History

"Where did lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) history happen in New York City? In what buildings did influential LGBT activists and artists live and work, and on what streets did groups demonstrate for their equal rights?" These are the questions that the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project is answering through a first-of-its-kind initiative to document historic and cultural sites associated with the LGBT community in the five boroughs. Through a map-based online archive, based on 25 years of research of advocacy, the group hopes to make "invisible history visible" by exploring sites related to everything from theater and art to social activism and health. To mark Pride Month, 6sqft recently talked with the Historic Sites Project's directors--architectural historian and preservation professor at Columbia Andrew S. Dolkart; historic preservation consultant Ken Lustbader; and former senior historian at the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission Jay Shockley--along with their project manager, preservationist Amanda Davis, about the roots of the initiative, LGBT history in NYC, and the future of gay advocacy.
Read the interview here

In the 20th century, the subway system used professional sniffers to keep New Yorkers safe

Image © 6sqft

June 27, 2017

In the 20th century, the subway system used professional sniffers to keep New Yorkers safe

Image © 6sqft The city's subways of today have machines that can test air samples and look for potentially dangerous gas build-up or biological and chemical agents. However, before such technology was invented, the city hired James “Smelly” Kelly to walk the tracks using just his nose and a few homemade inventions, to find and report any leaks or hazardous smells. As Atlas Obscura discovered, Kelly and his team would walk underground for allegedly ten miles of track each day, and by the end of his career, it is said Kelly walked over 100,000 miles of track.
Find out more

June 26, 2017

90 years ago today, Coney Island’s iconic Cyclone roller coaster opened

On June 26, 1927 the Coney Island Cyclone opened in Brooklyn. The iconic wooden coaster, located on the corner of Surf Avenue and West 10th Street, is one of the oldest functional amusement rides in the United States. While it only cost $.25 to ride when it first opened, today it costs about $10. Found at Luna Park, the coaster takes you over 2,640 feet of track at 60 miles per hour, with 12 drops (the highest an 85-foot, 60-degree plunge) and 27 elevation changes in roughly two minutes.
See a historic video of the coaster in action

History

The history behind 42nd Street’s lost Airlines Terminal Building

A vintage postcard of the Airlines Terminal Building, via drivingfordeco.com

June 23, 2017

The history behind 42nd Street’s lost Airlines Terminal Building

For more than 30 years, the Art Deco-style Airlines Terminal Building served millions of travelers as a spot where flight tickets servicing New York could be purchased and where passengers could board shuttle buses to take them to the various airports. The building, located on the southwest corner of Park Avenue and 42nd Street, sat on the former site of the Hotel Belmont, which was built in 1906 and later demolished in 1930. Construction of the Airlines Terminal began in 1939 to create the chic, futuristic design, which included a steel frame and a crown flanked by two eagles.
Find out more

History

Politicians push for Brooklyn’s General Lee Avenue to be renamed

General Lee Avenue and Robert E. Lee’s former home on Fort Hamilton, via Jeremy Bender/Business Insider

June 20, 2017

Politicians push for Brooklyn’s General Lee Avenue to be renamed

When four Confederate statues were removed in New Orleans last month, many sided with Mayor Mitch Landrieu's plan, but others felt it was an attempt to erase history. Nevertheless, the monuments all came down, prompting national elected officials to take notice--even here in NYC. As 6sqft previously explained, there exists a General Lee Avenue and a Stonewall Jackson Drive in Brooklyn's Fort Hamilton, the city's last remaining active-duty military base, and a group of local politicians has sent a letter to Army Secretary Robert Speer asking that they both be renamed, with Colin Powell and Harriet Tubman suggested as possible replacements (h/t Gothamist).
Get the full story

10 things you never knew about Prospect Park

Image by Elizabeth Jeegin Colley for the Prospect Park Alliance

June 20, 2017

10 things you never knew about Prospect Park

By Emily Nonko

Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux debuted Prospect Park to the Brooklyn masses in 1867. Though Olmsted and Vaux had already designed Central Park, they considered this their masterpiece, and much of the pair's innovative landscape design is still on display across all 585 acres. But it was the result of a lengthy, complicated construction process (Olmsted and Vaux weren't even the original designers!) as well as investment and dedication from the city and local preservationists throughout the years. After challenges like demolition, neglect, and crime, the Parks Department has spent the past few decades not only maintaining the park but restoring as much of Olmsted and Vaux's vision as possible. It's safe to say that these days, Prospect Park is just as impressive as when it first opened to the public. And of course, throughout its history the park has had no shortage of stories, secrets and little-known facts. 6sqft divulges the 10 things you might not have known.
All the juicy secrets ahead

