Robert Moses

Nowadays, the name Robert Moses conjures up displaced families, highway construction, the departure of he Brooklyn Dodgers, and even accusations of racism for some. Despite the negative associations that Moses brings up, Moses is also responsible for the Lincoln Center, World’s Fairs in Queens, and a number of bridges that help to connect the city.

Moses was born in Connecticut and moved to New York as a child with his family. He earned degrees from Yale, Oxford University, and Columbia University. With expertise in urban planning, he soon caught the attention of Al Smith, governor of New York. Moses worked as a planner for Smith and later his successor, Franklin Delano Roosevelt in building parks projects throughout New York State—including Jones Beach in Long Island. Moses soon became associated with the city government, working on planning and construction projects around all five boroughs. He met with public approval as he worked to rehabilitate parks and playgrounds across the city in addition to building new crossings such as the Triborough Bridge. At his zenith of power, he held multiple chairmanships of important city and state commissions that were responsible for building infrastructure across the city. His chairmanship of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority helped give him access to capital to fund other infrastructure projects. Like former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping, Moses had de-facto final say over many projects despite not being the leader of a political entity.

Moses’ reputation began to take a hit during World War II. A proposal for a massive suspension bridge from Brooklyn to Lower Manhattan was shelved in favor of the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel. Moses also favored massive clearance projects that demolished dilapidated tenements, but displaced hundreds of thousands of people all across the city. These were most evident in highway construction projects (the BQE and the Cross-Bronx Expressways were the two most notable). Moses earned the ire of New York residents, led by Jane Jacobs, over the proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway. This highway would have cut a massive swath through SoHo, Little Italy, and the Lower East Side. The project was eventually abandoned, leading to a wave of freeway revolts across the country. Moses is probably best remembered outside of the city for his battle with the Brooklyn Dodgers owner Walter O’Malley—which caused the team to decamp for Los Angeles.

Moses gradually lost power as public perception of him diminished. The Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority was folded into the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. With the publication of The Power Broker by Robert Caro in 1974, his reputation lay in tatters. Despite this, his mark on the current city is undeniable. In addition to seeing several places directly connected with Robert Moses on a Sights by Sam tour, this is the type of information you will learn.

City Reliquary 

When I was in high school history, teachers were moving gradually away from teaching names, dates, and important events as the only things going on in history.  The new emphasis was on social history, which depicted how normal people lived during historical times and how events affected them.  I was relieved that I no longer had to memorize that the Erie Canal was completed in 1825, but now learned more about revival movements in Upstate that were sweeping through the populace at the time.

New York is unrivaled by nearly every other city in terms of the richness and diversity of its museums.  While I am very interested in history, and hope that those who take Sights by Sam tours have at least a passing interest in the subject, the great masses of immigrants and arrivals are the biggest part of who made New York what it is today.  While great monuments and museums were built by some of the most well known New Yorkers, what of the eight million stories out there of its citizens?

Enter the City Reliquary.  Located in Williamsburg in Brooklyn, the museum is only a small storefront.  The main gallery of the reliquary contains a permanent exhibit of the everyday objects of the city and its people.  The City Reliquary contains a collection of neon signs, subway signs, World’s Fair memorabilia, items manufactured in the city, and all sorts of other knickknacks.  There is also a temporary exhibition hall that has changing exhibits pertaining to topics ranging from doughnuts to artworks.

Although not on the itinerary of most tourists, the City Reliquary is a worthwhile walk off of the beaten track.  The museum is in Williamsburg, which has become somewhat of a hipster haven in recent years—with many interesting shops and restaurants located not far from the Reliquary.  Consider taking a tour through this area with Sights by Sam to learn about this and other locations worth knowing in New York.

The Brooklyn Museum

The Borough of Champions houses one of the largest museums in the U.S. that sadly does not feature on the itinerary of most visitors.  The Brooklyn Museum is one of the greatest overlooked museums in the city.

The museum’s current structure dates from 1897 and was designed by the firm of McKim,Mead, and White, with some structural embellishments by Daniel Chester French (the sculptor of President Lincoln’s statue at the Lincoln Memorial in D.C.).  After decades of deferred maintenance, the museum restored galleries and built a monumental glass entrance in 2004.  Other renovations and additions are still ongoing.

The museum contains an incredible collection of Egyptian art and artifacts that rival, if not exceed, those of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.  There is also an impressive collection of African art, early American portraiture, and impressionist art.  A wing of the museum is dedicated to feminist art and female artists.  Although rumored to have been constructed as the largest museum in the world, the entire collection is not displayed as it is too vast for the building.

One of the Brooklyn Museum’s best bargains is the Target First Saturday’s program.  Sponsored by Target Department Stores, the museum is free on the first Saturday of the month (excluding September).  These last from 5:00PM to 11:00PM.  As Admiral Chester Nimitz would have said about getting tickets before they run out on these dates, “Get there firstest with the mostest.”

The immediate neighborhood around the Brooklyn Museum is worth exploring as well.  The museum sits at the entrance to Prospect Park—Brooklyn’s answer to Central Park (it was even designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux as well).  Near the entrance to Prospect Park is the Soldiers and Sailors Monument, showing the sacrifice Brooklynites made in the Civil War.  The Brooklyn Children’s Museum is also a manageable 20 minute walk from the Brooklyn Museum.

Brooklynites have often sat in the shadow of Manhattan.  A trip to the Brooklyn Museum and the surrounding neighborhood give the people of the Borough of Champions reason to hold their heads high.  Sign up for a Sights by Sam walking tour to learn about the treasures of the city.

Law and Order in the City

The New York Police Department (NYPD) works to uphold the law in all 300+ square miles of the city.  The NYPD has 49,500 officers (additionally there are 120 equine officers and 34 canine officers) working out of 77 precincts, 12 transit divisions, and 9 public housing division districts.  The NYPD has been portrayed in countless books, movies, and television shows.  While the department has come under fire from time to time, “New York’s Finest” help to protect the city for native and visitor alike.  Eleven other city agencies and several state and federal law enforcement agencies also have a presence in the city (including the Port Authority Police officers you will see at airports, and around Port Authority property such as the World Trade Center complex and the bus station).

In the 1600s, the Dutch organized a night watch to patrol the city.  Judgment was often fierce and brutal–with banishment a particularly favored penalty.  Law enforcement remained a very informal affair until the 1840s, when the city organized a municipal police force.  For a time, there were two police forces: the municipal force and a New York State-dominated Metropolitan police force in the 1850s.  As a result of a massive riot between the two police forces and street gangs in 1857, the municipal police were disbanded and law enforcement reformed into the NYPD.  There have been ups and downs in the department’s history: Theodore Roosevelt was police commissioner in the late 1800s.  Endemic corruption n the department was an issue of concern in the early 1930s and in the 1970s.  Starting in the 1990s, the NYPD has been lauded in its role in helping to make New York one of the safest large cities in the country.

The NYPD maintained a small but fascinating museum in Lower Manhattan that documented the history of the department and hosted several events—including an auto show consisting of old police cars and the NYPD’s Emergency Services Unit (SWAT team) vehicles.  This museum was sadly damaged during Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and is looking to reopen in the near future.  This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour.

Coney Island

Synonymous with summer and sun worship, Coney Island in Brooklyn is an integral part of the culture and history of the city.  The area is actually no longer an island (due to public works projects after World War II), but it still feels like a getaway from the bustle of Manhattan.

The etymology of Coney Island is shrouded in historical uncertainty, but it is believed to be a corruption of the Dutch name, which translates into “island of rabbits.”  Resorts started appearing in the mid-1800s.  Efforts to preserve the area as wilderness in the 1800s failed as the area became saturated with hotels, restaurants, and other establishments near the beaches.  In the 1880s, amusement parks were established, with Luna Park, Astroland, and Steeplechase Park among the more recognizable.  Due to changing consumer patterns and people leaving New York City after World War II, the area fell into decline.  Amusement parks closed and there was a protracted battle to redevelop the area.  Other development efforts in the region have included a new baseball stadium (built), casinos, and proposals for new amusement parks.

While the amusement parks of the past have receded into history, there are still many attractions worth making a trip out for.  Coney Island has the closest beach to the city, making it very popular on summer days with nice weather.  If amusement attractions are more your thing, there are rides including bumper cars and merry-go-rounds.  Two of the most famous are Deno’s Wonder Wheel and the Cyclone rollercoaster (in service since the 1920s—and possibly the only landmarked rollercoaster in a major city).  Many bars and restaurants abound as well.  For those who like baseball, the New York Mets’ single-A level affiliate Brooklyn Cyclones play ball at a ballpark facing the Atlantic Ocean.  From the outfield of the park (and through most of Coney Island), the former Parachute Jump ride is visible.  This attraction first premiered at the 1939 World’s Fair.  Although it no longer offers rides, it is periodically lit up at night by thousands of LEDs and often displays psychedelic patterns.

Coney Island may no longer have rabbits, but it is a welcome trip on any hot summer day.  For the area at its best (and a real sight in New York), it may be worth seeing the Mermaid Day Parade in late June, where revelers dress up as sea creatures.  Consider taking a tour of Brooklyn with Sights by Sam.

An Olympic Performance for New York

The Olympic games occur every four years and are not surprisingly a symbol of great prestige for the host city.  In recent years, the cost of hosting the game has attracted great scrutiny due to corruption scandals in international athletic federations and the willingness of authoritarian regimes to spend money on sporting mega events with little to no public accountability.  In the U.S., Salt Lake City, Los Angeles, Atlanta, Lake Placid, NY, and St. Louis have all hosted the games.  Denver turned down the offer of the games after taxpayers in Colorado turned down a tax increase while Chicago failed in its bid to get the 2016 Olympic Games.  New York also failed to get the Olympics in 2012, but the ramifications of the failed bid are still felt in the city today—and not in a negative way.

For the 2012 bid, the initial plan was to have the Olympic Stadium on the West Side over the Penn Station rail yards—to be turned over to the New York Jets NFL team after the games (and to be used as the site for several Super Bowls).  When this failed to get approval, the city decided to move the stadium to Queens—on the site of where Citi Field is now.  The Olympic Village was to be constructed in Queens as well.  Several areas such as Flushing Meadows-Corona Park and the Javits Convention Center were to be used as well.  Bids were submitted in 2003 to the International Olympic Committee.  New York ended up placing third on the list of Olympic finalists—ultimately losing to London in 2005.  Opposition to the original Olympic stadium location was led by the owners of Madison Square Garden, who feared that a new stadium would take away from their venue.  It was argued by opponents of the bid that the games would have brought greater traffic and worries about terrorism in one of the most crowded cities in the world already.

The city reaped several intangible and tangible benefits from its abortive bid to host the games—an extension of the 7 Line, the development of millions of square feet of commercial and retail space in the Hudson Yards complex, and new residential space in Queens.  Additionally, a massive rezoning of the city in Brooklyn, Queens, and Manhattan that was approved at the same time helped to develop derelict areas.  While this is commendable in working to house new residents and help the tax coffers of the city, longtime residents of some of the areas have been priced out of their neighborhoods.  The Olympic games may yet be hosted in New York as there is talk that the state government is exploring a bid for a future games.  Already an international city as the headquarters of the United Nations and with people from every corner of the world, the Olympics may bring even greater prestige to the city—or more traffic depending on the opinions of some.

While hosting an Olympic event can bring great prestige to a city (and also great challenges), it has been argued that New York’s failed bid helped to bring improvements to the city.  This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour.

Graffiti in NY: Art or Vandalism?

Graffiti and street art in New York is a controversial subject among many.  Graffiti is unsanctioned by a government or property owner.  Some graffiti is associated with gang and criminal culture, creating law and order issues.  While some see it as expressing their freedom of speech, others see it as willful vandalism of private (and sometimes public) property.  Before you pick up that spray can, unauthorized painting of a building or other piece of property is a violation of NYC law § 10-117, punishable by fines into the hundreds of dollars if caught..

Graffiti has existed since the days of ancient civilization.  It has often carried a political message, but also can be of a more personal nature, with taggers painting their name or a “tag” in a public area.  It is believed that Philadelphia was the birthplace of the modern graffiti movement  (which has led that city to have one of the largest graffiti abatement/public mural programs in the world).  The center of graffiti in the U.S. shifted to New York by the 1970s.  With declining municipal resources to go after graffiti artists and deferred maintenance, graffiti exploded all over the city and into every borough, especially in the Bronx, Upper Manhattan, and some neighborhoods such as the Lower East Side and Manhattan Chinatown.  Many graffiti painters worked alone, but some worked in groups called crews. It became a frequent source of pride to have a graffiti’ed piece somewhere high up (a water tower for example), on a landmark, or for a crew that could paint the most intricate piece in the shortest amount of time.

Perhaps the most endemic example of graffiti in the city were subways that were covered in paint by taggers and artists from the 1970s through the late 1980s.  As with other areas of the city, deferred maintenance and a lack of funds led to many subway trains becoming covered in graffiti—many trains were single pieces of art done by a crew.  While many of the artists thought that this allowed for their art to be seen throughout the city, others saw it as a visible symbol of the city’s decline and a growing sense of lawlessness (accompanied by a rise in crime in the subway system).  By the end of the 1980s, a concerted effort by the city government and the MTA led to all graffiti’ed cars being pulled from service, repainted a deep red (the classic “redbird” paint job that was harder for spray paint to adhere to), or put through a chemical wash in Coney Island (called the “orange crush” by graffiti artists).  While there is still graffiti in the city, it has not approached the nearly endemic levels that it once did.

In the contemporary era, many famous artists such as Keith Haring and Jean-Michel Basquiat originally painted graffiti murals before gaining fame.  The British artist Banksy is a continuation of this trend and painted several pieces on the streets of New York in October 2013 (many of which in turn were vandalized by local taggers).  Those looking for graffiti should head for areas such as the Lower East Side, Williamsburg and Bushwick, which are three of the more recognized sites in the city for graffiti and sanctioned street art—but graffiti can be found in all parts of the city today.  This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour, in addition to probably seeing some graffiti during your stay.

Brooklyn Bridge

Bridges are a part of every city.  Even inland cities such as Atlanta, GA, or Phoenix, AZ, have highway bridges, train trestles, or flyovers.  With only the Bronx on the mainland of the U.S., New York is defined by its bridges.  Thousands of viaducts, trestles, and bridges exist all over the city.  Because New York enjoys making a statement, no bridge quite symbolizes the city like the Brooklyn Bridge, which connects the commercial center of Manhattan to Brooklyn, the most populous of the boroughs.

A bridge across the East River between the city of New York and the formerly independent city of Brooklyn had been postulated for decades.  Transportation between the two cities, since the colonial era, was dependent on ferries.  Although they got the job done, they were subject to Mother Nature in the form of storms and the river freezing.  It was on one of these frozen ferries one day, according to legend, that John Roebling, an engineer, felt that a more permanent solution was needed.  Roebling specialized in designing suspension bridges—where high strength metal wires suspended the roadway between two anchorages.  Roebling designed and built demonstration bridges throughout the U.S.  A dry run for a New York bridge was shown to be feasible when Roebling completed a suspension bridge over the Ohio River between Cincinnati, OH, and Covington, KY in 1867.

Construction on the Brooklyn Bridge began in 1869.  Roebling died of tetanus in 1869, leaving his son, Washington Roebling, in charge of the project.  Washington would sustain a massive injury due to “the bends”, caused by ascending too quickly from massive submerged caissons constructed to anchor the bridge into the bedrock.  Due to Washington’s injury, his wife Emily finished construction.  Although she was trained as an engineer, Emily forged Washington’s instructions as they were unsure if work crews would follow directions from a woman.  The bridge opened to much fanfare in 1883.  After a scare in which there was a stampede on the bridge, circus elephants were marched over the bridge to show it was built to last.  Over the years, it has been “sold” to gullible tourists and is argued to have helped to unify the boroughs.  The bridge is currently undergoing restoration to ensure it lasts into another century.

Today, the bridge form an important part of the city and any tourist’s itinerary.  When walking between the boroughs, please be sure not to stray into the bicycle lanes.  While you are in town, consider seeing more of New York with a Sights by Sam tour when you leave the bridge.

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.

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.