History

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History

October 9, 2015

1970s Documentary Shows Tribeca Skybridge and Vintage Subway Cars

"News from Home" is a 1976 documentary by filmmaker Chantal Akerman that uses New York City as a backdrop while she reads aloud letters her mother had written her while she was living in the city. The film wasn't groundbreaking by any stretch, but 40 years later, it provides a glimpse into a bygone era in New York. Tribeca Citizen unearthed a digital version of the documentary on Hulu and took some great stills, including those of vintage subway cars and Tribeca's Staple Street skybridge. The latter (which is actually where the film begins) has made headlines recently as it's one of Manhattan's last skybridges and the two residences on either side of it (one a townhouse, one an apartment) are currently for sale for $30 million, meaning one lucky buyer can claim the historic structure as part of their home.
See more of 1970s NYC

History

October 8, 2015

There’s an Historic English Muffin Oven Hiding Underneath This Chelsea Co-op

By Emily Nonko

Although the popular song would have you believe that the muffin man lives on Drury Lane, he actually has digs right here in Chelsea on West 20th Street. 337 West 20th Street, between 8th and 9th Avenues, is a nondescript, four-story brick building that is officially known as "The Muffin House." Looking at the building from outside, you wouldn't think there's anything special to it. But underground, preserved below what is now a modest co-op complex, there's a massive bakery oven. And not just any old oven, although that discovery is unique in and of itself. This is the oven once operated by a very well-known baker, the one responsible for introducing English muffins to the United States.
His name was Samuel Bath Thomas

New York in the ’60s: When Chelsea Apartments Were $111 a Month

Photo via NY Through the Lens

October 5, 2015

New York in the ’60s: When Chelsea Apartments Were $111 a Month

Our series “New York in the ’60s” is a memoir by a longtime New Yorker who moved to the city after college in 1960. Each installment will take us through her journey during a pivotal decade. From $90/month apartments to working in the real “Mad Men” world, we’ll explore the city through the eyes of a spunky, driven female. In our first two installments we saw how different and similar house hunting was 50 years ago and visited her first apartment on the Upper East Side. Then, we learned about her career at an advertising magazine…looking in on the Donald Drapers of the time. In our fourth installment, we accompanied her to Fire Island during the warm summer months. Last time, our main character decided to make the big move downtown, but it wasn't quite what she expected. Now she'll take us through what it was like to live below 23rd street in the '60s.
Read all about it

History

October 5, 2015

October 18th Is Your LAST CHANCE to See the TWA Flight Terminal In All Its Glory

If you’re an architectural purist who’s somehow managed to miss exploring Eero Saarinen’s masterpiece at JFK in person all these year, you won't want to miss out on what will foreseeably be your last chance to experience the structure as it was meant to be. For one day only, the iconic building will open to the public for FREE for just four hours as part of the annual Open House New York Weekend festival. As written in an OHNY Weekend press release, Sunday, October 18th, "is likely to be the last time the TWA Flight Center will be open to the public in its current form." As 6sqft previously reported, the terminal will soon be redeveloped into a 505-room hotel by MCR Development and JetBlue.
FInd out more details here

September 30, 2015

Revenge Architecture: Four New York Buildings Constructed out of Spite

By Rebecca Paul

We don't have to love our neighbors, but life is most certainly less stressful when they're easy to get along with. But as we all know, this is not always the case, and in several instances in New York's turbulent history, a friendly local feud has resulted in some rancor constructions—or what's better known today as "spite houses." According to Wikipedia, a spite house is a building constructed or modified to irritate neighbors or any party with land stakes. While this definition illustrates the basic concepts of the act, it doesn't quite capture the vengeful spirit that powers it. With that said, we've perused the archives and put together a quick history lesson featuring a few famous examples of spiteful architecture that's risen in New York over the past centuries.
read more about four of new york's spite houses

September 30, 2015

120 Years Ago Today, The NY Times Wrote of a Sea Serpent Spotted off the Coast

There's a lot of strange stuff floating around the Hudson River, but this just might be the best thing ever spotted in its murky waters. On September 30, 1895, the headline "THINKS HE SAW A SEA SERPENT" made its way into the pages of the New York Times. The article (h/t Gothamist), spoke of a Newark, New Jersey man named Philip N. Jackson who confirmed to reporters that he had indeed seen the same sea monster spotted just a week earlier by a Manhattan resident by the name of Willard P. Shaw. Jackson told the Times that with "his naked eye," he saw the serpent zipping through the water, at times whipping its 100-foot-long body into the air.
Find out more here

