History

Miss Manhattan: The famous artist’s model who sits in iron and marble throughout the city

The Isidor and Ida Straus Memorial at Straus Park, modeled after Audrey Munson. Via Wiki Commons.

September 6, 2016

Miss Manhattan: The famous artist’s model who sits in iron and marble throughout the city

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Audrey Marie Munson. The name may not ring a bell, but you've undoubtedly seen her likeness around town. From the New York Public Library to the Brooklyn Bridge, this woman in various states of undress was once the most famous artist's model in the country. The story of Munson began in 1906, when she was 15 years old and was spotted window shopping on Fifth Avenue by photographer Felix Benedict Herzog. After he took a series of portraits of her, she was introduced to well-known sculptor Isadore Konti, who began her career as "Miss Manhattan," immortalizing her in iron and stone. But a short-lived hiatus as a film actress, followed by a murder scandal, changed things for the model.
The full history this way
This never-built Washington monument would have been the city’s tallest structure

View of the proposed monument from the New York Herald in 1847 (L); Cornerstone ceremony procession by James S. Baillie, via Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division

August 31, 2016

This never-built Washington monument would have been the city’s tallest structure

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When most people think of George Washington and New York City they envision the Washington Square Arch, not only one of the city's most notable landmarks, but one that clearly pays homage to our nation's first president. Real history buffs may also recall the Equestrian Statue of Washington in Union Square. But before both of these sites were erected (in 1895 and 1865, respectively), there was a plan in 1847 to honor him on the Upper East Side by building a 425-foot monument that would've dwarfed Trinity Church, the tallest building in the city at the time.
So what happened?
Vintage 1901 film captures the infamous 23 Skidoo of the Flatiron
August 30, 2016

Vintage 1901 film captures the infamous 23 Skidoo of the Flatiron

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The Flatiron building is best known for its angular form and its striking architectural details. But back in the early 1900s it gained notoriety for something far less virtuous: the 23 skidoo. Because the Flatiron building sits at the intersection of 5th Avenue and Broadway, which together form a sharp angle, winds will often collect to create currents strong enough to lift a woman's skirt. While by today’s standards bare legs and ankles aren't worth taking note of, back then this sight was a real treat for the fellas. As such, hordes of men would flock to 23rd Street in hopes catching one of the many old-timey wardrobe malfunctions that occurred throughout the day. In fact, according to Andrew S. Dolkart, professor of Historic Preservation at the Columbia's Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation, the number of men who gathered would sometimes become so disruptive that police would have to shoo them away!
watch the full 23 skidoo here
Like father like son: The Trump legacy of housing discrimination
August 29, 2016

Like father like son: The Trump legacy of housing discrimination

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Black potential tenants who just wanted a decent place to live were routinely turned away at the Trump family’s Queens housing complexes and others. Housing activists and equal housing organizations took note, and in 1973 Trump Management was sued by the Justice Department for discrimination. Some of those tenants who stood firm remember the indignities all too well. The New York Times took a look at the early days of the Trump empire, when Donald's father, Fred C. Trump, built and managed middle-income residential complexes like the Wilshire Apartments in Jamaica Estates, Queens. A former employee of the elder Trump tells the Times that when receiving applications from potential tenants who happened to be black he was told, "Take the application and put it in a drawer and leave it there."
Get a closer look at the Trump legacy
This 1927 city subway map shows early transit plans
August 24, 2016

This 1927 city subway map shows early transit plans

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If you're navigating the NYC subway and wishing you could start from scratch, these map outlines from 1927 might prove interesting. Found by hyperreal cartography, the maps, from the state's Transit Commission Office of Chief Engineer, outline the "plan of existing and proposed rapid transit lines" for New York City. What's shown on the map appears to be the Independent Subway System; the ISS or IND, as it was known, was first constructed in 1932 as the Eight Avenue Line. As one of the three networks that was integrated into the modern New York City subway, the IND was meant to be fully owned and operated by the city government, as opposed to the privately-funded Interborough Rapid Transit Company (IRT) and Brooklyn–Manhattan Transit Corporation (BMT) companies. The three lines merged in 1940.
Investigate the possibilities
163 years ago, an upstate chef accidentally invented potato chips
August 24, 2016

163 years ago, an upstate chef accidentally invented potato chips

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It was July, 1853, and George Crum was working as a chef at Cary Moon's Lakehouse, an upscale restaurant in Saratoga Springs that catered to wealthy Manhattan families building summer escapes upstate. One of his customers sent back his French fries because they were thick and soggy (h/t NYT). After the man (who is rumored to have been Commodore Cornelius Vanderbilt, though this can't be confirmed) sent back a second batch of the fried potatoes, Crum decided to get even, a decision that would land him a place in culinary history.
Find out how the potato chip was invented
New York before the invention of air conditioning

