City of Desire
By Lucas Compan
Like Ric Burns and James Sanders said: "Every great city is, of course, in some sense also a great story. The city of New York, unparalleled in its size, grandeur, and complexity, has engendered, over the course of its turbulent and spectacular history, a story that is nothing than an urban epic–as richly peopled, as dramatically plotted, and as movingly profound as any great fiction."
City of Desire | 1880-1942
DUMBO and the Brooklyn Bridge 1918 | Image: New York City, Department of Records
Third Avenue Railway – The Third Avenue Railway System (1853–1956), was a streetcar system serving the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and the Bronx. along with lower Westchester County | Image: New York City, Department of Records
28th Street and Second Avenue (1931)
28th Street (1930)
42nd Street (1880) | Image: New York City, Department of Records
Bushwick, Brooklyn (1930) | Image: New York City, Department of Records
Lower East Side (1935) | Image: New York City, Department of Records
42nd Street from Second Avenue | Image: New York City, Department of Records
Astoria Park
Astoria Park Pool (1940). Astoria Park in Queens, is equipped with one of the most popular swimming facilities in the country, which also happens to be the oldest and largest swimming pool in New York City. Planned by Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, the outdoor pool is 54,450-square-feet and measures 330 feet in length. Harry Hopkins, the administrator of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), which provided the labor to construct the pool, described it as “The finest in the world.” According to NYC Parks, it has been said that it was intended to be the “grandest” of the eleven pools Moses intended to install throughout the city in the summer of 1936 — possibly because it provided the best view of the Triborough Bridge, which was completed in the same year.
Astoria Park Pool (1940) – Astoria Park in Queens, Image: New York City, Department of Records
Brooklyn Bridge
Workers at the Brooklyn Bridge ( 1914). The Brooklyn Bridge opened to the public on May 24, 1883, thereby connecting Manhattan with Brooklyn for the first time. Dubbed the “Eighth Wonder of the World,” early visitors gawked at its immense granite towers and thick steel cables, not to mention its birds-eye views. The bridge, which took 14 years and around $15 million to complete, remains among New York City’s top tourist attractions and a busy thoroughfare for commuters. Brooklyn did not become part of New York City until 1898, following a referendum that passed there by just 277 votes (out of more than 129,000 cast).
Workers at the Brooklyn Bridge ( 1914). | Image: New York City, Department of Records
Brooklyn Bridge workers (1915) | Image: New York City, Department of Records
Chinatown from Williamsburg Bridge (1923) | Image: New York City, Department of Records
Midtown Manhattan (1932) | Image: New York City, Department of Records
Coney Island (1923) | Image: New York City, Department of Records
Washington Street in DUMBO, Brooklyn (1908) and the construction of the Manhattan Bridge. The bridge was officially opened to traffic on Dec. 31, 1909. | Image: New York City, Department of Records
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Grand Central Terminal
Grand Central Terminal (1923) | Image: New York City, Department of Records
Grand Central Terminal main concourse (1923). The smoke inside is from cigarettes. At some point, the ceiling completely covered with a dark patch. It was formed by over 100 years of dirt and, mostly, the result of decades of smoking in the terminal. MTA's Marjorie Anders explains: "The remaining dirt is a combination of tarry nicotine from the millions of cigarettes, cigars and pipes once consumed in the Terminal by generations of travelers and the soot and steel dust that stuck to it. Smoking was banned in Grand Central Terminal in March 30, 2003, the same time the ban went into effect citywide."
Park Avenue street fair (1932) | Image: New York City, Department of Records
Queensboro Bridge (1929) | Image: New York City, Department of Records
6th Avenue and 40th Street (1940) | Image: New York City, Department of Records
Times Square (1938) | Image: New York City, Department of Records