Places

The Urban Lens: The quest to document every diner in NYC

Metro Diner on Broadway and 100th Street

January 19, 2018

The Urban Lens: The quest to document every diner in NYC

By
6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Riley Arthur documents NYC's vanishing diners. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. "There's no comparison to a New York diner experience," says photographer Riley Arthur, which is what led her to start documenting all of the establishments throughout the five boroughs. Though she recently moved from Astoria to Florida, over the past two-and-a-half years she's photographed roughly 215 diners ("I've lost count," she says), usually hitting 10-12 a day and ordering a matzo ball soup at each! Since she began, at least a dozen diners have closed, usually due to rising rents, but Riley still has about 60 left to photograph. She shares her journey on the popular Instagram account Diners of NYC, where you'll see everything from the faux-stone and shiny metal facades to the greasy bacon and eggs to the massive plastic menus to the neon signs and leather banquettes. Riley shared a set of her snapshots with 6sqft and filled us in on her process and favorite spots.
See Riley's photos here
Historic photos document Martin Luther King Jr.’s connection to NYC

Dr. Benjamin Spock, Dr. King and Monsignor Rice of Pittsburgh march in the Solidarity Day Parade at the United Nations building (April 15, 1967);Photo by Benedict J. Fernadez, courtesy of MCNY

January 12, 2018

Historic photos document Martin Luther King Jr.’s connection to NYC

By
The Museum of the City of New York on Saturday will launch King in New York, a photo exhibition that explores the relationship between Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and New York City. The collection, which commemorates the 50th anniversary of King's death, provides a look into the iconic civil rights leader's time spent in the city, starting in the 1950s and continuing through the aftermath of his assassination in 1986. New York, as the country's media capital, allowed MLK to broadcast his words and messages to both local and global audiences, hold national press conferences and speak to influential advocacy and political groups. He gave sermons at the Riverside Church in Morningside Heights and marched to the United Nations in protest against the Vietnam war. Following his death, thousands of New Yorkers marched in Harlem and Midtown to a Central Park concert to mourn together and the city named parks, playgrounds and streets in his honor. King in New York will be on view from Saturday, Jan. 13 to June 1, 2018.
Explore MLK's New York City connection
The Urban Lens: See the last photographs of the abandoned Domino Sugar Factory

All photos © Paul Raphaelson

January 12, 2018

The Urban Lens: See the last photographs of the abandoned Domino Sugar Factory

By
6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Paul Raphaelson takes us through the Domino Sugar Factory before its redevelopment got underway. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. The term "ruin porn" was born out of generations of street photographers venturing into neglected, decaying, and off-limits spaces, but today it's become more of a mainstream trend to fluff one's Instagram feed. So when Brooklyn-based artist Paul Raphaelson received the chance in 2013 to be the last photographer allowed into the then-abandoned Domino Sugar Factory, he knew he didn't want his project to simply "estheticize surfaces while ignoring the underlying history." His stunning photos of the 135-year-old structure still "capture the sublime sense of spectacle," but they also accompany archival maps, newspaper clippings, corporate documents, and even interviews with former Domino Sugar Factory employees, all of which come together in his new book "Brooklyn’s Sweet Ruin: Relics and Stories of the Domino Sugar Refinery." Raphaelson shared his stunning images with us and also shared his thoughts on "urban exploration," his process in compiling a comprehensive history of Domino, and his thoughts on the recently approved plans for the site.
See all Paul's photos
The Urban Lens: Jasper Leonard miniaturizes NYC in ‘New York Resized’
January 5, 2018

The Urban Lens: Jasper Leonard miniaturizes NYC in ‘New York Resized’

By
6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Jasper Leonard renders NYC in miniature in "New York Resized." Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Other than its apartments, New York City is not typically associated with the word "miniature," especially when it comes to the skyline. But Belgium-based photographer Jasper Leonard, who says he "feels the need to reshape the way reality is exposed," decided to turn this norm on its head with his photo series and newly released book "New York Resized." Employing a unique tilt-shift technique and climbing up to rooftops, bridges, observatories, and helicopters to take a total of 23,000 photos, Leonard created a birds-eye perspective of NYC in which cars become tiny blips among the streets and people fade away in places like Grand Central and Central Park.
Hear from Jasper and see his photo series
The Urban Lens: Abandonment and decay along the 1970s Greenwich Village waterfront

Abandoned buildings along the Christopher Street Pier. Ca. 1974. © Jack Dowling Collection for GVSHP.

