History

Going nuclear: The Manhattan Project in Manhattan

A 1939 photo of an atom-smasher (cyclotron) at Columbia University. Via Wiki Commons.

May 7, 2018

Going nuclear: The Manhattan Project in Manhattan

Most people assume that “The Manhattan Project” is a clever codename, a misnomer for the famous test sites in New Mexico. But, with over 1,200 tons on uranium stashed on Staten Island, and a nuclear reactor whizzing away at Columbia University, the top-secret wartime program began in Manhattan, and fanned out across the island, from its southern tip to its northern reaches, from its dimmest docks to its brightest towers. Ultimately 5,000 people poured into New York to work on the project, so duck, cover and get ready for an atomic tale of scientists, soldiers, and spies.
Learn all about the Manhattan Project in Manhattan

History

Jane Jacobs’ NYC: The sites that inspired her work and preservation legacy

Washington Square Park via Wiki Commons; Jane Jacobs via Wiki Commons

May 4, 2018

Jane Jacobs’ NYC: The sites that inspired her work and preservation legacy

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

Jane Jacobs’ birthday on May 4 is marked throughout the world as an occasion to celebrate one’s own city -- its history, diversity, and continued vitality. “Jane’s Walks” are conducted across the country to encourage average citizens to appreciate and engage the complex and dazzling ecosystems which make up our cityscapes (Here in NYC, MAS is hosting 200+ free walks throughout the city from today through Sunday). But there’s no place better to appreciate all things Jane Jacobs than Greenwich Village, the neighborhood in which she lived and which so informed and inspired her writings and activism, in turn helping to save it from destruction.
Tour Jane Jacobs' NYC

How New Yorkers responded to the 1918 Flu Pandemic

A typist wearsing a guaze mask in 1918.Via the National Archives and Records Administration

May 2, 2018

How New Yorkers responded to the 1918 Flu Pandemic

By Cait Etherington

May 2018 marks the centennial of one of the world’s greatest health crisis in history—the 1918 flu pandemic. In the end, anywhere from 500,000 to 1 million people worldwide would die as a result of the pandemic. New York was by no means spared. During the flu pandemic, which stretched from late 1918 to early 1920, over 20,000 New Yorkers’ lives were lost. However, in many respects, the crisis also brought into relief what was already working with New York’s health system by 1918. Indeed, compared to many other U.S. cities, including Boston, New York suffered fewer losses and historians suggest that the health department’s quick response is largely to thank for the city’s relatively low number of deaths.
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History

How did a flock of Argentinian parrots land in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery?

Photo via Wiki Commons

May 2, 2018

How did a flock of Argentinian parrots land in Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery?

By Michelle Sinclair Colman

It's usually the tours and events at Brooklyn’s Green-Wood Cemetery that get people talking, but the national landmark has its own chatty group that's attracting a lot of attention. The group happens to be a flock of lime green parrots from Argentina, appropriately named “Monk Parrots” since they are hanging out in the cemetery despite Green-Wood's nonsectarian nature. But how did these loud and exotic birds get all the way from South America to Greenwood Heights?
It's not as crazy as you might think

History

May 1, 2018

NYC neighborhoods made for workers: The history of Queens’ Steinway Village and the Bronx Co-ops

By Cait Etherington

While immigration, urban planning, and the forces of gentrification are certainly key factors in how NYC's neighborhoods have been shaped, New Yorkers’ patterns of work, their unions, and in some instances, even their employers have also played a role in the development of several of the city’s established neighborhoods. To mark May Day, 6sqft decided to investigate two of the city neighborhoods that were quite literally made for workers—the Van Cortlandt Village area of the Bronx and the Steinway neighborhood in Astoria, Queens.
Learn all about it

History

Historic photos take you back to the 1939 New York World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows

Aerial view of the 1939-1940 New York World’s Fair; via NYPL

April 30, 2018

Historic photos take you back to the 1939 New York World’s Fair in Flushing Meadows

