Tag Archives: NYC History

HomoQuotable – Richard Kim

“By January 1984, New York City under Koch’s leadership had spent a total of just $24,500 on AIDS. That same year, San Francisco, a city one tenth the size of New York, spent $4.3 million, a figure that grew to over $10 million annually by 1987. The mayor of San Francisco during those years was Dianne Feinstein, who like Koch …

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Ed Koch’s Tombstone

Saying that he couldn’t bear the idea of spending eternity in New Jersey, in 2009 Ed Koch purchased a plot in the Washington Heights cemetery which was the last in Manhattan still doing burials.  The tombstone, which Koch designed himself, has been waiting at the site since then. The inscription bears the final words of slain Wall Street Journal reporter …

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Evening View – Grand Central

I hopped off the subway at 42nd Street tonight to go upstairs and see the goings-on for Grand Central Terminal’s 100th birthday. If you embiggen the photo, you might be able to tell there’s a stage on the far side of the clock, but it was really too crowded to hang around.  Notice the big 1-0-0 in the windows.  That’s …

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Newsday, 1989

While Ed Koch may spent the last two decades of his life refusing to discuss his sexuality, he did say something about it in 1989. (Tipped by JMG reader Bill)

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Ed Koch Dies At Age 88

Former New York City mayor Ed Koch died this morning at the age of 88. As mayor from 1978 to 1989, the forceful, quick-witted Koch, with his trademark phrase “How’m I Doing?,” was a polarizing figure and the city’s constant promoter. Koch died at about 2 a.m. (0700 GMT) at New York-Presbyterian hospital, the spokesman for Koch said. Koch was …

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Morning View – Cornelius Vanderbilt

The statue of 19th century rail and shipping magnate Cornelius Vanderbilt stands outside Grand Central Terminal. Vanderbilt is the great-great-grandfather of Anderson Cooper and at his death in 1877 his net worth comprised a significant percentage of the GNP. In 2012 dollars, he would be more than twice as wealthy as Bill Gates is today. Vanderbilt was the inspiration for …

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NYC Releases Massive Digital Archive

The New York City Department of Records has spent the last four years digitizing hundreds of thousands of images in its photo archive, which stretches back to the 1880s. That project is still underway, but beginning today the archive is open to the public for (mostly) free use. Amazing. The Online Gallery provides free and open research access to over …

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More Gay-Related Titanic Trivia

For the past 25 years, NYC’s gay pride celebration has been capped off by a massive outdoor dance party on Pier 54, where thousands and thousands of LGBT folks cheer the spectacular fireworks display over the Hudson as the party ends. But Pier 54’s history is decidedly less celebratory. Pier 54 is perhaps best known for its associations with the …

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The Cure For Bridge & Tunnel

If the above 1934 plan had come to fruition, I guess West Chelsea would also be called East Hoboken. From a news article at the time: In keeping with the Norman Sper plan, the ten square miles of land which would thereby be reclaimed from the Hudson would not only provide for thousands of additional buildings, but also for avenues …

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The Secret Subway

Gothamist has posted a great set of photos of the “secret subway station” under midtown’s Waldorf-Astoria. The station was abandoned many decades ago. Over the weekend we had a chance to visit the long-abandoned Waldorf-Astoria train platform, which allowed VIPs to enter the hotel in a more private manner—most famously it was used by Franklin D. Roosevelt, possibly to hide …

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MTA To Run Nostalgia Train

New York City’s MTA has found a commercial sponsor for this year’s Nostalgia Train event, during which restored and historic trains run on weekends. Starting on Saturday, September 3rd an authentic vintage 1920’s train will run on the express 2/3 track in Manhattan throughout September (specifically, from 12 to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays). Originally operated by the Interborough …

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SOLD: Hotel Chelsea

Manhattan’s Hotel Chelsea, arguably the most famed home of New York City’s arts legends, has been sold and is closed. Saturday night was, by all indications, the last night that the Chelsea Hotel on West 23rd Street would be open to guests, though the duration of the closing, the first in its history, was unknown. The building is to be …

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NYC’s Subway: 25 Years Ago

Take a trip back to the time of turnstyle tokens, rampant graffiti, and really big hair via this just-posted clip of the Times Square station in 1986. I never knew there used to be a K train.

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200 Years Of The Manhattan Street Grid

Tomorrow is the 200th anniversary of the approval of Manhattan’s street grid, a decision that some historians say did more to create the most densely populated space in North America than any other bit of urban planning. The grid certified by the city’s street commissioners on March 22, 1811, spurred development by establishing seven miles of regular, predictable street access. …

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Dutch Manhattan

Gothamist points us to this cool map showing how New Amsterdam looked 350 years ago. The defensive “Wall” on the northern border, of course became the global center of commerce. Those rotten Brits tore most of the wall down in 1699. The Chinese are finishing the job right now.

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