Category: Blog

Professional Baseball in the City

The American Pastime has always been well represented in New York City.  The game was invented by Alexander Cartwright in the 1840s.  Cartwright’s team, the New York Knickerbockers, were even believed to be the first team to wear uniforms.  Teams from the city have been represented in the National League (1876), the American League (1901), and the two attempted competitors to the Major Leagues—the Federal League in the 1910s and the Continental League in the 1960s.  Major League Baseball’s headquarters is located on Park Avenue in Midtown while the Hall of Fame is only a four-hour drive away in Cooperstown.

In terms of the two main major leagues, New York used to be a National League stronghold.  The city had two teams: the New York Giants (who played at the Polo Grounds in Washington Heights) and the Brooklyn Dodgers (who would be most remembered for playing at Ebbets Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn).  The Giants were one of the most dominant teams in the game early in its history, while the Dodgers were not so dominant in their early history, but came to personify the Borough of Brooklyn through their hard style of play, fiercely loyal fans, and the first team in the modern era to have African-American and Latino players.  Changing population patterns and market realities would lead the Giants to relocate to San Francisco and the Dodgers to Los Angeles in 1958.  The absence of a National League team would lead (after abortive attempts to bring the Cincinnati Reds, Pittsburgh Pirates, and Philadelphia Phillies to the city) to businessmen led by William Shea trying to form a third major league (the Continental League) to bring a second team to the city.  Major League Baseball, wanting to protect its hold on professional baseball, gave the city the New York Mets as an expansion team (you can see where Shea Stadium’s name came from now).  The Mets have often been the also-rans in their history, but have had several memorable seasons, including in 1969, 1986, and in 2015.   The Mets now play at the new Citi Field in Flushing, Queens. The Mets have an A-level minor league team in Brooklyn, the Cyclones, who play at a stadium in Coney Island, and a AA-level team in Binghampton.

The American League team of the city has been the New York Yankees.  Relocated from Baltimore in 1903 and originally called the Highlanders (because they played at Hilltop Park in Upper Manhattan), the team changed its name to the Yankees in 1913 when they moved to the Polo Grounds.  After nearly 10 years, the Yankees had outdrawn the Giants in their own stadium and were evicted.  The owners of the Yankees built Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, directly across the Harlem River from the Polo Grounds in the Bronx.  The Yankees were the team of Babe Ruth, one of the first superstars of the sport.  Through astute management and cultivation of talent (and what detractors would argue as underhanded tactics and buying out the best players from other teams), the Yankees have managed to build on a winning legacy, winning 27 World Series, 40 American League Pennants, and being in the postseason at least once in every decade since the 1920s.  The Yankees play at a new Yankee Stadium that was built across the street from the old park.  The Yankees have an A-level team, the Staten Island Yankees, that play near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal in the St. George neighborhood, as well as their AAA-level team near Scranton,PA, and their AA-level affiliate in Trenton, NJ.

New York has been host to several “Subway Series” World Series, most recently in 1999, but also throughout the 1950s.  Recent studies have shown that despite the increasing popularity of basketball and football, baseball still remains the most popular sport in the city (one of the few regions of the country where this is true).  Given that every borough except for Manhattan has a major or minor league team, the game remains very accessible to the general population.  This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour.

New York City Fire Museum

The FDNY was formally organized in 1865 and has 13,000 firefighters and paramedics.  Every year, the FDNY responds to hundreds of thousands of calls for assistance.  Some sources place the FDNY as the busiest fire department in the world.  The average emergency response time for a fire emergency is about five minutes.

Given the important role that the FDNY holds in keeping the city safe and functioning, it is not surprising that they have their own museum.  Founded in 1934, the Fire Museum moved several times before settling into a location close to the Holland Tunnel in 1987.  This museum documents firefighting in the city over the years.

Visitors to this museum will learn about the history of New York’s Bravest from the first fire watches in the colonial era to the complicated equipment used to fight fires and save lives in the most densely populated city in the U.S.  Along the way, visitors will also learn about the wood pipes and private fire companies that existed in the Antebellum Era—along with the “plug uglies” who fought each other often as much as they put out fires.

The second floor gallery houses antique fire engines and horse-drawn firefighting machinery.  Some of the machines were for every day use while others were just for parades.  A display in the museum talks about how fire houses started using dalmatians on their runs to not only locate people trapped by fire or debris, but also to protect the horses drawing firefighting equipment from being attacked by packs of feral dogs that were common on New York’s streets.

The museum also has a touching tribute to the 343 firemen of the FDNY who were killed in the September 11th Attack.  A full chronology of the day’s events from the fire department’s perspective and a moving memorial are a fitting tribute to their extremely selfless actions.

