The Bowery: The Strange History of New York's Oldest Street [Audiobook]

English | ASIN: B0977PKQNV | 2021 | 10 hours and 20 minutes | MP3@64 kbps | 284 MB

The Bowery is New York's oldest street and Manhattan's broadest boulevard. Like the city itself, it has continually reinvented itself over the centuries. Named for the Dutch farms, or bouweries, of the area, the path's lurid character was established early when it became the site of New Amsterdam's first murder. A natural spring near the Five Points neighborhood led to breweries and taverns that became home to the gangs of New York - the "Bowery B'hoys", "Plug Uglies", and "Dead Rabbits". In the Gaslight Era, teenaged streetwalkers swallowed poison in McGurk's Suicide Hall.
A brighter side to the street was reflected in places of amusement and culture over the years. A young P. T. Barnum got his start there, and Harry Houdini learned showmanship playing the music halls and dime museums. Poets, singers, hobos, gangsters, soldiers, travelers, preachers, storytellers, con men, and reformers all gathered there. Its colorful cast of characters includes Peter Stuyvesant, Steve Brodie, Carry Nation, Stephen Foster, Stephen Crane, and even Abraham Lincoln.