TAKE RED BUS TO OCTAGON STOP, WALK NORTH ON WEST PROMENADE TO COLER. ENTRANCE IS JUST PAST MAIN ENTRANCE AT THE COLER GARDEN.
NYC MANHOLE COVERS:
HISTORY AND HOW THEY’RE MADE
PART 2 MICHELLE YOUNG
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
ISSUE #1280
MONDAY-WEDNESDAY, JULY 29-31. 2024
The High Bridge was once part of the Croton Aqueduct system that brought in fresh water to New York City
So, for urgent public health reasons all around the world, sewage systems had to be developed and systems built to bring in clean water. This is how we get some of the oldest manhole covers left in New York City. In 1842, the first Croton Aqueduct was completed bringing fresh water down to the city from Westchester County by means of gravity. It was one of the largest engineering feats of the 19th century. The system opened to great fanfare with a celebration that included a parade down Broadway, the ringing of church bells and the shooting of canons. Gravity-powered fountains in City Hall Park and other places in Manhattan shot water 50 feet up into the air. Manhole covers were needed to access the new exciting system underground.
Tracking historical ephemera, like the oldest manhole covers, is one of my past times. For years, a Croton Aqueduct manhole cover on Jersey Street next to the Puck Building in Soho was often cited as the oldest manhole in New York City. It had the words “CROTON AQUEDUCT D.P.T. 1866” on it. Sadly, roadwork in 2017 wiped away its existence so you won’t find it there anymore. The quest then remained to find the next manhole cover that could be crowned the oldest
NYC’s oldest manhole cover dates to 1862 and sits across from the Port Authority Bus Terminal
Turns out, another Croton Aqueduct manhole cover — even older than the Jersey Street one — had been here all along. Dating to 1862, as evidenced by the cast-iron numbers, this manhole cover is even better preserved because it sits on a sidewalk. It is however, located in a far less charming spot —across from the much-despised Port Authority Bus Terminal next to Times Square on 40th Street and 8th Avenue.
Another one from the same year was found in Central Park and then in 2021, reader Don Burmeister, who runs the site A Field Guide to New York City Manhole Covers, tipped us off to an even older one! Dating to 1861 and located in Central Park this manhole cover currently holds the title of New York City’s oldest in our book.
NYC’s oldest manhole cover dates to 1862 and sits across from the Port Authority Bus Terminal
Turns out, another Croton Aqueduct manhole cover — even older than the Jersey Street one — had been here all along. Dating to 1862, as evidenced by the cast-iron numbers, this manhole cover is even better preserved because it sits on a sidewalk. It is however, located in a far less charming spot —across from the much-despised Port Authority Bus Terminal next to Times Square on 40th Street and 8th Avenue.
Another one from the same year was found in Central Park and then in 2021, reader Don Burmeister, who runs the site A Field Guide to New York City Manhole Covers, tipped us off to an even older one! Dating to 1861 and located in Central Park this manhole cover currently holds the title of New York City’s oldest in our book.
A ConEd “Millenium” manhole cover the agency put out for the year 2000. It was designed by Karim Rashid, who won a competition.
To learn more about manhole covers, I spoke with Lisa Frigand, who worked for ConEd for 34 years starting in 1978. She retired as the Manager of Cultural Affairs at ConEd in 2012 but is still involved in the arts, making her own ceramics and embroidery. She tells me that when she was working at ConEd, the company had about 250,000 manhole covers and that they weigh between 200 and 300 pounds each. A spokesman at ConEd confirmed her estimate, telling me that the company manages approximately 265,000 structures which include manholes, service boxes and transformer vaults. But then the NYC Department of Environmental Protection also gave me their numbers, and they have about 350,000 manhole covers across the five boroughs! So for now, I’m crowning the DEP with having the most number of manhole covers in the city!
A good number of manholes covers have the words MADE IN INDIA on them in large, all capital letters. Have you ever wondered why that is? To get down to the bottom of this, I spoke with Natasha Raheja, an anthropologist and professor at Cornell University and the director of the documentary Cast In India, which is an exploration into how manhole covers in New York City are made. Her quest to understand the connection to India took her to Howrah, a city in West Bengal, where some of the NYC Sewer manholes are being manufactured. In our latest podcast episode, Natasha explains what materials manhole covers are made from, how they’re manufactured, and some additional fun facts. You can watch Cast in India on Apple TV, Google Play, Kanopy, and Amazon Prime (in select countries).
Manhole covers are also made in the United States. ConEdison tells me that it gets most of its manhole covers from a foundry in Michigan called East Jordan, but they work with a few other US-based foundries as well.
New York City is a fountain of inspiration for artists. Even the most mundane of objects have been turned into art, and the manhole cover is no exception. In the year 2000, nineteen custom manhole covers appeared in Greenwich Village with a cryptic phrase on it: “In Direct Line with Another and the Next.” The words looked like they had been almost stamped onto a generic looking manhole cover. The letters were in all capitals, but everything was a little crooked. If you came across it, you might look around you for something it might reference, perhaps in direct line with it. But it wasn’t quite as direct as that.
On the rim of the manhole cover, you would see the names of three organizations involved: The Public Art Fund, Con Edison and Roman Stone Company. It was an art initiative from the Public Art Fund, a non-profit dedicated to putting art in public spaces. The design itself came from Bronx-born artist Lawrence Weiner, whose text-based art has been in museums and public spaces all around the world. He was one of the pioneering artists who began using language as art. New Yorkers may remember his more recent installation in 2009 on the piers of the Battery Maritime Building, where the ferries to Governors Island leave from. It read: “AT THE SAME MOMENT” in large red lettering.