By Devin Gannon

On April 30, 1939, the New York World's Fair opened in Flushing Meadows Park in Queens. The fair, which spread across 1,200 acres, commemorated the 150th anniversary of George Washington's inauguration in Lower Manhattan, and had a central theme of "Building the World of Tomorrow." Construction of the fair began in 1936, which involved turning the Corona city dump and tidal swamp into the fairgrounds. After the land was cleared, hundreds of architects, designers, engineers and construction workers came together to transform the dump into the site for the World's Fair. The "Trylon", a 700-foot obelisk, and the "Perisphere," a 200-foot globe, stood in the center of the fairgrounds, soon becoming permanent symbols of the Fair. Many American corporations, including the American Telephone and Telegraph Company, the Borden Company and General Motors, participated, as a way to introduce fairgoers to new products. With close to 60 nations and 33 U.S. states participating, and its own subway line, the 1939 World's Fair remains one of the largest, and most iconic, international fairs in history. Ahead, check out some of the photos of the historic World's Fair, found in the New York Public Library's extensive collection.
Go back in time

History

Stanley Kubrick, from “Faye Emerson: Young Lady in a Hurry,” 1950. © Museum of the City of New York/SK Film Archive, LLC

April 27, 2018

The Urban Lens: How Stanley Kubrick’s early photography led to his iconic film career

By Dana Schulz

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. This week’s installment comes courtesy of a new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York, “Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs.” Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Before he directed films like "A Clockwork Orange," "2001: A Space Odyssey," and "Dr. Strangelove" Stanley Kubrick worked as a staff photographer at LOOK magazine, where he developed a knack at storytelling through street photography. Kubrick "found inspiration in New York's characters and settings, sometimes glamorous, sometimes gritty," all of which is the subject of a new exhibit at the Museum of the City of New York. “Through a Different Lens: Stanley Kubrick Photographs,” tells the story of how a 17-year-old amateur photographer from the Bronx went on to become one of the most revered directors of the 20th century. The exhibit, on view from May 3rd through October, will display more than 120 photos taken between 1945 and 1950, during Kubrick's time at LOOK, and examine the connections between his photography and film work. Ahead, the exhibit curators share with 6sqft a sneak preview of the photographs and discuss their experience working on the show.
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Uncover secrets of the World’s Fair with free, monthly walking tours of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

Photo via Wikimedia

April 25, 2018

Uncover secrets of the World’s Fair with free, monthly walking tours of Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

By Devin Gannon

For two six-month seasons in 1964, the World's Fair came to Queens, with exhibits featured from over 80 nations spread across 646 acres. The fair came at a time of mid-20th-century innovation and culture, at the height of the Space Age. It served as a moment of peace before the start of the Vietnam War, with its motto "Peace Through Understanding." And while many New Yorkers attended the historic event, or have heard stories recounted by parents and grandparents, it's hard to imagine what it was truly like to experience. Making it easier to understand what the World's Fair was really like, the city's parks department is offering free, monthly tours of the park, allowing visitors to hear the stories behind the Unisphere, the New York State Pavilion and many more landmarks.
Details here

April 20, 2018

Edward Hopper’s Greenwich Village: The real-life inspirations behind his paintings

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

There’s no lack of artists deeply associated with New York. But among the many painters who’ve been inspired by our city, perhaps none has had a more enduring and deeper relationship than Edward Hopper, particularly with Greenwich Village. Hopper lived and worked in Greenwich Village during nearly his entire adult life, and drew much inspiration from his surroundings. He rarely painted scenes exactly as they were, but focused on elements that conveyed a mood or a feeling. Hopper also liked to capture scenes which were anachronistic, even in the early 20th century. Fortunately due to the Village’s enduring passion for historic preservation, many, if not all, of the places which inspired Hopper nearly a century ago can still be seen today – or at least evidence of them.
Learn more

History

150 years ago, Delmonico’s became the first restaurant to serve women unaccompanied by men

Photo of Delmonico’s in 1903; photo via Wikimedia

April 18, 2018

150 years ago, Delmonico’s became the first restaurant to serve women unaccompanied by men

By Devin Gannon

Photo of Delmonico's in 1903; photo via Wikimedia Nearly five decades before women were granted the right to vote in New York State, a group of fed-up ladies decided to protest a symbolic law that prohibited them from dining in restaurants without men present. After journalist Jane Cunningham Croly was barred from entering a dinner held at the New York Press Club, she and a group of women founded Sorosis, the first professional women's club in the United States. On April 20, 1868, Croly and her crew held a luncheon at the historic Delmonico's Restaurant in the Financial District, which became the first to serve women independently of men. Following the groundbreaking meal, clubs for only women formed all over the country.
The full history ahead