December 29, 2017

The Urban Lens: Abandonment and decay along the 1970s Greenwich Village waterfront

By
6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation shares a collection of archival images by Jack Dowling that documents the crumbling piers of Greenwich Village in the 1970s. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. The fetid smell of rotted wood and the Hudson River nearly rises from these photos of the sorry state of Greenwich Village's collapsing piers in the 1970s. The contrast is stark between the neighborhood's disinvested, abandonment, pictured here, and its current culture of high rents and pricey coffee shops. Among New York City's main concerns when photographer Jack Dowling created, "Decay and Rebirth Along the Greenwich Village Waterfront in the 1970s," were its murder rate and the looming threat of bankruptcy when these photos have taken; the city as a whole has changed drastically in the decades since.
The visible difference from the present is astounding
The Urban Lens: How Temple Court went from an abandoned shell to a romantically restored landmark
December 22, 2017

The Urban Lens: How Temple Court went from an abandoned shell to a romantically restored landmark

By
In 1883, one of NYC's first skyscrapers opened at the corner of Nassau and Beekman Streets. Known as Temple Court, the nine-story red brick and terra cotta structure was designed in the Queen Anne style by architect James M. Farnworth to attract accountants and lawyers who needed to be close to the city's courthouses. Its most impressive feature was its central atrium that rises the full height and is topped by a large pyramid-shaped skylight and two rooftop turrets. In the 1940s, this romantic atrium was walled in from top to bottom, and by 2001, the last commercial tenant moved out, ultimately sending the building into disrepair, a crumbling shell open to the elements. Plans to restore Temple Court into The Beekman hotel and add an adjacent 51-story condominium tower first surfaced in 2008, but before work got underway in 2012, we were granted the rare opportunity to explore the architectural gem in its eerily beautiful derelict state. And now that guests are filling up the 287 hotel rooms, the main floor is buzzing with restaurants from restaurateurs Tom Colicchio and Keith McNally, and the atrium's skylight and Victorian cast iron railings and ornamentation have been restored, we went back in to document how this one-of-a-kind landmark has been restored.
See the before-and-after photos and learn about our experience
The Urban Lens: The Museum of the City of New York looks back at NYC ice skating over the centuries

Skaters at Sara D. Roosevelt Park, 1935. Courtesy New York City Parks Photo Archive

December 15, 2017

The Urban Lens: The Museum of the City of New York looks back at NYC ice skating over the centuries

By
6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, we take a look back at New York City's ice skating history just days before the Museum of the City of New York's "New York on Ice" exhibit opens to the public. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. There are few New York winter activities more iconic than ice skating. The rink, the blades, the gliding people attempting to balance – the elements of the pastime are minimal, and so the pictures of it over the centuries are not so very different despite the decades. On view this Wednesday through April 2018, the Museum of the City of New York will be hosting an exhibit titled "New York on Ice: Skating in the City" featuring many of the images below of ice skating in NYC from the 1800s to the present day. In addition to paintings, postcards, and vintage photographs, the exhibit will also showcase costumes, posters, and more.
See the collection
The Urban Lens: The surprising beauty of Sunset Park’s Sims Municipal Recycling Facility

All photographs © James and Karla Murray for 6sqft

December 11, 2017

The Urban Lens: The surprising beauty of Sunset Park’s Sims Municipal Recycling Facility