Lisa Frigand, whom we spoke to earlier, was actually instrumental in getting Lawrence Wiener’s manhole cover project executed, when she was Manager of Cultural Affairs at ConEd. She worked with Roman Stone Company, a foundry on Long Island, to get the manhole covers designed to spec and made. I asked her what the phrase, “In Direct Line with Another and the Next” meant to her — and you can hear her answer in the podcast episode! You can find at least one of Weiner’s manhole covers remaining, as part of the Whitney Museum’s collection – it’s embedded in the floor near the entrance to the museum.
One of the most pressing questions I had about manholes is what it’s like to go down one. In 2009 I missed my own opportunity to do just that. Self-made urban archeologist and local icon, Bob Diamond, had discovered and excavated the famed Atlantic Avenue tunnel in Brooklyn and was giving tours. Built in 1844, it’s considered the world’s first underground transit tunnel. Chalk it up to being in my 20s and in a rock band at the time. I was out late performing and just couldn’t get up in time to go. I thought, I’ll be able to go again, but this is New York City and all off-limits things get shut down eventually. Fortunately for us, Justin Rivers did make it and you can hear all about his experience in the podcast episode.
Before we close out, have you figured out yet why are manhole covers round? My contact at the DEP says, “The principal reason that manhole covers are round is so they won’t fall into the manhole.” If a manhole is square, rectangular or even oval, it can fall into the manhole if you insert it at an angle or vertically. Yikes!
Over the last 160 years, New York City’s underground has become increasingly complex. We spoke today about the most common manhole covers you can find in the city, the NYC Sewer manhole covers and the ones for ConEd. But you’ll also find manhole covers for the subway, for the water system, and for telecommunication companies like Verizon and its subsidiaries, which include companies it acquired like the New York Telephone Company and Empire City Subway (ECS for short). Empire City Subway has nothing to do with the modern subway, but was formed after the Great Blizzard of 1888 which took down much of the city’s overhead electrical infrastructure. The aim of the company was to build underground ducts for telecommunication services.in.
An Empire City Subway manhole cover on Hudson Street
When companies go defunct, sometimes their manholes covers remain for a long time afterwards, becoming part of the city’s historical record. While the number of manhole covers in New York City is a constantly fluctuating number, what’s clear is that they continue to be an object of fascination for New Yorkers. Look down next time you’re walking around and see what you discover about New York City’s history and how the city works. Cowabunga!
How many manhole covers are there in New York City? How are they made? Where do they lead to? In an episode of The Untapped New York Podcast we go over manhole covers 101 and discuss why New Yorkers find them to be such curious objects. We speak with Lisa Frigand, the former Manager of Cultural Affairs at the NYC Department of Environmental Protection, Natasha Raheja, an anthropologist at Cornell University who made the film Cast in India about how manhole are made, and with Justin Rivers, Untapped New York’s Chief Experience Officer, who will talk about his personal experience going down into a manhole. We’ll also look at a unique manhole cover art project that popped up in Greenwich Village. By the end of the episode, you’ll also have the answer to that famous interview question, why are manhole covers round?
If you look down on New York City’s streets, you’ll see quite a cacophony of things from manhole covers, to spray painted symbols, to crosswalks, and more. To kick things off, we first went out onto a Greenwich Village street with Justin Rivers to check out some manholes. The area around Minetta Street is a treasure trove for manhole cover hunters. In just about two blocks, you’ll find dozens of manhole covers for gas, water, sewer and the subway. Of particular note is a DPW manhole cover you’ll find on Minetta Street. If you shine a flashlight down one of the open holes on the cover, you can see the former Minetta Brook flowing. This former fresh-water source for New Yorkers has been long buried and connects into the sewer system now. DPW stands for Department of Public Works, a predecessor of the NYC Department of Environmental Protection. It’s just one of the many abbreviations you’ll find on NYC manhole covers.
A look at the Minetta Stream down a manhole
On Minetta Lane and the vicinity, you’ll be able to trace the evolution of the NYC Sewer manhole cover from a late-Victorian DPW manhole cover with ornate lettering, to a more industrial DPW manhole cover, to the classic NYC Sewer manhole cover, to one that is also “MADE IN INDIA,” as well as one that simply says “SEWER.”
On Minetta Street, a NYC Sewer Made in India manhole cover sits next to a more old-school DPW manhole cover
Each manhole cover is a portal to an underground world below. In popular culture, what lies beneath has been explored repeatedly, perhaps most notably by the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, who would pop a manhole cover to go down to their underground lair that they shared with Splinter, the mutant rat who raised them. The NYC Sewer manhole cover also doubled as a weapon.
Popular fascination with underground systems continues to be manifested in the websites of urban explorers, writers and photographers. This enthrallment can be attributed in part to the rich mythological origins of a fabled underground. In Greek and Roman mythology, Hades is an underground world of arrivals, transition, and temporality. Even if we don’t think of the world under New York City’s streets as a place for lost souls, manholes still remain as a portal between the city as us mortals experience it and the underbelly that supports our existence.
A coal hole cover in Brooklyn Heights
The earliest manhole covers you can find in cities are usually coal hole covers. Made of cast iron, they are generally square or rectangular in shape, sometimes hexagonal. They led to former coal chutes in residences and commercial buildings. Although coal is no longer used to heat homes, you can still find coal hole covers in some of New York City’s oldest districts, like Brooklyn Heights.
But the round manhole covers that most people think of are usually connected to essential services like water, sewers, and power. The advent of modern urban existence in the 1800s necessitated the removal of these services underground. It was part functional but also a utopian ideal, intended to preserve the beauty of cities.
