Have you heard of Albert Fish? Ephemeral NY takes a look back at the demented serial killer, who came to New York City in 1890. He may have been a male prostitute for some time, and had a sick fixation with children and cannibalism. In 1928 Fish responded to an ad in the classifieds by an 18-year-old boy named Edward Budd. When he visited the family's home—at 406 West 15th Street—with the promise of a job for the boy, he caught a glimpse of 10-year-old Grace Budd. more ›

The Library of Congress has a great set of photographs by William P. Gottlieb, documenting the jazz scene in NYC and Washington D.C. from 1938 to 1948 (aka the Golden Age of Jazz). Here are some photos from the jazz scene around New York at that time (check out the rest here). Gottlieb came to New York City after World War II to pursue journalism. He worked as a writer-photographer for Down Beat magazine (the leading jazz magazine at the time). more ›

Have you seen these shots of a shanty town set up on Mercer and Houston Streets during the Great Depression? That's right, these (first two) photographs of men in suits reading magazines, smoking cigarettes and lingering about their alternative abodes aren't from the web pages of Unhappy Hipsters—they were taken by Berenice Abbott in 1935. more ›

The 1930s were a time of breadlines and Hoovervilles (homeless encampments); there was even a shanty town in Central Park for a few years, in the former Lower Reservoir of the city water supply system. As New York is struggling through a new financial crisis, take a look back at the city as it developed during the Great Depression. more ›