A Buckminster Fuller dome almost kept the Dodgers in Brooklyn

By Michelle Cohen

With baseball season back in full swing, talk at some point turns to the heartbreak of losing the Brooklyn Dodgers to Los Angeles. Modern Mechanix informs us that team owner Walter O'Malley had championed a Brooklyn dome stadium designed by Buckminster Fuller–and how the result is yet another reason to blame Robert Moses. O'Malley took the team to Cali, if you'll remember, because he got a better deal on land for a stadium–better than he was able to get in the five boroughs. He had wanted to keep the team in Brooklyn, but Ebbets Field was looking down-at-the-heels by then and bad for morale. In 1955 O'Malley wrote dome-obsessed architect Buckminster Fuller requesting a domed stadium design.
So what happened?

April 10, 2018

How two 1960s strikes shaped NYC’s newspaper culture forever

By Penelope Bareau

New York in the 1960s was a city of news junkies. Even though 10 newspapers fed that appetite, some New Yorkers who read two papers every morning were heard to complain that there was only one in the afternoon. Today, there are only three papers in New York—the Times, the Post, and the Daily News, (The Wall Street Journal is customarily considered a business publication, not a general newspaper.), but of course, one's media appetite is fed digitally. Back in the 60s, though, there were few other options. So in 1962, when 17,000 newspaper workers went on strike for 114 days, and then again in 1965 for a whopping 140 days, crippling print publications, the starvation was keenly felt. These two events are also what ultimately led to NYC going from 10 to three newspapers.
The entire saga unfolds right here

History

Six things you didn’t know about Arthur Avenue and Bronx Little Italy

Photo by Chris Goldberg/Flickr

April 9, 2018

Six things you didn’t know about Arthur Avenue and Bronx Little Italy

By Historic Districts Council

This post is part of a series by the Historic Districts Council, exploring the groups selected for their Six to Celebrate program, New York’s only targeted citywide list of preservation priorities. The Bronx's Belmont community can date its history all the way back to 1792, when French tobacconist Pierre Abraham Lorillard opened the Lorillard Snuff Mill as the first tobacco firm in the country, and possibly the world. European influences continued to proliferate in the area, and at the turn of the 19th century, flocks of Italian immigrants moved to Belmont to take jobs in the newly opened Botanical Gardens and Bronx Zoo. By 1913, the neighborhood was referred to as the Italian "colonies" in the Bronx. Today, Belmont's main artery, Arthur Avenue, still thrives as a bustling Italian center, with countless restaurants, pastry shops, butchers, and more. But there's a lot more to Belmont than just spaghetti and cannoli. From the origins of a pasta shop's sign that's now featured on Broadway to a Neapolitan restaurant that was born in Cairo, Egypt, the Belmont BID shares six secrets of this saucy neighborhood.
Uncover the history ahead

History

Travel uptown on a WWI-era subway to mark the 100th anniversary of Woodlawn station

Via NY Transit Museum

April 6, 2018

Travel uptown on a WWI-era subway to mark the 100th anniversary of Woodlawn station

By Devin Gannon

Before the Woodlawn station opened a century ago, the surrounding area of Norwood in the Bronx was mostly rural with lots of farmland. While residential development began with the opening of the Woodlawn Cemetery, the neighborhood's transformation really took off when the subway was extended to reach this part of the city. To celebrate the 100th anniversary of the first train pulling into the northern terminal of the IRT Jerome Avenue Line, the New York Transit Museum is giving guests the chance to travel on World War I-era cars to relive this important part of subway history.
Find out more

10 things you didn’t know were made in Brooklyn

Photos © James and Karla Murray

April 5, 2018

10 things you didn’t know were made in Brooklyn

By James and Karla Murray

The new exhibition at the Brooklyn Historical Society, "The Business of Brooklyn," celebrates the 100th anniversary of the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce and tells the fascinating story of the borough’s 100 years of business, detailing its industrial past, large companies, as well as its preponderance of mom-and-pop shops. It also showcases many objects and artifacts, which have their origins in Brooklyn, demonstrating the significant “role that Brooklyn has played in American consumer culture.” The exhibition is on view at the Brooklyn Historical Society’s landmark building in Brooklyn Heights located at 128 Pierrepont Street until Winter 2019. From those iconic yellow pencils to Brillo pads to Cracker Jack, you may be surprised to see what has been made in Brooklyn.
The history of 10 famous products made in Brooklyn

