Your Favorite Local Diner, Valerie June for the 2024 Public Song Project, Running for Civil Rights, The Gilded Age in Long Island

We all know that diner culture in New York and New Jersey is special. Nikita Richardson, editor for the New York Times Food section, recently wrote about her favorite diners in our area for the Where To Eat newsletter, and she joins to talk about her go-to diner orders and take your calls. Plus, our very own New Jersey senior reporter Nancy Solomon calls in to tell us more about what makes Jersey diner culture unique, particularly when it comes to local politics.

A New York Historical Society exhibition tells the story of two Black athletes who democratized running in New York City. Allison Robinson, the associate curator of exhibitions at New-York Historical Society, and Marilyn Kushner, curator and head, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, joins us to discuss the show, Running for Civil Rights: The New York Pioneer Club, 1936 – 1976 which on display through Sunday, Feb. 25.

All this week, as part of the launch of the 2024 Public Song Project, we're debuting contributions from professional musicians and friends of WNYC. Today we hear Valerie June's song for the project, and discuss how the 1920s were a pivotal decade for music and recording technology.

You have just under a month to check out The Nassau County Museum of Art's exhibit, Our Gilded Age, exploring the historical era from the perspective of both the upper class and the servant class who worked for the wealthy. The show also looks at the role the north shore of Long Island played in The Gilded Age: literary history and estate culture (even the Museum itself was once the estate of a wealthy Gilded Age era merchant). Our Gilded Age is on view through March 10, and curators Franklin Perrell and Alex Maccaro join to discuss the show.