Wfuv's Cityscape

What do Al Pacino, Regis Philbin, Mary Higgins Clark and Colin Powell all have in common? They're all Bronx natives.  And all of them are featured in a new book called Just Kids from the Bronx: Telling it the Way it Was: An Oral History.  The book includes the stories of more than 60 native Bronxites who have gone on to make important contributions in nearly every field imaginable, from acting to science to athletics.  Author Arlene Alda, who happens to be the wife of television and film star Alan Alda, is our guest on this edition of Cityscape.

New York-style pizza tops “best of” lists across the web. A google search turns up images of mostly big, hearty cheese slices.  The kind of photos that make your mouth water.  Pizza has a long history in the Big Apple.  In fact, Lombardi's in Manhattan is said to be the first pizzeria in America.  Brooklyn resident Scott Weiner is an expert on all things pizza.  He turned his love for the food into a career. Scott runs tours of significant pizzerias in New York City.  We recently visited with him at his apartment in Bed-Stuy, Brooklyn, where he keeps a super large collection of pizza boxes.  You'll hear that interview on this week's Cityscape.  Also on this week's show, we'll visit a pizza school on Manhattan's Lower East Side, and talk with a co-owner of a Staten Island pizza joint that's been around since 1937.

This coming July marks the 25th anniversary of the signing of the Americans with Disabilities Act.  But, just how far have we come in securing equal access and equal opportunity for all, and what more needs to be done?As part of WFUV's Strike a Chord campaign focused on efforts to improve accessibility for people with disabilities, we teamed up with Bronxnet for a special panel discussion.Our guests included:James Weisman.  James is an ADA pioneer and civil rights advocate.  He’s been involved in the disability rights movement since the beginning.  James currently serves as the Executive Vice President and General Counsel of United Spinal Association. Edith Prentiss, chair of the Taxis for All Campaign. And...Miranda Appelbaum.  Miranda is Senior Manager of Accessibility and Visitor Services at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.  She’s also the chair of the steering committee for the Museum Access Consortium.  The Consortium works to improve access to cultural resources throughout New York City, includin

The New York City accent is distinct and unmistakable.  From James Cagney to Woody Allen to Rosie Perez, you know they’re from New York as soon as they open their mouths.  On this week’s Cityscape, we’ll talk with a filmmaker who made a documentary that tells the story of the New York City accent. We'll also take you to an accent slam where New Yorkers competed for the best New York City accent, and we'll talk with an accent-elimination coach who helps people rid themselves of their "fuhgettaboutits."

New York City resident Coss Marte went from being a drug kingpin to a fitness entrepreneur. While serving time in prison he lost 70 pounds thanks to an exercise routine he worked up in his cell. Marte is now out from behind bars and operating a fitness bootcamp in Manhattan based on his prison workout routine.  Marte joins us on this week's Cityscape to talk about he how reinvented himself.

In New York City everything is at your finger tips. With so many options for food, music, and culture, it can sometimes feel overwhelming. But instead of taking the classic New Yorker approach by kvetching, this week, we’re settling down to dig into a classic Yiddish tradition: the knish.  Our guest is Laura Silver, author of Knish: In Search of the Jewish Soul Food. We'll also pay a visit to the famed Yonah Schimmel Knish Bakery on Manhattan's Lower East Side.

Once upon a time New York’s garment district employed hundreds of thousands of workers, and produced most of the clothing made in the United States.  But, thanks to outsourcing and technological advances, the district is now just a shadow of what it once was.  Our guest on this edition of Cityscape has fond memories of the garment district’s heyday.  Leonard Bernstein’s family founded a children’s wear business in 1928.  He took over the company in 1953.  Bernstein’s children now run the business, but the Brooklyn native says he can still hear the hum of sewing machines in his head.  Bernstein is now a published author.  He’s written six books, including a collection of short stories in which he draws a lot from his experiences in the garment district.  The collection is called Death By Pastrami.

The Bronx has been experiencing a development boom in recent years with a number of projects sprouting up across the borough, from new hotels to shopping malls. But, it was only a few decades ago when arson fires, rampant crime and poverty made the borough a national symbol of urban decay. On this week's Cityscape, we’re revisiting the Bronx in different eras.  We'll talk with author Avery Corman about his new memoir My Old Neighborhood Remembered, as well with Photographer Stephen Shames about his new book, Bronx Boys.  

New York City is home to famous art collections like the ones at the MET and MoMA. But there’s something to be said about art that blends into the world around us. Here in New York City, art can be found pretty much around every corner, and even down the steepest set of stairs.  On this week's Cityscape, we’re exploring art scenes that live on our streets and in our underground -- from large murals that adorn the sides of buildings to mosaics that help to beautify the subway system. 

