Subway rides are about to get a bit more futuristic. At the Coney Island Yard in Brooklyn this morning, the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) unveiled one of two new R211 model subway trains and took it out for a test ride. The trains are still being tested and standard R211s are expected to roll out onto the tracks this spring.
Marc A. Hermann / MTA
We first got a glimpse of new open gangway subway car designs in 2017. The streamlined cars feature a variety of upgrades designed to create more efficient, comfortable, and safer rides. One new feature is wider door openings. At 58-inches, R211 doors provide more room for commuters to get on and off the car. There are no interior doors separating each car, so passengers can walk freely through the open gangway which will be surrounded by soft accordion walls.
Security cameras that can be easily monitored by conductors are dispersed throughout the train. Inside the cars, there is more space and additional accessible seating areas. Even the route displays will get an upgrade. Signage on the train on digital displays will provide more detailed station-specific information, and brighter lighting. Updated signage will show which car of the train you’re in, the current and next stop, and which connections you can catch there.
The first new cars will debut on the A and C lines, replacing R46s trains that went into service in the 1970s. The cars previewed are part of a 535-car order of the R211 model cars which includes 20 cars with the open gangway feature unveiled today, an additional 515 cars with standard futuristic amenities, and 15 Staten Island Railway five-car trains. With the approval of an order for an additional 640 R211 subway cars in October 2022, a total of 1,175 new cars are expected to be released within the next two years, with the potential of adding another 437 open gangway cars. The second set of new subway cars is expected to be delivered in early 2025.
Putting these cars into service will be a huge milestone in the MTA’s efforts to modernize our fleet,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “These modern subway cars will of course upgrade the passenger experience, but they will also complement our signal improvement efforts and allow us to run more trains and provide more frequent subway service.”
Alexander S Beck shoe sore per Alexis Villafane, Gloria Herman, Andy Sparberg also got it~
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
UNTAPPED NEW YORK PHOTOS MARC A. HERMANN / MTA
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The annual Black History Month Exhibit opened on Saturday. Lorraine Williams curated this extraordinary exhibit.
For over 30 years Lorraine has been an active member of the Island community and active is so many organizations,
A special exhibit included this year are embroidery works from the women of Rwanada. These works celebrate the talent, industry, culture and bravery of these women of peace.
Amazia Thompson exhibiting his digital works on aluminum.
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
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
New York City finally got its bean. About five years and several delays later, Anish Kapoor’s mirrored sculpture was unveiled to the public this week, seemingly propping up Tribeca’s “Jenga Building” at 56 Leonard Street. As first reported by Tribeca Citizen, and confirmed by 6sqft, the longstanding barriers and scaffolding have been removed, with the monumental permanent public artwork taking its rightful place on the corner of Church and Leonard Streets.
When plans for Herzog & de Meuron’s 56 Leonard were unveiled in 2008, early renderings showed Kapoor’s sculpture in front of the building. After challenges concerning the welding and fairing process of the smooth, shiny sculpture added “a huge amount of time” to the installation, as 6sqft previously reported, construction began in February 2019, two years after 56 Leonard opened.
Like it did with most things, Covid halted progress. The sculpture remained a “half bean,” as described by Curbed, until the team was able to travel to New York from the UK in 2021.
This is the British-Indian sculptor’s first permanent public work in New York. While it remains nameless for now (an official dedication ceremony is expected in the coming weeks), the artwork closely resembles Kapoor’s “Cloud Gate,” which was installed in Chicago’s Millennium Park in 2004.
Sitting at the base of the 60-story tower, the bean (or squashed balloon) sculpture weighs 40 tons and measures 48 feet long by 19 feet high.As described on 56 Leonard’s website: “The relationship between building and sculpture is so closely cultivated that they appear to form a single unified object, exemplifying true synergy between art and architecture.”
Since there are only shuttles running to Jamaica the next few weeks, the schedule indicated the schedule was ever 30 minutes.
A SECOND FIRE IN 1999 DESTROYED THE TEMPORARY ROOF THOM HEYER, JOAN BROOKS, ED LITCHER, HARA REISER, ELLEN JACOBY, PAT SCHWARTZBERG AND GLORIA HERMAN GUESSED IT!!!
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
6SQFT
JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Something has been missing from the lampposts along the Avenue of the Americas for decades. Hanging from the street lights, passersby would have once seen 300 different medallions, or shields, representing the countries and territories of the Western Hemisphere. Only 22 remained as of 2016. This week, the New York City Department of Transportation completed the first phase of a restoration project that will bring back 45 of the lost Avenue of the Americas medallions from West 42nd to West 59th Streets.