June 19, 2017

Stonewall Inn gets $1M grant from Google to preserve stories of the gay rights movement

Last June, President Obama formally recognized Greenwich Village’s Stonewall Inn and its surrounding area as a national historic monument, creating the first National Park Service unit dedicated to the gay rights movement. To expand the reach of this monument, Senator Chuck Schumer announced on Sunday a $1 million grant from Google to the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center to begin a project preserving the oral histories and human experiences from early LGBTQ leaders present during the Stonewall Inn riots. According to the New York Times, the initiative will create an educational curriculum for students and a digital platform that's expected to launch by the 50th anniversary of the protests in 2019.
Find out more

History

On this day in 1884, America’s first roller coaster opened at Coney Island

Credit: “Switchback Railway” is an 1898 British short black-and-white silent actuality film, directed by Robert W. Paul, Wikimedia Commons

June 16, 2017

On this day in 1884, America’s first roller coaster opened at Coney Island

On June 16, 1884, the country’s first roller coaster opened at Coney Island, sparking Americans' obsession with amusement rides. Invented by LaMarcus Thompson, the ride, called the Switchback Railway, spanned 600 feet and traveled just six miles per hour. Unlike today’s coasters, the Switchback did not make a round-trip loop, and passengers exited at the end of the track. The one-minute-long ride cost only five cents.
Get the whole history

History

June 16, 2017

The Urban Lens: ‘Indecent exposure’ at Rockaway Beach in the 1940s

6sqft’s ongoing series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, we share a set of vintage photos documenting Rockaway Beach in the 1940s. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. These days, beachgoers give nary a thought when stripping down to their skimpy bikinis and short-shorts, but 70 years ago wearing much more modest swimsuits was enough to get you a ticket from the NYPD. Noted LIFE magazine photographer Sam Shere (who's best known for his iconic photo of the Hindenburg disaster) documented this "indecent exposure" phenomenon at Rockaway Beach in 1946. Starting with a sign that reads "wear robes to and from the beach," Shere's series shows women sunbathing in high-wasted two-pieces, men walking the boardwalk in just their shorts, and the way in which these beach bums seem unphased by the cops writing them summonses.
See all the photos here

Looking back at New York’s ‘Summer of Love’ and the birth of the East Village

Hippies singing and playing music in Washington Square Park in the late 1960s. Photo: Peter Keegan

June 14, 2017

Looking back at New York’s ‘Summer of Love’ and the birth of the East Village

By Cait Etherington

It has been 50 years since 1967’s “Summer of Love” when young people from around the world flocked to San Francisco’s Haight-Ashbury district and to other urban neighborhoods, including New York’s East Village, to trip out at psychedelic dance parties, sleep in city parks, and live and do whatever they pleased. While the hippie subculture was already flourishing prior to the Summer of Love, by mid 1967, hippies and their music, style, and communal way of life had caught the attention of the mainstream media and as a result, reached a critical mass of young people who were now eager to ditch their suburban homes to “turn on, tune in, and drop out.” Reactions to the Summer of Love in New York were predictably mixed. An estimated 50,000 young people descended on the city to join the movement, but many New Yorkers, including longstanding residents, police officers, and politicians, had little interest in spending the Summer of Love soaking up the good vibes. In the end, the city’s Summer of Love saw as much conflict and violence as peace and love, and debates about rental prices, real estate values, and the gentrification of the Lower East Side were all part of the conflict.
find out more here

History

90 years ago, Charles Lindbergh received a ticker-tape parade in NYC

Photo courtesy of PBS

June 13, 2017

90 years ago, Charles Lindbergh received a ticker-tape parade in NYC

On this day in 1927, the city of New York honored famed aviator Charles “Lucky Lindy” Lindbergh with a ticker-tape parade to celebrate his May 21st flight in the Spirit of St. Louis, the first solo airplane flight across the Atlantic Ocean. At just 25 years old, Lindbergh flew nonstop from New York to Paris, and according to the New York Times, an estimated four million people attended the ticker-tape parade throughout the city to celebrate his journey.
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History

9/11 Tribute Museum reopens in new 36,000-square-foot space to tell victims’ personal stories

