History

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.
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History

July 14, 2016

Tracing the Disappearance of New York City’s Live/Work Artists’ Lofts

By Cait Etherington

The New York City artist’s loft is arguably among the most romanticized and coveted living spaces in the world. It has been used as a backdrop for avant-garde films by Andy Warhol, the central scene of a musical (yes, we’re talking about Rent), and more recently, as the focus of several museum shows (for example, the […]

July 11, 2016

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

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

History

July 11, 2016

Germantown NYC: Uncovering the German History of Yorkville

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

History

July 6, 2016

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

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?

History

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!

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 […]

History

‘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

By Annie Doge

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

21 Elephants Walked Across the Newly-Opened Brooklyn Bridge to Prove Its Safety

Photo via Wiki Commons

June 21, 2016

21 Elephants Walked Across the Newly-Opened Brooklyn Bridge to Prove Its Safety

In May of 1883, the opening of the Brooklyn Bridge was big international news. The bridge had been under construction for 13 years, and its unveiling was a highly anticipated event. Showman P.T. Barnum, never one to turn down a PR opportunity, offered authorities a novel way to show–and show off–the safety of the new bridge: He’d walk his troupe of elephants across it. At first, his proposal was rejected. But in 1884, after a woman fell on the side stairs on the Manhattan side, causing a stampede that killed 12 people and making others wary that the bridge would collapse, Barnum’s “elephant walk” (the subject of a June, 2004 New Yorker cover) happened. It was to the amazement of New Yorkers who happened to catch the sight of 21 elephants, 7 camels, and 10 dromedaries (basically furry camels) trekking from the bottom of Cortlandt Street across the illuminated arches of the bridge, with Barnum’s celebrated seven-ton African elephant Jumbo bringing up the rear.
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History

June 8, 2016

Video: Watch 400 Years of Change Play Out Along Just One Block of Soho

Before Soho was home to an Apple Store, Dior and a slew of other luxury retailers and multi-million dollar apartments, it was considered "land so unvaluable that the Dutch gave it to the slaves," says NYU economist William Easterly. In a new video project called "Greene Street," Easterly traces the history of just one block of Greene Street (between Houston and Prince Street) and distills 400 years of history into a fascinating and informative 1.5-minute film. In seconds you can see the incredible transformations that occurred along the tiny 486-foot stretch of the neighborhood, which includes reincarnations as the biggest red light district in NYC, the center of garment manufacturing in the U.S., a shantytown, an artists' hub, and finally the high-end retail corridor we know it as today.
Watch the short film here

History

Great Game Changers: One Worldwide Plaza, A Classy Attraction for Sleazy 1980s Midtown

By Carter B. Horsley

What does it take to jump-start an unglamorous neighborhood? A huge development? A mixed-use project? New transit facilities? When this full-block, mixed-use development project was conceived in the mid-1980s the area in and around Times Square was one of the city’s worst. It was riddled with crime and pornography and was run-down, especially along Eighth Avenue. The proposition to add a building that was the scale of the full-block One Worldwide Plaza development, therefore, was not only surprising, but shocking and downright unthinkable. The legendary Madison Square Garden designed by Thomas W. Lamb had occupied its site from 1925 to 1966, but its second incarnation here was rather ramshackle especially in comparison to its previous glorious building on Madison Avenue at 26th Street. When it moved south next to the “new” Penn Station 16 blocks to the south, this site became the city’s largest parking lot and it took about a decade and a half for it to find a new life. The site was finally developed and completed in 1989 by a syndicate headed by William Zeckendorf Jr. that included Arthur Cohen and Worldwide Realty partners Frank Stanton and Victor Elmaleh.
more on the rise of worldwide plaza and how it revived midtown manhattan

40 Percent of Manhattan’s Buildings Would Be Unbuildable Today

720 Park Avenue could not be built today. Image via Google Maps

May 20, 2016

40 Percent of Manhattan’s Buildings Would Be Unbuildable Today

Many feel that the city's current construction boom is unprecedented, but while towers may be reaching new heights, according to a new report by architecture firm KPF, nearly three-quarters of the city's existing square footage was actually built between the 1900s and 1930s. More interestingly, The Times points out that forty percent of the buildings that currently make up Manhattan could not be built today because they break at least one zoning code violation—among which include being too tall, having too many residential units, or having too much commercial space.
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May 17, 2016