By
6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, we take a look at the inner workings of Sunset Park's Sims Municipal Recycling Facility, from trash heaps to machinery to a learning center. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. The beauty of trash is not often lauded, but out on the Brooklyn waterfront, at Sunset Park's Sims Municipal Recycling Facility, the process is oddly mesmerizing. En masse, the glass and plastic shards processed in the building's bowels become a disposable rainbow, the sharp shapes of residential recyclables a testament to the mesmerizing aesthetic of large-scale sustainability. Sims is located on the 11-acre 30th Street Pier, which also contains the city's first commercial-scale wind turbine. On Sims' second story is a recycling education center; surrounding its exterior are a number of nature-harboring reefs, moorings, and native plants; and on the roof is an observation deck. The plant sorts 800 tons of recyclables on 2.5 miles worth of conveyor belts and machines daily, the majority of NYC's "commingled curbside material," its site proudly purports. In total, the plant processes 200,000 tons of plastic, glass, and metal a year. Ahead, take a look at the Sims world, where trash is heaped so high it really does look like treasure if you squint.
Take a tour
The Urban Lens: From Bob Dylan to Jack Kerouac, see rare photos of the Village’s Beat Generation

© Estate of Fred W. McDarrah

December 7, 2017

The Urban Lens: From Bob Dylan to Jack Kerouac, see rare photos of the Village’s Beat Generation

By
Perhaps no single photographer could be said to have captured the energy, the cultural ferment, the reverberating social change emanating from New York City in the second half of the 20th century as vividly as Fred W. McDarrah. McDarrah got his start covering the downtown beat of the Village Voice in the 1950s and '60s, as that publication was defining a newly-emerged breed of independent journalism. McDarrah penetrated the lofts and coffeehouses of Lower Manhattan to shed light upon a new movement known as "The Beats" and went on to capture on film the New York artists, activists, politicians, and poets who changed the way everyone else thought and lived. Through the generosity of the Estate of Fred W. McDarrah and the McDarrah family, the Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation was fortunate enough to add to its digital archive a dozen of the most epochal of Fred McDarrah’s images of downtown icons, including Andy Warhol, Bob Dylan, Jane Jacobs, and Allen Ginsberg. And just in time for the holidays, you can purchase your own copy (with all proceeds benefitting GVSHP!).
Learn the story behind all the photos
The Urban Lens: Wayne Sorce’s vivid photos capture the spirit of 1970s and ’80s NYC

Dave’s Restaurant, New York, 1984. © Wayne Sorce courtesy of the Joseph Bellows Gallery

November 17, 2017

The Urban Lens: Wayne Sorce’s vivid photos capture the spirit of 1970s and ’80s NYC

By
6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, the Joseph Bellows Gallery shares the late Wayne Sorce's "Urban Color" series. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Chicago-born photographer Wayne Sorce began capturing the people and places of urban landscapes while at the Art Institute of Chicago in the 1960s. In the late '70s and early '80s he took large-scale color photos of his hometown and New York, capturing "a formal exactitude, the light, structures, and palette of these cities within a certain era," according to a press release from the Joseph Bellows Gallery in L.A. where this "Urban Color" series is currently on view. Not only do the vivid colors help express the spirit of the city at this time, but the way Sorce incorporates people exposes a unique energy in which they serve as "both inhabitants, as well as sculptural forms relating to a larger composed scene." From Manhattan barbershops and restaurants to the gritty, industrial streets of Vinegar Hill, Brooklyn, the photos transport the viewer to a bygone NYC.
See all of Sorce's photos here
The Urban Lens: ‘All the Queens Houses’ tells the story of NYC’s most diverse borough

Eclectic Row. Briarwood, NY. 2017. © Rafael Herrin-Ferri

November 3, 2017

The Urban Lens: ‘All the Queens Houses’ tells the story of NYC’s most diverse borough

By
6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Rafael Herrin-Ferri shares a portion of his photographic survey “All the Queens Houses.” Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Spanish-born architect, artist, and Sunnyside resident Rafael Herrin-Ferri began photographing Queens' low-rise housing stock back in 2012 after being struck by the borough's unique combination of attached and detached houses and small apartment buildings. Inspired by the fact that Queens is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse places in the world, Herrin-Ferri wanted to capture the "layers of culture and the blending of neighborhoods" through these eclectic houses. Fast forward five years and 5,000 photographs and his work is now the focus of an Architectural League of New York exhibit "All the Queens Houses," which features 273 snapshots of individual houses in as many as 34 neighborhoods. Ahead, see Rafael Herrin-Ferri's favorite of the bunch and hear from him on how he got into the project and why he loves Queens.
All that ahead
The Urban Lens: Remembering the darkness of Hurricane Sandy five years later
October 27, 2017

