As we’ve noted, there’s an ongoing exhibit on how radically awesome New York City’s grid system is and the fascinating history behind it when first proposed back in the early 1800s. Read more »
In 1979, not only did the people “occupy Wall Street,” but they surrounded the New York Stock Exchange. Puppets. Trumpets. Peaceful protestors dragged into piles by the police as cigar-puffing suits stood by gawking. Check this prime video cut of NYC history. Read more »
Get out your 3D glasses and stereoscopes! Because 2D is just not enough anymore, the Library of Congress brings Civil War photos recently spruced up with red and cyan to make “digital anaglyphs,” ooh, aah, eee! If you prefer old timey stereographs, their archives are stuffed with 50,000 of them, from the 1850s to the 1930s, from sexy ladies to Lincoln’s New York funeral. Nerds.
The Library of Congress recently uploaded 43 videos from the early 1900′s. Check out a grainy New York City blast from the past below. Pretty nifty. Read more »
A rapper you’ve likely heard of, Big Daddy Kane, explains the definition of a “freestyle” in the 80s. He says, “When we said we wrote a freestyle rap, that means it was a rhyme that you wrote that was ‘free’ of ‘style” meaning its not a subject matter…it’s basically a rhyme just bragging about yourself.” Nowadays of course, it’s mostly used when rappers recite written lyrics over instrumentals. |Nah Right|
Did you know that Santa Claus was a New Yorker? No, really he was, and the New-York Historical Society says they can prove it. |NBC|
Yesterday marked 32 years to the day that George Willig aka “the human fly” ascended the South Tower (WTC 2). Using custom climbing gear, it took the Queens resident about 3.5 hours to reach the top where he was immediately arrested by the NYPD, leading us to wonder: when did he have the opportunity to tag his name on a rooftop beam? The city ended up fining him $1.10 (one penny for every story), but never buffed the high altitude graffiti which remained visible until the building was destroyed.
Photos by Maksimal
Yesterday’s announcement by the century old Christian Science Monitor to cease its daily print edition and divert most of its resources to publishing online, surely sent ripples up the spines of many a newspaper executive. Although mags die left and right or move online, this shift by the ‘Monitor’ away from substantial tree-killing, represents one of the first major newspapers to dump print. Despite its name, the CSM is actually a well respected publication renowned for its international coverage and unlike modern day media companies, wasn’t born out of focus groups or complex shareholder meetings. All it took was a letter by the religiously devoted philanthropist Mary Baker Eddy. Written on August 8, 1908 and addressed to the Christian Scence Board of Trustees, she uses just 50 words to spell out the paper’s creation:
Story of a City: New York (1946)
Here’s a great old school documentary called “Story of a City” that was released post-World War II, a period that represented boomtime for NYC. Watch and learn how this city revitalized an entire nation as opposed to now when Wall Street is dragging it down.
NYC: The White Washed Version
Ever wonder what an all Caucasian NYC would look like? This historical video, Arteries of New York City, examines the transportation ins and outs of the burgeoning Metropolis in the early 1940′s, but also doubles as a racial snapshot of an era when people of color just weren’t sexy enough for the predominantly white silver-screen watching public. This was a time of segregation, even if in the North it was de facto. So take a walk down memory lane and see what an all vanilla city looked like and just imagine how many edits had to go into the making of this thing to make sure it remained eggshell white.
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