VACATION TIME I was just away on a long-needed cruise. Our trip was to start on Monday, September 4th. The ship, the Norwegian Joy was delayed due to the hurricane in Bermuda. This gave the 4,000 passengers an extra day in New York (at the cruise lines expense). I asked many of my fellow travelers how they spent the day. Here is one families story.
The father was in New York, in 1942, a member of the Royal Navy and waiting to sail to Europe to the battle front. As any good sailor, he found his way to Jack Dempsey’s Bar on Times Square. He sent a postcard home to England. His family kept the card and his story of having Jack Dempsey autograph it personally.
They came to our city with the mission to photograph the Jack Dempsey’s.
When told the site was the Brill Building I knew there was another story behind the address; the home of many in the music industry.
I could not wait to get home and read Daytonian in Manhattan to find our more about the Brill building.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 18, 2023
JACK DEMPSEY’S BAR
&
THE BRILL BUILDING
ISSUE# 1078
The current Jack Demsey’s is a reproduction of the original at a new location.
The 1931 Art Deco Brill Building — Tragedy and Musical History
Nothing, it seemed, could go wrong for Abraham E. Lefcourt prior to 1930. Born on New York’s Lower East Side, he started business manufacturing ladies’ apparel. In 1910 he built his first building, a 12-story structure at 48-54 West 25th Street that housed his factory on two floors.
In 1914 he created the Alan Realty Company–named after his 2-year old son–and continued building, erecting structures throughout the Midtown area. In 1924 Lefcourt gave his now 12-year old son ownership of a $10 million office building being erected at Madison Avenue and 34th Street. His purpose, he said, was to “inculcate in his son…a sense of thrift and responsibility.”
By 1929 Lefcourt not only commanded a vast real estate empire, but was president of the Lefcourt National Bank & Trust Company. On October 3 of that year he announced that he would build the tallest building in the world at the northwest corner of Broadway and 49th Street – the Lefcourt Building. Exceeding the Chrysler Building by four feet in height, it was to cost an estimated $30 million. Negotiations began for leasing the land from brothers Samuel, Max and Maurice Brill, where their Brill Brothers clothing store stood, and the architect Victor A. Bark, Jr. was commissioned for the project.
Nothing, it seemed, could go wrong for Abraham E. Lefcourt.
Suddenly, however, Lefcourt’s fortunes plummeted. Three weeks after his announcement, the stock market crashed. The plans for the skyscraper were quickly reworked, reducing the structure to a $1 million, 11-story office building.
Tragically, one month after the lease of the site was finalized in January 1930, 17-year old Alan Lefcourt died suddenly of anemia. Coupled with the intense grief caused by his son’s death, Lefcourt was forced to deal with a crumbling empire. In August he resigned his bank presidency to devote more time to his real estate holdings. By the end of the year he had sold no fewer the eight Manhattan buildings and investors brought suit against the bank alleging “improper investments.”
The developer continued to lose millions even as the Lefcourt-Alan Building was completed in 1931. By the fall of that year Lefcourt defaulted on the agreement with the Brill Brothers, who foreclosed. The building which he intended as a monument to his son was renamed the Brill Building.
In November 1932, with a judgment pending against him and his world collapsing, Lefcourt suddenly died. While the official report blamed a heart attack, rumors of suicide persisted. His one-time $100 million fortune was reduced to a few thousand.
The polished brass portrait bust of young Alan Lefcourt over the main entranceCompleted in 1931, the striking Art Deco Brill Building remained, in a sense, a memorial to Alan Lefcourt. Above the entrance doors an elaborate niche holds a brass bust of the handsome youth. Another, larger bust, possibly terra cotta, graces façade at the 11th floor. Only the smaller bust is documented as being of Alan (mentioned in Abraham Lefcourt’s obituary in The New York Times as “his son’s bust over the entrance”); however the New York Landmarks Commission feels the evidence suggests the larger bust “too, represents the son, or, perhaps, an idealized male tenant.”
The Lefcourt-Alan Building rises above Broadway on September 10, 1930 with the upper-story bust in place — photo by Edwin Levick — NYPL Collection
Perhaps more significant than the Brill Building’s striking Art Deco architecture, with its contrasting brass and polished black granite, and terra cotta reliefs, it is subsequent place in American music history.
Early tenants were music publishers, many having roots in Tin Pan Alley. Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Tommy Dorsey had offices here along with their music publishers.
By the 1950’s radio disk jockey Alan Freed and Nat King Cole leased space here. Leiber and Stoller wrote for Elvis Presley here; Red Bird Records, famous for its “girl groups” was on the 9th Floor, and Burt Bacharach and Hal David met here in 1957 after which they wrote over 100 songs together.
Throughout the years the building was home to publishing houses such a Lewis Music, Mills Music and Leo Feist, Inc. and composers Johnny Mercer, Billy Rose, Neil Sedaka and Rose Marie McCoy. By 1962 there were 165 music businesses here.
The larger, possibly terra cotta bust above the top floor
Initially the entire second floor –approximately 15,000 square feet—housed The Paradise, a cabaret where music for the floorshows was supplied by bands like Glenn Miller and Paul Whiteman.
Later it became the Hurricane with tropical palms and flowers, headlining Duke Ellington. In 1944 it was Club Zanzibar where Nat King Cole, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Jordan and the Ink Spots entertained guests in evening attire.
In the 1960’s the songs for the girl groups and teen idols that emanated from the offices here gave rise to what was called “The Brill Building Sound.” It was, according to Robert Fontenot, “poppier, more laden with strings, more giddy with romantic possibility than some of the earthier R&B stuff…This was, in other words, sophisticated pop for teens in the first blush of love, and it’s precisely that combination of classic songwriting technique and post-rock modernism that helped it get over and kept it fresh and exciting in the years since.”
Abraham Lefcourt’s striking Art Deco monument to his son was designated a New York City landmark in 2010.
PLEASE JOIN US ON WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 20th 4-7 P.M. AT THE “DOUBLE TAKE” MOSAIC OPPOSITE THE SUBWAY STATION ROOSEVELT ISLAND, NEW YORK
MTA ARTS & DESIGN ROOSEVELT ISLAND HISTORICAL SOCIETY ROOSEVELT ISLAND OPERATING CORPORATION
TRAVEL INSTRUCTIONS TO ROOSEVELT ISLAND: BY TRAM: TAKE TRAM AT 59TH STREET AND SECOND AVENUE TO ISLAND, WALK 3 BLOCKS NORTH TO SITE OUTSIDE SUBWAY STATION.
BY SUBWAY: TAKE Q TRAIN TO 63RD STREET/LEXINGTON AVENUE STATION. FOLLOW SIGNS TO “F” TRAIN SHUTTLE TO ROOSEVELT ISLAND STATION. SHUTTE OPERATES 3 TIMES PER HOUR TO ROOSEVELT ISLAND. PROCEED UPSTAIRS TO EVENT. SEE BELOW FOR FULL DETAILS
BY FERRY: NO SUGGESTED DUE TO RIVER CLOSURE FOR UNITED NATIONS ACTIVITIES AND RIVER ACCESS CLOSURE
FROM THE ARCHIVES
WEEKEND, SEPTEMBER 16-17, 2023
WE WILL BE BACK NEXT WEEK
STAY TUNED
ISSUE# 1077
NOW IN EFFECT
THE SHUTTLE OPERATES 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT DAILY
The “F”SHUTTLE TRAIN WILL ONLY RUN BETWEEN 21 ST/QUEENSBRIDGE, ROOSEVELT ISLAND TO LEXINGTON AVE./63 ST. STATIONS. THERE IS ONE “F” SHUTTLE TRAIN ON ONE TRACK GOING BACK AND FORTH FROM 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT DURING THE WEEK.