The word “sewer” is defined in old English as “seaward,” which described the open drainage ditches that sloped downwards to the Thames River. The Oxford English Dictionary traces the origin of the word sewer to the old French word seuwiere, meaning “a channel to drain overflow.” By the nineteenth century, the waste from these conduits in all the major cities eventually overwhelmed the ability of natural bodies of water, like rivers and ponds, to self-cleanse. London experienced what is known as “The Great Stink” of 1858. The particular potency of the pollution that summer shut down government and prompted lawmakers to finally enforce and enact public health legislation.
Baron Georges Haussmann, who is credited with laying out modern Paris wrote in 1854, “The underground galleries, organs of the large city, would function like those of the human body, without revealing themselves to the light of day. Pure and fresh water, light, and heat would circulate there like the diverse fluids whose movement and maintenance support life. Secretions would take place there mysteriously and would maintain public health without troubling the good order of the city and without spoiling its exterior beauty.”
New York City was going through something similar. Like all early settlements, New Yorkers initially relied on existing bodies of water for fresh drinking water. Collect Pond is the most famous, located near the courthouses in Lower Manhattan today. The nearly 50-acre lake was the main source of drinking water, fed by an underground spring. But polluting industries like slaughterhouses, breweries, and tanneries built along the pond’s shores contaminated the water and eventually, the pond was filled in.
By 1811, the natural landscape around Collect Pond was gone and the relentless march of development continued even atop this poorly engineered and polluted landfill. The rough and tumble neighborhood built at Collect Pond became known as Five Points — immortalized in the Martin Scorsese film Gangs of New York. Things got so disgusting with sewage and industrial runoff, they actually had to fill Collect Pond in. A canal was created to drain the pond, but it too became an open sewer and had to be filled in. That’s how Canal Street got its name.
One of the public health crises that emerged from contaminated water was cholera. The first wave of cholera in 1832 killed 3500 New Yorkers. Adjusted for population, that would be equivalent to 100,000 New Yorkers losing their lives in 2020, which is nearly four times the current death toll of COVID-19 in New York City. New York would be hit with four more waves of cholera through 1866, some even deadlier than first wave, making it one of the most disastrous epidemics in New York City’s history.
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Illustrations, from above: Tin Pan Alley in 1905; Abraham Lefcourt, June 1927 (courtesy Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University); The Brill Building in 1931; The Brass Portrait bust of Alan E. Lefcourt above the Brill Building’s entrance; and a young Paul Simon and Carole King in the Brill Building, 1959.
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
During the 1960s, the Brill Building in Manhattan revolutionized all aspects of the music industry. The operations of this one building turned the fledgling genres of rock and pop into a streamlined machine.
In a matter of a few years, the building’s music businesses revolutionized the process of songwriting, recording, and promotion. On top of this, the building produced timeless hits of the 1960s and launched the careers of the biggest singer-songwriters in history.
So how is it that a rather unassuming building in the heart of Manhattan could have such an immense impact?
The origin of the Brill Building can be traced back to one man: Abraham Lefcourt. Lefcourt was born in Birmingham, England in 1876 but immigrated to Manhattan in 1882.
He worked his way up through the ranks of New York City society, starting work as a shoeshine and newsboy. Lefcourt’s break came when he made his foray into the world of real estate.
In 1910, he built a 12-story building housing garment businesses. By 1930, he had developed 31 multi-million dollar properties throughout Manhattan’s Garment District.
In 1929, Lefcourt turned his attention to a property on the corner of Broadway and 49th Street. This property housed the Brill Brother’s men’s clothing store, but Lefcourt had greater ambitions for it. He aspired to build the tallest building on Earth – a 1,050 foot skyscraper – on the site of the store.
Lefcourt soon leased the property from the Brills and began construction on his $30 million colossus.
This plan was far from unique to Lefcourt. During the 1920s, Manhattan moved upward, with firms competing against one another to build the tallest tower in the city. The years following the First World War saw the US population and economy boom, leading to a need for 10 times more office space than was available.
On an island as small as Manhattan, the only choice was to build upward. As architect Louis Horowitz remembered, “Our bellwether was proven by the sudden hurry of many to lease offices from us-inland manufacturers of everything that fighting soldiers needed. Brokers, lawyers and a host of others signed up for space.”
In line with this was a trend of growing consumerism. More and more people could afford automobiles, radios, and tickets to movies – both silent and sound. In this period of unparalleled growth and prosperity, architectural projects likewise expanded, mirroring this growth.
As soon as there was demand for skyscrapers, there was also competition. By 1930, three Manhattan buildings were vying to be tallest in the world. The first completed was the Bank of Manhattan Trust Building at 40 Wall Street. With its upper pyramid reaching a staggering 927 feet, the building was the largest on record upon its completion in May 1930.
The building however would not keep this title for even a year before the Chrysler Building topped it at 1,046 feet. As the legend goes, Chrysler waited for the completion of 40 Wall Street, before raising the Chrysler Building’s trademark spire, giving it the title.
Again, within only a year, both towers had been dwarfed by the massive 1,454-foot Empire State Building. In spite of this, Abraham Lefcourt thought that his Brill Building stood a real chance at winning this architectural space race.
As if the space constraints were not bad enough, the market crashed one month into construction. October 29th, 1929 – known as Black Tuesday – ravaged Wall Street, and kicked off the multi-year Great Depression.
By 1932, the US stock market had lost 89% of its value, and unemployment rose to 25% as banks collapsed across the country. Lefcourt surprisingly viewed this as a blessing in disguise. He hoped that investors would abandon the stock market, and invest more in land, only emboldening his construction plans.
It was clear that construction constraints and the collapse of the global economy could not stop Lefcourt. However, personal tragedy in 1930 ended his architectural aspirations.
