Tag: Manhattan

Queensboro Bridge

Built in 1909, the Queensboro Bridge (also called the 59th Street Bridge or the Ed Koch Bridge) spans the East River and connects Queens with Manhattan. The bridge was the third across the East River and designed by Gustav Lindenthal, with collaboration by Henry Hornbostel and Leffert Buck, who designed the Williamsburg Bridge. The Manhattan approach to the bridge has space under it done up in Guastavino tiling.

The Queensboro Bridge is over 3700 feet long and is distinctive as it is a cantilever bridge. It connects two formerly industrial areas—the East River frontage of Manhattan and Long Island City in Queens. The bridge also has anchorages on Roosevelt Island. Between 1930 and 1955, an elevator existed midway on the bridge to allow streetcar passengers to access Roosevelt Island (streetcars would stop midway on the bridge to pick up and drop off passengers who would then access the island this way). Like other bridges in New York, this bridge suffered from decay, but was restored between the late 1980s and 2000s. It was named after former Mayor of New York Ed Koch in 2010.

Today, over 170,000 vehicles use the nine lanes of traffic on this bridge to pass between the two boroughs daily. As there is no toll for this bridge, its traffic volume is considerable. It is believed (though unsubstantiated) that one of the first indoor baseball games took place under the Manhattan end of the bridge in the 1910s using the Queensboro Bridge as a “roof.”This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour.

The Little Red Lighthouse

New York is full of landmarks. There are many famous ones such as the Empire State Building, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the Unisphere, to name but a few of the most well known ones. There are also smaller landmarks that are important to many, such as the Little Red Lighthouse in Upper Manhattan.

Located in Fort Tryon Park, the Little Red Lighthouse was placed in its current location in 1921 by the U.S. Coast Guard. It had initially stood at Sandy Hook in New Jersey. After the construction of the George Washington Bridge, the lighthouse was decommissioned and slated for demolition. In 1942, the book, The Little Red Lighthouse and the Great Gray Bridge by Hildegarde Swift, was published about the lighthouse. In the book, the little red lighthouse feels overshadowed by the bridge, but the bridge helps out the lighthouse and reminds it that everyone has an important job. Because of the popularity of the book, children from all over the U.S. wrote letters to the Coast Guard to save the lighthouse. The lighthouse was saved in 1951 after it was given by the federal government to New York City.

The lighthouse is 40 feet tall and makes a great stop while visiting the George Washington Bridge or the Cloisters Museum in Upper Manhattan. Although the children’s book that made the lighthouse famous is not as well known among today’s kids, it is still believed by natives and visitors young and old—and is a popular picnic spot. This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour.

Harlem Hellfighters

New York City has a storied history in the history of our country’s wars. In addition to being a major manufacturing center for armaments and uniforms in past conflicts and the flashpoint for many important Revolutionary War battles, the men and women serving from the city have been pivotal to the courses of war. One of the most important and distinctive units to come from New York was the 369th Infantry Regiment, also known as the “Harlem Hellfighters.”

In 1917, the Hellfighters were formed from a New York National Guard unit to serve in Europe for the U.S. during World War I. Because of segregationist policies in the U.S. armed forces at the time, the nearly all African American unit was seconded to the French Army when they arrived in Europe. The French welcomed the new soldiers as there was no segregation in the French forces and they needed more manpower to bolster their nearly exhausted armies that had been fighting since 1914 (this is why many depictions of the Hellfighters show them wearing French-style “Adrian” helmets). From May to November of 1918, the Hellfighters served in combined Allied offensives where they served in the Second Battle of the Marne and Bellau Woods, gaining a reputation for rapidly decimating Central Powers forces in battle. They reached the Rhine River on Armistice Day, November 11, 1918. In honor of their bravery, many officers and men earned several important decorations, including Medals of Honor and Distinguished Service Crosses from the U.S., and several French Croix de Guerre medals.

Among some of the other superlatives, the Hellfighters were one of the few units for the Allies in World War I that never lost ground taken or had a soldier captured by the enemy. The unit was welcomed home as heroes, marching in a parade being cheered by New Yorkers of all races. For their heroism, the Hellfighters have a monument in the Upper Manhattan neighborhood as a testament to their bravery in battle and willingness to defend our country. The unit has been the subject of renewed interest in recent years—including its portrayal in a popular graphic novel and the renaming of Harlem River Drive in honor of the Hellfighters. This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour.

New York Stock Exchange

New York is synonymous with the financial industry. Most major American and international banks and financial institutions have a presence in the city. Along with London and Tokyo, New York forms one of the three major financial centers of the world. A lot of the reason for this is that the city is the location of the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the largest in the country.

The NYSE owes its origins to the city as a major trading center. The port of New York meant that ships laden with goods from all over the world were coming into the port and commodities from the city’s vast hinterlands were coming down the Hudson River and from Long Island into the port. After the founding of the United States, 24 traders in securities signed an agreement on May 17,1792. This agreement formed the basis of the NYSE. Over time, the NYSE expanded its scope of trade and eclipsed other American stock exchanges in Chicago, Philadelphia, and Cincinnati. It has met in its current location since 1865 and in its current building since 1903. The NYSE survived several dark moments through its history such as the crash of 1929 that ushered in the Great Depression, and sizable crashes in 1987 and in the first decade of the 2000s.