Photo courtesy of NYC DOT
The first nine medallions installed bear the insignia of the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Mexico, Colombia, Ecuador, Haiti, Argentina, St. Lucia, and Uruguay. The NYC DOT described the process of producing these signs on Twitter. First, the design for each medallion is reviewed by multiple NYC DOT employees, the NYC Public Design Commission, and the relevant embassies and consulates to ensure all names, spelling, and insignia designs are correct. Next, the signs are fabricated at the DOT’s Maspeth Sign Shop
At the sign shop, the medallions are printed, laminated, and mounted on sheets of aluminum. In-house DOT engineers and staff designed and winded tested the new signs to make sure they would hold up better than the originals. Measuring three feet in diameter, the new medallions are lighter and more weather-resistant than the originals, which were made out of porcelain enamel.
Workers at the shop also fit each sign with special brackets. These brackets are designed to be sturdy yet flexible, and easily adjustable for events such as the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade when the medallions need to be removed to make way for the giant floating balloons. Once work at the sign shop is complete, DOT crews take the signs to the streets for installation on the lamposts along Sixth Avenue
Photo courtesy of NYC DOT
The country medallions were first introduced in 1959 under Mayor Wagner. In the previous decade, Mayor LaGuardia renamed Sixth Avenue The Avenue of the Americas as “an expression on the part of our people of the love and affection we have for our sister republics of Central and South America.” The country medallions, or shields as they were called, were a further expression of solidarity. Originally, 300 shields were installed from White Street to 59th Street.
Photo courtesy of NYC DOT
Over the years, the signs began to rust and fall into disrepair. Many were taken down in the 1990s when lampposts along Sixth Avenue were replaced. The plan to restore the medallions was announced by DOT Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez in October 2022 in commemoration of Hispanic Heritage Month.
“The creation of the Avenue of the Americas in 1945 was a great gesture that celebrated the cultures of our hemisphere, and these beautiful new medallions now once again properly honor the nationalities of so many of the people who live, work, and visit New York City,” said Commissioner Rodriguez.
Photo courtesy of NYC DOT
The NYC DOT’s Sign Shop in Queens produces over 100,000 street signs a year, or 9,000 to 12,000 each month. Everything from giant highway signs to tiny parking signs are fabricated at the shop. Once complete, the handcrafted signs make their way across all five boroughs. The shop will be busy creating the remaining country medallions over the coming months.
CENTER SECTION OF THE NOW 10 YEAR GONE GOLDWATER HOSPITAL
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
UNTAPPED NEW YORK
TO SEE GREAT ENLARGEMENTS OF EACH PHOTO, GO TO SHORPY WEBSITE: SHORPY.COM
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At last, this work puts a female figure on a level plane with the traditional, patriarchal depictions of justice and power.Written by Rossilynne Skena Culgan
Statues of nine men from history and religion perch atop the courthouse near Madison Square Park. Now, for the first time, the representation of a woman has joined their noble rooftop plinths.
“Havah…to breathe, air, life,” an exhibition by artist Shahzia Sikander focusing on themes of justice, has brought stunning golden sculptures to Madison Square Park and the nearby courthouse at 27 Madison Avenue (officially called the Courthouse of the Appellate Division, First Department of the Supreme Court of the State of New York). The statues, unveiled this week, will be on view through June 4.
Photograph: By Yasunori Matsui / Shahzia Sikander’s artwork “NOW” atop the courthouse near Madison Square Park
Inside Madison Square Park sits “Witness,” a monumental female figure measuring 18 feet tall and wearing a hoop skirt inspired by the courtroom’s stained-glass ceiling dome. The figure’s twisted arms and legs suggest tree roots, referencing what the artist has described as the “self-rootedness of the female form; it can carry its roots wherever it goes.” You can even use your smartphone to bring the figure to life through AR technology.
Photograph: By Yasunori Matsui / Shahzia Sikander’s sculpture “Witness” in Madison Square Park
Adorning the nearby courthouse, “NOW,” an 8-foot-tall female figure resembles the park sculpture, but a lotus symbolizing wisdom replaces the hoop skirt. Her horns indicate sovereignty and autonomy. A delicate collar nods to the late Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who often wore detailed collars with her traditional black robe. The statue—the only woman represented—sits next to figures including Confucius, Justinian, Lycurgus, Moses and Zoroaster. At last, this work puts a female figure on a level plane with the traditional, patriarchal depictions of justice and power.
“The image of justice as a woman has been present for centuries, but women only gained juridical voice in the last one. Despite years of women’s struggle for legal socio-economic and political equality, gender bias still continues to create barriers for many women, whether it is health and education rights, equal economic opportunities, gender-based violence and race or class discrimination,” Sikander said in her artist statement. “The essential role of visual representations of justice and ethics in judiciary spaces is one of many aspects in the relationship between art and the law, or how the image and law relate to one another.”
