tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-51457132314282686632024-03-13T23:10:01.156-04:00NYC Circanyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.comBlogger81125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-40583430831827235672015-10-08T12:53:00.000-04:002015-10-08T12:53:14.201-04:00Tammany on 33rd Street<br />
A short distance from <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2015/08/gentleman-jim-corbetts-on-33rd-street.html">Corbett's</a>, on 33rd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, in an inconspicuous townhouse, was one of the city's most notorious gambling halls, the House with the Bronze Door. With lavish interiors designed by Stanford White of McKim, Mead and White, and an entrance fortified by a reclaimed 15th century bronze door, the House kept the wealthy in, and unsympathetic lawmakers out. (There were plenty of sympathetic lawmakers at the poker tables too.)<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B59QMbutFoo/VhV1Qfw5_8I/AAAAAAAAA-0/s4QQEV1SmSw/s1600/03---Cards---nd---LOC---LC-DIG-ggbain-33888---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-B59QMbutFoo/VhV1Qfw5_8I/AAAAAAAAA-0/s4QQEV1SmSw/s1600/03---Cards---nd---LOC---LC-DIG-ggbain-33888---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Men playing cards c. 1900. Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/item/ggb2006009301/">LOC</a></td></tr>
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Players won big and lost bigger in the House's gaming rooms, which included roulette, poker, baccarat. In case of raids, guests could escape through a secret route via an adjoining building. Owner Frank Farrell used the profits from the House with the Bronze Door to fund over 200 other illegal gambling dens throughout the city. He also used the profits to bribe members of law enforcement, most of who belonged to the Tammany Society, a corrupt political machine that controlled city and state politics for decades.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ki0AsIMwbsA/VhVzob1TueI/AAAAAAAAA-g/5NAfHdg0He8/s1600/08---Devery---1901---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ki0AsIMwbsA/VhVzob1TueI/AAAAAAAAA-g/5NAfHdg0He8/s1600/08---Devery---1901---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Harper's Weekly </i>cartoon by William A. Rogers showing NYC Chief of Police "Big Bill" Devery collecting "taxes". Image and further explanation: <a href="http://www.harpweek.com/09Cartoon/BrowseByDateCartoon.asp?Month=September&Date=6">Harp Week</a></td></tr>
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Members of the Tammany Society were widely known to accept and require bribes and selectively enforce laws. Public approval of the organization fluctuated, though its powerlessness in the face of Tammany was recognized by several media outlets. With low rates of literacy, satirical cartoons reached a much wider audience than written diatribes could. It was a winning hand, and they accomplished in part, what Tammany feared the most, exposure to, and criticism from, the public. One of the most notable cartoonists was Thomas Nast of <i>Harper's Weekly</i>. Throughout his years at the paper, he produced a huge number of sardonic cartoons for the heavily circulated weekly, often showing Tammany as an irate tiger destroying everything in its path.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aKlfKhdYqSk/VhVzhgZSZwI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/NfsDk4i0Nxg/s1600/04---Tammany-Tiger---1871-11-11---Harpers-Weekly---Thomas-Nast---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-aKlfKhdYqSk/VhVzhgZSZwI/AAAAAAAAA-Q/NfsDk4i0Nxg/s1600/04---Tammany-Tiger---1871-11-11---Harpers-Weekly---Thomas-Nast---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Harper's Weekly</i> cartoon by Thomas Nast, November 11, 1897 showing Tammany tiger mauling democracy (depicted as Columbia with a crushed ballot box by her side) in a Roman Colosseum as Boss Tweed cheers from the stands. Image: <a href="http://cartoons.osu.edu/">OSU</a></td></tr>
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Reformists, such Reverend Charles C. Parkhurst and <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2012/07/jerry-mcauleys-helping-hands.html">Jerry McAuley</a> played huge roles in publicizing Tammany's wrongs through well-attended sermons. In 1891 Reverend Parkhurst inaugurated a campaign against Tammany Hall. He gave sermons throughout the city denouncing public officials, and made it his personal mission to shut down all gambling halls. The effort eventually succeeded with the closure of several gaming rooms throughout the city, including the House with the Bronze Door in 1908. The defeat was celebrated in person and in print, though the Tammany Society would continue to operate in some form or other for several more decades.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qKviiEdtHdw/VhVzosKcF3I/AAAAAAAAA-o/mwmqnM47HTo/s1600/10---In-at-the-Death---Puck---LOC---1894-11-07---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-qKviiEdtHdw/VhVzosKcF3I/AAAAAAAAA-o/mwmqnM47HTo/s1600/10---In-at-the-Death---Puck---LOC---1894-11-07---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Reverend Charles C. Parkhurst enjoys a brief victory over Tammany in this cartoon by J.S. Pughe, printed in an 1894 edition of <i>Puck. </i>Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/item/2012648671/">LOC</a></td></tr>
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<u>Further Reading:</u><br />
1. Dash, Mike. <i>Satan's Circus: Murder, Vice, Police Corruption, and New York's Trial of the Century</i><br />
2. Halloran, Fiona Deans. <i>Thomas Nast: The Father of Modern Political Cartoons</i><br />
3. Gilfoyle, Timothy. <i>A Pickpocket's Tale</i><br />
4. <!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<br />nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-17989963171000194292015-08-14T13:50:00.001-04:002015-08-14T13:50:57.321-04:00"Gentleman Jim" Corbett's on 33rd Street<i>This post also appears on <a href="http://www.fashionherald.org/">Fashion Herald.</a></i><br />
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James "Gentleman Jim" Corbett was the heavyweight boxing champion in 1892. He won the title in the 21st round of a fight with the (so far) undefeated John L. Sullivan. Boxing was still illegal in most U.S. states in the late 1800s; New York State didn't legalize it until 1896, and it wasn't made an Olympic sport until 1904.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J67jUUeAAn4/VcPKB2pgm_I/AAAAAAAAA9E/m1QOuhg7D6Q/s1600/J-Corbett---1910-01-29---LOC-LC-USZ62-71756---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J67jUUeAAn4/VcPKB2pgm_I/AAAAAAAAA9E/m1QOuhg7D6Q/s1600/J-Corbett---1910-01-29---LOC-LC-USZ62-71756---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">James "Gentleman Jim" Corbett, 1910. Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/search/?in=&q=LC-USZ62-71756&new=true">LOC</a></td></tr>
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Corbett legitimized the sport for many by bringing grace and style to the ring. This, along with sharp dressing and a rumored college education earned him the nickname "Gentleman Jim." He followed his career in boxing with a successful one in stage acting. Sometime in the late 1800s he opened a cafe on Broadway, just north of 33rd Street, and named it Corbett's.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-05j4RQOI59Q/VcPKZK9S_rI/AAAAAAAAA9k/XpLhUipFs9I/s1600/09---Corbett%2527s---Sixth-Ave-and-33rd-Street-1900---MCNY---High-Res---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-05j4RQOI59Q/VcPKZK9S_rI/AAAAAAAAA9k/XpLhUipFs9I/s1600/09---Corbett%2527s---Sixth-Ave-and-33rd-Street-1900---MCNY---High-Res---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Corbett's on Broadway and 33rd Street looking north, 1900. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=24UAYWF0VOBV&SMLS=1&RW=1618&RH=907">MCNY</a></td></tr>
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Corbett's fit in well in the neighborhood, then an area full of restaurants, bars, and smaller theaters. Actors and publishers were known to drop by, and it was conveniently located near the elevated Sixth Avenue train. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QYXXr5GrS58/VcPKYZ04oGI/AAAAAAAAA9g/EwoYxX7sihk/s1600/07---Sixth-Ave-and-Broadway---%255B1901%255D---NYPL-709430f---Large---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-QYXXr5GrS58/VcPKYZ04oGI/AAAAAAAAA9g/EwoYxX7sihk/s1600/07---Sixth-Ave-and-Broadway---%255B1901%255D---NYPL-709430f---Large---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">34th Street, where Sixth Avenue and Broadway meet, with the Corbett's sign on the left, 1901. Image: <a href="http://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/510d47dc-ea4d-a3d9-e040-e00a18064a99">NYPL</a></td></tr>
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The turn of the century brought big retail to the area, and many of the buildings in the neighborhood were razed to make way for large department stores. Andrew Saks bought the properties on the corner of 34th Street where Sixth Avenue and Broadway meet, including the Corbett's building. Saks built his <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2013/05/saks-and-gimbels-on-sixth.html">34th Street flagship</a> store on that corner in 1901. Gimbels followed one block south with a store in 1910, and in the late 1930s, the elevated train went underground.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XkVWmgHOusw/VcPKY5GzKcI/AAAAAAAAA9o/8v1_vBGiYQs/s1600/06---MNY247023---1951-06-01---Large---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XkVWmgHOusw/VcPKY5GzKcI/AAAAAAAAA9o/8v1_vBGiYQs/s1600/06---MNY247023---1951-06-01---Large---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saks 34th Street, 1955. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=24UAYWF0VKUH&SMLS=1&RW=1618&RH=907">MCNY</a></td></tr>
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Though the 34th district is populated with plenty of bars and restaurants, retail still dominates the streetscape. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PWOujhikDfE/VcPKY0RexJI/AAAAAAAAA9s/3Gjtfa0HvBk/s1600/05---16C---Sixth-and-Broadway---Facade-Views---2015-06-10---AK-%252822%2529---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-PWOujhikDfE/VcPKY0RexJI/AAAAAAAAA9s/3Gjtfa0HvBk/s1600/05---16C---Sixth-and-Broadway---Facade-Views---2015-06-10---AK-%252822%2529---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">34th at Broadway, 2015. Image: 34SP, Anne Kumer</td></tr>
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<br />nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-83955781964279718372015-03-10T12:42:00.000-04:002015-03-11T10:00:40.714-04:00The Queen of StaccatoLuisa Tetrazzini, also known as the Queen of Staccato, was a Coloratura soprano, famous for her vocal range and flexibility. She achieved the kind of International fame that only seems available to pop stars today, and performed regularly in Europe and the United States from the 1890s into the 1920s. The Library of Congress has several recordings of her <a href="http://www.loc.gov/jukebox/artists/detail/id/1148/">here</a>. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AlRUWJdow60/VP3dN91WXxI/AAAAAAAAA8U/YVhO8dAFZds/s1600/Tetrazzini---1911---LOC---LC-USZ62-54144---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AlRUWJdow60/VP3dN91WXxI/AAAAAAAAA8U/YVhO8dAFZds/s1600/Tetrazzini---1911---LOC---LC-USZ62-54144---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Luisa Tetrazzini, c. February 16, 1911. Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2006677756/">LOC</a></td></tr>
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In 1908 Tetrazzini signed a five-year contract with Oscar Hammerstein to sing at The Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. Just a few years into this contract, they had a dispute over money and venues. He wanted her to sing in New York; she loved, missed, and was eager to return to San Francisco. Her response was truly Bay Area: she took to the streets, and on Christmas Eve, 1910, gave a free concert at the corner of Market and Kearney, near Lotta's Fountain. The city and its citizens, still recovering from the damage caused by the 1906 earthquake, were grateful, and showed their support in numbers.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nmvEj1wBdWU/VPY1XlgDOkI/AAAAAAAAA70/ENgmicwgl1I/s1600/Tetrazzini-in-SF---Chronicle-bldg---1910-12-24---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-nmvEj1wBdWU/VPY1XlgDOkI/AAAAAAAAA70/ENgmicwgl1I/s1600/Tetrazzini-in-SF---Chronicle-bldg---1910-12-24---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tetrazzini's SF street show, Christmas Eve, 1910. Image <a href="http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Luisa-Tetrazzini-s-gift-ends-S-F-era-on-high-note-2452300.php#photo-2012447">via</a></td></tr>
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Back in New York, Tetrazzini performed at the <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2013/04/plunging-horses-and-vanishing-elephants.html">Hippodrome</a> on Sixth Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets numerous times throughout her career and was one of the most popular performers in the city.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IVzOGjNCaQE/VPS_Z3EGi-I/AAAAAAAAA7Q/YhsmPzfT3W8/s1600/Tetrazzini-ticket-line---1900---LOC---LC-DIG-ggbain-30024---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IVzOGjNCaQE/VPS_Z3EGi-I/AAAAAAAAA7Q/YhsmPzfT3W8/s1600/Tetrazzini-ticket-line---1900---LOC---LC-DIG-ggbain-30024---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ticket line for a Tetrazzini concert at the Hippodrome, 1919. Image: LOC</td></tr>
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She also lived in the <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2013/01/happy-100th-birthday-mcalpin-hotel.html">Hotel McAlpin</a> (now <a href="http://www.heraldtowers.com/">Herald Towers</a>).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sjXqp8puRME/VP4GZTLW9EI/AAAAAAAAA8k/KYZ7KAc6zCs/s1600/06---M2Y9269---McAlpin---1921--WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-sjXqp8puRME/VP4GZTLW9EI/AAAAAAAAA8k/KYZ7KAc6zCs/s1600/06---M2Y9269---McAlpin---1921--WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broadway, looking south with the Hotel McAlpin on the right, 1921. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult&VBID=24UAYWCM6LT0&SMLS=1&RW=1226&RH=836#/SearchResult&VBID=24UAYWCM6LT0&SMLS=1&RW=1226&RH=836&PN=3">MCNY</a> </td></tr>
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On December 3, 1920 Tetrazzini <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=2phOAQAAIAAJ&pg=RA4-PA9&lpg=RA4-PA9&dq=Tetrazzini+McAlpin&source=bl&ots=GlxCPmwhAM&sig=WxZj0w382MHeBwSWYGkINaKdL3Y&hl=en&sa=X&ei=ofz1VMWyC4yayASyk4KgCQ&ved=0CEIQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q&f=false">gave a recital</a> via "radio telephone" from her room at the McAlpin. Arranged by Army Signal Corps, it was the first attempt to provide long distance entertainment to troops deployed overseas and aboard naval ships. Her voice was heard by hundreds on ships in port and at sea within 400 miles of New York City. As a thank you, Private Fred Bennett of Fort Wood, Staten Island, stationed aboard one of the ships, sang "A Tumble Down Shack in Athlone" back over the airwaves to Tetrazzini. <br />
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On Christmas Day of that same year, she gave another meaningful performance at the McAlpin, this time as Mrs. Santa Claus to the hotel's visiting and permanent resident children.<br />
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In addition to being a famed musician, she was the namesake for the dish <a href="http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/us/definition/american_english/Tetrazzini">Chicken Tetrazzini</a>. There are varying accounts as to the <a href="http://www.sfcityguides.org/public_guidelines.html?article=346&submitted=TRUE&srch_text=&submitted2=&topic=Food">origin</a> of the recipe, but all can agree that it was named after and inspired by Tetrazzini. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Beard">James Beard</a> attributes the recipe to chef Ernest Aborgast at The Plaza Hotel in San Francisco; I'm tempted to believe him just because of my undying love for <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Beard-On-Bread-James/dp/0679755047">this</a> book.<br />
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Louis Paquet, chef de cuisine of the Hotel McAlpin <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9405E1D7173AE532A25757C1A9679D946195D6CF">won</a> four prizes in the 1920 Hotel Men's Exposition at the Grand Central
Palace. Around this time, Tetrazzini also gave him her recipe for Spaghetti Tetrazzini, a dish that remained on the McAlpin menu for several years.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ypLjrCJYBKY/VPZANhIrq3I/AAAAAAAAA8E/RuRINo1gfKY/s1600/Tetrazzini---Caruso---1914---LOC---LC-USZ62-93546---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ypLjrCJYBKY/VPZANhIrq3I/AAAAAAAAA8E/RuRINo1gfKY/s1600/Tetrazzini---Caruso---1914---LOC---LC-USZ62-93546---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Enrique Caruso, Luisa Tetrazzini, two men, Nipper the dog, 1914. Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/93510801/">LOC</a></td></tr>
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Here is Luisa singing along with a recording of Caruso. It's the only surviving film footage of her, and twas taken upon her retirement in 1932. At 62, and following a prolific performing career, her voice is still as strong as ever, and her laugh at the end is delightful.<br />
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nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-9749153524168241912015-02-11T10:59:00.001-05:002015-02-11T10:59:28.136-05:00Liberty CornerThe Broadway Tabernacle Church was formed as a pulpit for the reformist preacher <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Grandison_Finney">Charles Grandison Finney</a> in the mid-1830s. Finney was an advocate of social reform, primarily equal education for all people regardless of race or gender, as well as a proponent of the growing abolition movement. The church auditorium was one of the city's largest public halls, and hosted rallies, scientific demonstrations, and lectures, as well as sermons.<br />
