There’s a new coffee shop setting up at 50 Fulton.
February 3, 2010
Today’s New York City history fun fact:
The remains of New York’s first “subway”, Beach Pneumatic Transit, are discovered and removed in the building of the BMT Broadway Line station at City Hall (today’s N / R / W) of the NYC Subway system in 1912. Beach’s line ran 312 feet, from Warren St and Broadway to Broadway and Murray street, using air as it’s propulsion system. Beach himself was inventor and editor of Scientific American and enjoyed actually field testing some of the technology that appeared within it. It’s also a great story of innovation despite New York’s patronage filled Tammany Hall system.
More about Beach’s Pneumatic Transit Beach’s here and here. Approximate route via Google Maps here.
(Photo via LIFE Magazine)
February 2, 2010
Construction above and around WTC Path hub is progressing in a manner permitting some above ground peekaboo from the concourse.
January 25, 2010
Wind Blew Debris Off Beekman Tower
In case you were wondering why your commute involved an extra pedestrian detour (or why you didn’t have to go to your daytime classes at Pace today), winds launched debris off the Beekman Tower into surrounding streets today. Curbed and Gothamist have more. At least they properly secured the cranes!
(Photo via p0ps Harlow)
January 20, 2010
Just learned Steven Spielberg is executive producing a six-part documentary series “Rebuilding Ground Zero,” due to air next year on the Science Channel.
Using 3D, time-lapse, computer modeling and other high tech trickery that Spielberg knows best, the series plans to chronicle the engineering and building of the new 1,776-foot (541-meter) high skyscraper while examining the effect of the redevelopment on the lives of New Yorkers. …
Until then, you can also follow redevelopment news at WTCProgress.org .
January 19, 2010
Burger Shoppe Introduces Mac & Cheese Burger
Urban Daddy just published urgent FiDi foodie news, excerpted below:
…the Mac and Cheese Burger, a meeting of two comfort food staples in one savory new package, available to satisfy your deepest, darkest cravings starting today at the FiDi ground beef oasis Burger Shoppe.
…a mix of cheddar, American, pecorino and Gruyère cheeses with ground Hereford beef…macaroni, cooked, salted and packed inside the burger before it hits the grill…a few homemade Gruyère bread crumbs and a generous ladling of homemade cheese sauce on the patty.
Apparently it’s being launched off-menu, so you’ll have to demand it by name. [30 Water Street]
January 4, 2010
December 31, 2009
100 Years Later, Still No Respect for a Bridge….
It was Mayor George B. McClellan Jr.’s last public act: an afternoon ride across a bridge so new, it was not quite finished. He led “a little cavalcade of automobiles and carriages” as steam whistles sounded on both sides of the river, The New York Times reported.
“Hundreds of Brooklynites stood for hours in the cold,” The Times said, “waiting to greet the mayor and those who accompanied him.”
At midnight, Mr. McClellan’s term was over. He left City Hall, 100 years ago on Friday.
That makes Thursday the 100th anniversary of the official opening of the Manhattan Bridge. But is anyone talking re-enactment? Not the NYC Bridge Centennial Commission, created to take note of six 100-year anniversaries between 2008 and 2010. (via NYT)
December 21, 2009
The Beekman Tower got some press in this weekend’s Times. Their pic gives a better feel for the “crinkled steel surface” than the previous ones posted here. The article’s mention was brief:
… Frank Gehry’s 76-story Beekman Tower continues to rise despite worries over the project’s financing. The 80-year-old Mr. Gehry’s first skyscraper, it will reshape the downtown skyline, offering a counterpoint to the ornate terracotta facade of the 1913 Woolworth building, one of the city’s most historic towers.
December 19, 2009
