On October 29, 1975, President Gerald Ford walked into a press conference at the National Press Club and, using more precise, more eloquent words than legend remembers, but in no uncertain terms, told New York City that the federal government was not going to bail it out.

The following day the New York Daily News -- the city's first tabloid newspaper summarized his blunt, castigating speech into one succinct and memorable headline -- FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD.

Of course, the president never literally said DROP DEAD. But his words did signal the severity of New York City's problem -- the city was on the brink of bankruptcy.

In this episode, Greg dives into life in New York City during the year 1975 and the circumstances surrounding its most dire financial crisis, one which threatened the livelihoods of its millions of residents and damaged New York City’s reputation for decades.

Directors Peter Yost and Michael Rohatyn join Greg to discuss their new film on the New York financial crisis Drop Dead City, which uses gritty archival footage and a series of special guests (such as Harrison J. Goldin, Charlie Rangel, Betsy Gotbaum and former Bowery Boys guest Kevin Baker) to explain this complicated story.

If Michael's name looks familiar, that's because his father Felix Rohatyn played a critical role in bailing out the bankrupt city.

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More information on DROP DEAD CITY here

Join us for an interview with Instagram historian Keith Taillon (@keithyorkcity), whose detailed posts about New York's history have earned him nearly 60,000 followers and launched a successful tour business.

Keith shares the story behind his remarkable pandemic project of walking every single block of Manhattan in 2020, capturing the empty city in photographs that now appear in his first book, "Walking New York: Manhattan History on Foot."

From his childhood fascination with urban history to his graduate studies at Hunter College, Keith reveals how his personal journey led him to become one of the city's most engaging historical storytellers. You'll hear how he crafts walking tours that go beyond landmark-hopping to explain why New York looks and functions the way it does.

Plus: Listen to Keith's appearances on The Gilded Gentleman Podcast episodes on The Real Mamie Fish, The Hidden World of Gramercy Park, and a Gilded Age Tour up Manhattan.

Visit the Bowery Boys website and become a member of the show at Patreon.com/BoweryBoys.

We invite you to come with us inside one of America’s most interesting art museums – an institution that is BOTH an art gallery and a historic home.

This is The Frick Collection, located at 1 East 70th Street, within the former Fifth Avenue mansion of Gilded Age mogul Henry Clay Frick, containing many pieces that the steel titan himself purchased, as well as many other incredible works of art from master painters such as Rembrandt, Vermeer, Goya, Turner, and Whistler.

Frick himself had a rather complicated legacy. As a master financier and chairman of Andrew Carnegie's massive steel enterprise, Frick helped create the materials for America's railroads and bridges.

But his intolerance of labor unions led to a bloody confrontation in the summer of 1892, making him, for a time, one of the most hated men in America.

New Yorkers' love for the Frick Collection, however, remains far less complicated. The institution, which has been a museum since 1935, allows visitors to experience the work of the great master painters in an often regal and intimate setting, allowing people to imagine the fanciful life of the Gilded Age.

The Frick Collection reopens this month after an extensive renovation (temporarily relocating the collection to the Breuer Building for a few years) and we've got a sneak preview, featuring Frick curator and art historian Aimee Ng.

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