History

September 28, 2015

Explore Manhattan When It Was Just Forests and Creeks With the 1609 Welikia Map

It's hard to imagine New York as anything but a dense landscape of glassy towers, apartment buildings and millions of bodies moving throughout the streets. But once upon a time, the city wasn't much more than forests, creeks and wildlife. The Welikia Project, formerly known as the Mannahatta Project, has gotten a powerful update that now lets you explore the city's historic ecology using a satellite map that imagines how Manhattan might have looked back in 1609—and all the years between then and now.
Access the NYC of 1609 here

History

September 25, 2015

Find Out What Businesses Were on Your Block Way Back in 1855 With This Interactive Map

If you think your neighborhood has changed since you moved in, step back and have a look at this incredible map to get some real perspective. One of the many maps maintained within the NYPL's Map Warper project, this particular cartogram dubbed the 1855 New York Business Map shows the location of more than 3,000 mid-19th century New York businesses—as well as some other fun stuff like stables, churches and schools. Want to know what life was like in your neighborhood way back in 1855? Jump ahead for more.
Access the map here

History

September 25, 2015

VIDEO: Why Did the Nazis Want to Destroy This Secret Power Substation Below Grand Central?

"In the past, if you'd stepped into this elevator by mistake, you faced being shot at the other end, in case you told anyone what you saw," says the narrator of this video from the Science Channel. And this is, essentially, what happened to two German spies when they tried to attack this hidden power substation below Grand Central. But let's back up. When Grand Central was built in 1913, part of the plan was to add a top-secret power substation. After tunneling down through ten stories of solid bedrock, engineers blasted and carved out a top-secret chamber known as M42, almost as wide as the terminal itself and covering 22,000 square feet. Here, nine rotary converters each weighing 15 tons and reaching heights of 20 feet, transferred 11,000 volts of alternating current to power the trains above. In 1941, when America joined WWII, the secrecy paid off.
Find out how Adolf Hitler almost destroyed the substation

History

VIDEO: The History of the Upper East Side Mansion Where the Pope Is Staying

Talk surrounding the Pope's Upper East Side crash pad has been mainly focused on street closures and insane security precautions, but this video by Regis High School (h/t Carl Quintanilla) provides the interesting history of the townhouse, providing a behind-the-scenes look at Pope Francis' "home away from Rome." Built in 1894, 20 East 72nd Street was originally home to Julia Murphy Grant, daughter of U.S. Senator Edward Murphy of New York, and Hugh J. Grant, the youngest man ever elected mayor of New York City. When Grant died in 1910, he left behind a $9 million estate to his wife. Being devoutly Catholic, she used the money to establish Regis High School before her death in 1944. In 1975, their son Hugh Grant, Jr. donated his parents' former home to the Archdiocese of New York. Since then, it's been the home of the Vatican's representative to the United Nations, and beginning with Pope John Paul II’s visit to New York City in 1979, it has served as the official residence of visiting pontiffs.
Watch the video here

History

September 16, 2015

Back in ’68 an East Village Hippy Ran for President Against Nixon

Before there was the wild presidential run of Donald Trump, there was another absurd (albeit much more endearing) campaign by an East Village hippy looking for political greatness. A fun and fascinating recollection by Ephemeral NY tells the tale of Louis Albolafia, a 27-year-old abstract expressionist artist, nudist, and the first person to establish a runaway shelter and hotline in New York, who ran on the "Love" party ticket. Though Albolafia was obviously not the term winner (that title goes to Richard Nixon), he did get a considerable number of write-ins during the race.
Find out more about his campaign here

History

September 15, 2015

Never-Built Coney Island Globe Tower Would Have Been a Massive Boardwalk in the Air

In 1906, architect Samuel Friede announced his plans to build the Coney Island Globe Tower, a 700-foot-tall, 11-story structure that would have contained the Brooklyn neighborhood's attractions in one giant globe in the air. A New York Tribune cover revealing the project said investors were being offered "a ground floor chance to share profits in the largest steel structure ever erected...the greatest amusement enterprise in the whole world...the best real estate venture." Had the $1,500,000 plan gone through, the whimsical structure (part Unisphere, part Eiffel Tower) would have contained restaurants (one of which would rotate), an observatory, the United States Weather Observation Bureau and Wireless Telegraph Station, a vaudeville theater, the world's largest ballroom, bowling alley, roller skating rink, casinos, 50,000-room hotel, 5,000-seat hippodrome, and a four large circus rings.
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History

