace this delicious history from the turn-of-the-century Lower East Side to today's take-out lo mein with Andrew Coe, author of Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States. This lecture originally took place on December 22, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/jewish-studies
For many Ashkenazi Jews in the United States, Christmastime sparks memories of egg rolls and General Tso's chicken. How did the affinity for Chinese food amongst many Jews begin? Trace this delicious history from the turn-of-the-century Lower East Side to today's take-out lo mein with Andrew Coe, author of Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States. This lecture originally took place on December 22, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/food
For many Ashkenazi Jews in the United States, Christmastime sparks memories of egg rolls and General Tso's chicken. How did the affinity for Chinese food amongst many Jews begin? Trace this delicious history from the turn-of-the-century Lower East Side to today's take-out lo mein with Andrew Coe, author of Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States. This lecture originally took place on December 22, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/chinese-studies
For many Ashkenazi Jews in the United States, Christmastime sparks memories of egg rolls and General Tso's chicken. How did the affinity for Chinese food amongst many Jews begin? Trace this delicious history from the turn-of-the-century Lower East Side to today's take-out lo mein with Andrew Coe, author of Chop Suey: A Cultural History of Chinese Food in the United States. This lecture originally took place on December 22, 2020. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/american-studies
The New Museum opens its new building this week. And it's doing so with a big show called “New Humans: Memories of the Future,” about how artists rethought what it means to be human through technology. It's a topic on a lot of people's minds. Among the many artists whose visions feature in the show is Christopher Kulendran Thomas. Kulendran Thomas has a lot going on. Aside from the New Museum, he's got another video installation up at the Museum of Modern Art right now, while last fall, his work “Peace Core” showed at Gagosian Gallery in New York. He also runs a project space, Earth, on the Lower East Side in New York and in Echo Park in L.A. Kulendran Thomas's works are complicated. They often feature paintings, inspired by A.I.-generated images. His video installations at MoMA and the New Museum involve deepfake interviews with celebrities like Taylor Swift, Kim Kardashian, or even other artists, together with documentary footage about Sri Lanka, where his family is from. Beneath all these complex parts, Kulendran Thomas is weaving together an ambitious and maybe even unsettling argument, about political systems, philosophy, technology, human creativity, post-human creativity, and where we might be heading in the future—as artists and as a civilization.
The Swāmi watched his visitors eat the lunch he had prepared for them, monitoring their progress through their meals and replenishing the preparations as they disappeared from their plates. I took my place beside one of the other guests on the floor, and Janice, the guy helping the Swāmi serve the meal, gave me a plate piled high with food. I had drifted into vegetarianism several years ago, but this looked a lot better than the food I usually ate. I had been experimenting with microbiotic food and often ate at a restaurant called The Paradox on the Lower East Side—a place that I learned a few years later was frequented by Yoko Ono. Microbiotic food was not particularly inspiring for me, and the Swāmi's vegetarian food looked appetizing and exotic. Instead of bland brown rice, zucchini, sesame seeds, and beans, the spread before me consisted of hot dāl made with lentils, vegetables, and fresh herbs; steaming fluffy rice; warm, whole chapatis brushed with a little butter; lightly spiced potatoes; and warm milk with bananas. Suddenly, I was hungry. "Yeah, I'm fine, Swāmi," I said. "How do you like your new place?" It was the first time I had sat with him to talk for some time. "Very nice, very nice—and the temple is nice also." He turned his attention to the man sitting to his left. "Stanley, take, take." He kept handing Stanley warm chapatis. Stanley was nearly six feet tall, gaunt and emaciated-looking, with short black hair, stubble, and sharp, angular features. After eleven chapatis, the