The Urban Lens: Remembering the darkness of Hurricane Sandy five years later

By
6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Orestes Gonzalez shares his series "Dark Sandy," photos he took five years ago when lower Manhattan lost power during Hurricane Sandy. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. "Never had I seen Manhattan in such darkness... I had to get over there and experience this dark phenomenon with my camera," says Orestes Gonzalez of his series of photographs taken the night Hurricane Sandy hit New York City. As we now approach the fifth anniversary of the Superstorm, the photos are a reminder of how far we've come, and in some cases, how much work still needs to be done. In fact, 20% of the 12,713 families who enrolled in the city's Build it Back program are still waiting for construction to wrap up or for a property buyout. But despite some of the post-storm issues, in the wake of the disaster, Orestes remembers the "sense of camaraderie" he experienced during those dark times, a trait that New Yorkers have come to be known for.
Hear from Orestes and see the full series
The Urban Lens: Go back to the ‘mean streets’ and urban decay of 1970s NYC

The corner of Broadway and 55th Street in 1970

October 13, 2017

The Urban Lens: Go back to the ‘mean streets’ and urban decay of 1970s NYC

By
6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Edward Grazda shares photos from the "mean streets" of 1970s and '80s NYC. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. When photographer Edward Grazda moved to New York in the early '70s, he was renting a loft on Bleecker Street for $250 a month during a time when the city was in a financial crisis, jobs were hard to come by, and places like the Bowery were facing a huge rise in homelessness. But it was also a time when a new generation of artists were beginning to move in. Instead of the tourist- and millionaire-filled streets we see today, 40 years ago they were teeming with energy. "I felt like there were many possibilities to be creative," Ed says. And with that in mind, he began shooting candids and random street scenes between personal projects in Latin American and Afghanistan. This work abroad taught him "how to make oneself invisible and blend in on the street." Just a few years ago, Ed rediscovered these black-and-white photos and noticed how different things are now, from the physical buildings to the absence of people reading newspapers. He decided to compile them into a book "Mean Streets: NYC 1970-1985," which was just released earlier this week and offers a rare look back "at that desolate era captured with the deliberate and elegant eye that propelled Grazda to further success."
See Edward's photos here
The Urban Lens: Documenting NYC’s vanishing ATMs

Outside the Lower East Side club Fat Baby

October 6, 2017

The Urban Lens: Documenting NYC’s vanishing ATMs

By
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, Ivan Kosnyrev shares photos from his Instagram series Unreliable ATM. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. We recently shared photographer's before-and-after photos of Tribeca, a project that helped him learn about the history and present evolution of his neighborhood. Having only moved to NYC three years ago from Moscow, Ivan uses his documentary photography as a way to get acclimated with his new home. And when he wants to go outside his home base, he often does so through the lens of his Instagram account Unreliable ATM, which documents the vanishing street ATM. Not only does this disappearance represent changing times and technologies, but it's a visual reminder of how the city is losing its small businesses and culture. Ahead, Ivan shares some of his favorite ATM photos and talks about his inspiration for the project.
All that, this way
The Urban Lens: Zach Gross layers current and historic views of Penn Station

6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, photographer Zach Gross presents his series “Penn Station.” Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected].