On February 3rd, Lefcourt’s son Alan died of anemia, and within one month Abraham had stopped construction of the building at only ten stories. Abraham christened this new office building the Alan E. Lefcourt Building in honor of his late son.
While nowhere near as tall as its competitors, the Lefcourt building was an architectural marvel in its own right. The white brick tower embodied the Art Deco style of the 1920s standing in stark contrast to the other buildings on Broadway. In addition, it features ornate terracotta reliefs, and brass portrait busts of Alan Lefcourt.
When the building opened in 1930, it hosted modern amenities that made it desirable as an executive office space. Upon its opening, the New York Times reported that it boasted “new automatic-stop, high-speed elevators,” and a shopping lobby.
Lefcourt began by leasing out entire floors to firms which were to be later subdivided. While some law and accounting firms, as well as utility offices opened, this model was largely a failure. By 1934, many offices were still vacant, leading to a shift in strategy.
Floors were divided up into small office spaces that were individually leased to tenants. This proved to be a success, attracting specifically the music industry to the building. Within only ten years, 100 music tenants had moved into the Brill Building.
The Origins of Popular Music in New York
The music industry within the Brill Building built off of a longer tradition of pop music in Manhattan. Since 1890, Midtown Manhattan had housed its own music industry known as Tin Pan Alley.
The area along West 28th Street originally housed residential row houses, but shifted towards music with the establishment of M. Witmark and Sons publishing in 1893. By 1900, the block had the largest concentration of music publishers anywhere in the country.
On top of this, Tin Pan Alley housed a large concentration of saloons and music halls that worked alongside publishers.
In many ways, Tin Pan Alley invented modern music promotion through the process of “plugging.” Plugging was the idea of having as many people as possible hear your song. In an era before radio, TV, or film, plugging required live performance.
As a result, Tin Pan Alley publishers allied with local music halls to promote their compositions. These promotions included free sheet music, singalongs, and other events. Because of these plugging techniques, Tin Pan Alley was always alive with the sound of piano tunes. This lively atmosphere gave the area and industry its name, with “tin pan” being slang for the cheap pianos used in the area’s saloons.
Throughout its operations, Tin Pan Alley launched timeless hits and legendary careers. The Alley’s composers penned songs including “Take Me Out to the Ballgame,” “God Bless America,” and “Hello Ma Baby.” Many of these Tin Pan Alley hits transcend era and genre, remaining well known almost a century after their composition. In addition to hits like these, many of the alley’s composers became celebrities in their own right.
One such composer was a young Russian immigrant named Israel Beilin, who immigrated to Manhattan in 1893. Upon his naturalization, immigration authorities legally changed his name to Irving Berlin.
At only 19, Berlin was composing songs for Tin Pan Alley publishers. With hits like “Alexander’s Jug Band,” and the aforementioned “God Bless America,” Berlin took over popular music. Throughout his career, he penned hundreds of songs, and topped the charts 25 times.
Tin Pan Alley publishers also revolutionized the music industry through the creation of dance crazes. capitalizing off past theater and ragtime hits, the alley’s composers began writing danceable novelty songs. These – like modern dance crazes – were meant to be fads, spreading quickly and aiding in the sale of sheet music to clubs across the country.
Many of these Tin Pan Alley dances were just that, with the “Turkey Trot,” “Grizzly Bear,” and “Cubanola Glide” quickly gaining popularity then falling out of favor. One dance – The Foxtrot – became a craze unlike any other, growing into its own genre.
These dance crazes foreshadow a technique that Brill Building songwriters would latch onto decades later. In fact, Brill Building writer Neil Sedaka argues that its songwriting infrastructure was a natural evolution of Tin Pan Alley plugging.
Despite its massive success and revolutionary methods, Tin Pan Alley did not last forever. For one, the local industry could not keep up with the technological advances of the 1920s.
Much of Tin Pan Alley’s profits were directly tied to the sale of sheet music, which quickly became outdated as radio and recordings were becoming more widespread. Despite this, many publishers were able to persevere despite lowered sales.
The invention of the sound movie – or “Talkie” – was what really ended the alley’s operations. The medium was a great vehicle for song promotion, leading to West Coast entertainment firms buying up many of the local publishers in the alley.
As Tin Pan Alley was dying down, a new genre called Jazz was exploding in Manhattan. During the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920s, New York became a hub for African American musicians and artists. Jazz was not a new genre, with its roots originating from the musical tradition of America’s enslaved population.
As the New York Times reported in 1926, “Jazz came to America 300 years ago in chains.” Despite this long history, the 1920s was when jazz really emerged onto the music scene.
In Harlem’s speakeasies, like the Cotton Club, artists like Duke Ellington and Louis Armstrong revolutionized the genre and introduced it to larger and larger audiences. As a result of these artists, the 1920s is often remembered as the “Jazz Age.”
As the US entered the 1930s, many Jazz artists began incorporating elements of Tin Pan Alley songs. Jazz bands were growing in size, featuring large horn and rhythm sections. Bandleaders began performing slower, lushly orchestrated jazz versions of the foxtrot.
This type of swing music became known as “Big Band” due to the size of the ensembles performing it. Big Band soon became the defining sound of the era, with bandleaders like Count Basie, Benny Goodman, and Bob Crosby topping the charts.
The Brill Building Becomes a Music Hub
When Tin Pan Alley’s influence began to wane, many of its songwriters still remained in New York. Needing work, many publishers, songwriters, and promoters began to lease small offices in the Brill Building throughout the 1930s. Stars of the Harlem Renaissance like Cab Calloway and Duke Ellington, as well as big band stars Louis Prima and Nat King Cole all had offices in the building during the decade.
