This circa 1900 Detroit Publishing Co. photograph is captioned “Capt. Riley and Life Guards, Coney Island, N.Y.”
But which of them is Captain Riley? Click on the photo to have a much closer look.
The obvious choice would be the man in the cap wearing a dark colored shirt that says “Balmers Life Guard.”
Wearing a lifeguard shirt does not mean you are one or in charge of a group. Continue reading
Fastway 1983 (l-r) Jerry Shirley, Fast Eddie Clarke, Dave King
If there is one common theme to a band not making it big it is wrong place, wrong time. The public’s shifting and fickle tastes in music often conspire against success. But that’s not the only reason.
You can’t underestimate luck in the success formula.
Many talented hard rock bands were left by the wayside for no other reason except that they were unlucky.
The other reasons for not making it? Bad management, an indifferent record label, poor distribution, a lack of exposure and personnel turmoil within the band. Also in the late 1980s an oversaturation of the market with a lot of bands sounding indistinguishable from one another. Finally, the rise of grunge / alternative was the coup de grace for hundreds of hard rock bands.
With the exception of Badlands, where the band imploded and the singer died in 1993, we present here five 1980s bands that should have been huge but never got there.
I can say positively that Zebra’s music is unknown to the vast majority of rock fans. With one possible exception – the 1983 hit, Tell Me What You Want.
From 1983 on, their record label, Atlantic Records, dropped the ball and did nothing right in promoting Zebra. Continue reading
Connie Shows His Men How The New Ball Works
Fort Myers, Fla: Connie Mack, veteran chief of the Philadelphia Athletics explains the new ball to Walberg, Grove, Rommel and Shores as spring training gets under way here. 3/5/1931 photo International Newsreel
With a new lively baseball introduced after 1920, it was no surprise that balls started to travel further. But as the 1920s progressed and hitters kept hitting more and more home runs, baseball writers, fans and those within the game felt that the hitters had achieved too much of an advantage. So after a decade of increasing run production, the National and American Leagues made the decision to try and curb the scoring by changing to a new baseball.
A 2026 free agent, Cousin Itt could now sign a Yankee contract. First he must clarify is that is facial or head hair.
After more than 50 years of enforcing a no long hair or beards policy, Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner said on February 21, 2025 they would discontinue the facial hair ban.
Seven years ago we told the complete fascinating, tangled story of how George Steinbrenner implemented his no long hair or beards rule and the controversies that erupted since then.
Some media outlets are saying the ban started in 1976. It did not. The ban began Continue reading
Our Detroit Publishing Co. photograph is from 1906 and shows Eighth Avenue looking north. It is at this juncture the Ninth Avenue elevated completes its turn from Ninth avenue to Eighth Avenue at 110th Street and proceeds uptown.
As usual there was a postcard issued that almost certainly came from this photograph. The advertising and perspective are exactly the same, but the postcard contains many alterations.
For dramatic effect Continue reading
Satire from artist Harry Grant Dart showing what he captioned “The luxury of travel in New York.” (click illustration to see details).
The cartoon is from the January 22, 1903 Life magazine. The subway was still more than a year away from opening. The situation on the four New York elevated train lines was Continue reading
We are returning to another unique New York view taken for The Albertype Company in 1891.
Featured is the Central Park Lake. Beyond the lake along Central Park West we see the Dakota Apartment building (left) between 72nd and 73rd Streets. Two blocks away, partially seen is the nearly completed Hotel San Remo between 74th and 75th Streets.
Though it initially appears there are two boys in the photo, there are actually four boys. Here’s a closer look.
The photograph’s location is described as “Lake View From Schiller Statue.”
The Schiller Monument is currently near Central Park’s Mall opposite the Naumburg Bandshell. This would be a location anachronism as this view of the lake would be nowhere near the mall.
Schiller Monument 1942 photo: Marjory Collins
But, originally the Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller monument was placed in The Ramble opposite 76th Street in 1859.
Schiller monument in Ramble c. 1870
Schiller monument (on right) with Lake view
Ask a thousand people visiting Central Park and I would think not one would know who Schiller was. In addition, it is doubtful anyone would know that this was the first sculpture installed in Central Park.
Schiller (1759–1805) was a German historian, naturalist and writer of the plays Wilhelm Tell, Mary Stuart, and Wallenstein. Central Park’s website says “both Schiller’s literary and human rights work were admired at home and abroad”
On the original granite pedestal the following was engraved in German:
SCHILLER
ZUR
HUNDERTJAHRIGEN
GEBURTSTAGSFEIER
DEN 9TH NOVEMBER, 1859
DIE DEUTSCHEN IN NEW YORK
translated:
SCHILLER
ON THE
CENTENARY
BIRTHDAY CELEBRATION
ON NOVEMBER 9TH, 1859
THE GERMANS IN NEW YORK
When the monument was moved to its current location in 1954 the original base was replaced with a new inscription.
JOHANN CHRISTOPH FRIEDRICH VON SCHILLER
1759 – 1805
POET
DRAMATIST
HISTORIAN
This Albertype Company photograph was taken from the German language Staats-Zeitung newspaper building at the confluence of Centre Stret and Park Row.
We’re looking south along Park Row at the New York terminus of the Brooklyn Bridge. This busy district was Continue reading
Yankee Stadium, N.Y.: Yankee slugger Roger Maris holds up the baseball that he hit for home run number 60 in the third inning of the game with the Baltimore orioles, Sept. 26. Maris hit his 60th homer of the season off pitcher Jack Fisher to tie Babe Ruth in home runs hit in a baseball season. But Maris’ 60th came in game number 158 and therefore doesn’t qualify to tie the record according to baseball commissioner Ford Frick’s ruling. credit: UPI 9/26/61
What the photo slug does not say is how Maris got the baseball back.
Unlike Maris’s 61st home run on October 1, which would set off a melee in the right field stands for the baseball, the retrieval of the 60th was relatively simple. Continue reading
On January 9, 1912, the Equitable Life Assurance Building at 120 Broadway was destroyed in a fire of historic proportions.
In 2012 we covered the 100th anniversary of this historic fire and its consequences. Continue reading