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In 1842 noted geologist Sir Charles Lyell gave a series of lectures on <a href="http://evolution.berkeley.edu/evolibrary/article/history_12">Uniformitarianism</a>, the then groundbreaking theory that the earth is developed and shaped by slow moving forces still in effect. Two years later, the church hosted the first public demonstration of nitrous oxide used as an anesthetic.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0flUuN3CZag/VNqBP-PW7OI/AAAAAAAAA6Q/M2vIFgiQwIo/s1600/B%2BTab%2B-%2BF%2BPalmer%2B-%2B1850%2B-%2BNYPL%2B-%2BLarge%2B-%2BWEB.tif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0flUuN3CZag/VNqBP-PW7OI/AAAAAAAAA6Q/M2vIFgiQwIo/s1600/B%2BTab%2B-%2BF%2BPalmer%2B-%2B1850%2B-%2BNYPL%2B-%2BLarge%2B-%2BWEB.tif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broadway Tabernacle auditorium at Worth Street and Broadway, 1850. Image: <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=165659&imageID=em11603&word=Broadway%20Tabernacle%20church&s=1&notword=&d=&c=&f=&k=1&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&sort=&total=4&num=0&imgs=20&pNum=&pos=1">NYPL</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
For its many community functions, the Tabernacle was best known (and hated by some) for supporting the abolition and women's rights movements. Angry mobs attempted to burn down the church during construction, and at times the lives of its preachers and congregants were put at risk. Women's suffragette and activist Sojourner Truth famously spoke at the Women's Rights Convention in 1853 held at the Tabernacle. Boos, hisses, and protests were so raucous that the convention earned the nickname The Mob Convention of 1853. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hqKbekueoGE/VNqBdD6ZCnI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/rHl4Ul0d3Jw/s1600/Sojourner-Truch---1864---LOC---LC-USZ62-119343---Large---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-hqKbekueoGE/VNqBdD6ZCnI/AAAAAAAAA6Y/rHl4Ul0d3Jw/s1600/Sojourner-Truch---1864---LOC---LC-USZ62-119343---Large---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sojourner Truth, 1864. Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/97513239/">LOC</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Frederick Douglass along with William Lloyd Garrsion spoke at the church several times before it moved again, this time to 34th Street where Broadway and Sixth Avenue meet. By then, the church was known as Liberty Corner for its commitment as " . . . a center for every good cause, civic or religious, that needed
rallying," <i>The Literary Digest</i>, 1905-01-07.Pastor Joseph Parrish Thompson gave frequent anti-slavery sermons, invited black preachers to the pulpit, and with other members of the church, founded <i>The Independent</i>, a weekly anti-slavery newspaper. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AJn4MZX2gdA/VNqBrdl4WEI/AAAAAAAAA6o/cLuD7Cm_r0o/s1600/B-Tab---%5B1900%5D---NYPL-709433f---Large---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AJn4MZX2gdA/VNqBrdl4WEI/AAAAAAAAA6o/cLuD7Cm_r0o/s1600/B-Tab---%5B1900%5D---NYPL-709433f---Large---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NE Corner of Sixth Avenue and 34th Street showing the Broadway Tabernacle Church [1900], Image: <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=399224&imageID=709433f&word=709433f&s=1&notword=&d=&c=&f=&k=1&lWord=&lField=&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&sort=&total=1&num=0&imgs=20&pNum=&pos=1">NYPL</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Pastor Thompson resigned in 1871, and soon after, William MacKergo Taylor took over pastoral duties. Taylor put an emphasis on missionary work, and advanced the rights of female congregants by giving laywomen the right to vote within the church. He also established Bethany Church on 33rd Street and Tenth Avenue, a mission church that was operable into the 1920s. <br />
<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I-SIRuiDNig/VNqBzBFiI2I/AAAAAAAAA6w/Qlggz9sE4X8/s1600/BroadwayTab1900Int---Ferris-and-Stuart---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-I-SIRuiDNig/VNqBzBFiI2I/AAAAAAAAA6w/Qlggz9sE4X8/s1600/BroadwayTab1900Int---Ferris-and-Stuart---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Broadway Tabernacle Church interior with a Ferris & Stuart organ, 34th Street, 1859. Image: <a href="http://www.nycago.org/organs/nyc/html/broadwayucc.html">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In 1901, the church and congregation <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994020583/pp/">moved</a> to 57th Street and Broadway, and then later, again, this time to its present location at 93rd Street and Broadway. It is now called the <a href="http://broadwayucc.org/">Broadway United Church of Christ</a>. In its place, at the NE corner of 34th Street and Broadway, the Marbridge building, an office building with retail space was built. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wIG2p4pGQ1E/VNqB6eLJKnI/AAAAAAAAA64/BcQOIzSfERw/s1600/Marbridge-Bldg-Herald-Square-Broadway-and-34th-Street---NYPL-1557908---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wIG2p4pGQ1E/VNqB6eLJKnI/AAAAAAAAA64/BcQOIzSfERw/s1600/Marbridge-Bldg-Herald-Square-Broadway-and-34th-Street---NYPL-1557908---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Marbridge Building, 1941. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/Collection/1328-Broadway.-Street-view-with-Marbridge-building.-2F3XC52H017.html">MCNY</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<br />
<u>Other Sources:</u><br />
1. Sir Charles Lyell, <a href="https://archive.org/details/ldpd_10799417_000"><i>Eight Lectures on Geology</i></a> <br />
2. Library of Congress, <i>Sojourner Truth <a href="http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/truth/">online resources</a></i><br />
3. Ward, Susan Hayes. <i><a href="https://archive.org/details/historyofbroadwa00ward">The History of Broadway Tabernacle Church</a>, </i>1901<br />
4. Judd, Lewis Strong. <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=noQsAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA29&lpg=PA29&dq=A+brief+narrative+of+the+history+of+broadway+tabernacle+church&source=bl&ots=q9xzUvg-UU&sig=ui1NT71eyHGiNwU98YQSIgzIPmQ&hl=en&sa=X&ei=l4lSVJXnINGUyATL8YDoDg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=A%20brief%20narrative%20of%20the%20history%20of%20broadway%20tabernacle%20church&f=false"><i>The Broadway Tabernacle Church, 1901-1915</i></a>nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-59077297340311351042014-10-23T15:00:00.000-04:002015-03-05T10:05:39.204-05:00Valley of AshesThe town of Flushing was founded in 1645. The area -- located in Queens between Long Island and New York City -- was a
tidal basin and estuary, as well as the bridge between two different ecosystems: aquatic and
terrestrial. It was cultivated by farmers who harvested crops of
hay, salt, and shellfish for over two centuries. <br />
<br />
In 1909, officials in Tammany Hall gave a man
named John “Fishhooks” A. McCarthy permission to <a href="http://members.trainweb.com/bedt/indloco/barc.html">use</a> the site as a
dumping ground for ashes retrieved from Brooklyn’s coal-burning furnaces
via his company Brooklyn Ash Removal. (His nickname comes from his alleged “<span style="background: white; color: black;">habit of thrusting his fists immutably
into his pockets at the first sighting of any due bill.” (<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/27/nyregion/27fairs.html?pagewanted=print&position=&_r=1&"><i>NYT</i></a>)</span> <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K_JcmnHXeho/VEaslmWUGdI/AAAAAAAAA5U/2RJOEJFkwX4/s1600/Corona-Ash-Dump---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-K_JcmnHXeho/VEaslmWUGdI/AAAAAAAAA5U/2RJOEJFkwX4/s1600/Corona-Ash-Dump---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Corona Ash Dump. Image <a href="http://macaulay.cuny.edu/eportfolios/munshisouth10/group-projects/flushingmeadows/corona-ash-dump/">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
By the 1920s the area had been transformed into a giant ash dump, and in 1925, served as one of F. Scott Fitzgerald's most poignant landscapes in <u>The Great Gatsby</u>: <br />
<br />
"About half way between West Egg and New York the motorway hastily joins the railroad<br />
and runs beside it for a quarter of a mile, so as to shrink away from a certain desolate area of<br />
land. This is a valley of ashes -- a fantastic farm where ashes grow like wheat into ridges and<br />
hills and grotesque gardens; where ashes take the forms of houses and chimneys and rising<br />
smoke and, finally, with a transcendent effort, of men who move dimly and already crumbling<br />
through the powdery air."<br />
<br />
Poverty is cultivated in Fitzgerald's valley of ashes where a steady stream of residents and workers, each covered in the rest of the city's filth, wander a barren landscape, and where the American Dream is totally unattainable. It's also an allegory for the "fear in a handful of dust" found in T.S. Eliot's "The Wasteland" published a few years before <u>Gatsby</u>.<br />
<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wej6YUWZPfo/VEatrVCOqgI/AAAAAAAAA5g/Ft2UOZJGraE/s1600/1924---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Wej6YUWZPfo/VEatrVCOqgI/AAAAAAAAA5g/Ft2UOZJGraE/s1600/1924---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Corona Ash Dump, 1924. Screenshot form this <a href="http://maps.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/">map</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The Brooklyn Ash Removal dumped at a rate of 100 railroad cars-full per
day, creating 90-foot mountains of industrial debris and destroying
the local wildlife and ecosystem. City reformers shut the operation
down
in 1934 and <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=9C07E0DA143CE23ABC4A52DFB366838F629EDE">purchased</a> the land. Robert Moses spearheaded the effort to turn the area into parkland and
use is as the site for the 1939 World’s Fair. Those efforts included: leveling
the ash dump, filling most of the meadow, creating two lakes north of the
filled land, building new approaches and traffic arteries, eliminating
extensive sewage pollution, constructing a permanent boat basin; constructing
permanent utilities for the park, and temporary ones for the fair; extensive
landscaping. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cv8nWwPHarE/VEe8BqSIC5I/AAAAAAAAA6A/9w23oY_e5gg/s1600/1939-09-06---1939-World%27s-Fair---1---flickr-Army-Arch---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cv8nWwPHarE/VEe8BqSIC5I/AAAAAAAAA6A/9w23oY_e5gg/s1600/1939-09-06---1939-World's-Fair---1---flickr-Army-Arch---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">New York World's Fair, 1939. Image: NARA, via <a href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/army_arch/10327222325/in/photolist-nvUaX-o4RVfi-gJzHpk-4ssHzp-5S7iDZ-bBw1Wb-6933n5-zgdzD-gihpd4-7Mi8b-dMMmPR-bzZb5W-zgdzB-9Ku5LX-2a66Jm-4zV5n6-buuZeQ-7SYBog-nw2cK-i2mxjV-zgvwG-4ssHDe-jMi8F8-zgvwJ-zgiKf-zgiK7-6r5Qk9-zgiKb-nvVf5-9K61gW-4tn8f1-iEjVtj-7UtRSa-cWJMb-nwpaNx-4tik1K-bGGurX-7HJGJd-6TWuV7-egJzCx-2eXFPx-eZzuDb-eZefeN-7HRt4A-6wbg3c-7xpUgH-7N2HEf-gv4RV4-zgnRH-zgiK3/">flickr</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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After the 1939 World's Fair, a few of the buildings were used as the temporary headquarters for the United Nations. The U.N. <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flushing_Meadows%E2%80%93Corona_Park">moved</a> to its permanent Manhattan location in 1951. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TqHbVrN7wP0/VEat6shoOAI/AAAAAAAAA5o/YLgB0CzVjIQ/s1600/Flushing-Meadows---1951-NYC-map---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-TqHbVrN7wP0/VEat6shoOAI/AAAAAAAAA5o/YLgB0CzVjIQ/s1600/Flushing-Meadows---1951-NYC-map---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Flushing Meadows Park just after the United Nations left the area, 1951. Image: screenshot from this <a href="http://maps.nyc.gov/doitt/nycitymap/">map</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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**For more information on the state of NYC parks before they were parks, check out <a href="http://www.nycgovparks.org/about/history/before-they-were-parks/queens">this</a> Parks Department page.nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-72128650171632705472014-10-16T12:44:00.000-04:002014-10-16T12:44:00.431-04:00Halloween Greetings<i>This post also appears on the Bryant Park <a href="http://blog.bryantpark.org/">blog</a>. </i><br />
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Go get your stamps! You only have two weeks left to make sure everyone you know has a Halloween Greeting card to open on the day of. Here's some inspiration from decades past:<br />
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Witch on an anxious pumpkin led by a team of frenetic bats: <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BHMdDlSYBiE/VDgtkGG5IjI/AAAAAAAAA4w/dQ4_zBBp5ME/s1600/Halloween-card---NYPL-1587792---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-BHMdDlSYBiE/VDgtkGG5IjI/AAAAAAAAA4w/dQ4_zBBp5ME/s1600/Halloween-card---NYPL-1587792---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">via the <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=1065695&imageID=1587792&total=17&num=0&parent_id=1062844&s=&notword=&d=&c=&f=&k=1&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&lword=&lfield=&sort=&imgs=20&pos=7&snum=&e=w">NYPL</a></td></tr>
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Flying machines and owls during the early days of airplanes and WWI:<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1F2FH_nAi6A/VDgxjfQxczI/AAAAAAAAA5E/VQ7txk5xbHM/s1600/Halloween-Greeting-card---card---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1F2FH_nAi6A/VDgxjfQxczI/AAAAAAAAA5E/VQ7txk5xbHM/s1600/Halloween-Greeting-card---card---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">[1914-1917] via <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=1065696&imageID=1587794&total=17&num=0&parent_id=1062844&s=&notword=&d=&c=&f=&k=1&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&lword=&lfield=&sort=&imgs=20&pos=8&snum=&e=w">NYPL</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Half Valentine, half Halloween greeting with nice beard detail on the gent, and a little side eye from the lady:<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qLiJZSdsAEw/VDgrqBvQqQI/AAAAAAAAA4c/yUjKoN7B28M/s1600/Halloween-greeting-card---c---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qLiJZSdsAEw/VDgrqBvQqQI/AAAAAAAAA4c/yUjKoN7B28M/s1600/Halloween-greeting-card---c---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hallowe'en Greetings, 1908 via <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=1068888&imageID=1587812&total=17&num=0&parent_id=1062844&s=&notword=&d=&c=&f=&k=1&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&lword=&lfield=&sort=&imgs=20&pos=17&snum=&e=w">NYPL</a></td></tr>
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"Double, double toil and trouble; Fire burn, and caldron bubble." <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8JzOTNCJrPg/VDgtwp8C9KI/AAAAAAAAA44/CBpkAE5XUsU/s1600/Halloween-1910---girl---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-8JzOTNCJrPg/VDgtwp8C9KI/AAAAAAAAA44/CBpkAE5XUsU/s1600/Halloween-1910---girl---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Halloween postcard, 1910. Image via Pisark</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Mean mugging the interloper:<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DR3smstANHI/VDgqkoUzZFI/AAAAAAAAA4Q/86oXI4f-mTs/s1600/vintage-thanksgiving-turkey-and-halloween-pumpkin1---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DR3smstANHI/VDgqkoUzZFI/AAAAAAAAA4Q/86oXI4f-mTs/s1600/vintage-thanksgiving-turkey-and-halloween-pumpkin1---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image <a href="http://vintageholidaycrafts.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/11/vintage-thanksgiving-turkey-and-halloween-pumpkin1.jpg">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Looking for a Halloween card for this year? The cards of today are less creepy and more cute, but <a href="http://www.papyrusonline.com/greeting-cards/halloween-cards/furry-cat-face.html">this</a> furry cat face card and <a href="https://www.etsy.com/listing/204426227/pumpkin-spice-intervention-card-funny?ref=shop_home_active_6">this</a> pug-themed card are a bit of both.nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-18698011673572840652014-08-06T15:00:00.000-04:002014-10-08T12:36:58.221-04:00Empire ViewsOn March 17, 1930 construction began on the Empire State Building. It was built by the newly formed Empire State, Inc., who took their name from the moniker <a href="http://www.nyhistory.org/community/empire-state-nickname">bestowed</a> on New York State by George Washington in 1785. Designed by Shreve, Lamb & Harmon (who also created another 34th Street District treasure, the <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2011/12/crosswalk-in-sky.html">Gimbels Traverse</a>) and built during the Great Depression, the new office tower became a symbol of perseverance and hope. E.B. White wrote of it in his 1949 essay "Here is New York":
"The Empire State Building shot twelve hundred and fifty feet into the
air when it was madness to put out as much as six inches of new
growth."<br />
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It opened just over a year later on May 1, 1931. Over 5,000 visitors stood in line at the street level on a rainy day to view the city from what was then the tallest man-made structure in the world (<a href="http://nyti.ms/1m5LFuj"><i>NYT</i></a>, 1931-05-04).<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vndm4cdIAQo/U9k_KDoE-MI/AAAAAAAAA2w/qpfp-SodGeQ/s1600/tumblr_mipfenVIAC1qzjefho1_1280---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Vndm4cdIAQo/U9k_KDoE-MI/AAAAAAAAA2w/qpfp-SodGeQ/s1600/tumblr_mipfenVIAC1qzjefho1_1280---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visitors to the 86th Floor on opening day, May 1, 1931. Image: <a href="http://qmannola.tumblr.com/image/43858913490">tumblr</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The 86th floor observation deck immediately became a popular destination for tourists. A photographer was on hand to capture the moment, which was then printed on a postcard.