TIMES TO REMEMBER: F SHUTTLE DEPARTS ROOSEVELT ISLAND STATION EVERY HOUR ON THE: :02 PAST THE HOUR :22 PAST THE HOUR :42 PAST THE HOUR
RETURNING F SHUTTLE DEPARTS 63 ST/ LEX STATION EVERY HOUR ON THE: .10 PAST THE HOUR .30 PAST THE HOUR .50 PAST THE HOUR
THERE ARE NO TRAINS GOING EAST TO QUEENS AFTER QUEENSBRIDGE. THERE ARE BUS CONNECTIONS FROM THAT STATION OPERATED BY THE MTA.
Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION SOUTHBOUND Q TRAIN TO 57 STREET & 7 AVENUE Q TRAIN TO 42 STREET TIMES SQUARE (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN VIA PASSAGE) Q TRAIN TO 34 STREET (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN) Q TRAIN TO 14 STREET UNION SQUARE Q TRAIN TO CANAL STREET (OVER MANHATTAN BRIDGE TO BROOKLYN) Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION NORTHBOUND (72 ST., 86 ST., 96 ST AT SECOND AVENUE)
Overnights between midnight and 5 a.m., F shuttle train service is suspended and free Q94 shuttle buses will connect the Roosevelt Island, 21 St-Queensbridge, and Queens Plaza stations. These are MTA buses.
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
MAYA LEVANON-PHOTOS TIK TOK & INSTAGRAM
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
VACATION TIME WE WILL BE TAKING A WELL NEEDED VACATION FROM SATURDAY UNTIL SEPTEMBER 18TH. THESE LAST FEW WEEKS HAVE BEEN EXHAUSTING. WHILE NOT A REPORTER, I FEEL OBLIGED TO GIVE INFORMATION ON THE SUBWAY PROJECT AND RIOC’S MESSAGING. AS I WRITE THIS THE “BLUE MOON” IS RISING TO THE EAST. SEE YOU SOON, JUDYB
FROM THE ARCHIVES
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 1, 2023
WHAT IS LABOR DAY?
A HISTORY OT THE WORKERS’ HOLIDAY
NY TIMES
ISSUE# 1076
What Is Labor Day? A History of the Workers’ Holiday.
President Grover Cleveland made it a national holiday in 1894, during a crisis over federal efforts to end a strike by railroad workers.
In the late 1800s, many Americans toiled 12 hours a day, seven days a week, often in physically demanding, low-paying jobs. Children worked too, on farms and in factories and mines. Conditions were often harsh and unsafe.
It was in this context that American workers held the first Labor Day parade, marching from New York’s City Hall to a giant picnic at an uptown park on Sept. 5, 1882.
“Working Men on Parade,” read The New York Times’s headline. The article, which appeared on the last page, reported that 10,000 people marched “in an orderly and pleasant manner,” far fewer than the organizers had predicted would attend. The workers included cigarmakers, dressmakers, printers, shoemakers, bricklayers and other tradespeople.
Sept. 6, 1882Credit…The New York Times
Because it wasn’t yet an official holiday, many of the attendees risked their jobs by participating in the one-day strike. On their signs, they called for “Less Work and More Pay,” an eight-hour workday and a prohibition on the use of convict labor. They were met with cheers.
The American labor movement was among the strongest in the world at the time, and in the years that followed, municipalities and states adopted legislation to recognize Labor Day. New York did so in 1887, and The Times reported that that year’s parade was larger than ever, even amid political tension over the role of socialist groups. Parks, shops and bars in the city were full.
ImageSept. 6, 1887Credit…The New York Times
“The barrooms were never more resplendent,” The Times wrote. “Liquidly, the first legal celebration of Labor Day may go down to history as an unqualified success.”
But it took several more years for the federal government to make it a national holiday — when it served a greater political purpose. In the summer of 1894, the Pullman strike severely disrupted rail traffic in the Midwest, and the federal government used an injunction and federal troops to break the strike.
It had started when the Pullman Palace Car Company lowered wages without lowering rents in the company town, also called Pullman. (It’s now part of Chicago.)
When angry workers complained, the owner, George Pullman, had them fired. They decided to strike, and other workers for the American Railway Union, led by the firebrand activist Eugene V. Debs, joined the action. They refused to handle Pullman cars, bringing freight and passenger traffic to a halt around Chicago. Tens of thousands of workers walked off the job, wildcat strikes broke out, and angry crowds were met with live fire from the authorities.
During the crisis, President Grover Cleveland signed a bill into law on June 28, 1894, declaring Labor Day a national holiday. Some historians say he was afraid of losing the support of working-class voters.
“There were many political advantages at that moment to provide recognition for Labor Day,” said Joshua B. Freeman, a distinguished professor of history at Queens College and the City University of New York Graduate Center.
n in Chicago’s Haymarket Square in support of an eight-hour workday and against police killings of protesters. The authorities opened fire in response, and seven officers and four protesters were killed.
The episode made headlines around the world, and the police response in Chicago was fierce. “The Anarchists Cowed,” read the headline on a front-page Times article on May 8, with a subtitle, “Forced to Seek Hiding Places — The Disorderly Element Thoroughly Frightened.” Eight anarchists were convicted, and four were hanged. Critics argued the trial was conducted poorly, and seven years later, Gov. John P. Altgeld pardoned the three who were still alive.
May 8, 1886Credit…The New York Times
In the years that followed, May Day became an occasion for protesting the arrests of socialists, anarchists and unionists. As it became associated with the radical left — and as Labor Day was recognized by more and more states — the latter came to be the dominant holiday in the United States.
In recent decades, Labor Day has been dominated more by barbecues, sales and last-chance beach days than strident labor protests. The labor movement has weakened, and in New York, there are scheduling conflicts, such as out-of-town vacations and the large West Indian American Day Parade in Brooklyn, which generally includes a sizable labor contingent.
A correction was made on Sept. 1, 2018 :
Because of an editing error, an earlier version of a picture caption with this article misstated the year that Labor Day was made a national holiday. It was 1894, not 1984.
NOW IN EFFECT
THE SHUTTLE OPERATES 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT DAILY
The “F”SHUTTLE TRAIN WILL ONLY RUN BETWEEN 21 ST/QUEENSBRIDGE, ROOSEVELT ISLAND TO LEXINGTON AVE./63 ST. STATIONS. THERE IS ONE “F” SHUTTLE TRAIN ON ONE TRACK GOING BACK AND FORTH FROM 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT DURING THE WEEK.
TIMES TO REMEMBER: F SHUTTLE DEPARTS ROOSEVELT ISLAND STATION EVERY HOUR ON THE: :02 PAST THE HOUR :22 PAST THE HOUR :42 PAST THE HOUR
RETURNING F SHUTTLE DEPARTS 63 ST/ LEX STATION EVERY HOUR ON THE: .10 PAST THE HOUR .30 PAST THE HOUR .50 PAST THE HOUR
THERE ARE NO TRAINS GOING EAST TO QUEENS AFTER QUEENSBRIDGE. THERE ARE BUS CONNECTIONS FROM THAT STATION OPERATED BY THE MTA.
Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION SOUTHBOUND Q TRAIN TO 57 STREET & 7 AVENUE Q TRAIN TO 42 STREET TIMES SQUARE (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN VIA PASSAGE) Q TRAIN TO 34 STREET (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN) Q TRAIN TO 14 STREET UNION SQUARE Q TRAIN TO CANAL STREET (OVER MANHATTAN BRIDGE TO BROOKLYN) Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION NORTHBOUND (72 ST., 86 ST., 96 ST AT SECOND AVENUE)
Overnights between midnight and 5 a.m., F shuttle train service is suspended and free Q94 shuttle buses will connect the Roosevelt Island, 21 St-Queensbridge, and Queens Plaza stations. These are MTA buses.
VACATION TIME WE WILL BE TAKING A WELL NEEDED VACATION FROM SATURDAY UNTIL SEPTEMBER 18TH. THESE LAST FEW WEEKS HAVE BEEN EXHAUSTING. WHILE NOT A REPORTER, I FEEL OBLIGED TO GIVE INFORMATION ON THE SUBWAY PROJECT AND RIOC’S MESSAGING. AS I WRITE THIS THE “BLUE MOON” IS RISING TO THE EAST. SEE YOU SOON, JUDYB
New Yorkers are known for their perseverance. During the hot summer months, residents have endured polluted waters, jellyfish, riptides, lifeguard shortages, and most recently, shark attacks, when searching for somewhere to enjoy a cooling swim. On August 27, 1926, almost one century ago, the city celebrated the perseverance of 19-year-old New York-native Gertrude Ederle, for swimming across the English Channel. Her 14-hour, 31- minute time beat the five previous successful crossings, all made by men, and was not bested until 1964. Ederle’s accomplishment inspired countless female athletes and brought her world-wide fame, far greater that the accolades she received for winning three swimming medals in the 1924 Olympics.
Invitation to Banquet at Commodore Hotel, September 1, 1926. Mayor’s Committee on Receptions to Distinguished Guests Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Soon after news of Ederle’s swimming triumph in England on August 6th reached the city, Mayor James Walker asked Grover Whalen, Chairman of the Mayor’s Committee on Receptions to Distinguished Guests, to welcome her home with a ticker-tape parade. While not credited with inventing the ticker-tape parade, Whalen perfected the unique New York-celebration and presided over some of the most iconic parades for notable achievements—most famously, Lindbergh’s transatlantic flight in 1927.
Ticker-tape parades may appear spontaneous, i.e. the honored guest rides in an open limousine up Broadway from the Battery to City Hall for an official welcome by the Mayor, showered by shredded paper and confetti (or in the pre-digital age, ticker-tape), along the way. Examining Whalen’s records shows that staging a ticker-tape parade was anything but spontaneous. The Municipal Archives collections include the files Grover Whalen created during his multi-decade career as the City’s official greeter. The eight folders generated for the Gertrude Ederle celebration are a good example.
After receiving the green-light from Mayor Walker, Whelan assembled a committee with representatives from city departments (Police, Fire, Docks, Street Cleaning, and Plant & Structures), news media, and people from organizations relevant to the honored guest. For Ederle, this included many athletic clubs and groups such as the New York Athletic Club, Millrose Athletic Club, and the Women’s Swimming Association.
Letter to Grover Whalen, Chairman Mayor’s Reception Committee, from Women’s Swimming Association, August 20, 1926. Mayor’s Committee on Receptions to Distinguished Guests Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Although Whalen and his committee could take advantage of the several-day ocean voyage before Ederle returned to America, they needed to move quickly. He summoned committee members by telegram and held the first meeting on Monday, August 23. The “Minutes of the Meeting” are included in his files. Whalen opened the meeting: “We have come together this afternoon on a very interesting and, I am sure, a very pleasing occasion – to plan for the welcome of one of New York’s own…”. But then he added, “I am sure that we all feel very proud of Gertrude, and we call her by her first name because we feel that she is very close to us and because she has done so much to make us realize that after all young womanhood today [is] not giving all of its time to smoking and drinking.” The surviving records do not say what prompted that statement.
Whalen then turned to the purpose of the meeting and noted that the U.S. Treasury Department had kindly consented to “permit Miss Gertrude Ederle and party to leave the S. S. Berengaria at quarantine” and bypass immigration protocols.
Gertrude Ederle, at center standing behind her father (with flag) and mother aboard the Macom, August 27, 1926, photographer: Eugene de Salignac. Department of Bridges Plant & Structure photograph collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Whalen’s files show that within two days he and the committee had finalized a timeline for the event on August 27. It would begin at 9 a.m. when the committee and members of the Ederle family were instructed to assemble at Pier A, and board the steamer “Macon,” [a city-owned vessel]. By 10 a.m. they expected to tie up alongside the S.S. Berengaria, bring Ederle aboard the Macon, and return to the Battery for the start of the parade at 11:45. The procession would reach City Hall by 12:15, and after the formal ceremonies, hosted by the Mayor, “Miss Ederle will be escorted to her home on Amsterdam Avenue.” The following week, on September 1, Mayor Walker planned a formal dinner at the Commodore hotel for Ederle, her family and invited guests.
Whalen’s correspondence includes a letter from Charles A. Oberwager, President of the United German Societies of the City of N.Y. Mr. Oberwager was also apparently a City Magistrate and used his official stationery for the correspondence. Oberwager wrote: “The German Americans of New York City are keyed up to the highest pitch; their enthusiasm for Miss Gertrude Ederle of New York knows no bounds and thousands of men and women are eagerly awaiting the moment to greet her upon her arrival here and to cheer her to the echo.” He then listed no less than fifteen special “requests” such as, “. . . if in or about the City Hall there should be decorations containing flags of foreign nations, that the German flag be also displayed.” And, “. . . a number of ladies, not more than twenty-four, be permitted to wear sport caps, black skirts and white sweaters.”
A carbon copy of Whalen’s response is also in the file. Whalen politely acknowledged Oberwager’s enthusiasm but also let him know that “. . . We plan to welcome Miss Ederle . . . first as an American citizen and secondly as a New York girl whose marvelous achievement in conquering the English Channel has brought to her country, her city and to her people untold glory.” He added “. . . since the official escort must represent the spirit of the City, only the American and municipal flags may be carried.”
Gertrude Ederle joined Track & Field Olympic athlete Pat McDonald (left) and Grover Whalen (right) in the ticker-tape parade for the 1952 United States Summer Olympic Team, July 7, 1952. Mayor’s Reception Committee photograph collection. NYC Municipal Archives.
Gertrude Ederle’s day proceeded as planned. When asked why she undertook the swim, she said she wanted to bring honor to the United States. She also added that her father had promised her “a small roadster” if she succeeded. After losing her hearing in 1930 and suffering a debilitating back injury in 1933, she spent many years teaching deaf children to swim. Gertrude Ederle died at age 98 on November 30, 2003.
