Gotham Gazette

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CITY

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Culture


American Folk Art Museum - This museum is one of the leading institutions dedicated to the importance of folk art as a vital component of mainstream artistic expression and celebrates the extraordinary accomplishments of "ordinary people."

American Museum of Natural History - World renowned museum which in addition to its permanent plant, animal, and cultural, exhibitions includes the world's largest star projector and collection of fossil specimens.

Asia Society Museum - Find out more about the Museum's Asian and Asian American contemporary art exhibitions. Online versions of ongoing and past exhibitions are also featured. Access a searchable database of masterworks from South, Southeast, and East Asia, dating from 2000 BC to the 19th century.

Bronx Zoo - As the flagship of the largest network of metropolitan zoos in the country, the Bronx Zoo is the heart of the Wildlife Conservation Society and our work to save wildlife and wild places around the globe. The Bronx Zoo is home to award-winning exhibits that feature more than 4,000 animals.

Brooklyn Academy of Music - Dating from its first performance in 1861, BAM has grown into a thriving urban arts center that brings international performing arts, media, and film to Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Botanic Garden - Visiting this site is the next best thing to visiting the garden, with virtual tours and everything you would ever want to know about Brooklyn’s horticultural mecca. Also find here gardening information and access to the library and resource center

Brooklyn Children's Museum - Brooklyn Children's Museum offers over 27,000 square feet of interactive exhibition space, designed expressly for kids between the ages of 2 and 10. Ten different galleries offer fun-filled adventures in world culture and natural science.

Brooklyn Museum of Art - The Brooklyn Museum of Art is the second largest art museum in New York City and one of the largest in the United States. One of the premier art institutions in the world, its permanent collection includes more than one and a half million objects, from ancient Egyptian masterpieces to contemporary art, and represents almost every culture.

Carnegie Hall - Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1890, Carnegie Hall has become one of the world's most renowned performance spaces.

Children's Museum of Manhattan - The Children's Museum of Manhattan inspires children and families to learn about themselves and our culturally diverse world through the arts, literacy, media & communications, science & the environment and early childhood education.

Cinema Classics - Known for its offbeat screenings of the best foreign, cult, contemporary independent and classic Hollywood films, CINEMA CLASSICS is a 60+ seat theatre with vintage theater seats.

City Lore - The City Lore website tries to capture New York's varied cultural heritage - from the Puerto Rican Day Parade to the bialy. Well-designed online exhibits explore subjects like flavored ice and New York's Caribbean culinary tradition. A people's hall of fame honors "grassroots contributions to New York's cultural life," - hall of famers range from the man who brought the steel drum to the New York to distinguished Yiddish poets.

Cool New York Event Finder - Corresponding with the unveiling of the Gates, the city's Department for Cultural Affairs launched the Cool New York event finder. The site allows you to search events by category (Botanic Garden, Free, Literary etc.) or by borough. Visitors can also search for events by name or date. The Department's general site has more information about funding for cultural organizations and its other programs.

Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum - Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, Smithsonian Institution is the only museum in the United States devoted exclusively to historic and contemporary design. The Museum believes that design shapes our objects, environments, and communications, making them more desirable, functional, and accessible. The Museum celebrates the nature of design and explores its impact on the quality of our lives.

Dance Theatre of Harlem - A major cultural institution, encompassing a world-class ballet company, an accredited school of dance, the Dance Theatre of Harlem School, and a national and international arts education and community outreach program, Dancing Through Barriers®.

Ellis Island Immigration Museum - Once the gateway for millions to America, Ellis Island is now home to a first-rate museum that chronicles the turn-of-the-century immigrant experience. Website includes virtual family scrapbooks and an Ellis Island genealogy search.

Film Forum - Film Forun Info

Goethe House German Cultural Center - This local branch of the worldwide group of German cultural centers offers language courses and German-language performances.

Greenwich House - Greenwich House provides a distinct array of cultural, educational, health, social, medical and recreational services at eight locations in and around Greenwich Village.

Grey Art Gallery - New York University's fine arts museum, presents lectures and walking tours in addition to a significant permanent collection with a large collection of American painting from the 1940s to the present.

Hispanic Society of America - The collections of The Hispanic Society of America address nearly every aspect of culture in Spain as well as Portugal, Latin America, and the Philippines.

IFC Center - Opened in June, 2005, this is the latest art house movie theater.

Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum - The permanent home of The Isamu Noguchi Garden displays more than 240 works, including stone, metal, wood and clay sculptures, models for public projects and gardens, dance sets, and Noguchi's Akari light sculptures.

La Mama - An experimental theatre with that performs original productions, host play readings exhibits original artwork in its gallery.

Lincoln Center - Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, New York, is the world's largest cultural complex. The 12 world-renowned independent companies that make up Lincoln Center represent the very best in performing arts today.

Lower East Side Tenement Museum - The website for the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Content on the site is a mixture of historical material and information about urban housing and immigrant life today. The site's features include a virtual tour of a Lower East Side tenement with audio files, illustrations of federal detention centers for immigrants, and photo essays on urban housing policy. The site also features a Lower East Side 'merchant of the month,' and provides information for educators and the general public about the museum itself.

Madison Square Garden - This midtown stadium is home too the Rangers, Knicks and various concerts and theatrical events throughout the year.

Mannes College of Music - The New School's music center hosts performances by students and professional musicians.

Metropolitan Museum of Art - In formation since 1870, the Metropolitan Museum's collection now contains more than two million works of art from all points of the compass, ancient through modern times.

Millennium Film Workshop - A non-profit organization since 1966 that screens independent films and offers classes and equipment for aspiring filmmakers.

Municipal Art Society - The Municipal Art Society of New York is a private, non-profit membership organization whose mission is to promote a more livable city. Since 1893, the MAS has worked to enrich the culture, neighborhoods and physical design of New York City. It advocates for excellence in urban design and planning, contemporary architecture, historic preservation and public art.

Museum of American Financial History - As the nation's only public museum to celebrate the free market tradition, the Museum of American Financial History follows the American economy from the beginnings of Wall Street to the rise of "dot com" entrepreneurs.

Museum of Chinese in the Americas - The Museum of Chinese in the Americas (MoCA) is dedicated to reclaiming, preserving, and interpreting the history and culture of Chinese oand their descendants in the Western Hemisphere.

Museum of Jewish Heritage: A Living Memorial to the Holocaust - With more than 2,000 photographs, 800 artifacts, and 24 original documentary films, the Museum's core exhibition combines archival material with modern media to provide a thoughtful and moving chronicle of history, keeping the memory of the past alive and offering hope for the future.

Museum of Modern Art - The Museum of Modern Art presents some of the finest works of modern and contemporary art in an environment that is responsive to the issues of modern and contemporary art, while being accessible to a public that ranges from scholars to young children.

Museum of Television and Radio - The Museum of Television and Radio includes more than 100,000 programs chosen for their artistic, cultural, and historical significance. The collection covers news, drama, public affairs programs, documentaries, the performing arts, children's programming, sports, comedy, and advertising.

Museum of the City of New York - The Museum of the City of New York holds more than 1.5 million paintings, prints, photographs, costumes, toys, rare books, manuscripts, sculptures, decorative arts objects, and other artifacts that comprise a treasury of New York City history.

National Academy Museum and School of Fine Arts - The National Academy is an honorary association of artists, which maintains an art school and a museum of American paintings, sculpture, prints, and architectural representations which form the permanent collection of over 5000 works of nineteenth through twenty-first century art.

New York Botanical Garden - The New York Botanical Garden is 250 acres of dazzling beauty and hands-on fun. From the newly-restored Enid A. Haupt Conservatory with an eco-tour of the world under glass, to the new Everett Children's Adventure Garden where kids explore nature and plant science, to 48 magnificent gardens and plant collections, the Garden is alive with discovery.

New York City Ballet - This Lincoln Center-based group that trains all its own artists is one of the foremost dance companies in the world.

New York City Police Museum - The New York City Police Museum captures and preserves the long and rich history of the department as well as a present-day look at the world of law enforcement through the eyes of its officers.

New York City Sports Commission -

New York Public Library Photography Collection - A part of the New York Public Library website, this photo collection has a lot to offer, and not all of it is photography. Material includes historical prints, photos from past exhibits, and other galleries.

New York Transit Museum - Housed in a decommissioned 1936 subway station, the New York Transit Museum offers a complete and interactive history of inter-city travel that includes several antique trolleys, subway cars, and turnstiles.

NY Historical Society - The regularly updated homepage of New York Historical Society includes a daily "This Day in New York History," as well as illustrated descriptions of past, present and future exhibitions. Also available is information about the group programs and an online store.

Public Theater - The Public is a true American theater, embracing the complexities of contemporary society and nurturing both artists and audiences through its commitment to the idea that The Public should be a place of inclusion and a forum for ideas.

Radio City Music Hall - World-famous performance space for cinema, live shows, concerts, and sporting events.

Scandinavian East Coast Museum - This site is the online version of a not-yet-in-existence museum dedicated to Brooklyn's Scandinavian immigrants. There's a history of Scandinavians in NYC, some photographs, and links to other Scandinavian-New Yorker sites.

Snug Harbor Cultural Center - Various cultural events and institutions can be found in the beautifully renovated historic buildings on Staten Island's north shore.

Streetplay - Started in 1999 by two nostalgic New Yorkers, this site documents and celebrates the "games we used to play." Sections include stickball, handball, hopscotch, and bottle-caps. It's the place to go for information on the city's stickball leagues and tournaments. The site both celebrates New York (see Mayor Bloomberg at the Stickball Classic 2003), and branches out (don't miss the celebrity section, where President George W. Bush claims that his first political post was the self-appointed "high commissioner" of his high school stickball league.)

The Jewish Museum - The Jewish Museum, the Western hemisphere's largest Jewish museum, chronicles the culture and identity of a people through artistic and historical exhibitions.

The Joyce Theater - Founded in 1982, this theater presents a dance-exclusive schedule.

The Juilliard School - This first-rate performing arts school holds performances by students and professional musicians.

The Kitchen - This center for video, music, dance, performance and literature has real info on video. List of those it has sponsored, presented or worked with reads like a Who's Who of the video/music/performance combinations we now take for granted.

The Town Hall - Midtown performance center that hosts dance, film, music, and other live events. Website includes a full calendar and on-line ticket sales.

Wave Hill - A spectacular public garden and cultural center overlooking the Hudson River and Palisades in the Bronx, Wave Hill hosts a wide array of cultural events ranging from poetry readings and dance sessions to Tai Chi classes and horticultural lectures.

Whitney Museum of American Art - The Whitney is home to more than 12,000 paintings, sculptures, prints, drawings, and photographs, representing nearly 2,000 individual artists and providing the most complete overview of twentieth-century American art of any museum in the world.

Local History


African Burial Grounds - More than 20,000 African-Americans are interred at the burial ground in Lower Manhattan, discovered during construction on a federal office building in 1991. Visitors to this site, maintained by the New York Public Library's Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture can look at photos,a map of historic African-American sites in New York and take a virtual tour of the burial ground.

Brooklyn Daily Eagle - The main focus of this site, published by the Brooklyn Public Library, is to give readers access to an online archive of the Brooklyn Eagle. Each daily paper from late 1841 through 1902 is available; there's also tips for research, and a history and timeline of the paper. In total, there are 147,000 pages of newspaper to read.

Brooklyn Genealogy Information Page - This Web site is intended as a jumping off point for Brooklynites researching family histories. Visitors can search for their last names and find the email addresses of possible relatives; there's also a list of links to personal genealogical pages and a place to add your own. But this site is also chock-full of obscure Brooklyn history. There is a page of obsolete street names, lots of old maps, histories of old disasters, and neighborhood stories reprinted from old newspapers.

Early Films of New York - On this Library of Congress site, visitors can watch 45 silent films of New York City, made between 1898 and 1906. Visitors can browse or search the database, read short background essays, and get a suggested bibliography for further reading. The films themselves seem to work better on PCs than they do on Macs.

Ellis Island Immigration Museum - Once the gateway for millions to America, Ellis Island is now home to a first-rate museum that chronicles the turn-of-the-century immigrant experience. Website includes virtual family scrapbooks and an Ellis Island genealogy search.

Forgotten New York - Site creator Kevin Walsh promises a “gateway to a New York City that existed long ago -- and still exists in a hidden form today.” Categories include signs, cemeteries, street scenes ("Abandoned hospitals, ancient theatres, Brooklyn's old ballpark.."), street lamps, subways ("Outdated signs, doorways to nowhere, closed stations, disappeared and forgotten routes"). Pictures and stories. (11/12/03)

Harlem 1900 - 1940: An African-American Community - This site stemmed from a 1991 exhibit by the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, The New York Public Library, and has continued to be updated since. The site's two dozen short articles are about Harlem during the time of its renaissance, focusing on activists, the arts, business, the community, sports, writers and intellectuals. Also included are a timeline of the Harlem Renaissance, and tips for teachers who want to incorporate the site into lessons.

Inventing Gotham - Part of a high school course for students at Fieldston High School in the Bronx, this website is an interactive map of New York -- or Manhattan at least. By clicking on marked locations, visitors can read student-written histories of that spot. The Student Web Page Projects icon on the sidebar also includes links to websites that the students have created themselves.

Lower East Side Business Improvement District - The website for the Lower East Side Business Improvement District, which promotes the historic Orchard Street shopping district. The site includes a calendar of events and lengthy lists of historical sites and businesses in the area.

Lower East Side Conservancy - The website for the Lower East Side Conservancy, an oganization whose mission is to promote and preserve Jewish culture on the Lower East Side. The site contains 360 degree interior views of two historic synagogues, a map of more historic synagogues on the Lower East Side, and information about walking tours given by the group.

Lower East Side Tenement Museum - The website for the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Content on the site is a mixture of historical material and information about urban housing and immigrant life today. The site's features include a virtual tour of a Lower East Side tenement with audio files, illustrations of federal detention centers for immigrants, and photo essays on urban housing policy. The site also features a Lower East Side 'merchant of the month,' and provides information for educators and the general public about the museum itself.

Lower East Side Tenement Museum - The website for the Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Content on the site is a mixture of historical material and information about urban housing and immigrant life today. The site's features include a virtual tour of a Lower East Side tenement with audio files, illustrations of federal detention centers for immigrants, and photo essays on urban housing policy. The site also features a Lower East Side 'merchant of the month,' and provides information for educators and the general public about the museum itself.

LTVsquad.com - The LTV squad claims to be the city's oldest existing exploration team. This site documents their explorations through the city's "abandoned and/or unseen infrastructure." It is regularly updated with new photos.

Netherworld Online - This site is about going places in the city where you're not supposed to go. It includes enough diatribes, photographs, and links to keep anyone interested in "urban exploration" busy for some time. It says over and over that it is no longer regularly maintained, but its old stuff is still useful.

New York History - An eclectic mixture of New York History-related information and products. Early 20th century images, vintage photos on e-cards, and an early history of the New York Yankees. In large part, this is a site for buying things about New York's history, rather than for using as a research tool.

New York: A Documentary Film Online - For those who didn't get enough from the 14 and a half hour movie, the accompanying website to Ric Burns' acclaimed New York: A Documentary Film has a wealth of information about the city's history. The "Hidden New York" section has 360 degree tours of a dozen historical locations in the city; the interview gallery has excerpts from interviews with 36 prominent New Yorkers, from El Doctorow to Peter Vallone. Interactive features abound, and everything on the site is attractively presented.

NY Historical Society - The regularly updated homepage of New York Historical Society includes a daily "This Day in New York History," as well as illustrated descriptions of past, present and future exhibitions. Also available is information about the group programs and an online store.

Protecting Health for 200 Years - The New York City Department of Health turns 200 in 2005 and it has set up a page on its Web site celebrating its bicentennial. Among other things, the site has a timeline of public health in New York City, and a chart comparing public health in the city today to what it was like in 1805 (when major concerns for the upstart department were wild hogs running through the streets and animal carcasses decaying in public spaces). The calendar of events lists some interesting-sounding lunch forums to be held throughout the year, but doesn't have dates for them.

Satchmo.net - The Louis Armstrong House and Archives opened as a museum in October 2003. On the accompanying website, visitors can take a video tour of the house, and listen to Armstrong's home recordings. There is also information about current exhibits, a Louis Armstrong timeline, and a calendar that informs visitors about upcoming events at the house, and important dates in Armstrong's life.

Seneca Village - This site is based on information from the book Park and the People by Elizabeth Blackmar and Roy Rosenweig. Seneca village, located between 82nd and 89th streets between Seventh and Eighth Avenues was New York's first known community of African-American property owners. African-Americans lived in alongside Irish and German immigrants in Seneca from 1825 to 1857, when it was destroyed to make way for Central Park. This site offers pictures of original maps, census documents and information about Seneca Village and its evacuation.

