1. The Dyckman Farmhouse is actually on Broadway at 204th Street, about four blocks north of Dyckman Street. (Apropos of nothing, at the corner of Broadway and Dyckman there is a grand old apartment building called “The Broadyke.” If anyone out there knows of a better-named building, I’d love to hear about it.)

2. More significantly, while the Dyckman Street and the Dyckman Farmhouse are real, there is no indication at all the the Dyckman’s ever were, or ever became, a “blue-blood” New York family. They were small farmers who most certainly did not, as was claimed in one episode in Season 1, own half of Manhattan at one time. Their descendants were never prominent in the city, as far as I know there are none of them left there anymore. Nevertheless, it’s a great old Knickerbocker name, and the house is way cool and definitely worth a visit.

I wish I had known about this place when we still lived in Manhattan and I was reading Low Life by Luc Sante.

Guess I should check into whether the name Dyckman comes into it, and I'd be related to Pete.

Although lord knows, none of the status or family money came down to any of our recent generations.