Witty, sexy, and way ahead of her time, few performers brought more swagger to the stage and big screen than Brooklyn-born Mae West. On April 27, 1927, West was released from the Women’s Workhouse, a prison on what today is called Roosevelt Island. Her crime? “Indecent public performance” for her hit show, Sex. Born and…
Janos.nyc reader Jon Reznick has joked that this site is a daily history of riots in New York City, and it’s true that Gotham’s manic energy has lent itself to nearly every type of riot imaginable. So why not a folk singer riot? In 1961, beatniks were ascendant. Ginsberg and Kerouac were mainstream hits, and…
One of the first great student protests to come out of the 60s counter-culture movement, the Columbia University occupation began on April 23, 1968. Over the next week, students took over five different buildings and completely shut down campus while calling attention to issues from local race relations to the Vietnam War. The occupation ended when the…
Before the term was hijacked by right-wing crazies, the Boston Tea Party was beloved as one of the iconic events in American history. Even at the time, it was so inspiring that New York got in on the act, one of the few times the City has ever taken its cue from Boston. On April…
Who says being a lawyer is always boring? On April 21, 1965, the New York City Bar Association main meeting hall in midtown Manhattan was jam-packed with lawyers waiting to hear from Martin Luther King, Jr. More than 500 were in attendance, and another 3,000 were turned away when the civil rights leader made his…
Fiorello La Guardia is widely regarded as the best mayor in New York City’s history, and on 4/20 we remember his impressive and forward-thinking approach to marijuana. La Guardia served as mayor from 1934 to 1945, and during the early years of his administration, weed use barely registered as an issue. Annual arrests for sales…
The tearing down of the ornate old Penn Station inspired a push to create New York City’s first landmarks law, which Mayor Robert Wagner, Jr. signed on April 19, 1965. Celebrations, tributes and symposia are taking place over the city – there is even a whole website dedicated to the anniversary. There are now 1,348 official…
While Henry Hudson is often credited as the first European to explore the New York area, and Juan Rodriguez has recently gotten recognition as New York’s first resident of European descent, it was Giovanni da Verrazzano who first set caucasian eyes on the New York harbor, on April 17, 1524. Verrazzano was born in Florence…
Waving severed limbs at children. Graverobbing. Fleeing angry rioters. The medical profession has definitely come a long way since April 16, 1788, when a mob of New Yorkers, some literally armed with pitchforks, came looking for doctors who had been digging up the dead to teach medical students with their cadavers. Using the deceased to…
On April 15, 1947, Jackie Robinson played his first game for the Brooklyn Dodgers, becoming the first African-American to play major league baseball since the 1800s. Though his first game was a quiet one on the field (he went 0-3, scoring one run in a Dodgers win), Robinson’s debut was a landmark moment in sports…
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