Urbanite

The secrets of Grand Central Terminal

Thursday August 20, 2009 1:23 PM By Rolando Pujol

Grand Central Terminal is Gotham’s Beaux Arts jewel, a monument to transportation that avoided demolition in the 1970s (unlike poor Penn Station a decade earlier) and ennobles the lives of the 700,000 people who use it daily. It’s so vast, with nearly a century of history under its tracks, that it holds many secrets, as Metro-North Railroad spokesman Dan Brucker said. Here’s a selection:

1. The dark patch
Look up at the ceiling: In the northwest corner, you’ll see a little square black patch. Now imagine extending that color across the entire constellation that’s painted on the ceiling. That’s what was there before Grand Central Terminal was dramatically restored in the 1990s. That little black patch was left as a reminder of the bad old days. And what exactly does that black patch consist of? Decades of dirt? Try again. It was the result of decades of smoking in the terminal. That’s old nicotine and tobacco residue that was preserved, and it’s a testament to how dramatic this restoration was.   
                                                      
2. The rocket hole
Toward the center of the ceiling, above the constellation Pisces, you’ll notice a little hole. You’d never see it if you didn’t know to look for it. But the hole is a curious legacy of the space race. In 1957, the Russians put Sputnik into orbit and the U.S. was keen on selling the public on the importance of staying ahead. In a curious bit of showmanship, a Redstone rocket was brought in for display at Grand Central Terminal that same year. But some genius didn’t think to measure whether it would fit in the concourse. Well, surprise, it could not, and it was rammed in, leaving a hole in the ceiling that’s still there.

3. The clock
The clock atop the information booth in Grand Central Terminal is not only a beautiful work of art, it may be worth more than $10 million, according to auction house estimates. That’s because of the four opal faces on the clock.
 

4. Wrong departure times
Every single time shown on the departure boards is wrong. If that train to, say Croton-Harmon, is set to leave at 11:20, it’s flat-out lying to you. It’s leaving at 11:21. All trains leave a minute later than indicated on the departure boards. The reason is the safety and comfort of commuters who are making a mad dash to catch the trains.  

5. The new twin staircase
The grand marble staircase on the eastern side of the terminal was built in the 1990s to resemble the one that dates to 1913. Original plans did in fact call for the construction of eastern stairs. But there is one crucial difference between both stairs. The new set is an inch smaller than its original twin across the concourse, and the reason was to make it clear to future generations that the staircases were not built at the same time.
 

6. The whispering gallery
Just outside of the Oyster Bar restaurant is a vault covered in Guastavino tile. If you stand in one corner of the vault and say something, your voice is telegraphed perfectly to someone standing clear across the other side, dozens of feet away.  
 

7. The acorns
All around Grand Central, you see what appears to be a “squashed pineapple,” as Brucker put it. They are actually acorns, a Vanderbilt family symbol.
 

8. The backward universe
The universe as depicted on the ceiling is beautiful, but it’s also backward, a fact discovered by a commuter almost as soon as Grand Central opened.  The problem caused no small amount of consternation to the Vanderbilt family, but then they came up with a brilliant idea. They’d claim the error was indeed intentional, and say it was meant to depict God’s view of the universe from somewhere up above.                                              
 

9. Recycling bins
For years, one of the best secrets of Grand Central — and, really, it was an open secret — was that you could wander onto the platforms, plunge your arms into the recycling bins, and walk away with free copies of all the day’s newspapers. One newspaper in particular, The New York Times, was not happy about this at all, and so, in 2001, had the recycling bins redesigned so that commuters could not get their grubby mitts on the free newsprint, which they were doing to the tune of about a ton every morning.
 

10. Wonders below
Grand Central is full of secret spots that the public may well never see: Well below the main concourse is a room with ancient machinery that was targeted by German saboteurs during World World II. In this room, there’s even a red button that could halt train traffic above. The area is so deep that it cuts into bedrock.  Farther north, under the Waldorf-Astoria, you can find a platform, an elevator and an old rail car that Brucker said were used by Franklin D. Roosevelt, who tried to keep his paralysis from the public.   
 

Flashback: Summer of 1969 in NYC

Friday August 14, 2009 12:30 PM By Rolando Pujol

Men landed on the moon. The  Stonewall riots erupted. The Mets actually were winning. The Vietnam War raged. Hippies stopped traffic for miles en route to an  upstate concert.

If these events weren’t  memorable enough, the city’s infrastructure was crumbling; racial and class divisions grew starker; sanitation and school strikes were fresh in the public
mind; and there was a sense that the safe, ordered city of yore had broken down. Even the mayoral campaign was surreal.

All this happened in a momentous stretch between Memorial Day and Labor Day in 1969, a summer whose echoes are with us to this day.

“I think the summer of ’69 was tense in New York. There’s no other way to get around that,
despite the good things like the Mets and the Apollo mission,” said Vincent J. Cannato, author of “The Ungovernable City.”

Indeed, just a few years later, the city would be crime-ridden, bankrupt and, many felt, beyond  redemption.  

“You had a tremendous sense of, ‘Where are we going?’” recalled Michael Sigall, 65, who taught political science at CUNY that year.

The feel-good moments

Given what awaited the city, it’s tempting to see the summer of 1969 as the last gasp of a happier New York. That’s hardly true — “Midnight Cowboy” in theaters is a reminder that the city’s decline was already well under way. But it’s hard not to mythologize those months given the moon, the Mets and the music of Woodstock.

Take Woodstock: It became a watershed for a generation, but that wasn’t immediately clear.
“It wasn’t as much about the mu-sic, it was about, ‘What are these crazy things the hippies are doing?’” said James Nevius, author of “Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City.” 

As Woodstock rocked, the Mets were starting to sizzle on the road to winning the World Series.

“Nobody thought the Mets had any kind of a chance during that season,” said Stanley Cohen, author of “A Magic Summer: The Amazin’ Story of the 1969 New York Mets.” “There seemed to be something brewing that nobody was ready to put their finger on.”

Underdogs defy the odds

Like the Mets, Mayor John Lindsay himself was an underdog. He was a Republican running for re-election on the Liberal Party line, shunned by his own party and by frustrated white, lower-middle-class voters who believed his brand of liberalism favored minorities.

“You’ve got lots of bad feelings built up, especially among those in the outer boroughs. ... On top of that you’ve got this mayoral elec-tion where all these feelings are coming out and a lot of it’s aimed at Lindsay,” Cannato said.

The candidates who represented that constituency were little-known Staten Islander John
Marchi, who ran as a Republican, and pencil-mustachioed Mario Procaccino of the Bronx, a Democrat.

But just as the Mets were unlikely World Series winners, so too was Lindsay in the election.

His opposition to the war, embrace of the women’s movement and outreach to youth were among the factors that helped, said Richard Aurelio, Lindsay’s campaign manager. Not to mention, the anti-Lindsay vote was split by candidates  who were in many respects very similar: Italian, outer-borough and conservative, Cannato said.

Vietnam stirs deep fears, anger

Ultimately that summer, the specter of Vietnam was inescapable.

“By 1969, my major concern was with the war in Vietnam and the draft,” said Jim
Janowitz, 63, of Manhattan.

Journalist Jimmy Breslin, who ran in 1969 for mayor with author Norman Mailer, noted the outsized presence of the war.

“You had a war that was destroying us. ... The war was the thing that was hurting
us,” Breslin said.

And even for those not on the draft list, it was a time when, indeed, it seemed that the city was teetering on the precipice of something frightening. The Mets and the moon could not hide this inescapable fear of a society “starting to crack,” as Nevius put it.

“The man on the street was confused and scared. What would happen to this country? And there was reason to be,” Sigall said.

Shayndi Raice and Marlene Naanes contributed.

***

Cheap Thrills

What things cost in the summer of '69

Evening tickets for Broadway’s “Hair”:  
Orchestra, $12;
Front Mezz, $11;
Rear Mezz, $9.

Subway fare:
20 cents

NYC Aquarium:
Adults, 95 cents;
children, 40
cents

Dinner:
Prime rib at Andrew Maclean’s restaurant in Manhattan,
$6.95

A good read:
”Portnoy’s Complaint,”
$6.95

New York Times:
10 cents

New York
magazine:
40 cents

Park Slope
Victorian
brownstone:
$30,000

West 94th Street
unrenovated
home:
$55,000

East Side floor-
through rental:
$400 a month

Manhattan
parking:

Day rate at lot:
$5; first two
hours, $3

Baked ham
sandwich at
Fifth Avenue
Woolworth’s:
40 cents
Sources: New
York Magazine,    
New York Times

***

Flashback: Summer of '69

May 26:
John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold bed-in for peace in   Montreal.

June 17:
“Oh! Calcutta!” featuring much nudity, debuts Off Broadway.

June 28:
Stonewall riots erupt in Greenwich Village, found- ing gay rights   movement.

July 18:
Chappaquiddick crash ends Ted Kennedy’s presidential hopes.

July 20:

Astronauts land and walk on moon.

Aug. 9:
Manson family kills actress Sharon Tate and six others in Calif.

Aug. 13:
Ticker-tape parade is held for Apollo 11  astronauts in NYC.

Aug. 15-18:
Woodstock rocks.

Sept. 2:
Chemical Bank deploys first ATM machine, in RockvilleCentre, L.I.

 

So who was Henry Hudson?

Wednesday July 1, 2009 8:07 PM By Rolando Pujol

By Perrie Samotin

The river, the valley, the highway — all integral parts of New York’s landscape that share Henry Hudson as their namesake.

While most of us are aware of Hudson’s stature as an explorer, maybe we’ve forgotten (or never knew) the events that led to landmarks being christened with his name.

We spoke with James Nevius who, along with his wife, Michelle, leads walking tours of New York City, about why we’re celebrating Henry Hudson.

In basic terms, what was Hudson’s greatest achievement?

Discovering New York, which was an accident. He was looking for a Northeast Passage to the Orient.

How did he find it?

After two failed voyages in search of the passage he was hired by the Dutch East India Company. Against orders, he revised his course and sailed west across the Atlantic Ocean, into what’s now the New York Harbor.What were some historical ramifications of his discovery?

The biggest is the Dutch colonization of New York. He was working for a Dutch company. After finding the harbor, he reported back that it was a good find. It was teeming with beaver (a valuable commodity), which drew Dutch settlers.

What’s a little-known fact about Hudson’s voyage?

The day Hudson seized New York Harbor was actually Sept. 11, 1609. That’s the actual anniversary.

What ultimately became of Hudson?

Still looking for a way to the Orient, he went on a fourth voyage. Hudson was a bad captain — he was headstrong and didn’t listen to his crew. Eventually the crew decided to mutiny and put Hudson and his son into a boat and set it adrift. They were never heard from again.

If he was a bad captain, why such a celebration?

There’d be no New York if he hadn’t thought the Hudson River was a shortcut to the Orient.

James and Michelle Nevius are the authors of “Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City.”

Henry Hudson: Fast facts

Circa 1565

Little is known about Hudson’s early life, but historians assume he was born around this time in London, England.

Previous failures

Between 1607 and 1608, Hudson was hired twice by Russia's Muscovy Company to find the Northwest Passage. While he did happen upon a series of small islands, he didn't find what he was looking for.

What led him to New York

To find the passage, the Dutch East India Company instructed Hudson to sail around the Arctic Ocean north of Russia, into the Pacific and into to the Far East. Not wanting to deal with the ice that plagued all his previous voyages, Hudson revised his route, eventually — and quite accidentally — sailing into New York Harbor.

(Perrie Samotin)

Photo: A bust of Henry Hudson in his upstate namesake city. (Rolando Pujol)

Hyphenated New York

Sunday June 28, 2009 1:40 PM By Rolando Pujol

At West 79th Street and West End Avenue, there's a seemingly routine Department of Transportation road sign for the New-York Historical Society. The sign appears innocuous enough, and it certainly is clear and accurate. Yet there's something very wrong with it. Believe it or not, there's an error -- of sorts -- in punctuation.You see, the New-York Historical Society has been around since 1804, when New York was still a fairly young city and one if its most famous citizens, Alexander Hamilton, lost his life in a duel with Aaron Burr.

So it should come as no surprise that an institution that traces it roots that far back, and whose collections includes objects that are far older, would have a curious twist in how it spells its name. The society throws a hyphen between the words New and York, as was common usage at that time.

The city's sign is missing that all-important hyphen. Indeed, back in the 19th century, the New York Times used the hyphen in New York, doing so from 1851 to 1896. While the Times has moved on and lost the hyphen, the New-York Historical Society has stuck to its guns.

Losing the hyphen would almost be like erasing history, and it's intriguing that a museum should have a subtle trace of grammatical history in its very name.

-- Rolando Pujol

'The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3' takes back the city

Wednesday June 10, 2009 9:08 PM By Emily Ngo

By Rolando Pujol

In a scene from 1974’s "Taking of Pelham 1 2 3," Walter Matthau's lovably gruff Zach Garber shushes a loud, excitable dispatcher because he's on the radio negotiating to save the lives of the hostages on the No. 6 train.

The dispatcher fires back: "Screw the goddamned passengers. What the hell did they expect for their lousy 35 cents? To live forever?"

The classic exchange doesn't surface in the remake of the movie out tomorrow, but does capture what helped make the original such a cult classic: The gallows humor and grit that New Yorkers display when faced with adversity, and the honest portrayal of a graffiti-covered, crime-ravaged city.

Pelham, along with such period pieces as "French Connection," "drank deeply of the city," explains James Sanders, an architect and author of "Celluloid Skyline."

"What made it remembered so fondly and so strongly is that it took this kind of slightly absurd premise of a pirating of a subway train — how could that be — and rendered it in the context of such finally and carefully rendered realism," Sanders said.

(Courtesy of MGM)

Remaking a classic

Attention to detail is certainly reflected in Tony Scott's remake, which will invite endless comparisons to the original. NYC Transit offered wide access to the system — tunnels, stations, there’s even a recreation of the futuristic Rail Control Center. Still, there's the danger of a creative third rail of sorts: remaking a classic praised for getting the city of its time right.

Many observers familiar with the original reserved judgment on the new film, as they hadn't seen it. But its outsized role in city cinema lore — and accurate rendition of its out-of-control times — sets a high bar for the remake.

"I was really surprised [at the remake] because it seems to be a part of New York that in the mid or late 90s went out of existence," said Clifton Hood, a history professor and author of "722 miles: The Building of the Subways and How They Transformed New York."

The new hands, of course, strove to make a movie about today. “It’s a great story, yet unknown to new generations of filmgoers. The world and New York in particular, has changed a lot since 1974,” said Scott in a statement.

They see it more as a retelling than a remake. For one, the producers saw a way to develop the relationship between Garber and Ryder, the head hijacker played by John Travolta, into something deeper than in previous films.

Devotees of the original will notice key changes — right down to the ending. In the new film, New Yorkers assume the hijacking is terrorism; in 1974, it was simply one more sign of Gotham dysfunction.

Transit veteran John Urbanski has not yet seen the film, but does not expect it to match the original in terms of realism.

“The original reflected New York basically as it was back in the '70s. I feel as though I may have worked with some of the characters, as they were played in the original.”

Power of '70s nostalgia

Today, the original seems a movie that both preserves an unimaginable New York, and one that many strangely crave to visit again.

One person who was there and remembers the bad old days is Ed Koch.

“People have a much better spirit; they were oppressed then and now there is a certain amount of anger over the losses to their personal treasuries but they are not frightened like they were," the former mayor said.

Koch has a strange personal connection to the movie. The actor who played the mayor in the film, Lee Wallace, bears a resemblance to Koch, which is not lost on Hizzoner. That casting choice was particularly curious because the film came out three years before Koch's election.

“The mayor looked exactly like me, facially,” Koch said.

The mayor in the new film, played by James Gandolfini, bears no resemblance to Michael Bloomberg — expect for the character's deep bank account. And the way New Yorkers will relate to the new film will hardly mimic what audiences felt in the 1970s.

The original Pelham, Hood said, was one of "a couple of other movies that really embodied people's sense that things were hopeless and that the subway system, literally if you go into it, you could be trapped by a bunch of thugs."

Jason Fink and Shayndi Raice contributed to this story.

---

The remake of "Taking of Pelham 1 2 3" understandably takes some creative license. Here's a few things subway buffs will notice are off.

1.) The 42nd Second Street-Grand Central station fills in for the 77th Street No. 6 station.

2.) A large, Times Square-style Subway sign is added to Grand Central Terminal at 42nd Street and Vanderbilt.

3.) The bad guys escape through the so-called Roosevelt Tunnel, referring to FDR's secret access route to The Waldorf-Astoria. For starters, there is no evidence FDR was ever snuck into the hotel that way.

4.) The No. 6 car with the hostages is set free and sent barreling toward Coney Island. The line ends at Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall.

5.) Denzel Washington's character, Walter Garber, is seen riding a No. 7 train back to Queens, we assume, but is shown inside a modern-day train, not the 80s-era trains still on the line.

Dialing up old telephone exchange in Financial District

Monday May 25, 2009 6:36 PM By Rolando Pujol

Here's a good old-fashioned mural, advertising office space downtown. Nothing too fancy as far as graphics and presentation go.

But what makes it a keeper is the old OX (Oxford, we presume) telephone exchange in the number.

Priceless.

-- Rolando Pujol

Classic sign: All is well at Tout Va Bien in Hell's Kitchen

Sunday April 26, 2009 3:00 PM By Rolando Pujol

Photo by Jefferson Siegel

Jefferson Siegel sends along a gem of an old neon sign that still shines bright at 311 W. 51st St. between Eighth and Ninth avenues. Tout Va Bien is a French restaurant dating to 1949. Its Web site tells us this spot was a favorite of the French fleet, who would make a "bee line" to the Hell's Kitchen joint. It does have its devoted fans, according to these Yelp reviews. Check out this write-up of a recent visit to Tout Va Bien, which concludes with a definitive thumbs-up: "It deserves to live on."

More from amNY's sign collection here.

Prospect Park to host Woodstock's 40th anniversary show?

Sunday April 5, 2009 12:11 PM By Rolando Pujol

Prospect Park could host the 40th anniversary of Woodstock if a promoter from the original massive outdoor music festival has his way.

Michael Lang, who helped stage the 1969 event, is hoping to raise the $8 million to $10 million needed to pay for the reprisal by the end of the month, according to the Daily News.

Although Prospect Park’s Long Meadow is already booked for the anniversary date, Aug. 15. Lang said he’d still like to hold the event there on another weekend.

He’s hoping to book Woodstock originals such as, Crosby, Stills and Nash and Neil Young, along with Dave Matthews and Phish, the News reported.

-- Marlene Naanes

Capitol Fishing Tackle sign resurfaces better than ever

Monday March 30, 2009 12:32 PM By Rolando Pujol

The sign outside the shop's new location on 132 W. 36th St. (Melinda Hsia)

By Melinda Hsia

Special to amNewYork

The Capitol Fishing Tackle Co. has been around for more than a century and

boasts classic fishing rods among many beautiful antiques, but its most eye-catching piece is its brilliant red and green neon sign above its front door.

The sign had beamed above the tackle shop since 1941. But when the shop vacated its longtime home at the Hotel Chelsea on West 23rd Street in 2006 and moved to the Garment District, the sign went missing.

Just recently, it has been returned to its rightful place outside the shop’s new home following its first-ever refurbishing.

"I have a great love for it," said Richard Collins, the shop’s owner.The neon sign with its bold red capitol letters is unusual, because it is rare to find one for a tackle shop. According to Kevin Walsh, the editor of the Web site Forgotten NY, most neon signs in the city belong to liquor stores, bar, and diners. Other

well-known neon signs from the 1940s illuminate the storefronts of such

establishments as the Irish pub Dublin House on West 79th Street just off

Broadway.

Finding the right person to restore these glowing works of art is not easy.

After a harrowing experience with a larger sign company, Collins sent his neon sign to Paul Signs in Brooklyn. There, the sign was carefully disassembled part-by-part

and meticulously cleaned before being measured for new parts and put back

together.

In 2006, Collins contemplated closing the tackle shop. The rent had tripled

since he purchased the company in 1974 but Collins wanted to continue the

legacy of family ownership that began 112 years ago. "I am the third generation in

the fishing tackle business," said Collins, 54, and his son – whom he

describes as a “fishing nut” - will be the fourth.

After a year and a half of detailed work, the sign is not ready to light up the

street just yet. A few pieces are undergoing finishing touches before the

neon sign can relive its former glory but its owner eagerly awaits.

"I could have two new signs for how much that one cost me to restore," Collins said.

This ancient Citibank sign sleeps no more

Wednesday March 18, 2009 3:13 PM By Rolando Pujol

Long before it was "Citibank," the now-hobbled financial concern was known as the First National City Bank, as this recently revealed sign demonstrates in Downtown Brooklyn. (Photo by Jefferson Siegel)

A bit of history emerges from under a scaffolding on Jay Street in Downtown Brooklyn.

The First National City Bank was originally the City Bank of New York, founded in 1812. In 1976 FNCB became Citibank and in 1998 it merged with Travelers Group to become Citicorp and finally Citigroup.

This year the government ended up taking an almost 40% stake in Citigroup.

--Jefferson Siegel

Urban archaeology: A relic of the Croton Aqueduct

Sunday March 1, 2009 7:42 PM By Rolando Pujol

On Saturday, Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer held a press conference at the Central Park Reservoir to call attention to the concern that drinking water for 8 million New Yorkers may be threatened by toxic chemicals.

The chemicals could find their way into the water supply if a proposal to allow drilling for natural gas in the upstate watershed proceeds. The Sierra Club, Riverkeeper and others also oppose the drilling. All call for the state to ban such drilling in or near areas

that feed the city's reservoirs.

Several hours later, this access cover, about a foot long, was spotted on Broadway at 133rd Street.

Text and photo: Jefferson Siegel

World Trade Center — It's increasingly more than a name

Sunday March 1, 2009 8:48 AM By Rolando Pujol

One World Trade Center as it stood on Saturday, Feb. 28, 2009. (Photos by Rolando Pujol)

This weekend, we checked out the progress of One World Trade Center, less and less known as the Freedom Tower (and good riddance to that politically contrived name.) As the tower continues its slow but finally assured ascent into the sky, new signs around the trade center's perimeter tout progress at the site. It was remarkable to see the steel for the building that will succeed the Twin Towers finally soaring above street level.

Further, it's certainly comforting to see the Port Authority's continued embrace of the trade center name. It certainly would have been tempting to rechristen the site and the buildings by some other moniker, (God forbid, World Freedom Center) but it's the WTC. That's what New Yorkers will forever call those 16 acres. And that's the way it should be.

Just down the street at 20 Vesey St., however, the World Trade name has vanished. We noticed the World Trade Camera shop had closed. (Here's their eBay site.)

-- Rolando Pujol

Sign up for WTC development updates here.

The legacy of the 1993 World Trade Center bombing: Choosing knowledge over fear

Wednesday February 25, 2009 7:00 PM By Rolando Pujol

The following is a guest column by Joe Daniels, President & CEO, National September 11 Memorial & Museum

On Feb. 26, 1993, the world shook when terrorists detonated bombs at the World Trade Center. At the time, former New York Governor Mario Cuomo said in response, “We all have that feeling of being violated. No foreign people or force has ever done this to us. Until now we were invulnerable.”

Although the horror of that day faded in the memories of many, on Sept. 11, 2001, the entire country re-awakened to the indiscriminate brutality of terrorism. We were reminded of al-Qaida’s hate-filled ideology and the innocent people who become victims of their agenda.

Today, we still struggle to come to grips with a world in which terrorism is a reality. We have a collective obligation, however, to respond to that reality in some way.

One such response is to choose knowledge over fear.

Let us take a moment to remember what happened 16 years ago today: on Friday, Feb. 26, 1993, at 12:18 pm, a small cell of terrorists with links to a local radical mosque and broader Islamic terror networks detonated explosives in the underground parking garage of the North Tower of the World Trade Center. Six people were killed, one of whom was a pregnant woman. The victims included a visitor to the World Trade Center, an employee of the Windows on the World restaurant, and four Port Authority employees. Thousands of people were injured.

The history we choose to safeguard of what happened that day must extend further than these basic facts; further even than remembrances of the victims or commemorations on the anniversaries. It’s important that we try to understand who was responsible and how the attacks continue to impact today’s world.

Core to our mission at the National September 11 Memorial & Museum will be the education of the millions of people who will visit this institution each year. We are embarking on fulfilling this mission by presenting a series of interviews with experts that explore the emergence of al-Qaida and the ramifications of the attacks of February 1993 and September 2001 on the United States and the global community. These webcasts, available on www.national911memorial.org, explore the complexities of security, culture, and politics that are undeniable realities in our interconnected global community.

By critically examining these varying opinions, we can explore how the world has changed and the actions we can take to build a better society. Without understanding the framework and mission of the terrorist organizations bent on destruction, we cannot work to prevent further attacks. In informing ourselves and others, we can use our shared history as a lesson – one that has the potential to challenge and inspire the way we interact in the world today.

Urban archaeology: Turn this doorknob for a trip to New York City's public-school past

Sunday February 22, 2009 8:43 AM By Rolando Pujol

Anyone who grew up in New York City and went to public school likely remembers the highly detailed doorknobs. This doorknob, possibly 100 years old, was spotted recently in Harlem.

Text and photo: Jefferson Siegel

Upper West Side's West-Park Presbyterian Church to take step Tuesday toward landmark designation

Monday February 16, 2009 2:22 PM By Rolando Pujol

West-Park Presbyterian Church is at West 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue

By Lana Bortolot

Special to amNewYork

A distinctive Upper West Side church that could take its first step Tuesday toward landmark designation may still not have a prayer, preservationists say following a false alarm last week about a clandestine demolition.

Preservation group, Landmark West, issued an emergency alert last week raising concerns that the 119-year-old West-Park Presbyterian Church at West 86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue was being prepared for demolition, despite a stop-work order issued last year.

A spokeswoman for the Landmarks Preservation Commission said the panel will vote Tuesday to calendar a public hearing on the church. Once the vote is calendared, a hearing considering landmark designation would be scheduled.

The long-vacant building has been slated for redevelopment. Local residents opposed plans for a condo tower, and have lobbied the city Landmarks Preservation Commission to save it.Lack of permits and a stalled economy halted activity at West-Park until last week, when neighbors reported seeing a work team hauling debris into unmarked panel trucks over 10 days, raising suspicions of an under-the-radar demolition. The church confirmed the clean-up activity, but the pastor said it was related to three burst water pipes.

Rev. Robert Brashear said the breaks, which happened between Jan. 19 and 24, resulted from age and cold weather. The crews, supervised by Westfair Restoration Services, have been removing wet material and on Friday, were still running wet vacuums and pumps.

“The main point is to preserve the building and make sure no further damage takes place,” said Brashear in a phone interview on Friday. “We have no intention of doing anything out of bounds.”

But members of the Friends of West-Park see it differently.

Thomas Vitullo-Martin, co-chair of the preservation group, says that while he believes the current activity is not a “demolition per se,” he calls the current conditions “demolition by neglect … by 1,000 cracks. [The building] is not being taking care of and it will be destroyed.”

West-Park was determined eligible for the State and National Registers of Historic Places in 2001, and has been under review at the landmarks commission since 2007.

A number of preservation experts have filed letters in support of landmarking.

“Our concern is that landmarking without a cash infusion into the congregation isn’t going to save the church. But while there is a hiatus in the development plans, I think it’s good time for the commission to take a look at this. The real fear is the threat that if this project fails, the building can be demolished,” said Peg Breen, president of the New York Landmarks Conservancy.

An inside look at the Apollo Theater

Thursday February 5, 2009 2:29 PM By Marlene Naanes

By Marlene Naanes

The epicenter of black culture and the heart of Harlem, the Apollo Theater has launched the careers of countless performers and created legends for 75 years.

Though the theater was built in 1914, it did not become the Apollo as we know it until 1934. “This is a very special place,” said Billy Mitchell, the Apollo tour guide who first worked there as an errand boy for performers in 1965.

As the theater celebrates its anniversary, Mitchell is performing free tours during four open houses this month and in March.

amNewYork recently took a tour of the theater where stars are born and legends are made.

The Tree of Hope

It’s the first thing a nerve-wracked amateur touches before facing the famously tough Apollo audience.

The tree once grew outside the famous Harlem Lafayette Theater, and unemployed performers would sing and dance under it for money, Mitchell said. When the tree was cut down to widen Seventh Avenue, it was brought to the Apollo, and performers have been rubbing it for luck since 1934.

The decorative details

Murals line one side of the lobby, graced with the faces of the legends who once took the stage of the Apollo. Ella Fitzgerald and James Brown are some of the famous faces that look back at you.

The elaborate interior of the theater includes flourishes along the walls and balconies, such as neoclassical gold leafing.

Chandeliers dripping with sparkling glass are found throughout the theater. The decadent fixtures were imported from Venice in 1986 at a whopping $5,000 a piece.

The original dressing rooms

These rooms’ surprisingly simple decor belies their true significance.