History

How New Yorker Howard Bennet fought to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday

Martin Luther King Jr. at the 1963 Civil Rights March on Washington, D.C. via Wiki Commons

April 4, 2018

How New Yorker Howard Bennet fought to make Martin Luther King Jr.’s birthday a national holiday

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

Fifty years ago, on April 4, 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. was shot as he stood on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. This ended the life of one of the 20th century’s most revered and influential figures. It also began a 15-year campaign to make Dr. King’s birthday a national holiday — the first-ever honoring an African American. That successful quest began with and was spearheaded by a native son of Greenwich Village, Howard Bennett. Bennett was one of the last residents of a Greenwich Village community known as “Little Africa,” a predominantly African-American section of the neighborhood which was, for much of New York’s history through the 19th century, the largest and most important African-American community in the city. That neighborhood centered around present-day Minetta, Thompson, Cornelia, and Gay Streets.
Learn more here

History

Underground moving sidewalks were NYC’s transit plan of the future at the turn of the 20th century

Photos courtesy the New York Public Library’s Digital Gallery

March 30, 2018

Underground moving sidewalks were NYC’s transit plan of the future at the turn of the 20th century

By Emily Nonko

As the city currently tackles a plethora of issues with its public transit system, New Yorkers have been presented with no shortage of innovations to make commuting (hopefully) better. Take a look back at the turn of the 20th century, though, and the moving sidewalk was considered the future of urban transportation. According to Gizmodo, "The moving sidewalk represented a bold new vision for tomorrow... This idea of rolling pavement appealed to people in major cities who didn't yet see the rise of the automobile as inevitable and were looking for an affordable alternative to more elaborate infrastructure like subway trains." In 1903, an article in Harper's Weekly said that moving sidewalks were the perfect solution for the city to tackle congestion issues that would arise with new bridge connections bringing people from Brooklyn into New York City.
They would move at 9MPH

When the Bronx Bombers were the Highlanders: A brief history of the Yankees

The Highlanders play a game at Hilltop Park in 1912, photo via The Library of Congress

March 29, 2018

When the Bronx Bombers were the Highlanders: A brief history of the Yankees

By Devin Gannon

Not unlike their current powerhouse lineup, the most dominant team in American sports got off to quite a rocky start. Not only did the New York Highlanders, now known as the Yankees, have a losing record for many years, but the team’s first home field was also a mess: it was located near a swamp, the outfield had no grass, and the ballpark sat mostly unfinished. In just six weeks, 500 men hastily built the stadium on Broadway and 168th Street in Washington Heights, known as Hilltop Park, in time for the Highlanders' first home game on April 30, 1903. Due to the unsavory, rock-filled conditions, the last big league game at Hilltop Park was played in October of 1912. Following its closure, the Highlanders changed their name to the Yankees in 1913, moved to the Bronx, and went on to become one of the most successful sports teams in the world.
More this way

History

Downtown’s historic glass sidewalks may become a lost relic

Vault lights in Soho, via WooJin Chung for 6sqft

March 27, 2018

Downtown’s historic glass sidewalks may become a lost relic

By Dana Schulz

Last week, 6sqft outlined the Landmarks Preservation Commission's series of new proposed rules, which "calls for more oversight by LPC staff but less time for public review" in proposals for alterations to historic buildings. But these rule changes extend further than buildings--right down to the sidewalks. As Treehugger first pointed out, one of the LPC's new rules pertains to the removal of vault lights--historic sidewalks made from small circular glass bulbs that are seen throughout Soho and Tribeca. As 6sqft previously explained, "the unique street coverings are remnants from the neighborhood's industrial past when they provided light to the basement factories below before electricity was introduced."
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Carole Teller’s ‘Changing New York’ captures the city’s 20th-century transformation

Washington Square Arch wrapped by artist Francis Hines, 1980 © Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation/Carole Teller

March 26, 2018

Carole Teller’s ‘Changing New York’ captures the city’s 20th-century transformation

