Table of Contents
Acknowledgements 7
Introduction 9
1 Local History, Part I 13
2 Local History, Part II 19
3 Canal Street: The Collect Pond, Bogardus and Bruce, Blackwell's Island and Samuel F.B. Morse 31
4 Along Crosby Street and Back to Grand Street: An Opium Den, the First Jewish Congregation, Department Stores, Spiritualists and Séances 41
5 Broadway and Broome Street: Robert Moses's Folly, Jane Jacobs and Margot Gayle, Daniel Badger and Richard Morris Hunt 55
6 Broadway and Spring Street: Bishop's Crook Lampposts, the St. Nicholas Hotel, Fernando Wood and the Copperhead Conspiracy, the Ghost of SoHo and the Prince of Humbugs 67
7 Still on Broadway, Heading for Prince Street: The Free-Love League, Charles Broadway Rouss, Little Singer and Old St. Pat's 81
8 Back on Broadway: Niblo's Garden, the Black Crook, John Jacob Astor, the Comic Book Museum and the Wall 93
9 Along Houston to Mercer Street: The Cable Building, Fanelli's Café, Artists and Brothers 105
10 Greene Street: Architectural Masterpieces, C. Godfrey Gunther, the Floating Subway Map and a Mural 117
11 Wooster Street: Maciunas and the Fluxhouse, Dionysus, Spalding Gray and the Ghosts of West Broadway 127
Index 137
About the Authors 143