TIK TOK @ rooseveltislandhsociety CHECK OUT OUR TOUR OF BLACKWELL HOUSE ON TIC TOK
Today I spent the day in the kiosk mostly with Barbara Speigel
I love to meet the visitors and chat with them. We had many countries represented: Britain, Scotland, Argentina, Ecuador, Colombia, Costa Rica, New Zealand as well as Toronto and states from Florida to Indiana to Chicago to California.
Most folks were in a great mood and trying to figure out what to do on the island since Southpoint Park was closed.
A visitor from Barcelona told me the city was so expensive after she visited the Empire State Building, top of the Rock, One Vanderbilt and The Edge.
The family from Costa Rica now living in Orlando commented on the number of alligators in Florida, more that in Costa RIca,
An Austrian architect who was so disappointed he couldn’t visit the FDR Park, I promised him that it would be open tomorrow.
Many people told me of staying in the city for 5 days straight and had to see “everything.”
We only heard compliments about our city and some commented how safe it was after reading about it overseas.
Vintage Poster, Courtesy of Macy’s, Inc.
Macy’s first-ever fireworks show was a celebration of Macy’s 100th Anniversary, rather than America’s birthday. On July 1st, 1958, over the Hudson River, a million people watched the store’s first-ever large-scale pyrotechnics show. It wasn’t until 1976, in partnership with The Walt Disney Company, that Macy’s 4th of July fireworks shot became an annual tradition. That year, the fireworks were set off in honor of America’s bicentennial. The show was first televised in 1991.
This year, Macy’s 47th fireworks show will feature 30 different colors and shapes, 60,000 firework shells, and an arrangement of 2,400 shell effects per minute. Altogether, it takes 50 miles of cabling and 1,600 lines of computer-programmed cues to run the show. This new hi-tech production is quite different from how the show was programmed in the 1970s when computer-generated cues were not nearly as quick or efficient. The fireworks used to be manually launched from the barges by a single person with one metal rod.
TUESDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
A postcard from the 1970’s Operation Sail sailing by Goldwater Hospital an the tram passing by. Artist Litiitzia Pitigliani for the MTA
MEN OF THE DAY
ARMANDO CORDOVA – TRAM MANAGER CYRIL OPPERMAN – BUS MANAGER
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 Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
MAYA LEVANON-PHOTOS TIK TOK & INSTAGRAM\ JUDITH BERDY (C) R.H..MACYS
TIK TOK @ rooseveltislandhsociety CHECK OUT OUR TOUR OF BLACKWELL HOUSE ON TIC TOK
Since 1976, millions of spectators have gathered throughout the city on July 4th to marvel at the grandeur of Macy’s annual Independence Day fireworks. Whether it’s over the East River or Hudson River, Macy’s has always put on a jaw-dropping display from barges on the water, synchronized to music. Yet, what we see as a New York 4th of July tradition actually began as something unrelated to the holiday
Vintage Poster, Courtesy of Macy’s, Inc.
Macy’s first-ever fireworks show was a celebration of Macy’s 100th Anniversary, rather than America’s birthday. On July 1st, 1958, over the Hudson River, a million people watched the store’s first-ever large-scale pyrotechnics show. It wasn’t until 1976, in partnership with The Walt Disney Company, that Macy’s 4th of July fireworks shot became an annual tradition. That year, the fireworks were set off in honor of America’s bicentennial. The show was first televised in 1991.
This year, Macy’s 47th fireworks show will feature 30 different colors and shapes, 60,000 firework shells, and an arrangement of 2,400 shell effects per minute. Altogether, it takes 50 miles of cabling and 1,600 lines of computer-programmed cues to run the show. This new hi-tech production is quite different from how the show was programmed in the 1970s when computer-generated cues were not nearly as quick or efficient. The fireworks used to be manually launched from the barges by a single person with one metal rod.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – JUNE 29: Workers preparing fireworks for the Macy’s Fourth Of July Fireworks show on June 29, 2023 in New York City. (Photo by Eugene Gologursky/Getty Images for Macy’s, Inc.)
The onboard preparation of shells and firing mortars still takes up to 12 days, but this year’s barges have 50 pyrotechnicians on hand. On the barges, they hand-load each one of the shells into the mortars and then hand-wire those shells into the computer.
Macy’s 4th of July fireworks presentation for 2023 began like all the others that came before it, with an original musical score. The fireworks display was developed to match and synchronize with the chosen song. This year’s 25-minute arrangement features an original version of From Sea to Shining Sea, performed by the United States Army Field Band under composer Ray Chew. The new effects to match, produced and designed by Pyro Spectaculars and Souza, include a mile-wide waving flag with red crackling pistil shells, pyrotechnics that are much more detailed and vibrant than what you may have seen in 1976.
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 Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
MAYA LEVANON-PHOTOS TIK TOK & INSTAGRAM\ JUDITH BERDY UNTAPPED NEW YORK (C) R.H..MACYS
Photographic portrait of nature photographer Ansel Adams — which first appeared in the 1950 Yosemite Field School yearbook. The camera is probably a Zeiss Ikon Universal Juwel.
Photograph of the Hoover Dam (formerly Boulder Dam) from Across the Colorado River; From the series Ansel Adams Photographs of National Parks and Monuments, compiled 1941 – 1942, documenting the period ca. 1933 – 1942.
Full side view of adobe house with water in foreground, “Acoma Pueblo [National Historic Landmark, New Mexico].”; From the series Ansel Adams Photographs of National Parks and Monuments, compiled 1941 – 1942, documenting the period ca. 1933 – 1942.
Close-up of leaves, from directly above, “In Glacier National Park,” Montana; From the series Ansel Adams Photographs of National Parks and Monuments, compiled 1941 – 1942, documenting the period ca. 1933 – 1942.
Front view of entrance, “Church, Taos Pueblo National Historic Landmark, New Mexico, 1942” [Misicn de San Gercnimo] (vertical orientation); From the series Ansel Adams Photographs of National Parks and Monuments, compiled 1941–42, documenting the period ca. 1933–42.
FRIDAY PHOTO OF THE DAY
SIGN FROM CAPRI PIZZARIA LOCATED AT 524 MAIN STREET UNTIL 1980’S ALEXIS VILLAFANE & NINA LUBLIN GOT IT.
MONDAY PHOTO
FOR AGES A BUNCH OF METAL SUPPORTS SAT ON THE HILL BETWEEN THE FIRE HOUSE AND AVAC. IT SEEMS TO BE A NO-MANS LAND. RIOC STAFF WANTED TO MOW THE LAWN AND FDNY REFUSED TO MOVE THE METAL SUPPORTS. THERE SEEMED TO BE A STANDOFF BETWEEN FDNY & RIOC. A COMMENT SENT TO THE FIRE COMMISSIONER ON THE FDNY WEBSITE BROUGHT ACTION. THE PARKING LOT NEXT TO THE BUILDING WAS REPAVED, THE TREES TRIMMED, GRASS CUT AND ALL THE JUNK WAS REMOVED FROM THE AREA.
WHEN I WAS NOTIFIED THAT THE JOB WAS DONE, THERE WERE 10 CC’S ON THE E-MAIL!
JUDYB
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 Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
MAYA LEVANON-PHOTOS TIK TOK & INSTAGRAM\ JUDITH BERDY WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
