Friday, January 28, 2021 – Everyone has a favorite tram story
FRIDAY, JANUARY 29, 2021
The
274th Edition
From Our Archives
THE TRAM
Our Tram
Stephen Blank
The Roosevelt Island Aerial Tram is not the most glamorous cable ride – indeed it’s not ranked among the Top Ten on any scorecard. Many of the best are ski lifts, but not all. See, for example, the high ranking Skyline Gondola in Queenstown, New Zealand (below). That’s pretty wild.
SKYLINE- QUEENSTOWN
EL TELEFERICO-LA PAZ
For quite a number of years, we lived by our Roosevelt Island Aerial Tramway (and suffered when it was down). And, more or less, I came to love it.
I arrived on the island shortly after the tram was opened – and missed the pre-Tram, red bus to Manhattan era. The Tram made a huge difference. I told friends who feared I had banished myself to the far reaches of Queens that we were only 4 minutes from Bloomingdales. Which was true, sort of. But it was true, too, that we were further away. It was hard to return to Manhattan after a day’s work. The island was cooler, quieter, and always lovely. The tram was only 4 minutes (and we were only 4 minutes from B’dales), but it took us to a different place. Still, the Tram was our lifeline, even if the line to board at rush hour on the Manhattan side wound around the block to 3rd Ave.
Earlier, folks arrived on Welfare Island (usually not by choice) by boat until 1909 when the Queensboro Bridge was opened. Then they could drop in, catching the upside-down elevator from the Bridge. The trolly-elevator service was ended in 1957 though by then a new bridge to Queens had opened (in 1955).
As most of the Welfare Island institutions decayed in the ‘50s and ‘ Manhattan and the cabin wasn’t crowded. Someone had a boom box and we played music and danced. As dusk came on, we blinked our lights and some apartments blinked back. The only casualty was a guy who was off to meet his wife at a Broadway theater and took the Tram because he didn’t like to ride the subway. Long before cell phones, he had no way to get in touch with her. And we returned ultimately to the Island side.
For quite a number of years, we lived by our Roosevelt Island Aerial Tramway (and suffered when it was down). And, more or less, I came to love it.
I arrived on the island shortly after the tram was opened – and missed the pre-Tram, red bus to Manhattan era. The Tram made a huge difference. I told friends who feared I had banished myself to the far reaches of Queens that we were only 4 minutes from Bloomingdales. Which was true, sort of. But it was true, too, that we were further away. It was hard to return to Manhattan after a day’s work. The island was cooler, quieter, and always lovely. The tram was only 4 minutes (and we were only 4 minutes from B’dales), but it took us to a different place. Still, the Tram was our lifeline, even if the line to board at rush hour on the Manhattan side wound around the block to 3rd Ave.
Earlier, folks arrived on Welfare Island (usually not by choice) by boat until 1909 when the Queensboro Bridge was opened. Then they could drop in, catching the upside-down elevator from the Bridge. The trolly-elevator service was ended in 1957 though by then a new bridge to Queens had opened (in 1955).
As most of the Welfare Island institutions decayed in the ‘50s and ‘60s, ideas were bruited about for what might follow. The best seemed to create a new residential community on the island.
And remember when a cable was dropped on 2nd Avenue? Twice! In those days, a cable was changed every 3 years. The Tram went down and had to be reset afterwards. Somehow someone dropped the cable – though luckily it didn’t hit anything on the street. Profuse apologies, and then it happened again a few days later. This time, the Mayor closed down the Tram, punishment for us all!
Nonetheless, we came to love it, and when the subway finally arrived in October 1989, we hoped the Tram would remain in service. By then, it had become a New York City treasure. It was well known and figured prominently in climatic battle in Spider-Man 2002. Even earlier, the Sylvester Stallone thriller Nighthawks (1981) depicted the tramway as a terrorist target where United Nations delegates were taken hostage. It was used in the opening credits of City Slickers (1991). It also appeared in the 2005 horror movie Dark Water.
Still, when the Tram closed down in 2010, we feared it was lost forever – commitments for a $25 million project to upgrade and modernize the system notwithstanding. But it did return, just two months late. With the help of the French company Poma (a French company famous for its ski lifts), all components were replaced except for the three tower bases. Each car now operates independently, so there are now really two separate systems. The cabins’ suspension from the cable is tauter, with much less swaying and swinging. Docking is smoother. Everything seems incredibly automated. (Do you remember when a guy sat in the booth above the Island docking station? Was he controlling the thing?)
There’s much less drama with the new Tram. At one moment, it looked like the second of the new black glass buildings on the Manhattan side would block the Tram – or we just might have to bounce around it. Didn’t happen, but did you see the big guy, on the big bed with the giant TV in an apartment on the southeast corner of the building? No, of course no one looks into the apartment windows when riding by on the Tram. Over the years, we’ve found things to complain about here on the Island. But not the Tram.
Marvel Comics, (c) 1980
2009 OUT WITH THE OLD TRAM AND ERECTING THE NEW TOWER TOPS
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VERN HARWOOD GOT IT RIGHT!
EDITORIAL
I arrived in 1977 and remember some unique tram or tramless experiences.
When the tram was down, RIOC chartered buses to take us to Manhattan. The ride thru the industrial area in Queens was an educational ride, since the ladies of the eve were on the street early in the morning…..an eye opening experience.
When mass transit was on strike in the early years, we watched thousands of Queens residents walk over the 59th Street Bridge. It was the first time ladies wore sneakers to work, with their stocking on.
The embarrassing cable incident was when an un-named person cut the cable 6 feet too short and the entire cable, all thousands of feet of hit had to be discarded and weeks later a new cable arrived, with a new person to make the cuts.
When “Night Hawks” was being filmed here, the producers thought they would calm the mass anger of the passengers by inviting Sylvester Stallone to a meeting in the Chapel. He was booed and left very fast.
The summer of 2009 was amazing. While most Islanders were using the subway and not watch the goings on at the tram reconstruction. At the same time the RIHS Visitor Center kiosk was being restored and we shared the space and watched with amazement as cranes and barges moved in to replace the tower tops. It was extremely hot that summer, but the work got done and the new tram and RIHS visitor kiosk opened on November 30th!!!
I am looking forward to a crowded tram and welcoming all those tourists!
Judith Berdy
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
Roosevelt Island Historical Society
Sources
Wikipedia
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Google Images
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