Photograph: By Yasunori Matsui / A female figure now sits atop the courthouse, as part of Shahzia Sikander’s “NOW.”
The installation is part of efforts by the Court of the Appellate Division to add new artworks from diverse contemporary artists to the courthouse, bringing modern perspectives on justice to the building’s existing artworks.
“As we seek to broaden the visibility of less-often-recognized contributors to law and justice in our society, what better way to start than with the figure of a woman? Women are foundations of our society. Throughout history we have been champions for freedom, equal rights and justice,” said Justice Dianne T. Renwick, chair of the court’s committee leading the effort. “For the first time since the Court’s historic opening well over 100 years ago, the figure of a woman finally and rightfully will stand on equal footing with the male philosophers and lawgivers who line the other pedestals. This type of collaboration is unprecedented in New York State and we are very excited about this endeavor and the possibilities for other courts.”
the figure of a woman finally and rightfully will stand on equal footing with the male philosophers and lawgivers who line the other pedestals
Photograph: By Rashmi Gill / The installation of Shahzia Sikander’s “Witness.”
Brooke Kamin Rapaport, deputy director and Martin Friedman chief curator of Madison Square Park Conservancy, describes the sculptures as “luminous allegorical female figures.” “Havah,” she explained, means “air” or “atmosphere” in Urdu and “Eve” in Arabic and Hebrew.
Sikander, who was born in Pakistan and now lives in New York City, is credited for renewing international interest in the Indo-Persian miniature form and for innovating a feminist neo-miniature movement. She’s a 2006 MacArthur Foundation Fellow, and she received the United States Medal of Arts in 2012.
…the enduring power lies with the people who step into and remain in the fight for equality.
“The recent focus on reproductive rights in the U.S. after the Supreme Court overturned the landmark 1973 decision that guaranteed the constitutional right to abortion in the US, comes to the forefront,” Sikander said in a statement. “In the process, it is the dismissal, too, of the indefatigable spirit of the women, who have been collectively fighting for their right to their own bodies over generations. However, the enduring power lies with the people who step into and remain in the fight for equality. That spirit and grit is what I want to capture in both the sculptures.”
Photograph: By Rashmi Gill / Shahzia Sikander during installation of “Witness” in Madison Square Park.
You can hear more from the artist, along with human rights attorney Becca Heller and Justice Judith Gische during “Lifting Women and Justice,” an event on February 6. The speakers will focus on the state of justice today, how the legal field has advanced or failed women in juridical positions, and how works of art guide transformation on central questions upholding entrenched systems. Register here.
“Havah…to breathe, air, life” is co-commissioned by Madison Square Park Conservancy and Public Art of the University of Houston System (Public Art UHS). The exhibition is on view in New York through June 4, 2023, and will then travel to Houston.
Home of warden pictured in photo and also on Blackwell’s Island painting by Edward Hopper, 1913.
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
TIME OUT NEW YORK
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Recently a story has been circulating about a boatload of pre-historic bones being lost in the East River around 65th Street in 1940. The bones were supposedly on their way from Alaska to the American Museum of Natural History. To date no evidence of the shipment has been located.
In 1971, The Sunday News featured the discovery of 3 anchors in the East River at the site of the 63rd Street subway tunnel. They were to be shared, 2 at South Street Seaport Museum and one at the new island subway station.
Needless to say the anchors never reached the South Street Seaport Museum and inquiries into their whereabouts have never been answered,
YOUNGEST SCOUTS VISIT KIOSK
Members of Daisy Troop 3416 and leader Christina Kirkman visited the RIHS Kiosk on Monday to learn about the Island history and visit island sites. An interesting tour of the kiosk and answering questions was followed by a story time.
Daisy members are learning all about the island including visiting different buildings.
RIHS President Judy Berdy read from the new book ROOSEVELT ISLAND KIDS. This audience could recognize all the pictures and told us of their favorite places on the island,
A MAP CORRECTED
When the Whitney Museum published a map featuring the New York sites that were featured in Edward Hopper’s art, something struck me as being incorrect in the interactive map.
The map featured the painting “Blackwell’s Island” as being located on the south end of out island. Wrong, the Octagon is at the north end and the map had to be corrected. Since the Octagon is still on the island how could such a mistake be made?(left )
It took weeks to hear back from the curator of the Hopper exhibit. After a few e-mails back and forth the map was corrected yesterday morning. Thanks to curator Kim Conoty for correcting history. This is the correct version:
TITANIC MEMORIAL Titanic Memorial Lighthouse, at Fulton and Pearl Streets inside South Street Seaport.
