Tonight, Learn More About Big Tim Sullivan, ‘King of the Bowery’
Big Tim Sullivan (r), Photo: Library of Congress
As part of the Lower East Side History Month festivities, tonight the Bowery Alliance of Neighbors and Grace Church High School welcome author Alice Sparberg Alexiou to speak about the (in)famous Timothy Sullivan, or as many knew him, the puported “King of the Bowery.”
Sullivan resided at the Occidental Hotel (now the SoHotel) at 146 Bowery, but also kept a clubhouse at 207 Bowery. He rose up to become a Tammany political boss, and his empire commanded everything below 14th Street, from the 1880s until his death in 1913.
“Adored by Lower East Siders, he gave out shoes to the needy and helped mothers bail sons out of jail or pay off landlords to avoid eviction.” Essentially a modern day Robin Hood for the Lower East Side.
Learn all about his colorful candor and corruption at the “illustrative talk” tonight at 6:30pm, at Grace Church High School, 46 Cooper Square (Between Astor Place & 4th St.). Free admission.
Recent Stories
It’s Enough with the Film Crews in Chinatown [OP-ED]
For Chinatown, it’s a perfect storm. At a time when area businesses are reeling from the “Double-Whammy” of closed streets (due to the fire at 70 Mulberry) and tourists avoiding the area fearing Coronavirus, film productions are also taking away curbside parking. More than four blocks’ worth last Friday. Chinatown stores have long suffered a […]
‘Bulletin Broads’ Feminist Boutique Quits Prince Street
Update your bulletin board. The Bulletin Broads are through with Prince Street. The Brooklyn-based store and feminist collective lasted about three years at 27 Prince before its recent shutter. A poster taped to the window bids farewell to the neighborhood and spins the news. “Peace out, Nolita, it’s been real,” it reads. And also, that […]
An Apparent ‘Chen Wong’ Imposter is Taking Orders on Seamless
Looks like an imposter might be in the mix. Concerned readers noticed that Chen Wong, the Chinese restaurant on Madison Street that folded at the end of the year, appears to be taking orders on Seamless. It still states the same address, boasts a robust menu that apparently includes items not on the original, and […]
Rehab Begins for Fire-Ravaged School Building in Chinatown
In the wake of the devastating fire at the old Public School 23 building in Chinatown, the cleanup and rehab is full throttle. City contractors starting assembling scaffolding at the scorched 70 Mulberry Street earlier this week. The web of bars is making its way up the whole structure ahead of imminent debris removal. Meanwhile, […]
‘Bel Fries’ Nears Opening on Ludlow Street
The plywood is deposed, revealing the second fast-fry joint for Hell Square. Indeed, it took eighteen months, and several different murals on its shed, but Bel Fries is pretty much ready to go at 132 Ludlow Street. When we first broke word of its arrival in September 2018, we had been told it was called […]
