The Untapped New York Podcast

Ah...scaffolding. That ubiquitous, necessary, and perpetually present part of New York City’s landscape. In this episode, we do a deep dive into the history of scaffolding, reveal just how much scaffolding there is in the city, why it exists, how long it stays up, why it's always green, how much it costs, and answer everything you've ever wanted to know about this scourge/icon.

You’ll hear from three experts: Ken Buettner from York Scaffolding Equipment Corporation, based in Long Island City Queens, Manhattan Borough President Mark Levine, and architect Andrés Cortés who designed the Urban Umbrella, the beautiful sidewalk shed you often see in front of upscale businesses, particularly on Fifth Avenue. You'll hear a humorous clip from the HBO show, How to with John Wilson and also get a front row seat at the recent "Shed the Shed" rally on the steps of City Hall and learn what efforts the mayor and city council are taking to reduce the amount scaffolding. Oh, and it's not actually called scaffolding. Listen to find out more!

The Untapped New York Podcast is produced by Michelle Young. Music by Kittens Ablaze ("Hotel Room" and "Branches"). Clip from How to with John Wilson courtesy HBO.  New York City skyline in icon by Bernadette Moke, the Downtown Doodler. 

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In this episode, we do a deep dive into one of New York City’s most recognizable pieces of street furniture: fire alarm call boxes. You know what we're talking about. They're (often) red and sit prettily on sidewalks with the ability to call the fire department and the police. Fire alarm call boxes have been around for more than a hundred years and come in different shapes and sizes, from the ornate Victorian ones to the more modern ones. Before the advent of telephones and much later, cell phones, they were the main way to get in contact with the fire department.

In this episode, you'll hear interviews with several experts including Gary Urbanowicz, the former Executive Director of the New York City Fire Museum and its de facto historian, Jan Borodo, the FDNY’s current Executive Director of the Bureau of Plant Operations, and Warren Fuchs, a retired dispatcher who is known was as "The Voice of Brooklyn." You'll learn how fire alarm call boxes work, how they evolved, the many types of fire alarm call boxes there have been (more than you think!), whether they work, and much more. You'll also hear how it sounded when one of the older mechanical call boxes was pulled.

The Untapped New York Podcast is produced by Michelle Young. Music by Kittens Ablaze ("Hotel Room").   New York City skyline in icon by Bernadette Moke, the Downtown Doodler.  

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

New York City's lost opera houses are having their fifteen minutes of fame, thanks to the HBO show, The Gilded Age, which brought their dramatic histories to life in the most recent season. We dug into these former opera houses in our new extended episode which weaves in clips from The Gilded Age.  We'll cover some of the earliest of opera houses (some of which where were Italian!), the Astor Place Opera house which inspired one of the deadliest riots in the city's history, the Academy of Music, the first Metropolitan Opera house, and our backstage tour of the current Met Opera. You can follow along with this podcast episode using the visuals in our accompanying article on Untapped New York.

The Untapped New York Podcast is produced by Michelle Young and co-hosted by Justin Rivers.  Music by Kittens Ablaze ("Hotel Room").  All clips from The Gilded Age courtesy HBO.  Opera music is La Traviata by Verdi, from PremiumBeat performed by the Human Symphony Orchestra.  New York City skyline in icon by Bernadette Moke, the Downtown Doodler.  

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Did you know there's a Main Street in New York City? Most people probably associate the idea of Main Street with quaint American towns and villages but New York City has not just one but five Main Streets. Join Untapped New York's founder Michelle Young as she goes on a quixotic mission to find all of NYC's Main Streets.

The Untapped New York Podcast is produced by Michelle Young and co-hosted by Justin Rivers.  Music by Kittens Ablaze ("Hotel Room"). Additional sounds by Daniel Simon and Mike Koenig.  New York City skyline in icon by Bernadette Moke, the Downtown Doodler.  

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This episode is all about Oppenheimer, as the movie heads into the Academy Awards with thirteen Oscar nominations. Michelle Young and Justin Rivers from Untapped New York first delve into J. Robert Oppenheimer's early life in New York City where the character and moral beliefs of the precocious future scientist were forged. Our hosts also discover their mutual connection to the atomic bomb itself. Then, Michelle interviews Oppenheimer's production designer Ruth de Jong who is up for an Oscar for Best Production Design and dig into where the film was shot, how the incredible on location sets were designed, and how the worlds of Oppenheimer in Los Alamos, New Mexico, and Princeton, New Jersey,  were created.

The  Untapped New York Podcast is produced by Michelle Young and co-hosted by Justin Rivers.  Music by Kittens Ablaze ("Gloom Doom Buttercups" and "Branches"). New York City skyline in icon by Bernadette Moke, the Downtown Doodler.  

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

When the young and beautiful Vivian Gordon was found strangled in Van Cortlandt Park in 1931, the case to find her killer unveiled the dark underbelly of New York City political power and policing. In this episode, author Michael Wolraich of the new book The Bishop and the Butterfly, which the New York Times calls  a “propulsive” “political thriller," recounts this story along with Pulitzer Prize winner Debby Applegate, author of Madam: The Biography of Polly Adler at the inaugural Lit Salon, a candlelit literary salon hosted in Untapped New York founder Michelle Young's Brooklyn brownstone.
Get an autographed copy of the book here! 

The  Untapped New York Podcast is produced by Michelle Young and co-hosted by Justin Rivers.  New York City skyline in icon by Bernadette Moke, the Downtown Doodler. Speakeasy music in this episode Shane Ivers.

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The newest episode of the Untapped New York podcast  is out! Discover a dozen of the most interesting places in the Bronx, from the book The Bronx Nobody Knows: An Urban Walking Guide by William Helmreich, who walked every street in New York City’s five boroughs. That's more than 6,000 miles! The book was published posthumously, as Helmreich sadly passed away from COVID in 2020. His wife, Helaine, who walked much of the city with William had the book published after his death and joins us for this fascinating conversation!

The  Untapped New York Podcast is produced by Michelle Young and co-hosted by Justin Rivers. Music by Kittens Ablaze ("Gloom Doom Buttercups" and "Branches"). New York City skyline in icon by Bernadette Moke, the Downtown Doodler.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

This episode of the Untapped New York podcast features a reading and interview with Maria Smilios, the author of the book The Black Angels: The Untold Story of the Nurses Who Helped Cure Tuberculosis. Her eloquently and meticulously researched narrative non-fiction book is told with first hand interviews with the Black Angel nurses of Sea View Hospital on Staten Island.  In the episode, Smilios brings to light this important but forgotten story in a moving, lyrical recounting of the brave journey of the Black Angels and groundbreaking work. She also shares an audio recording of Virginia Allen, the last surviving Black Angel, who still lives at Sea View.

The  Untapped New York Podcast is produced by Michelle Young and co-hosted by Justin Rivers. Music by Kittens Ablaze ("Gloom Doom Buttercups" and "Branches"). New York City skyline in icon by Bernadette Moke, the Downtown Doodler.

Listen on: Apple Podcasts   Spotify

In this week's Take the 5, Michelle and Justin discuss the anniversary of opening day of the George Washington Bridge along with a new alligator art installation you can find in Manhattan.

The  Untapped New York Podcast is produced by Untapped New York. Music by Kittens Ablaze ("Gloom Doom Buttercups"). New York City skyline in icon by Bernadette Moke, the Downtown Doodler.

What do all these three things have in common? Nothing except that they are all related to New York City! Welcome to our inaugural episode of Take the 5, our new weekly show of the weirdest, wackiest, wildest NYC news and other fun stuff. Hosted by Michelle Young & Justin Rivers of Untapped New York. 

The  Untapped New York Podcast is produced by Untapped New York. Music by Kittens Ablaze ("Gloom Doom Buttercups"). New York City skyline in icon by Bernadette Moke, the Downtown Doodler.