From South Street Seaport website: https://southstreetseaportmuseum.org/titanic-memorial-lighthouse/ “Located in the Titanic Memorial Park at the corner of Pearl Street and Fulton Street, the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse, part of the collection of the South Street Seaport Museum, stands as a memorial to all those lost during the tragic sinking of the RMS Titanic. Originally erected on the roof of the Seamen’s Church Institute at South Street and Coenties Slip, the tower was donated to the South Street Street Seaport Museum in 1968.” Andy Sparberg
Aron Eisenpreiss and Joyce Gold,( NYC tour guide) also got it right!
Oops: Andy Sparberg also gave correct answer about Monday’s photo of the Flushing Meadow Aquacade.
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
JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Our recent blog highlighting Municipal Archives collections that document the New Deal included a description of the records of the New York City Unit of the WPA Federal Writers’ Project. The NYC FWP provided meaningful employment for more than 300 writers, journalists, editors and photographers during the Great Depression. Although the collection includes research materials and draft manuscripts for 64 books, only a handful were published, notably the New York City Guide, and New York Panorama.
This week we are posting an article about the Fulton Fish Market from one of the unpublished manuscripts – Feeding the City. As is typical of many FWP manuscripts, the name of the author is not clear (it may have been “McLellan”), but it is dated: October 1940.
“Manhattan Casts its Reflection in East River,” South Street, from pier, ca. 1937. WPA Art Project Photograph. Photographer: Suydam. WPA FWP Collection, Municipal Archives.
No other wholesale market anywhere offers such an extensive supply of sea food as Fulton Fish Market. London’s famous Billingsgate has long been the world’s largest fish market, but in variety Fulton far surpasses it. During the busy season, early spring to late fall, 160 varieties of fishes and shellfishes from all parts of the world are available here to the 1,633 retail outlets that cater to the City’s diverse tastes.
Fishing boats at the dock, East River, November 1937. WPA FWP Photograph. Photographer: E.M. Bofinger. WPA FWP Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives
Delivering halibut, Fulton Fish Market, ca. 1937. Fishery Council Photograph. WPA FWP Collection, Municipal Archives.
The Department of Markets estimates that no more than one-quarter of these fishes and shellfishes arrive by boat. The bulk is brought in trailer trucks from railroad terminals and points along the coast. Fresh-water fishes such as eels and carps, bought by certain racial groups, are shipped in alive by rail or are water-borne by Hudson River barges. Freshly caught whole fishes come in by the boatload, but gutted and packaged fishes, both fresh and frozen, arrive by truck from sheds and icehouses adjoining the landing piers in the ports of Boston, Gloucester, and New Bedford. Enormous frozen swordfishes, stiff salt cods, and millions of tins of sardines, sprats, tunas, mackerels and kippered herrings arrive by tramp steamers and transatlantic freighters. Not more than 10 per cent comes from waters contiguous to the City. The major portion is from commercial fisheries whose boats operate on the Newfoundland Banks and off the New England coast, from Gulf fisheries, and those of the Pacific coast. The greater part of the live-lobster supply comes from Maine, while from South Africa come large shipments of frozen tails of the spiny lobster. Other varieties of frozen or preserved fishes and shellfishes come to Fulton Fish Market from points as far distant as Japan, the Baltic states, Portugal, North Africa, and Alaska. Dried and flaked fishes are shipped from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia, from Maine and Massachusetts. From the Mississippi and its tributaries in the southern States and from the Great Lakes arrive the fresh-water fishes so important in the diet of the City’s Jewish population.
South Street, near Peck Slip, October 1938. WPA Art Project Photograph. Photographer: Libsohn. WPA FWP Collection, Municipal Archives.
The day’s work begins in Fulton Market at 2 a.m. when trawlers, draggers, and smacks draw into the docks along the lower East River to discharge their cargoes. Selling begins precisely at 6 a.m. when a gong clangs three times. Buyers, representing jobbers and retailers, scurry among the stalls of the market’s 100 wholesale dealers, making their selections. Stalls are on piers, in the market’s new buildings, and in the nine-block area west of South Street.
Fish vendors, South Street, ca. 1937. WPA Federal Writers’ Project Photograph. Photographer: Clifford Sutcliffe. WPA FWP Collection, Municipal Archives.
Ninety per cent of the market’s sales are handled on a commission basis and selling must be concluded by one o’clock in the afternoon. After the boats unload, workmen begin wielding knives, cleavers, clippers, and scalers, preparing tons of fishes, and arranging them on beds of cracked ice for rush delivery to jobbers and retailers. The action along the waterfront is fast and furious since fish is one of the most perishable of commodities.
Hundreds of trucks are unloaded along the sidewalks where countless crates, vaporous and dripping wet from over-night refrigeration, are piled high. Empty trucks rumbling away are replaced by others belatedly reaching their destination. Retailers’ and jobbers’ trucks are loading up, a seemingly interminable stream of vehicular traffic.