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-li0fNgV1Q3Q/U8lIsDVEQSI/AAAAAAAAA2I/8AZXHE1jZg0/s1600/img857---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-li0fNgV1Q3Q/U8lIsDVEQSI/AAAAAAAAA2I/8AZXHE1jZg0/s1600/img857---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visitor Postcard photo taken on the Empire State Building observation deck, 86th Floor, May 8, 1934; front. Image: private collection (Pisark's)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XmWRuiNW5zg/U9pe0Z5mEcI/AAAAAAAAA3A/XiCHNMlkG1c/s1600/ESB-Observation-Deck---1934-05-08-(2)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XmWRuiNW5zg/U9pe0Z5mEcI/AAAAAAAAA3A/XiCHNMlkG1c/s1600/ESB-Observation-Deck---1934-05-08-(2)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visitor Postcard photo taken on the Empire State Building observation
deck, 86th Floor, May 8, 1934; back. Image: private collection
(Pisark's)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Lfb2myHPffw/U8lI1zBjTpI/AAAAAAAAA2Q/FOK4Xs7pypY/s1600/1935-08-00---ESB---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Lfb2myHPffw/U8lI1zBjTpI/AAAAAAAAA2Q/FOK4Xs7pypY/s1600/1935-08-00---ESB---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visitor Postcard, Empire State Building Observation Deck, 86th Floor, August 1935. Image: private collection (Pisark's)</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UMn1f5bqNzc/U8lJBpFoNwI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/tbfIX5ZHDB8/s1600/ESB-tourism-1-WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-UMn1f5bqNzc/U8lJBpFoNwI/AAAAAAAAA2Y/tbfIX5ZHDB8/s1600/ESB-tourism-1-WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Visitor Postcard, Empire State Building Observation Deck, 86th Floor, [1930s]. Image: Private collection (Pisark's)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Visitation to the observation deck increased throughout the 1930s and into the next decade, despite a few setbacks in the 1940s. On July 28, 1945 a B-25 Bomber crashed into the north side of the building during a routine personnel transport mission killing 14 people and injuring elevator operator Betty Lou Oliver. The building was re-opened the following Monday. <br />
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Just two years later, a photography student named Robert Wiles happened upon the aftermath of <a href="http://keithyorkcity.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/evelyn-mchale-a-beautiful-death-on-33rd-street/">Evelyn McHale's suicide</a> and took a photograph. The photo, <a href="http://life.time.com/history/evelyn-mchale-suicide-photo-empire-state-building-1947/#1">published by <i>LIFE</i></a> magazine on May 1, 1947 is still regarded as one of the most poignant portraits of suicide. <br />
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Following this and other incidents, building management announced the forthcoming construction of an additional steel barrier along the building's parapet. A <i>New York Times</i> article also stated that during the Empire State Building's first 16 years of operation, there were 9,000 visitors, and only 15 suicides (with just one instance of injury to a pedestrian below) (<i>NYT</i>, 1947-05-11).<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PI7M9xg4kLs/U8lJJS8EKrI/AAAAAAAAA2g/UKQ0WZMUsV0/s1600/img855---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-PI7M9xg4kLs/U8lJJS8EKrI/AAAAAAAAA2g/UKQ0WZMUsV0/s1600/img855---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The steel barrier and parapet, 1948. Image: Private collection (Pisark's)</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Though taller and larger buildings continue to rise throughout the city, the Empire State Building remains one of the city's greatest treasures, and receives nearly <a href="http://www.nyctourist.com/empire1.htm">3.6 million visitors </a>a year.</div>
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<i>Other Sources and Sites of Interest:</i></div>
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-Empire State Building Historical <a href="http://www.esbnyc.com/explore/historical-timeline">Timeline</a><br />
-Empire State Building <a href="http://www.esbnyc.com/sites/default/files/esb_fact_sheet_4_9_14_4.pdf">fact sheet </a></div>
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-Columbia University Avery Architecture and Fine Arts Library, <a href="http://www.columbia.edu/cu/lweb/archival/collections/ldpd_3460549/">Empire State Building Archive</a></div>
<br />nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-55480821837472141992014-03-12T11:47:00.001-04:002014-03-13T14:40:39.765-04:00The Wylie House on 40th Street<i>This post also appears on the Bryant Park <a href="http://blog.bryantpark.org/">blog</a>. </i><br />
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In the late 1800s, Fifth Avenue in Midtown Manhattan was lined with mansions designed and built for the wealthy. The turn of the century brought retail and office buildings to the area -- and soon, the <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-york-public-library-lays-its.html">New York Public Library</a> -- redefining it as a predominantly commercial region of the city. Few of these residences survived the shift, though one still stands at 28 West 40th Street, in between the American Scientific and the<a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2011/07/virtually-every-building-in-new-york.html"> Engineer's Club</a> buildings.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-THMntH6eZ4I/Uw-_xyHQx7I/AAAAAAAAA0s/9GfYTMGYtGo/s1600/MNY15825---24-West-40th-Street---MCNY---1926---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-THMntH6eZ4I/Uw-_xyHQx7I/AAAAAAAAA0s/9GfYTMGYtGo/s1600/MNY15825---24-West-40th-Street---MCNY---1926---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Wylie House at 28 West 40th Street, with the American Scientific Building on the left, and the Engineers' Club on the right, 1926. Image <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWBHEQ5C&SMLS=1&RW=1283&RH=741">MCNY</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The mansion was commissioned by Dr. Walker Gill Wylie (Bio: <a href="http://library.sc.edu/file/703">p. 8-12</a>), designed by <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/06/07/realestate/0607-scapes-slideshow_index.html">R.H. Robertson</a>, and built in 1891.<br />
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Dr. Wylie was born in South Carolina in 1649, joined the Confederate Army at age 16, and graduated from the University of South Carolina in 1868 with an Engineering degree. In 1871, he received his medical degree from Bellevue Medical College in New York City, and spent the following year in Europe observing hospital construction and nursing instruction. While in Europe, he consulted and collaborated with British Reformist <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Florence_Nightingale">Florence Nightingale</a>. After returning to the States in 1873, he helped form the first nursing school, the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bellevue_Hospital_School_of_Nursing">Bellevue Hospital School of Nursing</a>, which is now called the <a href="http://www.hunter.cuny.edu/nursing">Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing</a>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-azKeNLoGmWg/Uw_C2wLccjI/AAAAAAAAA1A/W5ghlDZhGHk/s1600/Bellevue-Nurses---1880s-----WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-azKeNLoGmWg/Uw_C2wLccjI/AAAAAAAAA1A/W5ghlDZhGHk/s1600/Bellevue-Nurses---1880s-----WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bellevue Nurses, 1880s. Image <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hhcnyc/6507324771/in/set-72157628418289895">via</a></td></tr>
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For a number of years Wylie assisted <a href="http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/centralpark/highlights/13315">James Marion Sims</a>
in abdominal surgery. A monument of Sims was erected in Bryant Park
after his death in 1883. It stayed there until 1928, when it was removed and placed in storage in preparation for the 1933-1934 Moses <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2010/11/bryant-parks-1934-moses-renovation.html">renovation</a>.
In 1933 the monument was taken from storage and installed on a pedestal
in Central Park at 103rd Street and Fifth
Avenue.
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sZiR4bYwVsI/Uw-voFN4kUI/AAAAAAAAA0g/1wZ1Hz4NAu8/s1600/J.-Marion-Sims---10.00---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-sZiR4bYwVsI/Uw-voFN4kUI/AAAAAAAAA0g/1wZ1Hz4NAu8/s1600/J.-Marion-Sims---10.00---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">J. Marion Sims monument in Bryant Park, October 1894. The Croton Reservoir's west wall can be seen in the background.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In 1882, Dr. Wylie was appointed Visiting Gynecologist at Bellevue, a
position he held for 25 years. That same year, he was also appointed
Professor of Gynecology at the Polyclinic School of Medicine, lecturing
there on gynecology and abdominal surgery for 20 years. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qMMM_d-5Bnk/Uw_DF3pnGDI/AAAAAAAAA1I/UGi_5o9yxFU/s1600/Bellvue-Surgeons---Wylie-----WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-qMMM_d-5Bnk/Uw_DF3pnGDI/AAAAAAAAA1I/UGi_5o9yxFU/s1600/Bellvue-Surgeons---Wylie-----WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bellevue surgeons, with -- I think -- Dr. Wylie front and center with the mustache [early1900s?]. Image <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hhcnyc/6507155575/in/set-72157628418289895">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Dr. Wylie lived with his family in the mansion until he died in 1923.
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-86becBhcBes/Uw_JNNnJncI/AAAAAAAAA1Y/qRvM3xJ9-1M/s1600/Bellevue-Graduating-class---Nursing---1923---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-86becBhcBes/Uw_JNNnJncI/AAAAAAAAA1Y/qRvM3xJ9-1M/s1600/Bellevue-Graduating-class---Nursing---1923---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bellevue Nursing graduating class, 1923. (Note the backwards print). Image <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/hhcnyc/6507311861/in/photostream/">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The mansion's front facade has been (terribly) altered, and it's long been <a href="http://a810-bisweb.nyc.gov/bisweb/PropertyProfileOverviewServlet?boro=1&block=841&lot=66&go3=+GO+&requestid=0">converted</a> from a single family home into apartment housing, but it's a small indication of a pre-commercial 40th Street.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V-vrS4ayTnc/UyH7TtdUy_I/AAAAAAAAA1o/p1AKkq6WSeI/s1600/28-West-40th-Street---2014-03-13---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-V-vrS4ayTnc/UyH7TtdUy_I/AAAAAAAAA1o/p1AKkq6WSeI/s1600/28-West-40th-Street---2014-03-13---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Wylie House today. Photo: AK</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<u>Other Sources:</u><br />
-"<a href="http://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Popular_Science_Monthly/Volume_9/October_1876/Relations_of_Hospitals_to_Pauperism">Relations of Hospitals to Pauperism</a>," W. Gill Wylie. Popular Science Monthly. Volume 9, October 1876.<br />
-<i>Bellevue: a short history of Bellevue Hospital and of the training schools</i>. Alumnae Association of Bellevue, 1915. (<a href="https://archive.org/details/bellevueshorthis00grif">link</a>)<br />
-Walker G. Wylie books, available on google books <br />
-Bellevue School of Nursing <a href="http://archives.med.nyu.edu/collections/bellevue-school-nursing">Archives</a>, housed at NYU.<br />
-Daytonian in Manhattan blog <a href="http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2013/02/the-1891-wylie-mansion-no-28-west-40th.html">post </a><br />
<br />nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-37497611503934742452014-02-26T13:26:00.000-05:002015-06-25T11:29:55.842-04:00The Artists of 80 West 40th Street<i>This post will also appear on the Bryant Park <a href="http://blog.bryantpark.org/">blog</a>. </i><br />
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The <a href="http://blog.bryantpark.org/2009/07/bryant-park-studios-aka-beaux-arts_8849.html">Bryant Park Studios</a> building was one of the first buildings in the city constructed specifically to house artists' studios. Commissioned by painter <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abraham_Archibald_Anderson">Abraham Archibald Anderson</a> and designed by architect Charles A. Rich, it was built in 1900-1901 and featured 24 double-height, north facing windows. The site chosen for the building was the SE corner of 40th Street and Sixth Avenue. With Bryant Park across the street to the north, the building's views were likely to stay unblocked by future additions to the city's skyline, providing the studios with much-coveted natural light. <br />
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Anderson kept the lavishly decorated penthouse and an apartment in the building for his studio and living space. His personal touches included a suit of armor, imported Spanish tapestries, a bathroom tiled in whole abalone shells, and an ornately carved Venetian doorway.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4xUcqHH8nvw/UwfT5uocjdI/AAAAAAAAAzE/hp-r_q8A9vo/s1600/80-West-40th-Street%25252c-Archibald-Anderson---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-4xUcqHH8nvw/UwfT5uocjdI/AAAAAAAAAzE/hp-r_q8A9vo/s1600/80-West-40th-Street%25252c-Archibald-Anderson---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Anderson's penthouse studio with many of its embellishments</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The building became one of the centers of the city's art world and attracted a long list of famous tenants. In the early years there was painter, turned photographer Edward Steichen:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6ld2WUZe5VA/Uw4j5z27ykI/AAAAAAAAAz0/HyJS5gYDYKg/s1600/15---Steichen-self-portrait---1917---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-6ld2WUZe5VA/Uw4j5z27ykI/AAAAAAAAAz0/HyJS5gYDYKg/s1600/15---Steichen-self-portrait---1917---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Edward Steichen, self portrait, c. 1917 or before. Image <a href="http://agnautacouture.com/2013/08/04/edward-steichen-a-painter-by-training-turned-to-photography/">via</a></td></tr>
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From the 1930s until the late 1950s, illustrator and painter Thomas Webb occupied several different studios in the building, including Anderson's Penthouse.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XKKyfCNEghY/UwfUHoC72cI/AAAAAAAAAzI/DsxqnnfgF4E/s1600/Artist-Thomas-Webb-at-80-West-40th-Street-NYC-(3)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XKKyfCNEghY/UwfUHoC72cI/AAAAAAAAAzI/DsxqnnfgF4E/s1600/Artist-Thomas-Webb-at-80-West-40th-Street-NYC-(3)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Painter Thomas Webb in his penthouse studio with the Venetian doorway in the background. Image: McCormick family</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Webb was an exceptionally talented <a href="http://paintings-art-picture.com/American-illustrators/imagepages/image117.htm">painter</a> and illustrator, well known for his <i>Saturday Evening Post</i> work.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eaNxQViQfi0/UwfUTVSG6UI/AAAAAAAAAzQ/eX5-QI_Q21I/s1600/giant-valentine-tom-webb---Saturday-Evening-Post----1937-02-13--1937---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-eaNxQViQfi0/UwfUTVSG6UI/AAAAAAAAAzQ/eX5-QI_Q21I/s1600/giant-valentine-tom-webb---Saturday-Evening-Post----1937-02-13--1937---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of Webb's <i>Saturday Evening Po</i>st covers. Image <a href="http://www.saturdayeveningpost.com/2011/02/14/art-entertainment/covers-celebrate-valentines-day.html">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Last summer I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Webb's daughter, who also lived in the building for a time during the 1930s. She has great stories about New York City, the park during that time period -- it was empty and not very safe -- and some of the artist who worked in the building at the same time. </div>
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<a href="http://ludwig-mies-vanderrohe.blogspot.com/2012/02/fernand-leger-part-1.html">Fernand L<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>ger</a> was a "bear of a man" with a deep gravely voice and a preference for only speaking French. </div>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M8VGAnbe0dU/UwfUdzAO2GI/AAAAAAAAAzY/T_CnyOMekgU/s1600/three-musicians-1930---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-M8VGAnbe0dU/UwfUdzAO2GI/AAAAAAAAAzY/T_CnyOMekgU/s1600/three-musicians-1930---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fernand L<span style="mso-bidi-font-family: Calibri; mso-bidi-theme-font: minor-latin;">é</span>ger's <i>Three Musicians</i>, 1930. Image <a href="http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/fernand-leger/three-musicians-1930">via</a></td></tr>
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Russian artist <a href="http://www.askart.com/askart/g/leon_gordon/leon_gordon.aspx">Leon Gordon</a> once started a small fire by leaving paint brushes soaking in turpentine.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YT_Nxx9XJN4/Uw4pQ4NfvdI/AAAAAAAAA0M/8x9Y2Yd4TRM/s1600/6975966_1_l---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YT_Nxx9XJN4/Uw4pQ4NfvdI/AAAAAAAAA0M/8x9Y2Yd4TRM/s1600/6975966_1_l---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Elegant Man in Mirror</i>, Leon Gordon. Image <a href="http://www.liveauctioneers.com/item/6975966">via</a></td></tr>
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And though she never met him, her father was friendly with the photographer Man Ray, who shot this photo of another early tenant, sculptor <a href="http://blog.bryantpark.org/2011/11/from-archive-gertrude-stein-will-watch.html">Jo Davidson</a>. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FUXy2jTsFHE/Uw4kbXiSyTI/AAAAAAAAA0A/SR21gWAIvBQ/s1600/Stein---1922---Man-Ray---Getty-jpg---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-FUXy2jTsFHE/Uw4kbXiSyTI/AAAAAAAAA0A/SR21gWAIvBQ/s1600/Stein---1922---Man-Ray---Getty-jpg---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jo Davidson (in his Paris studio) working on the cast of the Gertrude
Stein statue, as his subject looks on, c. 1922. Photo by Man Ray, image
source: <a href="http://www.getty.edu/museum/index.html">Getty</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/null"> Museum</a></td></tr>
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The building continues to house creative tenants, each with an eye for beauty and an appreciation of a park view and unblocked northern light.<br />
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<br />
<u>Other sources:</u><br />
-Gray, Christopher. <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1991/10/06/realestate/streetscapes-bryant-park-studios-beaux-arts-building-restoring-city-s-oldest.html"><i>NYT</i></a>, October 6, 1991<br />
-Landmarks Preservation Commission Report, <a href="http://www.neighborhoodpreservationcenter.org/db/bb_files/BPS035.pdf">Bryant park Studios Building</a>, December 13, 1988nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-62720432934238902442013-12-11T08:00:00.000-05:002013-12-21T14:16:19.429-05:00Koster and Bial's Music Hall on 34th StreetThroughout the late 1800s Manhattan's Theater district crept northward along the city's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadway_(New_York_City)">Great White Way</a> towards Times Square. Herald Square was home to several music and dance halls including Koster and Bial's. The theater's former location was a bit south at the <a href="http://www.14to42.net/24street5.html">corner</a> of Sixth Avenue and 23rd Street. Two days after closing the 23rd Street location, John Koster and Albert Bial opened a new music hall with the same name on 34th Street between Seventh Avenue and Broadway. On August 28, 1893 the hall opened its doors to the public, eight years before Macy's would buy the property, demolish the building, and build their famous flagship store. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cm6EUTTc510/UqIMb78_boI/AAAAAAAAAyg/ypPJtnigYxI/s1600/MNY3406+-+Koster+and+Bial%27s+-+1896+-+MCNY.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cm6EUTTc510/UqIMb78_boI/AAAAAAAAAyg/ypPJtnigYxI/s1600/MNY3406+-+Koster+and+Bial's+-+1896+-+MCNY.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exterior of Koster and Bial's on the north side of West 34th Street between Seventh Avenue and Broadway, 1896. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWLN3CMZ&SMLS=1&RW=1277&RH=852">MCNY</a></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3d1sHy89-jw/UqINRMPOCyI/AAAAAAAAAyw/IDo4CoGNxx8/s1600/MNY25957---Koster-and-Bial%27s---Interior---1896---MCNY---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-3d1sHy89-jw/UqINRMPOCyI/AAAAAAAAAyw/IDo4CoGNxx8/s1600/MNY25957---Koster-and-Bial's---Interior---1896---MCNY---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interior of the 34th Street Koster and Bial's Music Hall, 1896. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWLN3CMZ&SMLS=1&RW=1277&RH=852">MCNY</a></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C7otO-REKUw/Up-juUyTjOI/AAAAAAAAAwg/e1RABsYrwOs/s1600/Koster-and-Bials---1896---LOC---LC-USZ61-1046---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-C7otO-REKUw/Up-juUyTjOI/AAAAAAAAAwg/e1RABsYrwOs/s1600/Koster-and-Bials---1896---LOC---LC-USZ61-1046---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Strobridge Lithographing, 1896. Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/treasures/trr127.html">LOC</a></td></tr>
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A popular vaudeville venue with varied stage performances, Koster and Bial's hosted burlesque and acrobatic acts, as well as a whole host of musical performances. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ykJ9nL_lAPE/UqH6IlTkaoI/AAAAAAAAAyQ/Vz4LvisWZ4c/s1600/She-Always-Dressed-in-Black---1896---NYPL-1166064---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-ykJ9nL_lAPE/UqH6IlTkaoI/AAAAAAAAAyQ/Vz4LvisWZ4c/s1600/She-Always-Dressed-in-Black---1896---NYPL-1166064---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fannie Leslie [1896]. Image: <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1166064">NYPL</a></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Eas4P1Rw-U0/Up-j7h98MjI/AAAAAAAAAwo/xR5DMvkQMCw/s1600/MNY2882---Koster-and-Bial%27s---1896---MCNY---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Eas4P1Rw-U0/Up-j7h98MjI/AAAAAAAAAwo/xR5DMvkQMCw/s1600/MNY2882---Koster-and-Bial's---1896---MCNY---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Trick horse of Emile outside the music hall's 34th Street entrance, 1896. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1GI62MRS&SMLS=1&RW=1449&RH=849">MCNY</a></td></tr>
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Among the many dancers who made regular appearances at the venue, was "La Carmencita," also known as "<a href="https://archive.org/details/carmencitapearlo00rami">The Pearl of Seville</a>." Carmen Dauset was born in Seville, Spain in 1868, and began performing at the age of 12 in 1880. She made her American debut at the 23rd Street Koster and Bial's in February 1890, but performed several times at the 34th Street location.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G_VcTeLH0Rg/UqD8QZff83I/AAAAAAAAAxw/n8Zkfl6RXwg/s1600/carmencita---William-Merritt-Chase---1888---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G_VcTeLH0Rg/UqD8QZff83I/AAAAAAAAAxw/n8Zkfl6RXwg/s1600/carmencita---William-Merritt-Chase---1888---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The dancer as portrayed by painter William Merritt Chase, 1888. Image <a href="http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/william-merritt-chase/carmencita">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2EbG9kmIZF8/Up-kDDfgXtI/AAAAAAAAAww/vPLQl3lmTY0/s1600/la-carmencita-1890---John-Singer-Sargent---1---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2EbG9kmIZF8/Up-kDDfgXtI/AAAAAAAAAww/vPLQl3lmTY0/s1600/la-carmencita-1890---John-Singer-Sargent---1---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">One of a few portraits painted of the dancer by painter John Singer Sargent, 1890. Image <a href="http://www.wikipaintings.org/en/search/singer%20sargent/1#supersized-search-265656">via</a></td></tr>
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The theater was also the chosen location for the first exhibition of Thomas Edison's Vitascope projector on April 23, 1896. Originally invented by C. Francis Jenkins and Thomas Armant, and called a Phantoscope in 1895, the two inventors both claimed the invention as theirs after dissolving their partnership. It was soon sold to Thomas Edison, in what sounds like a similar situation to the Emile Berliner gramophone <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2012/12/sounds-like-fighting-words.html">incident</a> in the late 1870s. The Edison Manufacturing Company renamed the machine the Thomas Edison Vitascope, and continued manufacturing it.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DsPGv35XzAg/Up-kHR1ufjI/AAAAAAAAAw4/pnQ4VmJW6mc/s1600/Vitascope---1896---LOC---LC-DIG-ppmsc-03761---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-DsPGv35XzAg/Up-kHR1ufjI/AAAAAAAAAw4/pnQ4VmJW6mc/s1600/Vitascope---1896---LOC---LC-DIG-ppmsc-03761---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The first theatrical exhibition of a a film projection machine, the Vitascope. April 23, 1896 Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/resource/ppmsca.05943/">LOC</a></td></tr>
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Edison's company went on to produce 100s of "actuality" films -- <a href="http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/edhtml/edmvchrn.html">watch them</a> -- documenting real life scenes with little or no narrative. Here is a film of Carmencita made in 1894, most likely with one of Edison's previous camera inventions: the kinetograph or kinetoscope:<br />
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Almost since the day it opened, the theater was plagued with financial and management issues. On July 17, 1901 Macy's announced the purchase and future demolition of the property to make way for the flagship store at 34th Street and Broadway. Three days later, Koster and Bial's held their last performance on the rook garden, ending with a chorus of performers and loyal customers singing "<a href="http://www.themorgan.org/exhibitions/online/AuldLangSyne/">Auld Lang Syne</a>."<br />
<br />
You can still find a plaque commemorating the Hall's existence just outside the 34th Street entrance to Macy's. <br />
<br />
<u>Other Sources:</u><br />
-Snyder, Robert. <i>The Voice of the City: Vaudeville and Popular Culture in New York.</i><br />
<br />nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-53668232822924738322013-12-06T10:09:00.001-05:002013-12-06T10:32:17.039-05:00Paterson, New Jersey, the SUM, and the Silk Strike of 1913<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
In 1791, Alexander Hamilton, then Secretary of the Treasury convened a group of investors and started the Society for Useful Manufacturers (<a href="http://www.patersongreatfalls.org/sum.html">SUM</a>). He chose Paterson, N.J. for its proximity to the Passaic Falls and opportunity for future growth. It would be one of the first planned industrial communities in the United States; its design and function centered around the encouragement of stateside commerce and manufacturing. Using the power generated by the falls, developers built an intricate <a href="http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5561.pdf">raceway system</a> along the river, from where most mills generated power. The first mill was built and operational by 1796 on Mill Street and by the 1830s the area was known as the cotton capital of the United States.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qt938-ld-LY/UqCm4L0ewyI/AAAAAAAAAxI/AkCuLDWr6RU/s1600/Passaic-Falls-NJ---%5B1890-1901%5D---LOC---LC-D4-12046---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-qt938-ld-LY/UqCm4L0ewyI/AAAAAAAAAxI/AkCuLDWr6RU/s1600/Passaic-Falls-NJ---%5B1890-1901%5D---LOC---LC-D4-12046---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Passaic Falls, N.J. [1890-1900]. Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994007554/PP/">LOC</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Locomotive manufacturing came to Paterson first in 1835 with the opening
of Rogers Locomotive Works, followed by Danford & Cook and Grant
Locomotive Company. All three produced over 10,000 steam engines.
Samuel Colt opened the <a href="http://www.patersongreatfalls.org/coltgunmill.html">Colt Gun Mill</a> 1836, all while the textile and cotton industries continued to flourish. Sanborn maps of the area from <a href="http://gisserver.princeton.edu:81/navigatorMapViewer.htm?map=23656">1887</a> and <a href="http://gisserver.princeton.edu:81/navigatorMapViewer.htm?map=18167">1899</a> show rapid growth during the late 1880s and into the <a href="http://libweb5.princeton.edu/visual_materials/maps/sanborn/passaic/paterson.html">1900s</a>.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LS178AnxCIQ/UmbFR0_tzuI/AAAAAAAAAso/wF-g9pvvo4Y/s1600/Paterson-NJ---1880---LOC---LC-DIG-pga-02336---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-LS178AnxCIQ/UmbFR0_tzuI/AAAAAAAAAso/wF-g9pvvo4Y/s1600/Paterson-NJ---1880---LOC---LC-DIG-pga-02336---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/98508577/">LOC</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QmmrCFhAyI4/UqCqjOLgITI/AAAAAAAAAxU/pP3qdjjyR08/s1600/Paterson-NJ---1901---Shorpy---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-QmmrCFhAyI4/UqCqjOLgITI/AAAAAAAAAxU/pP3qdjjyR08/s1600/Paterson-NJ---1901---Shorpy---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Paterson, N.J. in 1901. Image: <a href="http://www.shorpy.com/node/15471">Shorpy</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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By the early 1900s, with over 100 silk firms located in Paterson, the area was dubbed Silk City, and in 1910 SUM built the first hydro-electric plant. Before, each plant was powered by individual water wheels. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mipbDjZhMIY/UqHtka0S6gI/AAAAAAAAAyA/tP5eISp-_Lg/s1600/Silk-Factory---Stripping-and-dyeing---Patterson-NJ-(2)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-mipbDjZhMIY/UqHtka0S6gI/AAAAAAAAAyA/tP5eISp-_Lg/s1600/Silk-Factory---Stripping-and-dyeing---Patterson-NJ-(2)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Silk Factory, stripping and dyeing, Paterson, N.J., early 1900s. Stereoscopic: Paige Family</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-00qpj3L5nM0/Uml-23QlDVI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/fApcJNnhZPw/s1600/Silk-Mill---weaving-plaion-silk-cloth-(2)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-00qpj3L5nM0/Uml-23QlDVI/AAAAAAAAAvQ/fApcJNnhZPw/s1600/Silk-Mill---weaving-plaion-silk-cloth-(2)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Workers weaving plain silk cloth at a Paterson silk mill, early 1900s. Stereoscopic: Paige Family<br />
<br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The increased industrialization and
poor working conditions of the early 1900s led to the <a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/peopleevents/e_strike.html">Paterson Silk Strike of 1913</a> (not the town's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1835_Paterson_Textile_Strike">first strike</a>). Among the demands were the establishment of an eight-hour work day and restrictions in child labor practices. Organized by Paterson workers with the help of the Industrial Workers of the World (<a href="http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/goldman/peopleevents/e_iww.html">IWW</a>), the strikers succeeded in bringing international attention to abusive labor practices endured by workers all over the world, as well as cohesion to the growing movement to stop them. A pageant was held to raise awareness and support at Madison Square Garden on June 7, 1913. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SZ38jcN4vts/UqCrowKt2UI/AAAAAAAAAxk/i4Yh8KnqYvI/s1600/NY-May-Day-Parade---Children-from-Paterson-Strike---1916---LOC----LC-DIG-ggbain-12821---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SZ38jcN4vts/UqCrowKt2UI/AAAAAAAAAxk/i4Yh8KnqYvI/s1600/NY-May-Day-Parade---Children-from-Paterson-Strike---1916---LOC----LC-DIG-ggbain-12821---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Children from Paterson, N.J. attend a May Day parade in New York City as part of the Silk Strike protest efforts, May 1, 1913. Image:<a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ggb2005012857/"> LOC</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
More than 25,000 skilled and unskilled workers effectively shut down
the town's 300 mills and dye houses, however, they were defeated in July of that year. There remained animosity on both sides, with manufacturers making small concessions to striker demands to avoid further unrest. Finally, in 1919, the eight-hour workday was granted. <br />
<br />
This year is the centennial of the Paterson Silk Strike. If you find yourself near Haledon New Jersey, check out the American Labor Museum's <a href="http://www.labormuseum.net/?p=events-calendar&event_id=340">exhibit</a> commemorating the Silk Strike's centennial. It's up for another month. <br />
<br />
<u>Other sources:</u><br />
1. NARA's Lewis Hine WPA Research Project photo <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/usnationalarchives/sets/72157630406504922/detail/?page=34">gallery</a> on flickr<br />
2. Library of Congress research <a href="http://www.loc.gov/rr/program/bib/newdeal/pp.html">guides</a> by New Deal Program<br />
3. The Great Falls Raceway and Power System, Paterson NJ, National Historic Mechanical and Civil Engineering Landmark, Dedication <a href="http://files.asme.org/ASMEORG/Communities/History/Landmarks/5561.pdf">Program</a>, May 20, 1977<br />
4. National Parks <a href="http://www.nps.gov/pagr/historyculture/index.htm">website</a><br />
<br />nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-55424561984544962042013-11-20T15:49:00.000-05:002013-11-22T15:22:30.527-05:00The Nantucket Sea MonsterMacy's Thanksgiving Day Parade float designer <a href="http://www.nha.org/digitalexhibits/sarg/sargbiography.html">Tony Sarg</a> owned a curiosity shop in Nantucket, Massachusetts. In the summer of 1937, and with the help of many others, he staged an unusual sighting off the coast using one of his Macy's balloons, the Nantucket Sea Monster.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YaicZjgucNc/Uml0KXFvk6I/AAAAAAAAAuU/JgPRHdS-N20/s1600/Nantucket-Sea-Serpent---NHA---Summer-1937-(7)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-YaicZjgucNc/Uml0KXFvk6I/AAAAAAAAAuU/JgPRHdS-N20/s1600/Nantucket-Sea-Serpent---NHA---Summer-1937-(7)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The initial sighting off the coast of Nantucket, MA</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oBXm4Vaqp5U/Uml0J9dvrGI/AAAAAAAAAuo/n0Jg0LBIpGI/s1600/Nantucket-Sea-Serpent---NHA---Summer-1937-%25283%2529---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oBXm4Vaqp5U/Uml0J9dvrGI/AAAAAAAAAuo/n0Jg0LBIpGI/s1600/Nantucket-Sea-Serpent---NHA---Summer-1937-%25283%2529---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Footprints are found and measured on the shore.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CyhXpE9Pzxw/Uml0J2sopII/AAAAAAAAAuk/YBnp13ZEwJA/s1600/Nantucket-Sea-Serpent---NHA---Summer-1937-%25282%2529---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-CyhXpE9Pzxw/Uml0J2sopII/AAAAAAAAAuk/YBnp13ZEwJA/s1600/Nantucket-Sea-Serpent---NHA---Summer-1937-%25282%2529---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Spectators examine the beast</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IAceHc1VPoU/Uml0gSsrz6I/AAAAAAAAAus/55xw4TYT5b0/s1600/Nantucket-Sea-Serpent---NHA---Summer-1937-(1)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IAceHc1VPoU/Uml0gSsrz6I/AAAAAAAAAus/55xw4TYT5b0/s1600/Nantucket-Sea-Serpent---NHA---Summer-1937-(1)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some are more daring than others</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f4G1IvIAO28/Uml0KMb364I/AAAAAAAAAug/WAl2Q3UwPw4/s1600/Nantucket-Sea-Serpent---NHA---Summer-1937-%25286%2529---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-f4G1IvIAO28/Uml0KMb364I/AAAAAAAAAug/WAl2Q3UwPw4/s1600/Nantucket-Sea-Serpent---NHA---Summer-1937-%25286%2529---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tony Sarg with fellow spectators and the Nantucket Sea Serpent. </td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The Nantucket Sea Serpent made its debut the following November in the 1938 Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kTj_n_GvLP0/Uml3RhfinXI/AAAAAAAAAvA/6CZhRnDl93k/s1600/3d66d521a801d1e97731ef7ec429eee0---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-kTj_n_GvLP0/Uml3RhfinXI/AAAAAAAAAvA/6CZhRnDl93k/s1600/3d66d521a801d1e97731ef7ec429eee0---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NUX2irb05zQ/Uml255pTUGI/AAAAAAAAAu4/0gPUldqwlz8/s1600/image---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-NUX2irb05zQ/Uml255pTUGI/AAAAAAAAAu4/0gPUldqwlz8/s1600/image---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
All of the following images, plus more, can be viewed on the Nantucket Historical Association's <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/nantuckethistoricalassociation/with/3177494920/">flickr</a> page.<br />
<br />
Here is a video of the "discovery" from the NHA YouTube channel.<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/1AsgYqLZS3E" width="420"></iframe>
<br />
<br />
text textnyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-22059536372971654412013-11-13T12:02:00.000-05:002013-11-14T14:05:26.548-05:00Macy's Thanksgiving Day ParadeThe holidays are upon us, and in a few weeks, the <a href="http://social.macys.com/parade/?cm_mmc=VanityUrl-_-parade-_-n-_-n">Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade</a> will wind its way down Central Park West and Sixth Avenue to the Macy's flagship store at 34th Street and Broadway.<br />
<br />
The first Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade took place on November 27, 1924. At the time, it was called the <a href="http://social.macys.com/parade/?cm_mmc=VanityUrl-_-parade-_-n-_-n#/about/history/2">Macy's Christmas Parade</a>, and featured animals form the Central Park Zoo. In 1927 the parade featured the first giant character balloons, held up by store employees, and one year later, the parade debuted giant helium balloons designed by illustrator and puppeteer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tony_Sarg">Tony Sarg</a>. <br />
<br />
From 1927 to 1983, every balloon was fabricated by the Goodyear Tire & Rubber Company in Akron Ohio. The University of Akron currently holds the company's archive, which includes a great collection of Macy's Parade float photos. All of the images below, except for the wartime poster, are from that <a href="http://drc.uakron.edu/handle/2374.UAKRON/3">collection</a>.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k1J5QhXymp0/Umk6wG8FyYI/AAAAAAAAAtU/wa2X1hpjCbU/s1600/Macy%27s-Balloons---Goodyear---1933-09-05-(6)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-k1J5QhXymp0/Umk6wG8FyYI/AAAAAAAAAtU/wa2X1hpjCbU/s1600/Macy's-Balloons---Goodyear---1933-09-05-(6)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tony Sarg with one of his creations at the Goodyear Rubber and Tire Co. in Ohio, 1933. Image: <a href="http://drc.uakron.edu/handle/2374.UAKRON/17375">University of Akron</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FK_xiYw9FE8/Umk7fvZwaxI/AAAAAAAAAtg/XMrRnioSryk/s1600/Macy%27s-Balloons---Goodyear---1933-09-05-(4)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-FK_xiYw9FE8/Umk7fvZwaxI/AAAAAAAAAtg/XMrRnioSryk/s1600/Macy's-Balloons---Goodyear---1933-09-05-(4)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here, a 9-story tall Gulliver balloon is accompanied by several animal friends including "Tom-kat" and "Jerry the Pig," 1933. Image: <a href="http://drc.uakron.edu/handle/2374.UAKRON/17274">University of Akron</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In 1942, Macy's balloons were deflated, and the rubber and helium donated in support of the WWII effort. <br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G1DjNNfje3w/UmlNOZH9F2I/AAAAAAAAAtw/59T3icsySdo/s1600/7_Macys-1942-Parade-Ad-640---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-G1DjNNfje3w/UmlNOZH9F2I/AAAAAAAAAtw/59T3icsySdo/s1600/7_Macys-1942-Parade-Ad-640---WEB.gif" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
The yearly parade resumed in 1945, two weeks after the end of WWII, and has been a highly anticipated event ever since.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J1jWaRTro-A/UmlOu5-hhZI/AAAAAAAAAt8/vpeMYsYzyEA/s1600/Macy%27s-Parade---Goodyear---1945-12-30---2991f---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-J1jWaRTro-A/UmlOu5-hhZI/AAAAAAAAAt8/vpeMYsYzyEA/s1600/Macy's-Parade---Goodyear---1945-12-30---2991f---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Crowds gather outside of Macy's celebrated widows at the flagship store on 34th Street, 1945.Image: <a href="http://drc.uakron.edu/handle/2374.UAKRON/6102">University of Akron</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<u>Other Sources:</u><br />
1. Gripo, Robert; Christopher Loskins. <i>Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade.</i><br />
2. Sullivan, Robert (Ed.). <i>Life: America's Parade: A Celebration of Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade</i>.<i> </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
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<br />nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-66030379779999209242013-11-06T14:43:00.000-05:002013-11-06T15:00:16.027-05:00Los Angeles Aqueduct Digital PlatformYesterday UCLA <a href="http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/los-angeles-aqueduct-digital-platform-249219.aspx">launched</a> the <a href="http://digital.library.ucla.edu/aqueduct/">Los Angeles Aqueduct Digital Platform</a> on the Aqueduct's centenary. I'm proud to say that the woman largely responsible for the conception and implementation of this project is my very dear friend and fellow archivist Jillian Cuellar.<br />
<br />
Growing up in Southern California, drought warnings are issued consistently and water usage has always been a highly debated topic among the state's politicians and citizens. I'm slightly embarrassed to admit how little I know of the
Aqueduct's history, and that most of what I do know likely came from watching
Roman Polanski's movie <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071315/">Chinatown</a>.<br />
<br />
This project fills a large void in resources devoted to California's history. Ignoring the Aqueduct's influence on the development of Los Angeles would be like ignoring Robert Moses' role in the development of New York City. It'll be exciting to see how researchers take advantage of their new resources. It already <a href="http://www.slate.com/blogs/the_vault/2013/11/05/la_aqueduct_photo_album_historical_photos_of_new_aqueduct_in_1915.html">looks</a> <a href="http://dailybruin.com/2013/11/05/a-centurys-supply-ucla-library-celebrates-history-of-la-aqueduct/">promising</a>. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vZJaYcMlM1Q/UnqNdcaD8ZI/AAAAAAAAAwE/20tDwlNLSJs/s1600/Newhall-Spillway-crowds---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-vZJaYcMlM1Q/UnqNdcaD8ZI/AAAAAAAAAwE/20tDwlNLSJs/s1600/Newhall-Spillway-crowds---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Aqueduct fills with water for the first time on November 5, 1913. Image <a href="http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/srp-view.aspx?id=201341">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wOw7MV4vgRQ/UnqNaTS0EMI/AAAAAAAAAv8/Kez3qmntODg/s1600/mule-team---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wOw7MV4vgRQ/UnqNaTS0EMI/AAAAAAAAAv8/Kez3qmntODg/s1600/mule-team---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Mule team. Image <a href="http://newsroom.ucla.edu/portal/ucla/artwork/4/9/2/1/9/249219/mule-team.jpg">via</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-7657937694262412362013-10-16T14:57:00.000-04:002013-10-22T14:30:35.014-04:00Whale Fever at 35th and BroadwayOne of the more outlandish things in Midtown Manhattan during the 1800s was The New York Aquarium, located at the NW corner of 35th Street and Broadway.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9G3tRZeeR_c/Uks8y7uFTHI/AAAAAAAAAqU/Q6lGSy8E9NE/s1600/Aquarium-Building---35th-and-Broadway---%5B1896%5D---NYPL-800415---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-9G3tRZeeR_c/Uks8y7uFTHI/AAAAAAAAAqU/Q6lGSy8E9NE/s1600/Aquarium-Building---35th-and-Broadway---%5B1896%5D---NYPL-800415---WEB.gif" /></a></div>
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The aquarium was a short-lived, but very ambitious venture, founded by <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=9E03E5DF133DE433A25756C0A9659C94649ED7CF">William Cameron Coup</a> and Charles Reiche. Coup was already well-known for his collaborations with P.T. Barnum -- he helped set up and manage <a href="http://www.circusinamerica.org/public/corporate_bodies/public_show/13">P.T. Barnum's Museum, Menagerie and Circus</a>.<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br />
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The New York Aquarium opened on October 11, 1876. The building was 20,000 square feet, and included space for exhibition as well as research. The centerpiece of the main pavilion was a 30-foot tank intended to house a whale, or, whales (plural). Additional tanks flanked the whale tank, intended for sea lions and elephant seals, and tanks along the pavilion's north and east walls housed fish.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vBKhIt0pP0E/UktC1LeBQPI/AAAAAAAAAqk/bUXD4YepeOI/s1600/NY-Aquarium---%5B1876%5D---MNY8095--WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vBKhIt0pP0E/UktC1LeBQPI/AAAAAAAAAqk/bUXD4YepeOI/s1600/NY-Aquarium---%5B1876%5D---MNY8095--WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UAYWR8JV2U&SMLS=1&RW=1382&RH=754">MCNY</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
In his memoir <a href="http://www.archive.org/stream/sawdustspangless00coupiala#page/246/mode/2up"><i>Sawdust and Spangles</i></a>, Coup devotes a chapter to the
Aquarium and it's specimens. It sort of reads like a manual on how not
to transport aquatic animals from distant places. Even so, his
enthusiasm and love for the creatures comes through. He starts with a description of a rare species of Japanese fish that has three tails (it's a <a href="http://www.thegoldfishcare.com/goldfish/15.html">goldfish</a>), and continues with a description of whale transport that involved a days-long journey by boat from the Norwegian coastline to Canada, then a 90-hour train ride from Canada to New York City. Three died en route on separate journeys before one was delivered alive and transferred to the aquarium on October 15, 1876, a few days after the aquarium's official opening.<br />
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The whale exhibited -- briefly, before it too died -- was most likely a beluga whale. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xilLiPrU24U/UktDKfL9rDI/AAAAAAAAAqw/Q4afSnOb44s/s1600/Beluga---White-whale---1820---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xilLiPrU24U/UktDKfL9rDI/AAAAAAAAAqw/Q4afSnOb44s/s1600/Beluga---White-whale---1820---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">White Whale, drawing, c. 1820: <a href="http://www.photolib.noaa.gov/htmls/libr0419.htm">source</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The year 1870 brought the aquarium's first sea lions, another main attraction. Pinnipeds have been exhibited in captivity since <a href="http://www.pinnipeds.org/seal-information/rehabilitation-and-captivity/pinnipeds-in-captivity">around</a> the 1600s, but this exhibit was likely one of New York's first. The pinniped pen was located next to the whale tank, and drew guests from all over.<br />
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In 1879 Coup and Reiche disagreed on the practice of opening the business on Sundays -- Reiche was for it, and Coup against. Reiche bought out Coup's share of the company and went on to pursue other <a href="http://corktownhistory.blogspot.com/2012/01/first-zoo-part-i-circus-myth.html">enterprises</a>.<br />
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The aquarium <a href="http://archive.org/stream/jstor-2900324/2900324#page/n1/mode/2up">closed</a> in 1881, and the NW corner of 35th and Broadway soon became known for its theater <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=C5IXAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA371&dq=%22new+york+aquarium%22+intitle:history+intitle:of+intitle:the+intitle:New+intitle:York+intitle:stage&hl=en&ei=T5l_TbCsKYrLgQeOvZ2GCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&sqi=2&ved=0CDIQ6AEwAA#v=onepage&q=%22new%20york%20aquarium%22%20intitle%3Ahistory%20intitle%3Aof%20intitle%3Athe%20intitle%3ANew%20intitle%3AYork%20intitle%3Astage&f=false">venues</a>, first as the location for the New Park Theater in 1883, and from 1894 until 1914, the home of the Herald Square Theater. nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-48292824860361622182013-10-08T15:00:00.000-04:002013-10-08T15:00:04.935-04:00Halloween Costume IdeasThis Halloween, let's look at history for a little costume inspiration. You could dress up as . . .<br />
<br />
An oil drum:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AtQ3mAp2U8c/Uk24HcILG8I/AAAAAAAAAq8/hMPMwVGKNTY/s1600/Halloween-Costumes---1907--WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AtQ3mAp2U8c/Uk24HcILG8I/AAAAAAAAAq8/hMPMwVGKNTY/s1600/Halloween-Costumes---1907--WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image via the <a href="http://www.kansasmemory.org/item/214375">Kansas History Foundation</a></td></tr>
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A Rooster, or a <a href="http://pigeonmask.com/">Pigeon</a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CzJvMmnP_9w/Uk24P9aTRjI/AAAAAAAAArE/aCFmG1hOPow/s1600/tumblr_lsrulqZ54G1r3fi8to1_500---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CzJvMmnP_9w/Uk24P9aTRjI/AAAAAAAAArE/aCFmG1hOPow/s1600/tumblr_lsrulqZ54G1r3fi8to1_500---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://blackandwhiteandwtf.tumblr.com/post/11207728882/lucien-gyutri-in-the-form-of-a-rooster-1910">Image</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Couples idea (!) and possible inspiration for <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0246578/">Donnie Darko</a>?<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0Dn5Q7N_Lvc/Uk24UhWMw0I/AAAAAAAAArM/5XY_XM-ssiA/s1600/2972729068_dfaa03c03d_o---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-0Dn5Q7N_Lvc/Uk24UhWMw0I/AAAAAAAAArM/5XY_XM-ssiA/s1600/2972729068_dfaa03c03d_o---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/31472241@N03/2972729068/in/pool-vintagehalloween">Image</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
A Leafy Green<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OuLoZxmIil0/Uk24btyBwGI/AAAAAAAAArU/ZVnezNwfs0s/s1600/costume-weird---cabbage---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OuLoZxmIil0/Uk24btyBwGI/AAAAAAAAArU/ZVnezNwfs0s/s1600/costume-weird---cabbage---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://flavorwire.com/339253/20-incredibly-bizarre-vintage-halloween-costumes/5/">Image</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Or keep it simple with homemade paper bag and plate masks.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-osaAClaWwRw/Uk3CB8_uJuI/AAAAAAAAArs/P54FPfkM1Kk/s1600/Diane-Arbus---2---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-osaAClaWwRw/Uk3CB8_uJuI/AAAAAAAAArs/P54FPfkM1Kk/s1600/Diane-Arbus---2---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://daily-lazy.blogspot.com/2013/01/diane-arbus.html">Diane Arbus</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-MOukT4PGX_c/Uk3BfGZKp8I/AAAAAAAAArk/enaSk33rj5w/s1600/Diane-Arbus---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-50116647404819713752013-10-04T15:39:00.000-04:002013-10-04T15:39:00.113-04:00Chock Full O' Nuts<br />
For many years a Choc Full o' Nuts lunch counter occupied retail space in the ground floor of the <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2013/01/happy-100th-birthday-mcalpin-hotel.html">Hotel McAlpin</a>,
now, Herald Towers building, at 34th and Broadway. Like most
restaurants in Midtown Manhattan, it was packed around lunchtime. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xaM9_lAoDto/UjDSP7y3h6I/AAAAAAAAApg/7Gr1pkZiOOk/s1600/8f3401fa01776dba_large-(2)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xaM9_lAoDto/UjDSP7y3h6I/AAAAAAAAApg/7Gr1pkZiOOk/s1600/8f3401fa01776dba_large-(2)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">December 1954, Alfred Eisenstaedt. Photo: <a href="http://images.google.com/hosted/life/8f3401fa01776dba.html">LIFE</a> via this blog <a href="http://mleddy.blogspot.com/2010/04/chock-full-o-lunch-hour.html">post</a>. </td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"></td></tr>
<tr align="left"><td class="tr-caption"></td></tr>
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<a href="http://www.chockfullonuts.com/">Choc Full o' Nuts</a> opened its first store near Times Square at Broadway and 43rd Street, in 1926. The company continued to grow, opening its first cafe opened in 1932, and following with food trucks.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LiU9cEVNFtc/UjDdwLC9VGI/AAAAAAAAAqE/et2xwUwycrM/s1600/c81d932557c7da6da6d5c4f97d9a9b51---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LiU9cEVNFtc/UjDdwLC9VGI/AAAAAAAAAqE/et2xwUwycrM/s1600/c81d932557c7da6da6d5c4f97d9a9b51---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Possibly the first store, c. 1926 Photo: <a href="http://pinterest.com/pin/247768416971598188/">Pinterest</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jbbx0XCViRA/UjDalDAxYYI/AAAAAAAAApw/CNNORvg0HWA/s1600/WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-jbbx0XCViRA/UjDalDAxYYI/AAAAAAAAApw/CNNORvg0HWA/s1600/WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Food cart from the 1930s or 1940s. Photo: <a href="http://www.historicvehicle.org/News/Articles/All-Articles/2013/03/12/Famous-Food-Cars">here</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The company's founder was <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1983/03/08/obituaries/william-black-founder-and-head-of-chock-full-o-nuts-corp-dies.html">William Black</a>, who, as his business grew, also became a well respected philanthropist. He donated a lot of money towards medical research, and in 1957 founded the <a href="http://www.pdf.org/">Parkinson's Disease Foundation</a> with an initial donation of $100,000. <br />
<br />
One of Choc's most well known employees was famed baseball player <a href="http://www.jackierobinson.com/">Jackie Robinson</a>. Shortly after retiring from baseball in 1956, he was hired as the company's Vice President and Director of Personnel. Mr. Robinson was an extremely vocal Civil Rights advocate as well. NARA has a great <a href="http://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/jackie-robinson/index.html">collection</a> of his letters. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KA-bURK6XDw/UjDbQpZROEI/AAAAAAAAAp4/cVKgWMdHkGA/s1600/25robinson2_337-popup+-+WEB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KA-bURK6XDw/UjDbQpZROEI/AAAAAAAAAp4/cVKgWMdHkGA/s1600/25robinson2_337-popup+-+WEB.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">William Black and Jackie Robinson at a store opening. Photo: <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/imagepages/2010/12/25/sports/25robinson2_337.html">NYT</a></td></tr>
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The comments section of this <a href="http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2010/04/21/herald-square-then-and-now/">post</a> by Ephemeral New York includes many fond memories of the franchise in the city.<br />
<br />
For a while, Choc Full o' Nuts at 34th Street and <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2013/06/woolworths-on-fifth-avenue.html">Woolworth's</a> supplied Midtown workers with two solid lunch options flanking Herald Square. The 34th Street lunch counter closed in <a href="http://www.maykuth.com/Archives/chock90.htm">1990.</a><br />
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Where do you go to get an Egg Cream now?nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-90901017230547550892013-09-03T16:47:00.003-04:002013-09-03T16:47:39.229-04:00N. Jay Jaffee<i>This post also appears on the Bryant Park <a href="http://blog.bryantpark.org/">blog</a>. </i><br />
<br />
It's been over a month since my last post. I'm working on a bunch of small projects that will hopefully wrap up in the coming weeks. In the meantime, here's a short post featuring one of the city's many street photographers. <br />
<br />
These gentleman are leaning up against a fairly marked up William Cullen Bryant <a href="http://www.nycgovparks.org/parks/bryantpark/monuments/189">monument</a> in Bryant Park. The photo was taken in 1953 by photographer <a href="http://njayjaffee.com/">N. Jay Jaffee</a>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CPX_gjp_1BA/UdwzCZj0E_I/AAAAAAAAAoE/vpG9h0d1amU/s1600/BP---1953---N---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-CPX_gjp_1BA/UdwzCZj0E_I/AAAAAAAAAoE/vpG9h0d1amU/s1600/BP---1953---N---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Bryant Park, W.C. Bryant Monument, 1953. Photo by N. Jay Jaffee. Image: <a href="https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/105082/Bryant_Park">Brooklyn Museum</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
People still sit with Bryant on a daily basis in the park, though, since 1992, they've had <a href="http://blog.bryantpark.org/2011/02/from-archive-bryant-parks-choice.html">chairs</a>.<br />
<br />
Jaffee is one of my favorite photographers right now, so here are a few more of his images: <br />
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Another park scene, not Bryant Park.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YFYaeSNZtAM/Udw1IBGQLFI/AAAAAAAAAoc/vSaqnOZlBMc/s1600/Woman-in-Black---1978----WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-YFYaeSNZtAM/Udw1IBGQLFI/AAAAAAAAAoc/vSaqnOZlBMc/s1600/Woman-in-Black---1978----WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woman in Black, 1978. Photo by N. Jay Jaffee. Image: <a href="https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/105086/Woman_in_Black#!lb_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.brooklynmuseum.org%2Fopencollection%2Fobject_image%2F93522%2Fimage_sizes">Brooklyn Museum</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<span style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; display: inline !important; float: none; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: auto; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: auto; word-spacing: 0px;">Signage, two ways:</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d38CswPzvuY/Udx2zilfuvI/AAAAAAAAApU/QD4i56zU_Lk/s1600/WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-d38CswPzvuY/Udx2zilfuvI/AAAAAAAAApU/QD4i56zU_Lk/s1600/WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Who Has Three or Four Rooms (Brownsville, NY), 1950. Photo by N.J. Jaffee. Image: <a href="https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/157908/Who_Has_Three_or_Four_Rooms_Brownsville_from_the_series_An_Era_Past%3A_Photographs_of_Brownsville_and_East_New_York_Brooklyn#">Brooklyn Museum</a></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YHIcUmtQ4Ro/Udx16dek7LI/AAAAAAAAAo8/5CYs0mQ0Tw0/s1600/Kishke-King-(Pitkin-Ave,-Brownsville)---1953---Jaffee---Brooklyn-Museum---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YHIcUmtQ4Ro/Udx16dek7LI/AAAAAAAAAo8/5CYs0mQ0Tw0/s1600/Kishke-King-(Pitkin-Ave,-Brownsville)---1953---Jaffee---Brooklyn-Museum---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Kishke King, Pitkin Avenue (Brownsville, NY) 1953. Photo by N. Jay Jaffee. Image: <a href="https://www.brooklynmuseum.org/opencollection/objects/157923/Kishke_King_Pitkin_Avenue_Brownsville#!lb_uri=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.brooklynmuseum.org%2Fopencollection%2Fobject_image%2F113764%2Fsize%2F4%2Flarger">Brooklyn Museum</a></td></tr>
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nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-11917316895758951872013-07-24T12:00:00.000-04:002013-07-24T12:00:04.983-04:00KubrickA couple of weeks ago, I was going through the MCNY digital archive for <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2013/06/woolworths-on-fifth-avenue.html">this</a> post, and came across the Stanley Kubrick photo <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1G37LG81&SMLS=1&RW=1231&RH=920">collection</a>. It's awesome. I hadn't realized how much street photography he'd done prior to his film work. This image of a Columbia Professor messing with lights, taken in 1948, is especially good. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ur4l_Qd5gqE/UcsdiXXZxbI/AAAAAAAAAns/ukgvaZozgUA/s1600/16---M3Y4694---Kubrick---Columbia-Professor-working-with-bright-light---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ur4l_Qd5gqE/UcsdiXXZxbI/AAAAAAAAAns/ukgvaZozgUA/s1600/16---M3Y4694---Kubrick---Columbia-Professor-working-with-bright-light---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1G37LG81&SMLS=1&RW=1231&RH=920">MCNY</a></td></tr>
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It reminded me of this shot of Peter Sellers in <i>Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb</i> (<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057012/">imdb</a>).<br />
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There's a 16 year gap between when the image and film were made, but the aesthetic seems on point.nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-5253425784845423552013-07-09T11:26:00.000-04:002013-07-16T13:11:07.632-04:00Knox the HatterHats and fascinators seem to be making a comeback, and not just for <a href="http://www.kentuckyderby.com/news/photos/derby-hats">specific</a> <a href="http://nymag.com/thecut/2013/04/festive-crazy-hats-at-new-yorks-easter-parade.html">occasions</a>. In 1800s New York, hatters and milliners were all over the place, and it remained a reliable trade until at least the 1960s-ish? President Kennedy stopped wearing hats around then, and so did everyone else, though I'm sure there were other influences. <br />
<br />
The Knox Hat Company was founded in 1838 by Charles Knox, a few years after a major <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Great_Fire_of_New_York">fire</a> wiped out most of lower Manhattan. The first store was located on Fulton Street, a couple blocks away from <a href="http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2012/04/lost-barnum-american-museum-broadway.html">Barnum's American Museum</a>, which was destroyed by another major <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1865/07/14/news/disastrous-fire-total-destruction-barnum-s-american-museum-nine-other-buildings.html?pagewanted=7">fire</a> in 1865. Though the store remained intact, looters managed to lift a good portion of the stock (mostly Panama hats) during the fire's aftermath. The Hatter moved again, this time to 212 Broadway, <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1G3H8DJG&SMLS=1&RW=1151&RH=920">next door</a> to the National Park Bank. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uVOh8bPvsJw/UcS_X5ssK8I/AAAAAAAAAnM/WUbYFeUUx8E/s1600/02---National-Park-Bank-and-Knox-Hatters---1895---MCNY---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-uVOh8bPvsJw/UcS_X5ssK8I/AAAAAAAAAnM/WUbYFeUUx8E/s1600/02---National-Park-Bank-and-Knox-Hatters---1895---MCNY---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Knox Hatters at 216 Broadway in Lower Manhattan, 1895. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1G3JDP3H&SMLS=1&RW=1250&RH=921">MCNY</a></td></tr>
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Seeing retail make its move north, the Knox Hat Company set its sites on the SW corner of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue for the store's next location.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_3FzN8Kzw6c/UcNfDgpG-tI/AAAAAAAAAl0/0z1EmiJURq8/s1600/02---NYHS---PR020-box-40---10---Fifth-and-40th-SW-corner---nd---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-_3FzN8Kzw6c/UcNfDgpG-tI/AAAAAAAAAl0/0z1EmiJURq8/s1600/02---NYHS---PR020-box-40---10---Fifth-and-40th-SW-corner---nd---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The SW corner of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue. Before the Knox building, it was <a href="http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2010/10/1902-knox-hat-buildling-452-fifth.html">occupied </a>by the mansion of Lawrence Kipp, who died in 1899. Image: NYHS</td></tr>
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The Knox Building was designed by City Architect John H. Duncan, whose work included <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/94511469/">Grant's Tomb</a> in Manhattan. The stunning Beaux-Arts commercial building was built in 1901-1902. <br />
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From the <a href="http://www.npclibrary.org/db/bb_files/80-KNOX-BLDNG.pdf">LPC Report</a>: "Knox retained ownership of the Knox Building until his death. In 1903 he had split the company into the Knox Manufacturing Company and the E.M. Knox Hat Retail Company. Offices for the company and main retail store were located in the building."<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZFiBHky8q1g/UcOApeXqSXI/AAAAAAAAAmE/_M2_cLdXH48/s1600/03---NYHS---PR020-box-40---3---Fifth-Ave-NW-corner-at-40th-St---1914---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ZFiBHky8q1g/UcOApeXqSXI/AAAAAAAAAmE/_M2_cLdXH48/s1600/03---NYHS---PR020-box-40---3---Fifth-Ave-NW-corner-at-40th-St---1914---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SW corner of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue, looking west on 40th Street, c. 1914. Image: NYHS</td></tr>
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New construction was growing larger, taller, and more commercial throughout the early 1900s as retail moved north, and the city's trains and trolleys brought increasing numbers of people into Manhattan for work and play. <br />
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In 1913, the Knox Hat Manufacturing Company was <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=2x9bAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA5-PA94&lpg=RA5-PA94&dq=E.M.+Knox+Retail+Hat+Manufacturing+Company&source=bl&ots=rd3RJ8oO-h&sig=KWZnZ_uinhaEAKFL5USmrZxIy60&hl=en&sa=X&ei=o9XAUZOyA_je4AParICgAg&ved=0CDoQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=E.M.%20Knox%20Retail%20Hat%20Manufacturing%20Company&f=false">amalgamated</a> with the E.M. Knox Retail Hat Company. The company Manufacturing <a href="http://www.brownstoner.com/blog/2011/01/building-of-the-226/">building</a> in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, still exists, though it's now residential.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c1HfbHiIjAw/UcOCmtqEJzI/AAAAAAAAAmc/jQPRV1jFvQQ/s1600/Knox-Hatters---1913---NYPL--824855---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-c1HfbHiIjAw/UcOCmtqEJzI/AAAAAAAAAmc/jQPRV1jFvQQ/s1600/Knox-Hatters---1913---NYPL--824855---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Knox Hattery advertisement, 1913. Image: <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?824855">NYPL</a></td></tr>
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Pre and post Empire State Building:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RPmBVWxtrz0/UcOBXjFtdDI/AAAAAAAAAmM/wcOli8HKL18/s1600/1928---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-RPmBVWxtrz0/UcOBXjFtdDI/AAAAAAAAAmM/wcOli8HKL18/s1600/1928---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Same corner, looking south on Fifth Avenue, 1928 Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1G3H8ZKV&SMLS=1&RW=1151&RH=877">MCNY</a></td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zzg7CJ0r2rk/UcsUQ8jPv6I/AAAAAAAAAnc/f2j9_SiLJkE/s1600/M3Y60391---Mike-Roberts---1960---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-zzg7CJ0r2rk/UcsUQ8jPv6I/AAAAAAAAAnc/f2j9_SiLJkE/s1600/M3Y60391---Mike-Roberts---1960---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">NYPL Fifth Avenue terrace, facing south towards 40th Street. Photo by Mike Roberts, 1960. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1G37ZXE9&SMLS=1&RW=1231&RH=920">MCNY</a></td></tr>
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The "Jaguar," popular throughout the 1950s and 1960s.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XFCAw-iWj3s/UcS9IdSSCnI/AAAAAAAAAms/ZTaZA3NAb1g/s1600/knox-hat-ad---1950s-1960s---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-XFCAw-iWj3s/UcS9IdSSCnI/AAAAAAAAAms/ZTaZA3NAb1g/s1600/knox-hat-ad---1950s-1960s---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
<br /></td></tr>
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In 1964, the Republic National Bank, then owners of the building,
modified it to suit banking purposes (see LPC report for specifics, page
4), and in 1980, began construction of a neighboring tower. (That bank was <a href="http://money.cnn.com/1999/05/10/worldbiz/hsbc/">bought</a> by HSBC in 1999.)<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wOpTfmlezsQ/UcS9VHEjEVI/AAAAAAAAAm0/KQOh6h5Asb0/s1600/08---%5B1980%5D---BP-Staff-Photog-(41)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wOpTfmlezsQ/UcS9VHEjEVI/AAAAAAAAAm0/KQOh6h5Asb0/s1600/08---%5B1980%5D---BP-Staff-Photog-(41)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SW corner of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue, c. 1980. Image: BPC </td></tr>
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The tower was <a href="http://www.emporis.com/building/hsbctower-newyorkcity-ny-usa">completed</a> in 1984 and the pair sort of give the impression of <i>Sense and Sensibility</i> meets <i>Bonfire of the Vanities</i>, architecturally speaking. . . .<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tQtV3sjuIBg/UcS9s0uMv2I/AAAAAAAAAm8/jbM9pysdJ_4/s1600/09---442-Fifth-Avenue---2013-06-19---AK-iphone--(3)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-tQtV3sjuIBg/UcS9s0uMv2I/AAAAAAAAAm8/jbM9pysdJ_4/s1600/09---442-Fifth-Avenue---2013-06-19---AK-iphone--(3)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">SW corner of 40th and Fifth Avenue, 2013. Image: BPC, AK</td></tr>
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Knox hats are still coveted by many on the interwebs, with many vintage men's and women's styles for sale on <a href="http://www.ebay.com/bhp/knox-hats-new-york">Ebay</a> and <a href="http://www.etsy.com/search?q=Knox+Hats&view_type=gallery&ship_to=US&page=1">Etsy</a>.<br />
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<u>Other Sources:</u><br />
-Landmarks Designation Report, <a href="http://www.npclibrary.org/db/bb_files/80-KNOX-BLDNG.pdf">LP-1091</a><br />
<i>-NYT</i> article on the <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2002/08/04/realestate/streetscapes-40th-street-between-fifth-avenue-avenue-americas-across-bryant-park.html">development</a> of 40th Street in the early 1900s. nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-81429113523337647522013-06-25T09:21:00.001-04:002013-06-25T09:21:29.048-04:00Woolworth's on Fifth AvenueEleven years after B. Altman <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2013/04/b-altmans-palace-of-trade-moves-uptown.html">opened</a> store at 34th and Fifth, the Woolworth's Board of Directors <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=nWsWBl-9nU4C&pg=PA56&lpg=PA56&dq=Woolworths+store+40th+street&source=bl&ots=vQ8HHJzoxk&sig=ng9Hsx8UAEYkOSbHfFOwhgh8F9Q&hl=en&sa=X&ei=yBmyUYrMGIHB4APd0YGoAw&ved=0CDMQ6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q=Woolworths%20store%2040th%20street&f=false">announced</a> that the company would build a large store at the NE corner of 40th Street and Fifth Avenue. The new "Five and Ten Cent Store deluxe" Woolworth's opened in the Fall of 1917. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GKm_kmJrZHY/UbEJhJCbVhI/AAAAAAAAAjw/4jo22djdYVA/s1600/Parade-down-Fifth-Avenue---Woolworths---%5B1920s%5D---NYPL-806134---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-GKm_kmJrZHY/UbEJhJCbVhI/AAAAAAAAAjw/4jo22djdYVA/s1600/Parade-down-Fifth-Avenue---Woolworths---%5B1920s%5D---NYPL-806134---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Parade route along Fifth Avenue -- most likely a WWI send-off parade. The parade is heading south; the view looking north. The Woolworth's store is on the far right, and brownstones where the future Arnold Constable building are to its right (north). Date, ca. 1917 Image: <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?keyword=FW+Woolworth&submit.x=-1029&submit.y=-232">NYP</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5145713231428268663">L</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Over ten years later, in 1930, the first supermarket was built in Jamaica, New York, making it possible for food shoppers to obtain most, if not all, of their groceries under one roof. That, along with the growth of the suburbs throughout the 1930s, popularized discount retailing. Discount retailers, such as Woolworth's, and in the 1950s, Korvette's and McCreery's, offered frequent sales, less individualized customer
service, and savvy merchandising to attract a wide range of customers.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5ZYLfEFPVzU/UbYln9lYZ_I/AAAAAAAAAlA/Ipl_bmryrDA/s1600/MNY225666---1930-Woolworths-windows---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-5ZYLfEFPVzU/UbYln9lYZ_I/AAAAAAAAAlA/Ipl_bmryrDA/s1600/MNY225666---1930-Woolworths-windows---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Window shopping on Fifth Avenue, ca. 1930. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1G3OBMHU&SMLS=1&RW=1227&RH=981">MCNY</a></td></tr>
