New York City Skyscrapers Souvenir Folder, IV

A last few images from the 1915 New York City Skyscrapers Souvenir Folder:  the view of Manhattan from Jersey City, Times Square during the day, the Brooklyn Bridge, and a shot of "high pressure in action" featuring New York City's finest.

The pictures from this folder posted in the last few days have reminded me of one of my favorite books:  Time and Again, by Jack Finney.  To describe the plot, involving time travel and self-hypnosis, makes it sound silly, but the book is an homage to New York City, as well as a great story.  The image in the book that comes back to me again and again involves the protagonist knowing he's traveled back in time when he looks out his apartment window and sees that the skyline has changed.   Every time I'm in New York, I think of this image when I look at the skyline, and these skyscraper postcards remind me of that as well.

New York City Skyscrapers, III

While these postcards from the 1915 "New York City Skyscrapers Souvenir Folder" don't focus on any particular skyscraper, they do feature well-known intersections surrounded by skyscrapers.  In the upper left corner, Wall Street, looking pretty much the same today, with the exception of the cars and the clothes.  In the upper right corner, Herald Square,  known primarily by most non-New Yorkers from the line in the song Give My Regards to Broadway where the singer asks "remember me to Herald Square".  The flagship Macy's Store is also located here.  Next up, lower left, the intersection of 5th Avenue & 42nd Street, dead center of one of the most expensive shopping areas in the world and the location of the New York Public Library.  Finally, in the lower right, Times Square, nicknamed the "intersection of the world".  and well-known for the New Year's Eve midnight countdown and ball drop, the theater district, and its seedy past. Around the time of this picture, it became the eastern end of the Lincoln Highway, conceived  in 1913 as the first automobile road across the United States, starting from 5th & Broadway (part of Times Square) and ending in Lincoln Park, San Francisco, 3,389 miles away.  The route has been streamlined over the years, and is now 3,142 miles long.   [Road Trip Bucket List!]

P.S.  It's Flag Day and Postcard Friendship Friday.  Check out the posting (as well as the other postcard people's postings) for an interesting history of Flag Day.   

New York City Skyscrapers, II

Another couple of postcards from the 1915 "New York City Skyscrapers Souvenir Folder":

The Singer Building (left) sadly, no longer exists.  Opened in 1908, the Singer Building was the tallest building in the world for about a year, until the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Building (seen in yesterday's post) was opened in 1909.  It was built as the headquarters for the Singer Sewing Machine Company in the Second Empire Baroque Style.  Other examples of this style of architecture in NYC include the St. Regis Hotel, the Plaza Hotel, Temple Beth-El, and Lord & Taylor.  In 1968 it was demolished to make way for the U.S. Steel Building (currently known as One Liberty Plaza), making it the tallest building ever demolished due to replacement (as opposed to attack as was the case in the Avala TV building in Serbia or the World Trade Center Towers in NYC).  Check out the images at the first link, above.  It was spectacular!

The Whitehall Building (right) does still exist, having been turned into apartment buildings in 1999.  It is located at 17 Battery Place next to Battery Park in Lower Manhattan, NYC.  It is referred to as a "skyscraper", but given it's only 20 stories tall it is hard to think of it as such.

New York City Skyscrapers

This "New York City Skyscrapers Souvenir Folder" features 22 fold out postcards, primarily skyscrapers, from around 1915.  It is printed by the H.H. Tammen Curio Company which, according to the Metropolitan Postcard Club of New York City was "a novelty dealer and important publisher of national view-cards and Western themes in continuous tone and halftone lithography."  They were located in Denver, Colorado and in business from 1896-1953.

Here's one of the Metropolitan Life Insurance Building, located at One Madison Avenue, and which, with 50 floors, was the tallest buildling in the world from 1909 to 1913.  It is not to be confused with the Met Life Building which didn't open until 1963.













And here's the Flatiron Building, considered  to be among the first skyscapers ever built (1902) and located at 175 5th Avenue.  I could swear there was a movie about a music company located in the Flatiron building, and the song writers working there in the 60s, but I only find (among others)  "Spider Man", the 1998 version of "Godzilla", and the opening credits of "Late Night with David Letterman" as movies/television shows that feature the building.








More tomorrow!

The Frick Collection

The Frick Collection on 5th Avenue in New York City is home to a permanent collection of more than 1,100 works of art from the Renaissance to the late 19th Century.

While it is not the largest museum in the United States, it "has played a very significant role in collecting and connoisseurship in the United States. The types of paintings collected by Mr. Frick deeply affected the taste of Americans in the decades after his death — first and foremost, that of Andrew Mellon, his close friend, and other collectors who gave to The National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., founded by Mellon." (From the Frick Collection website)

There is an interesting array of painters represented here, a few of whom I'd be particularly interested in seeing:

There are multiple works by Whistler (of Whistler's Mother fame).

Thomas Gainsborough, of Blue Boy fame which hangs at the Huntington Library in my home town, has a number of paintings at The Frick.

There is a series of paintings called "Arts & Sciences" by Francois Boucher, which includes pairings like "Fowling and Horticulture", "Architecture and Chemistry", "Astronomy and Hydraulics" and "Singing and Dancing".

Finally, who wouldn't want to see paintings by Turner and Constable?

Perhaps next time I visit New York........

The Gates

A boatload of words, a shelf full of books, and miles of film have all been created, describing New York City far better than I ever could. It is one of my favorite spots on the planet and I have spent a lot of time there.

But in 2005, it had been four or five years since I had been, and when the publicity started around the Christos' temporary art installation, The Gates, in Central Park, I became obsessed with seeing it. I found a cheap fare, gathered up one son and one niece, and we flew off to NYC.

We landed late, in a huge snow storm, and jumped into what was probably the last car traveling from JFK into NYC. We were staying at The Plaza as it is right on Central Park and was about to close for major renovations. (It needed them badly.)

The next morning, we headed into the park. It was a beautiful day, and the fresh fallen show from the night before was stacked four inches high on each Gate. The entire effect was incredible.

The Gates was quite controversial – some loved it and its challenge to the concept of “what is art”?; others thought it defaced the park and was a big waste of many; more others were glad it brought incremental tourist dollars into the city, mine included. It was only up for about three weeks.

Christos and his wife have produced a number of environmental art installations. Two others I've seen, and only at a glance while driving by, were The Umbrellas 1991 in Southern California and The Running Fence 1972-1976 in Northern California.

Postcard Advertising - Museums in NYC

More postcard advertising, all collected in New York City in the 90s. In this case, ads for a variety of museums. How better to reach potential prospects who like to be out and about by speaking to them when they are out and about in bars, restaurants, and coffee shops?

Six Degrees of Separation

Small world situations are always an interesting pleasure, no matter how often they occur. In this case, two women I know from completely different components of my life turn out to be best friends from high school. Somehow we all figured out our one degree of separation-ness.

Recently they had a mini-reunion in New York, enjoying eating their way through the city. They sent me this postcard from Balthazars. My favorite part of this postcard is the address: General Delivery, San Francisco. The truth of the matter is, it was sent electronically. But I love the general delivery reference as much as I love that they thought of me in the restaurant. Thanks, ladies!

New York City

I must have 100 postcards from NYC, but this is my most recent.

My friend Randi & I (with her two big dogs) walk in the Presidio every Wednesday morning. Last Wednesday she was eating breakfast in New York rather than walking with me!