In addition to these big names, songwriters continued their work in the building, adapting the process of plugging for the radio era. These composers would take songs written in the Brill Building and present them to radio stations and orchestras to be made into hits.
Brill Building songs were frequent features on Billboard’s Hit Parade radio program, with stars like the Benny Goodman, Glenn Miller, and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras performing them. The building’s operations during the Big Band Era established the framework that its songwriters perfected during the rock n roll age.
By the 1950s, Big Band and crooners were falling out of fashion with American teens, who were becoming enthralled by rock ‘n’ roll. Much like its predecessor jazz, rock originated from the musical tradition of enslaved African Americans in the South.
This musical tradition, encompassing blues, country, and gospel slowly melded together to form something entirely new. Building off of guitar virtuosos like Robert Johnson, bluesmen like T Bone Walker and Muddy Waters began to incorporate electric instrumentation into their stylings.
These bluesmen established the electric guitar as the centerpiece of the genre, establishing the foundation for rock ‘n’ roll. In 1951, Jackie Brenston released “Rocket 88,” often considered to be the first rock record. The song is heavily indebted to the blues, being led by piano and saxophone with an underlying distorted guitar.
The song hit #1 on the Billboard R&B charts, kicking off the rock era. By 1958, with the release of Chuck Berry’s “Johnny B. Goode,” rock had become the genre of American youth. Piggybacking off of this success, radio programs, jukeboxes, and American Bandstand all highlighted rock music.
It was this explosion of rock ‘n’ roll into the American mainstream that truly made the Brill Building. By the end of the 1950s, songwriters played a major role in rock music, penning tunes for rock stars to perform.
Perhaps the most influential songwriters were the duo of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, who wrote Elvis hits “Hound Dog,” and “Jailhouse Rock.” With songwriters like these, there was a “professionalization” of the rock genre, with a streamlining of the songwriting, recording, and promotion processes.
The Brill Building quickly became the center of this professionalized rock industry. By 1962, the Brill Building housed 162 music businesses.
In 1958, publishing duo Don Kirshner and Al Nevis founded Aldon Music, which quickly became the city’s paramount music business. The firm was originally located at 1650 Broadway – a block away from the Brill Building – but cooperated closely with the building’s businesses.
Kirshner and Neivis recognized the importance of marketing towards America’s teens, and created an assembly line for rock music production. Aldon Music realized that teen songwriters could best understand the sensibilities that would appeal to the youth market. As a result they established a team of young writers to crank out pop songs.
This songwriting process was ruthlessly efficient. Writers would work in small offices, often adorned with only an upright piano, penning teen pop songs for hours each day. Once finished, writers would take their songs to the building’s publishers until someone bought them.
On top of that, publishers could get arrangements, vocalists, and lead sheets all from within the building’s businesses. With all of those pieces, a demo could be recorded all within the same day.
In many ways, the Brill Building was its own self-contained industry, containing all the ingredients needed for pop song writing, recording, and publishing.
You can read more about the Brill Building’s role in creating modern pop music at our arts and culture reporting partner NYS Music.
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NYS Music is New York State’s Music News Source, offering daily music reviews, news, interviews, video, exclusive premieres and the latest on events throughout New York State and surrounding areas. Subscribe to their newsletter here.
Illustrations, from above: Tin Pan Alley in 1905; Abraham Lefcourt, June 1927 (courtesy Avery Architectural and Fine Arts Library, Columbia University); The Brill Building in 1931; The Brass Portrait bust of Alan E. Lefcourt above the Brill Building’s entrance; and a young Paul Simon and Carole King in the Brill Building, 1959.
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
POSE WITH A GIANT OCTOPUS SCULPTURE AT THE OCULUS IN NYC
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
ISSUE #1278
WEDNESDAY, JULY 24, 2024
Eight welcoming arms…make that tentacles…beckon passersby to engage with a brand new interactive art installation at the World Trade Center. Titled “The Arms of Friendship,” this piece by artists Gille and Marc is one of the largest octopus sculptures in the world! Placed outside the Oculus World Trade Center on the South Oculus Plaza, the playful sculpture embodies the artist couple’s mission of connecting people and wildlife.
Photo Courtesy of Gillie and Marc
A giant octopus isn’t the only colossal creature Gillie and Marc rendered in bronze for this artwork. Cradled in the octopus’ tentacles sit a handful of the world’s most endangered animals including a rhino, zebra, elephant, hippo, and more. You can also spot two of Gillie and Marc’s signature characters, Rabbitwoman and Dogman.
Photo Courtesy of Gillie and Marc
The sculpture spans 36 feet and weighs a hefty 7 tons. Visitors are invited to sit on the massive tentacles, among the animals, and get an up-close look. By fostering this closeness between people and the realistic and super-detailed animal figures, the artists hope to inspire a connection and spread awareness of the need for wildlife conservation.
In addition to “The Arms of Friendship,” two signature interactive sculptures, “The Wild Table of Love” and “The Hippo Was Hungry To Try New Things With Rabbitwoman” are also on display outside the Oculus. Here again, humans are invited to interact with the animals. Have a seat at the table and dine among the endangered species!
The three bronze sculptures will be on view through July 31st, 2025. You can also check out Gille and Marc’s “The Wild Couch Party” in the Financial District!
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All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
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A DAY TRIP
TO
GOVERNOR’S ISLAND
ISSUE # 1277
JUDITH BERDY RANYEE LEE & HAYOON JAY LEE
I have been reading all about the new attractions on Governor’s Island. Who can resist a day trip off the island for $2.90 (senior fare)?