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Throughout the 1930s, Woolworth's continued to grow and expand operations throughout the U.S. and in Canada. In 1937, the <i>NYT</i> <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=F50B16F9385E177A93C2AB178FD85F438385F9">announced</a> that plans were filed to build the company's 1,000th store at 39th Street and Fifth Avenue, just one block south of the existing flagship store, and next door to the Arnold & Constable Co. <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2013/05/arnold-constable-company-best-mansard.html">store</a>. It opened a year later, in 1938, sixty years after the the first "Woolworth's Great Five
Cent Store" was opened in in Utica, New York. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5FOeXFXyDSE/UbHwa_JqzNI/AAAAAAAAAkY/zJZjZU69yt0/s1600/NYC---Retail---Woolworth%27s---Fifth-Ave-and-39th---%5B1930s%5D---02---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5FOeXFXyDSE/UbHwa_JqzNI/AAAAAAAAAkY/zJZjZU69yt0/s1600/NYC---Retail---Woolworth's---Fifth-Ave-and-39th---%5B1930s%5D---02---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fifth Avenue looking north from 39th Street, ca. late 1930s / early 1940s. Image: Pisark</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The new Woolworth's store was designed by architects <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Starrett_%26_van_Vleck">Starrett & van Vleck</a>, known for designing the flagships of several other department stores, including Lord & Taylor, on Fifth Avenue between 38th and 39th Streets (It's still <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord_%26_Taylor">there</a>.). <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cmjJG-lQkls/UbEB6c4geHI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/gMrHuSJz_eg/s1600/M3Y3020---1947---shopping-at-Woolworths---Kubric---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-cmjJG-lQkls/UbEB6c4geHI/AAAAAAAAAjQ/gMrHuSJz_eg/s1600/M3Y3020---1947---shopping-at-Woolworths---Kubric---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woolworth's shopper shot by Stanley Kubrick, 1947. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1G3OBMHU&SMLS=1&RW=1227&RH=981">MCNY</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Before Woolworth's the NE corner of 39th Street and Fifth Avenue was home to the Union League Clubhouse. The <a href="http://www.unionleagueclub.org/Default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=292355&ssid=172851&vnf=1">Union League Club</a>
was founded on February 6, 1863, and incorporated on February 16, 1865
as a group of political elites in support of the Union. Among others,
Bryant Park's <a href="http://bryantpark.org/about-us/born.html">namesake</a> William Cullen Bryant was a member.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x8p9OH1MgoE/UbHwFSOJaJI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/T2tz9qR0BUs/s1600/Union-League-Club---1906---LOC-LC-D4-16362---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-x8p9OH1MgoE/UbHwFSOJaJI/AAAAAAAAAkQ/T2tz9qR0BUs/s1600/Union-League-Club---1906---LOC-LC-D4-16362---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Union League Clubhouse, c. 1909, at the NE corner of 39th Street and Fifth Avenue. Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994009127/PP/">LOC</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The building at 39th Street and Fifth Avenue was the club's third
location, having moved first from 17th Street to Madison Avenue and 26th
Street. The club moved to 39th Street on March 5, 1881 and stayed
until 1931, at which time it moved to it's present <a href="http://www.unionleagueclub.org/Default.aspx?p=DynamicModule&pageid=292363&ssid=172859&vnf=1">location</a> at 37th Street and Park Avenue.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OYuSR3rBiCU/UbIIO4V0ioI/AAAAAAAAAkw/-_RWWp-r17w/s1600/M2Y9986---Union-Club-and-Arnold-Constable-Building---1929---cropped---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-OYuSR3rBiCU/UbIIO4V0ioI/AAAAAAAAAkw/-_RWWp-r17w/s1600/M2Y9986---Union-Club-and-Arnold-Constable-Building---1929---cropped---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of 39th Street and Fifth Avenue, showing the Union League Clubhouse and Arnold Constable & Co. store, 1929. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1G3ODVSB&SMLS=1&RW=1422&RH=890">MCNY</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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The F.W. Woolworth Company went defunct in 1997, and as of 2001 the company has been part of Foot Locker Inc.<br />
<br />
There are two Foot Locker <a href="http://www.footlocker.com/content/locator#d=10018">stores</a> in the 34th Street area, each within blocks of the former Woolworth's store at 35th Street and Broadway. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_D1-LL68noo/UcM62RiNlyI/AAAAAAAAAlk/PP9e-mEX3wg/s1600/06---Broadway-and-35th---Woolworth---1927---front---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_D1-LL68noo/UcM62RiNlyI/AAAAAAAAAlk/PP9e-mEX3wg/s1600/06---Broadway-and-35th---Woolworth---1927---front---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Woolworth's at 35th Street and Broadway, c. 1927 Image: Pisark</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<u><i>Other Sources</i></u><br />
Union League Club Landmarks Preservation Commission Report, <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/2389.pdf">LP-2389</a><br />
This <a href="http://books.google.com/books?id=HidLAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA35&lpg=PA35&dq=Union+League+club+building+39th+street+entrance+on+39th&source=bl&ots=yX-y2ZbykF&sig=TwdbQFFDgTkyADb7XSAT6ZhZufw&hl=en&sa=X&ei=Cf-wUZ7sLsrh4AP-gIHwAQ&ved=0CEkQ6AEwBg#v=onepage&q=Union%20League%20club%20building%2039th%20street%20entrance%20on%2039th&f=false">book</a>.<br />
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/F._W._Woolworth_Company">Wikipedia</a> nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-54663792943335509332013-05-23T11:00:00.000-04:002013-06-14T16:15:40.788-04:00Arnold Constable & Company: The Best Mansard in NYCJust south of the Flatiron building, on East Nineteenth Street, between Broadway and Fifth Avenue, sits the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arnold_Constable_%26_Company">Arnold Constable Company</a> building. It has one of the largest and most impressive mansards in the city. I can't think of another that is <i>this</i> palatial. It also looks to be two high-ceiling-ed stories tall. I'm awed in ways I can't explain.<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vB8vFOvJ7mQ/UYkl-C-fiII/AAAAAAAAAhM/BU0z9YUmRMw/s1600/Arnold-and-Constable-Building---881-887-Broadway---2013-04-11---AK-(2)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-vB8vFOvJ7mQ/UYkl-C-fiII/AAAAAAAAAhM/BU0z9YUmRMw/s1600/Arnold-and-Constable-Building---881-887-Broadway---2013-04-11---AK-(2)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Arnold Constable & Co. building, Broadway facade, April 2013. Photo: Anne Kumer</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The company was originally founded in 1825 as a small dry goods store in lower Manhattan. In 1857 the founders built a five-story white marble <a href="http://daytoninmanhattan.blogspot.com/2011/02/1857-arnold-constable-co-building-canal.html">store</a> on Canal and Mercer Streets, a bit north. Because of the store's success, the need to expand again came in less than ten years. In 1869, the company moved farther north, this time to a cast-iron building on Broadway and Nineteenth Street. Designed by <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griffith_Thomas">Griffith Thomas</a>, the Broadway facade was constructed of white marble. One of the store's founders, Aaron Arnold felt it was ". . . the only material elegant enough for a prosperous emporium." The AC & Co. was definitely that -- it catered to the carriage trade before the term even came into <a href="http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/carriage%20trade">being</a>, and is credited as being the city's first department store. Arnold died a year before the store's expansion along Nineteenth Street, straight to Fifth Avenue in 1876.<br />
<br />
It looked (and looks) something like this:<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vy-saxco1lA/UYkk706ObZI/AAAAAAAAAhA/0VrgLot-liY/s1600/0064---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-vy-saxco1lA/UYkk706ObZI/AAAAAAAAAhA/0VrgLot-liY/s1600/0064---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Arnold Constable & Co. building showing the Fifth Avenue facade looking east, 1877. Image: <a href="http://archiseek.com/2012/1876-arnold-constable-company-887-broadway-new-york/#.UYka4rXqmCk">archiseek</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
In 1914, the <i>NYT</i> <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=F40816FB3E5B17738DDDA80894DF405B848DF1D3">reported</a> another move uptown to an undisclosed location. That location turned out to be the corner of West 40th Street and Fifth Avenue, directly across from the main NYPL building (<a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2010/11/new-york-public-library-lays-its.html">built in 1911</a>), near <a href="http://www.bryantpark.org/">Bryant Park</a>, and just one block south of <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2013/02/house-of-mansions-to-bankers-trust.html">this</a>. The company traded in its cast iron and mansard glory for a much less decorative structure. French Second Empire be damned. <br />
<a href="http://archiseek.com/2012/1876-arnold-constable-company-887-broadway-new-york/#.UYka4rXqmCk"></a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c21Fic_i79E/UYkpLcGbLnI/AAAAAAAAAhY/91mqwDLM7ds/s1600/MNY238371--Arnold-and-Constable-store---40th-and-fifth---1915---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c21Fic_i79E/UYkpLcGbLnI/AAAAAAAAAhY/91mqwDLM7ds/s1600/MNY238371--Arnold-and-Constable-store---40th-and-fifth---1915---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After the move to West 40th and Fifth Avenue, 1915. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1GVX7LCO&SMLS=1&RW=1179&RH=798">MCNY</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Around 1925, the store became part of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alexander_Turney_Stewart">A.T. Stewart Company</a> -- a name in retail history that you can't swing a dead cat without encountering a million times -- and in the late 1930s, several branches of the store were built by then president, Isaac Liberman. In 1975 was forced to close its doors, 150 years after they originally opened in 1825. <br />
<br />
This location is now the home of the NYPL Mid-Manhattan branch, but might <a href="http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887323751104578151653883688578.html">not</a> be for too long, though <a href="http://artsbeat.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/18/landmark-status-sought-for-public-librarys-rose-reading-room/">this</a> could delay the progress some. The Mansard-ed up Broadway building is still home to a large retailer though: <a href="http://www.abchome.com/">ABC Carpet & Home</a>.<br />
<br />
<u>Other Sources:</u><br />
Ladies' Mile Historic District designation <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/LadiesMile_Vol1.pdf">report</a><br />
Hendrickson, Robert. <i>The Grand Emporiums</i>, p. 154-155 nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-24402792058521852172013-05-06T11:44:00.000-04:002013-06-14T16:05:47.389-04:00Saks and Gimbels on Sixth<i>This post also appears on <a href="http://www.fashionherald.org/">Fashion Herald</a>. </i><br />
<br />
A few years before the ground broke for <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2011/10/rise-and-fall-of-penn-station.html">Penn Station</a>, construction was underway in Herald Square for a retailer new to the city: Saks. The company, founded by Baltimore merchant Andrew Saks, chose Herald Square as the location for its first New York store in part, because of its proximity to the Sixth Avenue elevated train and rumored Penn Station. Along with Macy's and a little later, Gimbels, these major stores would soon redefine Herald Square as a retail hub of the city.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0A-SoFU1MIU/UYFywjFoHbI/AAAAAAAAAfg/Ee8Tfaq-TBc/s1600/02---MCNY-Byron-Co.-1901---Broadway-and-34th-st-Saks-under-construction--93.1.1---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-0A-SoFU1MIU/UYFywjFoHbI/AAAAAAAAAfg/Ee8Tfaq-TBc/s1600/02---MCNY-Byron-Co.-1901---Broadway-and-34th-st-Saks-under-construction--93.1.1---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View from Greeley Square, looking north at Herald Square, around 34th Street and Broadway, 1901. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1GVDGKAP&SMLS=1&RW=1123&RH=931">MCNY</a></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
The Saks building, designed by architecture firm Buchman & Fox, the same firm that would later design the <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2011/03/worlds-tower-building-40th-street.html">World's Tower building</a> on West 40th Street. Though Saks and Macy's were more or less neck and neck with their store construction and opening announcements, Saks still managed to open its doors just five weeks before Macy's in 1902. Unlike Macy's, a store composed of several departments, Saks in the early 1900s sold only clothing, making it not quite a <i>true</i> department store. Around the same time, one avenue over, Benjamin Altman was purchasing lots on Fifth and 34th to build his new store <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2013/04/b-altmans-palace-of-trade-moves-uptown.html">B. Altman & Co</a>.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YvNBxj-_tiI/UYFz8XtLk5I/AAAAAAAAAfs/x3E3nwCJlBk/s1600/MNY30870+-+Saks+and+Macy%27s+-+1902+-+WEB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-YvNBxj-_tiI/UYFz8XtLk5I/AAAAAAAAAfs/x3E3nwCJlBk/s1600/MNY30870+-+Saks+and+Macy's+-+1902+-+WEB.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The completed Saks building at West 33rd Street with its competitor Macy's one block north at West 34th Street, 1902. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1GVDGKAP&SMLS=1&RW=1123&RH=931">MCNY</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Those two coexisted, offering consumers slightly different inventories -- Saks was an upscale clothing-based retailer, and Macy's catered to the general consumer with a large variety of merchandise-- until 1909, when another large retailer, Gimbels, joined the fray. Founded by Adam Gimbel in Vincennes, Indiana, Gimbels built its first large store in Philadelphia, PA, before constructing a New York branch just one block south of the Saks store, on Sixth Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Streets. Three large department stores in a row + public transportation = retail district.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q9LFblqDAtY/UYF2eoi_1gI/AAAAAAAAAgA/HK3fUUwZGS0/s1600/07---MCNY---6th-ave-and-33rd-Street---1912-(2)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-q9LFblqDAtY/UYF2eoi_1gI/AAAAAAAAAgA/HK3fUUwZGS0/s1600/07---MCNY---6th-ave-and-33rd-Street---1912-(2)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gimbels store at Sixth Avenue, between 32nd and 33rd Streets, 1912, thirteen years before the <a href="http://nyccirca.blogspot.com/2011/12/crosswalk-in-sky.html">Gimbels Traverse</a> was built. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1GVDACIB&SMLS=1&RW=1123&RH=888">MCNY</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tq29JjWcqi8/UYF9Ua-bJwI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/NL069HchB9s/s1600/13---Poiret-model---Gimbels---1914-03---LC-USZ62-85524---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-tq29JjWcqi8/UYF9Ua-bJwI/AAAAAAAAAgQ/NL069HchB9s/s1600/13---Poiret-model---Gimbels---1914-03---LC-USZ62-85524---WEB.gif" width="265" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Model wearing a Gimbels dress, 1914. Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002714473/">LOC</a></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Similar to Macy's, Gimbels was a large department store and family business. Adam Gimbel had several sons, many of whom worked for the Gimbels Company: <a href="http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1129&dat=19310413&id=abVRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=O2kDAAAAIBAJ&pg=3109,5494286">Isaac Gimbel</a> became President in 1894, and was the driving force behind the store's expansion to the New York market; that same year, <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96503935/">Ellis Gimbel</a> took over Public Relations and advertising for the company. In 1921, he started the first Thanksgiving Parade in Philadelphia, PA, three years before Macy's began its iconic parade in New York City.<br />
<br />
The company purchased Saks in 1923, and one year later, created the Saks Fifth Avenue <a href="http://www.saksfifthavenue.com/Entry.jsp">brand</a>, and opened its first <a href="http://departmentstoremuseum.blogspot.com/2010/11/saks-fifth-avenue-new-york-city-new.html">store</a>. The 34th Street location was kept open, and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saks-34th_Street">Saks 34th</a> brand was created. High end retail was moving farther north along Fifth Avenue, and the building's out-of-date construction (it didn't have escalators) were key factors in the decision to close the store in 1965.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FutTZhXvW-Y/UYF_XPdr3vI/AAAAAAAAAgo/7T54I6Ww4uo/s1600/15---Gimbels-postcard---AK-pre-1969-(2)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-FutTZhXvW-Y/UYF_XPdr3vI/AAAAAAAAAgo/7T54I6Ww4uo/s1600/15---Gimbels-postcard---AK-pre-1969-(2)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Looking north from Greeley Square with the Gimbels and Saks buildings on the left, [1965]. Postcard: Anne</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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In 1967, discount retailer <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E._J._Korvette">Korvette's</a> moved into the Saks building. They "modernized" the facade, as seen below. Founded in 1947 by Eugene Ferkauf in a small store on Fifth Avenue and West 47th Street, Korvette's expanded quickly, with 2,684 stores in operation by the mid-1960s. This decade also saw a general rise in the national presence of discount retailers. <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EOF_9hppYk4/UYF_w2CA5UI/AAAAAAAAAgw/iO_7Zu3wtR0/s1600/16---Gimbels-postcard---AK---1969-(2)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-EOF_9hppYk4/UYF_w2CA5UI/AAAAAAAAAgw/iO_7Zu3wtR0/s1600/16---Gimbels-postcard---AK---1969-(2)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Same view as above, [1969]. Postcard: Anne</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Gimbels stayed open until 1986. When it finally closed, it was cited as the store with the largest shoplifting rate of any in the country, largely because of the <a href="http://mas.org/gimbels-passageway-and-the-penn-station-underground/">Gimbels Corridor</a>. Originally built as a convenience to shoppers, the underground passageway connected the store to Penn Station a couple blocks away, and provided shoplifters with an easy escape. By the 1970s, the corridor had a horrible reputation and was the scene of more than a few gruesome crimes. This very opinionated description from a <i>NY Post</i> <a href="http://www.nypost.com/p/news/opinion/opedcolumnists/remembering_the_gimbels_tunnel_3SN7c8HSVMMdICpXMVJFiN"> article</a> (are there any other kinds of <i>NY Post</i> articles?) pretty much sums it up:
"In the midst of teeming Midtown, bare-bulb fixtures like those in
mines marked a path through a Calcutta-like sprawl of diseased,
predatory humanity."<br />
<br />
After Gimbels closed, the building was renovated, and in 1989, reopened as A&S Plaza, and is now the home of <a href="http://www.jcpenney.com/dotcom/index.jsp">JC Penney</a> and the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manhattan_Mall">Manhattan Mall</a>. Next door, the Saks building, now the Herald Center Mall, is slated for yet another <a href="http://www.rew-online.com/2013/03/20/herald-center-makeover-unveiled/">makeover</a>.<br />
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<br />nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-61217506573807620872013-04-18T11:14:00.000-04:002013-05-08T13:32:28.944-04:00B. Altman's Palace of Trade Moves Uptown<i>This post also appears on <a href="http://www.fashionherald.org/">Fashion Herald</a>.</i><br />
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Retailer Benjamin Altman of Altman & Co. opened his first large store in 1886 at Sixth Avenue and 19th Street. Though he previously occupied smaller stores in various parts of the city, this location was quickly dubbed "<a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1GVQDK85&SMLS=1&RW=1098&RH=865">Palace of Trade</a>" for its vast inventory and size. Business was great, and soon Altman was looking to expand yet again. Noticing the increasing numbers of mansions appearing along Fifth Avenue, he chose the
corner of West 34th Street and Fifth Avenue for the new <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/21/realestate/21scap.html?_r=0">flagship</a> location of his
store. At the time, the area was quiet, residential, and didn't look at all like it would support a large retail outlet.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YvB0fgq6xAM/UW8CoX9VCAI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/vd22mwHF5p0/s1600/NYHS---PR020-box-31---4---34th-looking-east-from-Fifth---1870-(2)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YvB0fgq6xAM/UW8CoX9VCAI/AAAAAAAAAfQ/vd22mwHF5p0/s1600/NYHS---PR020-box-31---4---34th-looking-east-from-Fifth---1870-(2)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">34th Street looking east from Fifth Avenue, 1870. Image: NYHS</td></tr>
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Altman purchased his first lot under an employee's name (Benjamin Jenkins) rather than his own, on the SE corner of Fifth Avenue and 34th Street in 1892. Shortly after, he set up the Wallingford Realty Company to handle all future transactions. Between 1892 and 1904, the company brokered a total of 28 purchases and long-term leases on behalf of Altman, gradually taking control of almost the entire block between 34th and 35th Streets and Madison and Fifth Avenues. By the time construction of the new building began in 1905, there was still one "<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1984/02/05/realestate/casting-light-on-the-city-s-holdouts.html">holdout</a>" building on the corner of 34th Street and Fifth Avenue, occupied by the <a href="http://www.getty.edu/research/special_collections/notable/knoedler.html">Knoedler Gallery</a>. Altman would have to wait another five years to acquire that property and expand the store all the way to Madison Avenue. In the meantime, on October 6, 1906 the new store opened for business.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pnS5BS6ehnM/UWhphJS6t9I/AAAAAAAAAeA/FEcJxEH-CGY/s1600/04---Altman-Building---1906---LOC---LC-D4-19927---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-pnS5BS6ehnM/UWhphJS6t9I/AAAAAAAAAeA/FEcJxEH-CGY/s1600/04---Altman-Building---1906---LOC---LC-D4-19927---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Corner of 35th Street (left) and Fifth Avenue looking SE, 1906. The shorter building to the far right is the "holdout" property at 34th Street and Fifth Avenue. Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994001006/PP/">LOC</a></td></tr>
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The gallery held onto their corner until their lease ended in 1910 and they were forced to give up the property. Altman wasted no time on the store expansion he'd envisioned many years prior. He died just before the full-block expansion was completed in 1913, but just after he founded the philanthropic organization, the <a href="http://www.altmanfoundation.org/index">Altman Foundation.</a><br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4p5OchXqBFo/UWhp7O5Z49I/AAAAAAAAAeI/DrYvALDBTKk/s1600/05---Altman-building---1915---MCNY---MNY235569---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-4p5OchXqBFo/UWhp7O5Z49I/AAAAAAAAAeI/DrYvALDBTKk/s1600/05---Altman-building---1915---MCNY---MNY235569---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Corner of Fifth Avenue<span style="color: red;"></span> (left) and 34th Street (right), just after the building's addition along Madison Avenue, about 1915. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1GVQVCDU&SMLS=1&RW=1045&RH=921">MCNY</a></td></tr>
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The interior of the Altman store was designed in a Palazzo style reminiscent of the Parisian<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Le_Bon_March%C3%A9"><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";"> Bon Marché</span></a><span style="font-family: "Times New Roman","serif";">, one of the world's first department stores</span>. Skylights filtered light into the center of the main arcade, and steps led customers to multiple levels of departments that sold just about everything imaginable. A consummate traveler, Altman was known to go on yearly buying trips around the world in search of new and diverse merchandise.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsesAVMgMAI/UWws7UO6UZI/AAAAAAAAAeY/PGQSOIUKq4I/s1600/08---Altman-interior---1908---NYPL-1168094---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-ZsesAVMgMAI/UWws7UO6UZI/AAAAAAAAAeY/PGQSOIUKq4I/s1600/08---Altman-interior---1908---NYPL-1168094---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Interior of the B. Altman arcade, 1908 Image: <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?1168094">N</a><a href="https://www.blogger.com/blogger.g?blogID=5145713231428268663">YPL</a></td></tr>
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Most, if not all, of the extensive bronze and iron work in the building was done by Brooklyn-based company <a href="http://www.waltergrutchfield.net/hecla.htm">Hecla Bronze and Iron Works</a>. NYPL has <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchresult.cfm?keyword=hecla+iron+works&submit.x=-1061&submit.y=-25">several</a> images in their digital archive of the Hecla Bronze and Iron Works building -- which thankfully is <a href="http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/downloads/pdf/reports/hecla.pdf">landmarked</a> -- including their <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/dgkeysearchdetail.cfm?trg=1&strucID=460684&imageID=1167967&total=252&num=0&parent_id=460649&s=&notword=&d=&c=&f=&k=1&sScope=&sLevel=&sLabel=&lword=&lfield=&sort=&imgs=20&pos=3&snum=&e=w">showroom</a> with vaulted ceilings.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fwkmTJVZkTc/UWwveFVEoDI/AAAAAAAAAeg/G9B70JHzop8/s1600/07---hecla-1897-advertisement---Altman---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-fwkmTJVZkTc/UWwveFVEoDI/AAAAAAAAAeg/G9B70JHzop8/s1600/07---hecla-1897-advertisement---Altman---WEB.gif" /></a></div>
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B. Altman & Co. was primarily known for catering to a well-off female customer. One who could spend hours looking at furs:<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Va_8brF8Th8/UWww08QHMPI/AAAAAAAAAeo/DWrAe_-94o0/s1600/Altman---furs---1914---NYPL--809798---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Va_8brF8Th8/UWww08QHMPI/AAAAAAAAAeo/DWrAe_-94o0/s1600/Altman---furs---1914---NYPL--809798---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Selling floor for furs, 1914. Image: <a href="http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/nypldigital/id?809798">NYPL</a> </td></tr>
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And one who pursued the latest fashion trends. I was possibly born in the wrong century. I would wear all of these blouses today, right now.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-86-6dG-j88M/UWw43hr-KbI/AAAAAAAAAe4/beYTFiTuAac/s1600/13---B-Altman-catalogs---1913---Duke-U-via-LOC--(15)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-86-6dG-j88M/UWw43hr-KbI/AAAAAAAAAe4/beYTFiTuAac/s1600/13---B-Altman-catalogs---1913---Duke-U-via-LOC--(15)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Page from the B. Altman & Co. 1913 Summer Apparel catalog. Image: <a href="http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/scriptorium/eaa/ephemera/A01/A0199/A0199-28-150dpi.html">Duke University</a></td></tr>
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The prude in me wishes bathing suits would move a little back in time and cover more skin like the ones shown here. The one second from the left is especially fetching. Bonus: all the lady ones are work-appropriate by today's standards! And black -- so much black! (I love it).<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AUjWrjrBMX8/UWw5D33LFOI/AAAAAAAAAfA/WMMCA0N37qo/s1600/14---B-Altman-catalogs---1913---Duke-U-via-LOC--(11)---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AUjWrjrBMX8/UWw5D33LFOI/AAAAAAAAAfA/WMMCA0N37qo/s1600/14---B-Altman-catalogs---1913---Duke-U-via-LOC--(11)---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Page from the B. Altman & Co. 1913 Summer Apparel catalog. Image: <a href="http://library.duke.edu/rubenstein/scriptorium/eaa/ephemera/A01/A0199/A0199-17-150dpi.html">Duke University</a></td></tr>
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Aside from being at the forefront of fashion, Altman's was known for popularizing retail business practices that would eventually become commonplace. The best example is the story of the extremely wealthy and miserly <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hetty_Green">Hetty Green</a> (pictured <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ggb2004000546/">here</a> and <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2002715419/">here</a>) purchasing a bolt of fabric from the Altman's at Sixth Avenue between 18th and 19th streets sometime in the mid-1800s, and then deciding she didn't like it. Returning merchandise was not accepted practice, but Mrs. Green went back to the store and asked for an exchange or her money back. Altman himself granted the return and she was so grateful that she vowed to act as guarantor to any future business loans. He never took her up on her offer, but they did stay in touch, and she introduced Altman to several of her financier acquaintances, who in turn got him interested in art collecting. Over the years, Altman amassed a <br />
massive art
collection, now housed at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in NYC. You can
read the collection handbook <a href="http://archive.org/stream/handbookbenjami02altmgoog#page/n12/mode/2up">here</a> and see some of the pieces <a href="http://www.metmuseum.org/search-results?ft=B.+Altman&x=-1130&y=-58">here</a>.<br />
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After several more successful decades, the Altman company was forced to sell the store to the L.J. Hooker Retail Group in 1985 and close the building in 1989. Today, the building is primarily occupied by City University of New York (CUNY) <a href="http://www.gc.cuny.edu/Home">Graduate Center</a>, and the NYPL Science, Industry, and Business Library (<a href="http://www.nypl.org/locations/sibl">SIBL</a>), but from the outside it still looks like a palace of trade.<br />
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<u>Other Sources:</u><br />
-<i>Altman Company Department Store Building, 335-371 Fifth Avenue.</i> Landmarks Preservation Commission, March 12, 1985; designation list 176, LP-1274<br />
-Bruce, John S. Jr. <i>100 The First Century: A History of B. Altman & Co. </i><br />
-Hendrickson, Robert. <i>The Grand Emporiums: The Illustrated History of America's Great Department Stores.</i><br />
-Zola, Emile. <i>The Ladies' Paradise.</i><br />
-Department Store museum <a href="http://departmentstoremuseum.blogspot.com/2010/05/b-altman-co-new-york-city.html">website</a><br />
<br />nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5145713231428268663.post-5621823449073081402013-04-03T18:12:00.000-04:002013-04-06T23:55:48.917-04:00Plunging Horses and Vanishing Elephants at New York's Hippodrome Theater In 1905, on the edge of Manhattan's theater district, a new, incredibly large theater was built -- the <a href="http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F20B17FE3F5D0C718EDDAC0894DD404482">Hippodrome</a>. Situated alongside the <a href="http://sixthavel.mysite.com/main.html"> Sixth Avenue elevated train line</a> on Sixth Avenue between 43rd and 44th Streets, the Hippodrome was built and managed by the creators of Coney Island's <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luna_Park,_Coney_Island">Luna Park</a>, Frederic Thompson and Elmer Dundy. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dAmybT_s_Vo/UVr7gnyobRI/AAAAAAAAAdc/yCwblqQ4BIY/s1600/4a12613v+-+WEB.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-dAmybT_s_Vo/UVr7gnyobRI/AAAAAAAAAdc/yCwblqQ4BIY/s1600/4a12613v+-+WEB.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hippodrome on Sixth Avenue in 1905. The Sixth Ave. elevated tracks are on the left. Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/det1994000885/PP/">LOC</a></td></tr>
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The theater had a seating capacity of 5,300 and a giant stage that could accommodate 1,000 performers. It was also equipped with an 8,000 gallon clear glass water tank that could be raised and lowered onto the stage. The theater opened to a packed audience on April 12, 1905, and, in its early years, was known for featuring an equestrian ballet with "100 lady bareback riders" and 80 horses <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FB0D16F9395414728DDDAF0A94D0405B848CF1D3">plunging</a> into the tank. Also, in 1913, the Victor Military Band performed, and the LOC has the <a href="http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-free/pdf?res=FB0D16F9395414728DDDAF0A94D0405B848CF1D3">recording</a>. <br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XC0jqGYX8Vc/UVr6i22K6bI/AAAAAAAAAdI/Vp8B2FBewEY/s1600/Hippodrome---LOC---%5B1900%5D---LC-B2--4060-1---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-XC0jqGYX8Vc/UVr6i22K6bI/AAAAAAAAAdI/Vp8B2FBewEY/s1600/Hippodrome---LOC---%5B1900%5D---LC-B2--4060-1---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hippodrome stage in the early 1900s shortly after its opening in 1905. Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/ggb2005023297/">LOC</a></td></tr>
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One of the more extravagant acts to hit the stage was magician Harry Houdini's <a href="http://www.thegreatharryhoudini.com/vanishingelephant.html">Vanishing Elephant</a> trick performed on January 7, 1918. With the help of the tank, Houdini made an elephant, "Jennie" and her trainer disappear in front of a captivated audience. <br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TSg4yicZCOA/UVr60kE9VdI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/YSslenNtclE/s1600/Houdini---Vanishing-Elephant---1918-01-07---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-TSg4yicZCOA/UVr60kE9VdI/AAAAAAAAAdQ/YSslenNtclE/s1600/Houdini---Vanishing-Elephant---1918-01-07---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Houdini and Jenny on the Hippodrome stage, 1918. Image: <a href="http://www.loc.gov/pictures/item/96518833/">LOC</a></td></tr>
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K61ZgVZbU14/UVstX75qmdI/AAAAAAAAAdw/STmd1CRcLbA/s1600/Houdini---NYT---1918---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-K61ZgVZbU14/UVstX75qmdI/AAAAAAAAAdw/STmd1CRcLbA/s1600/Houdini---NYT---1918---WEB.gif" /></a></div>
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In addition to stellar and strange bookings, the theater also had consistent money and management problems. Its astronomical operating costs ensured that the managers and bookers had to keep up with the public's fickle entertainment tastes: in 1923 performances included vaudeville acts, and in 1925 the theater began screening movies. Still, it couldn't be saved, and the Hippodrome closed its doors for good on August 16, 1939. The building was demolished and the lot used for parking. In the early 1950s, a parking garage was built on the parking lot.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o1BRoJpSR0Y/UVr75IwWiCI/AAAAAAAAAdg/OF-Y-MlCgVc/s1600/Sixth-Ave---WEB.gif" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-o1BRoJpSR0Y/UVr75IwWiCI/AAAAAAAAAdg/OF-Y-MlCgVc/s1600/Sixth-Ave---WEB.gif" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The Hippodrome parking garage, November 27, 1954. Image: <a href="http://collections.mcny.org/C.aspx?VP3=SearchResult_VPage&VBID=24UP1GV6PUHY&SMLS=1&RW=991&RH=867">MCNY</a></td></tr>
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The building there now bears the same <a href="http://www.hippodrome.com/">name</a>, though its purpose has changed, as the neighborhood has, to reflect its current status as a commercial center of the city. <br />
<br />nyc circahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11916243546591630687noreply@blogger.com0