Sidewalk stand, Fulton Fish Market, October 1937. WPA FWP Photograph. WPA FWP Collection, Municipal Archives.
“Whale and five chickens,” shouts a floor salesman, moving about in thick-soled rubber boots. A handler disappears into a refrigerated compartment and emerges hugging a huge halibut and five small ones. He drops these into a barrel and the “whale and five chickens” are ready to be packed for the last lap of their journey from the salty depths to the neighborhood fish store.
Monday is the big day at Fulton Fish Market. Produce sold on Mondays is in the retailers’ stores on Tuesdays, and so the shrewd housewife does not have to wait until Thursday or Friday to shop for sea food. On Tuesdays, stocks are fresher and larger, and prices are apt to be lower than during the rush later in the week.
When South Street was a cobblestone thoroughfare, unpleasant odors hung over this 200-year-old market. Today odors are being banished, for South Street, 75 feet wide, is now paved with asphalt, and new buildings constructed between Piers 17 to 20 by the Department of Markets form the beginning of a model fish market.
Peck Slip and South Street, ca. 1937. WPA Federal Art Project Photograph. WPA FWP Photograph Collection, NYC Municipal Archives.
The huskies who man the fishing boats are among the most picturesque of those who go to sea for their living. Many are of Norse origin. Others are down-easters whose Yankee forebears fished the banks along the North Atlantic coast; Portuguese, Italians, and Newfoundlanders also form a large group. Like other seafarers, these fishermen have their superstitions. Few will leave the piers on Fridays. When the Friday morning rush is over, they descend into their cabins and sleep until Saturday morning, or wander along South Street on shopping tours.
The entire supply of sea food once came by boat, but the fishing fleet is gradually diminishing. Skippers in the distant fishing grounds head their craft for home port, to load the catch into railway express cars or specially constructed trucks with insulated bodies, which rush to the wholesale markets. The airplane, too, enters into the picture, bringing from the west coast, southern, and Canadian waters luxury sea food such as turtle, terrapin, salmon, pompano, Florida crabmeat and stone crab, mountain stream trout, and frog’s legs. Many of these expensive products are packed in special tins and cartons for flight to LaGuardia Field, and are trucked to the market or delivered direct to retail outlets, clubs, and hotels.
Peck Slip, between Front and South Streets, ca. 1937. World Telegram Photograph. WPA FWP Collection, Municipal Archives.
Four stories of limestone, brick, terra cotta, and granite, the building has the imposing, fortress-like look of a typical bank building from turn of the century New York City—when savings bank failures weren’t uncommon and financial institutions wanted to instill a sense of trust and strength to entice potential customers.
The allegorical figures are part of this strength and trust. The train the woman holds is a symbol of industry; the caduceus suggests commerce, according to the LPC report. The key in the man’s hands represents prudence, and the cornucopia is a sign of plenty.
Credit: McLaughlin Aerial Subject: Flushing Meadow Park Subject: Aerial photographs Subject:New York World’s Fair (1939-1940) Subject:Parks–Flushing Meadows-Corona Park Description:Aerial view, Flushing Meadow Park Amphitheatre. Date:July 1941
Flushing Meadow Park Swimming Pool/Amphitheater. Young people cavort in pool; Amphitheater backdrop.
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
NEW YORK CITY MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
LUNAR NEW YEAR CELEBRATIONS ARE CONCLUDING THIS WEEK, SO WE ARE TAKING A QUICK TRIP TO THE CHINESE CUISINE WORLD WITH STEPHEN BLANK.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
MONDAY,JANUARY 30, 2023
ISSUE 899
Chinese Food in NYC – Answers and Questions
STEPHEN BLANK
I had Covid recently. No serious symptoms except extremely tired and loss of taste. My taste is now back, and I’ve been hankering for good Chinese food. Such thoughts trigger my research button and here we are.
The first known Chinese restaurant in America, Canton Restaurant, opened in San Francisco in 1849. (By the way, today, according to the Chinese American Restaurant Association, more than 45,000 Chinese restaurants operate across the United States, more than all the McDonald’s, KFCs, Pizza Huts, Taco Bells and Wendy’s combined.)
The story begins with Chinese immigrants to California in the mid-nineteenth century—mostly from Canton province—drawn by the Gold Rush and fleeing economic problems and famine in China. Though some headed to the gold fields, most Chinese immigrants to the San Francisco Bay provided services for the miners as traders, grocers, merchants and restaurant owners.
Eating houses run by Chinese sprang up around town and won a reputation for high-quality food and unusually low prices. An all-you-can-eat meal could cost as little as $1 – less than half the price of what was available elsewhere. “The best restaurants,” one patron recalled, “were kept by Chinese and the poorest and dearest by Americans.” Chinese dishes were offered but much of what they served was western. One early menu lists “Grilled Dinner Steak Hollandaise” and “Roast California Chicken with Currant Jelly,” with “Fine Cut Chicken Chop Suey” presented as just another option.
The next wave of Chinese immigrants came to work on the railroads, and Chinese food places grew up along the railway, spreading across the country. In 1855, 38 Chinese were recorded in New York, all males. Some early Chinese New Yorkers were sailors and traders who arrived directly in New York’s port and decided to stay, but many of our early residents arrived not from China directly, but from the western United States, particularly after anti-Chinese riots in San Francisco in 1877. In the mid-1870s, the New York Times counted around 500 Chinese immigrants, most of them men, half living in what now call Chinatown – the area defined by three streets that still form its heart: Mott, Pell, and Doyers.
At this point, the story becomes confusing. The Chinese Exclusion Act forbidding Chinese immigration was passed in 1882 and the flow of Chinese was halted. At this point, there were only about 100,000 Chinese people living in the US – and no more could arrive legally until 1943 when the Exclusion Act was revoked. So, the number of Chinese entering the US was low: 14,800 in the 1890’s and a record low of 5,000 in the 1930’s.
But the number of Chinese restaurants in New York City seems to have increased – indeed, “by 1903,” an exhibit at the Museum of the Chinese in America said, “over 100 chop suey houses existed between 14th and 45th Streets, from the Bowery to Eighth Avenue” and the number of Chinese restaurants in New York City quadrupled between 1910 and 1920. We are told that late-1800s versions of New York hipsters head into Chinatown after new tastes for adventurous palates. They discovered the novel flavors of Americanized Chinese dishes like chop suey and egg foo young, popularizing them to the point that they spread throughout the city. Chinatown was “teeming” with people in the 1880s, we read. So, where did all these people come from? More light!
Was this “Chinese” food? And what the hell is Chop Suey? Different kinds of Chinese restaurants appeared in the City. Some were fancy, upmarket places. In 1897 Port Arthur Restaurant opened, the largest Chinese restaurant in the city. It became a magnet for “slummers” – American tourists looking to do something exotic in the evenings. They sat at mahogany tables inlaid with mother of pearl, listened to music played on a baby grand piano and congratulated themselves on their spirit of adventure. When Port Arthur became the first Chinese restaurant in the city to obtain a liquor license, it became even more risqué and fashionable. (Such an odd name: Port Arthur was a Manchurian city that Russia had forced China to lease it to them, as an ice-free navel base. It was seized by Japan in 1904. The whole thing was a symbol of China’s decay.)
Almost surely, it did not have an all-Chinese menu. In a 1903 article about Chinese restaurants, the Times described one patron who ventured to a Chinese restaurant: “A man might wish to treat his wife or a friend to a dish of chop suey after a theatre, but could not eat the stuff himself. He must either go hungry or be satisfied with tea and rice. Consequently he lets his wife have her chop suey, while he orders, from the American side of the bill, broiled ham or broiled chicken, according to how much money he wishes to spend.”
Some very Chinese: Nom Wah Tea Parlor first opened at 13–15 Doyers Street in 1920 as a bakery and tea parlor. For most of the 20th century, Nom Wah served as neighborhood staple, offering fresh Chinese pastries, steamed buns, dim sum, and tea. Tourists came later.
Chop suey? In the 1920s American eaters were “shocked” when they were told “the average native of any city in China knows nothing of chop suey.” One food critic called chop suey “the biggest culinary prank one culture has ever pulled on another.” Others argue chop suey was indeed of Chinese origin. Where exactly its roots lay has been debated; but it was probably first cooked in Taishan, in Guangdong, where most early immigrants had grown up. More properly written tsa sui (Mandarin) or tsap seui (Cantonese), its name means something akin to “odds and ends”.
Was this an Americanized Cantonese cuisine? That’s what we were told. But anyone who has dined in a Cantonese restaurant knows that the cuisine is heavily seafood, very little like what we ate. Throughout the early 20th century, “Chinese” dishes became sweeter, boneless, and more heavily deep-fried. Broccoli, a vegetable unheard of in China, started appearing on menus and fortune cookies, a sweet originally thought to be from Japan, finished off a “typical” Chinese meal. Hardly Cantonese.
What is important is that an Americanized Chinese cuisine did emerge in the 1920s-30s – of various roots, but always looking to the customer’s tastes – and flowered after the war when immigration doors were open again. Regardless of its authenticity, the adaptation of Chinese cooking to American palates was a key element in the proliferation and popularization of Chinese cuisine in the United States.