My friends Ranyee and Hayoon joined me at the Wall Street Pier. The NY Ferry lands at the Yankee Dock on Governor’s Island. It’s slightly confusing as the few times I have been there, Soisson’s Landing was used.
There are two ferry operators on weekends, the NYC Ferry from Wall Street, and the Governor’s Island Ferry from the Battery Marine Building ($5 for adults, free for seniors).
Transportation on the island includes bikes, pedal bikes, and walking. There seems to be a large golf cart for those with disabilities. Many distances are long and some are on sunny hills. The area around the federal landmark, Fort Jay, and Nolan Park near Fort Jay have lots of shaded areas.
One issue is the scarce availability of bathrooms, similar to our island. There are a few tucked away from the active areas. With thousands of visitors, I could only locate five sites on the map. Most are portable trailer units, and though large, they become uncomfortably hot in this weather.
There is a large food court and dining area on Liggitt Terrace. All kind of food offerings are there and plenty of seating.
In Other of Pearl, Jenny Kendler (b. 1980, New York, NY) tells the story of the extractive histories that form the origin stories of the climate and environmental crisis, while considering the oyster and whale as central players in an ecological entanglement between human and nonhuman beings, waterways, and flows of capital.
Focusing on our relationships with these two very different beings, Kendler illuminates the ways in which capitalist systems are often founded upon the bodies of others. The artist confronts contemporary environmental issues — climate change, ocean noise, chemical pollution, biodiversity loss, and sea level rise — while pointing towards the cultural structures that have allowed these catastrophes to occur.
Other of Pearl, Kendler’s first solo exhibition in New York City, transforms the magazine of Fort Jay into a space for slow exploration. Here you will encounter seven intimate and delicate works, including a handblown glass instrument where you can sing in the voice of a whale and pearl sculptures grown inside oysters. At the conclusion of the exhibition, the pearl sculptures will be auctioned to raise funds to help create a new oyster reef — redistributing resources in a gesture of ecological restoration — in partnership with the Billion Oyster Project.
By offering this proposition of a more intimate, and bodily relationship with the natural world, Other of Pearl proposes a new way to envision who matters and who we build the future for, inviting us to imagine a restored practice of reciprocity between human and non-humans.
Jenny Kendler is an interdisciplinary artist, environmental activist, naturalist, and wild forager whose work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at museums, biennials, public spaces, and natural areas. For the past two decades, Kendler’s work has focused on climate change and biodiversity loss. Her practice seeks to decenter the human and re-enchant our relationship with the natural world. She is a founding member of Artists Commit, which seeks to raise climate consciousness in the artworld, and Artist-in-Residence at NRDC.
OTHER OF PEAR IS LOCATED UNDER FORT JAY, A PERFECT COOL DARK LOCATION TO APPRECIATE THE PEARLS AND OYSTERS.
MEDITATIONS ON MEDICATION is an exhibition made up entirely of prescription bottles(empty). Inside one of the homes on Colonels Row a vast array of bottles decorated the building
If you plan on visiting, bring some empties.
The amber glow of the bottles shines thru the curtain
Walking back to the ferry, we came upon the Synagogue. Relatively intact with a Stars of David, a menorah and signboard.
After 11,000 steps, we found our way back to Yankee Pier for the rides home. Judy, Hayoon, and Ranyee on another adventure
CREDITS
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
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INSIDE THE
WASHINGTON SQUARE ARCH
ISSUE # 1276
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
One of New York City’s most elusive places is the inside of the Washington Square Park arch, which has been long closed off to the public. Until a few years ago, the interior was too unstable for public access. But a video from the Unforgotten film series, which premiered first on Untapped New York in 2022, gives you a first-hand look inside. The episode, titled “How History, Community, and Art Can Define an Iconic New York City Monument,” features Sheryl Woodruff, Deputy Director of the Washington Square Park Conservancy; Nicholas Baume, Artistic & Executive Director at Public Art Fund; Karen Karbiener, Professor in the English department at New York University; and Michelle Young, the founder of Untapped New york. The video depicts everything from dance and music performances in the park to a public art installation and shots of the Arch’s interior.
The Unforgotten Films is now partnering with the New York Landmark Conservancy to highlight forgotten New York sites and their histories. For the next few months, the Conservancy will highlight a new Unforgotten film on social media. Each film will focus on a different location, from the abandoned hospital on Ellis Island to Green-Wood Cemetery. We’ll be following along, so stay tuned!
The episode captures the diversity and the “greater city” within the park through interviews and B-roll scenes of daily life. The episode gives viewers a bit of a history lesson as well; the park was built atop a potter’s field with approximately 20,000 people buried by 1825. Washington Square Park was opened two years later as a military parade ground, which people used to congregate. The Arch was one of the final additions to the park after the fountain in the 1850s. The Arch has a spiral staircase inside that leads to the roof, giving the rare viewer a 360-degree look at Manhattan (access inside and atop was provided through a special joint event between Untapped New York and NYC Parks in 2019 thanks to former Parks Commissioner Mitchell Silver).
In the episode, you will learn about the time Marcel Duchamp and other Dadaists illegally climbed to the top of the Arch and declared it an independent republic. Fast forward to the modern era, and the episode also dives into artist Ai Weiwei‘s 2017 sculpture “Good Fences Make Good Neighbors,” which served as a commentary on the increasing hostility towards immigrants nationwide. Ai integrated his sculpture into the shape of the arch, which the episode suggests reinforced the diversity and openness of people from all walks of life.
“Washington Square Park certainly is a cultural center and folks will rally either around the fountain or around the arch itself.” Sheryl Woodruff, Deputy Director of the Washington Square Park Conservancy, says in the video. “It’s been the site of protests, it’s been the site of incredible cultural activity in a place where you can feel the city’s presence very strongly,” Karen Karbiener of NYU and the Walt Whitman Initiative, continues.