Our series “New York in the ’60s” is a memoir by a longtime New Yorker who moved to the city after college in 1960. Each installment will take us through her journey during a pivotal decade. From $90/month apartments to working in the real “Mad Men” world, we’ll explore the city through the eyes of a spunky, driven female. In our first two installments we visited her first apartment on the Upper East Side and saw how different and similar house hunting was 50 years ago. Then, we learned about her career at an advertising magazine… looking in on the Donald Drapers of the time. In our fourth installment, we accompanied her to Fire Island during the warm summer months. Now, our main character decides to make the big move downtown, but it’s not quite what she expected.

September 14, 2015

New York in the ’60s: Moving Downtown Comes With Colorful Characters and Sex Parties

Find out about her very eventful move downtown

History

September 9, 2015

Channel the Spirits of Tesla, Carnegie and Edison in the Former Engineers’ Club HQ for $14K/Month

By Michelle Cohen

Like so many places in this fascinating city, this listing comes with some interesting history: Known today as Bryant Park Place, the primarily residential co-op building at 32 West 40th Street was once the clubhouse of the Engineers' Club. Founded by Andrew Carnegie in 1907, members included–in addition to Carnegie himself–Thomas Edison, President Herbert Hoover, H.H. Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla, who was honored here upon receiving the Edison Medal in 1917 and enjoyed feeding the pigeons in the park across the street. Units 1A and 1K currently comprise a commercial listing–with residential possibilities if you're willing to do your homework. The property–two connected co-op units–is for sale for $3.1 million, and also for rent at $14K a month (in the latter case it would make a pretty impressive HQ for that hot new startup–and since there's a small kitchen, those all-nighters won't be a problem). Buyers may need to unwind some red tape, but according to the listing, residential conversion is possible along with some serious subsequent upside.
Find out more

In the 19th Century Men Who Didn’t Pay Alimony Went to the Ludlow Street Jail

Ludlow Street Jail (L) and men playing billiards inside (R), via NYPL

September 4, 2015

In the 19th Century Men Who Didn’t Pay Alimony Went to the Ludlow Street Jail

Public shaming of cheaters was around long before the Ashley Madison scandal. In fact, in the 19th century, men who divorced their wives and didn't pay alimony were sent straight to jail. Atlas Obscura uncovered the fascinating history of the Ludlow Street Jail, New York City's federal prison on Ludlow and Broome Streets. Built in 1862, the jail mostly held debtors, but it also was where men who cheated on their alimony payments ended up, thus turning the "prison" into a glorified clubhouse for divorced men known as the New York Alimony Club. In addition to cigar smoking and unsavory jokes, the Ludlow Street Jail became known for back-door deals, rampant corruption, and the baffling semi-imprisonment of Boss Tweed.
Get the full story

History

September 3, 2015

VIDEO: What Ever Happened to This 1927 Parallel Parking Solution?

If you don't have the bucks to fork over for a parking garage, having a car in the city can be quite the debacle thanks to alternate side of the street parking, indecipherable street signs, and the wrath of the meter maid. There's also the challenge of physically getting into the parking spot, which usually requires several attempts at parallel parking. But this 1927 video shows a car with wheels that turn sideways, making urban parallel parking a no brainer.
Watch the video

September 2, 2015

VIDEO: Riding the Subway in the 1940s Wasn’t Much Different From Today

Here's a picture of the New York City subway–mobs of commuters crowding the platforms; train cars filled to the brim; passengers blocking the train doors; people walking while reading the paper, oblivious to their surroundings. Sounds like your commute this morning, right? But believe it or not, we're describing the subway from the 1940s. Unearthed today by Gothamist, this video from the New York Transit Museum archives shows just how little things have changed in the past 75 years.
Watch the video here

New York in the ’60s: Beach Parties and Summer Houses on Fire Island

Our series “New York in the ’60s” is a memoir by a longtime New Yorker who moved to the city after college in 1960. Each installment will take us through her journey during a pivotal decade. From $90/month apartments to working in the real “Mad Men” world, we’ll explore the city through the eyes of a spunky, driven female. In our first two installments we visited her first apartment on the Upper East Side and saw how different and similar house hunting was 50 years ago. Then, we learned about her career at an advertising magazine… looking in on the Donald Drapers of the time. Now, in our fourth installment, we accompany her to Fire Island during the warm summer months.