By Andrew Berman of Village Preservation

Change in New York is an expected norm, sometimes so constant it almost goes unnoticed. It’s such an ingrained part of the New Yorker’s experience, we often forget just how much our city has transformed, and what we have left behind. To help us remember, we have Carole Teller. A Brooklyn-born artist who’s lived in the East Village for over 50 years, Carole’s also a photographer with a keen eye for capturing defining elements of New York’s cityscape, especially those on the verge of change or extinction. Fortunately for us, Carole kept the hundreds of pictures she took scouring the streets of NYC between the early 1960s and early 1990s. She recently unearthed them and shared them with the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation for inclusion in its online Historic Image Archive. What follows are just a few photos from what we call “Carole Teller’s Changing New York.”
See some of the most captivating photos

Life behind the stacks: The secret apartments of New York libraries

Image by Glynnis Ritchie via flickr

March 22, 2018

Life behind the stacks: The secret apartments of New York libraries

By Cait Etherington

For many book lovers, there is nothing more exciting than the idea of a home library. What most of the city’s book lovers don’t know is that until recently, there was an affordable way to fulfill the dream of a home library—at least for book lovers who also happened to be handy with tools. In the early to mid twentieth century, the majority of the city’s libraries had live-in superintendents. Like the superintendents who still live in many of the city’s residential buildings, these caretakers both worked and lived in the buildings for which they were responsible. This meant that for decades, behind the stacks, meals were cooked, baths and showers were taken, and bedtime stories were read. And yes, families living in the city’s libraries typically did have access to the stacks at night—an added bonus if they happened to need a new bedtime book after hours.
FInd out more about these apartments and the people who lived in them

History

The Urban Lens: Carrie Boretz remembers NYC street life in the 70s, 80s, and 90s

50th Street and Lexington Avenue, 1980

March 21, 2018

The Urban Lens: Carrie Boretz remembers NYC street life in the 70s, 80s, and 90s

By Hannah Frishberg

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Carrie Boretz shares photos from her "Street: New York City 70s, 80s, 90s". Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. In New York's bad old days, the city was a house of horrors, but it made for some incredible photos. Carrie Boretz was there through the decades, documenting the madness and the emotion, the cops lunching on park benches, the conversations on out-of-order payphones, the open-air wig stores, the famous and the unknown, all joined by the city and its streets. In her new book, "Street: New York City 70s, 80s, 90s," these images line the pages in a nostalgic time warp to a glorious, if troubled, era. Boretz's photos are currently on display through March 31st at Umbrella Arts on East 9th Street.
See New York when she burned

Central Park’s Ladies Pavilion and the disappeared ice skating cottage

Photo via Wikipedia

March 15, 2018

Central Park’s Ladies Pavilion and the disappeared ice skating cottage

By Hannah Frishberg

To get to Central Park's Ladies Pavilion, it is necessary to go on, by New York City standards, a bonafide nature hike. Perched at the edge of the Lake, in a far corner of the Ramble, the cottage-like, open-air, Victorian-style structure was built in 1871 to serve as a "shelter for the horsecar passengers" near Columbus Circle, according to the New York Times.
It was once destroyed

History

Brownstones and ballot boxes: The fight for women’s suffrage in Brooklyn

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia

March 15, 2018

Brownstones and ballot boxes: The fight for women’s suffrage in Brooklyn

By Lucie Levine

Today, Brooklyn is home to all things avant-garde, but Kings County has always led the pack. Beginning as early as 1868, the women of Brooklyn established one of the first suffrage organizations in the country and began advocating for women’s enfranchisement and political equality. The "wise women of Brooklyn," as they were lauded in suffrage literature, made some of the foremost contributions to the movement. From the Silent Sentinels, who organized the first March on Washington, to the African American women who established the nation’s first suffrage organization by and for Black women, Brooklyn was home to extraordinary advocates. Here are eight badass Brooklynites who brought us the ballot.
Learn their histories here

History

When New York women were banned from smoking in public

A cartoon mocking the Ordinance from The Evening World

March 14, 2018

When New York women were banned from smoking in public

By Hannah Frishberg

On January 21, 1908, it became illegal for women to smoke in public in New York City. That day, the Committee on Laws of the Board of Aldermen unanimously voted to ban females from lighting up in public places. The law, called the Sullivan Ordinance, put the responsibility of preventing women from smoking not on the women themselves but on business owners.
The full history

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