This version of Chinese cuisine became the generic model – the Chinese restaurant menu in Buffalo was the same as in Detroit or, for that matter, in Winnipeg (and this is the truth, Lagos). Some restaurants were more upscale, some much less. But the cuisine was almost entirely the same. There were no surprises, no matter where we found a Chinese restaurant, it would taste the same.
Ultra-Americanized “Chinse” food (note “Chinese” is never mentioned). Wikipedia
From generic to regional specialization In the 1960s and ‘70s, that generic Chinese menu underwent dramatic change. The Chinese restaurant community rapidly diversified its menus. Why? One reason was newcomers from different regions. The liberalization of American immigration policy in 1965 brought new arrivals from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and the northern provinces of China, who in turn brought with them the foods they had enjoyed in areas like Hunan, Sichuan, Taipei and Shanghai.
I think another reason was that younger, more educated Chinese realized that selling a commodity – the generic menu – would never make much money. They knew that the key was differentiation, developing new more focused products.
Finally, and a bit later, many better-off young people from China began coming to the US for education or jobs. To them, the generic American-Chinese cuisine made no sense.
The result in New York was grand – the opening of new Szechwan restaurants on the Upper West Side and then, hooray, Hunan on Second Avenue. Shanghai, Beijing. All sorts of new tastes. And then, Flushing.
But note, a recent GrubHub survey finds that old standards are still among the most often ordered: General Tso’s Chicken (also the 4th most popular dish of all), Crab Rangoon, Egg Roll, Sesame Chicken, Wonton Soup, Fried Rice, Sweet and Sour Chicken, Orange Chicken, Hot and Sour Soup and Pot Stickers. Not completely Old Timey, I guess, but hardly the cutting edge of Chinese food today.
First of all, people in cultures all around the world have long bought cooked food to bring home (see Pompeii). Certainly in China, where domestic cooking facilities were modest for most. So, doing the same in Chinese communities here did not mark a change. What is interesting is that non-Chinese joined in – and take-out became identified with Chinese food, and that Chinese restaurants adopted take-out as a brand. And long before today’s food delivery services, New York’s Chinese restaurant delivered. Why? When? Who?
The little paper box? Some say the boxes resemble the old pails used to bring home oysters. It’s certainly an American invention. Patented by inventor Frederick Weeks Wilcox in 1894, in Chicago, he called it a “paper pail,” a single piece of paper, creased into segments and folded into a (more or less) leakproof container secured with a wire handle on top. It’s not found in China. The question is “Is there a reason this particular container became so closely associated with Chinese food in the United States?”
And where did take-out in these boxes begin in the US – and when? Can we trace this back to a single restaurant?
I regret, dear reader, more questions than answers. And we can’t even trust a (non-Chinese) Fortune Cookie for to show us the way.
Thanks for reading, Stephen Blank RIHS May 15, 2022
THE ENTRANCE TO THE 63RD STREET/LEXINGTON AVENUE F/Q SUBWAY STATION.
LAURA HUSSEY GOT IT RIGHT
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
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
OVER 50 YEARS FROM TUBE PLACEMENT TO L.I.R.R.MIDTOWN DIRECT UNDER ROOSEVELT ISLANDDIRECTLY INTO GRAND CENTRAL TERMINAL
We have an original of this 1971 brochure describing the process of building the 63rd Street tunnel. I will be glad to give you a clear copy for you to read.
Judith Berdy
MY TRIAL RUN
I decided to try to get to Jamaica thru the new line. I left Roosevelt Island on the F train to 42 Street Bryant Park. Exit train at rear and take staircase “S” shuttle thru new passage.
At the end of the passage you are on the “S” shuttle platform. Board the train for the 3 minute ride to Grand Central.
At Grand Central look for exit to the left directly into LIRR area.
You are now under the new One Vanderbilt building. You are exiting the subway system. Follow the signs to the LIRR, It is a rather long walk
Take the elevator or escalator down to LIRR area.
The directional signs are the best to follow. The map on the wall needs studying .You are walking south from 42 Street north to 48 Street under Vanderbilt Avenue. There are street entrances, which I have not explored, As you go along the concourse passage there is art, two public bathrooms (easy to find) and escalators leading down to a mezzanine level and then to the track levels. There are two track levels also. The track to the Jamaica train was 303 and easy to find. In simple terms there are 4 access points to each track from 45,46 47 a 48th Streets plus and entry from Park Avenue and Grand Central.
I did not worry, I figured this out after studying the map when I got home.
Since there are only shuttles running to Jamaica the next few weeks, the schedule indicated the schedule was ever 30 minutes.
There are graphics in light boxes all over the terminal. My favorite is the LIRR route map stretched out over 8 panels. Easy to read and vibrant!!!! Many mosaics decorate the vast walls. Too many to photograph and study today!