August 31, 2015

New York in the ’60s: Beach Parties and Summer Houses on Fire Island

Read about summer on Fire Island in the '60s

History

August 27, 2015

Before LaGuardia, There Was Glenn H. Curtiss Airport

Last month, Governor Cuomo revealed his $4 billion plan to overhaul LaGuardia Airport, the third-worst airport in the country that Vice President Biden recently likened to a third-world country. While today it's hard to imagine New York City without its sub-par airports (JFK is THE worst airport in the nation), they weren't always a fixture in the city. In fact, LaGuardia was preceded by a much more modest facility with links to world aviation history -- Glenn H. Curtiss Airport. It opened in 1929 as a private airfield off Flushing Bay; became a commercial airport called North Beach in 1935; and a decade later was changed to what we know today when then Mayor La Guardia wanted the city to have its own airport and not have to rely on Newark.
Get the full history right here

Estate of Huguette Clark, Famous Reclusive Heiress, Loses $95M Suit Against Beth Israel

In her middle years, Clark liked to take “self portraits” of herself at home; here, in her Fifth Avenue apartment. Photo: Estate of Huguette Clark from EmptyMansionsBook.com

August 25, 2015

Estate of Huguette Clark, Famous Reclusive Heiress, Loses $95M Suit Against Beth Israel

Copper heiress Huguette Clark did not live the life of luxury like so many other wealthy New Yorkers in her shoes. The famously reclusive figure died in 2011 at the age of 104, but instead of spending her last 20 years in her palatial, Gilded-Age co-op at 907 Fifth Avenue (which was filled to the brim with her doll, dollhouse, and art collections), she decided to live in a tiny hospital room at Beth Israel. Clark admitted herself to the hospital in 1991 for operable skin cancer, but then refused to leave. According to Gothamist, her estate, "made up of nineteen of Huguette's distant relatives, a private foundation in Huguette's name, and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington D.C.," didn't buy the hospital's story and sued Beth Israel in 2013 for $95 million. The suit claimed the hospital spent millions of dollars on unnecessary medical care and by forming "fake friendships" with the heiress who was known for writing out checks on a whim to people she just met. However, last week, Manhattan Surrogate Court Justice Nora Anderson ruled that the statute of limitations had run out on the case.
More on the ruling and Huguette Clark's legacy

Amazing Detailed Map from the 1950s Shows 300+ ‘Wonders of New York’

Historical Map: “Wonders of New York” by Nils Hansell, c. 1953-1955; courtesy of Transit Maps.

August 21, 2015

Amazing Detailed Map from the 1950s Shows 300+ ‘Wonders of New York’

By Michelle Cohen

Click to expand >> One of a growing collection of transit maps, this cool detailed New York City map, designed by graphic designer/sailing enthusiast/IBM employee Nils Hansell sometime around 1953-1955, offers a mind boggling tableau of (mostly) Manhattan's points of interest, numbered, with a corresponding key. There's also a color-coded schematic to the subway system, which was at the time divided up by its operators, BMT, IND and IRT; the map also shows a remaining few of the city's elevated railway systems, the last of which was ended in 1955.
Check it out here

History

August 20, 2015

1920s Popular Science Illustration Stacks the Future American City Like a Layered Cake

As the automobile became more widely available in the 1920s, the idea of living in the suburbs became far more appealing to Americans. Residents of large cities sought to escape increasingly crowded streets (thanks to industrialization), and with newly paved roads and auto ownership, taking on a commute was well worth the space and comfort that was paid out in return. While many urbanists and architects in the '20s predicted that suburban migrations would give way to sprawl (and it eventually did), other urban "futurists" balked at the idea of decentralization, and believed instead that Americans would be living and thriving in high-density vertical cities. Architect Harvey W. Corbett's “May Live to See, May Solve Congestion Problems” is one such proposal that sees everything from homes, offices, schools, green space and even aircraft landing fields stacked on top of each other for the ultimate metropolis.
Have a closer look at the complete plan here

August 17, 2015

New York in the ’60s: Being a Woman in Advertising During the ‘Mad Men’ Days