Many years later, Grover Whalen wrote in his autobiography, Mr. New York [G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 1955] about receptions he organized and said that there had been so many only a few stood out in his memory. And one that did was Gertrude Ederle’s welcome parade. “Well do I recall that day in August of 1926 when all New York turned out to welcome home the first women to swim the Channel.” He recalled that the Police Department had underestimated the crowds that would turn up for the event. “After the official ceremony Mayor Walker escorted Trudy to the front steps of City Hall in response to the request of the press for a picture. They did not tarry there long, however. A tidal wave of citizenry burst upon them. One burly patrolman rushed to Trudy’s rescue, lifted her bodily, and carried her back inside City Hall. Two other policemen ran interference for the slim Mayor, one on either side of him, and finally got him back into the building.”
Just two weeks after Gertrude Ederle enjoyed her triumph, on September 10, 1926, the City held a ticker-tape parade for another cross-channel swimmer, Mille Gade Corson. Billed as the “First Mother and Second Woman to Swim the Channel,” the 27-year-old Danish-American Corson explained her motivation: “I’ve got to make some money for my kids.”
NOW IN EFFECT
THE SHUTTLE OPERATES 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT DAILY
The “F”SHUTTLE TRAIN WILL ONLY RUN BETWEEN 21 ST/QUEENSBRIDGE, ROOSEVELT ISLAND TO LEXINGTON AVE./63 ST. STATIONS. THERE IS ONE “F” SHUTTLE TRAIN ON ONE TRACK GOING BACK AND FORTH FROM 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT DURING THE WEEK.
TIMES TO REMEMBER: F SHUTTLE DEPARTS ROOSEVELT ISLAND STATION EVERY HOUR ON THE: :02 PAST THE HOUR :22 PAST THE HOUR :42 PAST THE HOUR
RETURNING F SHUTTLE DEPARTS 63 ST/ LEX STATION EVERY HOUR ON THE: .10 PAST THE HOUR .30 PAST THE HOUR .50 PAST THE HOUR
THERE ARE NO TRAINS GOING EAST TO QUEENS AFTER QUEENSBRIDGE. THERE ARE BUS CONNECTIONS FROM THAT STATION OPERATED BY THE MTA.
Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION SOUTHBOUND Q TRAIN TO 57 STREET & 7 AVENUE Q TRAIN TO 42 STREET TIMES SQUARE (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN VIA PASSAGE) Q TRAIN TO 34 STREET (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN) Q TRAIN TO 14 STREET UNION SQUARE Q TRAIN TO CANAL STREET (OVER MANHATTAN BRIDGE TO BROOKLYN) Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION NORTHBOUND (72 ST., 86 ST., 96 ST AT SECOND AVENUE)
Overnights between midnight and 5 a.m., F shuttle train service is suspended and free Q94 shuttle buses will connect the Roosevelt Island, 21 St-Queensbridge, and Queens Plaza stations. These are MTA buses.
THE ANSONIA , BROADWAY AT 74 sT. ANDY SPARBERG, ARON EISENPREISS AND JOYCE GOLD ALL GOT IT RIGHT.
JOYCE GOLD WILL OFFER A TOUR OF THE AREA: The building is the great Ansonia. I’m leading a walking tour with it on Tuesday, October 3 TUESDAY 11 AM to 1 PM $25/$20 FAR WEST 70s—THE APTHORP, THE ANSONIA, AND THE ANCRONIA MEET: 160 W. 71st St., just east of Broadway. Subway: #1, #2, #3 to W 72nd St. Station. No reservations needed.
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
NEW YORK ALMANACK JUDITH BERDY KENNETH COBB NYC MUNICIPAL ARCHIVES
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
MAYA LEVANON-PHOTOS TIK TOK & INSTAGRAM
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
My love for America started at an early age, when I pinched a book from my older brother: Pietje Bell in Amerika. I still remember the cover: a jolly Dutch newspaper boy with the skyline of New York City in the background. It pointed to the idea the book conveyed: the land of limitless opportunities, from paperboy to billionaire, a new start, pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.
To a shy and withdrawn teenage girl, stuck in a bleak provincial town in the north of the Netherlands, with a lot of rain and not much action, that image was utterly irresistible. This was the stuff that dreams were made of. J.R.R. Tolkien posited that everything you read and every experience you have in your mind turns into a layer of fertile soil, from which new notions may arise.
It was no coincidence then that the very first flight I ever made, straight after graduating from high school, was to the city of skyscrapers. During that trip I decided to follow in Pietje’s footsteps and become a journalist.
After a few years at university I succeeded in landing my much-desired job as a reporter, not in New York but at the editorial offices of a weekly magazine in Amsterdam. But even during my days as a journalist, America remained my shining city on a hill.
Journalist
I had the good fortune to be among colleagues who strove to emulate American New Journalism: a style of journalism from the 1960s and 70s made great by Hunter S. Thompson and Truman Capote. The office abounded with copies of American magazines such as Vogue, Playboy, and especially Vanity Fair, a monthly magazine that excelled in long, deeply researched and beautifully written portraits and historical reconstructions.
After a few months I wrote a large story inspired by such examples. Using archival research and interviews, I aimed to figure out what had actually happened during the Amsterdam coronation riots on April 30, 1980, the day of Queen Beatrix’s accession to the Dutch throne. “Truth is the daughter of time” became my motto.
In hindsight I was already moving from journalism to writing history and it is a small miracle that I worked for a weekly magazine for such a long time. Perhaps it helped that I was engaged to be married to one of the editors. His twin brother was a lawyer in New York and that meant that I could easily visit the U.S. while continuing to write articles.
I actually felt much more at home among the archival boxes and friendly archivists at the National Archives in The Hague however, than among the hectic hunters of daily news. It was only a matter of time before I would leave my job as a journalist.
When in 2010 I received my PhD in history at the University of Amsterdam on a dissertation on the German years of prince consort Bernhard, Queen Beatrix’s father, I officially became the historian that I had always been.
Historian
My transition to writing books came with a big drawback: America drifted beyond the horizon. The engagement had been broken off and traveling to the U.S. was too expensive for a beginning writer struggling to make book deadlines and dependent on savings and a few subsidies. It didn’t stop me from reading the International Herald Tribune and imbibe the best essays and historical nonfiction that America had to offer: the publications of writers like Joan Didion and Laura Hillenbrand, for instance.
And I kept on dreaming. The power to imagine a better future, to remain optimistic no matter what, is the essence of the American spirit. To me, it is what makes the country so fascinating and enticing.
The siren that lured me back to America was Allene Tew, previously completely unknown to me. Born in 1872, this so-called “American aunt” of Prince Bernhard played a significant role during his engagement with crown princess Juliana, which is why she was subsequently chosen as one of the godmothers of Princess Beatrix.
Following a suggestion of one of Bernhard’s cousins, I went to the villa on the Cote d’ Azur where Allene died in 1955, in search of letters by Bernhard. No letters were extant, but I did find the subject for my next book. At the time, I knew little about Allene, except for her American background and the fact that she had had no less than five husbands, including a German prince and a Russian count.
Those few details displayed a strong optimism and an enterprising spirit: something typically American that drew me to her as the subject of a biography. And it was a good decision as researching her turned out to be an exciting adventure.
For months I traced her footsteps, from a crumbling industrial city in the hills near Chautauqua Lake in Western New York, where she grew up, via Pittsburgh and Manhattan’s Upper East Side, where she lived with her first and second husband, to Long Island and the glamorous summer resort of Newport where she and her Russian count (husband #5) entertained lavishly.