One the mezzanine level mosaics of wildlife decorate the panels. I feel this deer is lost in the woods,
Finally down to the track and on to the 1:59 p.m. local to Jamaica. I did find 3 lone vending machines in the terminal selling tickets. The conductor on the way out gave me a free ride, seeing my curiosity.
After local stops at Woodside, Forest Hills, & Kew Gardens we arrive at Jamaica. A MTA staff member gave me a map of Grand Central for me to study on the way home.
Twenty minutes later, I am back on the train to Grand Central. This conductor accepted my $5- fare for the in-city fare.
I met some wonderful, enthusiastic staff members and they should be proud of a project that took over 50 years and billions to complete.
FROM ED LITCHER: Fraunces Tavern is a museum and restaurant in New York City, situated at 54 Pearl Street at the corner of Broad Street in the Financial District of Lower Manhattan. DeLancey built the current building as a house in 1719. The small yellow bricks used in its construction were imported from the Dutch Republic and the sizable mansion ranked highly in the province for its quality. His heirs sold the building in 1762 to Samuel Fraunces who converted the home into the popular tavern, first named the Queen’s Head. Periodically known as Boltons Tavern or The Coffee house.
ANDY SPARBERG, PAT SCHWARTBERG, HARA REISER, LAURA HUSSEY AND ARLENE BESSENOFF ALL GOT IT RIGHT!
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
NEW YORK STATE 1971
JUDITH BERDY
THIS PUBLICATION FUNDED BY DISCRETIONARY FUNDS FROM CITY COUNCIL MEMBER JULIE MENIN & ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION PUBLIC PURPOSE FUNDS.
Washington, D.C., 1921 or 1922. “UnionStation waiting room.” National Photo Company Collection glass negative.
Circa 1906. “Union Station, Indianapolis.” If we step on it (but not in it) we just have time to make the 3:25 to Terre Haute. 8×10 glass negative
Cincinnati, Ohio, circa 1905. “Central Union Station.” You there in the window — get to work! 8×10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co.
Albany, New York, circa 1900. “N.Y.C. & H.R.R.R. station.” Temple of the New York Central and Hudson River Rail Road, topped off by a sculptural representation of Liberty and Justice over the state motto, EXCELSIOR. Also note the small sign behind the fire hydrant: DINNER NOW READY. 8×10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Company.
Boston, Massachusetts, circa 1905. “North Station.” An update of this view. 8×10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company
Worcester, Massachusetts, circa 1906. “Union Station.” Whose clock tower illustrates the campanile vogue in public architecture at its vertiginous peak. 8×10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company.
Atlanta, 1864. “Federal Army wagons at railroad depot.” And maybe Scarlett O’Hara in the distance. Wet plate negative by George N. Barnard.
Circa 1905. “Union Station, Toledo, Ohio.” Completed in 1886; replaced by the Central Union Terminal of 1950. 8×10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Photographic Co
Circa 1900. “Union Station, Nashville, Tennessee.” 8×10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company.
Memphis, Tennessee, circa 1907. “Union Depot, Calhoun Street.” 8×10 inch dry plate glass negative, Detroit Publishing Company
Detroit circa 1909. “Union Depot, Fort and Third Streets.” 8×10 inch dry plate glass negative, … Company. View full size. Detroit’s second station. This was the smaller, and in my mind more beautiful, of Detroit’s …
Circa 1902. “UnionStation, Pittsburgh.” Detroit Publishing Co. View full size. Upper … supposed to be standardized. That’s my favorite part! UnionStation Why were so many train stations named “UnionStation“? …
1906. “Savannah, Georgia — UnionStation.” (Did anyone think of calling it Confederate Station?) 5×7 inch dry … Publishing Company. View full size. Not that Union I’m sure you know this, but others might not. Many cities in the US …
New York ca. 1910. “Pennsylvania Station. Track level, main and exit concourses, stair entrance.” 8×10 inch glass negative, Detroit Publishing Co.
New Orleans circa 1910. “Terminal Station, Canal Street.” Demolished in 1956. 8×10 inch dry plate glass negative, … in 1956 after passenger service was relocated to the new Union Terminal. After station and tracks were removed the ground was landscaped …
1864. “Nashville, Tennessee. Rail yard and depot with locomotives.” Wet-plate glass negative by George N. Barnard.
Long Island RR Jamaica Station, looking west towards Manhattan, in early 1950s. The train on the right is steam-powered. The; the last such locomotive was retired in October 1955. Train on the left is an MP54 model electric train that was common all over the LIRR third rail lines until the last ones were retired in the early 1970s. Andy Sparberg
Laura Hussey also got it right.
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