Unforgotten Films is made possible with funds from the Statewide Community Regrants Program, a regrant program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and administered by the Brooklyn Arts Council.
MARJORIE MATTHEWS AWARDS AT COLER
NYC Health + Hospitals celebrated their Community Advisory Boards and Hospital Auxiliaries on Thursday evening, at the waterfront tent in front of Coler.
Hundreds of guests gathered to acknowledge the community activities undertaken by each facility’s Community Advisory Board and Auxiliary. These groups operate across all our municipal hospitals and post-acute facilities.
These valuable organizations play a significant role in supporting the facilities and maintaining direct communication with the administration. The Auxiliaries are 501(c)3 not-for-profit organizations that fund activities, programs, and investments which the hospitals need but are unable to finance independently.
Above Borough President Mark Levine presented a proclamation to Verna Fitzpatrick, Chair of the Coler Community Advisory Board, along with Coler Executive Director Stephen Catullo
Judith Berdy and Jacqueline Kwedy of the Coler Auxiliary celebrate Francine Benjamin of the Resident Council celebrate with member Gloria Swaby
CREDITS
Untapped New York
Judith Berdy
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Mel Brooks was 14 years old and still known as Melvin Kaminsky when he began working as a busboy in the Catskills at the Butler Lodge in Hurleyville, Sullivan County, hoping to be in the right place at the right time to start a career as an entertainer.
In his 2021 autobiography, All About Me: My Remarkable Life in Show Business, Brooks wrote that whenever he finished his duties as a busboy at the Butler Lodge he would travel to some of the larger hotels nearby to watch their comics perform.
“I loved the Mountains,” he wrote. “The Borscht Belt was so important for my training in comedy. I think it was there that I first learned my craft. The audiences were very tough. They didn’t give it away. When you got a laugh, you really earned it. Those audiences sharpened your ability to survive and sometimes triumph over disastrous performances.”
While there is little doubt that performing in the Mountains at an early age played a major role in the development of Mel Brooks’ career, a relationship he formed while working here proved even more significant.
At one point, his friend and mentor, Don Appell, the social director at the Avon Lodge in Woodridge — and the man who got Mel the job at the Butler Lodge in the first place — introduced him to a young man named Sidney Caesar, who had just graduated high school and was working as a musician at the Avon.
“Six foot two with lush dark blond hair and the shoulders of a lifeguard, ‘Sid’ didn’t look like the usual Jewish boy from Yonkers,” Patrick McGilligan wrote in Funny Man, his 2019 biography of Brooks.
“Younger than Caesar by four years and shorter by six or eight inches, Melvin was instantly smitten by such a physical specimen. ‘Sid was the Apollo of the Mountains, the best looking guy since silent movies,’ Brooks recollected in one interview. ‘He’d stretch himself out on a rock by the lake, and we’d all just look at him.’”
Although they were just casual acquaintances at first, the two would soon form a comedy team of writer and performer that helped make television an instant hit with the American public.
Mel Brooks is one of the most famous entertainers who cut their teeth in the Sullivan County Catskills, but he is just one of hundreds who performed at hundreds of hotels during the heyday of the Borscht Belt. Some of those men—and a few women—went on to become household names, while many others are long forgotten.
Long forgotten too, are many of the hotels that employed those entertainers, and that’s one reason why the ongoing Borscht Belt Historic Marker Project is of such monumental importance in preserving the heritage of the Mountains.
The project — spearheaded locally by photographers Marisa Scheinfeld and Isaac Jeffreys – will dedicate its seventh marker on Sunday, July 21 in Hurleyville, and the stories of Mel Brooks and his brief tenure at the Butler Lodge will likely be in the spotlight.
But Hurleyville was home to many hotels over the years, and although little remains of most of them, they all deserve to be remembered.
From the ill-fated Shindler’s Prairie House to the Majestic and the Morningside and the Paramount Manor, there were dozens of small and medium sized hotels in and around the hamlet, so even without the Mel Brooks connection, a historic marker in Hurleyville would be appropriate.
The marker dedication, scheduled for 1 p.m. in front of the Hurleyville Performing Arts Centre, is part of a much larger celebration in the hamlet that day that will include an Author’s Row at the Morgan Outdoors shop at 234 Main Street from 2 to 3 pm.
The curated author and artisan line-up will feature a selection of Catskill authors, including this columnist, myself (Sullivan County Historian), as well as artists, books, art, and merchandise.
The Collaborative College High School at 202 Main Street will be hosting “Catskilland” from 1:30 to 4:30 pm, and organizers tout the slideshow as presenting “iconic Sullivan and Ulster County billboards documented for over six decades by Keller Signs, now part of the collection of the Sullivan County Historical Society.”
In addition, the Hurleyville Performing Arts Centre will present a ticketed performance of Sam Sadigursky’s “Solomon Diaries” at 3 pm, and there is much more, with all the events except for the ticketed performance at HPAC free of charge.
It promises to be a real Happening in Hurleyville, with the history of Sullivan County sharing the main stage, so mark your calendars for Sunday, July 21.
MY FAMILY CONNECTION, JUST REDISCOVERED TODAY
Distant relatives owned The Luzon Lodge
in Hurleyville, NY. As my grandmother described it: The entire family got one room. The dining roOm had refrigerator boxes for each room, every family had one burner on the communal stove and the seating was in a booth for the entire family. This was in the 1920’s!! A joy for mom to go on vacation in the mountains! (I remember seeing the lodge in the 1970’s and it was in a sad state and closing down.)
