The First Electric Plant in NYC

Posted May 7, 2008 by Famous Ankles
Categories: Manhattan, Wanderings

I’m a sucker for historical plaques. In downtown Manhattan, I ran across this one at 40 Fulton Street.

It reads “In a building on this site an electric plant supplying the first Edison underground central station system in this country and forming the origin of New York’s present electrical system began operation on September 4, 1882 according to plans conceived and executed by Thomas Alva Edison. To commemorate an epoch-making event this tablet is erected by the American Scenic and Historic Preservation Society. The New York Edison Company.”

Reading it, I am a bit confused. A strict reading indicates that it wasn’t the first electricity generating plant. Not even the first one done by Edison. But it was the first one that supplied the “underground central station system”. And that system is what the rest of NY’s electrical system ended up based upon.

It sure doesn’t look like a site of a former power plant, does it. It’s pretty tall and I couldn’t tell what its current use is, but it looks like condos or apartments.

-H

Comments: 3 Comments

NYC Interview 002

Posted May 6, 2008 by Famous Ankles
Categories: Manhattan, Three Favorite Facts About NYC, Wanderings

Hey folks.  It’s my second interview of an unsuspecting NYC resident.  Like I said in my last one:  “there are eight million stories” and this is my attempt to give out a few of them. Today’s story, or what I have of a story, is from Frances Woodruff, a long-term resident of the Lower East Side.

 

Frances is originally from Spartenburg, South Carolina. She’s been here for years and is feeling the push of the continuing real estate boom here. It’s not as bad as it was, but she’s feeling the pressure of the higher cost to stay in the City and is starting to think about moving out. Those costs are her absolute least favorite part of living here.

Nevertheless, she loves the options that living in the City provide to her and to all of us. Like me, she’s particularly enamoured by Union Square and is there often (I ran into her at Tompkins Square Park right across from the dog run). But she was quick to point out that the Time Warner Building is the can’t-miss part of NYC that she would recommend everyone see.

In terms of her Three Favorite Facts About NYC, Frances chose:

  • g. The Apollo Theater’s amateur night shows are great. Bring back the hook!
  • q. Battery Park has no relation to Everready or Duracell. The Energizer Bunny’s been spotted in the area, though.
  • z. Good BBQ in NYC? Dream on.

Frances, thanks for being a great interview.

-H

Comments: Be the first to comment

Fulton Street Undergoing Repairs

Posted May 5, 2008 by Famous Ankles
Categories: Manhattan, Wanderings

Fulton Street is in the Financial District of NYC and is undergoing extensive repairs. The street extends east-west from Seaport area in the east to the World Trade Center area and PATH train station in the west.

I love seeing what’s under the streets in NYC.

This is just the first few feet down, of course. The subway lies well under this and, I think, parts of the water system.

It is a fair hodge-podge of pipes and wires and forms and the like. NYC’s been putting stuff down there for a very long time (as least by USA standards) and I imagine there are a number of surprises found on a regular basis.

Of course, the next picture shows it so crowded below ground that you wonder how anything can be done without shutting down half of downtown every time they need to do a little digging.

The big grating shown below is, I believe, part of the subway system that lies just below the street. One thing about Fulton Street is how many entrances it has to the subway. It is a major hub because all of the lines are converging into the narrower parts of southern Manhattan before the lines end (such as the 1 line) or they cut over to Brooklyn.

A bit more than halfway across the island, and just before Broadway, the construction ends.

-H

Comments: 2 Comments

Romanian Festival

Posted May 4, 2008 by Famous Ankles
Categories: Events, Manhattan, Wanderings

This is the second year that I’ve gone to the annual Romanian Festival and it’s the second year I’ve just had to shake my head and wonder what they are doing.

It was held on Saturday way down in the Financial District part of Manhattan, on Broadway, actually. I approached it from the north and ran into a nice banner announcing it well above its ending point at Bowling Green.

But the sign is…inaccurate at best. For blocks and blocks, it is nothing but a street fair. Reggae music blasting from a booth selling Reggae music. Fried mozzerella. Smoothies. Zeppoles and Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches. I’m not aware of any Romanian connection to them (because there ain’t one).

It was crowded. That’s the one thing I’ll say about it. Lots and lots of people. Of course, street fairs are one of those major signs that winter is over and spring has sprung.

You actually had to get down to Bowling Green to find anything Romanian. Circling the green was a group of Romanian restaurants and businesses.  I ended up going to one and got a blueberry crepe (the proprietor claimed it was a Romanian dish).  Very good.  Most of the stands in that area were promoting Romanian tourism, phone cards, and the like.

There was also the “Romanian Christian Society” which had a tent.

At the other end of Bowling Green was the centerpiece, which was a grandstand where there were shows going on.  Or, supposed to be going on.  The crowd was pretty good, actually a very good crowd, and I couldn’t get in.  Well, I could have, but after several minutes of watching and listening to a Romanian speech, I wasn’t in the mood.

 

Just like last year, the Festival seemed to be tacked onto an ordinary street fair.  Romania has an interesting history and, I think, deserves a bit more than what I’ve seen two years in a row.  Even if it were just a tiny thing, it’s better that than being an appendage to a street fair.

-H 

Comments: Be the first to comment

Protest on 42nd Street

Posted May 3, 2008 by Famous Ankles
Categories: Events, Manhattan, Mid-town

Mid-afternoon today, I started hearing shouts outside my place. It seemed to be coming from 42nd Street. I figured there was a protest going on and it turns out there was a protest going on.

Well, it’s near the United Nations and its near the Israeli Consolate, so what else could it be…except a legalize marijuana protest?

I left my apartment and easily caught up with them.

Mostly, it just seemed to be another group desperate to recapture the 1960s. I truly loved the signs about how they need to legalize it to help people get cured from their various ailments. (I know it is used to treat certain eye problems and to quell nasua from chemo, but there are pills for the latter and a quick Google has some sites saying it has no particular advantage for glaucoma whereas others say it’s the best thing since sliced bread for it.) There are other cited diseases it can be used for, but I have no idea as to their real status.

The crowd was doing your standard 1960s chanting and broke into song at one point (the “Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye” chorus was changed to “Marijuana, Marijuana, Hey Hey Goodbye” or “Good Buy” or something like that).

For a group that mostly was citing medical relevance in their signs, there was a distinct attempt at counterculture appearance. That’s fine. But the 60’s were 40 years ago. A little bit like if my generation put on raccoon coats and beanies during my college period, I guess.  (Actually, that might have been really cool, but I had no access to raccoon coats.)

I loved this last sign. “Respect Life Weeds Earth”. It’s a bit incoherent and logically very…illogical. I presume that the wielder is trying to point out that marijuana (“weed” in 1960s/70s parlance – good to know the slang of my childhood continues) is a natural substance and is thus good. I don’t know how that jump is made, but it is by lots of people.

The protest was maybe 200 people? I didn’t bother to try and count. They were all in a bunch about 50 to 70 yards long, but it was a tight bunch of people. And they were followed by a lot of cops. I wondered about the cops being in such abundance, but that’s kind of typical of NYC protests. They like to have numbers on their side.

 

 All in all, a bit of a timewarp and it gave a bunch of kids, who are probably getting ready for exams, a chance to blow off some steam. There may have been a few of them who were strongly interested in the medical angle, but they were hanging out with a bunch of stoners. (I do love my old slang.)
 
-H

Comments: Be the first to comment

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »