Cityscape

New York City is home to famous art collections like the ones at the MET and MoMA. But there’s something to be said about art that blends into the world around us. Here in New York City, art can be found pretty much around every corner, and even down the steepest set of stairs.  On this week's Cityscape, we’re exploring art scenes that live on our streets and in our underground -- from large murals that adorn the sides of buildings to mosaics that help to beautify the subway system. 

For a lot of families this time of year is all about one thing -- tradition.  Many families have their own specific holiday traditions.  For some it’s visiting the tree at Rockefeller Center.  For others it’s cozying up around the fireplace to share stories, or sitting around the television to watch a favorite holiday movie. On this week's Cityscape, we’re focusing our attention on family, togetherness and tradition.

When it comes to toys a lot of focus at this time of year is placed on the North Pole, where Santa and his army of elves are busily preparing to deliver gifts to kids around the world.  But, a lot of people much closer to home are equally committed to brightening the lives of children and adults with toys and games.  On this week's Cityscape, we’re talking with folks in the toy industry in New York City.

New York City is the kind of town that people love, hate, love to hate, or simply put up with until they move on to a new location.  On this week's Cityscape we’re taking a look at two books that capture the essence of the New York of today and of a few decades back:  Terminal Bar: A Photographic Record of New York’s Most Notorious Watering Hole and Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York.  

While the holiday season is certainly a time to indulge in delectable desserts, you will never have a problem satisfying your sweet tooth at any time of the year in New York City.  The Big Apple is full of amazing bakers and other dessert makers.  On this week's Cityscape we're exploring the wonderful world of desserts in New York City, including interviews with some of the city's premier dessert makers.

If you want a good laugh there are plenty of places in New York City to get one. On this episode of Cityscape we're looking at the origins of comedy in New York City, and just where to get a laugh in the Big Apple.

We're talking with the creator of a comedy stage show that tells the story of one man's lengthy struggle to make it as an actor in New York City while waiting tables, and hear about the successful efforts to get a street in Morningside Heights renamed after the late comedian George Carlin.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the third leading cause of death for youth between the ages of 10 and 24. It results in about 4,600 lives lost each year.

On this special Strike a Chord program, WFUV's George Bodarky hosts a panel discussion at the BronxNet television studios at Lehman College. This program features the following suicide prevention experts:

All Saints Day. It’s a day on which Catholics, Anglicans and some others celebrate all the saints, known and unknown.

All Saints Day has inspired us at Cityscape to put a show together with a “Saints” theme. This week, we'll talk with a Jesuit priest who knows all about the saints. Fr. James Martin is the author of the book, My Life with the Saints. We'll also hear about efforts to have the Brooklyn-born co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement declared a saint, as well as bring you other Saint-related segments.

It’s a topic that a lot of people don’t like to think about.  But, death is an inevitable reality.

Attitudes toward death and dying have changed through the ages, and they continue to evolve.  On this episode of Cityscape, we’re looking at death from different perspectives. We'll take a look at how death is treated in 19th century song, as well as pay a visit to the Morbid Anatomy Museum in Brooklyn.  The museum aims to demystify death with its exhibits and events.

New York is a city of high-rises – and the buildings here keep getting taller and taller as the years go by.  Have you seen the 90-story condo and hotel tower that went up on West 57th Street in Manhattan?  That and every other skyscraper in the city would never have gotten off the ground if it weren’t for one invention – the elevator.

Without that technological innovation buildings would have likely been stunted at around 6 floors.  On this episode of Cityscape, we're delving into the history of the elevator with the founder of the Elevator Historical Society in Long Island City, Queens. We''ll also be bringing you a couple of other elevator-related segments.