Dressing room 1, for instance, hosted the likes of Cab Calloway, Ray Charles and the Godfather of Soul, James Brown.

Today, new state-of-the-art dressing rooms lies just under the stage. They have showers, DVD players and mini fridges, but many artists still prefer the old ones for their history, Mitchell said.

Lower mezzanine

You can take in the majesty of the Apollo from one of the best views in the house. The lower mezzanine allows views of crews working in the wings and celebrities taking in the show in the balconies.

And, since lights from the ground floor hit performers in their eyes, they often avert their gaze to the lower mezzanine.

“It seems like they’re singing directly to you,” Mitchell said.

Want to take a free tour? Call 212-531-5305 for details.

30 years ago tonight: Nelson Rockefeller dies -- and a tabloid frenzy ensues

Sunday January 25, 2009 7:18 PM By Rolando Pujol

On this edition of "Eyewitness News," John Johnson reported that the former governor had died at his office in Rockefeller Center. But there was a lot more to the story. (Via realagentofSHIELD on YouTube)

Thirty years ago Monday tonight, former New York Gov. Nelson Rockefeller died of a heart attack in Manhattan at the age of 70. The initial reports had the governor passing away at his office in Rockefeller Center, toiling away on a book about his modern art collection, one of Rocky's passions. But indeed, that was not the whole story. As the days progressed, a far more complicated and lurid picture emerged of the former vice president's final hours.

It turns out Rockefeller was not at his namesake building at all, but at his townhouse a few blocks up at 13 W. 54th St. And he was in the company of a young aide, 25-year-old Megan Marshack, when he was stricken. The tabloids had a field day with the death of the Standard Oil scion, with the story's elements of infidelity, indiscretion and cover-up. Disturbingly, help for the stricken governor was not called for up to an hour after his attack, and the details of the case proved too irresistible for "Saturday Night Live." A sketch that aired on Feb. 10, 1979 began with Don Pardo intoning: "'Emergency' starring Megan Marshack will not be seen tonight so that we may bring you this special presentation."

The story of Rockefeller's death is now steeped in city and political lore. Today, we present how New Yorkers found out about his death on the next day's edition of "Eyewitness News," with John Johnson and Anna Bond at the anchor desk. It's a remarkable report for its depth of coverage, and a very literate obituary by Roger Sharp. Ernie Anastos narrates dramatic footage of Rockefeller's arrival at the hospital, and there are shots of Rocky's wife, "Happy," arriving on the scene later. Click below for a look at where the story stood before its tabloid elements began to emerge, when the greatest blot on Rockefeller's reputation was still described as his handling of the Attica prison riot in 1971.

-- Rolando Pujol

A U.S. Mail letter box survives on West 51st Street

Thursday January 22, 2009 9:27 AM By Rolando Pujol

An old-style U.S. Mail letter box hanging in the lobby of the Women's National Republican Club on West 51st Street.

These types of letter boxes used to be ubiquitous throughout the country, hanging on poles, buildings and other structures.

Photo and text: Jefferson Siegel

Morrison Hotel Gallery keeps rock alive at old CBGB spot

Sunday January 18, 2009 1:58 PM By Garett Sloane

The Morrison Hotel Gallery on the Bowery is the second in the city. The first is on Prince Street in SoHo.

By Lana Bortolot

Special to amNew York

Morrison Hotel Gallery is helping to keep rock — and art — alive at the old CBGB.

The gallery on the Bowery, where the former punk-rock club and its art gallery used to be, sells some of the most classic images in music history.

The Morrison Hotel brand was formed seven years ago by Peter Blachley, a former record industry executive, Rich Horowitz, an independent record store owner, and Henry Diltz, a photographer with a deep archive of famous images. One of Diltz’s most famous album covers, The Morrison Hotel, shot for The Doors, was the inspiration for the gallery name.The owners’ first gallery is on Prince Street in SoHo, but they now have locations in La Jolla, Calif.; Los Angeles; Manhasset, Long Island; and the latest is at the old CBGB space.

Blachley said the opportunity to expand the brand in a historic place brought their gallery concept full circle.

There are famous photographs of music legends from Miles Davis to Beck, and the gallery sells the works of top photographers, from jazz photographer Herman Leonard to Janette Beckman.

Blachley said there is a hot market for the type of music memorabilia he is dealing in.

“I knew that people would have an emotional reaction to the images, but we really did it as something fun to do,” Blachley said. “We soon realized that based on what we saw in people’s interest and sales, we were generating enough to expand.”

The heavily trafficked Prince Street storefront generates the most sales, Blachley said.

“SoHo is completely different from the Bowery in that it’s very sophisticated and draws people from all over the world,” Blachley said. “We have a lot of European customers who have a specific interest in owning a piece of American rock ’n’ roll history.”

One of the best sellers at the moment is a Frank Stefanko black-and-white portrait of a young Bruce Springsteen leaning against his 1960 Corvette. The last of 25 is priced at $12,000.

Blachley said sales in the city have increased an average of 20 percent per year, but he expects the global economic slump will affect his sales numbers.

Photographers who deal with the gallery have instant credibility in the industry, Beckman said.

“If I’m talking to a label and say I’m with Morrison, it’s like a badge of honor,” the photographer said.

55,000-title collection of Kim's Video setting sail for Italy

Tuesday December 30, 2008 1:35 PM By Rolando Pujol

Via Yelp

The fate of Kim's Video's 55,000-title collection has been settled — and the beneficiaries will be the 11,000 residents of Salemi, Italy. Former Urbaniter Lauren Johnston has details of how owner Yongman Kim's priceless collection has become the subject of an unusual transatlantic gift.

Kim's will end rentals on St. Marks Place Dec. 31, as the former Kim empire meets its demise, the victim of Netflix and changing media-consumption habits.

From the News: Kim went with a bid from Salemi Mayor Vittorio Sgarbi – a former TV talk show host described as "one of the oddest and most colorful figures in contemporary Italy,"by the British newspaper, The Independent – who's trying to revitalize his poverty-stricken town.

Jeremiah at Vanishing New York has more, including photos.

-- Rolando Pujol

Classic signs ruined by 99-cent shop's mega mural

Tuesday December 30, 2008 11:17 AM By Rolando Pujol

BEFORE

Photos by Rolando Pujol

A few weeks back, we told you about these great old hand-painted ghost signs that surfaced in Herald Square recently.

Well, take a good look at the picture above. It's a part of history now.

In the weeks since, Jack's 99 Cent shop painted a huge mural on the side of the West 32nd Street building, and most of the signs disappeared under the new coat of paint.

We thought those signs were certainly worth more than 99 cents. In fact, they were priceless. But apparently, they're worth nothing at all.

-- Rolando Pujol

AFTER

P&G: Last call Dec. 31, but a new life awaits nearby (but maybe not for the sign)

Sunday December 28, 2008 11:48 AM By Rolando Pujol

The P&G sign during its last days at West 73rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue. (Photos: Rolando Pujol)

Dec. 31 will be your last chance to drink at the famed P&G bar on West 73d Street and Amsterdam Avenue. The 66-year-old Upper West Side watering hole has been forced out of its home and is moving several blocks up, to Columbus Avenue and West 78th Street.

This could also be one of your last chances to bask in the glow of P&G's great sign. It's not yet clear whether the great neon assemblage will be able to make the move to the former home of Evelyn Lounge, named after Evelyn Nesbit, who is said to have lived in what will be the P&G's new home.

The New York Times examines what happens to places that have to move, yet try to hang on to their old name, identity and, of course, clientele. Examples of this phenomenon are plentiful, from the Kettle in Greenwich Village to Le Cirque. And on a bigger scale, there are venues like Madison Square Garden that have hopped around town, far from their original haunts.

The Times zeroes in on the question:

But if drinking and dining have always been a moveable feast in New York, is charisma cartable? Can the character of everything from venerable pubs to palatial eateries migrate with their names and owners? This portability issue has gained new urgency in a season of economic disarray, when property owners are less willing to extend the leases of even the most beloved old-timers.

Urbanite is glad P&G will survive in a new form, and is rooting for that sign to make the trip, too, or at least find a caring new home.

-- Rolando Pujol

Throwback Thursday: The 1976 Toys 'R' Us ad

Thursday December 25, 2008 9:14 AM By Rolando Pujol

Merry Christmas from Urbanite and amNewYork. In the spirit of the day, we present a classic animated ad for Toy 'R' Us, which features Geoffrey and his family busily shopping during "The Toys 'R' Us Time of Year," as the jingle goes. This ad ran from 1976 to 1985.And this morning, PIX 11 trotted out the Yule Log followed by "The March of the Wooden Soldiers" starring Laurel and Hardy. That just about makes a perfect Christmas morning. Check out this video tribute to old-school holiday TV on Channel 11, and our recent post on the Yule Log, with a slideshow history of the log.

-- Rolando Pujol

Vintage signage: Phil's Stationery in midtown

Sunday December 21, 2008 3:15 PM By Rolando Pujol

The sign for Phil's Stationery at 9 E. 47th St., is one hardy and hard-to-miss holdout. Its bold yellow, mix of fonts and little mid-century stars compel contemplation. And as we did just that, we noticed a small tag for Sign World, the company that created it. That tag itself carries a little old-school surprise: It bear an old telephone exchange (The NA exchange, short for NAtional?), which helps us date the sign to before the early 1970s.

And, as pointed out here, you have to love the misspelling of Xerox as "Zerox."

-- Rolando Pujol

Photos: Rolando Pujol

Caroline's every kind of Democrat

Sunday December 21, 2008 11:04 AM By Rolando Pujol

Caroline Kennedy says she’s a “Clinton Democrat.”

This might come as a small surprise to Hillary Clinton, who stood by helplessly in the make-or-break Democratic primaries while Caroline and her Uncle Teddy grandly backed Barack Obama.

But don’t read too much into that little disconnect. Caroline’s also an “Obama Democrat” and a “Kennedy Democrat” and a “Schumer Democrat” and apparently a “Sharpton Democrat” too.

Now that she wants to be New York’s junior senator, Caroline will be whatever kind of Democrat she has to be, even if that means riding up to Lenox Avenue and sitting for a full cholesterol infusion with Democratic Reverend Al.

Oddly, she did fail to mention she’s a “Paterson Democrat.” Once reminded that Governor David gets to name Hillary’s Senate replacement all by himself, don’t expect that omission again from Caroline.

This label flexibility is possible only for a candidate, like Caroline Kennedy, who is a political blank slate, someone who has hardly ever had to take a public position on anything. Heck, she could be a “Blagojevich Democrat” if she chose to, although that might not be so helpful right now.

She was pleasant and poised as she stepped out of Sylvia’s Restaurant. But asked how she’s prepared to be a U.S. Senator, she fell back immediately on genealogy and her nice-person resume.

“I come at this as a mother, as a lawyer, as an author, as an education advocate and from a family that really has spent generations in public service,” she said.

Ah, families. There are families all over this mess. It isn’t often that three of America’s top Democratic clans — the Clintons, Cuomos and Kennedys — are all so intertwined in ambitions and resentment with all of them pretending to still be friends.

A quick review: The Kennedys sold out the Clintons. Hillary created the Senate-seat drama by signing on as Obama’s secretary of state. So Mario Cuomo’s son Andrew was the heir apparent – until Caroline, whose cousin Kerry divorced Andrew, decided she might want the job.

Pick your label: Aren’t families fun?

Endangered NYC: Saving architectural treasures in the outer boroughs

Thursday December 18, 2008 4:21 PM By Rolando Pujol

This is amNY's third annual special report on preservation. Previous coverage can be found here and here.

By Lana Bortolot

Special to amNewYork

Manhattan’s iconic architecture has long given the borough favored-child status

at the Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Of some 1,210 individual landmark designations in the five boroughs since the commission’s inception in 1965, 779 are in Manhattan, as well as 64 out of 105 designated Historic Districts and extensions.

But today, the outer boroughs are increasingly enjoying the attention their architectural treasures deserve, powered by community activism, even as certain beloved structures still meet the wrecking ball.

“The tone has changed out there,” says Peg Breen, president of New York Landmarks Conservancy, a private advocacy group. “I think there’s been a heightened level of interest and there’s a pent-up demand.”It’s an area that Robert B. Tierney, Landmarks Preservation chairman, agrees has been out of sight and mind.

“There wasn’t the necessary focus and attention [outside Manhattan],” Tierney said, noting that his commission has redirected its attention to the boroughs. “They’re no longer overlooked. And I think the record of what’s already been done should give people reassurance that we are focused very markedly on issues in those boroughs.”

Indeed, recent data provided by the commission show an increased number of designations outside of Manhattan. Of the 1,158 building designated in fiscal year 2007, 1,114—or 96 percent—are outside of Manhattan.

All three historic districts designated in fiscal year 2008 were in the outer boroughs—two of which, DUMBO and Eberhard Faber Pencil Company, responded directly to concerns over the loss of Brooklyn’s historic industrial waterfront. By the end of fiscal year 2009, the commission will have designated more districts outside of Manhattan than any other administration since its inception, says commission spokeswoman Elisabeth de Bourbon.

Yet, despite the improved record, outer borough residents feel ignored, and voice their frustrations on blogs devoted to politics and preservation. Certainly, losses this year, like that of the Bay Ridge Methodist Church, leave some unconvinced the city is doing enough.

“We've had some heartbreaking losses," says Simeon Bankoff, executive director of the Historic Districts Council. "Even people who don’t go to church get upset when churches are ripped down.” He noted, "People often are unaware of the special

character of a place until it’s threatened: they have their own personal Penn Stations.

The virtual dialogue—often heated and infused with both fact and opinion—links citizen brigades throughout the boroughs so that preservationists in Queens can empathize with (or criticize) like- minded activists in the Bronx. And whether they face the loss of a historic church or the addition of a big-box retailer, they present a unified front to elected officials and the city landmarks commission to make a difference.

Despite the losses of beloved buildings, Tierney says “There’s a

whole other narrative of buildings being saved and we don’t want

people to lose sight of that. “

So, here, in amNewYork’s third annual look at what might be lost,

preservationists post their wish list of sites to be saved.

BROOKLYN

Erasmus Hall Academy (Tiffany L. Clark)

Erasmus Hall Academy

911 Flatbush Ave., Flatbush

architect unknown, 1787

Protected from view by its Gothic surroundings, but rotting away from neglect, is the original Georgian-Federalist wooden structure of the academy whose founders include John Jay, Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr. The oldest secondary school in New York is designated a city landmark, but suffers from years of neglect. Restoration efforts are locked in a stalemate between the Erasmus alumni, which are rallying to restore it, and the School Construction Authority.

Brooklyn Rapid Transit Power House (RJ Mickelson)

Brooklyn Rapid Transit Power House

322 Third Ave.

architect unknown, 1902

Eligible for the National Register and under LPC review, this Romanesque Revival powerhouse on the Gowanus Canal is all that remains of a massive complex that provided power for Brooklyn’s steam railroads, elevated trains, and street cars. If renovated, says Melissa Baldrock, a preservationist at the Municipal Art Society, “the building could be a great space for small manufacturers who could rent out smaller spaces within the building, for a large manufacturer, or for an arts and cultural space.”

The Shore Theater put Coney Island on the map as a year-round destination. Below, the the fate of the Astroland rocket is up in the air. (Photos: Tiffany L. Clark)

Coney Island’s historic resources, various dates

Mermaids may mourn the demise of Astroland (b. 1962; d. 2008), but it’s Coney Island’s other historic resources that now face threats. Several 19th- and early-20th-century buildings are endangered , says Baldrock. Coney Island’s entertainment history is reflected in Henderson’s Music Hall, where the Marx Brothers first performed in 1907, and the Shore Theater, which put Coney Island on the map as a year-round destination. It contains a theater for 2,500 people, but now sits vacant.

While landmarks such as the Cyclone, Parachute Jump, and Wonder Wheel are protected, Astroland’s other icons, including the Astrotower and the Rocket, are not. Like the parachute jump (from New York's 1937 world’s fair), the Astrotower is part of the local skyline. Still operable, at 270 feet height high, it provides unparalleled views of the area. The rocket, while not a ride, is one of Coney Island’s most photographed icons—a flight of fancy on its own.

Gowanus Canal area

Now that its cleaner than it’s been in years, the Gowanus Canal is ready for its photo op — and an onslaught of development interest. Says Rick Bell, executive director of the American Institute of Architects’ New York chapter, “When you ask what’s the best and highest use for the waterfront, it’s seldom going to be something that retains industrial use. Chances are you’re looking at housing when the market picks back up.” And current upzoning plans would permit just that along the northern blocks of the canal, putting the historic use of the canal—in operation since the 1850s—and its industrial character at risk. Says Lisa Kersavage, director of advocacy and policy at Municipal Art Society, “The city ought to be doing more to support the manufacturing industries rather than upzoning for residential. It’s better to be barging than trucking through our brownstone neighborhoods.”

The Red Hook grain silos(RJ Mickelson/amNY)

Red Hook grain silos

Columbia Street at the Gowanus Canal, 1922

After a 50-year vacancy, the concrete grain silos adjacent to Red Hook Park on the Gowanus Canal present a number of possibilities, and their future treatment will significantly impact the character of their surroundings. Keeping the industrial feel of the silos, Bell says, would win a nod of approval from modernist architect Le Corbusier, who admired the unusual landscape presented by Midwestern grain silos. But, Ikea’s success there, he says, raises the more likely possibility of mixed-use projects with a retail component.

BRONX

Cass Gilbert's Morris Park station (also known as Van Nest station) in the Bronx (Tiffany L. Clark)

Rail stations, various locations

Cass Gilbert, 1908

Gilbert may be better known as the architect of the Woolworth Building, but his more humble works have not gone unnoticed by preservationists. Strung along the Harlem line of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad, only three of the ornate stations remain in the Bronx, and are in serious decline. A fourth in Pelham Parkway is in near ruins. Evoking European influences — one in French Renaissance style and another likened to an Italian palazzo —the stations have potential for restoration and occupancy. Amtrak’s efforts to find tenants have been unsuccessful and the advancing decay of the stations make restoration more costly as time goes by.

Kingsbridge Armory (Tiffany L. Clark)

Kingsbridge Armory

29 W. Kingsbridge Road

Pilcher & Tachau, 1912

A stunning neighborhood landmark, the Romanesque Revival armory is

said to be the world's largest, built as a militia drill floor. A recent proposal by the Related Companies includes a retail/entertainment mix that will bring the site back into active use, but also raises concerns of turning the Romanesque Revival armory into a regional shopping destination. Any restoration, however, will have to take into account the enormous costs of stabilization and the scale of the undertaking. But experts say it’s worth it—the building “really defines the neighborhood’s character,” says Bell. “What would it look like if it were gone? What would they relate to as a landmark?”

Noonan Plaza Apartments in the Bronx (Tiffany L. Clark)

Noonan Plaza Apartments

105-145 W. 168th St.

Horace Ginsbern, 1931

These embellished Art Deco-Mayan apartment buildings contained a 15,000-square-foot garden with flowering shrubs, mosaic walkways and water features. “It’s a particular style we don’t see a lot of,” says Andrea Goldwyn, director of public policy at New York Landmarks Conservancy. Heard in 1992, but not yet designated by the city, Goldwyn added, “We want to stay on top of it and bring it to people’s attention.”

Brady Court at 754-764 Brady Ave. in Pelham Parkway (RJ Mickelson)

Pelham Parkway South

Bounded by Pelham Parkway, Bronx Park East, Bronxdale and Matthew avenues

It’s not yet a historic district, but the dense cluster of 1920s and 1930s apartment here represent a building type that’s “almost entirely overlooked by LPC, but is key to an understanding of the history of housing in the city,” says Andrew S. Dolkart, director of the Historic Preservation Program Columbia University School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation. The six-story buildings comprise a cohesive housing tract that captures the fancy of the era: Moorish embellishments, Spanish tile, crenellated rooflines and courtyards, as well as serving the cultural needs of the middle- and working-class community that lived here.

QUEENS

A scattering of 19th-century houses is all that remains of Astoria Village, an enclave beneath the newly renamed Robert F. Kennedy Bridge. Multi-family buildings and other development have replaced gracious homes, some from the Civil War-era. While it’s unlikely to qualify for district designation, individual buildings may still qualify for landmark status, and protecting them would keep some vestige of the village. The neighborhood also contains two important early churches and burial grounds, including the Irish Famine Cemetery.

Unprotected, and with large home lots, neighborhoods such as Broadway-Flushing and Richmond Hill, the Historic Districts Council says, are “fertile ground for McMansions and other out of character development.” In Forest Hills, preservationists are fighting to spare Neo-Renaissance rowhouses on 72nd Avenue (formerly Roman Avenue) dating back to 1906, and rare survivors of the oldest extant development here.

Michael Perlman, chair of the Rego-Forest Preservation Council, hopes to find an arts or culture group for the empty Ridgewood Theater. (Tiffany L. Clark)

Ridgewood Theater

55-27 Myrtle Ave., Ridgewood

Thomas White Lamb, opened 1916

After 91 years, the ornate Ridgewood Theater, the longest continuously operating theater in the country, closed in 2008. Up for sale, plans for its next incarnation are unknown, but preservationists fear alteration, not restoration, of the exterior. A local group hopes to install an arts organization in the building, and a landmarks commission spokesperson said the theater is under “active consideration,” and the commission has calendared the Ridgewood Historic District.

Schleicher Mansion

11-41 123rd St., College Point

architect unknown, circa 1851

Once boasting water views, and now at the core of a traffic roundabout, the Hermann Schleicher mansion is a decaying piece of Gilded Age architecture—one of a few remaining mansions built by German industrialists here. Converted to a hotel, then an apartment building, the building stands vacant after tenants were forced to evacuate this summer after a city inspection. It was calendared for LPC hearing on Dec. 9, which halts demolition by the owner or a developer who would do the same, but if not designated, this mansion and its eclectic history will be lost.

Elmhurst Library (Tiffany L. Clark)

Elmhurst Library

86-01 Broadway, Elmhurst

architect unknown, opened 1906

One of seven Carnegie libraries built in Queens, the much-used Elmhurst Library will be demolished for a larger building. What the Carnegie libraries lack in grandeur, they make up for with distinctive architecture that reflects the character of the communities they serve. “Normally you would not want to see a Carnegie library demolished, but they made a pretty compelling case that this is what they had to do to serve the population,” says Breen.

STATEN ISLAND

HISTORIC HOMES

Staten Island’s vernacular homes and mansions are in danger of being lost. Many sit on large plots, making them attractive development sites. Owners of larger homes struggle to maintain them, lacking a strong preservation ethic, are often resistant to landmarking. Preservationists continue to fight for the houses. “Not only are they architecturally interesting, but they really speak to Staten Island’s maritime history. When they’re gone, it severs our links to that history,” says Goldwyn.

Captain Abram and Ann Dissosway Cole House

4927 Arthur Kill Road, Tottenville, circa 1840s

One of a few remaining houses that once housed prominent industrial and maritime merchants, the 19th-century Greek Revival, owned by members of the Cole family until the 1970s, was calendared in the 1960s and remains unprotected by landmark designation. Preservationists support landmarking the house, but the owner has asked the commission to remove the house from consideration so he may demolish it.

U.S. Coast Guard Station (Tiffany L. Clark)

The U.S. Coast Guard Station formerly the U.S. Light-House Service

1 Bay Street, St. George

Alfred B. Mullett, 1865-71

A designated city landmark, the administration building is one of the few surviving French Second Empire buildings by the architect who also designed the Carson City and San Francisco mints, the Customs house in Knoxville and the Executive Office Building in Washington, D.C. The complex was the holding station for materials destined for lighthouses along the east coast, and also a research site for lighthouse equipment. In poor condition, it’s empty and awaits a plan.

S. R. Smith Infirmary

101 Stanley Ave., Stapleton

Alfred Barlow & B.L Gilbert, 1889

Modeled after the Cancer Hospital on Central Park West and 106th Street (now condominiums), this Victorian “castle” stands abandoned. Plans to covert the turreted building into residences some 20 years ago failed and without occupancy of some kind, the building will continue to deteriorate. A landmark request was heard in 1991, but it remains undesignated and unprotected.

* * *

2007: HOW THEY FARED

Successes and losses mark last year’s “10 (more) to Save.” Here’s how they fared.

Donnell Library Center

20 W. 53rd St.

Closed and will be razed for a hotel.

Morris B. Sanders House

219 E. 49th St.

Designated landmark November, 2008.

George Washington Bridge Bus Station

Broadway, between West 178-179th streets

In October 2008, Port Authority unveiled plans for a $152 million renovation, expected to begin within two years. The station does not have landmark protection and its modernist design could be compromised.

James A. Farley Post Office Building

421 Eighth Ave.

Still under study, but Madison Square Garden has removed itself from a proposal to relocate to Farley, relieving fears of the arena overtaking the historic interior.

Abolitionist homes

Nos. 231 and 233 Duffield Street

New plans for this block of homes included an Underground Railroad museum and sale of air rights for a new hotel. But negotiations between the owner and developer have stalled, and the project may be scaled back.

1847 James Sloan and Abigail Hopper Gibbons home

339 W. 29th St.

A stop work order has halted further construction here. LPC has calendared landmarking the area as a historic district, which would include the Hopper Gibbons House.

Federal buildings

Nos. 94, 94-1/2 and 96 Greenwich St.

Remain undesignated and unprotected while an ownership dispute continues. A hotel developer wants to purchase air rights and demolish at least one building.

508-510 and 732-734 West End Ave

Buildings at 732-734 failed to meet the criteria for designation and have been emptied awaiting demolition. Rent-stabilized tenants at 508-510, are fighting to have their leases renewed.

Congregation Shearith Israel

8 W. 70th St.

Landmark West! and neighbors filed a lawsuit in New York State Supreme Court in September challenging the NYC Board of Standards and Appeals approval of seven zoning variances for a nine-story luxury condo here. CSI has delayed construction.

Admiral's Row

Brooklyn Navy Yard

The Brooklyn Navy Yard Development Corp. is the likely buyer of site from the Army National Guard, and preservation groups continue to press for plans that would include the historic buildings in future development.

Brooklyn Waterfront

The Eberhard Faber Pencil Company, DUMBO and parts of the former Domino Sugar Corporation Refinery were designated in the past year. The Austin, Nichols & Company Warehouse will be converted to residences. Red Hook is on watch.

Brownstone Brooklyn

Heard by LPC in October, Prospect Heights is on its way to landmarking. Yet other brownstone neighborhoods—Carroll Gardens Wallabout and parts of Brooklyn Heights—remain on watch.

The Franklin Building

186 Remsen St., Downtown Brooklyn

Still vacant and reported to need too much work and priced too high to make habitation viable in the current market. The building next door was demolished, leaving the Franklin vulnerable to the same fate.

The humble diner

Closure of the famed Cheyenne Diner (411 Ninth Ave.) after 68 years is a reminder that these working-class eateries are still at risk.

Religious Buildings

Development plans for West-Park Presbyterian (86th Street and Amsterdam Avenue) have halted while a local group challenges a demolition permit. Bay Ridge United Methodist, the “Green Church,” was demolished for condominium development. St. Saviour’s in Maspeth was dismantled and awaits resurrection on a new site in All Faiths Cemetery.

****

They’ll save Manhattan

amNewYork asked preservationists for a wish list of Manhattan sites to be landmarked. Here’s what they said:

Andrew Berman, executive director

Greenwich Village Society for Historic Preservation

“The twin threats of New York University and private development have put the South Village area under enormous pressure, and landmark designation is needed now more than ever to preserve [that] wonderful neighborhood. It was entirely left out of the Greenwich Village Historic District in 1969, largely because its working class architecture was not considered worthy of preservation at the time.”

Andrew S. Dolkart, director

Historic Preservation Program, Columbia University School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation

“Teachers College, a spectacular and long-overlooked complex of buildings where five different architects and architectural firms designed nine separate and interconnected buildings, creating an extraordinary feeling of unity, using various forms of Gothic-inspired design. [It’s] a major institution in the history of New York and in the history of educational pedagogy.”

Anthony C. Wood, historian and author of “Preserving New York”

“The proposed expansion to the Upper East Side Historic District to include Lexington Avenue and environs. One key building, the Kean Building, has been lost because of the unresponsiveness of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, but the essence of the proposed expansion to the district still remains intact. Lexington Avenue is ‘Main Street’ for residents of the Upper East Side, and it still retains … a distinctive sense of place.”

Buy your very own Charlie Brown Christmas tree!

Wednesday December 17, 2008 9:38 AM By Rolando Pujol

This put us right into the holiday spirit.

An Upper West Side Christmas tree stand is selling what are brilliantly billed as "Charlie Brown Christmas trees." They're cute and ever so forlorn, so we found it difficult to resist "adopting" one, especially when the price is a mere buck.

The salesman told us people are scooping them up as a seasonal talking pieces for their desks. The tree stand is on Broadway between West 97th and 98th streets.

"A Charlie Brown Christmas," by the way aired last night. But fear not, you can watch it on YouTube.

-- Rolando Pujol

Urban archaeology: A defunct bank still has an ominous sidewalk warning for would-be squatters

Thursday December 4, 2008 8:47 AM By Rolando Pujol

The Haier Building in midtown was once home to the Greenwich Savings Bank, which went bust in 1981. (Photos by Rolando Pujol)

The neo-classical Haier Building stands out among the warehouses and offices buildings of the Garment District. Considered among the best works of the firm York and Sawyer, the building is now headquarters to Haier America, which sells everything from HVAC systems to wine cellars.

But the building was once home to the Greenwich Savings Bank, which had it roots in the Village, not the tony neighborhood full of well-heeled finance types in Connecticut.

Haier's name is now prominently displayed outside the building, but the Greenwich bank's link to the site has not entirely been chiseled away. Just look down on the sidewalk, where small brass plaques demarcate the property line of the Greenwich Savings Bank. We're told somewhat imperiously that we are "crossing by permission only" and that "permission is revocable at will."

Take that, wanna-be squatters! And read more for an explanation behind these plaques, which are designed to prevent "adverse possession" of a property by someone who does not own it.

And by the way, the bank's ending came in a way that's all too familiar to us today. It collapsed in 1981, its remnants were absorbed by Metropolitan Savings Bank, then Crossland Savings, and today, its DNA survives in HSBC.

-- Rolando Pujol

Fire up the TV: 'The Yule Log' is coming back to PIX

Wednesday December 3, 2008 9:57 AM By Rolando Pujol

See a slide-show history of the Yule Log HERE.

Christmas in New York isn't quite complete without "The Yule Log," and WPIX will not disappoint this Christmas morning. "The Yule Log" will run from 9 a.m.-1 p.m on December 25, and at 1 p.m., the Laurel and Hardy classic "March of the Wooden Soldiers" will be back as well.

Ahh, that's Christmas morning as it should be.

But from 1990 to 2000, New York did without the tradition, which had begun in 1966. But WPIX saw the light of the log in 2001, bringing back the special after fan Joe Malzone lead an online effort to light the embers anew. Its return was heartily embraced by a city still reeling from 9/11, and it's been back every year since.

This year's Yule Log comes as PIX celebrates its 60th anniversary, and shortly after the successful return of another of its longtime traditions, "Chiller Theatre." And in keeping with the station's respect for its history -- and viewers love for the old Channel 11 -- the station has even revamped its identity, unveiling a tweaked version of its classic "Circle 11" logo, left, while re-emphasizing the classic "PIX" brand. (Who doesn't remember the on-air PIX video game?)

See the news release after the jump, which includes PIX's holiday schedule. You'll get a chance to see "The Odd Couple" Christmas show (and its rendition of a "A Christmas Carol") among other New York holiday favorites.

As an Urbanite plus, check out a Yule Log tradition that ran for many years along with the fire: station editorialist Richard N. Hughes' inspirational Christmas message. He is of the "what's your opinion, we'd like to know" fame. Read it HERE and see it HERE.

-- Rolando PujolNEW YORK, December 3, 2008 - It wouldn't be a holiday in New York without The WPIX Yule Log! The Yule Log, the famous film loop of a burning log in a hearth, has mesmerized viewers since it debuted on PIX in 1966. To celebrate the Log's 42nd anniversary, PIX 11 will air The Yule Log from 9am-1pm on December 25th, expanding the coverage to 4-hours. At 1pm, immediately following The Yule Log, PIX will air the beloved holiday classic, March of the Wooden Soldiers.

In recent years, The Yule Log has been digitally re-mastered and fully restored. In 2001, while searching the company's archives, the original 35mm Yule Log film was found where it was misfiled in a "Honeymooners" film can titled "A Dog's Life." At that time, the original film was color corrected and cleaned of scratches. In 2003, the Log was up-converted to High Definition (PIX now airs a simultaneous HDTV Yule Log on WPIX-DT) and in 2005 PIX made The Yule Log available to viewers as a downloadable podcast.

In 2006 to celebrate the Log's 60th anniversary, Lawrence "Chip" Arcuri and Joe Malzone, the creator of theyulelog.com, restored the audio of The Yule Log for PIX, a process that required the digital remastering of a number of songs to be pulled from their original vinyl records, since many of the songs in The Yule Log have never been released on CD (In fact, out of 70 selections on the program, 34 are currently out-of-print, and of that 34, 12 have never been in print on CD!)

With the Log now digitally re-mastered and fully restored, The Yule Log continues to serve as a holiday card to PIX viewers.

The Yule Log can be seen on PIX and PIX-DT on Thursday, December 25th from 9 am-1pm ET (with closed captioning available.) The Log will be offered as wallpaper, a downloadable podcast, and via flash video at www.wpix.com where PIX will host a Yule Log comment board.

PIX 11 HOLIDAY EPISODES AND SPECIALS

(Times listed as broadcast day)

12/5 8pm Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer (1hr) - CW Special

9pm The Story of Santa Claus (1hr) - CW Special

12/6 1pm Movie: Jack Frost (1998)

Michael Keaton, Kelly Preston, Joseph Cross, Mark Addy, Andrew Lawrence

The father of a young boy passes away on Christmas, and returns the following winter as a snowman and tries to be the parent he had never taken the time to be.

3pm Movie: I'll Be Home for Christmas (1998)

Jonathan Taylor Thomas, Jessica Biel, Adam LaVorgna, Gary Cole, Eve Gordon

A self-centered California college student, glued to a Santa suit by his rival, flies, crawls, races, bullies, and even sleighs his way to New York to cash in on a vintage Porsche promised by his father.

12/12 8pm Everybody Hates Chris - CW Network "Everybody Hates New Year's Eve"

12/13 7pm WPIX Special: RexCorp Plaza Tree Lighting (1/2hr)

Hosted by Jim Watkins and Jill Nicolini of PIX News, this holiday special features some of Long Island's finest talent such as Ashanti and Push Play, as well as champion and up-and-coming skating stars in the lighting of Long Island's favorite Christmas tree.

12/14 1pm Movie Encore: Jack Frost (1998)

3pm Movie Encore: I'll Be Home for Christmas

12/16 (Early Wednesday AM)

3am South Park - "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson"

12/19 (Early Saturday AM)

3am South Park - "Christmas in Canada"

12/21 3pm Movie: Christmas at Water's Edge (2004)

Keshia Knight Pulliam, Pooch Hall, Earl Billings, Ray J, Richard Lawson, Tom Bosley

A wealthy college student discovers the Christmas spirit when she helps organize a holiday concert for a youth center, even though she must team with a cantankerous hip hop cabbie, whom she has no idea is really an angel in training.

12/22 (Early Tuesday AM)

1:30am Frasier - "Frasier Grinch"

2:30am The Jeffersons - "The Christmas Wedding"

3am South Park - "Mr. Hankey The Christmas Poo"

12/23 11:30p Friends - "Rachel Quits" (Christmas)

(Early Wednesday AM)

1:30am Frasier - "Perspectives on Christmas"

2:30am The Jeffersons - "984 W. 124th Street, Apt. 5C"

12/24 11:30p Friends - "The One with the Routine" (New Year's)

(Early Thursday AM)

12am Midnight Mass from St. Patrick's Cathedral (LIVE, 1 ½ hrs)

Catholic Christmas Mass from Saint Patrick's Cathedral in New York.

1:30am Frasier - "Merry Christmas, Mrs. Moskowitz

2:30am The Jeffersons - "George Finds a Father"

3am South Park - "A Very Crappy Christmas"

12/25 9am WPIX Special: The Yule Log (4hrs)

The Yule Log, a WPIX Christmas tradition, is a holiday card to our viewers of a log blazing in a fireplace accompanied by classic Christmas music.

1pm Movie March of the Wooden Soldiers (2hrs)

7:30pm Family Guy - A Very Special Family Guy Freakin' Christmas

11:30pm Friends - "The One with Christmas in Tulsa"

(Early Friday AM)

12:30am According to Jim - "The Christmas Party"

1:30am Frasier - "The Fight Before Christmas"

2am Odd Couple - "Scrooge Gets an Oscar"

2:30am The Jeffersons - "All I Want for Christmas"

12/26 6:30pm Friends - "The One Where Ross Got High" (Thksgvg)

(Early Saturday AM)

1:30am Frasier - "Mary Christmas"

2:30am The Jeffersons - "Father Christmas"

12/31 12am The Honeymooner's New Year's Marathon

16 hours, 32 episodes of classic Honeymooners episodes

Mixologist muses on Bloody Mary's 75th birthday

Monday December 1, 2008 12:37 PM By Rolando Pujol

By Amanda Magnus

Special to amNewYork

Raise a toast, New York, because today is the 75th anniversary of the creation of the Bloody Mary.

In 1933, St. Regis Hotel bartender and French immigrant Ferdinand Petiot conceived this classic combination of vodka, tomato juice, and spices like salt, pepper, lemon juice, and Tabasco sauce. (By the way, this is all "bloody wrong," Barry Popik writes in the comments).

City Councilman Anthony Como (R-Middle Village) declared today Bloody Mary Day. He presented proclamations outside the TGI Friday’s in Times Square to Carol Bradley, the granddaughter of Petiot, Martin Silver of Georgi Vodka, and Steven Murphy, who makes Murph’s Bloody Mary. Friday’s restaurants around the city today are selling the drink for the original 1933 price of 99 cents,

Tom Sisson, the director of the New York Bartending School, took a few minutes to give amNewYork his musings about the birthday cocktail.Why is the Bloody Mary so popular?

Well, it’s a great drink. It has a catchy name, people like the taste, and it’s different from a lot of other sugary drinks. Also, it’s great for a hangover.

Why is the Bloody Mary considered a daytime drink instead of an evening cocktail?

I think it’s the tomato juice factor. Maybe tomato juice is more associated with breakfast, or maybe it’s a daytime thing. Also, tomato juice is great for hangovers because it has lycopene in it. I think it was served in the daytime originally, too, when the Bloody Mary was first created.

What are the some of the best variations of the Bloody Mary that you’ve encountered in your mixing career?

Instead of tomato juice, some bars in New England and Canada use clamato juice—a mix of tomato juice and clam broth. When you order a Bloody Mary in some bars up north it’s automatically assumed that you want it with clamato juice. It sounds kind of gross, but it’s actually really good. Another variation is to replace the vodka with tequila to make a Bloody Maria.

Photo: Getty

Urban archaeology: Herald Square's past written on the wall

Monday December 1, 2008 9:31 AM By Rolando Pujol

A recent demolition in Herald Square at Sixth Avenue and 32nd Street has given renewed prominence to these vintage signs on the side of the Jack's 99 Cent store. The building at the site once housed the S&A Stores, which promised your "money refunded within 25 days." That's quite a comforting thought while entering the store. The back story on the corner here.

By the way, a 47-story tower by Costas Kondylis has been scheduled to rise on this corner -- that was the story last April anyhow -- so get a good look at these signs while ye can.

-- Rolando Pujol

Vintage trains are back for the holidays

Sunday November 30, 2008 7:31 AM By Rolando Pujol

A vintage train runs on the V line last December. (Kristen V. Brown)

Nobody seems to like the V line much (except perhaps folks who enjoy space to spread out and aren't in any great rush), but only a Grinch would badmouth it in December.

Starting today and continuing every Sunday through Dec. 28, the MTA will run vintage trains between 10 a.m. and 4 p.m. between Queens Plaza and Second Avenue in Manhattan.

But wait, there'e more. We know this certainly hasn't been a season of good cheer for the MTA and its straphangers, but you can at least try to get into the holiday spirit on the rails by stopping by Grand Central Terminal during December. The MTA has its annual light show in the Grand Concourse, and its holiday train show at the Transit Museum's annex at GCT continues through Jan. 19.

-- Rolando Pujol

More: Story and blog post with pictures from amNY's ride aboard the vintage V last year.

Endangered NYC: Landmarks (or buildings that should be) get newspaper love

Sunday November 30, 2008 6:37 AM By Rolando Pujol

Tthe Corn Exchange building in Harlem as it looked when we profiled its plight in December 2006. It continues to rot. (Lane Johnson)

Since December 2006, amNewYork has been running an ongoing series, Endangered NYC, looking at the often neglected fight preservationists wage every day to save worthy examples of New York's built environment. Every December, we run a cover story, "10 to Save," which looks at specific examples of buildings or neighborhoods that are imperiled, be they landmarked or not. (And as we know, being landmarked often does not necessarily ensure protection.)

So we were happy to see both The New York Times and The New York Post this past week aggressively examine the state of our landmarks, as well as flaws in the landmarking system.

Their stories are well worth reading. And be on the lookout later in December for amNY's third installment of "10 to Save." We'll look at how the end of the destructive real-estate bubble offers a rare opportunity, and examine overlooked gems in the outer boroughs that deserve equal attention to their Manhattan brethren.

New York Times coverage, with interactive maps

New York Post op-ed, and 10 buildings worth saving

amNewYork's Endangered NYC

10 to Save: Flash presentation, photo gallery and story, December 2006

10 (more) to Save, December 2007

Endangered NYC story gallery

Endangered NYC, Urbanite archive

Worthy blogs on the beat every day

Jeremiah's Vanishing New York, Lost City and Queens Crap

Macy's vs. Gimbels: Their Herald Square rivalry isn't over yet

Friday November 28, 2008 9:43 AM By Rolando Pujol

On this Black Friday, when tens of thousands of people will cram into Macy's in Herald Square, it's easy to forget that Gimbels was also a big draw for many of those shoppers, as it held court just down the street for the better part of the 20th century. Of course, Gimbels was never quite as sophisticated, and was always something of the underdog. Its final Black Friday in Herald Square came in 1985, and it would be gone by the next fall.

Still, references to their legendary rivalry still come up. There's the old saying "Would Macy's tell Gimbels?" And thank goodness for annual showings of "Miracle on 34th Street," which makes reference to the old retail battle and helps keep Gimbels' legacy alive.

Now, Gimbels hasn't entirely gone away. Its ghosts haunt the Manhattan Mall, which is Gimbels former home. But up in the sky, on West 31st Street near Sixth Avenue, a huge painted sign for Gimbels still lords over its former neighborhood. The sign is atop the department store's former warehouse building. Alas, its "G" is partially missing, but that doesn't undercut the beauty of this scrappy survivor.

Macy's has two generations of similar signs atop its vast emporium, but they are easily visible only from neighboring high-rises.

In that one respect, Gimbels manages to top Macy's, some 22 years after Gimbels vanished.

-- Rolando Pujol

Two painted Macy's signs on the east side of the Herald Square store. (Photos by Rolando Pujol)

From the archives: Have a monstrous Thanksgiving

Friday November 28, 2008 8:34 AM By Rolando Pujol

We blogged this over at amNY's Digital Popcorn film blog last year, but thought we'd share it with Urbanite readers:

TV Guide ad via www.dvddrive-in.com

To this day, I associate Thanksgiving with Channel 9's Holiday Movie Festival. You could forget football, or reminiscing with the family around the dinner table. The real action was in front of the tube as WOR trotted out monster classics from its RKO library. On Turkey Days from 1976 to 1985, New Yorkers were treated to such classics as King Kong, Mighty Joe Young and a host of Godzilla movies.Now, I am not a big monster movie fan, but what appreciation I have for these films comes from repeated exposure by local TV stations back before they spiffed up their schedules, affiliated with networks, and turned their backs on classic reruns, cartoons and creaky movies. Now, you have to go to niche cable channels or turn to DVDs to see films that were once part of a regular TV diet. It's too bad these changes mean many kids today will not be exposed to nontraditional programming fare, nor will they form precious "holiday film festival" memories such as the ones New Yorkers over 30 share.

Indeed, like many longtime New York television traditions, the Thanksgiving film festival faded in the mid 80s as viewing habits changed with the advent of the VCR and cable. Soon, other movie traditions like Drive In Movie on Channel 5 -- a tremendous showcase for rare Kung Fu and horror films -- were also gone. For a superb overview of these TV traditions, visit www.dvddrive-in.com. Here's their write-up on the Holiday Film Festival, along with a tribute to Drive In Movie, Chiller Theater from Channel 11, and Creature Features from Channel 5.

But we digress. Returning to the Holiday Movie Festival, a YouTube contributor who offers rare-as-a-hen's-tooth videos from old New York television has compiled an almost 10-minute-long sequence of movie clips, bumpers and even old commercials for New York staples such as Crazy Eddie that will give you a sense of what it was like to spend Thanksgiving watching monster movies on Channel 9 in the early 1980s. Watch below, and happy Thanksgiving!

-- Rolando Pujol

Urban archaeology: What do ragamuffins have to do with Thanksgiving?

Thursday November 27, 2008 2:16 PM By Rolando Pujol

Ephemeral New York explores one of our Thanksgiving history obsessions. You see, once upon a time in neighborhoods around the city, Halloween really wasn't the season for going "trick or treating." It was Thanksgiving day! Kids would dress up and go around begging. These little ragamuffins would knock on your door and ask "Anything for Thanksgiving" in a kind of way that would make Fagin proud. The outings seemed to be confined to certain Brooklyn neighborhoods populated by European immigrants, but there were reports of the tradition thriving elsewhere in the city.The tradition petered out in most places by the early 1960s, and Halloween became the definitive day when it was societally accepted for children to ask unfamiliar adults for gifts.

Once you're done with your turkey and the games are off the air, take a few minutes and learn about this lost New York City tradition. Here's a look at how the tradition played out in Greenpoint. And even more here and here. And please share your recollections and insights in the comments.

-- Rolando Pujol

T-Day preview: A Smurfy parade

Tuesday November 25, 2008 12:45 PM By Rolando Pujol

By Amanda Magnus

Special to amNewYork

The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday will be a little different than the 81 celebrations before it: It will be Smurfy.

Thirteen huge inflatables will float above this year’s parade, including three firsts: a Smurf, Dr. Seuss’ Horton the Who and Buzz Lightyear.

“I’m excited for the Smurf float because my dad used to love the Smurfs as a kid and he’s taking me to the parade,” said 9-year-old Brett P., a New Jersey resident who’s been going to the parade since he was 2.

The parade officially kicks off the holiday season with more than 10,000 participants, including marching bands, cheerleaders, and performance groups. More than 3.5 million people flood the parade route, and more than 50 million viewers tune in on television.Some New Yorkers will be busy cooking or traveling and plan to see the blowing up of the balloons tonight. From 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. the public can catch the action on the Upper West Side: Enter at West 79th Street and Columbus Avenue.

Lorraine Flaherty and her 7- and 10-year-old daughters are going to watch the parade on television, even though they’ve come all the way from Seattle to New York for the holiday. Flaherty grew up in Manhattan and used to go to the parade as a child.

“It’s too crowded now, and you have to get there so early. It’s no fun anymore,” she said.

IF YOU GO:

The 2.5-mile parade route begins at 77th St and Central Park West and ends at 34th St and Seventh Avenue. The holiday tradition begins at 9 a.m., but people start arriving as early as 6 a.m. Here are the recommended spots to watch the parade:

• Central Park West from 75th Street to Columbus Circle.

• Broadway between Columbus Circle and 36th Street.

• Limited spots on the south side of 34th Street between Broadway and Seventh Avenue.

• Questions? Call the Macy’s hotline at 212-494-4495 or visit macysparade.com

Photo: AP

amNY series, day three: Q&A with Barbara Corcoran: Buyers, these are the 'good old days'

Thursday November 20, 2008 3:30 PM By Ryan Chatelain

Barbara Corcoran opened her real estate business in New York in 1973 and is now an author and real estate expert who appears regularly on NBC's "Today" show.

How bad you do remember the 1970s being?

In a nutshell, no one wanted to live in Manhattan. And if I had to, in a nutshell, talk about Manhattan today, I would say everyone wants to live here.

I remember traveling as a young broker (in the ’70s) to different conventions, as brokers do. When people would hear that I was a real estate broker in Manhattan, they, honest to God, looked at me like they were shocked I was alive and standing there and telling them.

I remember when Trump Tower was built in ’80, ’81. That was the clear bellwether change because I distinctly remember going to those same conventions and having an opposite response. People were saying, “Oh, it must be some glamorous.”Is there anything you miss about that era?

Oh sure. I really miss having the bag people on every other block. I miss going to the Theater District and not being able to bring my parents because I thought they couldn’t defend themselves if they were attacked. I miss terribly the squeegee washers on the 59th Street Bridge. I miss the sense of dread going down a street that had no one walking on it. I miss the dogs, and all of them going wherever they wanted to go. I lived on 81st and York at the time, and I used to pick my block based on the aroma in the air. Some blocks were cleaner than others, and I would go out of my way to walk down those blocks.

How do you see the current economic crisis affecting New York?

Real estate and jobs are kissing cousins. The most important jobs in the city that set the tone in the city … is Wall Street. So when Wall Street has a problem, real estate feels it immediately.

Right now, everyone’s worried. I’m not worried about real estate prices at all. I think there was going to be somewhat of a shakeout anyway, and this just sped it forward or made people face reality.

Do you see the economic crisis eroding the quality of life in the city at all?

No. I think the only thing that could erode the quality of life in the city is who we have in office and how the city is run. I remember even in great real estate years, with the wrong administration, the city deteriorated pretty quickly.

In those years when the squeegee cleaners got back on the streets and you saw a little more graffiti, before Giuliani came in, the city was going back in the other direction. That had nothing to do with fiscal crisis; that had to do with lack of leadership.

When we emerge from all this, will we notice much of a difference between 2005 and 2010?

Yes, there will be a big difference. Real estate will be more expensive once again, and everyone will look back and say, ‘Why didn’t I buy then?’ Because the truth of the matter is these are the good ol’ days everybody dreams about. ‘If only, if only.’ But when they happen, when prices start to soften and you can get a good deal, everybody’s too afraid to step out because they don’t want to be the last fool in who bought when he could have bought cheaper the next year.

-- Ryan Chatelain

amNY series, day two: Q&A with Curtis Sliwa

Wednesday November 19, 2008 7:50 PM By Rolando Pujol

Radio host Curtis Sliwa founded what became The Guardian Angels in 1979.

Just how bad were the bad old days?

It was like dawn of the dead. It was like zombies roaming around, dope fiends, drug dealers…vulturizing the city. The Bronx was burning. People were fleeing. We are nowhere near that situation. Back then you felt, particularly if you worked the graveyard shift, when the sun went down the thugs ruled everything on the ground. You felt like you were wearing pork chop pants going into a cage of Doberman pitchers.

What do you miss about that era in New York?

Absolutely nothing. Some people say, “Oh I wish we had the old Times Square.” I say if you want that, go to Camden, go to Detroit. You want some of that old time crime, sleaze and slime?

In what way, if any, do you see the city's quality of life eroding?

There are more homeless people. You have some squeegee posses out there. The subways are just a moving caravan of people trying to shake you down for money.

When the Wall Street crisis is over, how different a place will New York be?

It all depends on who’s the shot caller, who’s the mayor. If it’s a weak mayor…we’d be back to the old days in no time. You need somebody who understands public safety is do or die for the city. If you haven’t guaranteed public safety, the tourists aren’t going to come. If you have crime, they [Wall Street] abandon ship, and now they don’t need to be in the city…because the whole world is virtual now.

1978, 2008: Which year would you rather live in and why?

2008 without question. You can actually in 2008 close your eyes sometimes and not worry that your neck will be slit ear to ear. Whereas in 1978…arson...gang violence…you couldn’t close your eyes. At anytime people could come out of the woodwork. You don’t have that feeling now. It’s more relaxed.

-- Marlene Naanes

amNY series, day two: Little things mean a lot

Wednesday November 19, 2008 7:39 PM By Rolando Pujol

By Marlene Naanes

The writing may be literally on the walls.

Graffiti arrests and incidents are rising and many are concerned that this, and other quality-of-life crimes, will increase next year with fewer police on the streets.

“The officers we have are focused on serious crime … and as a result quality-of-life crimes are up,” said City Councilman Peter Vallone (D-Queens), chair of the council’s public safety committee.Graffiti and overall noise complaints remain at historic lows, and city figures show streets are cleaner than they’ve been in 30 years. However, statistics also show requests for graffiti cleanup are more than double what they were last year.

Vallone wants to see more cops on the street.

"You’d have to be really thick headed to not understand that more police officers means less crime," Vallone said.

He and others have proposed money-saving alternatives to canceling the next police academy class, including getting money from tort reform in Albany, implementing fees for companies that put cell phone antennas on top of buildings and restoring a tax on commuters.

"There are other ways to raise money," he said. "The Police Department should be the last place to cut."

City statistics show slight increases in complaints concerning private trash collectors, residential and commercial noise and complaints about homeless encampments. Some officials attribute the boost in quality-of-life complaints to the popularity of 311—about a million more calls came in during fiscal 2008 compared to the year before.

However, when enough people sense a subtle shift -- one too many aggressive panhandlers, increased delays for trains, reports of muggings in the neighborhood -- the positive view of city life can turn.

"If there's a perception that your basic services are not being maintained, people really notice that and it really affects the quality of life and it's going to give people pause about staying here," said Jonathan Bowles, director of the Center for an Urban Future.

Lynette Willis stays away from a certain street corner in Fort Greene section of Brooklyn late at night because she knows she will be bothered.

“There’s been a lot of drug addicts…panhandling, being rude, throwing bottles,” said Willis, 31.

Jennifer Garofolo, 40, who lives in Windsor Terrace, Brooklyn, knows all too well about the plague of dealing with annoying, routine problems. She repeatedly calls the police about noise and public drunkenness and is worried about a few vacant storefronts giving the area a dingier feel.

Police only respond some of the time, and she worries about the possibilities of having fewer officers on the streets next year.

“If the police don’t respond at all, it’s a free for all,” she said.

Rolando Pujol contributed to this report.

Museum of American Finance takes trip through Wall Street's trading past

Wednesday November 19, 2008 3:53 PM By Garett Sloane

Kerbstone brokers engaged in a frenzied and disorganized form of trading

on the street in the 19th century. (Museum of American Finance)

By Garett Sloane

A retrospective on the history of trading on Wall Street — the latest exhibit at the Museum of American Finance — is supposed to give visitors a look at how much has changed, but just as striking is how much has stayed the same.

The exhibit “Trading on the Street,” which opens today, shows how trading has evolved from chaotic curbside auctions of the late 18th century through the time of ticker tape and telegraph until today’s digital age. It also offers a glimpse into past panics that are eerily reminiscent of today’s current troubles.One could imagine that the disreputable “stock-jobbers” of the 18th century, who were outlawed by the New York State Legislature in 1792, were no less despised than some elements within the trading world today. One could also imagine that the media of the mid-19th century would just as easily lampooned former Lehman Brothers CEO Richard Fuld as they did Jay Gould, who was dubbed the “Mephistopheles of Wall Street” and incited a panic by trying to corner the gold market in 1869.

The term “stock-jobbers,” which can be read in the original text of regulations from 1792, referred to the men publicly trading shares on Wall Street. The practice was banned as a result of a panic: A well-known investor, William Duer, a secretary to Alexander Hamilton, was heavily leveraged and his collapse shook the market.

“He was making a lot of trades with borrowed money,” said Leena Akhtar, curator of the temporary exhibit.

After the regulations banning public trading, a group of 24 investors banded together to trade privately, creating the precursor to the New York Stock Exchange. They signed the “Buttonwood Agreement,” which is the centerpiece of the exhibit and is on loan from the New York Stock Exchange.

The exhibit is most valuable in showing how the techniques of trading have changed, and covers a lot of ground in a small space. There are original 18th century stocks and bonds, one issued to Patrick Henry, on display. Also, etchings and engravings show the commotion of early trading.

“Everybody knows that iconic image of chaos on the trading floor,” Akhtar said.

The exhibit takes visitors through the official founding of the New York Stock and Exchange Board in 1817, and shows scenes of the less-organized Curb Market dating back to the early 1840s, which became the American Stock Exchange in about 1930. A fascinating bit of history was an engraving of Gallagher’s Evening Exchange, one of the first organized after-hours markets in the Civil War period for traders to continue after the closing bell.

Also, worth viewing is the model of a 1939 trading post, the horseshoe-shaped structures on the floor of the exchange, which have evolved from hubs receiving information via pneumatic tube to the electronic-monitor posts of today.

The exhibit ends with a look at the modern Bloomberg terminal, which feeds traders today with up-to-the-second data and allows for instantaneous transactions. It’s a long way from when stock quotes and other information were transmitted by messenger boy and sometimes even by carrier pigeon.

‘Trading on the Street’ opens

When: Nov. 20 to March 20

Hours: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Monday to Friday

Where: Museum of

American Finance,

48 Wall St.

Cost: Adults, $8; students and seniors, $5; children 6 and under, free

amNY series: 1970s rerun? Fiscal crisis reviving urban fears

Tuesday November 18, 2008 3:56 PM By Rolando Pujol

With the economy in free fall, amNewYork examines how the budget crisis might impact the city's quality of life. This is the first of a three-day series

By Rolando Pujol

Could this be 1974 all over again?

That’s not quite as crazy as it sounds. A number of troubling indicators has some New Yorkers worried about a 1970s rerun, and most of the problems disturbingly predate the recent Wall Street meltdown.

Crime has flared up in certain neighborhoods, shelters report a record number of newly homeless families and complaints about graffiti have soared. The big wild card, of course, is the impact of the growing fiscal crisis.

In 1974, the city was similarly beginning to realize the extent of its problems, said Julia Vitullo-Martin, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute who has been sounding the alarm.

“It gradually dawned on New Yorkers that they were faced with a severe fiscal crisis, and that solutions were not all apparent,” Martin recalled.

Back then, municipal bankruptcy was barely averted, 600,000 jobs evaporated, city services collapsed and many fled.

The Bloomberg administration insists history will not repeat itself. Mayor Michael Bloomberg has embraced the challenge, so much so that he successfully overturned term limits in a bid to stay on."We’re still going to keep our streets safe, we’re still going to keep our streets clean,” the mayor said on his radio show last Friday.

While several observers see his leadership as key, others worry his prescription to cover the $4 billion budget shortfall — which includes raising taxes and cutting the next police class — could do harm.

“We have yet to see the impact and the effects of the cutbacks in the police class,” said

Councilwoman Letitia James, whose Brooklyn district has seen a spate of violence. “It is definitely a concern of mine.”

Underscoring that 1970s fear, observers agree the city needs three things: low crime, basic services and reliable infrastructure.

“It’s clearly too early to know how bad this is going to be,” said Jonathan Bowles, director of the Center for an Urban Future. “The recession of the mid ’70s ended up being extremely deep ... People left the city because they didn’t have jobs and that led to empty neighborhoods and crime increases and disinvestment.”

Different times

Unlike 1974, Bowles sees “a lot of positive signs about New York” — safety, improved schools and the positive view of city life. Still, he said, “the sheer number of job losses that could happen could spell real problems for neighborhoods across the city.”

But here’s a vital difference: The problems of the 1970s were far more complicated, partly the result of poor fiscal management.

“In the ’70s the city was in decline. In fact, even as early as the 1950s everyone was predicting that the city — not just New York but all cities — were really doomed,” said Kenneth T. Jackson, a Columbia University professor and editor of “The Encyclopedia of New York City.”

Signs of trouble

Crime remains historically low, but there are pockets of trouble, including Staten Island, which as of two weeks ago was the only borough where overall crime is up — about 1 percent. Gun violence has roiled the area around South Jamaica, where crime is up almost 9 percent.

Bloomberg has said Commissioner Ray Kelly has effectively policed the city, even with several thousand fewer cops. “If we were to have a crime wave that he couldn’t cope with, you can rest assured he and I would have a quick conversation and we’d find a way to divert resources to that,” the mayor said recently.

But Martin says the city needs to focus more on quality of life — and get more cops on the beat.

“Our sidewalks are mess, streets are a mess, there’s dirt all over the place, quality-of-life offenses are clearly going up, there’s graffiti all over the place, there’s awful acid vandalism that one sees increasingly in the subway,” Martin said.

Ryan Nerz, 34, of Fort Greene, wonders what’s next. “If there’s any dread, it’s that it can only go down from here,” he said.

One comfort is that crime needn’t necessarily follow economic declines. But the opposite can happen: The 1980s saw an economic boom, yet crime soared, Jackson noted.

What’s next?

Strong mayoral and City Council leadership is seen as key. Bowles praised Bloomberg’s leadership, and Jackson describes the mayor as “simply the best option we have right now.”

Still, 1974 is never far from mind, as is the one indisputable link between then and now: Unease.

“We don’t know what’s going to happen. A lot of people in the fiscal crisis of the 1970s left New York,” Martin said. “I hope that doesn’t happen this time. That would be catastrophic.”

Marlene Naanes and Amanda Magnus contributed to this report.

****

CRIME WATCH While crime remains at historic lows in 2008, certain categories are up from last year, and parts of the city have seen troubling flare-ups:

Murder: up 6%

Rape: up 1.4%

Robbery: up 1.7%

Felony assault: down 8.1%

Burglary: down 6.5%

Grand larceny: down 2.4%

Grand larceny auto: down 4.4%

Crime overall: down 3.4%

HOT SPOTS

STATEN ISLAND

This borough has seen an increase in key categories:

Murder: up 100 %

Rape: up 34.1 %

Robbery: up 1.5%

Grand larceny: up 3.3%

Crime overall: down .34%

123rd Precinct: (South Shore)

The local community board cites population increases as a reason for the spike.

Robbery: up 73.6%

Burglary: up 18.1%

Grand larceny auto: up 18.1%

Crime overall: up 3.59%

QUEENS

Queen South:

Murder: up 68.4%

Grand larceny: up 3.3%

Crime overall: down 1.52%

Queens North:

Robbery: up 5%

Grand larceny auto: up 1.5%

Overall crime: down 3.75%

111th Precinct: (Bayside, Douglaston, Little Neck, Auburndale, Hollis Hills and Fresh Meadows)

Robbery: up 15.2%

Grand larceny: up 9.2%

Grand larceny auto: up 9.9%

Crime overall: up 1.58%

BRONX

Murder: up 3.6%

Rape: up 6.8%

Robbery: up 4.7%

Crime overall: down 3.3%

BROOKLYN

Brooklyn South

Murder: up 29.5%

Robbery: up 9.8%

Crime overall: down 2.25%

72nd Precinct: (Sunset Park and Windsor Terrace)

Grand larceny auto: up 34%

Crime overall: up .78%

47th Precinct: (Woodlawn, Wakefield, Williamsbridge, Baychester, Edenwald, Olinville and Fishbay)

Robbery: up 32.9%

Grand larceny auto: up 1.3%

Crime overall: up 3.44%

****

A glance at the series:

DAY 1:

Could the city revert to its 1970s nadir? We look at the challenges the city faces to stay safe and livable amid signs of trouble that predate this unprecedented fiscal crisis.

Columnist Ellis Henican ponders several uncomfortable reminders of the last time the world’s greatest city really was in undeniable decline.

A Q&A with legendary journalist Jimmy Breslin, who has seen New York at its worst and its best.

Crime and quality of life: How bad is it out there? We look at the numbers.

DAY 2:

While overall crime is down, parts of the city are seeing frightening spikes. Should we be worried and what do these spikes really mean?

How will the economic slowdown impact the city's quality of life? Observers see keeping graffiti in check and streets clean as essential parts of the mission to preserve 15 years of gains.

A Q&A with Curtis Sliwa, the founder of the Guardian Angels, who has noticed several signs of trouble.

DAY 3:

As record numbers of newly homeless families check into city shelters, a likely symptom of a weakening economy, observers are asking how much worse the problem might get.

A Q&A with Barbara Corcoran, the real-estate maven who got her start during New York's bad old days.

It's hard out there for a thug: NYPD retires famed firing range target

Wednesday November 12, 2008 3:43 PM By Rolando Pujol

BY ROCCO PARASCANDOLA

Special to amNewYork

The Thug just got whacked.

The NYPD has said goodbye to the menacing paper target that officers have fired at since the 1960s and replaced him with two new targets, one who looks like Mr. Clean and another resembling a Martian or a mummy.

Officially, the target is known as Silhouette SP-83A but in police circles, it’s known as “The Thug” or “The Worrell,” after former firing range instructor Sgt. Fred Worrell. While some believe The Thug looks like Worrell, others argue he was modeled after actor Ernest Borgnine or even boxer Rocky Graziano.

Regardless, the target has a shaded area covering the head and torso, making it difficult for instructors to see from a distance the shot patterns, according to NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne.

The new targets are shaded differently and are easier to determine how a shooter scored.

Rocco Parascandola is a Newsday staff writer.

Harlem still celebrating Obama victory

Wednesday November 5, 2008 6:10 AM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

Phitayaa McDonald, 19, center, joins others in cheering in support of President-elect Barack Obama on election day in the Harlem (AP Photo).

(AP) - The signs of celebration could still be seen in Harlem the day after Barack Obama’s historic presidential win.

In front of the handbag shop where she works, Ndeye Ndiaye, a native of Senegal, showed her joy as she danced. “Hurrah! He’s a good man and the 44th president is a black man,” she said.In front of the handbag shop where she works, Ndeye Ndiaye, a

native of Senegal, showed her joy as she danced. “Hurrah! He’s a

good man and the 44th president is a black man,” she said.

At a kiosk on Broadway and 125th Street, every copy of the New

York City newspapers marking the historic occasion was gone on

Wednesday morning. “No more papers — sold out!” said vendor

Miguel Estrada.

Ibrahim Sisse, another Senegal immigrant who works as a street

vendor, said Obama’s election gave him hope. “I have hope for

several reasons. I hope for everybody including my nephews. They

can have a higher rank in America. I hope for America, changing.”

On Tuesday night, traffic was bumper to bumper around the

neighborhood’s famed 125th Street with people popping out of

sunroofs to wave at pedestrians who clogged sidewalks and traffic

lanes. Honking car horns split the night air.

Near the historic Apollo Theater, men played conga drums as

revelers blew noisemakers.

The crowd, with many people wearing Obama buttons and T-shirts

and carrying U.S. flags, included elders who grew up under

segregation and young parents who brought their children to watch

the historic vote on TV screens.

Obama's win hits newspapers around the world

Wednesday November 5, 2008 5:43 AM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

The world was watching our historic presidential election, and here's how they see it:

Newspaper covers in Croatia. (AP Photo)

And in France (AP Photo)

Obama on newspaper covers in London. (Getty Images).

The Netherlands (AP Photo)

Mbr>From Lebanon (AP Photo)
The covers in Spain (AP Photo)

Covers in Turkey (AP Photo)

Kenya - Obama's father's home nation. (AP Photo)

White House 'First Pets': A historical timeline

Tuesday November 4, 2008 1:02 PM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

FDR with his beloved Scottish Terrier Fala (File).

By Lauren Johnston

In recent years, the White House has been inhabited mostly by dogs and cats. But in earlier decades its representatives from the animal kingdom were far more diverse:

George Washington: first president, 1789-97

Was called the father of the American foxhound after he bred English and French hounds and created a distinct breed. Mentioned dogs named Drunkard and Tipsy in his journals.

John Quincy Adams: sixth president, 1825-29

The Marquis de Lafayette is said to have given John Quincy Adams an alligator in 1826. The animal reportedly lived in the East Room.

Martin Van Buren: eighth president, 1837-41

He had two tiger cubs as pets.

Abraham Lincoln: 16th president, 1861-65

His son Tad had a pet turkey named Jack. The bird was intended for Thanksgiving dinner in 1863, but Lincoln pardoned it for his son - sparking a tradition that still continues.Benjamin Harrison: 23rd president, 1889-93

\Had a goat named "Old Whiskers" that he once chased down Pennsylvania Avenue after it took off with his grandchildren in a cart.

William McKinley: 25th president, 1897 – 1901

Had a pet parrot named "Washington Post," that is rumored to have been able to sing "Yankee Doodle."

Theodore Roosevelt: 26th president, 1901-09

Had a guinea pig named Father O'Grady, a badger named Josiah, at least five dogs including a bull terrier that ripped the pants off a French ambassador. Daughter Alice had a garter snake, Emily Spinach.

Woodrow Wilson: 28th president, 1913-21

Wilson kept a flock of sheep on the White House lawn during World War I and had a ram named "Old Ike" that liked chewing tobacco.

Calvin Coolidge: 30th president, 1923-29

He had dogs, raccoons Rebecca and Horace, a donkey named Ebeneezer, Smokey the bobcat, Enoch a goose and a wallaby and a pigmy hippo.

Franklin D. Roosevelt: 32nd president, 1933-45

The famous Fala, a Scottish terrier, was at FDR’s side through state dinners to treaty signings. She is depicted in the FDR memorial statue in Washington, D.C.

More recent notable pets include Nixon's cocker spaniel "Checkers," Ford's golden retriever "Liberty," Reagan's Cavalier King Charles Spaniel "Rex," George H.W. Bush's English springer spaniel "Millie," Bill Clinton's chocolate Labrador retriever "Buddy," and "Socks the Cat," and of course current residents, George W. Bush's Scottish terriers Barney and Miss Beazley.

The Sun has set, but its memory shines on sidewalks

Tuesday November 4, 2008 8:27 AM By Rolando Pujol

An honor box for The Sun at Lexington Avenue and East 22nd Street is among many still found on city sidewalks. (Jefferson Siegel)

By Jefferson Siegel

There are ghosts on the streets of New York that are not leftovers from Halloween.

More than a month after the New York Sun ceased publication, their news boxes remain on many city streets, like this one on Lexington Avenue at East 22nd Street.

Once upon a time locals consumed various dailies, most now defunct, including the Herald Tribune, the Journal American, the Mirror and the World Telegram. Many would publish several editions in the course of a single day.

The Daily News used to publish a "bulldog" edition that hit the streets around 7 every evening. The Post published several editions a day, the last a stock market final with 4 p.m. closing prices. Before the Internet, an early edition of tomorrow's Times could be found on newsstands around 10 p.m. each night.

The demise of The Sun leaves newspaper junkies with a little more time on their hands and a little less ink on their fingers.

MORE: The Sun's Web site is still extant, where it's eerily still Sept. 30, its final day of publication.

Turning back the hands of time

Sunday November 2, 2008 10:15 AM By Rolando Pujol

This clock sits outside a former branch of Bank Leumi on the Lower East Side. (Jefferson Siegel)

By Jefferson Siegel

With the change back to Eastern Standard Time today, it's an appropriate time to look at one of the many artistic and historically significant clocks that can still be found around town. This clock is situated over the doorway of 85 Delancey St. near Orchard Street on the Lower East Side.

According to the blog, It's About Time, this used to be a branch of Bank Leumi. The blog describes the clock as, "Deco meets Classical meets Roman. Meets Broken."

In a 2007 letter to the NYC Dept. of City Planning that identified significant historical sites on the LES, the 1936 building is further identified as "Four-story, Neo-Renaissance cast-stone bank and commercial building with bronze door and clock for Public National Bank and Trust Company.

Celebrating the revival of the Upper East Side's Bohemian National Hall

Thursday October 30, 2008 3:11 PM By Rolando Pujol

The restored Bohemian National Hall. (Photos: Czech Cultural Center)

By Amanda Magnus

Special to amNewYork

The Bohemian National Hall, an Upper East Side landmark and a center for Czech culture in the early 20th century, is celebrating the completion of a six-year renovation that has revived the building to its original splendor.

The Renaissance Revival building on East 73rd Street was also home to a milestone in Liza Minnelli’s career before falling into disrepair. Thursday at 7 p.m., the building’s new era was celebrated at a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Guests included Czech Deputy Prime Minister Jiri Cunek, Czech Ambassador to the United States Petr Kolar, and members of the Czech Senate and Parliament. The evening’s host was Tomas Hanak, a famous Czech movie star and voted the most handsome man in the Czech Republic.

The Bohemian National Hall will contain offices of the Consulate General and the Czech Center to maintain ties with the Czech Republic. There will also be a Czech restaurant and the Czech Center exhibition space.

The five-story Bohemian National Hall was constructed between 1895 to 1897 to the designs of architect William Frohne. The German architect is known for his construction of other ethnic halls, notably the German Shooting Club on St. Marks Place.

The building served as an epicenter of Czech and Slovak culture in New York City as Central and Eastern Europeans immigrated in high numbers. The Bohemian Benevolent and Literary Society (BBLA) owned the building and oversaw all of the social and cultural events that took place there. The “Narodni budova” (Czech for Bohemian National Hall) also became an epicenter of political activity, particularly for the establishment of a Czech state during World War I.

After World War II, the Czech community moved from the Upper East Side to Astoria, Queens, and the National Hall began to fall into decline. As the younger generations of Czech-Americans lost touch with their roots, events became less frequent. Attendance and funds dwindled as the hall’s popularity declined.

The BBLA rented out some of the rooms to theater companies in order to keep the building in use and to bring in rent. As a result, the hall was the venue for Minnelli’s debut, in the musical “Best Foot Forward.”

In 1986 the building was declared unfit for occupancy. The hall was declared a New York City Landmark in 1994 with help from Jan Hird Pokorny, a Czech member of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Committee.

In 2001, the BBLA sold the building to the Czech government for a ceremonial one dollar. The nation took over and funded renovations on the building under the condition that the BBLA can have the entire third floor free of rent for 396 years.

Macy's: A part of America's life for 150 years

Tuesday October 28, 2008 2:00 PM By Rolando Pujol

The Empire State Building was red in honor of Macy's 150th anniversary, as seen from the department store's 35th Street entrance in Herald Square Tuesday night. (Photo: Rolando Pujol)

Macy's turned 150 Tuesday, and in the evening, the Empire State Building blazed in red until midnight to mark the occasion. Read about Macy's history here. And a fun fact: The Macy's star was inspired by a tattoo on R.H. Macy's arm. The tattoo was a tribute to "the star that guided him when lost at sea." Read more Macy's history here.

Landmarks commission gives go-ahead to demolish St. Vincent's building

Tuesday October 28, 2008 11:04 AM By Mae Cheng

The O'Toole building on Seventh Avenue. Photo by masnyc via flickr

By Jason Fink

The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission voted narrowly today to allow St. Vincent's Hospital to demolish the O'Toole building on Seventh Avenue, the center of a pitched battle between the hospital and preservationists seeking to save the 45-year-old structure.

The commission voted 6-4 to approve knocking down the four-story O'Toole building, on 12th Street, and replace it with a 20-story tower.

The commission in May rejected the hospital's $1.6 billion development proposal, which would have knocked down nine buildings on both sides of Seventh Avenue, and the hospital came back with a "hardship application" to tear down the O'Toole building.It was that application that the commission approved this morning.

“We are very pleased that the Landmarks Preservation Commission today approved St. Vincent’s hardship application, allowing us to take another step forward to building a 21st century, technologically advanced hospital for Manhattan’s West Side and Downtown," said a statement released today by the hospital. "St. Vincent’s is in a unique position as the only hospital in New York City located entirely within an historic district. Moreover, the lack of alternatives facing the hospital and the complications of constructing a new facility in a dense urban area made the case before the Commission challenging."

The chairman of Community Board 2 in Greenwich Village said today he was disappointed that the O'Toole building may be knocked down.

“There’s widespread disappointment,” said the chairman, Brad Hoylman. “We did believe the building was unique for its modernist architecture. It certainly stood apart from other structures in the village and it is within the Greenwich Village Historic District so many our members are upset by the precedent this sets.”

The hospital sought permission to demolish the structure - sometimes referred to as the "overbite building" because of the serrated overhangs on its facade - in order to consolidate all its operations in the new tower. It has sold its eight buildings on the other side of the street to a developer, which will put up residential buildings.

Of those eight, four are slated to be knocked down and four will be renovated.

The hospital had argued in its hardship application that the O'Toole building was outmoded and that it was impeding the Catholic hospital's charitable mission by hampering its ability to serve the area.

It is the only Level 1 trauma center on the West Side of Manhattan below 59th Street.

The plan now goes to the city planning commission and then the city council, where Speaker Christine Quinn, in whose district the O'Toole building lies, has already expressed support for the demolition.

Well, Bully for Teddy! It's a block party for Roosevelt's birthday

Sunday October 26, 2008 10:34 AM By Rolando Pujol

From the AP:

Happy birthday, Teddy!

A block party was held Sunday to celebrate Theodore Roosevelt’s 150th birthday at his childhood home in Manhattan.

The four-story brownstone where Roosevelt was born is usually closed Sundays, but it was open to visitors in honor of the occasion.

Outside on East 20th Street there were pony rides and a Gatling gun that saw action in the Spanish-American war.

Roosevelt was the 26th president of the United States. His actual birthday is Monday.

Boo! Take a tour of haunted New York

Thursday October 23, 2008 2:20 PM By Julie Gordon

By Seanan Forbes

New York City has a long history and countless stories – some of them featuring the uneasy dead. The believers say there’s ghosts lurking in all corners of Manhattan. And with Halloween just a week away, now’s your chance to spend a spirited evening in the city and discover some on your own But you don’t need to go ghost-hunting alone. Here are some tours to lead you through the landscapes of the dead.

Ghosts of New York

Ghosts of New York offers five walking tours and a family-friendly program of ghost stories. One of the most popular walks starts in front of St. Mark’s Church in the Bowery. The winding Village streets lend themselves to ghostly tales, so the city becomes a player in the stories.

The guides of the tour take on period garb and names, beginning the tour in a cemetery at nightfall, talking about changes and resentments of long-past times.

92nd Street Y Greenwich Village Ghost Tours

212-415-5500.

The 92nd Street Y’s ghost tour includes the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory, where 146 workers were killed in a 1911 fire; Washington Square Park, where criminals used to be hanged; a house haunted by the sprirt of Mark Twain; an execution ground, and a former potter’s field. This tour adds another Poe connection: The Northern Dispensary. On a plaque, the 1831 building bears its original mandate: Heal the Sick. Local lore holds that ghosts linger here, perhaps seeking cures they did not find in life. Questions and photography are encouraged, so the two-hour tour often runs long.

The Merchant’s House Museum

29 East 4th St, 212-777-1089

In addition to ghost tours of “Manhattan’s most haunted house,” the Merchant’s House Museum offers lectures on ghost-hunting, ghost stories, and the reenactment of a 19th century funeral, complete with following the casket to the cemetery (the wearing of appropriate mourning attire is encouraged; black armbands are provided). Eva Ulz, the museum’s education coordinator, describes the funeral as “eerie and spooky, with a fake corpse and a weeping widow.” Ulz regards the resident ghosts as colleagues. “They bring people to the house, and we tell their story. It’s a symbiotic relationship. I think that was their plan all along.”Vampire Tours

Reservations can be made at glinzner@hotmail.com or 917-379-8914.

If you fancy something more toothsome than spirits, consider an alternate reality tour: a New York inhabited by vampires. Dr. John Seward steps out of the pages of Bram Stoker’s Dracula and leads a walking seminar on the vampire history of New York City. Those who think that the subway is a human-built commutation system are in for a darkly educational experience. Instead of asking for tour fees, the good doctor requests a donation of $25 “to help cover resurrection costs”.

Whichever tour you choose, one thing is certain. You’ll never feel the same way about walking the streets at night.

Do you want to take in some spirits on your own?

• Ghostbusters’ “Spook Central” is at 55 Central Park West. Be warned: You’re expecting something taller. The filmmakers used a model of the building and made it look substantially taller than it is.

• Rumor has it that Edgar Allan Poe wrote “The Cask of Amontillado” while living at 47 Bond Street. Between Bowery and Lafayette, the building now house Il Buco, an Italian restaurant. If you want to eat in Poe’s place, then you can make a reservation at 212.533.1932. Don’t be surprised if your sealed bottle of wine turns out to be empty. Poe has a habit of draining the contents of unopened bottles.

• A more obstreperous ghost is Aaron Burr, who resides in One if By Land, Two if By Sea. The restaurant was once Burr’s carriage house. Burr is known to whip chairs out from under patrons. His daughter, Theodosia (who disappeared off the coast of North Carolina) “borrows” earrings. 17 Barrow Street, 212.255.8649

• New York’s a theatre town and there are theatre ghosts to go with the shows. Olive Thomas, a Ziegfield Follies chorus girl, appears on stage, wearing full Follies regalia and holding the bottle that contained the pills she used to end her life. To date, Olive has appeared only to people working in the theatre, but you never know . •

The Belasco Theatre is haunted by a woman in blue, the late girlfriend of the equally late David Belasco. Belasco had an apartment above the stage, but his girlfriend roams every level of the theatre and the alley leading backstage.

• If you need a glass of spirits to end your ghost-chasing, then go to the White Horse Tavern. Just don’t sit at Dylan Thomas’ corner table. He still rotates it, as he did when he was alive – and don’t try to outdrink the poet. He collapsed and died in the tavern after downing 18 shots of whisky. 567 Hudson Street at West 11th Street.

Photo: Merchant House (RJ Mickelson/amNY)

You're invited to the Union Square anniversary party

Thursday October 23, 2008 12:35 PM By Lauren Johnston

Photo courtesy of Victoria Belanger/flickr

Who needs "happy hour" when you can go to this party marking the tenth anniversary of Union Square Park's commemoration as a National Historic Landmark. The entire town's invited, so head to the south end of Union Square Park near the George Washington statue at 14th Street and Broadway. Festivities kick off at 5:45 p.m. See you there.

Trace of an old pet shop surfaces where Duane Reade once held court

Wednesday October 22, 2008 12:03 PM By Rolando Pujol

With the Duane Reade signage stripped, a sign for an old pet shop has resurfaced on Broadway in the mid 70s. (Photos by Rolando Pujol)

By Rolando Pujol

It's an unusual sight for a couple of reasons. For one, we're used to Duane Reades spreading and consuming every old drug store in their path, not closing.

But with this vast lot now cleared on 2150 Broadway between 75th and 76th streets on the Upper West Side, a couple of curious artifacts have surfaced. For one, you can see what looks like an old fireplace way in the back of the store. And right outside, an old sign has surfaced for a pet shop. These dog owners might see an irony in the site's long-ago occupant.

Anyone out there know more about this block's past?

What appears to be an old fireplace can be clearly seen inside the former Duane Reade.

A lower Manhattan firehouse goes residential -- how very "Spencer: For Hire"

Tuesday October 21, 2008 10:16 AM By Rolando Pujol

By Jefferson Siegel

In the 1980s detective TV drama "Spencer: For Hire," the title character, played by Robert Urich, moves into an abandoned Boston firehouse.

In lower Manhattan, an old firehouse has been converted to residential use and now has a ground-floor space available for rent. The Engine 29 building, at 160 Chambers St., still has original exterior detailing.

Engine 29 was organized in 1865 and first located on Washington Street. It moved to the Chambers Street building in 1897, and was disbanded on Jan. 1, 1947.

On July 24, 1885, Engine 29 was one of the units that responded to an explosion and fire in a tobacco factory at Washington and Barclay streets. Eight firefighters suffered injuries, including two from Engine 29.

Vesuvio Bakery in SoHo: Owner hopes to reopen before Christmas

Monday October 20, 2008 12:48 PM By Rolando Pujol

Vesuvio remains closed, worrying residents that the SoHo standby won't come back. Below, a sign in the window with a question from a fan. (Photos by Rolando Pujol)

By Amanda Magnus

Vesuvio Bakery, the historic landmark in SoHo that’s been closed four months, will reopen hopefully before Christmas, owner Andrew Veniopoulos told Urbanite.

“Hopefully we’ll open soon and hopefully we’ll have a better product,” Veniopoulos said.

The bakery has been closed for renovations, according to Veniopoulos, who said the coal ovens need to be cleaned and repaired, and the building's landlord is fixing the plumbing downstairs.

Veniopoulos explained why the renovations at the bakery, at 160 Prince St., are taking so long: “There’s only one guy in the whole city who can do it, so we’re kind of at his mercy,” he said.

Veniopoulos also said that he’s waiting for the landlord to start the plumbing work that needs to be done in the basement.

Community members are confused and mystified by the renovations sign on the door at Vesuvio.

“No one seems to know what’s going on,” said Sean Sweeney, director of the SoHo Alliance.

“There has never been any kind of activity in the store,” said Lew Todd, who lives next to the bakery. “It’s just sitting there.”

Vesuvio Bakery was opened in 1920 by Nunzio and Jennie Dapolito, both Neapolitan immigrants. Their son, Tony Dapolito, later inherited the bakery and became known as the “mayor of Greenwich Village” for work on the community board. Dapolito fought for parks and other improvements for the area.

According to Sweeney, Dapolito allowed his bakery to be a central meeting place in the neighborhood, and community members were allowed to put up signs about upcoming community events.

In April of 2003, Dapolito sold his business, due to poor health, to Veniopoulos. A couple of months after selling the bakery, Dapolito passed away from pneumonia.

A sign on Vesuvio’s door bore evidence of disappointed tourists and New Yorkers expressing their sadness at the bakery’s closure. Many people have written phrases like “We miss you!” and “Glad you’ll be back!”

Perhaps they’ll get their wish in time for Christmas.

An old liquor-store telephone exchange keeps Murray Hill well lit

Sunday October 19, 2008 9:28 AM By Rolando Pujol

Where Murray Hill meets Kips Bay, there is a corner where mid-century New York meets 2008.

For starters, the Clover Delicatessen, below, has been holding the fort on the southwestern corner of East 34th Street and Second Avenue since the late 1940s, and its neon sign is one of the finest you'll see on any street corner. But walk next door, and your travel through storefront time continues. This liquor shop offers a twofer. Sure, there's a great red liquor sign. But what really impresses us is the neon sign in the window. Notice the "LE" in the telephone number -- short, we imagine, for Lexington exchange -- happily preserved in neon. That means this sign must date, at the very latest, to the early and middle 1970s, by which time the use of exchange names was being phased out.

Interestingly, a few people to this day hang on tenaciously to their exchange name. It certainly adds poetry to the common phone number. You can join the club by figuring out what your exchange name might have been here. And then start giving out your cell number in this archaic format: KLondike5-5555.

People might think you've had one too many, but you'll know better.

-- Rolando Pujol

Throwback Thursday: The Haunted Mansion at Long Branch

Thursday October 16, 2008 10:56 AM By Rolando Pujol

The Haunted Mansion and the amusement park around it burned to the ground in 1987, but not before terrifying a generation of New York youngsters with incredibly creepy commercials. We never actually had a chance to visit, but whenever these ads came on, it was panic time. The ad above is the creepiest of the two we present today, but they're each a perfect way to get into the Halloween mood. Find out everything you ever wanted to know about the mansion here.

-- Rolando Pujol

Manhattan old-school gem: Neil's Coffee Shop

Wednesday October 15, 2008 9:58 AM By Rolando Pujol

Neil's great neon sign; after the jump, a plastic sign from the diner, with different lettering. We stopped by on a perfect October afternoon.(Photos: Rolando Pujol)

It's the very picture of the perfect corner diner. Upper East Siders can count themselves lucky to have a place like Neil's in their midst. The neon sign, the brickwork, the amber Victorian-style lamps at the entrance, and the homey feel inside are irreplaceable. Once common, diners of this vintage are now a vanishing staple of city life worthy of your patronage and support.

This commenter on the Yelp review gets the spirit of the place right:

It's very surprising to find a real diner in this area. Feels like it is out of a Tarantino movie. I usually go in the evening before class, order a great warm blueberry pie with ice cream! It's great. Sometimes I'll get a burger if I'm super hungry which is meaty, tasty, and filling.

We'll have to try that combo. In the meantime, savor Neil's on our blog and be sure to stop in for some coffee the next time you're in the hood. And check out our photo gallery of hundreds of old-school signs.

-- Rolando Pujol

Memory of NYPD officer slain in 1979 is honored today

Wednesday October 15, 2008 8:07 AM By Rolando Pujol

NYPD Officer Thomas Schimenti, Jr. has been at rest in Staten Island's Moravian Cemetery for almost 30 years. But his memory will be honored today, as the officer's family will receive a plaque, which was recently salvaged from the site of the robbery that led to his death, and watch as police officials dedicate a new plaque in Schimenti's honor.

Schimenti, 36, was killed while trying to apprehend an armed bank robber in front of Grand Central Terminal on Aug. 17, 1979. Schimenti chased the robber, Peter Donohue, from the Chemical Bank branch down the street at 100 Park Avenue, cornering him outside Grand Central Terminal. Donohue shot and killed Schimenti, and wounded a plainclothes detective before escaping the scene. The shooting was a major story at the time, with over 2,500 officers and a number of New York political notables showing up for Schimenti's funeral.The story grew more sensational, as the robber's demise proved to be a mysterious one. Donohue was found hiding under a van and arrested shortly after the shooting. He was charged with Schimenti's murder and indicted for wounding the other detective. Justice was never fully served though, as Donohue, along with three other inmates, escaped from his 27-year prison

sentence at Rikers Island the following February. Two months later, Donohue's dead body was found floating under the Verrazano Bridge.

At the time of Schimenti's death, many who knew him called him a hero, prompting the city to place a plaque remembering the fallen officer at the site of the Chemical Bank branch. The site has recently undergone a renovation, and SL Green Realty, the investment trust overseeing the

redevelopment, discovered the plaque and salvaged it.

NYPD officials and SL Green Realty will present the recovered plaque to Schimenti's surviving relatives, as well as dedicate a new plaque honoring the officer's death, during a ceremony this afternoon. The ceremony will start at 12:30 p.m. at 100 Park Ave., near the corner of 40th Street.

-- Andrew Nealon

The humpbacks of the Upper East Side

Tuesday October 14, 2008 9:51 AM By Rolando Pujol

On the ever-so-genteel southwest corner of East 63rd Street and Park Avenue stands a nice tribute to the city's once ubiquitous "humpback" street signs. This style, aside from the obvious aesthetic considerations, is much more useful, too, requiring only one sign to give you the intersecting streets. Below, see how good it looks on a Bishop's Crook. Forgotten NY explains the humpback is coming back into vogue, here and there, but observes finding an authentic one in the wild is quite the challenge.

We've never stumbled onto one ourselves, but strangely, found a bunch of retired ones redeployed in South of the Border, the amusing tourist "stop" ("trap" is too harsh a word, since we rather enjoy the authentic mid-century vibe of the place) on I-95 on the border of the Carolinas. I'll share photos of these signs down the road.

-- Rolando Pujol

Discovered in Greenpoint: Blast-from-the-past campaign buttons

Monday October 13, 2008 11:44 AM By Lauren Johnston

Robert Germino sells his political memorabilia at the corner of Bedford Ave. and N. 12th. St. in Williamsburg. Photo/Lauren Johnston.

Yesterday we met Bob Germino. The 71-year-old retiree has lived in the Williamsburg-Greenpoint area all his life and has a love for local politics - and the paraphernalia that goes with it.

In fact, in 1977, he ran for school board (District 14), and still keeps this campaign card in his wallet.

These days you'll find Germino at the corner of Bedford Ave. and N. 12th. in Williamsburg selling bits and pieces from his personal collection, including old magazine ads, photographs, and best - this large selection of old campaign buttons (we picked up a "Bella Abzug for Mayor" for $3).

He's also got "Ed Koch for Mayor," and "Re-elect Gerges" and "Stefanizzi in '82."

Stop by his corner for these bits of New York's political history, but also for his stories of the hot campaigns of yesteryear. Definitely worth some weekend loitering

amNewYork celebrates 5 years

Friday October 10, 2008 10:08 AM By Lauren Johnston

Yes, we're the little commuter paper that could, and after five years circulating the city, we have a lot to look back on. Humble beginnings, big stories and more.

Check out a commentary from our managing editor Pete Catapano - who's been here from the start - as he thanks the newsroom for the memories [here], a highlights reel from our notable stories [here], and collection of our past editions in PDF format [here].

And hey New York, thanks for reading.

Chisholm '72: Unbought & Unbossed (and free tonight)

Sunday September 21, 2008 10:23 AM By Rolando Pujol

Here's a cool flick you can check out tonight for free, if the Emmys aren't your thing.

"Chisholm' 72: Unbought & Unbossed," a look at iconic Brooklyn congresswoman Shirley Chisholm's 1972 run for the presidency, will be shown at 7:30 p.m. at Morningside Park. You can enter at 114th Street and walk up the stairs.

Among her many accomplishments, she was the first black woman elected to Congress, as well as the first to run for president on a major party. Learn about her story under the stars tonight.

'Family Outing' at Keens Steakhouse means no mutton chops --- just for one day

Monday September 15, 2008 11:05 AM By Rolando Pujol

Keens Steakhouse is all about tradition: The countless ceramic pipes, the Pipe Club and its illustrious membership list, the Lincoln Room, the memorabilia of the 16th president's assasination, those lip-smacking mutton chops, and the great lore that goes with a place that opened in 1885 as a Herald Square theater district hangout and is still going strong, having operated in, count 'em, three centuries.

On Sunday, we learned of another Keens tradition: the annual family day outing, for which the restaurant was shuttered. The dark windows on a Sunday night momentarily alarmed us as we swung by, but happily, all was well. The tradition dates to 1937.

The restaurant, by the way, now markets itself as Keens Steakhouse, but its awning offers a quiet nod to its history. One side goes by "Steakhouse," and the other retains the historic "Chophouse" name.

-- Rolando Pujol

9/11 survivors: The Sphere, as well as a model of the famous WTC Plaza sculpture

Thursday September 11, 2008 3:04 PM By Rolando Pujol

The Sphere was at the center of the World Trade Center Plaza for decades, and survived the collapse of both towers with damage, but essentially intact. You can visit it today in Battery Park, where an eternal flame sits beside it.

One man who knows a thing or two about The Sphere is Guy Tozzoli, the Port Authority official who oversaw construction of the World Trade Center. We profiled him and his organization, the World Trade Centers Association, earlier this week. Read the stories here and here. I asked him whether anything from his 63rd floor North Tower office survived the collapse.

One thing did: A maquette, or model, of The Sphere, by German artist Fritz Koenig. We found it amazing that both The Sphere and its model managed to survive the destruction at Ground Zero.

Tozzoli shared a bit about the struggle to get the Sphere to New York from Germany.

"We had to transport Der Kugel an hour outside of the port, all the way out across the ocean ... and then, at night, took it through the Holland Tunnel," Tozzoli says, using the phrase Koenig's wife would use for the sculpture, German for "The Ball."

One of the best ways to find out more about the history of The Sphere is to watch the film, "Koenig Sphere," which details its creation, its arduous trip across the ocean, and its survival amid the destruction downtown seven years ago today.

-- Rolando Pujol

Photos by Rolando Pujol

Guest column: Teaching children the lessons of 9/11

Thursday September 11, 2008 8:02 AM By Rolando Pujol

By Joe Daniels

President & CEO

National September 11 Memorial & Museum

Today, as we honor the thousands of innocent people lost in the attacks of September 11, 2001, we must also reflect on the meaning of this event in our collective history. 9/11 was the most witnessed event in modern times. Hundreds of millions of people watched the attacks unfold while standing on the streets of New York City or gathering around televisions across the United States and around the world. Yet there is already an entire generation growing up with no firsthand knowledge of what happened that day – a generation for whom it’s difficult to comprehend that we live in a world defined, in part, by the events of 9/11 – because they were born into a post-9/11 world.The record of the attacks and our understanding of their aftermath and impact are still evolving. But given that the threat of terrorism remains a global reality, we have a responsibility to help our children learn about 9/11 and how it shaped our world today.

Future generations must learn that people responded to the 9/11 attacks by acting on their core values. The inspiring courage, generosity, and compassion seen in the aftermath of 9/11 showed that it is sometimes in the face of the worst of humanity that we can find the best of the human spirit. There are so many stories of selfless actions people took in response to devastation -- and examples of people who channeled their anger, hatred, and fear into acts of healing, helping, and learning.

This morning, many classrooms will observe a moment of silence or engage in another act of commemoration. However, educators are charged with much more than that. They have to find a way to make 9/11 comprehensible to young people who will increasingly have no personal memory of the attacks. The horror of what happened and the potential for high emotions make 9/11 a difficult subject to broach.

To make the topic even more difficult for educators, there are relatively few up to date resources available for teaching about 9/11. Given the breadth of historical topics, it is often difficult for teachers to include recent events.

Despite these obstacles, these discussions need to begin now. Educators must lead conversations about what happened, remember their own experiences, and consider how best to honor an important chapter of our nation’s history. And we must look toward building a national curriculum that will give teachers the resources needed to guide lessons and discussions.

This past Monday, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum launched a pilot program to help provide teachers with resources and tools to honor and commemorate the anniversary. We hope to receive feedback from teachers and begin a dialogue about teaching this history. We are also encouraged that the September 11th Education Trust has developed a civic education program.

When it opens, the Memorial Museum will serve as an educational resource for school groups who visit the World Trade Center site. However, we need to make sure that teachers have resources in their classrooms to teach the history of 9/11 and its aftermath. Now is the time to start thinking about how we can ensure that this recent but seminal history can be shared with students -- teaching children to carry the selflessness exhibited in response to 9/11 with them, and to do their part, no matter how small, to make the world a place free from the horrors of that day.

Double-decker buses return to NYC in trial run

Monday September 8, 2008 12:45 PM By Rolando Pujol

One of the new double-decker buses, the first the city has seen (not counting tourist buses) since 1953. (Photo courtesy of NYC Transit)

NYC Transit is putting double-decker buses into service today for a 30-day trial run. The buses are expected to run along Fifth Avenue and possibly on some express routes between the Bronx and Manhattan. The 13-foot-tall buses have seating for more than 81 passengers. Double-deckers once regularly plied Fifth Avenue. The last of them, a 1939 model, was operated by Fifth Avenue Coach and taken out of service in 1953.

-- Matthew Sweeney

Fossil store opens on West 34th Street Monday; building's facade not quite as ugly

Sunday September 7, 2008 9:54 AM By Rolando Pujol

The facade of the building at 38 W. 34th St. was cleaned up, but is still no stunner. Click on images to expand. Below, the storefront itself has a sleek look. (Photos by Rolando Pujol)

Not that long ago, the facade of 38 W. 34th St. was one of the most bizarre in the city. It was covered in corrugated metal, had roughly cut windows and displayed bizarre signage for a mysterious "Dr. Locke" and "Foot Saver." We recently noted its destruction, and the news that Fossil would be opening an accessories shop in the building, and now we have an update.

The Fossil shop is set to open at noon Monday, according to employees who were busy polishing up the store today, and the facade, well, you can judge for yourself. The lower half is sleek, with stone accents. But the top looks like a cleaned-up version of the old facade, which disappointed us. We were expecting something a little different. Maybe it's not the ugliest facade in the city anymore, but it's certainly not in the running for the prettiest.

-- Rolando Pujol

As Hanna approaches New York , we look back at Hurricane Gloria [Throwback Thursday]

Thursday September 4, 2008 2:28 PM By Rolando Pujol

Tropical Storm Hanna on Saturday will deliver two to four inches of rain and high winds across the New York area. But 23 years ago this month, New Yorkers were battening down the hatches for the terrifying Hurricane Gloria. Sure enough, schools were canceled, residents as far north as Westchester put plywood on their windows, and people watched breathless news reports of the impending doom. In the end, Gloria was not a disaster akin to the Long Island Express of 1938, but it caused considerable damage on the East Coast, including Long Island, where power company LILCO struggled to restore power to parts of the area for weeks.

Step back in time and see live coverage from 1985 of Hurricane Gloria, including an almost full hour of Weather Channel coverage with hurricane expert John Hope. And check out photos of hurricanes that have struck New York.

-- Rolando Pujol

Photo: Waves crash into Cedar Beach as homes in the background take a pounding from Hurricane Gloria. (Newsday file photo, 1985)

The relics of the World Trade Center

Thursday September 4, 2008 1:10 PM By Rolando Pujol

Large pieces of steel called tridents recovered from the World Trade Center site, and once a structural part of the ground level exterior arches of the twin towers, are preserved in Hangar 17 of Kennedy International Airport. There are about 1,350 pieces of steel, many weighing over 30 tons. (Photo by Lane Johnson)

Two years ago, we had the honor of visiting Hangar 17 at Kennedy Airport, where the Port Authority meticulously cares for relics from the World Trade Center, saving them for the day they either return to Ground Zero or are sent to other museums.

Here's our story from the visit, plus a flash presentation with video and photo gallery. In addition, check out these blog posts for more from our visit.

"Memorial Sites: New York to Nairobi Photographs by Julie Dermansky," an exhibit opening Sept. 10 at the Center for Architecture, will also present images from Hangar 17.

-- Rolando Pujol

Tropical Storm Hanna may well determine your weekend plans

Wednesday September 3, 2008 2:38 PM By Rolando Pujol

The Long Island Express of 1938 batters the city. Hanna is expected to be "disruptive," but not nearly as bad.

Batten down the hatches—there’s a squall heading this way.

Tropical Storm Hanna pounded Haiti yesterday and is expected to zero in on the Carolinas by the end of the week, and may hit or skirt New York City on Saturday.

“It looks like it’s coming right through you,” said Andrew Uhlrich, a meteorologist at Accuweather.com. “I’d say it probably won’t be catastrophic, but it will be disruptive.”

The latest National Hurricane Center projection Wednesday evening had the storm passing just off eastern Long Island before striking southern New England. But it’s still too early for forecasters to determine a firm track.

Uhlrich said that if the storm moves east, it could drop several inches of rain on the region. If it shifts to the west, weekend weather would be drier, but New Yorkers can still expect gale-force winds.

A spokesman for the city’s Office of Emergency Management said that the agency was tracking the tropical storm closely and declined to discuss what kinds of preparations are under way.

The agency Thursday kicks off National Preparedness Month, and volunteers will be handing out Go Bags at site around the city.

Hanna is being closely followed by two other tropical systems, Ike and Josephine. Ulrich said it is too early to tell where Ike will strike, and added that Josephine was unlikely to hit land at all.

-- David Freedlander

Throwback Thursday: Keep New York Wet, Save Water ... we mean Wadda

Thursday August 28, 2008 2:02 PM By Rolando Pujol

Nothing could go right for New York in the early 1980s. If the crime, the street trash and the graffiti wasn't enough, then there was the water shortage. With the upstate reservoirs running low, the Koch administration took to the airwaves with the memorable campaign, "Keep New York Wet, Save Water."

From a New York Times' article of the era: "In December 1980, Mayor Koch named every child in the city a deputy mayor in charge of saving water. Flanked by 44 of his deputy mayors in one television commercial, Mr. Koch offered tips on saving water and concluded, in chorus with the children, "Keep New York wet." In fact, on Dec. 31, 1982, the Times made the slogan one of its "quotations" of the day.

The spot shown above dates from this time, and indeed features city kids with incredibly thick Noo Yawk accents reminding you to conserve. It's priceless stuff from another New York.

-- Rolando Pujol

Video via trainluvr on YouTube

Chicago 1968: Witness to Democratic history

Tuesday August 26, 2008 7:58 AM By Rolando Pujol

Anti-war protesters gather in Grant Park outside the Conrad Hilton, base of the Democratic National Committee. (Photo by Jefferson Siegel)

It was 40 years ago today that another Democratic National Convention began. In 1968, with the country torn apart by the Vietnam War and the assassinations of Robert Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr. earlier in the year, the Democrats gathered in Chicago for a convention that would come to be known as a "police riot."

Demonstrators had arrived en masse to protest the war policies of President Lyndon B. Johnson. His vice president, Hubert Humphrey, was a candidate, as was the anti-war candidate, Sen. Eugene McCarthy. Humphrey would win the nomination, only to lose to Richard M. Nixon in the general election. The war would continue for several more years, eventually claiming the lives of 58,000 U.S. troops.

In this photo, anti-war demonstrators gather in Grant Park, across the street from the Conrad Hilton, the headquarters of the Democratic National Committee. As people in the hotel turned their room lights on and off in a show of support for the protesters, the crowd cheered back.

* Click to see 12 more photos from the demonstrations

-- Jefferson Siegel

Mad Men and the City: The New Girl

Monday August 25, 2008 7:13 AM By Rolando Pujol

Newly engaged Joan Holloway helps out Don's latest secretery -- The New Girl" of the episode's name -- on her first day on the job. The boys are soon all over her. (Via AMC).

Welcome to our second edition of Mad Men and the City, Urbanite's weekly look at AMC's "Mad Men" as seen through the prism of New York and American history and culture. As always, spoilers lurk below, so proceed with care. And please share your observations in the comments:

* Lenox Hill -- As Pete Campbell and his wife, Trudy, discuss with a doctor their inability to have a child, Trudy enthusiastically mentions the wonders of Lenox Hill Hospital. Her theory that Pete is the reason there are no little ones running around their posh Upper East Side apartment is deflated later in the episode, when a test finds his sperm to be quite motile. (Of course, the viewer -- and Peggy -- know this already!) As you might imagine, their fragile relationship takes a blow, and Pete unsurprisingly is remarkably insensitive to Trudy's pain. As he lashes out at her, she's the one running around saying I'm sorry. (Sorry Pete, taking her out to dinner won't quite make things right.) Our take: Smart, casually inserted mention of Lenox Hill, a New York institution which celebrated its 150th anniversary last year.

* Sardi's -- Bobbie Barrett telephones Don Draper from Theater District institution Sardi's, and asks him to come over and celebrate. The pilot for "Grin and Barrett," which she pitched in last week's episode, has been sold. As usual, Bobbie gets what Bobbie wants, and Don is soon at Sardi's, where she orders him an Old Fashioned and suggests a trip out to her place on Long Island. Don, of course, obliges. Our take: Sardi's is one of our favorite places in the city, largely for its history and its ties to a vanishing world, which "Mad Men" is very much a part of. While nothing would replace actually shooting at Sardi's, the scene is well handled. The camera captures just enough of the Sardi's-style celebrity caricatures that paper the restaurant's walls to establish that we are indeed at Sardi's. And that's enough for us.Whenever we go to Sardi's before a Broadway show, we amuse ourselves with a game of decipher the celebrity caricature (or more often than not, figure out who this once-famous person was.) The scene there was nicely handled.* Grey -- Could the Rachel Mencken story line still have some legs? It appears so. While at Sardi's, Don has an incredibly awkward run-in with his old flame, who was so damaged by their affair's end that she had to leave the country to recover. Flash forward two years, and he finds out the hard way that she's no longer Ms. Mencken, she's MRS. Katz, and Mr. Katz is their to underline the point. We find out that the Mencken Department Store account is now being handled by Grey when Don drops this gem: "How are things at Grey? Are they still taking credit for everything we did?" Zing! Our take: Effortless name drop of Grey Advertising, now called the Grey Group, which has a commanding presence at 777 Third Ave, a building where Sterling and Cooper would feel right at home. By the early 1960s, Grey was heavily involved in work for big-fish advertisers such as Proctor and Gamble, but we'll assume it was conceivable the company would take an interest in reviving a tired Fifth Avenue department store.

* Stony Brook -- So the Barretts have a place in that Long Island community, and that's where Don and Bobbie are headed when he gets into a boozy wreck that leaves him in the drunk tank, needing $150 to avoid a night in the slammer. He calls Peggy Olson, who becomes this episode's Ms. Fix It: She helps him make bail, takes in the injured Bobbie in her cramped Brooklyn apartment, and all around shows a fierce loyalty to Don. Of course, we already know that Don has helped propel her career. But now we learn much more about their relationship during a crucial flashback sequence to a visit he pays her at St. Mary's, where she is hospitalized after giving birth. He tells her: "Get out of here and move forward. This never happened. It will shock you how much this never happened." That's Don's credo, and in the same episode, Bobbie shares her credo with Peggy: Use your feminine wiles and treat a man like an equal. Powerful stuff. But back to Stony Brook, we like this reference for many reasons. Chief among them: it reminds us of one our favorite movies, "North by Northwest," a film whose DNA "Mad Men" taps. That movie also features a boozy drive on the Island's North Shore, with Cary Grant at the wheel. There's also a stop at a Long Island police station, and the need to call New York for help. Here, Peggy Olson replaces Roger Thornhill's "mother," played brilliantly by Jessie Royce Landis. Our take: No quibbles here: The Stony Brook reference helped give life to an interesting plot twist.

* Marilyn, John, and breathy birthday wishes at Madison Square Garden -- We know it's now May 1962, because we hear a casual reference to Saturday's big event: Marilyn Monroe will be at President John F. Kennedy's fund-raising birthday bash at Madison Square Garden. The matter comes up in conversation between Bobbie and Peggy. "Most people would love to have her problems," Peggy says. They wouldn't feel that way three months later, when Marilyn died. Our take: Just a great line; these little carefully selected treats are among the reasons we love this show so much. Of course, we're still talking about the show Marilyn put on for JFK that night at MSG, which back in those days was still at 50th Street and Eighth Avenue.

* Idlewild -- JFK keeps coming up in this episode. Well, quite indirectly here, but Idlewild will eventually be renamed John F. Kennedy International Airport in honor of the slain president. Kennedy's death is still a year and a half away at this point in the series. The airport's name comes up when discussing where Don might be able to rent a car after he wrecks his own out on Long Island. Our take: It's one of those nuggets that New Yorkers with a taste for history love to share: JFK was once called Idlewild Airport, the name of a golf course where the airfield was built in the 1940s. Its name is immortalized in the theme song to "Car 54, Where Are You?", which is from the "Mad Men" era. (Khrushchev's due at Idlewild!) Our take: Idlewild is a word that represents a clear and emotional demarcation in the nation's life, and the casual use of it here is powerful and noticeable.

* St. Mary's -- Peggy is hospitalized here when she gives birth. The only St. Mary's we know of in Brooklyn closed in 2005. It was the last Catholic hospital in that borough, which would make it a logical place for Peggy to be a patient. Our take: The real St. Mary's was in Bed-Stuy. Not sure if this would have the closest or most logical hospital for Peggy to attend. But we're simply not sure if our quibble here holds water.

Odds and Ends

* Utz -- Utz potato chips make a return appearance when a grateful Jimmy Barrett makes a personal visit to thank Don for his role in talking Utz into sponsoring his show. Oh, little does Jimmy know the back story that involves Bobbie and Don, but we can only imagine what will happen if (or when) he finds out.

* Western Electric 500 phone -- Last week we knocked the show for using a make of phone that would not have been available for customers in Ossining, the Drapers' hometown. Peggy's home phone, a yellow 500 rotary set, is spot on. The cords are hardwired, and the one going to the wall is a matching color. And by the way, nice going Peggy on the apartment! The roommate is gone and she has her own pad, a hard-fought milestone for the character.

* Fuzzy TV images -- Back in the day, crystal clear reception in the big city was no guarantee, and Peggy's TV is testament to that. (Fuzzy TV reception was amply used in the episode when the Sterling and Cooper staff awaits the televised results of the Nixon-Kennedy election, back in season one.)

-- Rolando Pujol

More:

-Click for Mad Men photos from Season 2

-Click for photos of 'The Women of Mad Men'

-Click for a look at the style of Mad Men

Must-read "Mad Men" blogs:

Basket of Kisses

Star Ledger blog

Television Without Pity forum

AMC's blog

Scenes from the episode:

Zipper music!

A drive to Long Island

World Trade Center and Virgin of Guadalupe murals draw the curious on City Island

Wednesday August 20, 2008 10:49 AM By Rolando Pujol

Murals in the parking lot of the Neptune Inn on City Island include one of the World Trade Center, which is peeling away, and another for the Virgin of Guadalupe, which is intact. (Photos by Rolando Pujol)

If there's one thing that City Islanders enjoy in great numbers, it's seafood places. The Neptune Inn, on the island's southern tip, has been closed for years because of a fire, but still draws the curious because of the murals in its parking lot.

Two murals in particular attract attention. One is in shabby condition, and shows the World Trade Center. A local restaurant worker who noticed us snapping photos of the murals last weekend told us that the paint began to flick away shortly after 9/11, in a coincidence that some felt poignant, if a touch bizarre. But what raises even more eyebrows is the mural right next to it, which shows the Virgin of Guadalupe. That mural is in excellent shape, with no serious signs of damage.

This juxtaposition, this person said, has inevitably led people to impute some greater meaning to the murals, and, he says, even pay their respects at the murals. (A third mural, right next to the one of the WTC, has some paint damage but not as much.)

We later asked around and found no other such reports, but we can say for sure that the murals are striking. Another sight-seer also noticed the murals and was snapping away while we were there. Other Web sites have found the Neptune Inn's murals worthy of mention.

Soon, these conversation pieces may be a memory.

The restaurant -- its windows smashed open and trash and furniture everywhere -- is poised for demolition, we were told. And that means those murals that attract so much attention may well disappear along with the old Neptune Inn.

The murals are 35 City Island Ave., across from the popular Sammy's and Lobster Box restaurants. And keep an eye on Urbanite for more dispatches from our recent visit to City Island.

-- Rolando Pujol

The 2003 blackout: 5 years ago this afternoon

Thursday August 14, 2008 9:48 AM By Rolando Pujol

A couple hugs as pedestrians react to the power outage in Times Square.

The famous electronic displays went down with the rest of the city's power

grid. (AP Photo / August 14, 2003)

About 4:14 p.m. on Aug. 14, 2003, my E train had (thankfully) just pulled into the 23rd Street-Ely station in Queens when it came to an abrupt halt. The lights went out. As our conductor awaited word "from supervision," I disembarked and, guided with the light of my cell phone, made it up to the base of the Citigroup building. And to my shock, there were hundreds of people milling about, with many looking west at the skyline and speculating that al-Qaida had struck again. For me, a two-hour walk to Kew Gardens awaited to reach Newsday's Queens office, where a long night of battery-powered light awaited.

Where were you when the 2003 blackout happened? How did you cope? Let us know in the comments. Click here to read David Freedlander's cover piece on the anniversary, and whether we are any safer than we were five years ago. Check out our photo gallery here.

-- Rolando Pujol

Growing up in the shadow of the New Yorker

Sunday August 10, 2008 12:56 PM By Rolando Pujol

From the collection of Joe Kinney

We wanted to share a fascinating letter we received about our story Friday on the New Yorker Hotel. The writer, Ruth Lennon, grew up and still lives in the neighborhood, and during her childhood in the 1930s and the 1940s, the hotel was, among other things, a fun place to play with her friends. Thanks, Ruth, for sharing your memories with us:

Dear Mr. Pujol,

Thank you for such an interesting article on the Hotel New Yorker. I along with some of my close friends were born back in the 1930's and were raised on West 35th Street between 9th and Dyer Avenues. We had many places to play in the area, as street kids growing up, one place being the elevator that went from below ground in the 34th street and 8th avenue subway directly up one flight to the Hotel New Yorker.

The elevator stopped in the vestibule of the side entrance of the hotel that is next to Manhattan Center, now known as Hammerstein Ballroom, and would discharge passengers for the hotel including a few of us neighborhood kids. I remember when the Shriner conventions would come to town and stay and party at the Hotel New Yorker. We had torch light parades with many celebrities during the second World War that would parade by the Hotel New Yorker.

I still live in the neighborhood and was delighted to watch as the New Yorker was spiffed up and the sign on the top of the hotel restored. Thank Mr. Kinney for helping restore some good memories for a few of us from the old neighborhood.

Sincerely,

Mrs. Ruth Lennon

Gotham's Gems: Urbanite visits New Yorker Hotel

Thursday August 7, 2008 12:36 PM By Rolando Pujol

Images from the collection of Joe Kinney. Check out our photo galleries HERE , HERE, and HERE and check out Lauren Johnston's great video tour of the hotel with Joe Kinney.

The maze of tunnels under New York includes one you probably never heard of. It lies 30 feet below the intersection of West 34th Street and Eighth Avenue and links the New Yorker Hotel to Penn Station.

This tunnel is no utilitarian slouch: It's sheathed in sumptuous Art Deco tile and long-empty glass sign displays that promoted Duke Ellington shows to travelers being whisked through the passage by bellhops. You'd say, "Take me to the New Yorker and you wouldn’t have to go outside,” Joe Kinney, the hotel's engineer and historian, said during a recent tour of the hotel.

Indeed, the New Yorker's historic spirit is filling all of its corridors again, as a room-by-room renovation draws toward completion, powered by the strong Art Deco genes that gave it life almost 80 years ago. But for many of those years, the hotel had lost touch with its history. It closed in 1972 and was purchased by the Unification Church. In 1994, it reopened under its original name, but only now is it truly reclaiming its lost history and pride of place among the city's hotels.

It's easy to see how Kinney, 57, who joined the staff in 1996, became captivated by its history, and how he was able to sell senior management on the idea that the hotel's future lay in its past. The striking pyramidical, set-backed tower was financed and built before the Wall Street crash of 1929, and opened into a sobered-up world on Jan. 2, 1930, with the Great Depression already under way.

The 43-story hotel boasted many extremes when it opened: It was the biggest, the tallest, the one with the largest switchboard, the largest kitchen, the largest private power plant. Today, its massive LED sign is a skyline fixture and is possibly the largest of its kind anywhere.

You hear of the ice follies at the Terrace Room, of visits by actor Mickey Rooney and band leader Benny Goodman, and of Nikola Tesla, the electrical genius whose obsession with numbers and his love for pigeons still draw the curious to the hotel, where he spent his final years.

The New Yorker Hotel's historically minded renovation comes at a time when the future of its former swing-era arch enemy, the Hotel Pennsylvania, has been in question, and during a time when the wrecking ball has been tearing down old New York with abandon.

The hotel’s rebirth is due in no small part to Kinney's curiosity and cheer-leading for the hotel's history.

“I feel very happy that I was able to push the Art Deconess of the hotel and that the architects took that into consideration," Kinney said, speaking of the work of the firm Stonehill & Taylor. "They did a great job.”

A quest to save history

Like the Empire State Building, its considerably more famous Art Deco cousin down 34th Street, the New Yorker was born of the high hopes of the 1920s and confronted with the harsh realities of the 1930s.

"The hotel really, really struggled. It never really got over it," Kinney said, but the New Yorker weathered the Depression and World War II years with style. A who's who of celebrities, big bands and high-living swells coursed through its lobby during the 1930s and 1940s, a story Kinney is piecing back together every day through the massive memorabilia collection he continues to build. He has rescued long-lost menus, copies of the hotel's in-house magazine, Caravan, and countless other ephemera that tell the story of one of New York's iconic hotels.

Many of his finds are on eBay, but every so often, a relative of a former employee might stop by with a stunning discovery, or a story that would have otherwise been lost to history. Just the other day, a 92-year-old former bellhop stopped by and, beaming with pride, recalled that he was an employee of the month in 1939. "They’ll give you stuff, if they think it’s going to be put to its best and highest use," Kinney said.

And his passion for hotel history helps tells the story of mid-century New York, and more broadly, American culture.

It's difficult, for instance, to think about Madison Avenue's gift at promoting smoking without considering Johnny Roventini.

The pint-sized pitchman would exclaim "call for Philip Morris" on television for years. Yet he began his career by hailing visitors in the New Yorker's lobby. A Philip Morris executive took a shine to Roventini, and the rest is advertising history.

Tesla, the eccentric inventor of AC current, called room 3327 home. The numbers held a certain magic for him, and it is here that he allegedly kept company with a beloved pigeon, and died after a 10-year stay. (The feds swooped in to clean out his room, just in case the inventor had come up with some plans that could fall into enemy hands. This was January 1943, after all.)

A hotel's secrets

The underground tunnel is certainly a highlight of any tour. Now used for storage, the tunnel poses too many security risks to reopen. And then there's a far more quotidian reason to keep it shut. "Now luggage has wheels on it, they can drag it down Eighth Avenue and walk in our front door,” Kinney said.

Another surprise awaits behind the massive brass door on Eighth Avenue. The door once lead to a branch of Manufacturers Trust bank. The door connotes wealth and security, a comforting or possibly alienating symbol for New Yorkers scraping by during the Depression.

The doors themselves, though, have been shuttered since the Reagan administration, and what lurks behind is a cavernous banking hall dripping with terrazzo flooring, brass railings, and Art Deco murals by the noted artist Louis Jambor.

The banking hall is now undergoing restoration, on track to become a grand ballroom. Once completed, it will return one of New York's great architectural spaces to public use.

Jambor made 26 panels in total for the hotel, with many of them covered under plaster during an insensitive renovation during the 1960s, the "Tupperware architecture," period, Kinney said. For a future renovation project, the hotel might undertake an effort to bring those panels to light. Indeed, the hotel is focused on reclaiming its history, one art mural, old brochure or knick-knack at a time. Kinney’s collection, in fact, may one day become part of an exhibit at the hotel.

“By recapturing and reconstituting the true history of the New Yorker Hotel ... we are actually adding value to this building and even meaning to our working lives," Kinney said.

-- Rolando Pujol

Photo essay: Spirit of 1776 hits Governors Island

Sunday August 3, 2008 6:22 PM By Rolando Pujol

Sgt. John Cronin, 45, of Newburgh, and a re-enactor with the 5th New York Regiment, participates in a drilling and historic weapons firing demonstration during the "Experience a Revolutionary Weekend" on Governors Island. (Photo by RJ Mickelson/amNY)

Revolutionary War re-enactors stormed Governors Island on Sunday, and our photographer RJ Mickelson was there to catch the action. The 5th New York Regiment along with the National Park Service offered demonstrations and programs about the road to the key Battle of Brooklyn.

Check out his photo essay here. And hey, have you made it out the island yet? Do it before the visiting season ends Oct. 4. It's a free ferry ride for a great visit to the island the Dutch called home even before they took a shine to Manhattan.

-- Rolando Pujol

Ma Bell is still ringing for you -- on sidewalks

Sunday August 3, 2008 10:55 AM By Rolando Pujol

Photo by Jefferson Siegel

Jefferson Siegel sends along this photo of one of New York's hardiest historical survivors: telephone company manhole covers. They offer glimpses into phone-company history. Above, enjoy the pre-1969 Bell logo, as found in Cadman Plaza West in Brooklyn. Designer Saul Bass cleaned up that logo with the modernist one you see at left, which Verizon still uses on pay phones, hard hats and trucks.

As Jefferson points out, it's been 23 years since the dissolution of Ma Bell -- the original AT&T and its local phone companies. Its descendants are still in our midst, with AT&T (which is really SBC with Ma Bell's name) and Verizon (nee Bell Atlantic, Nynex and New York Telephone.)

Click here for a little New York Telephone history, as told through, of all things, a rusty utility cart we ran into earlier this year.

-- Rolando Pujol

We're still collecting wacky, wonderful signs

Wednesday July 30, 2008 8:54 AM By Lauren Johnston

Photo by Lauren Johnston

A recent trip the West Village revealed a cluster of glorious old or simply cool signage on Sixth Ave. in the vicinity of W. 10th Street.

The above Little Tony & Igor Be Good is just a winner all the way around. We're still busy documenting and collecting these vintage and unique pieces before they vanish and we will want your help. We're on to volume 2 of our photo gallery [CLICK HERE].

You can see our first round up [HERE]

And you can sumbit pix of your favorite city signs [HERE], and we certainly hope you do!

Yuppie scum still told to die, 20 years later

Sunday July 27, 2008 1:33 PM By David Freedlander

Neighborhood activist John Penley, with warning

The week long commemoration of the Tompkins Square Park Riots (or Tompkins Square Park Police Riots, in the argot of the locals) kicked off today with a concert in the park today and will continue next weekend with film screenings and more music from Hungry March Band, Leftover Crack, and others.

The celebration got off to an inauspicious beginning today. Soon after the "Die Yuppie Scum" chant went up, the skies darkened, thunder cracked, and rain fell, and the few dozen black clad hardcore fans were forced to scatter.

Check back with amny.com for more on the anniversary later in the week

--David Freedlander

Lost New York: Roll film!

Friday July 18, 2008 1:48 PM By Rolando Pujol

Can anyone tell us where the Olde Garden, which appears in the opening credits of "The Equalizer," used to be?

Here at Urbanite and on some of our favorite city blogs, there's been lots of talk this week of a different kind of preservation -- old New York saved on film.

After Jeremiah blogged about Jim Jarmusch's "Permanent Vacation," we looked at one of our favorite TV shows, "The Equalizer," which preserves in amber what can be inelegantly called "the mid 1980s Bernie Goetz fear and paranoia New York." Blogger EV Grieve also examines the menacing introduction to "The Equalizer," and asks a question we'd like answered, too: Where is/was the "Olde Garden" that appears in the introduction, which you really have to watch if you want some insight into the world's view of New York's state of public safety 23 years ago.

Jeremiah later checked out "Moscow on Hudson," and hit pay dirt with a scene at the defunct Moisha's Luncheonette, where the egg cream may have first made its acquaintance with Manhattan.

And EV Grieve did some more sleuthing and provides a handy roundup of TV shows that were filmed or based in New York back in the day.

Here at Urbanite, expect more posts from time to time on our "Equalizer" discoveries. And somewhere, we have a tape of "McCloud" with remarkable footage from 1970 of First Avenue in the low 60s. There, big as life, you can see the home of the first TGI Friday's, which began as a neighborhood singles bar before co-founder Alan Stillman spread it far beyond its prosaic beginnings in the former old man's bar, The Good Tavern. And, by the way, new to YouTube today are fascinating interviews with Stillman and Ben Benson, whose differing philosophies on franchising their post-Friday's invention, Smith & Wollensky, led them to part ways.

-- Rolando Pujol

Robert McCall (played by Edward Woodward) does some equalizing with a police source, with the Twin Towers gleaming in the distance.

Rooftop ice skating returning to New York

Friday July 18, 2008 9:03 AM By Rolando Pujol

The city will be getting its first rooftop ice-skating rink since the closing of the original Sky Rink on the West Side in the 1990s.

City Ice Pavilion project had its groundbreaking Thursday atop a Sleepy’s Mattress store in Long Island City, on 32nd Place. It is expected to open in October 2008.

Jill Feldman, spokesperson for the rink, to be called City Ice Pavilion, said that Long Island City presented a promising venue.

“With so many real estate developments going up in the area, there will be more families and they saw an opportunity to build a community ice rink.”

The City Ice Pavilion will have a NHL-sized ice rink and an air dome to protect it from bad weather. It will have public skating, an ice-skating school to teach both hockey and figure skating, and ice-skating lessons for both children and adults. There will also be free skating lessons on Mondays and Wednesdays for community groups.

Local high schools and intramural leagues will also have access to the rink.

The developer, Ekstein Development, builds apartments, office buildings, and recreational facilities. They are currently developing condominiums in Long Island City as well.

The old “grungy” and much-missed Sky Rink was on a much higher location, the top floor of a 16-story building. Check out this Gothamist comments thread for memories of the old joint. And click here to see the last remaining vestige of the old Sky Rink, a fading sign that since this photo was taken has been obscured by large advertising banners.

-- Simone Herbin

Someone tell Rudy: Squeegee men are back

Wednesday July 16, 2008 12:16 PM By Pete Catapano

A squeegee man in action in New York last October. (Photo by Runs with Scissors on Flickr)

This was a surprise.

While driving into Manhattan today around 11:30 a.m., I encountered something that I thought was long extinct from our streets: A squeegee man.

I declined his offer to clean my filthy windows, but gave him money nonetheless as I sat in traffic on 37th Street while heading toward Broadway.

He was the first "squeegee man" I've seen since Rudy Giuliani and former police commissioner declared war on the windshield washers in 1992.

— Pete Catapano

Update: Market diner may open in a few weeks

Wednesday July 16, 2008 8:05 AM By Marlene Naanes

The space-age Market Diner in Hell’s Kitchen, once a hangout for Frank Sinatra, could open in a few weeks, according to folks at sister eatery Cosmic Diner.

The diner, which will feature an outdoor patio and an updated interior was set to open in early June but apparently has seen some setbacks. Owners are still unsure of a solid open date.

The 1962 diner’s exterior, with its zig-zag roof in the Googie architectural style, will be surrounded by outdoor seating for up to a 100 people. Before it closed in 2006, the diner was known as one of the few businesses in Manhattan to have its own customer parking lot.

The indoor changes will create a more natural and modern look, an owner has said. The decor will feature a rock sculpture and wooden furnishings.

The eatery, at West 43rd Street and 11th Avenue, will also feature a bar that will sell frozen drinks. The Market will also add a couple of non-diner items to its classic American fare, such as spring rolls.

The Tsinias family, which leases the diner from Moinian Group, has been in the diner business for almost 35 years and owns the Cosmic Diner, which moved to West 52nd Street and Eighth Avenue after many years in Columbus Circle.

Gone fishing ... in Prospect Park

Wednesday July 16, 2008 6:24 AM By Lauren Johnston

The annual Macy's fishing contest kicks off today at noon at the Prospect Park Audobon Center, near the Boathouse.

The contest began back in 1947 and lasts a week in July each summer. Participating kids (15 years and under) meet at the algae-covered Boathouse lake, pick up a free pole and start fishing - it's catch-and-release of course. The rules are that all caught fish must be returned to the lake alive.

There's an extra challenge that will arm the winner with a whopper of a fish story for years to come. One giant fish named R.H. Macy has been tagged and released into the lake. Whoever hooks him wins a prize. There other stuff going on too - lessons in aquatic life and ecology and a "how-to" fishing session.

We've gone before [VIDEO HERE]. It was fun - and it's great for a day like today [STUFF TO DO IN PROSPECT PARK]. We wish we could ditch the office and head on over .... but today we have to settle for vicarious fishing. If you go, here's how [DIRECTIONS]. And if you need more infor, here's where [CONTACT].

-- Lauren Johnston

Giglio priest Father Fonti leaving parish

Monday July 14, 2008 12:01 PM By Lauren Johnston

Getty Images

The annual Festa del Giglio in Williamsburg began last Wednesday - but the first ceremonial lifting of the 80-foot giglio tower wasn't until yesterday afternoon and the streets were packed. Afterall, this is the main event. [PHOTOS]

It was so hot, the soles of our shoes semi-melted and stuck to the pavement with every step. The giglio lifters were assembled beneath the five-ton structure -- more than 100 of them as usual -- with a brass band, a singer, an emcee and parish priest of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel Church (which puts on the feast) Father Joseph Fonti perched on top for the ride.

The feast itself has been going on for more than 100 years, but having the priest ride atop is a more recent addition. It's a tradition Father Fonti started seven years ago when he took over the church - and one he'll pass on to his sucessor when he leaves the church this year. He announced yesterday this would be his last feast with the church on Havemeyer Street.

"I started the tradition of the pastor riding the giglio," he said. "I did it because I didn't want to be up in the roof far away, I wanted to be with the people especially with the paranza (lifters)."

The feast lasts until Sunday, June 20, and the "paranza" will lift the giglio again that day, and the evening of Thursday, July 17.

-- Lauren Johnston

The city business that made eyes for Columbo, Sammy

Sunday June 29, 2008 2:45 PM By Rolando Pujol

Peter Falk (aka Columbo), Sammy Davis Jr., Helen Keller, Joseph Pulitzer, Jay Vanderbilt: That’s a diverse bunch that share a common trait.

They all needed at least one artificial eye in their lifetimes and used the services of eye-maker Mager and Gougelman here in the city.

Mager and Gougelman started as Gougelman & Co. in 1851, when Peter Gougelman — originally from Sweden — emigrated from France to New York City. He brought with him knowledge of his unique craft: fashioning artificial eyes. It’s a trade he passed on to his descendants.

Today, Mager and Gougelman is one of the oldest family-run businesses in the city with a distinguished list of clients as you can see.

Last week, David Gougelman spoke with amNewYork about growing up in a family that crafted eyeballs. Check it out here.

-- Garett Sloane

From Radio Row to Digital Downtown

Thursday June 12, 2008 4:22 PM By Rolando Pujol

The technological descendants of these radios, once found on Radio Row, can be found at Digital Downtown at the World Financial Center, a stone's throw from where Radio Row once stood. (Photo via montanaman1 on Flickr)

The gadget industry has come home to New York, where consumers’ love affair with all-things electronic started, says Martin Porter the executive producer of Digital Downtown.

“New York is the birthplace of the $161 billion consumer-electronics industry,” he says. “Ever since the 1920s and Radio Row.”

Radio Row was a cluster of electronics stores in lower Manhattan that existed for about a half-century, before construction of the World Trade Center displaced it. Now, down the block at the Winter Garden is a first-time electronics expo, Digital Downtown, which has brought together 30 companies to show off their latest products.

Thursday was the first day and event organizers said it was packed, drawing crowds from the Wall Street set to those just out for a stroll on a nice day.

The Winter Garden is a sprawling public space — with palm trees — and the expo, running through Saturday, is free and open.

Two of the larger attractions are a Best Buy trailer and a Pioneer dome. Porter says a display of a brain-powered remote control at Best Buy is a big draw: “You put on a helmet and control [things] with your mind.” Hmmm.

The Consumer Electronics Association, which holds the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas every year, is a partner in Digital Downtown.

Martin says he hopes this is the first of many years to come for the event. Eventually, there will be a whole week dedicated to gadgetry with displays all over the city.

-- Garett Sloane

WNYC memorabilia stoop sale NOW!

Thursday June 12, 2008 10:58 AM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

Calling of lovers of really New Yawkish paraphnernalia -- WNYC is movin' on up out of its home (of 84 years) in the Municipal Building and it has memoribilia to unload. The solution to this problem is as "New York" as the knickknacks themselves -- a good old-fashioned stoop sale.

The event is going on NOW in the public plaza on the south side of the Municipal Building at the corner of Chambers and Centre streets. Up for grabs will be: books, CDs, posters and other mementos. It's WNYC history on sale, folks.

See last night's post for the list on what you'll find [HERE.]

In attendance will be WNYC stars: Brian Lehrer, Leonard Lopate, Soterios Johnson, John Schaefer, Jad Abumrad, Adaora Udoji, Danny Stiles, Beth Fertig, Richard Hake, Amy Eddings and Sara Fishko will be in attendance.

All proceeds go to Radio Rookies, WNYC’s Peabody Award-winning youth journalism program.

-- Lauren Johnston

It's not the first time a Virgin bolts out of Times Square

Wednesday June 11, 2008 9:41 PM By Rolando Pujol

Richard Branson shows off his newborn, the Virgin Megastore, on April 22, 1996, the day before it opened. (AP)

Tim Tompkins, president of the Times Square Alliance, remembers the darker days, when neon signs in Times Square flickered: Peep Show, Nude Girls, XXX.

Then came the Virgin Megastore flashing its giant red “Virgin” logo at the Crossroads of the World. The international retailer was among the first — the move was announced in 1994 — to see the potential of one of the city’s most famous locations. Today, the megastore is on the brink of closure.

“We’re very sorry to be losing such a pioneering retailer. But alas, this won’t be the first time in Times Square’s long and colorful history when a virgin has high tailed it out of the neighborhood,” Tompkins texted from his Blackberry on Tuesday.

For Tompkins, news of Virgin’s closing comes with some sadness, because of how big a part the store played in Times Square’s renaissance.

“It was a huge psychological shift for Times Square,” he said by phone yesterday. “It was a name brand that people didn’t expect to have.”

The Virgin Megastore didn’t only chase the seedier elements from the neighborhood, it also took a whack at the city’s independent music stores, which represents a certain irony for Frankie Smith, 36. He bartends near Times Square, lives in Washington Heights and has shopped at Virgin almost twice a week since it opened.

“These guys have knocked the little guys out,” he said while checking out the store’s alternative-music aisles at 1 a.m. yesterday. “And now the little guys are long gone.”

If the Virgin closes he’ll have nowhere left to go: “It’s ridiculous to have to go to Best Buy to buy music.”

Smith laments the erosion of the music industry, losing ground as digital downloads kill the CD.

“It’s sad commentary the music industry when Times Square can’t support a music store,” he said.

-- Garett Sloane

WNYC holding moving sale --- cool stuff on stoop

Wednesday June 11, 2008 9:18 PM By Rolando Pujol

Sorry, Mayor La Guardia's mic is not for sale.

As WNYC prepares to leave its cramped studios in the Municipal Building after 84 years, the radio station is having a stoop sale.

You can stop by and scoop up your own piece of WNYC history Thursday between 11a.m. and 2 p.m. in the public plaza of the Municipal Building.

Some mementos up for grabs include:

* A softball signed by The WNYC Independents, the station’s softball team

* Vintage WNYC baseball cap signed by Brian Lehrer

* Copies of the Spy Magazine anthology autographed by Kurt Andersen

* Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama press passes, signed by WNYC Political director Andrea Bernstein

* A selection of vinyl from host David Garland’s secret stash, including Dizzy Gillespie’s “Groovin’ High” signed by Garland

* “On the Media” host Brooke Gladstone’s Neil Tillotson bobbing-head doll. Tillotson, of New Hampshire. was for many years the first person to vote in the presidential primaries

All the proceeds will go to Radio Rookies, WNYC’s youth journalism program.

Several of WNYC’s radio personalities will be at the event, including Brian Lehrer, Leonard Lopate, Soterios Johnson, John Schaefer, Jad Abumrad, and Garland among others.Lehrer, by the way, will officially flip the “On Air” switch at the WNYC’s new home located at 106 Varick St. on June 17th at 10 a.m.

-- Simone Herbin

Struggling to find lifelines for endangered mom and pops

Tuesday June 10, 2008 7:03 PM By Rolando Pujol

One of the endangered shops along Ninth Avenue in Chelsea. (Photo by Jefferson Siegel)

With New York in danger of becoming a suburban strip mall, city officials are trying to find a legislative solution to the crisis facing mom and pops.

Faced with rising rents, competition from big retailers and a slowing economy, many small businesses are struggling to survive. News of the closures of longtime businesses makes headlines seemingly every day.

“Small businesses are the first to get hit by an economic downturn,” City Council Speaker Christine Quinn said. “They are the backbone of our neighborhoods, and are the first to get whacked when there is a drop in the economy.”

Legislators are considering a range of options, including offering tax breaks to small businesses. Another possibility is to widen protective zoning rules already introduced in Harlem. Those prevent bank branches from occupying ground-floor space, among other measures.

Manhattan Borough President Scott Stringer has organized a neighborhood forum tonight to discuss the crisis. State and local officials are expected to attend.Stringer has also created a small-business task force. Its findings and policy recommendations won’t be ready for a couple of months, Stringer said.

“We want to galvanize the community and organize,” Springer said. “We are going to work with the state and the city.”

Development pressures are shuttering businesses all across the city.

Residents of a block in Chelsea are taking particular interest in the discussion. A row of small businesses on Ninth Avenue between 16th and 17th streets may disappear after the large building that houses them was sold.

The stores may be shut to make way for high-end retailers more in line with the high-end face of Chelsea.

It may be too late for that block.

“We may not save these, but we might save the ones several years down the line,” Miguel Acevedo, a member of Community Board 4 in Chelsea who lives near the endangered block.

If you go: The forum is at 7 p.m. at the West Side Institutional Synagogue, 120 W. 76th St.

-- Rebecca Wolfson

More: Urbanite's Endangered NYC posts

Icons of New Yorkiana burn to ground

Sunday June 1, 2008 1:24 PM By Rolando Pujol

Preserved on film, the New York lot at Universal studios is no more. (Photo via lorenpremier on Flickr)

When you're watching a Universal film or TV show set in New York, and the producers were too cheap to come to Gotham itself, you're in the dreamland that is the fabled Universal back lot. But those famous New York street scenes, along with those used in "Back to the Future", have been damaged or destroyed in a massive fire that has consumed the studio's back lot.

The New York set evokes a nostalgic view of the city. Its design is Jane Jacobs approved, with brownstones, stoops and mom-and-pops around every corner. Its disappearance carries a touch of irony, given how the vision of the city it represents is itself vanishing by the day.

Notably destroyed too is the "Back to the Future" set, including the courthouse square area with its famous clock tower. Ironically, a scene in the movie involves a campaign to "save the clock tower" from destruction. And a video vault with thousands of titles has also been damaged. NBC Universal reassuredly offers that there are duplicates elsewhere.

LAist has an insider's view of the set. Some other views here. And here's the latest from the Los Angeles Times.

-- Rolando Pujol

The Empire State lights a tribute to Israel

Friday May 30, 2008 1:33 PM By Rolando Pujol

It's a festival of lights atop the Empire State Building, which will glow blue and white --the colors of the Israeli flag -- in honor of the 60th anniversary of the creation of the Jewish state.

The lighting tribute comes Friday, and on Sunday the 44th annual Salute To Israel Parade will march down Fifth Avenue. A hundred thousand participants are expected.

--- Garett Sloane

Here's the light schedule and the tower light history.

Taking the long view on the sagging economy

Thursday May 22, 2008 3:13 PM By Rolando Pujol

Theodore Kheel at his Upper East Side home. (Dennis W. Ho for amNewYork)

All this week, amNewYork has been looking at how New Yorkers at all income levels are coping with the shuddering economy. Our story gallery can be found here. On Urbanite, we've decided to highlight one of those stories that brings some perspective to our current troubles -- an interview with Theodore Kheel, 94, the legendary city labor-dispute mediator who found his first job during the Great Depression.

There are few New Yorkers with the historical perspective of Theodore Kheel, who at 94 has lived through the Great Depression and today is still active in the city's affairs.

Kheel, the famous mediator of city labor disputes, knows how to survive in New York during tough times. He was a teenager during the Great Depression, and by the time he graduated law school in 1937, the city was in another recession.

"It took me several months until I got this job at $5 a week," he said from the comfort of his living room on the Upper East Side, overlooking Central Park.

Kheel has been a mediator in labor and management conflicts since World War II, when he was a member of the National War Labor Relations Board. Later, he handled some of the city's toughest labor disputes, from transit to newspaper strikes.His life in law and business has been a success, but his early days were as uncertain as those of anyone just starting out in the professional world.

"I was married. My wife had a job; she was a journalist," Kheel said of his life in 1937. "She earned money. I did get some support from my in-laws, and I had some wedding gifts. It was not exactly that I was living in luxury but I was able to get by."

Kheel's career path was chosen by necessity: Tough economic conditions didn't afford him the luxury of following passions.

He became a labor-relations mediator because there was opportunity in that field thanks to President Roosevelt and the creation of the National Labor Relations Board.

He's a "byproduct of circumstances," he says, and found success through necessity, opportunity and good fortune.

After the war, he benefited like most people from New York's boom times -- there were plenty of labor disputes to resolve. And one of his biggest successes was on a deal that almost tanked in the late 1960s. He was among a group of investors who paid $200,000 for 30 square miles of land in the Dominican Republic.

At first there was concern the deal was not going to work out well for Kheel and his partners, and many people wanted to cut their losses. But Kheel convinced wary investors to stick with it. Today, the land -- now developed with an international airport and hotels -- is worth about $700 million and Kheel is the chairman of the board, called Grupo Punta Cana.

Despite his success, Kheel still shares in the financial stresses.

"Even when you're doing well," he said. "You have a matter of protecting what you've accomplished."

-- Garett Sloane

Happy birthday Brooklyn Bridge!

Thursday May 22, 2008 10:52 AM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

The bridge turns 125 this week and there's plenty of fun stuff scheduled to celebrated our beloved Brooklyn Bridge. The city's fete goes down tonight at 7:45. We'll have fireworks, music, dancing - and Brooklyn borough president Marty Markowitz in period garb - woo hoo!

But of you want to party for the bridge's birthday on through the weekend, here are a few more celebration events from Williamsburg's City Reliquary:

The Brooklyn Bridge: 125 Years of Inspiration

What: Art exhibit featuring pieces by NYC-based students aged K-college as inspired by the Brooklyn Bridge.

Where: The City Reliquary; 379 Metropolitan Ave., Williamsburg

When: Artists Reception Fri., May 23rd, 7p.m. - 10 p .m.; Show runs through June 15

Admission: Pay what you wish

Brooklyn Bridge Birthday Bike Ride

The City Reliquary commorates the the opening day of the bridge - May 24th 1883 - with a birthday bike ride. Meet at the City Reliquary Museum at 370 Metropolitan Ave. near Havemeyer St. at 12:00 noon on Sat., May 24.

The ride leaves from the museum and runs 10 miles roundtrip, ending at the Brooklyn Bridge anchorage with birthday cake, drinks and souvenir t-shirts ($5).

-- Lauren Johnston

The coffee must be good

Tuesday May 20, 2008 6:23 PM By Marlene Naanes

As the tenement buildings and old shops around him have been torn down and replaced by towering condos, Lower East Side native Carmine Morales and his Classic Coffee Shop have survived ongoing gentrification.

Even so, Morales, 56, was happy to hear his shop was smack-dab in the middle of a 12-square-block area preservationists are fighting to protect.

“It’s crazy how much it’s changed,” he said. “It’s always been a neighborhood of immigrants and poor folk but not any more—you gotta be rich. I always joke, the next thing I know Donald Trump is going to be my neighbor.”

On Tuesday, the National Trust for Historic Preservation designated the Lower East Side as one of America’s 11 “most endangered historic places” in its annual list of architectural, cultural and natural locations at risk of destruction. The national organization is backing a local effort that began in 2006 to create a protected landmark district in the Lower East Side that would be roughly bounded by Allen, Delancey, Essex and Division streets.

Morales said tearing down the old buildings and replacing them with sleek, high-priced condos is changing the face of the neighborhood and erasing its history. Remnants of Morales' own history still remain, like his elementary school (across the street from his coffee shop at 56 Hester Street).

Also enduring the nabe's changes is the tenement-style building he grew up in.

Like many before them, his relatives took the path of many immigrants. His mother grew up in the nabe after her parents emigrated from Italy.

After a stopover in Brooklyn, his father met his mother when he moved to the LES. He opened up Classic Coffee Shop in 1976 with Morales.

Morales moved from his original home but still lives just blocks away from the coffee shop, which is decked out with pictures of his ancestors and ads from the 50s. He said he's been able to stay in the neighborhood even with Dunkin' Donuts or Starbucks popping up "on every corner" because of a nice landlord who only increases the rent 5 percent a year.

Plus, the landlord's dad leased to Morales' father.

Morales hopes the preservation group helps keep the LES' diversity and its reputation as a first home for newcomers. He said he's seen many different cultures coexisting as they get their feet on the ground in a new country and then move upward and onward, making room for the next wave of immigrants.

"This was always a stop over for immigrants," he said. "But [developers are] building too high and they're making condos everywhere, asking outrageous money. That’s going to change the whole face of the neighborhood."

-- Marlene Naanes

Horsing around at the AMNH

Sunday May 18, 2008 3:43 PM By Emily Ngo

Opening day of the American Museum of Natural History's special exhibit "The Horse" was chaotic to say the least. What would you expect with live horses in the garden (including 17-inch Thumbelina, a miniature dwarf horse)?

Horses are the childhood fascination of many, it seems. And so, I walked though the crowded galleries with the mindset of a child. Thanks to the many interactive features tracing the history of the horse's relationship to man, it was easy. Here's a little of what the child in me learned:

-- I am but 14 hands high, horsespeak for height.

-- I rock a 0.15 on the horsepower lever; Scott Rosenberg: a 0.32.

-- Prehistoric horses were the size of dogs. How cute!

-- Horses in battle wore gas masks during World War II.

-- There were folks in history that drank the milk of horses.

Adults, too, would enjoy this extraordinary look at the dependency between animal and man. More than the companion a dog is, the horse is an instrument. Check it out. "The Horse" runs until January.

— Emily Ngo

History of the horse

Thursday May 15, 2008 4:19 PM By Emily Ngo

A horse lover living within New York City's confines, I'm resigned to petting police horses in reminiscence of my childhood. (There's a police horse that hangs out on Broadway near Houston who's best trick is kissing ladies' hands.) But there is a light.

Starting Saturday and lasting until next January, "The Horse," a new exhibit at the American Museum of Natural History, will show the "enduring bond between horses and humanity." The horse's role in history has been monumental, and visitors will understand so after learning how these gorgeous animals were used in warfare, work, sports, spirituality and more.

Opening day on Saturday from noon to 4 p.m. will feature none other than Thumbelina, the world's smallest horse (that's her on the right)! I'm totally there. More to come.

— Emily Ngo

Frank's stamp: Sinatra can still deliver

Sunday May 11, 2008 7:44 PM By Rolando Pujol

Ten years after his death, Hoboken’s very own Frank Sinatra is being commemorated with a new postage stamp. The 42-cent stamp’s release will be celebrated Tuesday in three places close to Sinatra’s heart.

One ceremony takes place at Gotham Hall in New York, New York, where Sinatra’s daughter Nancy and son Frank Jr. will be present at the 10 a.m. dedication.

The two others will be at the Bellagio Fountains in Las Vegas, the city where he famously ran with the Rat Pack, and another will happen across the river, in Sinatra’s hometown of Hoboken, at 3 p.m. at Pier A Park. Frank Jr. will be on hand again. If you go, check out these useful tips for a Sinatra tour of Hoboken.

Kazuhiko Sano designed the stamp, which features Ol’ Blue Eyes with a big smile and iconic fedora hat circa mid 1950s. Sinatra’s signature is scrolled across the bottom.

-- Kathleen Bulson

Never too early for a Streetfest

Sunday May 11, 2008 2:08 PM By Emily Ngo

Stone Street via Flickr

I swung by the annual Stone Street Streetfest in the Financial District on Saturday for oysters and brewskies. Co-hosted by Ulysses, an everyman's Irish eatery, the festival is among the season's first chances for good times outdoors.

The popped-collar crowd was out in full force, shooting oysters along Manhattan's oldest street. Stone Street, a cobblestoned beauty, turns 350 this year.

— Emily Ngo

Mark your calendars: Victorian Flatbush house tour

Sunday May 4, 2008 4:12 PM By Rolando Pujol

Victorian Flatbush: The yellow cab is the only hint you're in New York City.

We're big fans of Victorian Flatbush, a gem of an area that routinely leaves even longtime New Yorkers gape mouthed upon their first visit This slice of suburban splendor will become a little more accessible next month during the annual Victorian Flatbush house tour. It's on June 8 from 1 to 6 p.m. Advance tickets are $16, and $20 if purchased on the day of. Call 718-859-3800 or visit here.

MORE: Click here for an amNewYork tour of the neighborhood. We'll also put up additional posts in the next few days from a more recent visit to the area, as well as nearby Midwood. And this Thursday's City Living profile will be on Flatbush.

-- Rolando Pujol

Eisenberg's: Good for the soul

Monday April 28, 2008 8:21 PM By Rolando Pujol

It wasn't initially part of our Friday night dinner plans, but there we were on Fifth Avenue in the Flatiron District -- and there was Eisenberg's. Its warm glow and long counter compelled us to come in and sit a spell. We enjoyed Eisenberg's wonderful onion rings and grilled-cheese sandwich washed down with a vanilla egg creme. It was near closing time, and the place was fairly empty. A regular who had been saddled up to the counter promised a return visit the next day as he rushed out the door. A couple sauntered in just after us, pointing out the vintage fixtures and signs and marveling at the place's very existence. Two older women stopped in to pick up some grub to go.

Places like Eisenberg's were a staple of the city block, part of the way New Yorkers ate before cafeterias and Automats began to give way to Burger Kings and later Quiznos and Chipotles. The continued survival of Eisenberg's speaks to the worthiness and importance of the idea of landmarking functioning businesses, not just the architecture or the original interior. (Witness Gage and Tollners in Brooklyn -- landmarked inside and out -- but at one point home to a T.G.I. Friday's.) We are relieved Eisenberg's remains in the good hands of Josh Konecky, who took it upon himself to "landmark" the place by keeping it just the way it's always been.

There's never a bad time to go, but we'll happily recommend a quiet Friday evening, when you can commune with Eisenberg's in relative peace, and get lost in the vibe of one of the most authentic places left in New York City.

-- Rolando Pujol

There are more photos after the jump ...

The 1968 Columbia riots

Thursday April 24, 2008 12:58 PM By Rolando Pujol

amNewYork will be looking at the 40th anniversary of the Columbia riots on Monday. Tonight at 7, there's a discussion on the riots at, appropriately enough, Columbia University. It's at Casa Italiana, Amsterdam Avenue between 116th and 118th streets. Columbia is also hosting an exhibit on the riots, with interesting ephemera on display, with an example at left. It's at Butler Library's Chang Room, on the sixth floor through June 6.

Here's an NPR report by Robert Siegel, who covered the crisis for student radio station WKCR. And a Columbia Spectator article on the exhibit.

-- Rolando Pujol

The last Moondance

Tuesday April 22, 2008 8:04 AM By Rolando Pujol

The Moondance Diner at 12:40 a.m. Aug. 11, 2007, as workers begin pulling

the diner off its foundation. (Photo by Jefferson Siegel)

Following the good news that the Cheyenne Diner has been saved, photographer Jefferson Siegel checked in with his memories of the Moondance Diner's last night in the city, and this photo from its departure:

Just after 9 p.m. on Friday, August 10, 2007. workers began lifting the Moondance from its foundation on the corner of Grand St. and 6th Ave. It was the coldest night of the summer and a bit rainy, which must have been pleasant for the workers but it made the crowd of onlookers even more melancholy.

This was the night police were alerted to the possibility of a radioactive threat against the city, so as the evening progressed there was increased police activity down the block at the exit of the Holland Tunnel.

As night turned into early morning, the diner was lifted on hydraulic jacks. Steel rails were slid under the gleaming chrome structure and it was pulled to the curb. As it was slowly pulled along the rails the basement was exposed to the elements. Just after 6 a.m. Saturday morning the Moondance was finally loaded onto a truck headed for the George Washington Bridge and points west. By Saturday afternoon the temperature had soared back into the 80s as passersby stopped to look through a fence where the diner had once stood.

Meanwhile, out in LaBarge

Monday April 21, 2008 2:49 PM By David Freedlander

The Moondance before its departure last year. (amNY file)

Speaking of diners, we were perusing the Casper Star Tribune this morning (but how do you stay informed?) when we came across this:

Finally, the Moondance Diner is starting to resemble a diner again

The new foundation is poured, the walls are up, and the barrel-ceiling roof is being installed in Wyoming's newest dining icon -- the famed Moondance Diner that relocated from New York City to this tiny town in southwest Wyoming last summer.

Apparently, things are proceeding apace with the plan to bit by bit relocate all the cool parts of New York City to the mountainous west.

The article details all the work going to getting the diner up and running in Wyoming, including helping it to recover from a 2,000+ mile long journey and a harsh winter in the Rockies.

The new owners hope to open the joint in June, and are adding more seats and this choice detail,

"A "NYC" subway facade will be constructed over the front entrance to keep in line with the New York ambiance."

Actually, all that probably symbolizes is that the place will be dirty, the service slow, and patrons will defecate in the aisles.

Looking Like a Diner Again [CST]

---David Freedlander

Brooklyn rabbi remembers Va. Tech victim

Wednesday April 16, 2008 10:04 AM By Emily Ngo

It's difficult to believe one year has passed since Virginia Tech massacre. But as family and friends mourn today at remembrance ceremonies in Blacksburg, Va., a rabbi in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, honors Professor Liviu Librescu, who saved at least 22 people that fateful day by blocking the gunman and enabling his students to escape.

Librescu, a Holocaust survivor, was one of the 32 victims of the massacre.

Rabbi Shea Hecht, co-chairman of the Crown Heights Coalition, has produced an powerful 10-minute video documentary chronicling the life of Librescu, a Romanian-born "scientific superstar" who developed an experimental aircraft. Called "Courage Under Fire," Hecht remembers Librescu's heroism.

— Emily Ngo

The King's (photo) plays Times Square!

Wednesday April 9, 2008 1:23 PM By Rolando Pujol

A never-before-seen photo of Elvis Presley taken by legendary music photographer George Kalinsky is displayed on a billboard above the Virgin Megastore in Times Square. (Jefferson Seigel / April 9, 2008)

Elvis Presley performs at Madison Square Garden in this June 1972 photo provided by George Kalinsky. Kalinsky, who has been the official Garden photographer for more than 40 years, came across the never-before-seen photos while looking for images for a publicity campaign called "Great Moments in New York." (AP Photo/From the Lens of George Kalinsky)

Attention New York Elvis fans (and lovers of leisure-suits everywhere): a larger then life photo of the King from his 1972 concert at Madison Square Garden has landed atop the Virgin Megastore in Times Square.

The photo is apart of a number of images taken of Presley by legendary photographer George Kalinsky that have not been published before.

Kalinsky came across the photos while looking for images for a publicity campaign called "Great Moments in New York."

The photos will be displayed at Graceland starting Memorial Day weekend as part of "Elvis Jumpsuits: All Access," a fashion exhibit featuring more than 50 of Elvis' famous stage wear jumpsuits, according to the Associated Press.

Leisure-suit-apalooza. Uh-huh-huh

-- Peggy Mihelich

Cheyenne Diner serves last meal

Sunday April 6, 2008 3:09 PM By Marlene Naanes

People get the bad news that the 24-hour Cheyenne is closed after 68 years. (Kathleen Bulson)

Loyal customers and diner enthusiasts flocked to get the last eggs over easy ever served at the iconic Cheyenne Diner yesterday as the chrome-covered eatery closed its doors forever.

Weary employees and the diner’s owner served up heaping portions of comfort food and

breakfast dishes and received best wishes from patrons before the midtown business was official closed by 4:30 p.m. yesterday. Some folks came for the first time, some came back after several-year hiatuses and regulars showed up to pay their respects and look at one of the last diners of its kind for the last time.

The likelihood that the railroad car-style diner, including the iconic neon sign, would be saved may have increased Sunday as the property owner confirmed that a diner museum was checking out if the structure could withstand a move. The museum also found interested buyers. It could take weeks before any decision on a move or sale is made.

Unclear though was if business owner Spiros Kasimis will open up another eatery with some of the familiar memorabilia, including signed photos of celebrity patrons like David Letterman. Kasimis, who’s owned the business since 1989, said he was touched and overwhelmed by the number of patrons who showed up yesterday, and gave at least one longtime customer a free meal.

Preservationist Michael Perlman began an effort to save the diner recently, just as he had done to preserve and move SoHo's Moonlight Diner, which the American Diner Museum helped relocate it to LaBarge, Wyo.

Photo above: Owner Spiros Kasimis, center in white sweater, during the diner's last day. (Marlene Naanes)

-- Marlene Naanes

Here's the full amNY story.

Read more about it

Other blogs

Jeremiah's Vanishing New York profiled Perlman Friday and broke the story last week.

Here's a You Tube video on one New Yorker's last trip to the diner.

Urbanite coverage:

Cheyenne update: Owner open to moving it

Oh, Cheyenne, a lamentation with some night photography

Bid to save Cheyenne

amNY photo galleries

Great NYC diners, past and present

Remembering the Munson Diner

Good-bye Bertha, we'll miss ye ...

Tuesday April 1, 2008 7:20 AM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

The New York Aquarium won't be the same without Bertha, the 43-year-old sand tiger shark who died today and was believed to be the longest-living sand tiger shark in captivity. She was dropped off at the aquarium in 1965 by a local fisherman.

The aquarium director called her "a belived resident of Coney Island" and "a great

animal and a symbol for the plight of all sharks in the wild.”

This isn't the first time Bertha's been in the news. She was the star of this science feature on ABC News last year.

The aquarium reports that Bertha was about 7 feet long and 270 pounds.

-- Lauren Johnston

Yankee Stadium: Beginning of the goodbye

Sunday March 30, 2008 5:49 PM By Rolando Pujol

Our Ryan Chatelain catches up with Bucky Dent, neighborhood businesses and fans as the team begins its final season at the House That Ruth Built. This will be a strange season in many ways. One fascinating aspect is that you'll have two Yankee Stadiums side by side: The 1974-75 version, which undid lots of the original detail, and the new ballpark, which is a throwback to the old stadium Ruth knew, and restores that lost detail in a slightly more compact stadium.

The new Yankee Stadium took another symbolic step forward Saturday with the installation of the "eagles" next to the stadium name. Compare Saturday's photo with the way the sign looked in 1948. It's uncanny.

It seems that, somehow, the Yanks could have worked with the original, keeping the team on the same sacred ground. It's one of those turn of events we'll never accept. But it's hard to dismiss the beauty of the stadium rising next door.

-- Rolando Pujol

Flags fly at half-staff at Yankee Stadium in 1948 to mark

the death of Babe Ruth. (AP)

The New York Yankees unveils the re-created "eagle" medallions and lifts them into place Saturday at the main entrance of the new stadium (Alejandra Villa/Newsday).

City kids bring history to life

Sunday March 30, 2008 4:00 PM By Rolando Pujol

"On these wheels: FDR's desire to save a nation" was among 191 exhibits from 370 New York City students judged yesterday at the 18th annual History Day at the Museum of the City of New York. (Photos by Kathleen Bulson)

Ryan McEvoy, 12, of Brooklyn, turned a corner at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington D.C last May to find a model of a Danish boat used to transport 7,000 Jews to safety during World War II.

Inspired by his findings, McEvoy soon found himself visiting more museums, speaking with refugees and writing the Danish Embassy for his project on the Danish resistance movement. His was among 191 individual and group history projects displayed at the 18th annual History Day, held Sunday at the Museum of the City of New York, which sponsored the contest.

McEvoy, a seventh grader, was impressed that "a country so small could save so many people out of the kindness of their hearts; they didn't turn away."

The 370 students focused their projects on the theme “Conflict and Compromise,” and were divided into two groups: juniors (sixth through eighth grades) and seniors (ninth through 12th graders).

"This process allows students to choose something meaningful to them and to present in various ways expressing it creatively," said Franny Kent, director of the Frederick A. O. Schwarz Children's Center at the Museum of the City of New York.Diana Fedorkova, 13, Mona Abuhamdeh, 14, Valerie Kipnis, 14, Natalie Vintoyn, 14 and Mirela Music, 13 students at I.S. 30 in Brooklyn, interviewed Bay Ridge residents about the construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in the early 1960s. The five Brooklynites made a documentary on the bridge’s construction, a feat that required the bulldozing of thousands of homes. The bridge directly connected Staten Island to the rest of New York City for the first time.

"History makes up our future. We were learning what and how it changed the place we live," Fedorkvoa said.

Four eighth graders from I.S. 78 in Bergen Beach researched "Field Order 15," which was granted by Union Gen. William Sherman after the Civil War. It famously gave the freed slaves “40 acres and a mule.”

Gallal Dharhan, 13 said the group wanted to understand Sherman’s motives in helping the freed slaves through the land grants. (The order was later repealed by President Andrew Johnson after President Abraham Lincoln's assassination.)

"It makes me want to learn more about my ancestry and the Civil War," said Shameeka Skeete, 13, who worked on the project with three other students.

The other projects included examinations of Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s administration, women's suffrage, the Space Race, gay rights, chemical warfare, Wicca, Chinese immigration and even baseball.

The winners, whose names weren’t immediately available, will advance to a state competition in upstate Cooperstown in May, which is followed by a national competition in College Park, Md. in June.

“History Day gives students ownership of history," said Jenny Lando, educator and one of the volunteer judges.

-- Kathleen Bulson

This project exmained Woodrow Wilson and the League of Nations.

This project, by James Matlow, 14, of Genesis School in Bay Ridge, examined the Irish Republican Army.

A group of students from I.S. 78 in Bergen Beach displays their project on "Forty Acres and a Mule."

Joined by his father, Ryan McEvoy, 12, displays his project on the Danish resistance movement.

Students from I.S. 30 in Brooklyn interviewed Bay Ridge residents about the construction of the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge in the early 1960s.

"Hero on the Field: Roberto Clemente" was produced by students Giselle Cortes and Adrian Raffa.

Here comes the new 2 Columbus Circle

Friday March 28, 2008 11:36 AM By Rolando Pujol

Well, here it is -- no longer the vision for the new 2 Columbus Circle, but the real thing. Curbed is already on the case, but we just noticed the beginning of the facade's debut this afternoon and brought back this shot, with more after the jump. The pics offer a hint of what Brad Cleopfil's vision for the former Huntington Hartford Gallery will look like.

A real view of the building seems almost surreal, given the long dispute over preserving the original facade, designed by Edward Durrell Stone. The original controversially never got landmark protection, and some, including Landmark West! and even Tom Wolfe, vociferously fought for its survival. In fact, Landmark West! uses the upper portion of the original building's facade for its Web site's logo.

Stone's 2 Columbus Circle was seen by some as a quirky, but important example of "proto post modernism" that was worth saving. We shared that view, but the marble building had long been a failure as a useful thing, sitting empty for long stretches. Eventually, the city sold it to the Museum of Art and Design and with the funds and will in place to move in and transform it, its fate was sealed, despite the last-ditch effort to save it.

It's a little too early to draw conclusions about the new building. The comments on this Curbed thread, which includes many more pictures, tilt toward approval, We are certainly waiting to see how the building's iconic, lower-level "lollipops," made famous by a classic bon mot by critic Ada Louise Huxtable, appear when all is said and done.

-- Rolando Pujol

And the lollipops in the original, untouched state:

MSG stays put; Farley left alone

Thursday March 27, 2008 3:22 PM By Rolando Pujol

Two quick observations after the news that Cablevision won't move Madison Square Garden to the back of the Farley Post Office.

First, Madison Square Garden -- for now -- survives. They'll rehab it, just as they did in the early 1990s after dropping a plan to move farther west. Today's MSG isn't widely beloved, but heck, we have a weakness for its spherical, brutalist, space-age vibe. Today's iteration is the fourth complex bearing that name.

Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan outside the building that may one day yet bear his name. (Getty)

Second, the Farley Post Office is left alone. Damaging the integrity of a McKim, Mead and White building in this neighborhood would seem to invite bad karma. They were, of course, the creators of the original Penn Station, itself knocked down for today's MSG.

We'd still like to see Moynihan Station happen. The kernel of the idea seemed good enough, before it morphed into the project that would consume midtown.

Stay tuned.

-- Rolando Pujol

Pocket of old Manhattan poised to disappear

Thursday March 27, 2008 12:16 PM By Rolando Pujol

Ninth Avenue between West 17th and 18th streets is a remarkable pocket of Manhattan the way it once was -- homegrown shops that cater to their neighbors. That's it. The eastern side has a barber shop (with hand-painted sign), a liquor store (alive with bold neon), a dry cleaner (with 1960ish plastic sign), and so forth. And these are long-running businesses, with the kind of patina and roots that enrich the neighborhood. You take them as a group and you ask yourself how such places can hang on -- and what can be done to save them.

Th building that houses them has a new owner seeking to lure high-end retail -- that was the plan back in November. Now, Jeremiah at Vanishing New York reports in a compelling read that most of the shops have been told their days are numbered.

As he observes, "I've been wondering when the block would begin to vanish, but I didn't know it would happen with just one real estate deal."

It's a thought we've had from time to time about this stretch. We made a point of walking by here occasionally just to soak in the old-school flavor.

After the jump are a few more cell-phone shots we took of the street back in October. We plan to make another visit soon. Time is of the essence, as it is for so many of these places in today's New York.

-- Rolando Pujol

Urban archaeology: Banking on hotel's history

Wednesday March 26, 2008 9:57 AM By Rolando Pujol

The New Yorker is one of those hotels that somehow manages to fly under the radar of many who call themselves New Yorkers, but it's always jammed with tourists. Navigating the packed sidewalk outside its Eighth Avenue entrance requires skill and some patience; it usually brings our quick city strut to a stop.

But slowing down outside this 1930 Art Deco hotel also offers an opportunity. The Eighth Avenue facade has a beautiful vestige of Manufacturers Trust bank. This golden door reeks of stolidity and wealth -- your money is safe here, it seems to be telling its Depression-chastened audience. The details are noteworthy -- check out the rays emanating from the female figure.This bank certainly invested in good architecture -- it's responsible for one of the city's finest modern buildings.

The New Yorker recently upgraded its Art Deco-style signage in a faithful way as part of an overhaul that includes a new restaurant, Cooper's Tavern, that has a bit of a Deco flair. Indeed, the management seems to have an appreciation for its history. When you're done marveling at the bank's door, be sure to check out an informative window display of New Yorker history, including a panel (visible after the jump) showing Muhammad Ali chilling in a New Yorker bed while he was at the height of his fame.You have to appreciate a place that understands fully its role in history -- big bands played here, the "Call for Philip Morris" bellhop worked here, Nikola Tesla lived and died here, one of the world's largest barber's shop existed here. It even had the largest private power plant in the country, and a high floor chock full of busy operators frantically fielding phone calls. There was even a tunnel (who doesn't love secret tunnels) that whisked guests to nearby Penn Station.

The New Yorker closed in 1972 and became offices for the Unification Church of Christ before re-emerging as a hotel in the 1990s, still under the church's ownership.

The Times had a piece on the New Yorker in November, and speaks to Joseph Kinney, its engineer and unofficial archivist, who has done a lot to protect the hotel's legacy. Sounds like our kind of guy. The hotel is right down the block from our office, so we'll be writing more about it. We took the picture, shown at bottom, of the redone but still iconic New Yorker sign from our 17th-floor office window.

It's a great skyline slice of 1930s Gotham.

-- Rolando Pujol

Two horrific NYC fires share anniversary today

Tuesday March 25, 2008 8:52 AM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

March 25 has been an ominous date in New York City history - it marks the anniversary of two of the deadliest and most horrific fires the city has ever known: the 1911 Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire in Manhattan that killed 148 factory workers, and the 1990 Happy Land social club fire in the Bronx, which killed 87 people.

The notorious fires share other eerie similarities: in both cases the majority of the victims were under 25 years old and were immigrant workers. And in both cases the victims perished because the buildings were unsafe and had blocked exits or locked doors.

The Shirtwaist factory was a typical sweatshop of the industrial era, and was housed on the top floors of the 10-story Asch Building at 23-29 Washington Place on Washington Square. When flames engulfed the upper floors of the building, many of the women workers - mostly Jewish and Italian immigrants - were unable to escape. Fire truck ladders reached to only the sixth floor at that time and the fire was on floors 8 -10. Doors on the ninth floor were locked and the fire escape was flimsy and balked under the weight of so many people desperate to escape.

The blaze sparked major reforms in labor safety laws.

The Happy Land arson blaze ignited in an illegal after hours social club that two years before the deadly1990 fire had gotten building violations for lacking fire exits, fire alarms and sprinkler system.

The blaze was set by Julio Gonzalez, a Cuban immigrant, whose ex-girlfriend worked at the club. After an argument with her, he left the club, returned with gasoline and doused the stairs to the second floor club, which was packed with Honduran immigrants celebrating Carnival.

Fire exits had been locked to prevent people from sneaking in without paying the cover and it was a disaster for the club-goers inside.

Gonzalez was arrested and charged with murder and arson. He is still in jail. CBS2 has extensive archival footage of its coverage from the fire online HERE.

-- Lauren Johnston

Take the train to Vanderveer Park (where's that?)

Monday March 24, 2008 2:29 PM By Rolando Pujol

The past has a knack for resurfacing, even from under the weight of decades of paint. To wit: This sign at the Borough Hall station in Brooklyn, which, if you struggle to read it, directs straphangers to the Nos. 4 and 5 trains that will take you to a Dutch-sounding eden known as Vanderveer Park. From what we can make out, the sign says: "To Atlantic" on the first line, "East New York" on the second, and "Vanderveer Park" on the third. Below the words is a directional arrow.

If you wanted to go to Vanderveer Park today, you'd be visiting the Flatbush area. According to nyfd.com:

Vanderveer Park was the northern most part of the Town of Flatlands, which was annexed along with the Towns of Flatbush, New Utrecht and Gravesend in 1894. Today Vanderveer Park lives only in name at the Vanderveer Park Houses on Foster, to Newkirk Avenues between Nostrand and Brooklyn Avenues. Other than the housing projects the name is lost in history and the area is now the junction of Flatbush, Farragut and Midwood.

The name also survives in Vanderveer Park United Methodist Church. Vanderveer Park was also the name of an LIRR station. Here's a look at the vanished regal homes of Vanderveer Park.

The neighborhood made the news from time to time. For instance, in 1898, Vanderveer Park had some burglars "prowling around." From the New York Times of Oct. 2, 1898:

Capt. Knipe and Acting Detective Betts of the Flatbush Precinct, Brooklyn, went sleuthing yesterday morning in such a crafty way that they aroused the suspicions of the residents, and were "held up" by eight citizens with revolvers. Burglars have been prowling around the Vanderveer Park section, and the residents have agreed that if one of them sees a burglar he shall fire a pistol as a signal to rouse the neighborhood.

