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The Brooklyn Bridge was designed by an architectural firm owned by John Augustus Roebling who, though a Lutheran, was descended from Sephardic Jews who had migrated to Germany from Spain. Soon after the bridge opened, Jews began an annual tradition of walking across it on Rosh Hashanah to recite Tashlich; also exhibited with this column is…

Prentzas, G. S. The Brooklyn Bridge. New York:  Facts on File, 2009. Prince, April Jones.  Twenty-One Elephants and Still Standing. New York:  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2005. Dougherty, Rachel. Secret Engineer: How Emily Roebling Built the Brooklyn Bridge. New York:   Henry Holt & Co., 2019 Ratliff, Thomas M. and Salariya, David. You Wouldn’t Want to Work…

As posted on Time Out New York’s New Year’s Eve fireworks in NYC. Check out the best New Year’s Eve fireworks NYC has to offer and ring in 2019 with a bang (literally) Guides trained by historian and tour leader Dr. Phil (not that one) organize multiple groups to take in the New Year from…

“Silence and Denial:  Walt Whitman and the Brooklyn Bridge” by Arthur Geffen “THE RECENT CENTENNIAL of the Brooklyn Bridge has occasioned a small spate of journalistic legends about Walt Whitman’s reaction to what could be fairly described as the greatest technological achievement in late nineteenth-century America.” “The two short references he did make suggest the…

Emma Lazarus, the daughter of Moses and Esther Nathan, one of the oldest Jewish families in New York City, was born there on July 22, 1849, and died on November 19, 1887. She was privately educated by tutors and published her first poems during her early teens.  These attracted the attention of Ralph Waldo Emerson,…

A customer “was wondering if the Brooklyn bridge is really crowded on the night of December 31, and if we will have a spot for sure on the bridge to watch the several fireworks at midnight?” We have gotten soft in modern America.  We often take the car for even the shortest distances.  Back in…

Where is a good place to eat after the New Year begins? On the Brooklyn side, a couple of places on nearby Dumbo might be open, especially on Main Street.  More of a trek but open and not as crowded might be the Custom House on 139 Montague Street. On the Manhattan side, you can…

From 1898 to 1950, various companies operated local trolley lines over the Brooklyn Bridge, taking passengers from many points in Brooklyn and Queens in New York City to the Park Row terminal in Lower Manhattan. These lines entered the bridge roadway from Fulton Street or Sands Street in Downtown Brooklyn, some of them using elevated…

Shortly after the Brooklyn Bridge opened in 1883, rumors that it was structurally unsound sparked a human stampede that left a dozen people dead. The bridge’s owners had previously turned down a $5,000 offer from Barnum to let him parade his circus animals across it as a publicity stunt, but they changed their minds after…

Just because things look close together does not necessarily mean they are near each other in a timely fashion. Rush hour, traffic congestion, accidents, and construction can make getting there a challenge.  If you are staying at a hotel, ask your concierge for advice. Automobile—If you are willing to walk, you can find parking on…

Ever since I was a young person, I have used the phrase, “If you believe that, I have a bridge in Brooklyn to sell to you”.  The phrase originated because for over a century people have fallen for the con that New York City is selling the Brooklyn Bridge. George C. Parker (1860-1936), a native…

What can you do before and after the walk on the Brooklyn Bridge?   Things to do indoors Manhattan American Museum of Natural History New-York Historical Society (is adjacent south of the American Museum of Natural History) Metropolitan Museum of Art Whitney Museum (exhibition on Andy Warhol go on line to get admission tickets) Museums…