In every place I visited local historians were extremely helpful. That is a feature of the United States as well: open to newcomers and interested in history, perhaps because it is a young country. The life of Allene Tew allowed me to get in touch with many historical developments and events that until then had been distant abstractions to me: the Industrial Revolution, the Gilded Age, the First World War, and the Great Depression.
Allene’s life exemplifies the country that spawned her. It was the rags-to-riches story of a liveryman’s daughter who rises to become one of the richest women of America and who even after devastating setbacks finds the strength to get up and keep going. The motto iterated over and over again in the letters she wrote on her small typewriter at an advanced age was: “Courage all the time!” It’s all-American!
Bestsellers
In line with the ideology of Allene’s country of birth — courage and perseverance will prevail—An American Princess became a bestseller. And not just in the Netherlands, but also, to my surprise, in the United States. It was scouted by Amazon Publishing, the publishing unit of the eponymous concern. The blown-up cover of my book was the centerpiece of a launch party on Times Square in New York. Move over, Pietje Bell! And then I incredulously watched as my name appeared in the list of Wall Street Journal Best-Sellers.
I may not have become a millionaire, but this was beyond the wildest dreams of that teenage girl from a provincial town long ago. For a brief moment I thought I was Snoopy, the world-famous writer. All this just could not be true! Within a short time, over a hundred thousand copies of my book had been sold, the internet burst with enthusiastic remarks from readers, and the publisher decided to publish another one of my books in translation as well.
Sonny Boy, in translation retitled The Boy between Worlds, also became a bestseller. I was as proud as a peacock and was particularly pleased when my Charleston-born translator, somewhat bemused, remarked that my Dutch was remarkably easy to translate into English. It must have been the result of a decades-long focus on American journalism and literature.
My American fame gave me the courage to try my hand at the reconstruction of the exceptional love story of the Dutch fortune-seeker Leon Herkenrath (1800-1861) and Juliette Magnan (ca, 1809-1856), a black girl born in slavery in Charleston, South Carolina. The result was Leon & Juliette, published as the annual freebie in the Dutch week devoted to books and reading.
My American editor was wildly enthusiastic and invited me to Seattle for a breakfast meeting to discuss the follow-up. In high spirits I started to work on Fortune’s Children, an extension of the story of Leon and Juliette, and the first book I specifically wrote for the American market. As well as the last, because then my promising career as a writer of bestsellers came to a screeching halt.
Unexpected Events One of the favorite themes in my books is how the lives of my protagonists are deeply impacted by world events on which they have no control whatsoever. And now it happened to me. In May 2020, when I had just submitted my manuscript, George Floyd fell victim to police violence in Minneapolis. The Black Lives Matter movement arose and the public mood quickly changed.Amazon replaced my editor and her successor was not enthusiastic about my project. She consulted an anonymous cultural research editor who asked for changes to be made to my book. Could I turn my female protagonist into a completely different kind of person? Could I make explicit that true love between whites and blacks under a system of slavery was an impossibility? And, while on the subject, was it not a bit presumptuous of me as a white woman to write about a black slave girl?After I repeatedly explained that as a historian I could not tamper with or change verifiable historical facts — nor the color of my skin — communications stalled. Then the whole project was cancelled.This was a sober awakening from my American dream, having run out of my fifteen minutes of fame. Briefly you’re the toast of the town, feted with oysters and champagne, and next, you’re yesterday’s news and your emails are not considered worthy of a reply anymore.Fortunately I could still rely on my own country. In the Netherlands Fortuna’s kinderen became a bestseller. The book received widespread plaudits and approval, including from the black community.One might expect this experience to finally cure me of my fascination for all things American. But that is not how Great Loves work. I still read American newspapers every day and still keep a close eye on political developments in Washington. When I needed a break to reconsider what direction I had to take as a writer, I immediately booked a flight to friends on the other side of the ocean, fully confident that I would find the answer there. I returned refreshed, full of optimism and reinvigorated by America’s plentiful natural and cultural splendors. And with a much clearer idea as to what my priorities really are.Something else was in my bags too when I returned to Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport: a dose of the optimism that fuels the American can-do attitude. I decided to reach out to my publisher in Seattle. Who knows, another editor may be in place and perhaps publishing the book I wrote is now feasible. A new beginning — very American!—might be on the cards.No reply has been forthcoming as yet, but I will try again in six months or so. There is a single country on earth where giving it a second or third try is possible, it is the United States. As Allene Tew said: “Courage all the time!”Annejet van der Zijl (PhD Amsterdam, 2010) is one of the best-known writers of literary nonfiction in the Netherlands. She has won numerous prizes for her work. Her bestsellers in English include The Boy Between Worlds and An American Princess.This is the seventeenth installment in a monthly series of blogs telling stories about the rich history shared by the American and the Dutch peoples. Authors from both countries present accounts of their own choosing, from a wide variety of perspectives, in order to give as full a picture as possible of the triumphs and heartbreaks, delights and disappointments that happened place over hundreds of years of shared history.Not all these stories are “feel-good history’, however. While the relations between the Dutch and the Americans have for the most part been stable and peaceful, their shared history contains darker moments as well. Acknowledging that errors have been made in the past does not diminish this friendship but, rather, deepens it.
NOW IN EFFECT
THE SHUTTLE OPERATES 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT DAILY
The “F”SHUTTLE TRAIN WILL ONLY RUN BETWEEN 21 ST/QUEENSBRIDGE, ROOSEVELT ISLAND TO LEXINGTON AVE./63 ST. STATIONS. THERE IS ONE “F” SHUTTLE TRAIN ON ONE TRACK GOING BACK AND FORTH FROM 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT DURING THE WEEK.
TIMES TO REMEMBER: F SHUTTLE DEPARTS ROOSEVELT ISLAND STATION EVERY HOUR ON THE: :02 PAST THE HOUR :22 PAST THE HOUR :42 PAST THE HOUR
RETURNING F SHUTTLE DEPARTS 63 ST/ LEX STATION EVERY HOUR ON THE: .10 PAST THE HOUR .30 PAST THE HOUR .50 PAST THE HOUR
THERE ARE NO TRAINS GOING EAST TO QUEENS AFTER QUEENSBRIDGE. THERE ARE BUS CONNECTIONS FROM THAT STATION OPERATED BY THE MTA.
Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION SOUTHBOUND Q TRAIN TO 57 STREET & 7 AVENUE Q TRAIN TO 42 STREET TIMES SQUARE (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN VIA PASSAGE) Q TRAIN TO 34 STREET (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN) Q TRAIN TO 14 STREET UNION SQUARE Q TRAIN TO CANAL STREET (OVER MANHATTAN BRIDGE TO BROOKLYN) Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION NORTHBOUND (72 ST., 86 ST., 96 ST AT SECOND AVENUE)
Overnights between midnight and 5 a.m., F shuttle train service is suspended and free Q94 shuttle buses will connect the Roosevelt Island, 21 St-Queensbridge, and Queens Plaza stations. These are MTA buses.
Top deck passengers aboard the Cabrio during his inauguration trip on the Stanserhorn mountain, near LucerneCredit: REUTERS/Christian Hartmann
The Swiss have taken cable cars to new heights with the launch of the world’s first open-air doubledecker cable car system, offering spectacular views of the Swiss Alps.