Today, the NYSE is open during weekdays on non-holidays between 9:30AM and 4:00PM and trades hundreds of billions of dollars worth of stocks per day. Most trading has been computerized, in contrast to the image of traders yelling and waving on the bustling floor of the exchange. The building has not been open to the public since 2001. Visitors to the city can take my “Foundation of New York” tour can see the NYSE and Wall Street.

New York Public Library

The New York Public Library (NYPL) system contains over 53 million items in its collection, making it second to only the Library of Congress in the U.S. and the largest city library system in the world. The NYPL covers the boroughs of Manhattan, Bronx, and Staten Island (both Brooklyn and Queens have independent library systems). There are 88 branch libraries in the NYPL’s coverage area—-in addition to a few research libraries.

The NYPL was founded in 1895 as the result of a merger between the Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Libraries. To house the main branch, the firm of Carrere and Hastings was commissioned to build an impressive beaux-arts structure at Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street (over the decommissioned Croton Reservoir). The structure was built between 1897 and 1911, and contains 15 million items in 646,000 square feet. The NYPL recently completed a renovation that will bring it into the next century.

The star of the show at the main branch is the Rose Reading Room, which has been depicted in numerous movies. Another famous feature of the building are the two lions: Patience (south) and Fortitude (north). The two lions were named by Mayor LaGuardia after the two virtues that he felt New Yorkers would need to survive the Great Depression.

The NYPL Main Branch houses several important items such as a Gutenberg Bible, historic maps, and a historic collection of take-out menus. The main branch also has several exhibits and artworks that are available for the public to view at no charge. These exhibits are worth the time if you have a moment to see them. The NYPL main branch is also next to Bryant Park, which offers a small green oasis in one of the more hectic sections of Midtown. The Main Branch of the NYPL can be seen on a Sights by Sam tour.

Madison Square Garden

The home of the Knicks, Rangers, Liberty, and the site of countless events, Madison Square Garden (MSG) was opened in 1968 and is the oldest and busiest event center in the region. The arena, which can seat between 18,000 and 20,000, is the fourth to bear that name.

The first two incarnations of MSG sit where the New York Life Insurance Tower sit—at the northeast corner of Madison Square Park. Entrepreneur P.T. Barnum had a hand in building the first MSG, which stood from 1879 to 1890. It was demolished after it was deemed impractical (it had no roof) and replaced by a structure designed by McKim, Mead, and White, which was pattered off of the Cathedral of Seville in Spain. The Second MSG was noted for being the site of the murder of Stanford White, its designer, by Pittsburgh millionaire Harry Thaw, due to a love triangle with Thaw’s wife, Evelyn Nesbit. The resultant legal trial would be dubbed the “Trial of the Century” and lead to Thaw being committed to a mental institution. This version of MSG was abandoned in 1925 as the arena was rebuilt on the West Side on 8th Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, and in use between 1925 and 1968. This MSG was built by New York Ranger’s owner Tex Rickard and was the site of many famous boxing matches. Un-memorably, the third MSG was the site of a pro-Nazi rally in 1939 that was held by the German-American Bund.

As mentioned in an earlier post, the current MSG was built as the result of the demolition of Penn Station. Being one of the oldest arenas in the NBA and NHL, this structure has been rehabilitated and renovated several times. Due to a desire by the city to rebuild Penn Station, it is entirely possible that MSG will be relocated within the next decade—likely to near the Jacob Javits Convention Center or to property currently owned by the U.S. Postal Service. This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour.

Christmas and Holidays in New York

With the beginning of November, the focus of many becomes the holiday season. Christmas lights go up, ads with fashion models in holiday colors appear on billboards and on public transportation, and store windows along Fifth Avenue go to war with each other over which is the most over-the-top display of Season’s Greetings. As New York is the country’s largest city, it lays claim over several important Christmas traditions.

In the press and writing, New York can lay claim to one of the first modern interpretations of Santa Claus through NYC native Clement Clark Moore’s 1823 poem, “A Visit from Saint Nicholas,” which describes the lovable Santa Claus most people recognize delivering gifts from house to house on his sleigh pulled by reindeer. Santa’s existence and reputation was solidified in an 1897 editorial from the New York Sun, entitled “Yes, Virginia, There is a Santa Claus.” This editorial, reprinted on Christmas Day by most New York papers, is believed to be the most reprinted editorial in history. Many neighborhoods ring in holiday cheer with residents of some Brooklyn neighborhoods such as Dyker Heights and Bensonhurst putting up large Christmas and holiday light displays in front of their homes.

Perhaps the quintessential symbol of the holiday season in New York is the Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center. The first tree was a small, 20 foot tree raised by construction workers at Rockefeller Center in 1931 by workers building the complex. First raised officially in 1933, the tree is usually a Norway Spruce between 70 and 100 feet tall. In recent years, it has been harvested from New York State or a neighboring state, but it has come from further afield in the past. The tree, which is crowned by a massive star made of Swarovski crystal, is up for display in the middle of November and lit the day after Thanksgiving. The tree is in the court in the middle of Rockefeller Center and is near the famous ice rink, a must-see for any visitor to the city during this time.