September 15, 2017

The Urban Lens: Zach Gross layers current and historic views of Penn Station

By
The original Penn Station, a Beaux-Arts masterpiece completed by McKim, Mead & White in 1910, evoked the kind of grandeur one would expect upon arriving in one of the greatest cities in the world, complete with a grand facade made of massive Corinthian columns and a 15-story waiting room with a steel and glass roof. This structure was demolished in 1964 and replaced with our present version, lacking any of the architectural merit or civic design of its predecessor. But recent years have sparked a renewed interest in transforming the station into an updated and better functional transit hub, falling under a $1.6 billion plan from Governor Cuomo. Well aware of both the history and future of Penn Station, photographer Zach Gross recently completed a unique series that layers historic imagery of the site with contemporary photos. He feels that, though the station is currently dysfunctional, "there’s still hope for a grand, more unified and uplifting structure," and it's this hopeful sentiment that shines through in his work.
Hear more from Zach and see his photo series
The Urban Lens: Ash Thayer’s poignant photographs of ’90s Lower East Side squatters
September 8, 2017

The Urban Lens: Ash Thayer’s poignant photographs of ’90s Lower East Side squatters

By
6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Ash Thayer shares intimate punk portraits of Lower East Side squatters from the 1990s. The photos are part of her collection "KILL CITY," which was recently compiled into a book and published under the same name. These days it's difficult to think of the Lower East Side as much more than a destination for bar hopping, rapidly rising rents, and general raucousness, but not that long ago the neighborhood was a place pulsating with community, character, and openness to all walks: including squatters. One such squatter who found solace in this once distinct downtown enclave was photographer Ash Thayer who came to the city in the early '90s to enroll at the School of Visual Arts, but after a series of misfortunes (e.g. a shady landlord who stole her security deposit) found herself homeless. Thayer, however, had always had an affinity with the counterculture community and it didn't take long for the kids of NYC's punk scene to lend her a hand. In 1992, she joined the See Skwat, one of several squats she'd ultimately spend eight years living in and documenting. Ahead, Thayer shares some of her emotional photography from her time at See Skwat, and she speaks to 6sqft about her experience living in what she describes as an "important piece of the unknown history of New York."
more photos inside the squats and of those who lived in them
The Urban Lens: ‘Fifth Avenuers’ is a visual registry of the iconic street’s vibrancy and diversity

Photos © Nei Valente

August 25, 2017

The Urban Lens: ‘Fifth Avenuers’ is a visual registry of the iconic street’s vibrancy and diversity

By
6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment Brazilian designer and street photographer Nei Valente presents his series "Fifth Avenuers." Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Fifth Avenue: the street that divides Manhattan east to west; home to many of the world's most prestigious museums and famous buildings; high-end shopping destination; the road to Central Park; office district. There's no one way to describe the thoroughfare, nor is there one type of person associated with it. It's this vibrancy that branding designer and street photographer Nei Valente set out to capture in his new series "Fifth Avenuers." Over several months, Nei used his lunch breaks to capture "the unusual mix of tourists, blue- and white-collar professionals, and shoppers," creating "a visual registry of people and moments from one of the most iconic avenues in the world." His editorial style and candid technique is not dissimilar from that in "Newsstands," in which he documented the changing face of newsstands around the city. Ahead, Nei shares all his photos from "Fifth Avenuers" and fills us in on what went on behind the scenes.
Get it all right here
The Urban Lens: Fantastical photo manipulations reimagine Central Park and its surroundings

Image © Dionisio González

August 11, 2017

The Urban Lens: Fantastical photo manipulations reimagine Central Park and its surroundings

By
6sqft’s series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or a place within New York City. In this installment, Spanish artist Dionisio González presents two series of digital photos showcasing Central Park. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Architect and photographer Dionisio González has made a name for himself with his surrealist photo manipulations, which typically combine existing buildings and urban spaces with digitally drawn structures and landscapes. His latest two series take on Central Park and how the city's giant "void" relates to its surrounding skyscrapers. In his "Thinking Central Park" series, González fills the space with futuristic shelters. Conversely, in the black-and-white series "Dialectical Landscape" he adds empty spaces as aerial extensions of the park for recreation and transportation.
See them all right here
The Urban Lens: Documenting the change in Tribeca from the early 1900s to present day
August 4, 2017

The Urban Lens: Documenting the change in Tribeca from the early 1900s to present day