Swami laughed heartily and said... ------------------------------------------------------------ To connect with His Grace Vaiśeṣika Dāsa, please visit https://www.fanthespark.com/next-steps/ask-vaisesika-dasa/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 https://vaisesikadasayatra.blogspot.com/ ------------------------------------------------------------ Add to your wisdom literature collection: https://iskconsv.com/book-store/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 https://www.bbtacademic.com/books/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 https://thefourquestionsbook.com/?utm_source=youtube&utm_medium=video&utm_campaign=launch2025 ------------------------------------------------------------ Join us live on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FanTheSpark/ Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/sound-bhakti/id1132423868 For the latest videos, subscribe https://www.youtube.com/@FanTheSpark For the latest in SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/fan-the-spark ------------------------------------------------------------ #spiritualawakening #soul #spiritualexperience #spiritualpurposeoflife #spiritualgrowthlessons #secretsofspirituality #vaisesikaprabhu #vaisesikadasa #vaisesikaprabhulectures #spirituality #bhaktiyoga #krishna #spiritualpurposeoflife #krishnaspirituality #spiritualusachannel #whybhaktiisimportant #whyspiritualityisimportant #vaisesika #spiritualconnection #thepowerofspiritualstudy #selfrealization #spirituallectures #spiritualstudy #spiritualquestions #spiritualquestionsanswered #trendingspiritualtopics #fanthespark #spiritualpowerofmeditation #spiritualteachersonyoutube #spiritualhabits #spiritualclarity #bhagavadgita #srimadbhagavatam #spiritualbeings #kttvg #keepthetranscendentalvibrationgoing #spiritualpurpose
Last week, Sounding Out with Izzy made the rounds at the fifth annual New Colossus Festival, a showcase where over 170 emerging and independent artists from all over the world put on showcases across multiple stages on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. ✨ STREAM THE FEATURED ARTISTS ✨✨ THE DUTCH KILLS ✨Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-dutch-kills/1704385217Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/4tO8kwswy96DuThFvxBGPR?si=N3MlOR3wT0yGL2ebvQE1AQ✨ SARAH MICHELLE LEE ✨Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/sarah-michelle-lee/1727632940Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/2opJKM6rI4awJwWFYqv08d?si=-xO0soWqQ6CxeZprDzuNwA✨ SHAGGO ✨Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/shaggo/1789023798Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/396T2CsmxYSBpkrpUYAW2F?si=BiiMBLsbRkit7sxrR06jSQ✨ TALON ✨Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/talon/1650440859Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/3QBo4tlekZDVCgtpMwQA64?si=7Uuvih0uRXyTtQMsaTREtA✨ WARMACHINE ✨Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/warmachine/1725773159Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/26YmpmUE5TvnHJpRichDJd?si=qADCbxNZSqaHhJxSgNiNog✨ CONNECT WITH IZZY ✨Blog: https://agrrrlstwosoundcents.comYouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCv6SBgiYCpYbx9BOYNefkIgInstagram: instagram.com/agrrrlstwosoundcents/Twitter: twitter.com/grrrlsoundcents
In honor of Women's History Month -- a classic episode from the Bowery Boys! Within just a few decades – between the 1880s and the 1920s – so much social change occurred within American life, upending so many cultural norms and advancing so many important social issues, that these years became known as the Progressive Era. And at the forefront of many of these changes were women. In this show, Greg Young visits two important New York City social landmarks of this era —Henry Street Settlement, founded by Lillian Wald on the Lower East Side, and the Cabrini Shrine, where Mother Frances X. Cabrini continued her work with New York's Italian American population. Featuring special guests Tanya Bielski-Braham, Beckett Graham, Julie Golia, Cherie Sprosty and Katie Vogel. This episode originally ran in 2019 in the Bowery Boys Podcast feed as 'Saving the City: Women of the Progresive Era' . The exhibition Taking Care of Brooklyn: Stories of Sickness and Health ran from May 31, 2019 to June 05, 2020 at The Brooklyn Historical Society (now The Center for Brooklyn History). Visit the Bowery Boys website to see images from this show.. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