The History of the Roosevelt Island Tramway

By Rebecca Paul

In honor of the Roosevelt Island Tramway's 40th anniversary today, we've pulled this wonderful piece on the history of the high-flying gondola system from our archives. Commuting in New York City, whether for work or pleasure, is rarely an enjoyable experience. However, for some tourists and lucky city dwellers, the Roosevelt Island Tramway provides a delightful, high-flying travel alternative to the standard, and sometimes miserable, modes of NYC public transport. Running across the East River, this aerial tramway brings commuters to and from Roosevelt Island and Manhattan’s Upper East Side, and has carried over 26 million passengers since opening in 1976. It is one of the few forms of mass transit in New York City not operated by the MTA, but it still costs the same as the bus or subway and can be paid for with your NYC metro card. Like most things in our historic port town, both the tramway and the commute between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island has a history, and this one includes bridge elevators, high-rise rescue missions and French ski lifts.
More on how the Roosevelt Island tramway came to be

May 11, 2016

That Time a NYC Bus Driver Said %#$# It, I’m Driving This Bus to Florida

If you’ve ever fantasized about leaving work at lunchtime and heading for a faraway beach, you probably know you’re not alone. Though many dream, the afternoon more likely finds us stifling a yawn in that meeting instead of watching the runway grow smaller in the distance. But collectively we love the idea enough that there are few who wouldn’t make a hero of New York City bus driver William Cimillo, a 37-year-old married father of three from the Bronx who, in 1947, drove into the pages of history by taking life by the you-know-whats and giving himself a “busman’s holiday.” The term refers to a vacation where you’re basically doing the same stuff you’d be doing at work anyway, which is just what Cimillo, a driver on the BX15 bus route, did when he drove all the way to Florida.
We hope this story ends well

History

May 10, 2016

Forgotten Four Acres of Central Park Reopens to Visitors After Almost 90 Years

After being closed off to the public since the 1930s, The Hallet Nature Sanctuary on the lower east side of Central Park is once again open to all, writes The Times. The lush four-acre peninsula has for the last decades been used as a bird sanctuary, reclaimed and then tended to by the Central Park Conservancy in 2001 as part of their Woodlands Initiative. Under the project, $45 million was directed towards revitalizing and restoring the wooded areas of Central Park to their original glory.
More on how to visit here

The History of Herald Square: From Newspaper Headquarters to Retail Corridor

Image via Library of Congress

May 10, 2016

The History of Herald Square: From Newspaper Headquarters to Retail Corridor

By Michelle Young

Herald Square is today known for many things. There's the flagship Macy's department store and the pedestrianized part of Broadway that extends to Times Square. And it serves as an epicenter of the retail corridor that now runs from 5th Avenue to 7th Avenue. Some may remember the song, "Give My Regards to Broadway," from the George M. Cohan musical "Little Johnny Jones"with the iconic line, "Remember me to Herald Square." But written in 1904, "Give My Regards to Broadway" references a very different Herald Square than the one we're familiar with today.
Learn about the evolution of Herald Square here

May 9, 2016

The Hare Krishna Tree in Tompkins Square Park Is Where the Religion Was Born in the West

By Rebecca Paul

New York City is often referred to as a concrete jungle, but that doesn't mean it's 100-percent void of vegetation. Throughout the city you'll find beautiful pockets of lush city parks that often have a special history of their own. Tompkins Square Park for example is home to the Hare Krishna tree and the birthplace of this modern religion.
The full story here

History

May 9, 2016

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ Brownstone Purchase LLC Tells of Escaped Slaves’ Brave Journey

Atlantic Writer, National Book Award winner and MacArthur Foundation Genius Grant recipient Ta-Nehisi Coates recently made an appearance in real estate news; Coates, who is among today's most prominent writers on African-American issues, and his wife recently purchased a landmarked five-bedroom townhouse in Prospect-Lefferts Garden for $2.1 million. Not one to miss an opportunity to explore a facet of cultural history, the couple worked an interesting story into the LLC they used to purchase the property, DNAinfo tells us. Buyers commonly register Limited Liability Corporations (LLCs) to purchase property in order to conceal their identities (celebrities, for example, or when making a big-ticket buy), and LLC names are often mundane, using the name of the property itself. But the Coateses LLC, "Ellen and William Craft Excursions LLC” has an inspiring tale behind it: The Crafts were an escaped slave couple from Georgia in the 19th century. Disguised as a white male slave owner and his slave, they escaped to Philadelphia in 1868.
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Pinball Prohibition: The Arcade Game Was Illegal in New York for Over 30 Years

Police Commissioner William O’Brien smashing a pinball machine in 1949

May 4, 2016

Pinball Prohibition: The Arcade Game Was Illegal in New York for Over 30 Years

By Rebecca Paul

It's hard to believe, but between the 1940s and '70s pinball was actually banned in NYC, as well as other major cities like Chicago and Los Angeles, for its questionable ethics. While most of us consider the arcade game a wholesome activity, its first iteration was without the flippers and considered a form of gambling. From city raids to seedy backdoor operations, pinball prohibition lasted for more than 30 years, and efforts to get the beloved game legalized were equally dramatic.
Get the full scoop

