Table of Contents

Chapter 1. George Washington Slept Here: When New York Was The Capital Of America... 13 Chapter 2. Drunk on Water: Aaron Burr's Profitable Gamble... 19 Chapter 3. Early Bohemia: The Roots of Greenwich Village... 25 Chapter 4. Fifth Avenue's First Breath: A Potter's Field Becomes Washington Square Park... 31 Chapter 5. From Dynasty to Tragedy: The Story of the Astor Family... 39 Chapter 6. A Bear on Broadway, and a Riot at The Opera: A Brief History of Astor Place ... 47 Chapter 7. Slumming: The Story of Five Points... 53 Chapter 8. Manhattan's Incandescence: Thomas Edison Electrifies New York... 63 Chapter 9. From Deutal Cove to Coveted Address: The Evolution of Turtle Bay... 69 Chapter 10. The Gold Coast: Fifth Avenue Moves Uptown... 75 Chapter 11. Park Avenue: The Frog Prince... 83 Chapter 12. Mr. Vanderbilt Builds His Dream House: A Mansion on Millionaire's Row... 89 Chapter 13. Down the Middle: Central Park, and How It Got That Way... 95 Chapter 14. It Happened in Gramercy Park: The Cooperative Gets a Lift ... 101 Chapter 15. Assassination of an Architect: The Story of Stanford White... 107 Chapter 16. Art in the Alley: The Ashcan School and the Carriage Houses of Greenwich Village... 113 Chapter 17. Apartment Life: The Dakota and the Golden Age... 119 Chapter 18. Lower East Side: An Immigrant Tale... 129 Chapter 19. Prohibition and all that Jazz: The Speakeasy Days of New... 133 Chapter 20. A Harlem History: Philip Payton Builds a Neighborhood... 139 Chapter 21. The Master Builder: The Controversial Character of Robert Moses... 145 Chapter 22. Manhattan Hears the Beat: How New York Got Hip... 153 Chapter 23. Soho Story: A Neighborhood Grows... 159 Chapter 24. Chelsea: The Western Frontier... 169 Chapter 25. Fathers and Sons: Real Estate Dynasties of New York... 173 WALKING TOURS Financial District... 180 Chinatown/Soho... 190 Greenwich Village... 198 Astor Place... 206 Gramercy Park... 214 Turtle Bay Walking Tour... 220 Midtown Walking Tour... 226 Upper West Side Walking Tour... 232 Harlem Walking Tour... 236 APPENDIX Townhouse Style... 242 Bibliography... 248 Index... 250

About the Author

James Roman is the author of Chronicles of Old Las Vegas and Chronicles of Old Los Angeles and served as editorial contributor to New York Living magazine for six years. He contributes regularly to publications that document emerging technology, and he appeared on the HBO television series Six Feet Under. He lives in Los Angeles.

Reviews

Can a 260-page book do justice to Harlem, Turtle Bay, SoHo, Greenwich Village, and other landmark Manhattan 'hoods, both extant and long-gone? No. And yes. Roman, a real-estate broker and third-generation New Yorker, covers ground familiar to most locals, and maybe others: SoHo has the most cast-iron buildings in the world; Chinatown was populated by men because women weren't allowed to emigrate; the Dakota was the city's first high-end apartment building. Fortunately, the author peppers his effort with less familiar factoids as well: NYU's first building was built by Sing Sing prisoners; Congress exempted John D. Rockefeller, Jr. from gift taxes to facilitate the donation of land that the UN was built on. Though accounts can be cursory (the Lower East Side gets four pages), and the author sometimes announces the obvious ("America was thrilled when World War II ended"), the book includes walking tours and a guide to townhouse architecture, and packs a good bit of history into one handy source. It's not for the specialist, but New Yorkers will learn a few new things, and history-minded tourists will find it a useful addition to their other guidebooks.
--Publishers Weekly

Even if you're not traveling to New York any time soon, you'll love Chronicles of New York: Exploring Manhattan's Landmark Neighborhoods, a new guide from Museyon. Extensively researched by author James Roman the guide is full of historical photos. I loved looking at the Easter Day strollers on Fifth Avenue or reading about the days when Park Avenue was lined with breweries, factories and small farms.-- Jan Butsch Schroder, May 21, 2010---Travelgirl magazine



It is said that New York Citys lifeblood runs green, the color of money. But for those of us who carry on lifelong love affairs with this hyperactive island, the story is much more nuanced and colorful. When you read these chronicles you too will find in them a universal pride in human accomplishment often in the face of adversity. Look for the genius, creativity, derring-do in every area of human endeavor, from economics to architecture, that have made and continue to imagine, one of the most fascinating human settlements on earth. And put this book on your favorite shelf, to be grabbed and read each time you decide to discover or rediscover one of our many and unique neighborhoods which, together, create the great metropolis.---Susan S. Szenasy, ---Metropolis Magazine


Not quite a history book and not quite a travel guide, this is rather an intriguing mix of both. Roman, a native New Yorker with a background in real estate and as a contributor to New York Living magazine, brings to this guide an intimate knowledge and love of New Yorks neighborhoods and the quirks of history that have helped shape the city. The historical segments are smart and easy to read, full of details that bring the city to life. The sections are arranged by both neighborhood and topic, from Harlem to George Washington, Prohibition, and the history of Fifth Avenue. The walking tours at the end of the book have good maps, photographs, and lists of relevant subway stops. An extensive bibliography helps to make up for the lack of footnotes or direct references to sources within the text. Verdict: A fun, intelligent walk through New York's past for history and architecture buffs, best used with another guidebook for hotel and eatery information.-- Sara A. Miller, July 22, 2010---Library Journal