Above: Children turn a Lower East Side excavation site into a pool using water from a fire hydrant. 1936. Image via Bowery Boys

August 24, 2016

New York before the invention of air conditioning

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Last week, temperatures in New York City peaked in the mid 90s but with the humidity index, afternoon to early evening temperatures felt more like 105 to 113 degrees. The combined temperature and humidity index prompted an “excessive heat warning” for the city and sent most residents indoors to take refuge in air conditioned homes and workplaces. For those less fortunate, the city opened designated cooling centers. Under such dire conditions, it’s natural to wonder, what was summer like before the invention of air conditioning?
READ MORE
For $7M, spend the afterlife in a crypt at Nolita’s Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral
August 22, 2016

For $7M, spend the afterlife in a crypt at Nolita’s Old St. Patrick’s Cathedral

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When 6sqft learned of Manhattan's last two burial plots for sale at the New York Marble Cemetery for $350,000, we thought that was some steep real estate. But it looks like the Basilica of St. Patrick's Old Cathedral in Nolita has them beat, as the Post reports that the historic Mulberry Street location is opening "its 200-year-old crypt to the public for the first time — selling a six-person family vault in the catacombs for $7 million."
More on where you can spend the afterlife
Video: Take a gritty summertime subway ride to Coney Island–in 1987
August 19, 2016

Video: Take a gritty summertime subway ride to Coney Island–in 1987

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From the archives of '80s NYC nightlife videographer Nelson Sullivan comes this summertime classic video. Young Village Voice writer Michael Musto, artist Albert Crudo, and photographer Liz Lizard with her two kids in tow join Sullivan on the trip to Coney Island from Manhattan on a very different subway than we're used to today (h/t acapuck via Reddit). Their destination, too, won't look the least bit familiar to anyone who's visited the aforementioned beach destination in recent years, though there are many among us who fondly remember the beautiful decay of the boardwalk environs and the thrill of its garish attractions in the pre-MCU, pre Keyspan days. We never tire of checking out the graffiti-covered cars and fellow riders who probably only look more menacing. And at some moments if you don't look too hard, everything appears pretty much the same: The noise, the heat, the underground grit–and the fact that when it comes to fashion, everything a few decades old looks cool and new again.
Take a day trip to the '80s
The Evolution of Greenpoint: From Oil and Sewage to Gentrification
August 15, 2016

The Evolution of Greenpoint: From Oil and Sewage to Gentrification

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Since Greenpoint started to attract displaced Manhattanites in the early 1990s, the cost of renting in the neighborhood and nearby Williamsburg has shot up a staggering 78.7 percent. According to a 2015 study published by NYU’s Furman Center, Greenpoint/Williamsburg is the most rapidly gentrifying neighborhood in New York City. What many newcomers don’t realize is that […]

27,000 Tons of Floating Concrete and Fabulous Feats of Engineering Make Pier 57 Peerless
August 8, 2016

27,000 Tons of Floating Concrete and Fabulous Feats of Engineering Make Pier 57 Peerless

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In the summer of 1952, when the American economy was emerging with a roar from the stagnation of the Great Depression and World War II, engineer Emil H. Praeger was chosen to create a replacement for the Grace Line’s old Pier 57 which had been destroyed by fire. Described by the New York Times, the key to what makes the resulting replacement pier so special lies hidden below the pier shed in the Hudson River at the foot of West 15th Street; Rather than resting on a conventional pile field, the bulk of its weight is held up by three floating concrete boxes known as caissons, which are permanently anchored underwater. The unique foundation of the abandoned pier is the same foundation that will host a $350 million renovation of what is being called the SuperPier by RXR Realty and Youngwoo and Associates, thanks to a lease from the Hudson River Park Trust, with new tenants to include Google offices and Anthony Bourdain's new food market.
Find out more about how enormous blocks of concrete can float
BLOCKS NYC Explores Greenwich Village From Bob Dylan to The Ramones in Coloring Book Pages
August 3, 2016

BLOCKS NYC Explores Greenwich Village From Bob Dylan to The Ramones in Coloring Book Pages

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BLOCKS (full name: City Blocks Culture Collective) explores and celebrates the architecture of city neighborhoods, introducing stories of how historic landmarks have evolved and how they fit into the city’s cultural landscape. The organization’s Toronto-based founder Rafi Ghanaghounian’s love for music was sparked by a visit to Greenwich Village as a teen, when he experienced the music vibe, history, colorful street life and architecture of the city. BLOCKS NYC is a way to share this passion for music, art and New York City, from the 1940s jazz scene to the beat generation in the ’50s, the folk scene of the ’60s, and Ramones-era punk in the ’70s. The group’s latest project explores the neighborhood via a super-chill coloring book featuring album covers shot on Village streets in the ’60s and ’70s to celebrate the rich musical history of that era’s folk and rock scene.
Find out how you can help
Uncovering the Past of Staten Island’s South Beach