The Cabrio, which soars up the Stanserhorn mountain near the city of Lucerne at a 1.9km (1.2mile) height, can carry 60 passengers at a time, with room for 30 on the open-air top deck.
It comes in the same week that London launched the Emirates Air Line cable car which can carry up to 2,500 people an hour from the Greenwich Peninsula, on the south side of the river, to the Royal Docks on the north. APOLGIES FOR NOT LISTING CORRECT PERSONS…
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
NEW YORK ALMANACK JUDITH BERDY
RIHS
This is the seventeenth installment in a monthly series of blogs telling stories about the rich history shared by the American and the Dutch peoples. Authors from both countries present accounts of their own choosing, from a wide variety of perspectives, in order to give as full a picture as possible of the triumphs and heartbreaks, delights and disappointments that happened place over hundreds of years of shared history.
Not all these stories are “feel-good history’, however. While the relations between the Dutch and the Americans have for the most part been stable and peaceful, their shared history contains darker moments as well. Acknowledging that errors have been made in the past does not diminish this friendship but, rather, deepens it.
This story was first published on the website of the National Archives of the Netherlands.
Illustrations, from above: Cover of the first edition of Pietje Bell in Amerika, 1929; Coronation riots, April 30 1980 (Photo by Hans van Dijk/Anefo (National Archives of the Netherlands); Photo by Franz Ziegler of the baptism of Princess Beatrix, 12 May 12, 1938 with Allene Tew at the far left (National Archives of the Netherlands); and Virginie Herckenrath, daughter of Leon Herckenrath and Juliette Magnan (Virginie married James de Fremery and the pair moved to San Francisco).
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
MAYA LEVANON-PHOTOS TIK TOK & INSTAGRAM
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
The city of Brooklyn came of age in the 19th century, and its houses across this booming metropolis reflect the prevailing design styles of the 1800s—from Federal-style homes with dormer windows to brownstone rows with Italianate and Romanesque Revival touches.
But sometimes you come across a stretch of unusually splendid residences that defy categorization and make you feel like you’ve stepped in an architectural time machine.
That’s what happened when I turned a leafy corner in Park Slope and found myself facing six brightly painted attached houses—each with tall parlor floor windows, fancifully painted cornices, and wide columned front porches that seem more Charleston than the City of Churches.
These country-like houses are on Webster Place, a one-block lane hidden inside 16th Street and Prospect Place and Sixth and Seventh Avenues. Shrouded by billowy tree tops and beautifully symmetric, they’re remnants of a post-Civil War building frenzy that remade many of the rural-ish neighborhoods collectively known as South Brooklyn into sought-after residential enclaves.
The homes are treasures in modern-day Park Slope—a unique blend of Queen Anne style because of the porches and wood trim, as well as Classical thanks to the wood columns. But the story of Webster Place and these six houses also offers a glimpse into what life was like in the rapidly urbanizing Brooklyn of the late 19th and early 20th century.
Numbers 21-31 Webster Place were likely built in the 1870s. Notices in Brooklyn newspapers announcing the sale of land lots on the tiny street began appearing in the late 1860s.
The name of the street is a mystery—why Webster? It could have been the name of a developer; perhaps it was in honor of well-respected New England statesman Daniel Webster, whose 1850 death was commemorated in New York by the closing of businesses on the day of his funeral.
In any case, at about the same time the houses (above, in 1940) were being planned and constructed, Webster Place was joining the cityscape. The secluded lane was paved and graded in the late 1860s. In 1871, the Brooklyn Common Council passed an ordinance that put gas street lamps on Webster Place. A year later, the street was officially opened.
Bits of information on the continuing development of the street emerged from newspaper archives. In the 1880s and 1890s, a grocery store popped up on the corner at 16th Street. Houses traded hands; the going price was around $3000.
But a 1943 Brooklyn Daily Eagle column on the remembrances of the borough’s “old timers” turned up some details that fill in the blanks of daily life on this slender lane at the turn of the century.
“Yes, Webster Place was a fine and clean little street with shade trees on both sides,” recalls a man named George Chevalier, who also mentioned the grocery store and a feed store on the block.
Chevalier remembered Webster Street neighbors who “had a team of billy goats and a patrol wagon and gave us a ride in it. Boy, how us kids did enjoy it!” The owner of the grocery store “would leave his horse sleigh on the sidewalk in front of the store and we would play in it, and I used to go for a ride with him when he would be delivering orders in the neighborhood.”
Another old-timer said his family has lived at 22 Webster Place (across the street from the splendid row of houses) since 1878. “I still remember the white houses with their green shutters and the tall trees lining both sides of the street, forming an arch over the roadway.”
This Webster Street resident recalled the families who lived on the block when he did; he listed a mix of English, Irish, and German last names. He also mentioned that the street was paved with cobblestones, “for I was one of those who swept them off every morning.”
Around the corner was a dairy that offered fresh milk from grazing cows. He further noted the nightly occurrence of “the lamplighter coming along with his ladder and taper to light the gas lamps.”
The cows are long gone, the lamplighter departed for good, and I doubt very much that any of the residents of 21-31 Webster Place get around by horse-drawn sleigh.
But these spectacular houses—with their welcoming stoops and porches, now slightly modified and not always matching their neighbors—reflect the sensibilities of 19th century Brooklyn as the city transitioned from rural county to urban metropolis, and then a borough of the city of New York.
The “F”SHUTTLE TRAIN WILL ONLY RUN BETWEEN 21 ST/QUEENSBRIDGE, ROOSEVELT ISLAND TO LEXINGTON AVE./63 ST. STATIONS. THERE IS ONE “F” SHUTTLE TRAIN ON ONE TRACK GOING BACK AND FORTH FROM 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT DURING THE WEEK.
TIMES TO REMEMBER: F SHUTTLE DEPARTS ROOSEVELT ISLAND STATION EVERY HOUR ON THE: :02 PAST THE HOUR :22 PAST THE HOUR :42 PAST THE HOUR
RETURNING F SHUTTLE DEPARTS 63 ST/ LEX STATION EVERY HOUR ON THE: .10 PAST THE HOUR .30 PAST THE HOUR .50 PAST THE HOUR
THERE ARE NO TRAINS GOING EAST TO QUEENS AFTER QUEENSBRIDGE. THERE ARE BUS CONNECTIONS FROM THAT STATION OPERATED BY THE MTA.
Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION SOUTHBOUND
Q TRAIN TO 57 STREET & 7 AVENUE Q TRAIN TO 42 STREET TIMES SQUARE (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN VIA PASSAGE) Q TRAIN TO 34 STREET (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN) Q TRAIN TO 14 STREET UNION SQUARE Q TRAIN TO CANAL STREET (OVER MANHATTAN BRIDGE TO BROOKLYN) Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION NORTHBOUND (72 ST., 86 ST., 96 ST AT SECOND AVENUE)
Overnights between midnight and 5 a.m., F shuttle train service is suspended and free Q94 shuttle buses will connect the Roosevelt Island, 21 St-Queensbridge, and Queens Plaza stations. These are MTA buses.
THANKS OR COMING TO MEET US AND THE NEW RIOC BOARD MEMBERS AT THE FARMER’S MARKET SATURDAY AFTERNOON AS WE TRIED TO ANSWERED YOUR QUESTIONS AND DISCUSS TRAVEL OPTIONS, FOR THE UPCOMING SUBWAY SHUTDOWN.
