103 WASHINGTON ST: Heaven, Hell & Purgatory
Nestled between the new W Hotel and an abandoned lot a few blocks south of the World Trade Center, a Neo-gothic building at 103 Greenwich Street has a history as incongruous as its architecture. Now an Irish pub, the building began as the home of Dutch immigrant Ryneer Suydam and his family in 1799. It … Read more
In Pictures: MANHATTANHENGE SUNRISE
January 2010 Manhattenhenge sunrise captured by untappednewyork.com photographer Monica Morrison on 34th Street. Previous posts about Manhattanhenge: Sunset Photos and about the phenomenon.
MANHATTANHENGE: Sunrise
When posting about the Manhattanhenge sunset earlier this year, I had found information from Time Out New York that the sunrise edition would occur on 11/30 . There does not appear to be any official astrological confirmation online regarding when this year’s sunrise is, so I’ve decided to be an astrologer and do my own … Read more
AUTOMATS, TAXI DANCES and VAUDEVILLE: Manhattan’s Lost Places of Leisure
Secret passageways under Chinatown, remnants of a bygone Bowery beer hall, a rooftop film studio…Author David Freeland writes of these and more in his book Automats, Taxi Dances and Vaudeville: Excavating Manhattan’s Lost Places of Leisure. Freeland seeks to find continuity through history, using the lens of leisure activity in New York. He is more … Read more
CLUB LIMELIGHT aka Church of the Holy Communion
It can be argued that only in the repurposing of architecture can the lines between commerce, religion and politics be truly contested. In suburbia, Wal-Marts and big box stores have been converted into evangelical megachurches. The connection between commerce and religion is not only isolated to the retrofitting of built structures, but writers also frame … Read more
EMPIRE STATE Pays Tribute to the Grateful Dead
Not sure how long this is going to last, but as of tonight the Empire State Building has gone tie-dye in honor of the Grateful Dead and an upcoming exhibition curated by the New York Historical Society, slated for March 2010. The exhibition will be culled almost entirely from the Grateful Dead archive, featuring “an … Read more
SECRET BURGER
I may be a little biased because “Burger Joint” is where I met my band before we were a band, but this little faux-dive has a deserved cult following. We call it “Secret Burger” because it’s hidden inside the lobby of the impossibly posh Le Parker Meridien hotel, tucked behind thick floor to ceiling curtains with only … Read more
URBAN ESCAPES: Get Out of the Bubble!
“Man must have held his breath in the presence of this continent, compelled into an aesthetic contemplation he neither understood nor desired, face to face for the last time in history with something commensurate to his capacity for wonder.” – F. Scott Fitzgerald A visit to the Mannahatta/Manhattan exhibit at the Museum of the City … Read more
IN PICTURES: Manhattanhenge
Manhattanhenge did not disappoint, as the edges of buildings grew bright, anticipating the sun to wax into view. But more so of note, was the gathering of humanity: the people crowded onto Tudor City bridge with barely a sightline, the adventurous (like us) in the middle of 42nd street, the Tudor City residents claiming the … Read more
ST. MARK’S PLACE: Beyond the Beatniks
An architectural tour about what is not there? Eric Ferrara of the East Village History Project/East Village Visitors Center (and a criminal historian!), in conjunction with the Greenwich Village Society for Historical Preservation (GVSHP), unveils layers of history beginning at the exact location in Astor Place where three indian tribes converged for a thousand years, … Read more
