The Czechoslovak Heritage of the Upper East Side

Today is the 100th Anniversary of the founding of Czechoslovakia. Through the 1940s a portion of First Avenue was known as “Bohemian Broadway,” heart of the area that was home to tens of thousands of Bohemian, Moravian and Slovak immigrants. Even the cop on the beat spoke Czech. There were many shops, restaurants and businesses serving this once vibrant community. Join Czech-American Joe Svehlak to hear about the people who lived here, and to see traces of the fine civic buildings that still remain, including St. John Nepomuk Slovak Church, the gymnastic society’s 1896 Sokol Hall, the wonderfully restored Bohemian National Hall, and the Jan Huss Presbyterian Church.