STARTING TODAY
THE SHUTTLE OPERATES 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT DAILY
The “F”SHUTTLE TRAIN WILL ONLY RUN BETWEEN 21 ST/QUEENSBRIDGE, ROOSEVELT ISLAND TO LEXINGTON AVE./63 ST. STATIONS. THERE IS ONE “F” SHUTTLE TRAIN ON ONE TRACK GOING BACK AND FORTH FROM 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT DURING THE WEEK.
TIMES TO REMEMBER: F SHUTTLE DEPARTS ROOSEVELT ISLAND STATION EVERY HOUR ON THE: :02 PAST THE HOUR :22 PAST THE HOUR :42 PAST THE HOUR
RETURNING F SHUTTLE DEPARTS 63 ST/ LEX STATION EVERY HOUR ON THE: .10 PAST THE HOUR .30 PAST THE HOUR .50 PAST THE HOUR
THERE ARE NO TRAINS GOING EAST TO QUEENS AFTER QUEENSBRIDGE. THERE ARE BUS CONNECTIONS FROM THAT STATION OPERATED BY THE MTA.
Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION SOUTHBOUND Q TRAIN TO 57 STREET & 7 AVENUE Q TRAIN TO 42 STREET TIMES SQUARE (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN VIA PASSAGE) Q TRAIN TO 34 STREET (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN) Q TRAIN TO 14 STREET UNION SQUARE Q TRAIN TO CANAL STREET (OVER MANHATTAN BRIDGE TO BROOKLYN) Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION NORTHBOUND (72 ST., 86 ST., 96 ST AT SECOND AVENUE)
Overnights between midnight and 5 a.m., F shuttle train service is suspended and free Q94 shuttle buses will connect the Roosevelt Island, 21 St-Queensbridge, and Queens Plaza stations. These are MTA buses.
I did not wander off the island this weekend and did not want to get involved with any incidents.
As I saw no staff from RIOC this weekend. tell me your travel experiences.
Lets see if RIOC can up their response to the community.
We await RIOC’s response.
Judith Berdy
WEEKEND PHOTO
GREG OUR FAVORITE TRAM OPERATOR, FOR OVER 46 YEARS.
FROM OUR READERS: Greg one of the nicest tram workers! Alexis Villafane
The One & Only Greg Parvati (sorry about misspelling) — Longest-Serving Tram Staff Person … Remember when He Was in The Booth…Nina Lublin
Good morning Judy, this is Andy Sparberg.
May I suggest a correction to part of this morning’s (Sat. 8/26) posting? The caption for the photo that appeared on Friday, which I answered correctly, says “way before OMNY there were turnstiles in subway stations with pot belly stoves.” Please replace “subway” with “elevated” in the caption. The station shown is a Ninth Avenue Elevated stop at 72nd St. and Columbus Ave., built about 1880 and closed in 1940. Pot belly coal stoves were installed in elevated stations to provide heat for passengers, because the stations were outside, allowing the coal fumes to vent. Underground subway stations never had such stoves, because coal smoke would be dangerous in an indoor environment.
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
JUDITH BERDY
RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
MAYA LEVANON-PHOTOS TIK TOK & INSTAGRAM
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
WE WILL BE AT THE FARMER’S MARKET SATURDAY 11 A.M. TO 3 P..M. TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS AND DISCUSS TRAVEL OPTIONS, WITH RIOC BOARD MEMBERS.
STARTING AUGUST 28
THE F TRAIN SHUTTLE IS A TRAIN. THERE IS A LOT OF CONFUSION BETWEEN BUS AND TRAIN SHUTTLES
DURING THE WEEK FROM 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT THERE IS A TRAIN SHUTTLE FROM OUR STATION
The “F”SHUTTLE TRAIN WILL ONLY RUN BETWEEN 21 ST/QUEENSBRIDGE, ROOSEVELT ISLAND TO LEXINGTON AVE./63 ST. STATIONS. THERE IS ONE “F” SHUTTLE TRAIN ON ONE TRACK GOING BACK AND FORTH FROM 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT DURING THE WEEK.
THERE ARE NO TRAINS GOING EAST TO QUEENS AFTER QUEENSBRIDGE. THERE ARE BUS CONNECTIONS FROM THAT STATION OPERATED BY THE MTA.
Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION SOUTHBOUND Q TRAIN TO 57 STREET & 7 AVENUE Q TRAIN TO 42 STREET TIMES SQUARE (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN VIA PASSAGE) Q TRAIN TO 34 STREET (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN) Q TRAIN TO 14 STREET UNION SQUARE Q TRAIN TO CANAL STREET (OVER MANHATTAN BRIDGE TO BROOKLYN) Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION NORTHBOUND (72 ST., 86 ST., 96 ST AT SECOND AVENUE)
Overnights between midnight and 5 a.m., F shuttle train service is suspended and free Q94 shuttle buses will connect the Roosevelt Island, 21 St-Queensbridge, and Queens Plaza stations. These are MTA buses.
THIS RED SHUTTLE BUS ONLY OPERATES ON WEEKENDS
THAT DETAIL IS NOT ON THIS VERSION
FROM THE ARCHIVES
WEEKEND AUGUST 26-27, 2023
ISSUE# 1071
THE TRAM IS NOW ON OMNY
GUESS WHO WAS NOT INVITED
TO THE CEREMONY?
WHAT IS MISSING? WHO WAS MISSING?
Why didn’t RIOC and the MTA acknowledge the tram operator, POMA? Their staff and expertise keep the system operating in a very reliable way day in day out and for over 13 years now.
It would be nice to hear an acknowledgement to the operators by RIOC.
RIOC staff ignores this community by not acknowledging the people who live here, work here and struggle with the mandates of a political appointed organization.
Time to step up and acknowledge the 14,000 folks who live & work here and make this shutdown a positive experience.
THE F TRAIN SHUTTLE IS A TRAIN. THERE IS A LOT OF CONFUSION BETWEEN BUS AND TRAIN SHUTTLES
DURING THE WEEK FROM 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT THERE IS A TRAIN SHUTTLE FROM OUR STATION
The “F”SHUTTLE TRAIN WILL ONLY RUN BETWEEN 21 ST/QUEENSBRIDGE, ROOSEVELT ISLAND TO LEXINGTON AVE./63 ST. STATIONS. THERE IS ONE “F” SHUTTLE TRAIN ON ONE TRACK GOING BACK AND FORTH FROM 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT DURING THE WEEK.
THERE ARE NO TRAINS GOING EAST TO QUEENS AFTER QUEENSBRIDGE. THERE ARE BUS CONNECTIONS FROM THAT STATION OPERATED BY THE MTA.
Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION SOUTHBOUND Q TRAIN TO 57 STREET & 7 AVENUE Q TRAIN TO 42 STREET TIMES SQUARE (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN VIA PASSAGE) Q TRAIN TO 34 STREET (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN) Q TRAIN TO 14 STREET UNION SQUARE Q TRAIN TO CANAL STREET (OVER MANHATTAN BRIDGE TO BROOKLYN) Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION NORTHBOUND (72 ST., 86 ST., 96 ST AT SECOND AVENUE)
Overnights between midnight and 5 a.m., F shuttle train service is suspended and free Q94 shuttle buses will connect the Roosevelt Island, 21 St-Queensbridge, and Queens Plaza stations. These are MTA buses.