History

April 25, 2016

VIDEO: Visit ’93 New York City in High-Tech HD

Ancient history doesn't look like it used to. Instead of grainy footage or shaky home video, we can enjoy this pretty early demo HD video to reminisce about streets filled with people who weren't looking at little tiny screens. Remember those days? This 1993 video takes a wander through a few of the city's favorite photo ops (Times Square, Central Park, the East Village and the East Third Street Hell's Angels' back yard).
Watch the video

History

April 20, 2016

$9.5M LES Carriage House With a Waterfall Was Once the Home of a German Sausage Dynasty

If you think the Lower East Side has turned into a big sausage party, check out this listing–you'll see it's nothing new. The unassuming brick building at 170 Eldridge Street has written in peeling paint across the top of one of the loading bays "Office of / S. Oppenheimer" and "S. Oppenheimer." Dating from somewhere between 1875 and 1879, this is considered by some to be the city's oldest painted signage. The sausage casing distributor was started in Chicago by Sigmund Oppenheimer, who emigrated from Mannheim, Germany in 1868 and flourished for nearly a century, with offices worldwide and a New York presence that began in the 1870s at this address and later expanded to 96 Pearl Street and elsewhere in the city. Since 1996, the property has been a rare and fascinating mixed-use townhouse for restaurateur Georges Forgeois, whose enduring establishments (Jules Bistro, Cafe Noir, Bar Tabac) are standout destinations in their respective neighborhoods. Forgeois' brother, Dany, purchased the property in 1996 for $200,000 and later transferred ownership to Georges, according to records, in 2012. The home was listed in November for $12 million and just got a broker change and a price chop to $9.5M.
Find out more and take a look inside

April 18, 2016

Skyline Wars: In Lower Manhattan, A New Downtown Is Emerging

By Carter B. Horsley

Carter Uncut brings New York City’s latest development news under the critical eye of resident architecture critic Carter B. Horsley. This week Carter brings us his fourth installment of “Skyline Wars,” a series that examines the explosive and unprecedented supertall phenomenon that is transforming the city’s silhouette. In this post Carter looks at the evolution of the Lower Manhattan skyline. Lower Manhattan at the start of the Great Depression was the world’s most famous and influential skyline when 70 Pine, 20 Exchange Place, 1 and 40 Wall Street, and the Woolworth and Singer buildings inspired the world with their romantic silhouettes in a relatively balanced reach for the sky centered around the tip of Lower Manhattan. Midtown was not asleep at the switch and countered with the great Empire State, the spectacular Chrysler and 30 Rockefeller Plaza but they were scattered and could not topple the aggregate visual power and lure of Lower Manhattan and its proverbial “view from the 40th floor” as the hallowed precinct of corporate America until the end of World War II. The convenience and elegance of Midtown, however, became increasingly irresistible to many.
More on the the history of Lower Manhattan and what's in store

April 18, 2016

Donald Trump’s Failed and Fraught Attempt to Own the Empire State Building

In 2000, shortly after ending his first presidential run, Donald Trump was asked for what he would like to be remembered. He responded, "I'd like to own the Empire State Building," adding that it would make him "New York's Native Son." As Crain's recalls, he came awfully close to renaming the iconic tower the "Trump Empire State Building Tower Apartments." For nearly a decade, Trump had a 50 percent, no-cost stake in the building, but he lost it when he attempted a hostile takeover of the structure in the late 90s.
Read about the entire saga

History

April 12, 2016

The Bronx’s Depression-Era Boxcar Village, Where Lodging Was $3/Month

When the Great Depression hit, homelessness exploded, leaving most cities ill prepared to house this growing population. As 6sqft previously reported, "Homeless people in large cities began to build their own houses out of found materials, and some even built more permanent structures from brick. Small shanty towns—later named Hoovervilles after President Hoover—began to spring up in vacant lots, public land and empty alleys." The largest such settlement was on Central Park's great lawn, but smaller Hoovervilles popped up elsewhere, especially in Inwood and the Bronx, where many working-class New Yorkers had moved to follow north the construction of the subway. At Spuyten Duyvil Road and 225th Street there was a Boxcar Village, a collection of 40 boxcars where rent was $3 a month to live four men to a car.
The full history, this way

History

This 1970s East Village Windmill Was Decades Ahead of Its Time

Raising the windmill on the roof of 519. Photo credit: Travis Price via Gothamist

April 5, 2016

This 1970s East Village Windmill Was Decades Ahead of Its Time