CREDITS
John Conway will be one of the speakers at the dedication of the Borscht Belt Historic Marker in Hurleyville at 1 pm on Sunday, July 21, and will take part in the Author’s Row at Morgan Outdoors at 2 pm, as well.
Photos, from above: Mel Brooks and and Sid Caesar in the early 1950s (courtesy Mel Brooks); Imogene Coca and Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows, 1952; and a Borscht Belt Historic Marker.
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
BRING YOUR DONATIONS TO COLER AUXILIARY ON WEDNESDAYS, JULY 17, 24TH FROM 10 A.M. TO 1 P.M.
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INDOOR PUBLIC SPACES
IN MANHATTAN
FOR YOUR OWN
URBAN OASIS
NEW YORK UNTAPPED
PART 2
ISSUE # 1274
In Midtown, 6 ½ Avenue is a series of mid-block crosswalks from 51st Street to 57th Street between Sixth and Seventh Avenue, connecting arcades within the dense buildings of Midtown. They are the unique children of the ongoing public-private love affair dotted around New York City called POPS, privately owned public spaces.
The David Rubenstein Public Plaza is one of our favorites, as we’ve seen this atrium go from a climbing wall with sparse activation to a true indoor public space. There are two vertical green walls, a cafe, and plenty of seating. And every Thursday, you are treated to live, world-class music.
If you go looking for this atrium, don’t head to Lincoln Center proper. Enter from either Broadway or Columbus Avenue, between 62nd and 63rd streets. The narrow entrance makes it easily missed, but there is a large overhang above the sidewalk to denote its existence.
Photo by Barret Doherty
Noted architects Philip Johnson and John Burgee originally designed the landmarked tower at 550 Madison, but its public garden atrium recently got a major upgrade designed by Snøhetta. This POPS is now a year-round garden where you can find many seating options among the lush plantings.
Admire the architecture of the New York Public Library’s 42nd Street branch as you seek respite from the heat. You can admire the marble-clad Astor Hall, stroll through the gift shop, and check out rare artifacts from the library’s collections in the Treasures Exhibit. Any New York Public Library makes for a great place to cool down.
I REMEMBER SOME BENCHES IN BACK OF RIVERCROSS. A GREAT PLACE TO SIT AND CONTEMPLATE THE WORLD. WHERE DID THE BENCHES GO?
CREDIT
SECRET NEW YORK JUDITH BERDY
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
BRING YOUR DONATIONS TO COLER AUXILIARY ON WEDNESDAYS, JULY 17, 24TH FROM 10 A.M. TO 1 P.M.
CONTACT US PRIOR TO ARRIVAL AT 917 744 3721
INDOOR PUBLIC SPACES
IN MANHATTAN
FOR YOUR OWN
URBAN OASIS
NEW YORK UNTAPPED
ISSUE # 1273
Thanks to zoning initiatives, in which the city grants buildings the rights to additional air space (i.e. taller buildings) in exchange for indoor and outdoor public areas, there are quite a few indoor public access areas in the least likely of locations. If you’re looking for a unique meeting spot, want to have a nice quiet lunch, or simply get some “me” time, stop in at one of these indoor public spaces in Manhattan.
A heat wave is here in New York City, with high temperatures forecasted to reach nearly 100 degrees. You can locate the nearest cooling centers here and take refuge in these public places that bring the outdoors in.
This indoor enclosed public space in the Financial District is a spacious atrium replete with fake grass and picnic benches and also includes an outdoor public space on Water Street. Large and spacious, it features plenty of tables and chairs, a food kiosk, two restrooms, an exhibition space, a retail space, and an elevated platform for public events and performances. The outdoor space has benches and trees. This POPS, or Privately Owned Public Space, was recently the site of a memorial for the loss of another POPS location, 60 Wall Street.
Continental Plaza is located at 180 Maiden Lane (between Front and South Streets). Take the 2/3 to Wall Street; 4/5 or J/M to Fulton Street
In one of the plushest atriums, there are literally birds flying around you, singing and chirping. One would be hard-pressed to remember that you’re only a few blocks away from one of the world’s busiest intersections: 57th Street in midtown Manhattan. There are sandwiches, coffee, and free Wifi available for one of the most relaxing hours you will spend! There is also an entrance from here into Trump Tower, should that strike your fancy. Another perk: this building is filled with great art, not only inside the atrium, but the entrance lobby of the building has work by Kenny Scharf, Andy Warhol, Alexander Calder, and Jeff Koons.
The IMB Plaza is located at 590 Madison Avenue (at 57th Street). Take the 4/5/6 or N/R to 59th Street.
Photo Courtesy of Brookfield Place
The atrium was severely damaged in the September 11th attacks, as almost all the glass panes were blown out by the dust clouds, but it was rebuilt in 2002. Overlooking New York Harbor, this space is home to several yearly events programs and regular indoor art installations. Brookfield Place is also home to a few great food courts, including Le District and Hudson Eats.
Brookfield Place is located at 220 Vesey Street (West of West Street). Take the E train to World Trade Center.
The public space inside One Bryant Park is always a nice stop, with its large, arched sculptural plantings and double-height ground floor. Located on the corner of 42nd Street and Sixth Avenue, the LEED Platinum-certified skyscraper also has some hidden secrets thanks to innovations from the Durst Organization: a rooftop bee farm (we’ve visited and even tried the honey!) and you can actually change the colors of the spire. Remember this spot if you find yourself near Times Square and need somewhere to cool off or seek refuge.
Take the B/D/F/M or 7 to Bryant Park.
VISITORS LOUNGING ON A COOL, SHADED LAWN JUST SOUTH OF THE SUBWAY STATION
CREDITS
SECRET NEW YORK JUDITH BERDY
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
