Weekend, January 16/17, 2021 – THE SHIPPING WORLD CHANGED AND THE CONTAINERS TOOK OVER
264th Edition
January 16-17, 2021
from Untapped Cities
You’ve probably stepped on one of these metal private property line markers on the sidewalks of New York City and didn’t think too much about them. But what are they exactly? Usually, the bronze plaque is embedded in the sidewalk and says something like “Property Line of XXX. Crossing by permission only. Permission revocable at will.” Meaning, you are allowed to cross a certain line on the sidewalk only with permission by the building owner, who can revoke this permission at any time.
Private property marker in front of 1211 Avenue of the Americas
In these cases, the buildings place the private property line markers to prevent the public or the city from staking claim over that portion of the sidewalk that belongs to them. In one of the addresses we photographed, there is actually a real-life court case that has a connection to these markers.
JT 1211 L.P. is the company that owns the building at 1211 Avenue of the Americas, also known as the News Corp Building where Fox News has its studios. In 2008, someone by the name of Charles T. Reiser sued JT 1211 L.P. for slipping on snow on the sidewalk in front of the building at 1211 Avenue of the Americas.
Reiser claims that his fall was caused by a misapplication or over application of salt by a service provider to the building. The full opinion of the court will take you down a rabbit hole you probably did not think possible over a slip and fall. But relevant to this story is the fact that Reiser fell on the portion of the sidewalk owned by JT 1211 L.P., not the public portion, which is why he could file a case against the company.
Possibly one of the most famous property marker in New York City, though not bronze, is Hess Triangle located in front of Village Cigars in Greenwich Village — a 500 square inch holdout on the sidewalk. Next time you’re walking around, take a look downwards and see what you might discover!
BOTTLE CAP MARKERS
Once you’ve seen one, you won’t be able to ignore them. They look like plastic bottle caps, in bright primary colors, embedded in the city streets. Look closely, and you’ll see they have some sequence of numbers and letters on them. If you’re thinking: must be some kind of secret code for us urban dwellers to figure out, you aren’t far from the mark. Once you start paying attention, you’ll realize the plastic circles only appear where the road has been paved over. The circles, known as asphalt tags, are part of a street code used by those that work beneath the streets. When a section of roadway is patched up, these tags are left behind to denote who did the work
The Barthman Clock
One of Manhattan’s most unique monuments gets stepped on thousands of times daily. William Barthman first set up a jewelry shop in the Financial District in 1884, and added a sidewalk clock on the corner of Broadway and Maiden Lane in 1899. The clock was designed by Barthman and an employee, Frank Homm. When Homm died in 1917, no one knew how to maintain its singular design, and the clock was replaced with a more customary model in 1925 that has been in place ever since.
The Barthman Clock has been attacked by vandals and trodden on for years, but it keeps on ticking with the help of an electric motor. An organization known as the Maiden Lane Historical Society set up a plaque in 1928 at Barthman’s depicting what Broadway and Maiden Lane looked like that year. In 1946, the NYPD estimated that fully 51,000 people stepped on the clock every day.
Coal Chute Covers
There’s a hidden city beneath the city. Sewers, electrical wiring, water mains, traffic and train tunnels all pulse and vibrate under your feet as you walk the five boroughs. Other than steam-belching vents, manhole and coal chute covers are the only visible reminder of this underground sub-city. If you walk past them without noticing, you’ll miss a lot of delicate cast-iron artwork and, just maybe, a hint of the past history of New York City.
Some of New York’s most gorgeous cast-iron covers led to coal chutes. Before central heating was instituted — fairly recently, in the scheme of things — most New York City buildings burned coal for heat. The chutes led to conduits that brought the coal directly into the burners. Many of these coal chute covers bear the names and addresses of their long-lost manufacturers.
Ticker-Tape Parade Markers on Lower Broadway
The Downtown Alliance, a business improvement district representing Lower Manhattan, has embedded brass lettering commemorating every ticker-tape parade ever held in New York City, beginning with the first one: A fete on Oct. 28, 1886 to dedicate the Statue of Liberty. “Ticker tape” is an inch-wide ribbon of paper on which a “ticker” machine recorded stock quotes. When volumes of it were released into the outside air, it created a mesmerizing swirling effect. The practice of throwing it out of windows broke out quite serendipitously during that first parade, and has been done for the more than 2,000 parades on Lower Broadway since, helping the street became known as the “Canyon of Heroes.” Downtown Alliance
WEEKEND PHOTO
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FRIDAY PHOTOS OF THE DAY
Manhattan Bridge
Clara Bella, Andy Sparberg, Hara Reiser, Alexis Villefane
got it right
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GARDEN CLUB SITES:
ACCROSS FROM FOODTOWN WHERE 2/4/10 RIVER ROAD ARE
IN BACK OF CENTRAL NURSES RESIDENCE WHERE 465/455 MAIN STREET ARE
CURRENTLOCATION IN OCTAGON PARK
Text by Judith Berdy
Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website
Edited by Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c)
UNTAPPED CITIES (C)
DOWNTOWN ALLIANCE
FUNDING PROVIDED BY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE GRANTS CITY COUNCIL REPRESENTATIVE BEN KALLOS DISCRETIONARY FUNDING THRU DYCD
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