South Beach in 1899 © NYPL Digital Gallery

August 1, 2016

Uncovering the Past of Staten Island’s South Beach

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6sqft recently brought you the history of Bowery Bay Beach, once referred to as the "Coney Island of Queens." But over on Staten Island, there was another amusement destination that rivaled its Brooklyn counterpart. South Beach is a waterfront community on the eastern shore behind the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The hidden gem is currently an up-and-coming neighborhood for families, with an array of small businesses, ethnic restaurants, and quaint streets. And in the summer months, the two-mile stretch of beaches comes alive. But aside from its current livability, South Beach has a rich history. In the early 20th century, the neighborhood was full of summer bungalows thanks to a beachfront lined with amusements, theaters, arcade games, and rides. Families came from Manhattan, Sandy Hook, and elsewhere to enjoy the festive resort community and the Franklin D. Roosevelt Boardwalk, known as the "Riviera of New York City."
Discover more of South Beach's History
How to Research the History of Your Address in NYC
July 28, 2016

How to Research the History of Your Address in NYC

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Have you ever wondered if someone famous used to live in your building? Or what architect built it? What about more dramatic things, like police activity and rat infestations? Verifying these facts–who once lived at your address, whether or not it was ever the scene of a crime, past construction work and violations, and its […]

In the 1980s a Group of Feisty Tenants Blocked Evictions by Donald Trump
July 27, 2016

In the 1980s a Group of Feisty Tenants Blocked Evictions by Donald Trump

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It's no secret that Donald Trump has engaged in some shady real estate dealings over the years, from his fraught attempt to own the Empire State Building, to the "public" gardens at Trump Tower that allowed him to build taller, to a lost battle with China over two major office buildings (not to mention his many bankruptcies). But there was at least one snafu that he wasn't able to weasel himself out of, and it was all thanks to a group of feisty residential tenants. In the early 1980s, Trump planned to evict rent-controlled and rent-stabilized tenants from 100 Central Park South (now known as Trump Parc East) and build a larger tower on this site and that of the adjacent Barbizon Plaza Hotel. He hired a management firm that specialized in emptying buildings, and they began eviction proceedings. After claiming reduced services, a lack of repairs, and overall harassment, the tenants decided to fight back, and in the end 80 percent of them remained, leading to this revelation by the Donald: "What I've learned is that the better the location and the lower the rent, the harder people fight. If I were a tenant, I'd probably be a leader too."
Get the full story here
45 Years Ago, Evel Knievel Jumped Across 10 Cars in Madison Square Garden
July 20, 2016

45 Years Ago, Evel Knievel Jumped Across 10 Cars in Madison Square Garden

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A 1971 issue of the New Yorker described Evel Knievel as "a thirty-two-year-old native of Butte, Montana, who makes his living by riding a motorcycle at high speed up a wood-and-steel ramp, off the top, and into the air, with the intention of landing it on another ramp some distance away." Today, we're all familiar with the images of videos of the famed daredevil jumping over things on his Harley, but 45 years ago, Knievel was making his first trip to NYC. Madison Square Garden was hosting an event called the Auto Thrill Show, and as part of it, Knievel jumped over 10 vehicles, nine cars and one van--the max that could fit in the space--to a crowd "worked up to a point of high tension, apprehension, and excitement." These feelings weren't based on the length of the jump (he had set a world record earlier that year when he made it over 19 cars in Ontario, California), but rather the mere 75 feet of concrete between the end of the takeoff ramp and the beginning of the landing.
So what happened?
Delivering a New Future to Bronx General Post Office While Honoring Its Past

Image courtesy of Studio V Architecture

July 19, 2016

Delivering a New Future to Bronx General Post Office While Honoring Its Past

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Blocks away from the Harlem River waterfront and the 15-acre Mill Pond Park, with easy access to public transportation and serving a vibrant community of college students, office and medical workers, and working-class families, sits the nearly 80-year old landmarked Bronx General Post Office. Acquired in 2014 by developer Young Woo & Associates and the Bristol Group as part of the postal service’s plan to pare down its real estate holdings, the building’s bold yet tasteful transformation promises to be a showcase for the borough’s long awaited rebirth. Though its glory years as the primary sorting, storage and processing hub for the majority of mail coming to and from the Bronx have long gone, the government was careful to ensure that its new life would be worthy of its storied history—and its neighborhood inhabitants. After a thoughtful and lengthy RFP process, developer Young Woo was selected to bring his vision—what he's described as "a crossroads for community, commerce and culture"—to the 175,00-square-foot facility, and he hired STUDIO V Architecture, a firm with extensive experience in adaptive reuse, to help achieve it.
Read more on their approach to this unique project here
The World’s First Escalator Was Installed in Coney Island 120 Years Ago
July 15, 2016

