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John Strausbaugh

John Strausbaugh

By: John Strausbaugh
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Award-winning history writer John Strausbaugh tells fascinating stories about the past, bringing fresh perspectives to events and characters great and small.

© 2025 John Strausbaugh
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Episodes
  • The 3000 Beatnik Riot: Part One
    Jun 20 2025

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    In the spring of 1961, responding to complaints from well-heeled homeowners around Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village, New York's Department of Parks and Recreation forbade young people from playing music around the park's turned-off fountain on Sunday afternoons. A few hundred young people gathered at the fountain for a peaceful protest. Cops rioted and mauled them. One local newspaper called it, however, a "beatnik riot."

    #greenwichvillage #washingtonsquarepark #beatnik #beatniks #folkmusic #nypd #newyorkhistory #riot #johnstrausbaugh

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    4 mins
  • Brother, Can You Spare a Rainbow?
    May 13 2025

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    In the 1930s, the Lower East Side's Yip Harburg wrote the lyrics for two songs that bookended the Great Depression, "Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?" and "Over the Rainbow."

    #thewizardofoz #overtherainbow #judygarland #yipharburg #brothercanyou spareadime #lowereastside #immigrants #iragershwin #hollywood #broadway #aprilinparis #bingcrosby #lydiathetattooedlady #grouchomarx

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    9 mins
  • When Donald Duck Heiled Hitler
    Apr 11 2025

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    During World War II, Walt Disney Studios produced many propaganda cartoons for the government, starring Donald Duck and other well-known characters. Their subjects ranged from the importance of paying your income tax to farting in Der Fuehrer's Face.

    "The Spirit of '43":

    https://archive.org/details/TheSpirit...

    "Education for Death":

    https://archive.org/details/youtube-l...

    "Der Fuehrer's Face":

    https://archive.org/details/DerFuehre...

    #disney #waltdisney #waltdisneystudios #donaldduck #derfuehrer'sface #derfuehrer #hitler #nazi #worldwarII #propaganda #cartoon #popeye #bugsbunny #mussolini #hirohito #internetarchive #stereotype #goering #goebbels #johnstrausbaugh

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    5 mins
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John Strausbaugh has such an in depth knowledge of NYC, and he paints a lot of context (tons) into his books and his old NYTimes videos, and these fantastic, short, interesting podcasts too. When you’re bored with the Schuylers and that scoundrel Hamilton, Strausbaugh has a million other stories from nazi youth camps in Long Island to Jimi Hendrix early days - some are really mind-blowing.

Culture & History of NYC

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