Many visitors come to New York this time of the year to see the city at what many would say is at its best. In addition to shopping and seeing the city in its spectacular holidays decorations, it is also a great idea to take a Sights by Sam walking tour of the city—especially a nightly holiday tour that will run from December 1st to December 31st. You are able to book this tour at sightsbysam.com.

African Burial Ground

In the Civic Center of Manhattan near the Ted Weiss Federal Building is an important monument that commemorates 15,000 people of African descent—both slave and free, who were buried in a graveyard that was on the then outskirts of the city. The African Burial Ground National Monument commemorates these individuals and their contribution to the early history of New York.

It is believed that the Dutch first imported African slaves into the New Netherland colony in 1626. While the Dutch offered some degree of emancipation to slaves in their colony, this was rescinded by the English after 1664 when they took the colony from the Dutch. One of the many restrictions placed on people of African descent is that they could not be buried with Europeans in their cemeteries, necessitating the foundation and use of a burial ground on what is now Duane Street (north of the old borders of the city). Although the burial ground was heavily used (as New York had a very large African population), much of this population fled with the British after the American Revolution (as Americans demanded the return of slaves to their masters). The area of the graveyard was filled over and built upon (which ironically preserved most of the graves).

In the 1990s during the construction of the Weiss Federal Building, bodies were discovered during the excavation to anchor the building to the bedrock of Manhattan. After hundreds of bodies were found, archeologists were called in and it was discovered that the building was planned over the burial ground. Due to protests from African Americans, the federal government declared the area a National Historic Landmark, which halted construction of the building over the site (its plans modified to be away from the burial ground) and called for a monument (finally completed in 2007). This site is important in the cultural history of the city and can easily be seen as a follow-up to the “Foundation of New York” tour from Sights by Sam.

Sylvan Terrace

Located near the Morris-Jumel Mansion in Washington Heights, there are many important residential areas that were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s. The rash of building occurred when the heirs of the Jumel Family sold off their vast landholdings.

In addition to stately apartment buildings and cultural institutions that were constructed at nearby Audubon Terrace, one of the more unique streets is the cobblestoned Sylvan Terrace. Forming a “stair street” on 161st Street, 20 wood framed houses were built by Gilbert Robinson, Jr. in 1883. The houses were originally rented to laborers and servants who lived in the neighborhood and worked at some of the more stately buildings in the neighborhood. After decades of neglect, New York City made the area a historic district and restored the houses back to their original appearance.

Today, each of the houses in the district is valued over $1 million. The residences are very stately and the surrounding neighborhood near the Harlem River is very picturesque. In addition to the Morris-Jamel Mansion, the area is also close to High Bridge Park and Fort Tryon Park. This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour of New York.

New York City Marathon

Every year in November, one of the most important athletic events on the calendar in New York is the New York City Marathon. With around 50,000 runners per year, the New York City Marathon is the largest in the world, with professionals and amateurs alike competing.

Because of the popularity of the race, spots are given out on a lottery basis, with some runners allowed in automatically if they have run in previous New York City Marathons or in certain qualifying marathons elsewhere. Runners looking to enter may also join the New York Road Runners Club (which organizes the annual race) and follow certain rules to earn a place in the marathon. Like all marathons, the race is 26.2 miles. It winds its way through all five boroughs of the city— beginning in Staten Island and going across the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge and then into Brooklyn and shortly into Queens before the course crosses into Manhattan. The race takes a brief jaunt into the Bronx and then back into Manhattan before ending near Tavern on the Green. The first New York City Marathon took place in 1970, exclusively within Central Park. It is hardly believable that only 55 finished the race, being watched by only around one hundred at the finish line. Today, runners are spaced out in staggered waves (they are tracked and timed via transponders embedded in their racing bibs).

At the finish line, runners are traditionally greeted by a statue of Fred Lebow, which is moved from its spot in Central Park near East 90th Street. Lebow was the founder of the New York Road Runners Club after taking an amateur interest in running in the 1960s. A former Romanian refugee who fled his homeland after World War II, Lebow worked tirelessly for years to raise the stature of the marathon and created several other races in the Metro New York area—notably the Empire State Building Run-Up, which is one of the more colorful races in town where participants run up 1,576 steps to the top. He died in 1994, weeks before that year’s marathon.

The only time the marathon was cancelled since its inception was in 2012 due to Hurricane Sandy occurring right before the marathon. Supplies such as water and generators needed to help volunteers at the marathon were diverted to help people hurt by the hurricane in areas such as Brooklyn and Staten Island. In terms of superlatives, the fastest woman to run the marathon was Margaret Okayo of Kenya, who ran the race in 2:22 in 2003. The fastest man was Geoffrey Mutai of Kenya in 2:05 in 2011. The race attracts thousands of spectators and volunteers every year to see both amateurs and professionals run. This is the type of information you will learn on a Sights by Sam tour.