Image © 9/11 Tribute Museum

June 13, 2017

9/11 Tribute Museum reopens in new 36,000-square-foot space to tell victims’ personal stories

When it comes to remembering the 9/11 terror attacks, personal stories can be the most moving reminder. The 9/11 Tribute Museum opened in 2006 in a former deli near the National September 11 Memorial and Museum site, intended as a temporary shrine to the victims during construction of the larger museum–and it has grown even since the latter opened. The Tribute Museum offers tours of the rebuilt World Trade Center site led by survivors, first responders, relatives of victims and others with close connections to the tragedy. Crain’s reports that the museum reopened today in a much larger location, slightly further from the memorial but with more space dedicated to victims’ personal stories.
Find out more

History

20 years ago, Mother Teresa lobbied New York’s mayor for a parking permit

Photo via Ed Reed/City of New York

June 9, 2017

20 years ago, Mother Teresa lobbied New York’s mayor for a parking permit

By Emily Nonko

Photo via Ed Reed/City of New York In June of 1997, an unlikely meeting of Mother Teresa and then Mayor Rudy Giuliani took place--and it was over the ever frustrating matter of New York parking. She had come to the city for a surprise visit to spend time with the South Bronx branch of her organization, Missionaries of Charity. Mother Teresa, then 86, would die just a few months later, but during this visit, her charity work wasn't what she wanted to discuss with the mayor. Instead, she came to him with a very New York request: picking up a few extra parking permits for her nuns.
The mayor couldn't turn her down

History

June 8, 2017

10 things you never knew about Frank Lloyd Wright

Considering today would have been Frank Lloyd Wright's 150th birthday, you'd think we all know everything there is to know about the prolific architect. But the wildly creative, often stubborn, and always meticulous Wright was also quite mysterious, leaving behind a legacy full of oddities and little-known stories. In honor of the big day, 6sqft has rounded up the top 10 things you likely never knew about him, including the mere three hours it took him to design one of his most famous buildings, the world-famous toy that his son designed, his secondary career, and a couple present-day ways his work lives on.
Everything you never knew about FLW

June 7, 2017

The lost plan to connect Brooklyn to Staten Island with a ‘boulevard under the sea’

By Emily Nonko

Back when New York City planners were dreaming of building new tunnels and bridges, they set their sights toward Staten Island. It was the turn of the 18th century and the city was in the midst of a Brooklyn boom following the debut of the Brooklyn Bridge in 1883. In 1909, the Manhattan Bridge opened to accommodate the growth of Brooklyn residents who needed ways to get in and out of the newly-developed borough. So the city started thinking about Staten Island. Today, of course, the two boroughs are connected by the Verrazano Bridge. But according to Brownstone Detectives, "Before talk of a bridge began... there was talk of a grand tunnel."
Learn more about the tunnel and why it never came to be

History

June 7, 2017

A tribute to Frank Lloyd Wright’s built, unbuilt, and demolished New York works

By Diane Pham

For many, Frank Lloyd Wright is considered the archetype of his profession; he was brash and unapologetic about his ideas, he experimented and tested the limits of materiality and construction, and he was never afraid to put clients in their place when they were wrong. It was this unwavering confidence paired with a brilliant creative mind that made him one of the greatest American architects to ever live. And one of the most influential. This week Wright would have turned 150 years old, so to celebrate his birthday and his importance to the practice of modern architecture, we're paying tribute to the architect's built, destroyed, and never-constructed New York works. Amazingly, of the more than 500 structures credited with his name, he can only claim one in Manhattan.
Here's our tribute to the great American architect

June 6, 2017

Central Park lampposts bear ‘secret codes’ to help you find your way

We can think of worse fates than getting lost in Central Park. With its winding pathways, lovely bridges, stunning gardens, and a magical lake, it’s the most visited urban park in the United States. But a few of those visitors are bound to take a wrong turn every now and again, and if you find yourself in that predicament, Central Park's 1,600 lampposts bear a secret code that will help you get your bearings and find your way.
Find out how to use the numbers to find out where you are