THE ABOVE IS ALL THAT RIOC HAS PUT OUT ABOUT THE WEEKEND BUS SERVICE. NOW SERVICE IS NOT UNTIL 8 P.M., AND ENDS EARLIER AT 7 P.M.
THIS IS PUBLISHED BY THE MTA AND IF YOU HAVE LOTS OF TIME, YOU CAN CONSULT IT AS TO ALTERNATE TRAVEL.
FROM THE ARCHIVES
FRIDAY AUGUST 25, 2023
ISSUE# 1070
THE TRAM IS NOW ON OMNY
GUESS WHO WAS NOT INVITED
TO THE CEREMONY?
Tramway First Non-MTA Operating Entity to Join Tap and Go Fare Payment System Excerpt from MTA Press Release
The Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) today announced that the Authority’s tap and go fare payment system, OMNY, has now launched on the Roosevelt Island Tramway with stations located at 59 St and 2 Av in Manhattan and Tramway Plaza on Roosevelt Island. The Roosevelt Island Tramway represents the first non-MTA operated entity to begin accepting taps as a fare payment.
The OMNY readers, which were activated for customer use today, will allow Roosevelt Island Tramway riders to tap and go with their smart device with a digital wallet, such as phone or watch, or contactless credit or debit card, or OMNY card, and participate in the MTA’s “best fare,” seven-day fare capping program. Customers’ first tap into the system, whether it be on the subway, bus or tram, will start a seven-day period using the same payment method on any tap and go capable transit mode. Customers are charged $2.90 for their first 11 rides, $2.10 for their 12th ride and on the 13th ride, and for each subsequent ride, the ride is free for the rest of the seven-day period. Customers will never pay more than $34 to ride in a seven-day period.
“Tap-and-go is being adopted at warp speed by subway and bus riders, and we need to give that option to everyone who uses any type of transit – both New Yorkers and tourists alike,” said MTA Chair and CEO Janno Lieber. “It’s good news that Roosevelt Island tramway customers are now able to take advantage of the fastest, most secure way to pay their fares.”
“This is another important step toward the full implementation of OMNY as the preferred fare payment method for the New York region,” said MTA President of Construction and Development Jamie Torres-Springer. “Now tram customers living on and visiting Roosevelt Island will be able to experience the ease, convenience, and reliability of OMNY.”
“Countless subway and bus customers have experienced the convenience of tap-and-go and I’m excited that Roosevelt Island Tram riders who live on the island and those visiting will now be able to use OMNY for better transfers onto the subway and buses to get to their destination faster,” said New York City Transit President Richard Davey. “Tram customers can now trust they will never miss their tram because, like subway and bus customers, they can simply tap to ride.”
“Bringing OMNY to the Roosevelt Island Tram has been an important initiative that we’ve worked on for some time,” said Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation President & CEO Shelton J. Haynes. “More and more island travelers are turning to OMNY for their everyday transit use, and as the world becomes increasingly digital, it’s important for our infrastructure to keep pace with those changing trends. I want to thank MTA Chair Lieber and his team for their close collaboration throughout this process, and our elected officials who advocated so passionately for bringing OMNY here to Roosevelt Island. Finally, I want to offer a huge thank you to the RIOC Legal Team, led by Gretchen Robinson, for their tireless work in bringing this initiative to fruition.”
WHAT IS MISSING? WHO WAS MISSING?
Shame on RIOC and the MTA for not acknowledging the tram operator, POMA, not RIOC.
Has RIOC no shame and not inviting the trram management to the ceremony just feet from the cabins.
This is a pathetic act of EGO and self aggrandizement by Haynes (who was here today) and his staff.
RiOC constantly insults this community by not acknowledging the people who live here, work here and struggle with the mandates of a self important organization.
THE F TRAIN SHUTTLE IS A TRAIN. THERE IS A LOT OF CONFUSION BETWEEN BUS AND TRAIN SHUTTLES
DURING THE WEEK FROM 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT THERE IS A TRAIN SHUTTLE FROM OUR STATION
The “F”SHUTTLE TRAIN WILL ONLY RUN BETWEEN 21 ST/QUEENSBRIDGE, ROOSEVELT ISLAND TO LEXINGTON AVE./63 ST. STATIONS. THERE IS ONE “F” SHUTTLE TRAIN ON ONE TRACK GOING BACK AND FORTH FROM 5 A.M. TO MIDNIGHT DURING THE WEEK.
THERE ARE NO TRAINS GOING EAST TO QUEENS AFTER QUEENSBRIDGE. THERE ARE BUS CONNECTIONS FROM THAT STATION OPERATED BY THE MTA.
Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION SOUTHBOUND Q TRAIN TO 57 STREET & 7 AVENUE Q TRAIN TO 42 STREET TIMES SQUARE (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN VIA PASSAGE) Q TRAIN TO 34 STREET (CONNECT HERE TO F TRAIN) Q TRAIN TO 14 STREET UNION SQUARE Q TRAIN TO CANAL STREET (OVER MANHATTAN BRIDGE TO BROOKLYN) Q TRAIN CONNECTIONS AVAILABLE FROM 63/LEX STATION NORTHBOUND (72 ST., 86 ST., 96 ST AT SECOND AVENUE)
Overnights between midnight and 5 a.m., F shuttle train service is suspended and free Q94 shuttle buses will connect the Roosevelt Island, 21 St-Queensbridge, and Queens Plaza stations. These are MTA buses.
Lily Furedi, Subway, 1934, oil on canvas, 39 x 48 1⁄4 in. (99.1 x 122.6 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the U.S. Department of the Interior, National Park Service, 1965.18.43
In this painting Lily Furedi boldly did something that few dare to do: she looked at people on the subway. She took the viewpoint of a seated rider gazing down the car at her fellow passengers. The Hungarian-born artist knew of the subway riders’ customary avoidance of staring at one’s fellow riders; most people in her painting keep to themselves by hiding behind a magazine or newspaper, or by sleeping. Those who violate the unwritten rule do so furtively. A woman takes a quiet sidelong glance at the newspaper read by the man next to her, while a man steals a peek at a young woman applying lipstick. Only two women in the foreground, who obviously know each other, dare to look directly at each other as they talk companionably.
Furedi takes a friendly interest in her fellow subway riders, portraying them sympathetically. She focuses particularly on a musician who has fallen asleep in his formal working clothes, holding his violin case. The artist would have identified with such a New York musician because her father, Samuel Furedi, was a professional cellist.
FROM A READER: With cane seats, an overhead circular fan, and almost all passengers wearing hats (other than baseball caps), this looks like an Edward Hopper painting of the NYC Subway in the 1930s….except that it has far more people than the Hopper pictures I know. Regards, Jay Jacobson
Text by Judith Berdy Thanks to Bobbie Slonevsky for her dedication to Blackwell’s Almanac and the RIHS
SMITHSONIAN AMERICAN ART MUSEUM JUDITH BERDY
RIHS
Thanks to Deborah Dorff for maintaining our website Edited by Melanie Colter and Deborah Dorff
MAYA LEVANON-PHOTOS TIK TOK & INSTAGRAM
All image are copyrighted (c) Roosevelt Island Historical Society unless otherwise indicated