For a lot of families this time of year is all about one thing -- tradition.  Many families have their own specific holiday traditions.  For some it’s visiting the tree at Rockefeller Center.  For others it’s cozying up around the fireplace to share stories, or sitting around the television to watch a favorite holiday movie. On this week's Cityscape, we’re focusing our attention on family, togetherness and tradition.

When it comes to toys a lot of focus at this time of year is placed on the North Pole, where Santa and his army of elves are busily preparing to deliver gifts to kids around the world.  But, a lot of people much closer to home are equally committed to brightening the lives of children and adults with toys and games.  On this week's Cityscape, we’re talking with folks in the toy industry in New York City.

New York City is the kind of town that people love, hate, love to hate, or simply put up with until they move on to a new location.  On this week's Cityscape we’re taking a look at two books that capture the essence of the New York of today and of a few decades back:  Terminal Bar: A Photographic Record of New York’s Most Notorious Watering Hole and Never Can Say Goodbye: Writers on Their Unshakable Love for New York.  

While the holiday season is certainly a time to indulge in delectable desserts, you will never have a problem satisfying your sweet tooth at any time of the year in New York City.  The Big Apple is full of amazing bakers and other dessert makers.  On this week's Cityscape we're exploring the wonderful world of desserts in New York City, including interviews with some of the city's premier dessert makers.

If you want a good laugh there are plenty of places in New York City to get one. On this episode of Cityscape we're looking at the origins of comedy in New York City, and just where to get a laugh in the Big Apple. We're talking with the creator of a comedy stage show that tells the story of one man's lengthy struggle to make it as an actor in New York City while waiting tables, and hear about the successful efforts to get a street in Morningside Heights renamed after the late comedian George Carlin.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, suicide is the third leading cause of death for youth between the ages of 10 and 24. It results in about 4,600 lives lost each year. On this special Strike a Chord program, WFUV's George Bodarky hosts a panel discussion at the BronxNet television studios at Lehman College. This program features the following suicide prevention experts: Dr. Rosa Gil, Executive Director of Communal Life and the organization Life is Precious Jill Harkavy Friedman, Vice President of Research at the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention Allyee Whaley, Crisis Services Coordinator at the Trevor Project

All Saints Day. It’s a day on which Catholics, Anglicans and some others celebrate all the saints, known and unknown. All Saints Day has inspired us at Cityscape to put a show together with a “Saints” theme. This week, we'll talk with a Jesuit priest who knows all about the saints. Fr. James Martin is the author of the book, My Life with the Saints. We'll also hear about efforts to have the Brooklyn-born co-founder of the Catholic Worker Movement declared a saint, as well as bring you other Saint-related segments.

It’s a topic that a lot of people don’t like to think about.  But, death is an inevitable reality. Attitudes toward death and dying have changed through the ages, and they continue to evolve.  On this episode of Cityscape, we’re looking at death from different perspectives. We'll take a look at how death is treated in 19th century song, as well as pay a visit to the Morbid Anatomy Museum in Brooklyn.  The museum aims to demystify death with its exhibits and events.

New York is a city of high-rises – and the buildings here keep getting taller and taller as the years go by.  Have you seen the 90-story condo and hotel tower that went up on West 57th Street in Manhattan?  That and every other skyscraper in the city would never have gotten off the ground if it weren’t for one invention – the elevator. Without that technological innovation buildings would have likely been stunted at around 6 floors.  On this episode of Cityscape, we're delving into the history of the elevator with the founder of the Elevator Historical Society in Long Island City, Queens. We''ll also be bringing you a couple of other elevator-related segments.  

New York City is a culinary melting pot.  Here you’ll find all kinds of foods and dishes -- whether it’s fresh produce from a green market or internationally inspired cuisine.  We’re heading into the kitchen -- literally and figuratively. On this episode of Cityscape, we get advice on cooking in a small kitchen -- something a lot of New Yorkers regularly have to do. We also crack open a new cookbook with greenmarket recipes from some of the city’s finest chefs and visit The Entrepreneur Space, a commercial kitchen in Queens. Bon appetit!

It’s a summer ritual for a lot of people. Head out into the woods, pitch a tent, and tell ghost stories around a campfire. On this episode of Cityscape, we’re telling New York City ghost stories, albeit without a campfire… This morning, we’re bringing you ghost stories. A still present artist Marcel Duchamp reportedly haunts a downtown apartment, the Merchant's House Museum experiences its fair share of the paranormal, and Dan Sturges is here to explain paranormal investigations of all sorts.