The World’s First Escalator Was Installed in Coney Island 120 Years Ago

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When you think of Coney Island, cutting edge technology probably doesn't come to mind. But more than a century ago, this little enclave of amusement and thrills was where the world's very first working escalator was installed. In 1896, engineer Jesse W. Reno brought his patented "Endless Conveyor Elevator" (though he called it the "inclined elevator") to the Old Iron Pier at Coney Island. Reno's invention stretched a mere seven feet angled at 25-degrees, and instead of steps, the escalator used a conveyor-like belt fashioned with cast-iron cleats for traction. The Coney Island installation is said to have carried over 75,000 patrons over its two-week residency.
FInd out more here
VIDEO: Drone Footage Shows Rare Views of North Brother Island’s Abandoned Buildings
July 11, 2016

VIDEO: Drone Footage Shows Rare Views of North Brother Island’s Abandoned Buildings

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One of 36 (42 in low tide) uninhabited New York City Islands, North Brother Island is a 20-acre piece of land in the East River between the Bronx and Rikers Island that was once home to a quarantine hospital. Currently off-limits to the public, the island became the home of Riverside Hospital for smallpox patients in 1885; "Typhoid Mary" Mallon was quarantined on the island until her death in 1938. This drone video footage offers a rare and hauntingly beautiful view of the island's decaying bridges and buildings overgrown by forest.
Watch this haunting video footage of the abandoned island
July 11, 2016

Germantown NYC: Uncovering the German History of Yorkville

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If you read 6sqft's post about Kleindeutschland, or "Little Germany," you know that in 1885 New York had the third largest German-speaking population in the world, outside of Vienna and Berlin, and the majority of those immigrants settled in what is today the heart of the East Village. You also know that the horrific General Slocum disaster in 1904 pushed the last of the Germans out of the area. And as promised, we're here to tell you where that community went-- Yorkville, then commonly known as Germantown. The Upper East Side neighborhood, bounded by 79th and 96th streets and running from the east side of Third Avenue to the East River, exploded with immigrants from the former Prussian Empire in the early 20th century. Those looking for a fresh start after the tragedy saw opportunity in the many available jobs in Yorkville. Like the East Village, Yorkville still has many reminders of its German past, as well as still-thriving cultural spots.
Take a tour of Yorkville's German history
July 6, 2016

The History of Bowery Bay Beach, the ‘Coney Island of Queens’

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This past holiday weekend, New Yorkers flocked to Coney Island for the annual Nathan's Hot Dog Eating Contest, the fireworks display, and to enjoy the beach and boardwalk. For some, though, traveling all the way out to the end of Brooklyn with beach chairs and coolers is daunting, which is why it's sad to learn that back in the 19th century, there was another amusement destination in the city, at the site of present-day LaGuardia Airport. Bowery Bay Beach (later named North Beach) opened in 1886 on the shores of Bowery and Flushing Bays. Built by noted piano manufacturer William Steinway in partnership with brewer George Ehret, it included beaches, swimming pavilions, a huge beer hall, zoo, and the Gala Amusement Park. At one time it was more popular than the parks in Brooklyn, earning it the moniker "the Coney Island of Queens."
So what happened?
Ride the Coney Island Cyclone for Free This Weekend!

Image via creative commons by Mark Hout

June 24, 2016

Ride the Coney Island Cyclone for Free This Weekend!

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If visiting Coney Island has long been on your list of NYC to-dos, this weekend might be the best weekend to head down to the famed beach and boardwalk. On top of what will be gorgeous weather, per the Coney Island Blog, the amusement park’s iconic wooden roller coaster will be offering FREE rides to 89 thrill-seekers. The roller […]

‘Violently’ Ringing Door Bell Served As Home Security in the Early 1900s

Image via Paleofuture

June 22, 2016

‘Violently’ Ringing Door Bell Served As Home Security in the Early 1900s

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Image via Paleofuture Long before there was technology like Ring with its motion detecting sensors and live streaming videos, New Yorkers and other folks took to keeping their homes safe with much more rudimentary measures like the nickel-plated door alarm seen above. Paleofuture spotted an ad for the nifty little battery- and wire-free device in a 1906 issue of "Literary Digest." Set off by "the slightest bit of pressure," the door stop alarm claims to provide "Absolute protection from burglars and sneak thieves." What more could you ask for for just $1?
more here
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