#203 Nikola Tesla in New York

The Bowery Boys: New York City History

Tom Meyers

Society & Culture, History, Documentary, Places & Travel

4.8 • 3.6K Ratings

🗓️ 28 April 2016

⏱️ 46 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Serbian immigrant Nikola Tesla was among the Gilded Age's brightest minds, a visionary thinker and inventor who gave the world innovations in electricity, radio and wireless communication. So why has Tesla garnered the mantle of cult status among many? Part of that has to do with his life in New York City, his shifting fortunes as he made his way (counting every step) along the city streets. Tesla lived in New York for more than 50 years, and although he hated it when he first arrived, he quickly understood its importance to the development of his inventions. Travel with us to the many places Tesla worked and lived in Manhattan -- from the Little Italy roost where the Tesla Coil may have been invented to his doomed Greenwich Village laboratory. From his first job in the Lower East Side to his final home in one of Midtown Manhattan's most famous hotels. Nikola Tesla, thank you for bringing your genius to New York City. www.boweryboyshistory.com ARRIVING IN JUNE 2016: The Bowery Boys Adventures In Old New York, a time-traveling journey into a past that lives simultaneously besides the modern city. Pre-order now at Barnes and Noble, Amazon or at your local bookstore. Support the show: https://www.patreon.com/boweryboys

Transcript

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0:00.0	The Bowry Boys Episode 203, Nikola Tesla in New York.
0:06.0	Hey, it's The Bowry Boys.
0:08.0	Hey.
0:09.0	Support for The Bowry Boys is provided by our listeners.
0:12.0	Join us for as little as $1 a month by visiting patreon.com slash Bowry Boys.
0:21.0	Hi there, welcome to The Bowry Boys. This is Greg Young.
0:24.0	And this is Tom Myers.
0:26.0	With an electrifying subject this week, the focus of our show is perhaps not an obvious choice.
0:32.0	He was someone who never ran for office. He never built a skyscraper.
0:36.0	But this individual is kind of a cult figure for many people.
0:40.0	A prolific inventor, an eccentric mind, and someone who spent most of their life in New York City.
0:46.0	That would be Nikola Tesla.
0:49.0	Beyond being perhaps a bit eccentric, Tesla was one of New York's greatest visionaries.
0:55.0	And today we will be telling a tale that alternates between Guilded Age New York and current events.
1:05.0	I'm glad you plugged those puns in early Tom.
1:08.0	No, I'm out. I'm now out.
1:11.0	So the story kind of embodies a couple of New York archetypes.
1:15.0	Right? The heart of this is a man who created some of the greatest inventions of the Guilded Age.
1:20.0	But was somewhat clamped down in a competitive cutthroat world of New York business.
1:26.0	It's also a story of a loner who lingered kind of along the sidelines of a lot of major events in New York City.
1:33.0	But was constantly a fixture always in the background and a part of the heart and soul of New York.
1:39.0	But he was also somebody who worked his whole long life, one very long work day after another.
	...

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