Every city is proud of its firefighters.  It is not surprising, however, that the biggest fire department in the land would have such a great museum that documents their history and memorializes the great sacrifices they have made.  Although it is not on most tourist itineraries, the Fire Museum should be on the list of any history buffs or (if you’re like me) people who like to get close to fire engines.  Remember that you can also learn about history and get up close to sights on a Sights by Sam walking tour.

Sabotage and Sinking: The Leadup to World War I in New York

History affects all of us today–what happened in the past has shaped our present. From 1914 to 1918, World War I raged across Europe, leaving millions dead and maimed. The bad peace that ensued would lead to an even more destructive war less than 25 years later.

New York and the immediate area had an unknowingly great role in the so-called Great War. While men from New York such as the mighty 369th Infantry Regiment (the Harlem Hellfighters), fought hard, two events in and around the city would forever change the world:

Lusitania

The RMS Lusitania was launched in 1906 by the Cunard Line, a British corporation. The German government, not at war with the U.S. at the time, warned American citizens, with ads in newspapers located near the ship schedules, that Americans who sailed on a British-flagged ship may be killed—a result of unrestricted submarine warfare by the German Empire against allied shipping. On May 1, 1915, the Lusitania left Pier 54 in the Chelsea Piers Complex (near where the Titanic was supposed to arrive in 1912). She was sunk on May 7, 1915, by German submarine U-20. After the resultant torpedo explosion, 1,191 out of 1,962 passengers and crew (including 129 of the 139 Americans registered as passengers) were killed. Investigations of the cargo manifest indicated that the Lusitania was carrying arms for the British in the hold—leading to an almost instant explosion and sinking in minutes instead of the hours it would normally have taken the massive ship to sink. For a time, the German government cancelled unrestricted submarine warfare and did not attack passenger liners until 1917.

Black Tom Explosion

A now-vanished island used to be in New York Harbor near Liberty Island. In the years since the revolution and antebellum eras, Black Tom Island became an ammunition dump. During World War I, the U.S., at the urging of the British Empire, canceled arms trading with the German Empire. At 2:00 AM on July 30, 1916, fires had broken out on the island, sending 50 tons of TNT and 1 ton of ammunition aflame and causing an explosion that according to Smithsonian Magazine measured 5.5 on the Richter scale and could be felt in Philadelphia. The explosion shattered windows in New York and in Jersey City. The damage caused by the explosion would equal $500 million in today’s dollars. Due to the explosion, Ellis Island had to be evacuated due to flying debris. As the title suggested, most of Black Tom Island was submerged (and later incorporated onto Liberty Island as landfill). After initial confusion in the investigation, recent immigrants from Germany, working under the employ of German Imperial intelligence services, were implicated in the bombing. The saboteurs are believed to have attacked another ammunition dump in California before fleeing to Mexico before the U.S. entered World War I. The German government paid $50 million to plaintiffs (including railroads) who sued, the largest judgment resulting from the Mixed Claims Commission on Germany after the war. It is believed that visitors cannot enter the torch of the Statue of Liberty due to this incident. A small memorial to the explosion exists in Jersey City.

While only two individual events that occurred partially in New York, these two events served as a catalyst for the U.S. to enter World War I, rescuing the beleaguered Allied Powers in 1917 and changing the course of the war, and of subsequent history. This is the type of history you will learn on any Sights by Sam walking tour.

The United Nations

It seems only fitting that the world’s largest international organization would have its headquarters in one of the world’s most international cities.  The United Nations (U.N.) occupies a swath of real estate bordering Turtle Bay on Manhattan’s east side.  The row of nearly 200 flags welcomes people into the “international zone” of the U.N.’s headquarters complex.

The location of the U.N. was not immediately decided after the founding of the organization in the wake of World War II.  Several sites were considered such as Lake Success, NY, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Philadelphia, the Black Hills of South Dakota, and San Francisco, among other locations.  The site of the U.N. was settled when the Rockefeller Family donated industrial lands they owned for the project.  After the location was decided, Architect Wallace Harrison was the leader in a project that would include several international architects, including several “starchitechts” of their day such as Oscar Niemeyer and Le Corbusier.  Construction started in 1948 and was completed in 1952, with several additions since then.  The predominating International Style is the architectural motif of choice for this project.  The main part of the complex is the Secretariat Building (509 feet tall), where the organization’s offices are located.  There are also buildings holding the U.N. General Assembly, the Conference Building (which houses the Security Council), and the Dag Hammarskjold Library.

If you have not done so before, it is recommended to tour the facility.  A U.N. employee will show the chambers of the General Assembly, Security Council, and other parts of the building.  Not surprisingly, the U.N. contains an incredible collection of art work in and around its complex—with works by Ferdinand Leger and Norman Rockwell among them.  For philatelists and stamp collectors, one of the highlights of the tour is the U.N.’s post office.  The post office stocks unique stamps and any letter sent from U.N. Headquarters has a unique postmark imprinted on it.  A related place on the U.N. grounds to check out is the Delegates Dining Room.  Although advance reservations must be made, the clientele are mostly diplomats and other workers in the U.N.

Owing to New York’s unofficial title as the world’s capital and its myriad of residents from every country, the U.N. Headquarters adds to this assertion.  Although the merits of the organization are hotly debated the world over, the very presence of the U.N. and the complex itself have become an easily identifiable and essential part of the city.  This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour.

The Chrysler Building

Built to be the headquarters of the Chrysler Corporation, the Chrysler Building is the world’s tallest brick building and the defining masterpiece of the Art Deco architecture style.  It has spawned numerous imitators—most notably One Liberty in Philadelphia.  Although it was the tallest in the world for less than one year, it is routinely voted among the favorites of New York natives and tourists.

The Chrysler Building stands at 1049 feet tall (coincidently the same as the New York Times Building).  The building, designed by architect William Van Alen, was commissioned at the behest of Walter P. Chrysler as his headquarters.  Notably, the tower was paid for in cash by Chrysler so his children, not his company, would own it (it has been sold numerous times since then).  Chrysler was obsessed with having the tallest building in the world.  When it was learned that 40 Wall Street was going to be taller (the old Bank of Manhattan headquarters, now owned by Donald Trump), Van Alen added a 125 foot spire that was secretly constructed inside the building and hoisted through the top.  In October of 1929, after a ninety minute procedure, the spire was secured in place. The building opened for business in 1930.  Although the building wears a metallic crown, the crown of the world’s tallest building title would travel a little further south to the corner of 5th Avenue and 34th Street to the Empire State Building in 1931.

Although not open to the public (the building did have an observation deck for a time), the Chrysler Building is known for its metallic crown and spire.  Decorating the building, there are several gargoyles on the outside of the structure that are designed to look like components of 1930s Chrysler and Plymouth autos.  The lobby of the building also has a rich mahogany wood Art Deco theme.  It is also rumored that a speakeasy operated at the top of the building for New York businessmen during Prohibition.

Although quickly displaced by the Empire State Building and losing the title of tallest in the world (and later its broadcasting aerials), the Chrysler Building holds a special, shiny place in the heart of many, and is seen on multiple Sights by Sam walking tours.

Guggenheim Museum

Officially named the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, this modern art museum’s building is just as controversial as the art contained inside.  The building has been likened to an alien spacecraft, a toilet, and many other things.

Solomon R. Guggenheim was a mining magnate from Pennsylvania who turned to collecting art.  Later in life, he started collecting abstract (“non-objective”) art.  He founded a foundation to further the appreciation of abstract art in 1937, but his collection had grown to the point where he needed a museum to house it.  Renowned architect Frank Lloyd Wright was commissioned to design the museum on the tony Upper East Side (in the “Museum Mile” District).  The museum building was opened in 1959, however both Wright and Guggenheim did not live to see the final structure completed.

Special exhibits in the museum are often displayed in the circular gallery while the permanent collection is in an addition to the original building.  Although the intent was to have guests take an elevator up to the top and walk down, the limited elevator capacity makes this difficult.

The building is indeed as abstract as the work displayed within.  Every time I walk through the complex, it is as though I am in some past version of what people thought the future would look like.  The museum is a sight to behold—if only for the fact that it is one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s last buildings and one of his only commissions in New York City.

One of the reasons the museum was sited at its location was because of its proximity to Central Park.  Although the classically-designed park contrasts sharply with the modern architecture of the museum, it is an interesting contrast and a way to experience a small piece of Central Park.  This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour.

Greenwich Village

One of the most charming areas of the city, Greenwich Village has an amazing history and figures prominently on the itinerary of most tourists to New York.  Originally an independent city, Greenwich Village is best known for its past as a center for artists and nonconformists.

The area that forms Greenwich Village was originally its own town.  The area was named “Green Place” by the Dutch.  Since there was a village there when the grid of Manhattan creeped northward after 1811, the streets in the area are angled oddly and it is hard for first-time visitors to find their way around the neighborhood.  The location of a prison (now closed) in the area and its proximity to the port originally made it a rough area.

Although the area has had an artistic presence since the 1800s, the area came into its own as an enclave for artists, writers, performers, and other so-called Bohemians later.  At the turn of the 20th Century, the area started to attract theaters and a more Bohemian crowd started to arrive in the district.  Famous writers and artists flocked to the area in the first part of the 20th century such as Edna St. Vincent Millay and Edward Hopper to name two.

After World War II, “beatniks” began to settle in the area, adding to the area’s artistic edge.  As time went on, the neighborhood became a more desirable place to live, leading to greater gentrification of the area.  The neighborhood was also the site of the Stonewall Riots of 1969, which was the beginning of the modern gay rights movement in the U.S.   As the century came to a close, the area is most known today as the home of many rich and famous in addition to students from nearby New York University.

The most prominent landmark in the neighborhood is the Washington Square Arch, a 77 foot-tall arch which celebrates the centennial of Washington’s presidency and dominates the park.  In addition to its row houses and charming streets, Greenwich Village still inspires visitor and native alike.  Greenwich Village can be seen on a Sights by Sam tour.

Water Water Everywhere

On a hot day, it becomes apparent that water, needed to sustain all life, is essential for any city to function.  New York is no different.  Every day, the city consumes 1.1 billion gallons of water.  For the great city to survive, water is needed.  It should be noted that most of the water is not consumed by people or animals, but used for food preparation, cleaning, industry, or by home appliances (such as washing machines, toilets, and baths/showers).

From Native American settlement to the early antebellum eras, people depended on water from wells, freshwater lakes (the Collect Pond), or freshwater streams (Minetta Creek).  When industries in the city expanded, mills needed water to run turbines and breweries and tanneries needed water for industrial purposes, contaminating the Collect Pond and other freshwater sources.  The development of the city also caused streams such as Minetta Creek to be built over.  With the nearby rivers undrinkable because they are estuarine (salt and freshwater mix) and with the risk of waterborne diseases such as cholera and dysentery, water needed to be found.  Many citizens dug their own wells, paid water vendors who trucked in water from other areas (at an exorbitant cost), or drank beer (which is fermented and cleaner compared to normal water back then).  Something had to be done as the city kept growing.

In 1842, the Croton Reservoir opened at the current location of the New York Public Library’s Main Building in Midtown.  This structure was in use between 1842 and 1899 and held 20 million gallons that entered the city using a gravity-fed aqueduct system from Westchester County, NY.  Access to a reliable water supply also led to Brooklyn joining New York City in 1898 as the City of Brooklyn’s aquifers became contaminated and undrinkable.  With the city still growing, a more permanent solution was found—three water tunnels were completed in 1917, 1936, and the third one (a supporting actor in the 1995 film Die Hard With a Vengeance) is to be completed some time in the 2020s.  The water comes from reservoirs in the Catskill Mountains and is drawn to the city by gravity for hundreds of miles before being disinfected and entering the city’s general water supply.  In order to help maintain the supply of water, a city ordinance mandates that all buildings over six stories have wooden water tanks (so as not to taint the water).  These tanks can often hold 10,000 gallons and are often hidden in skyscrapers and tall buildings (such as the spires on the San Remo residences in the Upper West Side).  Until very recently, the reservoir in Central Park served as a back up water supply in case of an issue with the city’s water.

Water quality is maintained via testing sites at the reservoirs in the Catskill Mountains, the city’s water treatment plants, and along the water pipes themselves (those are the gray/silver boxes that say “NYC WATER” on them).  In order to keep the city hydrated, the city government has invested billions of dollars to upgrade water infrastructure and stop leaky pipes and incentivize more efficient fixtures.  In the meantime, natives and visitors enjoy what is widely considered to be the finest tap water for a major city in the U.S.—if not the world (some people feel this is why the bagels, pizza, and doughnuts taste better in New York when compared to other cities).  The next time you drink a glass of tap water, think of the journey the water has made and the role it has in keeping the city and its people alive.  This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour.

Fiorello LaGuardia: Mayor for the Ages

Fiorello H. LaGuardia stood at only 5’2”, but still casts a shadow over New York today.  His nonstop boosterism for his hometown and his unyielding tenacity helped the city weather the Great Depression better than most.  LaGuardia will be long remembered as one of the greatest, if not the most colorful mayor the city has seen.

LaGuardia was born in Greenwich Village in 1882.  With his father being in the army, he moved around when he was young—first to Arizona and then to Florida before settling in Trieste, Italy, for a time.  He worked for the U.S. State Department before returning to New York to earn a law degree, supporting himself by working at the U.S. immigration station at Ellis Island.

Entering politics, LaGuardia was an anomaly: a half-Jewish Italian Episcopal Republican.  He once joked that he was a balanced ticket all by himself.  LaGuardia served in Congress in two non-consecutive stints—broken up when he volunteered for service in World War I in the Army Air Corps.  In Congress, LaGuardia amassed a liberal record, speaking out against prohibition and allied with progressives of both parties.

After being defeated for reelection to Congress in 1932, LaGuardia ran for mayor of New York in 1933 (city elections are held in off years).  He was able to win the election as a Republican in one of the most heavily Democratic cities in the country due to ongoing corruption scandals within the Tammany Hall machine and the fact that there was more than one Democrat running in the election.

The time to celebrate the victory was short lived as New York was suffering through the Great Depression.  LaGuardia worked tirelessly to help direct federal relief funds to the city.  In no small part due to fellow New Yorker Franklin Delano Roosevelt being president, New York was lavished with funds during the Depression, which allowed new infrastructure to be built and existing civic amenities repaired.  LaGuardia also revolutionized the way mayors did business by appealing directly to the federal government for aid (previously, state governments had to make the appeal), traveling by airplane, and communicating with constituents on radio (LaGuardia’s Sunday radio show on WNYC drew over 2 million listeners at its height).  He was also known for riding fire engines to fires in progress, leading marching bands in parades, and declaring a war on organized crime in the city.

LaGuardia had a great national profile as well.  In the lead-up to World War II, he was named by President Roosevelt as the chief civil defense coordinator for the country.  While he tried to do this responsibility along with being the mayor, it was impossible to do both jobs and he resigned his federal post once the U.S. entered the war.  LaGuardia was an outspoken opponent of Nazi Germany and their anti-semitic policies.  LaGuardia’s sister would be imprisoned by the Nazis in a concentration camp during the war, adding to his reasons for opposing the Nazi regime.

After declining to run for a 4th term for mayor in 1945, LaGuardia stepped down.  He briefly served as a director of the United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration for a short time.  He also had a syndicated newspaper column, working hard until he died of pancreatic cancer in 1947.  His presence is still felt in the city—from the airport named after him to the parks, roadways, and numerous other pieces of infrastructure created during his mayoralty.  The “Little Flower” as he was called, exemplified the colorful city he so loved.  Facts about LaGuardia and places associated with his life will be shown on Sights by Sam tours.

PATH: NYC’s Other Subway System

As I mention on most of my tours, the population of Manhattan goes up to over 4 million during the average weekday.  Of this number, over 250,000 arrive into Manhattan from nearby New Jersey aboard the Port Authority Trans-Hudson (PATH) railroad.  Using two lines, commuters from Newark, Jersey City, and Hoboken cross the Hudson into the city every day.  While there are technically four lines (servicing Newark, Jersey City, and Hoboken), the main services go from Newark to the World Trade Center in Lower Manhattan and from Jersey City to Herald Square in Midtown Manhattan.

PATH owes its beginnings to the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad.  Its tunnels were constructed between the 1890s and 1910s in several stages—including a stoppage at the turn of the century after a major accident in which many workers digging the tunnels died.  The system was very popular—in fact inspiring the work, Manhattan Transfer by John Dos Passos, until vehicular tunnels under the Hudson were opened.  The railroad limped along until it was acquired by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 1962—in order to help solidify their claim on the World Trade Center site, where the Hudson and Manhattan Railroad’s station in New York was located.  The Newark to World Trade Center line was heavily damaged in the September 11th Attacks, but has since been rebuilt and put back into operation—crowned with Santiago Calatrava’s $4 billion station.

While it may look like a subway, PATH is a commuter rail system.  Because the PATH system goes through mixed rail yards in New Jersey (where there are other passenger and freight trains), the cars conform to federal rail standards, as do the train’s engineers and conductors.  PATH also runs 24 hours a day—making it one of the few rail systems in the U.S. to do so.  Rail customers cannot transfer directly between PATH and NYC subways, although many stations have close connections and the PATH system uses the MTA’s Metrocard fare system (a direct transfer at the final PATH station to the NYC subway system at 33rd street in Midtown was sealed due to security reasons although signs on the walls still allude to the connection).

While it is not likely that you will use the PATH system to take a Sights by Sam tour (although the 9th Street Station is near where my Villages tour begins), PATH forms an important transportation link in the metropolitan area and is helpful for people looking to get to nearby New Jersey cities or see the New York Red Bulls play at their stadium in Harrison.