Tamiment Library & Robert Wagner Labor Achives - New York University's labor archives contains various print, photographic, film, and oral history collections examining "the complex relationship between trade unionism and progressive politics and how this evolved over time." Its Web site gives a guide to this material (located in the NYU library), in addition to including several online-specific exhibits.

The History Box - This attractive site is intended to be used as a resource for historians and genealogists. The most useful sections are the directories, with entries for various topics -- Broadway, Business Matters, Inns, Occupations -- that pull together articles from elsewhere on the web and present them in one place.

The Living City NYC - This site is a timeline following issues of New York City's public health from the 1860s to the 1920s. Each decade has its own page. Major events, like the Great Blizzard of 1888 and the Tenement House Act of 1901 also get their own entries. There are also a few special exhibits on topics such as street cleaning. The site is a joint project by Columbia's school of public health, the National Science Foundation, and the Center for the History & Ethics of Public Health.

The Village Voice at 50 - The Village Voice published a special edition celebrating its 50th anniversary last week. Its Web incarnation includes a series of essays about theater, the gay movement, black journalism and other subjects by Voice writers, a neat timeline of the history of the city through the magazine's eyes over the last 50 years, and 50 front covers to remember, among other things.

Walks in New York and Elsewhere - This blog is a running commentary on the walks that architectural historian Sandra Levine takes around New York City, illustrated with photographs. Levine gives her perspective on the city's most well-known areas -- and some of its less-traveled ones as well.

Weeksville Society - Weeksville was a black community in nineteenth-century Brooklyn. Physical evidence of the community was first discovered in 1968, leading to restoration and archeological efforts in the area, now Bedford Stuyvesant. This site, dedicated to telling the story of the original and rediscovered Weeksville, offers photos, articles and information about visits, as well as audio interviews with those involved in the restoration and archeological processes.

Labor


New York City locals of national unions and other labor organizations.

American Federation of Musicians, Local #802 -

Association for Union Democracy - Association for Union Democracy

Bronx-Local #1105 -

Brooklyn-Local #2090 -

District Council #37 -

Edwize - The United Federation of Teacher's blog contains material on both the labor and education aspects of education. It also maintains a lengthy roster of individual teachers' blogs, education blogs, and labor Web sites.?

Garment Industry Development Corporation - This Web site, run by a group aiding the city's apparel industry, is worth visiting for the introductory movie alone. But it also gives an introduction to the garment industry including links to reports, and a lot of practical business information for clothing designers, manufacturers, and retailers.

Local #1 -

Local #11 -

Local #1321-Queens Library Guild -

Local #1322 - NYC Department of Environmental Protetction Supervisors and District Supervisors -

Local #16 -

Local #32BJ -

Local #371-Social Service Employees Union - Part of DC 37, AFSCME, Social Service Employees Union Local 371 represents social and case workers of New York City.

Local #372 - NYC Board of Education Employees -

Local #375-Civil Service Technical Guild -

Manhattan-Local #1150 -

Manhattan-Local #1180 - CWA Local 1180 represents public sector workers in New York City. We fight for the right of all people to have access to public services, for decent jobs, for workers’ rights on and off the shop floor, and for greater democracy.

Manhattan-Local #46 -

Manhattan-Local #608 -

Non-Traditional Employment for Women - A non-profit organization devoted to training, placing, and advocating for women seeking economic self-sufficiency through work in construction and other skilled blue-collar trades.

NY Public Payroll Watch - A product of the Manhattan Institute, a think tank on public policy, that provides daily updates, news clips, and links to allow you to track labor issues that affect the cost of state and local government in New York.

Queens-Local #1106 -

Queens-Local #361 -

Sheet Metal Workers International Association (SMWIA) Local #28 -

Staten Island-Local #20 -

Tamiment Library & Robert Wagner Labor Achives - New York University's labor archives contains various print, photographic, film, and oral history collections examining "the complex relationship between trade unionism and progressive politics and how this evolved over time." Its Web site gives a guide to this material (located in the NYU library), in addition to including several online-specific exhibits.

The Chief - The Chief, the weekly newspaper covering municipal government and public employee unions, is now online. It covers city politics with an eye on labor issues, going into more depth than the mainstream papers on events like contract negotiations.

Transport Workers Union (TWU) Local #100 -

United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW) Local #1500 -



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