Tag: History

George Washington Bridge Bus Station

As previously mentioned in a Sights by Sam blog entry, the George Washington Bridge forms an important conduit between New England and the Mid-Atlantic States. In conjunction with the Great Gray Bridge, there exists another unsung hero of New York’s transportation system in the immediate area. Built in 1963, the George Washington Bridge Bus Station services commuters coming into Upper Manhattan via the bridge.

Constructed by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (PANYNJ) to get buses off of the streets of Washington Heights, the bus station was built by Dr. Pier Luigi Nervi, who designed the Olympic Stadium in Rome. Although it made innovative use of poured concrete (poured in 26 sections) and won accolades for its use, it has not had much love from the local population or commuters for its design. The station itself takes up two city blocks and has direct ramps on and off of the bridge. New Jersey Transit, the main public transit authority in the Garden State, is the main tenant. Other smaller providers and van services that ply between Upper Manhattan and Jersey City also call on the station. Today, the 15 berths at the terminal service buses coming from Upstate New York and New Jersey. The PANYNJ is also in the midst of a multimillion dollar renovation project that will add retail and hopefully bring more people into the station.

While the bus station is not quite the destination that most people think of, it does have great views of the George Washington Bridge. It also has direct access to the A train and is within an easy walk (or another quick city bus ride) away from the High Bridge, Sylvan Terrace, and the Morris-Jumel Mansion, among many others. This is the type of information that you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour.

Pizza in NYC

It is not surprising that since New York has people from all over the country and world, our food would match the uniqueness and variety of the city. The cuisine of the city consists of dishes and snacks like hot dogs, General Tso’s chicken, bagels, and coffee—among many others. Perhaps the quintessential New York dish is pizza. Owing to its status as the major entry point for many Italian Americans and as a major center of culture in the United States, pizza spread from New York in the late 1800s and throughout the country.

While there is dispute as to which great American city has the best pizza (Chicago and Detroit come to mind), New York has a style typified by a thin crust, tomato sauce, and mozzarella cheese. This type of pizza is also often cooked in a coal-fired oven. It has been said that the water in New York has unique properties that make the pizza dough tasty, although this has not been conclusively proven. In 1905, Gennaro Lombardi founded Lombardi’s Pizza, considered by historians and pizza enthusiasts to be the oldest pizzeria in the United States. Many pizzerias descended from Lombardi’s. One of the most prolific but unrelated pizza restaurants in the city is the preponderance of “Ray’s” locations throughout the city that are seen and patronized by natives and visitors alike.

For individuals looking for a New York experience, there are dozens of different and great options for pizza in the city. Some of the best pizza joints originated on Staten Island, but good pizza can be found throughout the other boroughs as well. To experience pizza the proper New York way, it is customary to fold the pizza slice inward and consume. Food tours can be requested through Sights by Sam tours, where you can eat and learn many things on a special request tour.

Commuter Rail– A Primer

New York is a major magnet for people coming in to work and visit. As I have mentioned before, Manhattan has a daytime population of over 4 million people. While the Metropolitan Transportation Authority’s bus and subway services carry millions of people around the city, thousands come into the city by train from New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut every day. Although some consider the Port Authority’s PATH trains to be commuter rail (this system is covered in another Sights by Sam blog article), this post will cover the three main commuter rail systems converging on New York City: the Long Island Railroad, Metro North Railroad, and New Jersey Transit railroads.

Carrying over 350,000 people into the city every week on 12 routes, the Long Island Railroad was founded in 1834 and is one of the oldest railroads in the U.S. (it is believed to be the oldest railroad retaining its original name). The railroad helped to develop Long Island and led to the increased settlement of Nassau and Suffolk Counties. While the Long Island Railroad was once an affiliate of the Pennsylvania Railroad, it is now an arm of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority. The railroad terminates at Penn Station in Midtown Manhattan in addition to major terminals in Brooklyn and Jamaica, Queens. In the next decade, the Long Island Railroad will begin to serve Grand Central Terminal as part of the massive “East Side Access” tunneling project.

Bringing commuters from Upstate New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut, the Metro North System carries over 300,000 people into the city daily via three lines fanning out from Grand Central Terminal in Midtown Manhattan and two additional lines that go into Upstate New York (going through New Jersey and terminating at the Hoboken Terminal in nearby Hoboken, NJ). Metro North service has been improved in recent years with new rolling stock. Before being taken over by the MTA, Metro North services were operated by the New York Central Railroad and other services. This commuter system is known for its ornate terminals at Grand Central and Hoboken Terminal.

The third major commuter railroad serving New York comes from New Jersey. The New Jersey Transit system, carries 240,000 people into New York daily on ten of its 11 lines (one rail line goes from Philadelphia, PA, to Atlantic City, NJ). Commuters arrive from all corners of New Jersey through Penn Station. Other services arrive at Hoboken Terminal or terminate at the massive Secaucus Junction. New Jersey Transit, headquartered in Newark, NJ, was formed in 1979 and unified rail services previously run by other operators and the bus services of the Public Service Enterprise Group (a major electric company in the Garden State).

These three systems help to bring thousands into the city daily. Due to the high price of land and housing in New York, these commuter rail systems allow people to work in Manhattan (or in the outer boroughs) while living further afield. While these railroads help people come into the city and take thousands of cars off of the street, they are under increasing strain from high use and aging infrastructure. This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam Walking Tour, with major rail stations of the city being shown on tours of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Hudson River

Meandering from New York to the Adirondack Mountains for 315 miles, the Hudson River has formed a pivotal role in the history of New York City and New York State. The river is prominently featured on the state flag and seal and named after the first European to travel it—Henry Hudson. The river has formed an important link to the city and other communities in the state and led New York City to become the largest and richest city in the country.

The Hudson was important to the first humans in the region—the Native Americans living in New York used it for transportation in addition to hunting the wildlife around the river and harvesting fish from within. In 1609, Henry Hudson sailed up the river to where Troy, New York, just north of Albany, is today. The river became important to trade as it linked New Amsterdam (New York City) and Fort Orange (Albany) together and would remain important through the Colonial and Antebellum Eras. During the Revolutionary War, the Hudson would form a strategic choke point to cut off the British from splitting New England off from the rest of the American colonies (the Americans used a large chain strung across the river to stop the Royal Navy from conquering the area). This choke point is now the location of the United States Military Academy in West Point, NY. Before the dominance of railroads in the later 1800s, several canals were built by the federal and state governments to enhance transportation, making New York City a major port for inland goods in addition to goods from abroad.

Industry would spring up along the river after the Civil War. This would lead to many large factories positioned on the river. Companies such as IBM and General Electric would build facilities on the Hudson and ended up polluting the river. The unclean waters led to the death of many fish that made up the local ecosystem. Since the 1980s, there have been many remediation efforts to restore marine life to the river. With the change in manufacturing and transportation, the volume of shipping on the Hudson has also decreased significantly—as evident by only passenger cruise ships, pleasure craft, and barge traffic on the once busy Manhattan waterfront. This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour.

The Cloisters

Far up the coast on the west side of Manhattan (some would say, “cloistered away”) is the dramatic Cloisters. This extension of the Metropolitan Museum of Art (the full description of this facility is in another entry), is in Fort Tryon Park with dramatic views of the Hudson River and George Washington Bridge. In its walls are valuable works of art from the Middle Ages. In addition to the art inside, the building itself is a classical work of art.

Commissioned by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. after he acquired a large quantity of Medieval art, The Cloisters was eventually built on a parcel of land 4 acres in area in Washington Heights. Rockefeller even bought land on the New Jersey side of the river to preserve the somewhat rustic view of the area from the museum. The building itself The Cloisters is housed in is from four different abbeys in the south of France built in the Middle Ages. There are additionally three chapels located in the museum that were once situated in France and Spain. The structure was completed at the end of the 1930s and houses nearly 2,000 pieces of art from the Middle Ages.

The Cloisters has a collection that includes stained glass windows, rare tapestries, and religious objects from the Medieval period. There are also many illuminated manuscripts and even one of the only known complete sets of playing cards from that era on display as well. The admission to this museum is “pay-what-you-wish” and can be combined with a visit to the main Metropolitan Museum of Art campus on Fifth Avenue for a same-day visit (linked by the MTA’s M4 bus). This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam walking tour. A tour of the building, nearby Fort Tryon Park, or other attractions in the neighborhood can be done through Sights by Sam.

New Amsterdam: A Primer

At the end of the 1600s, the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam—the forerunner of what is now New York City—was largely similar to what we see today in that it was built on commerce and that it hosted a religiously- and ethnically-diverse population. Because New Amsterdam (part of the larger colony of New Netherlands) was at the literal end of the known world, it was somewhat lawless, allowing economic activity to thrive and a mixture of different types of people to live amongst each other in relative peace.

When the Dutch sailed into what is now New York in 1624, they discovered a large natural harbor and plentiful natural resources in the area. The primary focus of the colony, like the city we know today, was commerce. The Dutch were looking to trade with the local Native Americans in exchange for manufactured goods from Europe. Commerce in New Amsterdam was centered around Fort Amsterdam, located in Lower Manhattan near where Battery Park is today. In addition to the business done in the city, it had a varied (and business oriented) population.

Starting off with a small population, the colony would have a few thousand when the English conquered 40 years later, with the colonists speaking many languages and practicing several religions. The population included people mainly from the Netherlands, but also from other European countries. In addition to this population, there were both free and slave black residents. The residents of the city also spoke many languages and practiced many faiths. While the Dutch Reformed Church was the main religion, other groups, such as Catholics, Jews, and other Christians were tolerated and allowed to practice their religions, albeit in private homes.

When the British invaded in 1664, they allowed the Dutch settlers to maintain their customs and some of their laws. The residents continued living in a very cosmopolitan settlement that endures to this day. While there are no surviving buildings from this time period, there are several Dutch-style buildings on side streets in Lower Manhattan (built in the 1800s) and some old farmhouses in Manhattan and the other boroughs. This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam Walking Tour.

Fire Towers and Call Boxes

In a crowded urban area, fire is one of the greatest threats to New York—or any city for that matter. After three great fires in the Colonial and Antebellum Eras, New York has worked to defend itself against fire through volunteer and professional fire companies. In addition to these fire companies and local citizens reporting fires, the city has relied upon fire towers and fire call boxes to report flames.

As in many areas around the world, New York once had an extensive system of fire watch towers. At one time in the 1850s, there were 11 cast iron watch towers across the city—with two of the most prominent located in Greenwich Village and Harlem, respectively. Scouts would scan the horizon for smoke or flames and then summon firefighters by bells. After the Civil War, this system fell out of use as telegraphs became more widespread. Starting in the 1870s, the city started to install telegraphic call boxes on the streets in crowded districts. The original call boxes worked by sending a telegraphic signal to a dispatch center, which would then telegraph the firehouse nearest to the box to respond to the emergency.

Today, there are estimated to be 15,000 fire call boxes on the streets. Many produced since World War II allow the caller to speak directly with the police or fire departments. With the advent of cell phones, these boxes have become less used and calls have risen for them to be removed. The FDNY states that less than three percent of calls to report fires are from the boxes and of these, 88 percent are false alarms. This is the incinerating type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam walking tour.

TriBeCa

In the shadow of the Financial District to the north is the Triangle Below Canal Street, more commonly known as TriBeCa. While famous for high end shopping and residences, the area bounded by the Hudson River, Canal Street, and Chambers Street was originally an industrial area for much of the city’s history.

Once the landholdings of the Bleeker family, the area known as TriBeCa was primarily known for shipping, lofted buildings that served as factories, and the Washington Market (which is the precursor to the Hunt’s Point Terminal Market in the Bronx). Over the years, the neighborhood also played host to “Radio Row”, a district for electronics, from the 1920s until the 1960s. As development projects such as the World Trade Center, the proposed Lower Manhattan Expressway, and changes in freight and shipping took hold, TriBeCa began to decline and the many lofts became abandoned. After the Lower Manhattan Expressway was cancelled, the lofts became occupied by artists, writers, and other creative types looking for inexpensive living and working spaces. The area began to become hip and achieve a certain cache in the minds of New Yorkers. As more people moved in and services improved, the original artists were forced out by high rents. Today, the area is host to many well-to-do people such as movie stars and bankers.

For native New Yorkers, the neighborhood is associated with high end shopping and the annual TriBeCa Film Festival. Tour TriBeCa and neighboring areas such as the Manhattan Civic Center or SoHo with Sights by Sam. This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam walking tour.

One World Trade Center

Towering above Lower Manhattan (and the entire city), One World Trade Center symbolizes the resilience and rebuilding of New York after the September 11th attacks. Designed by the firm of Skidmore, Owings, and Merrill, the building was constructed between 2006 and 2014. The structure has deep symbolism for the city and the country as a whole—rising to a patriotic 1776 feet tall and built with materials and components from all 50 states and many friendly countries.

The plans for a tower at the World Trade Center site were first conceived as early as 2002. Daniel Liebskind was selected as the architect, but the design was changed due to security concerns brought forward by the NYPD and due to concerns from other project stakeholders. Construction of the reinforced concrete base alone took two years. While the original name of the building was the Freedom Tower, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey changed the name to One World Trade Center in 2009. The building also has several pioneering safety features to ensure the survivability of the structure in the event of a catastrophic event, such as pressurized staircases and filtered air systems. The final price tag for the building was around $4 billion, then the most expensive structure ever built. It encompasses 2.6 million square feet—slightly more than the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the American Museum of Natural History.

Today, the building is most famous to visitors for its observation deck, allowing for panoramic views of New York City and beyond. Major tenants include the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the State of New York, and Conde Nast Publishing. One World Trade Center is one of the many highlights of the “Foundation of New York” tour by Sights by Sam, which covers Lower Manhattan.

Environment in New York

Being one of the largest cities in the U.S. since it was established, New York City owes its popularity to its large port. The city also benefits from the fact that it is not in an area of climate extremes (barring the occasional hurricane). However, throughout most of the city’s history, pollution and sanitation were major issues. While at one point New York was more polluted, the city has today literally and figuratively cleaned up its act.

As mentioned in a previous entry, sanitation was and is a major concern in New York, with the city creating over 10,000 tons of refuse every day. The bringing of water into town (also the subject of a previous entry) is important, as the city (or life) cannot be sustained without the billions of gallons of water that are piped into the city daily. In terms of emissions, air pollution has been on a downward trend for decades due to stringent federal, state, and local regulations, the purpose of which is supported by increasingly lower asthma rates among New Yorkers. As an added aside, a large portion of the city’s electricity comes from hydroelectric or nuclear power from facilities far outside of the city. Additionally, many structures in the city are built to be “green” to reduce pollution. Many older buildings (and famous landmarks such as the Empire State Building) are being updated with more environmentally-friendly fixtures.

Due to the low presence of heavy industry and a large reliance on public transportation, New Yorkers tend to emit a lower carbon footprint when compared to the denizens of most other American cities. This is helped by many taxicabs, city buses, and municipal vehicles (along with many environmentally conscious residents’ private vehicles) being powered by hybrid engines or low pollution vehicles. The city, under the auspices of the municipal Department of Environmental Protection, works to remediate pollution and other environmental concerns. Other areas, such as Newton Creek or Gowanus Creek (both in Brooklyn) are being returned to a more pristine state with state and federal assistance. While there are still ongoing environmental issues, New York City (despite some surface appearances) is a much cleaner city per capita compared to many across the country and world.

This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam walking tour, where guests can always experience good, clean fun.