History

Roasteries and refineries: The history of sugar and coffee in NYC

Arbuckle’s, via Brooklyn Historical Society

June 6, 2017

Roasteries and refineries: The history of sugar and coffee in NYC

By Lucie Levine

Brooklyn is properly known as Kings County. During New York’s Gilded Age, Sugar King Henry Osborne Havemeyer and Coffee King John Arbuckle made sure the borough lived up to its name, building their grand industrial empires on the shores of the East River. By the turn of the 20th century, more sugar was being refined in Williamsburg and more coffee roasted in DUMBO than anywhere else in the country, shaping the Brooklyn waterfront and NYC as a preeminent financial and cultural center. The history of coffee and sugar in this town is as rich and exciting as these two commodities are sweet and stimulating, so hang on to your homebrew and get ready for a New York Story.
The whole juicy history of sugar and coffee in NYC

History

June 2, 2017

Buy this entire 62-acre ghost town in Connecticut for just $1.9M

Johnsonville, an abandoned, small town in East Haddam, Connecticut, is on the market for an asking price of $1.9 million (Yes, the entire 62-acre town is asking less than $2 million). Founded in the 1800s, it includes semi-neglected Victorian homes, a general store, post office, restaurant, mill, and a covered bridge (h/t WTOP). The current owner is hotel company Meyer Jabara Hotels, who paid $2.5 million for the town in 2001. The property was previously listed in an online auction in 2014 and sold for $1.9 million, but the bidder was unable to seal the deal. It’s been a ghost town for nearly two decades.
See the abandoned town here

June 2, 2017

The Urban Lens: 1940-50s Coney Island through the eyes of teenager Harold Feinstein

By Diane Pham

Born and raised in Coney Island, there was never a photographer better primed to capture the neighborhood's vibrancy than Harold Feinstein. "I like to think I fell out of the womb on to the fun park’s giant Parachute Jump while eating a Nathan’s hot dog," he told The Guardian in 2014, just before his passing in 2015. Indeed, Feinstein would take his first photo (using a Rolleiflex borrowed from a neighbor) at age 15 in 1946, beginning what would become an unwavering love affair with documenting the whizz, whirl and insatiable life that permeated his beachside locale. Although Feinstein would eventually move on to other subjects in various parts of New York City and the globe, over his nearly 70-year career he would always return to Coney Island for inspiration. "Coney Island was my Treasure Island," he said. Feinstein's Coney Island photos cover more than five decades, but ultimately his 1940s and 1950s snapshots--those taken when he was just a teenager--would cement his status as one of the most important photographers recording life in post-war America. Ahead, the Harold Feinstein Photography Trust shares highlights from this collection.
see the photos here

New Jersey is the official owner of Ellis Island

Photo via Wiki Commons

June 2, 2017

New Jersey is the official owner of Ellis Island

Photo via Wiki Commons Sorry, New York. Ellis Island, America’s first and biggest immigration center, technically belongs to New Jersey. In May of 1998, the Supreme Court ended a long-standing argument between New Jersey and the Empire State over who actually owns the Island, as Smithsonian Magazine discovered. Based on a land claims agreement between the two states made before Ellis Island became a gateway for nearly 12 million immigrants, the Court decided it belonged mostly to New Jersey, in addition to the federal government, since it's overseen by the National Park Service.
But it wasn't so easy

History

The Little Red Lighthouse found at Fort Washington, via Wiki Commons

June 1, 2017

Tour Manhattan’s only lighthouse at Fort Washington Park this Saturday

If looking to learn more about historic New York City this weekend, head over to Fort Washington Park and check out the Little Red Lighthouse, Manhattan’s only remaining lighthouse. The city’s Urban Park Rangers are hosting a tour this Saturday, June 3, from 1 to 4 p.m. and will be on hand to provide information about this unique landmark (h/t Time Out).
Learn the interesting history of the lighthouse

May 30, 2017

Redeveloping NYC’s armories: When adaptive reuse and community building bring controversy

Constructed between the 18th and 20th centuries to resemble massive European fortresses and serve as headquarters, housing, and arms storage for state volunteer militia, most of America’s armories that stand today had shed their military affiliations by the later part of the 20th century. Though a number of them did not survive, many of New York City’s historic armories still stand. While some remain in a state of limbo–a recent setback in the redevelopment plans of Brooklyn's controversial Bedford-Union Armory in Crown Heights raises a familiar battle cry–the ways in which they've adapted to the city’s rollercoaster of change are as diverse as the neighborhoods that surround them.
Find out how the city's armories have fared

Senators request interior landmark status for two NYPL reading rooms

Rose Main Reading room via NYPL

May 22, 2017

Senators request interior landmark status for two NYPL reading rooms