A year before, one of the Vanderveers was involved in a lawsuit, according to a Times article:

Peter F. Vanderveer, principal owner of Vanderveer Park, in Flatbush, and one of the wealthiest representatives of the old-time families in that suburb, has been sued by Dr. William H. Nans, a Flatbush physician, for services alleged to have been rendered Miss Kate Hoffman at the instance of the defendant.

Please share with Urbanite whatever you know of Vanderveer Park's history, tabloid friendly or otherwise.

-- Rolando Pujol

Urban archaeology: Not just any planter

Sunday March 23, 2008 11:46 AM By Rolando Pujol

There's history wherever you look in New York -- even on a sidewalk planter. We must have passed this planter dozens of times before noticing this weekend that it's just not any planter, it's an Adlai Stevenson planter! The Democrat and former Illinois governor twice tried to wrest the presidency from Ike before finishing his career as the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations in the 1960s. He passed away in 1965. This planter, on East 35th Street off Park Avenue, is dedicated to Stevenson, an intellectual's intellectual whose name is probably lost on many of the neighborhood's growing share of young professionals.

The planter is outside Community Church of New York, which has an interesting modernist facade. We make a point of walking by here from time to time because of the ever-changing display of inspirational messages on this bulletin board. Here's the one the faithful, or anyone walking by, encountered on Easter morning:

-- Rolando Pujol

Saving "The Bat"

Sunday March 23, 2008 10:18 AM By Rolando Pujol

After a vigorous fan campaign, the Mets came to their senses and agreed to save -- kind of -- the Apple that has graced Shea Stadium since 1980. We hedge because they've only committed to having an Apple presence at the new Citifield -- not necessarily our favorite Apple.

But what about The Bat at Yankee Stadium, that most cherished of meeting places? Newsday's Anthony Reiber couldn't get a firm answer about the prospects for the 120-foot-tall Louisville Slugger. Will it be kept in place, moved to the new stadium, get demolished or be auctioned off? It's anyone guess at this time.

Maybe it's time to launch a "Save the Bat" campaign, before it's too late.

-- Rolando Pujol

Photo: Getty Images, 2006

Duly Noted

Thursday March 20, 2008 3:28 PM By Rolando Pujol

* Exploring Eloise lore at the newly reopened Plaza. [City Room]

* Paterson's problems set the stage for Governor Bruno? [Daily Intel]

* A place we'd never heard of but now must visit: Chez Brigitte turns 50. [Jeremiah's Vanishing New York]

* As part of our Endangered NYC coverage, David Freedlander goes on a Lost City tour. Check out the photos and the narrated slideshow.

Photo by RJ Mickelson

A Superior visual treat

Thursday March 20, 2008 1:47 PM By Rolando Pujol

There are so many good things to say about this collection of signs for the Superior Sewing Machine and Supply Corp. Let's begin with the wonderful font, the turquoise paneling, and the varied presentation, from the large main sign to the one above the door to the painted logo in the window. They're perfectly imperfect -- notice how the lettering in each sign (notably the "S") is inconsistent. The overall look is very pleasing and soothing.

The shop, at 48 W. 25th St., is Superior's world headquarters. The company describes itself as the wholesale leader in parts and supplies for industrial sewing and cutting machines. Its roots trace back to 1949, when the company only supplied the local garment trade. The company resides in a historically significant loft building built by Abraham Lefcourt, a garment industry pioneer, according to New York Songlines.

As for the signs, they are very much a product of the company's early years. They speak to that post-war, mid-century moment of optimism. Call it a superior time.

-- Rolando Pujol

Duly Noted: It's a circus out there

Wednesday March 19, 2008 11:32 AM By Rolando Pujol

* Albany press corps heard whispers of Paterson's affairs for years ... [Observer]

* ... But really, why are we still talking about this? [Daily Gotham]

* Speaking of circuses, as Coney marks its possibly last summer (sound familiar?), the Circus Sideshow opens Sunday. [Kinetic Carnival]

* New York's boulevard of shoe stores is skipping a few steps these days. [Jeremiah's Vanishing New York]

* A theater designed by none other than Thomas Lamb has gone dark in Ridgewood. [Lost City]

* Thursday is the 97th anniversary of the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire. [Daily Gotham]

* Scotland Week will mean haggis hot dogs coming April 4 and 5! [Midtown Lunch]

* City Room has an update on the leaning tower of Broadway. [City Room]

* Toll Brothers target Murray Hill/Kips Bay. Check out the comment thread on the virtues of Murray Hill. (Mighty fine townhouses there, for starters.) [Curbed]

* And just north in Turtle Bay, the UN is suspending weekend tours. Be sure to visit if you haven't before the renovations get under way. [NewYorkology]

-- Rolando Pujol

Photo: jason.I.ryan via Flickr

Uncle O'Grimacey, where have you gone?

Sunday March 16, 2008 12:09 PM By Rolando Pujol

Remarkably effective (and long defunct) marketing by the McDonald's Corp, and its co-conspirator, Uncle O'Grimacey, a now retired resident of McDonaldland, sets off a Pavlovian response in us every March 17. Must drink Shamrock Shake.

But the folks at McDonald's, after years of bombarding our market with ads for this minty treat, pulled Shamrock Shakes from the New York area years ago. The corporation said last year that area franchisees haven't shown interest in bringing back the shake. So we'll add our voice to the chorus at Bring Back the Shamrock Shake, which has been on the case for years. And here, the road trip minded can get intel on where to find a McDonald's with a Shamrock Shake.

It appears they pick up again from Trenton on south, and from southern Connecticut on north. You can't miss them in Boston. Saturday night, it so happens, some friends invited us to dinner at a Thai restaurant in Norwalk, Conn. So, sensing an opportunity, we stopped at a prominent McDonald's off I-95 ... and left with a vanilla shake. Our attempt to describe a Shamrock Shake to the man at the counter was comical. He'd never heard of it, but he did helpfully offer that he could blend vanilla and chocolate.

Great. I'd be better off trying this.

There is, by the way, hope, New Yorkers. Shamrock Shakes have returned to Canada after a five-year absence.

-- Rolando Pujol

Here's evidence of those oh-so-successful decades of marketing:

Go on a historic pub crawl for St. Pat's

Sunday March 16, 2008 12:03 PM By Rolando Pujol

Reuters and Metromix have each put together what could make a great historic Irish pub crawl. The Reuters piece focuses on two places:

Carroll Gardens: P.J. Hanley's, which claims to be Brooklyn's oldest Irish tavern, middle-aged men can be found chatting at the bar in a mixed crowd. Established in 1874, it has had three Irish family owners.

Manhattan: McSorley's Old Ale House, established in 1854 not long after New York became a prime destination for the Irish emigrating during the years of Irish potato famine ... McSorley's is not far from the former "Little Ireland" district that emerged in the 1830s and is near a host of modern glass-fronted buildings being built along The Bowery district.

We learned, for one, that Abe Lincoln patronized McSorley's!

The piece also mentions P.J. Clarke's, which amNY profiled last week. And it gives a nod to places in traditional Irish neighborhoods, such as Woodlawn and Woodside, that could be worth seeking out on Monday.

In addition to those places, Metromix touts the taps at Landmark Tavern, the Ear Inn and Desmond's Tavern, which is the baby on the list -- it opened in 1936 -- "but the few times its ownership has changed hands makes it the fourth-oldest continuously operating bar in Manhattan -- not an insignificant claim to fame."

Cheers!

-- Rolando Pujol

Photo via peterbourgon on Flickr

Miracle of the Market Diner

Saturday March 15, 2008 2:11 AM By Rolando Pujol

When the wonderful Market Diner closed in 2006, it seemed yet another predictable chapter in the whittling away of New York's soul. The place was loaded with history and charm, including the Googie decor and signage, the lore of late-night meals with Frank Sinatra and the Westies, and, well, that parking lot, a head-scratcher in Manhattan but logical given its appeal to cabbies as well as suburbanites who could indulge a midnight snack just a block away from the West Side Highway.

We last swung by its abandoned home at West 43rd Street and 11th Avenue in July, and found weeds growing in the parking lot and the sense that this place had an inevitable date with the wrecking ball. But, folks, the Market Diner is getting its soul back.

The New York Times is reporting that the diner will reopen in its old home in about two months, now under the control of the family behind the venerable Cosmic Diner, which recently moved from its longtime, soulful Columbus Circle perch. The family told the Times the new Market Diner may go a tad more upscale, add a bar, and yes, even sacrifice that parking space for outdoor seating. Indeed, when the diner opened in 1962, this area was not even remotely like the residential enclave it is becoming, so trading parking spaces for tables makes sense. It's those new residents that made the diner an attractive opportunity for the new proprietors. So this is a curious outcome: The gentrification of Hell's Kitchen and environs has helped destroy interesting places, but, in this case, may be reviving one that was killed by those same forces.

The Market Diner was a welcome spot for us on many a late night. We could never get over the novelty of parking our car in a diner parking lot -- in Manhattan! The burger and fries were always solid, and hit the spot after our long drive back to Manhattan from Newsday in Melville.

The diner's return -- parking lot or not -- is great news, and is nicely timed, coming a day after we had our last meal at Armando's in Brooklyn Heights.(You must go, it closes Sunday; try the Chicken Rollatini. And watch for our blog post later this weekend.)

The family taking over the Market Diner won't be paying the about $500,000 a year in rent the landlord had been seeking, the Times reports, though how much it will pay is not known.

In a separate but important matter, the article didn't address how sensitive the new hands will be to the original decor and signage. My first hopeful guess would be that these features won't be seriously fiddled with -- after all, they are part of the joint's appeal.

So to the Market Diner, we offer a hearty welcome back! We'll add your name to the list of miracles that include the revived Second Avenue Deli.

-- Rolando Pujol

A part of the WTC that's still in use

Sunday March 9, 2008 9:32 PM By Rolando Pujol

The removal of the World Trade Center "Survivors' Stairway" for safe-keeping received much attention Sunday. But less celebrated but quite remarkable is the survival of a small stretch of marble corridor in the PATH station that will be staying put. The pathway was part of the original WTC concourse, and gives you a small taste of what the lower portion of this lost icon was like. Sunday, David Freedlander examined the fate and future of this relic. Here are some photos of the corridor, which connects the Chambers Street subway stop to the WTC PATH.

-- Rolando Pujol

Meet Capitol One, which was North Fork, which was ...

Sunday March 9, 2008 2:11 PM By Rolando Pujol

Well, another New York area bank name officially bites the dust. The latest entrant into the halls of history? North Fork. The Melville-based company was purchased by credit card giant Capital One in 2006, which only in the past few days got around to switching the branding on branches.

We remark on this change not so much because we have any particular sense of nostalgia for North Fork, but because it is simply another home-grown banking fixture that has disappeared.

Of course, long-timers Chase and Citibank are inescapable presences on city streets -- Chase's bold circa 1960 logo has never been more prominent, or more blue -- but many other banks that were once also inescapable have shuffled off.

Most of these vanished banks are around in the sense that they were absorbed by larger concerns, some of whom have been swallowed by even bigger fish. Here's but a sampling of the names that were once all around the city:

Bowery -- Joe DiMaggio was the longtime spokesman. The bank, chartered in 1834, disappeared in 1992, along with the ads featuring Joltin' Joe. It became Home Savings of America, which was swallowed by Greenpoint, which was swallowed by North Fork. And now North Fork is Capitol One ... you get the idea.

Chemical -- Founded in 1823, this titan was absorbed by Chase Manhattan in 1995.

Manufacturers Hanover -- Nicknamed Manny Hanny, this New York institution long ago bit the dust. Chemical swallowed it in 1993. Here's a commercial announcing the merger.

Dollar Dry Dock -- Founded in 1848, this bank got creamed by the last real-estate debacle in the early 1990s, and most of its customers were sent along to Emigrant Savings, which is still going strong.

Crossland Savings -- Crossland's DNA survives in HSBC. Crossland's parent was sold in 1995 to Republic National Bank, which HSBC later absorbed.

Dime -- The road to riches starts with the Dime, went the old TV jingle. Washington Mutual absorbed this chain in 2002, but the logo survives as part of the corporate identity of Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh.

Marine Midland -- Originally from Buffalo, Marine Midland held on until it took the name of parent HSBC in 1998. Marine Midland's legacy survives in the celebrated modernist building that was once its headquarters, 140 Broadway, noted for the red "Cube" sculpture by Isamu Noguchi.

Anchor Savings Bank -- If you're of a certain age, your remember the ad slogan uttered by the bank's chairman and his wife: "Your Anchor banker, he understands; your Anchor banker, she understands." Anchor was absorbed by Dime in the 1990s.

For more on New York banking history, check here.

-- Rolando Pujol

Chemical memorabilia from eBay auction.

Don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows....

Thursday March 6, 2008 8:36 PM By David Freedlander

We're super relieved no one was hurt in today's crazy-ass Times Square bombing but thought one bit of conspiracy theory motive interesting: that it occurred the same day that the Weather Underground mistakenly set off a bomb in the Greenwich Village townhouse, which killed three of the group and sent the rest truly underground, where they stayed for over a decade.

If you don't know, the Weathermen were basically a group of radical leftists who thought the only way to advance the causes of social justice were through the violent overthrow of the existing order.

This was a pretty cool movie about them.

One interesting local note: Great, dimly lit Morningside Heights bar Night Cafe used to owned by an ex-Weatherman. Was, 'cuz sadly, Night Cafe is no more

-- David Freedlander

A history of violence

Thursday March 6, 2008 5:27 PM By Rolando Pujol

Police investigate the scene of the Fraunces Tavern

bombing in 1975. Image via latinamericanstudies.org.

The New York area has scene multiple bombings over the years, the most recent occurring in Times Square Thursday morning. Not including the two World Trade Center attacks, the incidents include:

July 30, 1916 - The Black Tom explosion.

Hundreds were injured, and possibly seven people killed, when barges and railroad cars filled with munitions bound for England and France were exploded by saboteurs on Black Tom Island, west of Ellis Island. The attack was carried out by U.S.-based German officials and their agents to stop the munitions from reaching French and British troops in World War I.

Sept. 16, 1920 - Terrorist attack on Wall Street.

A horse-drawn wagon filled with TNT exploded down the street from the New York Stock Exchange. Thirty-nine people were killed and another 300 were injured and burned. No one was ever charged for the attack, but police suspected Italian anarchists or Communists.

1940-1956- The Mad Bomber.

A disgruntled former employee of Con Ed named George P. Metesky planted 33 homemade bombs around the city, and became known as “The Mad Bomber.” Only 23 of the bombs actually went off before being found. The explosions injured a total of 15 people. He was arrested on Jan. 18 1957 and was released in 1974.

March 6, 1970 - Weather Underground blast.

Theodore Gold, a Columbia student and Cathlyn Wilkerson were building bombs in Wilkerson's family's townhouse in Greenwich Village. Some of the explosives went off accidentally, killing three people and demolishing the entire townhouse. Wilkerson was a member of the radical organization “Weather Underground” but never said what the group was planning to do with the bombs.

1970s and 80s – Puerto Rican liberation group, FALN (or Fuerzas Armadas de Liberación Nacional) commits violent attacks all over the city.

In 1975, they set off a bomb that killed four people at Fraunces Tavern on Pearl Street. The group claimed responsibility, but no one was ever prosecuted. It also planted pipe bombs in several big corporations and the New York Public Library and set fires in La Guardia, Kennedy, and Newark airports. In 1982 they bombed the NYPD headquarters and many financial houses on Wall Street. In the end, they were blamed for more than 50 bomb attacks in the New York area that killed six people and maimed or injured dozens more.

-- Laura Berger

Serving motorists and transients

Thursday March 6, 2008 2:39 PM By Rolando Pujol

It's not every day you see the word "transients" in bright neon lights. Does this garage offer a place to park cars and house transients? Is it a garage that has been converted into an SRO?

This is hardly a seedy relic of the old Times Square. Quite the opposite, it can be found on a quiet Upper East Side street. This fantastic sign, worthy of mention alone for its form and bold neon, offers a window into an odd use of the word "transient." To be sure, most of us think of "transient" as having a very specific connotation -- a vagabond, a drifter of probably questionable character. But here, the word "transient" is promoting the services of the lot for motorists wishing to park their cars temporarily. A quick Google search finds "transient" still in reasonably common use on parking-lot Web sites. But how often do you see it lit up on a massive garage sign?

We know of another lot that serves "transients," shown at left. It's on East 60th Street near the Queensboro Bridge, so perhaps these signs were quite common at one point.

-- Rolando Pujol

A perfect corner

Wednesday March 5, 2008 12:26 PM By Rolando Pujol

When they build a museum to the Manhattan of yore, they would do well to recreate the southeast corner of West 39th Street and Eighth Avenue. It is perfect in ways that speak to the random, organic nature of Gotham street life. Such spots have become so rare in Manhattan that they take on a surreal, Hollywood-set quality.

It's all there: The old-school barber shop, the shoe-repair business and the liquor store with a set of wonderful neon signs.

Long may they thrive.

-- Rolando Pujol

A break for hip hop's birthplace

Monday March 3, 2008 1:22 PM By Rolando Pujol

Updated 6:06 p.m. There was new hope for the tenants of 1520 Sedgwick Ave. in the Bronx yesterday when the city nixed a deal to sell the building - the birthplace of hip-hop — to a real estate developer.

Residents of the 100-units of affordable housing have been living in fear since learning that real-estate mogul Mark Karasick had made an offer on the Morris Heights property where DJ Kool Herc pioneered the art of mixing beats on dual-turntables in the rec room in 1973. The city could not legally listen to the hip-hop historical argument in considering the sale, but the Department of Housing Preservation and Development did looked at the finances of the sale.

“We couldn’t see a way the rents allowed under Mitchell-Lama could cover the purchase price,” said Neill Coleman, a spokesman for HPD.

Tenants currently pay an average of about $1,200 for the 1, 2, and 3-bedroom units, said Dina Levy of the Urban Homesteading Assistance Board. The concern is that those rents, which are already close to market rate, would have significantly increased to cover Karasick’s confidential purchase offer, Levy explained.

A woman who answered the phone at Karasick’s office said that he would not be commenting on the city’s decision. Steven Frankel, attorney for the ownership group, 1520 Sedgwick Houses Inc., said that he had no formal notification from HPD regarding their rejection of the deal and could not comment.

But tenants have not won the war yet. The building’s owners have the right to opt out of the Mitchell-Lama program, which offers tax reductions and other incentives in return for providing affordable rent.

If taken off the Mitchell-Lama rolls, the building can be sold to the highest bidder without public review. No application to leave the program has been filed yet, Coleman said.

In the meantime, tenants have found allies in Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-NY) and two not-for-profit tenant advocacy groups like Levy’s as well as Tenants and Neighbors. With their assistance, the residents hope to raise money and use subsidies that will allow them to buy the property and turn it into an affordable co-op building.

Schumer said the building's struggle was a small part of a greater need to preserve affordable housing around the city.

“At 1520 Sedgwick, we have the glimmer of hope of stemming the tide,” he said.

-- Matthew Sweeney

Photo: Mary Fountain, a resident of 1520 Sedgwick in the Bronx is fighting to keep the building affordable to tenants. 1520 Sedgwick is credited as the birthplace of hip hop. (amNewYork file/Jefferson Siegel)

Previous amNY coverage:

Residents fight to save hip-hop birthplace

Web special: 30 years of hip hop

The desecration of a sacred place

Thursday February 21, 2008 3:10 PM By Rolando Pujol

The demolition of Glad Tidings Tabernacle Church on West 33rd Street, a Romanesque Revival building completed in 1868, has been happening quietly for a few months, under the cover of scaffolding. But today, we bore witness to what is left of this sacred space, which will in a blink of an eye become a hotel. As we took these photos, two young women reacted in horror and indignation at the destruction, asking me, "Wasn't this a church?" I was almost embarrassed to tell them it was. This is what we do to our churches in today's New York.

-- Rolando Pujol

John Lennon's New York hangout Cafe La Fortuna to close

Thursday February 21, 2008 10:22 AM By Jamshid Mousavinezhad

In another sad case of fading city icons, we've confirmed that Upper West Side mainstay (and John Lennon's favorite neighborhood hang-out) Cafe La Fortuna will close this Sunday, Feb. 24 The rumor was first posted on Eater earlier this week. Here's our updated story.

In part, it's the usual New York story. According to the restaurant's Web site designer Elizabeth Halliday, owner Mike Trapani said after rents on neighboring businesses skyrocketed, he knew his building would soon follow.

But the place had also lost its "heart & soul." This note below from original owner Vinny Urwand, known among cafe regulars as "Uncle Vinny," tells patrons his wife and co-owner Alice died in January - and that piece of him went with her.

We first heard about the sign earlier today from a heartbroken long-time patron of Café La Fortuna (located at 69 W. 71st St.) and here's the proof.

The Upper West Side cafe was a favorite hang-out of John Lennon and Yoko Ono – and until early last year when Trapani gave it to Yoko, the couple's table was featured in a front window. The interior is still decorated with Lennon photos and memorabilia.

Randy Smith, a 50-year-old legal word processor, who has lived above the restaurant for 17 years told Urbanite a waitress first told him last week the cafe was set to close and then last night he saw the notice confirming the sad rumor.

“I’ve been going there for the iced cappuccino and chocolate Italian ice for 17 years. I don’t know where I’m going to go now,” Smith lamented.

Confused patrons saw the sign this morning before the cafe opened, and knocked on the glass looking for explanations. The cafe has been a stalwart independent in a neighborhood increasingly eaten up by chains.

"It’s like a boutique coffee shop, it’s not a chain coffee shop. It’s an Old World Italian café where you can linger and talk and be surrounded by music and it’s comfortable, and when we lose places like that, the city loses a little bit of soul," Halliday said over the phone this morning.

She first heard rumors of the closing when a customer wrote a note to the cafe's Web site address, asking if the place was set to shut down - and then she called Trapani.

"He sounded very sad, like resignation," Halliday said. "He said, 'Things change and we have to change with them."

* Click here for photos from Cafe La Fortuna today

-- Lauren Johnston

Roger Thornhill can get his drink on again at The Plaza

Tuesday February 19, 2008 10:17 AM By Rolando Pujol

The Plaza may reopen its gilded doors as early as March 1 after almost two years of renovations and a condo conversion, NewYorkology reports, but the Palm Court and its famed tea service will be back later that month, and the Oak Bar-Oak Room, where Cary Grant, playing Roger O. Thornhill, had drinks before getting kidnapped in "North by Northwest," opens later in the spring.

But it won't be the same place, with fewer hotel rooms and an abundance of high-priced condos, where, sniff, sniff, some of the residents will be lonely.

Indulge your Plaza curiosity with our special multimedia presentation, video, 100th anniversary story and photo gallery.

-- Rolando Pujol

Photo: Cary Grant as Roger O. Thornhill and Jesse Royce Landis as his charmingly overbearing mother at The Plaza in "North by Northwest."

The Whiteout: 2 years later

Monday February 11, 2008 1:10 AM By Rolando Pujol

The Blizzard of '06 socked Central Park with 26.9 inches of snow, the most ever at the park. The storm began late on the 11th and continued well into the 12th. The heaviest snow was in a tight band, and parts of the city saw far less. Still, it was one for the books, and despite today's cold, there's no sign of anywhere near that much snow on the horizon for us. Check out our blog Tracker's archives of posts from that day, including a plea for New York City Transit chief Larry Reuter to clear those subway station steps!

-- Rolando Pujol

Photo from mtkr's Flickr stream

Where the Coliseum lives

Tuesday January 29, 2008 3:20 PM By Rolando Pujol

On East 58th Street, in the shadow of the gargantuan Time Warner towers, stands a restaurant that's been around since well before the center's gourmet food court was drawing expense-account types.

Indeed, this restaurant is a reminder of the New York Coliseum, the convention complex that stood across the street from 1954 to 2000, when it was finally cleared away for what would initially be called the AOL Time Warner Center. We all know how that merger went.

The Coliseum Bar and Restaurant proudly states on its facade that it was founded in 1978, and no doubt served many a car- and trade-show attendee over the years. Now, it's thriving in a part of town that has gone luxe overnight, precisely because of Time Warner. Gone, of course, is the Coliseum itself, and even Coliseum Books, which briefly resurfaced on 42nd Street before vanishing for good.

But the Coliseum restaurant remains, a name that is probably lost on many of the people who habituate the Time Warner Center, its restaurants and the gilded shops in its mall.

-- Rolando Pujol

22 years ago today

Monday January 28, 2008 8:40 PM By Rolando Pujol

Today was like any other day for most people, but exactly 22 years ago, the nation was in grief after the space shuttle Challenger exploded 73 seconds after liftoff, killing all seven astronauts aboard. Among them was Ronald McNair, an African-American physicist who spent part of his childhood in East Harlem and was only the second African-American to fly in space.

There are at least two places in the city you can go to pay tribute to McNair and the rest of the Challenger crew. Back in 2006, the city completed a playground in his honor, on Lexington Avenue between East 122nd and 123rd streets, built on a lot that was once a dumping ground not far from the auto shop his father ran for many years.

According to an AP story from the time:

The one-acre McNair Playground - whose opening was delayed apparently because of a lack of funding - revolves around a space theme.

Jupiter is represented by a 77-foot granite ring circling the park's green turf, and a climbing set is based on the spaceship in the film "2001: A Space Odyssey." Moonlike craters decorate a spray shower, and the phases of the moon are reflected in two spinning machines

The park was a long time coming, considering that Mayor Ed Koch attended its original groundbreaking 20 years earlier.

Back in 1994, McNair was honored with a monument and park in Brooklyn. Newsday reported then:

Several of McNair's colleagues at NASA, Borough President Howard Golden and parks officials attended the unveiling at the park, a 1.36-acre triangle bounded by Eastern Parkway and Washington and Classon Avenues. The memorial is a 9-foot tall, pyramid-shaped base of polished red granite with three bronze plaques inscribed with McNair's philosophies.

McNair was married with children. He would have been 57 years old.

-- Rolando Pujol

Photo from the Brooklyn park via the Bridge and Tunnel Club, which has more here.

Videos of news coverage from the day after the jump.The first 10 minutes of the CBS Evening News from Jan. 28, 1986:

Coverage from ABC:

No more lovin' at Levitz

Wednesday January 23, 2008 8:43 PM By Rolando Pujol

The demise of the Levitz furniture store chain, which is now in the frenzy of its post-Chapter 11 final-clearance sales, didn't come as a surprise. In an era of more fashionable (and sometimes less expensive) furniture options from the likes of Ikea and Crate and Barrel, coupled with the worsening economy and subprime lending meltdown, Levitz, which had emerged twice before from bankruptcy, seemed doomed. Indeed, the similar Seaman's furniture (remember, "See Seaman's First," the jingle went) met its demise years ago.

Levitz was founded in Lebanon, Pa. in 1910, and eventually had locations around the country. (For years, we thought this was only a New York chain.) But we'll miss Levitz mostly because it was another retail fixture that worked its way into our everyday vocabulary -- it was just always there. And we knew it was there because of that memorable jingle. It was simple and catchy: "You'll love it at Levitz." The Levitz name won't altogether disappear. Some non-affiliated Levitz shops also originated by the same family, called Sam Levitz, will carry on, but you'll have to visit Tucson, Ariz., where members of the Levitz family moved decades ago, to see them.

Still, it's not an entirely bad time in the furniture business, despite the housing-market decline. Raymour & Flanigan, which entered the city market just a few years ago, will scoop up Levitz locations. Raymour did the same with old Huffman Koos stores.

As a proper send-off to Levitz, here are some interesting examples of the "Love It" campaign, including the earliest we could find, from 1978.

-- Rolando Pujol

Photo: From pbo31's Flicker stream

Knowing Where The Bodies Are Buried

Wednesday January 23, 2008 7:07 PM By David Freedlander

We were thrilled to find out about the accidental discovery of skeletons beneath the

Washington Square Park.

Once upon a time, back before when rents spiked above $3,000 month in the area, the park was the site of public hangings, and, because of the convenience factor, a potter's field for cheap burials.

It's so cool to live some place and having no idea of what lies beneath your trampling feet.

And good lord, with the fight over the park's renovation getting increasingly ugly the last few years, we're just grateful those bones aren't of a more recent vintage

Photo from Heather Cross

A funky Flatbush fixture

Tuesday January 22, 2008 1:22 AM By Rolando Pujol

We're intrigued with this sculpture, a somewhat pop-artish cluster of puffy trees on Flatbush Avenue across from Prospect Park. The work, which we'd guess dates to the 1970s or early 1980s, certainly denotes the sylvan wonders that lie nearby. But it's also a reminder of the woodsy origins of Flatbush. We must tip our hats to our Dutch forebears, to whom we can trace this word. As explained by the Parks Department, the Dutch "vlacke bos," or flat woodland, eventually morphed into our English-sounding Flatbush. More here and here on the origins.

-- Rolando Pujol