By
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, Ivan Kosnyrev shares before-and-after photos of Tribeca. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. When Ivan Kosnyrev and his partner moved to Tribeca from Russia three years ago, they knew no one. To get themselves acclimated with their new home, they decided their first "friend" should be the city itself. Ivan, a philosopher by education and IT manager by profession, immersed himself in New York City guide books and blogs, getting so well versed that he eventually began giving his friends informal walking tours of the area. And when he discovered the New York Public Library's OldNYC collection, an interactive map with photos from the 1870s through the 1970s, he decided to embark on a project that he could share with even more people. After selecting a group of archival Tribeca images, he went out and took present-day snapshots of the same locations, providing a neighborhood-specific view of just how much NYC has changed (and in some cases, hasn't!) over the past 100 years.
READ MORE
The Urban Lens: Niv Rozenberg’s graphic images highlight Bushwick’s diverse housing
July 28, 2017

The Urban Lens: Niv Rozenberg’s graphic images highlight Bushwick’s diverse housing

By
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, photographer Niv Rozenberg shares his series "Boswijck," an artistic depiction of Bushwick's houses. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Originally from Israel, Niv Rozenberg has been living in Bushwick for the past couple years. During this time, he became fascinated by the neighborhood's colorful homes. Taking a literal and figurative approach to "colorful," he set out to showcase Bushwick's architectural and cultural diversity. While doing some research for the project, he learned that the original 17th-century Dutch name for the area was Boswijck, meaning "little town in the woods." Choosing this as his series title, he then juxtaposed the historic moniker by visually isolating each building and employing Pantone colors to turn them and their backgrounds into graphic images.
Hear from Niv and see all his images
Explore the history of human communication through 100 Barclay’s ceiling murals
July 27, 2017

Explore the history of human communication through 100 Barclay’s ceiling murals

By
This post has been sponsored by 100 Barclay. To learn more about available condos or to schedule a tour, visit the official 100 Barclay website. Much attention has been given to the landmarked 100 Barclay as of late thanks to a recent redevelopment of the upper floors into luxury apartments by Magnum Real Estate Group and the CIM Group. The full-block building, which sits on a site at the southern edge of Tribeca and just off the Hudson River waterfront, was originally constructed between 1923 and 1927 as the headquarters of the New York Telephone Company. Then known as the Barclay-Vesey Building (also the New York Telephone Building), the tower was the world's first Art Deco skyscraper, designed by a young Ralph Walker while he was just an associate at McKenzie Voorhees & Gmelin. Walker's design provided not only a launching pad for his own career (he soon after became a partner in his firm and later went on to become one of the country’s most esteemed architects) but the Barclay-Vesey would provide inspiration for many of New York's future skyscrapers.
explore the murals here
The Urban Lens: Tour the grimy and crime-ridden subway of 1981
July 14, 2017

The Urban Lens: Tour the grimy and crime-ridden subway of 1981

By
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 the NYC subway in 1981. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. Grim, gritty, grimy--these are just a few of the adjectives one could use to describe New York City in the 1980s. Homicide rates were at near-record highs, the crack epidemic had exploded, the police force had dwindled after the recession, and government mismanagement left the city on the brink of bankruptcy. At the time, a 22-year-old photographer from Florida named Christopher Morris was interning at the photo agency Black Star. According to TIME, he saw the graffiti-covered subway, dark, dank, and dangerous, as a battleground that "proved an opportunity to work on something of a domestic front line." Now an award-winning photojournalist, Morris recently rediscovered this set of shots that he took over six months in 1981, during which time he devoted himself to this unique, seedy underworld.
See his photo series ahead
The Urban Lens: Vintage NYC photos show everyday life in the 1940s
July 7, 2017