From the publisher: "A scion of the Protestant elite, Theodore Roosevelt was an unlikely ally of the waves of impoverished Jewish newcomers who crowded the docks at Ellis Island. Yet from his earliest years he forged ties with Jews never before witnessed in a president. American Maccabee traces Roosevelt's deep connection with the Jewish people at every step of his dazzling ascent. But it also reveals a man of contradictions whose checkered approach to Jewish issues was no less conflicted than the nation he led.As a rising political figure in New York, Roosevelt barnstormed the Lower East Side, giving speeches to packed halls of Jewish immigrants. He rallied for reform of the sweatshops where Jewish laborers toiled for pitiful wages in perilous conditions. And Roosevelt repeatedly venerated the heroism of the Maccabee warriors, upholding those storied rebels as a model for the American Jewish community. Yet little could have prepared him for the blood-soaked persecution of Eastern European Jews that brought a deluge of refugees to American shores during his presidency. Andrew Porwancher uncovers the vexing challenges for Roosevelt as he confronted Jewish suffering abroad and antisemitic xenophobia at home.Drawing on new archival research to paint a richly nuanced portrait of an iconic figure, American Maccabee chronicles the complicated relationship between the leader of a youthful nation and the people of an ancient faith."Andrew Porwancher's website can be found at https://www.andrewporwancher.com/Information on his book can be found at https://press.princeton.edu/books/hardcover/9780691203669/american-maccabeeAxelbankHistory.com is designed by https://www.ellieclairedesigns.com/Axelbank Reports History and Today" can be found on social media at https://twitter.com/axelbankhistoryhttps://instagram.com/axelbankhistoryhttps://facebook.com/axelbankhistory
This is your All Local update for Monday, March 9, 2026.
The Power Broker by Robert Caro is one of the defining New York books. Comedian Sam Rogal, who claims he read the book "before it was cool," has created a show that finds the humor in Robert Moses and urban planning. Every month, Rogal puts on "The Power Joker" at Caveat on the Lower East Side, a variety show in which Rogal plays Robert Moses and imagines what would happen if Moses lost his power and ended up as a late night talk show host, with special guests that have in the past included Zohran Mamdani as he was running for Mayor. Sam Rogal discusses his inspiration for The Power Joker and previews the next show on March 22 at 5pm. Photo credit Dmitry Shein
SEASON 2 - EPISODE 181 - Jack Fisk - Production Designer In this extended episode of the Team Deakins Podcast, we speak with production designer Jack Fisk (MARTY SUPREME, THERE WILL BE BLOOD, MULHOLLAND DRIVE). Spanning the worlds' jungles, mountains, and open plains, Jack's work as a designer brings the real world to the audience on the big screen. Throughout our conversation, Jack discusses his views on designing, and he recalls numerous stories detailing the exhaustive work behind his contributions to films such as DAYS OF HEAVEN, THE THIN RED LINE, and THE REVENANT. Later, Jack reveals how he resurrected post-war New York City in the Lower East Side in MARTY SUPREME, and we discuss how he collaborated with cinematographer Darius Khondji (Season 1, Episode 135) on the film and strove for originality in its design. Jack also reflects on the evolution of his lifelong friendship with David Lynch from high school up until his death in 2025, and he shares how he overcame a number of obstacles while designing MULHOLLAND DRIVE. Plus, Jack recalls how he survived the "highway of death" in Costa Rica. Listen to Ruth De Jong's episode (Season 2, Episode 49) to learn even more about Jack. - Recommended Viewing: MULHOLLAND DRIVE, DAYS OF HEAVEN - This episode is sponsored by Aputure & Picture Shop
Monk Eastman ruled the depraved streets of turn-of-the-century Manhattan with fists and absolutely zero regard for human life, commanding an army of 1,200 thugs who terrorized the Lower East Side. At the height of his power, he was pulling cash from every racket you could think of while rigging elections for Tammany Hall and overseeing street violence so extreme that cops needed reinforcements just to enter his territory. Eastman represented a true transition in the evolution of the underworld, when crime became organized. All that, and he managed to become a war hero too, before the street life finally caught up with him. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices