history



The Disney Store Times Square opens. I’m without words

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On Tuesday, the Disney Store makes a triumphant official grand opening in Times Square, shutting down the so-called “Crossroads of the World” with an appearance by a rodent that’s huge even by Manhattan standards. The store has been open to customers for the past few days. I went, and although I’m pleased to see that… Read more »


My in-depth Ken Burns interview

My interview with Ken Burns, published in time for the premiere of Baseball: The Tenth Inning on PBS, is here! I’ve chopped it into three bits for your digestion. Think of them as three more innings: You may remember I was all a-titter about meeting him on the day we shot this. I was so… Read more »


The good old days weren’t always good

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My mother and I have an ongoing argument. “Life was simpler in the ’50s, Jay. It really was,” she says. I call baloney on that. Just think about what the ’50s offered Western culture: atomic bomb terrors, the HUAC, segregation, women who lived in fear of unwanted pregnancies and could only choose from a few… Read more »





The Ghosts of Macy’s on 14th Street

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Macy’s wasn’t always on Herald Square. Starting in 1858, it was downtown, on 14th Street. It began as a dry goods store on Sixth Avenue between 13th and 14th Streets, way north of the city’s normal dry goods district down in present-day SoHo. Here, many modern shopping concepts were born. R.H. Macy, the owner, set… Read more »


Swap piano playing for check-ups, or fish for hooch

Here are two videos I made that are seemingly unrelated, but which have a common thread: bartering. The first is a look at George Washington’s actual bookkeeping ledger, which shows that much of his business was conducted through swap. Like: He sold fish to get ingredients for whiskey! The second is about a hospital in… Read more »