The Urban Lens: Vintage NYC photos show everyday life in the 1940s

By
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 NYC 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]. The 1940s were marked with both dark times and bright hopes. Nightly dim-outs, meant to both conserve energy and hide the skyline from possible WWII air and naval attacks, were a regular occurrence; police scuffled with citizens over race riots in Harlem and the AFL Strike on Wall Street; and President Roosevelt died. But towards the end of the decade, New Yorkers and the nation celebrated the end of the War; Times Square and Coney Island drew record crowds; and retail venues like the Fulton Fish Market and Orchard Street reached their height. Ahead, this collection of vintage photos showcases what everyday life was like in NYC in the 1940s, from the good times to the bad.
See all the photos here
The Urban Lens: Flora Borsi superimposes refused Ellis Island immigrants against modern NYC scenes
June 30, 2017

The Urban Lens: Flora Borsi superimposes refused Ellis Island immigrants against modern NYC scenes

By
6sqft’s ongoing series The Urban Lens invites photographers to share work exploring a theme or place within New York City. In this installment, photographer Flora Borsi presents a timely series on immigration. Are you a photographer who’d like to see your work featured on The Urban Lens? Get in touch with us at [email protected]. With Trump's "anti-terror" travel ban having gone into effect Thursday night, 6sqft couldn't think of a better time to share Hungarian photographer Flora Borsi's thought-provoking "Forgotten Dream." Following a 2016 trip to Ellis Island, Borsi was moved and disturbed by the island that for decades provided a gateway for millions of immigrants to the United States, and a deathbed for another several thousand who were denied passage because of disease, mental instability, or a lack saleable skills, among other things. With a desire to commemorate the 3,500 people who died in search of a better life, Borsi scoured historical archives for photos of real immigrants who arrived at Ellis Island around the 1900s. Because the images were originally black and white and sometimes faded, Borsi added color and superimposed them against modern New York City scenes to connect them to present day. By bringing these forgotten immigrants into the city, she says "In this way, their dream came true."
see more from Borsi's series here
The Urban Lens: Artist and food writer John Donohue is drawing every restaurant in NYC
June 23, 2017

The Urban Lens: Artist and food writer John Donohue is drawing every restaurant in NYC

By
Former New Yorker editor, artist, and food writer John Donohue is on a mission not to eat at every restaurant in New York City, but to draw them. He describes his project, Every Restaurant in New York as "an ongoing visual compendium of the city’s eateries," and as "intentionally hyperbolic." He's figured out that by spending 20 minutes on each illustration, it's mathematically possible to visit all 24,000 restaurants in the city in under a year. To date, he's drawn nearly 200 restaurants, has an exhibit up of his drawings in Park Slope, and is selling prints of the restaurants (a portion of the proceeds from which he'll donate to hunger-relief organizations). Ahead, John shares a collection of his drawings, from classic New York restaurants like Katz's and the Grand Central Oyster Bar to new spots like Shake Shack and Carbone, and tells us how he got started on the project, about his process, and why he thinks drawing is good for the mind.
See John's drawings ahead
Pitch a story icon

Pitch a Story

We love to hear from you!

"*" indicates required fields

Interested in seeing the property in person?

It’s free, with no obligation.

CityRealty Logo

"*" indicates required fields

or Call (212) 755-5544

Interested in seeing the property in person?

It’s free, with no obligation.

CityRealty Logo

Distinctive Post Form

"*" indicates required fields

or Call (212) 755-5544
Contact us image

Get in Touch

We love to hear from you!

"*" indicates required fields

Send us a tip image
Delivering New York stories focused on design, lifestyle & real estate.

Send us a Tip

We love to hear from you!

"*" indicates required fields

Interesting in learning more about purchasing a new home?

Let us know what you are looking for and we’ll help you find the home of your dreams. It’s free, with no obligation.

CityRealty Logo
or Call (212) 755-5544

Thinking about selling your home?

We’ll provide current market comps and connect you with a trusted expert.

CityRealty Logo

Sell a Home (Footer)

"*" indicates required fields

or Call (212) 755-5544

Before You Move On
from this Page.

Subscribe for NYC's Lastest Design, Lifestyle,
and Real Estate Trends!

No Worries. We Don’t Spam.

By providing your email address, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
You can unsubscribe at any time.

Your Daily Dose
of NYC Life!

No Worries. We Don’t Spam.

By providing your email address, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
You can unsubscribe at any time.