Scenes in the Public Domain: New York City Views from the The New York Public Library

The New York Public Library made big news this month with the announcement it was opening up digital access to more than 180,000 items in its online catalogue. * With no known copyright restrictions, the items are now available for members of the public for use in any sort of way. The collections encompass a variety of materials - photos, lithographs, maps, menus, atlases, and more.

Rockefeller Center Parking Space, 40 West 49th Street, from Museum of Modern Art, 10th floor, 14 West 49th Street (Time and Life Building), Manhattan. Berenice Abbott 1935 Federal Art Project. Source page at NYPL.

The public domain expansion includes a great many items of interest to New Yorkers and those interested in the city - Berenice Abbott's documentary photographs of New York in the 1930s (above, her rather startling view of the parking situation at the new Rockefeller Center), stereoscopic views of the old city, and photographs of Ellis Island, among them. The library is actively encouraging the sharing and creative reuse of the material.

Here are just a few photographic treasures, needles in the NYPL virtual haystack, if you will.

Let's begin with a couple of stereoscopic views of Central Park. The NYPL has many of these in their Robert N. Dennis Collection of Stereoscopic Views. (While Walking Off the Big Apple is a bit cross-eyed anyway from years of digital production, it's sometimes easy to view these without a proper device by holding your index finger halfway between yourself and the image and then letting your eyes gently soften on the image.)

• Skating scene in Central Park, winter 1866.

E. & H.T. Anthony (Firm)
Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views
Source page at NYPL website
Note: Skating has been popular ever since Central Park was created. This view would have been of skaters in the new Central Park, captured in the first year after the American Civil War. Stereographic views constituted a major source of entertainment throughout the latter part of the 19th century. The popularity of these uncanny 3-D devices continued to fascinate armchair travelers in later times, via the Viewmaster sets (big in my youth and a big influence on my wandering ways) and virtual reality headsets.

• Central Park, in the Ramble.

Chase, W. M. (William M.) (ca. 1818-1901)
Robert N. Dennis collection of stereoscopic views
Source page
Note: Strolling in The Ramble has been a favorite recreational pastime since the beginning of Central Park. Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux designed the wild area north of The Lake to serve as a counterpoint to the more formal areas of the park. Read more about the early popularity of The Ramble on this website.

• Passed and waiting to be taken off Ellis Island.

Levick, Edwin (1869-1929)
1902-1913
Photographs of Ellis Island, 1902-1913.
Source page
Note: The great wave of immigrants passing through New York Harbor at the turn of the century is well-documented in photographs. This photograph comes from a collection assembled by the Commissioner of Immigration for the Port of New York at Ellis Island, 1902-5 and 1909-13.

• Exterior marble work, seen from the corner of Fifth Avenue and Forty-second Street.

1904
Collection: New York Public Library Visual Materials
Source page
Note: Not surprisingly, the NYPL kept a good record of its own work, including the construction of the main library branch on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street. The construction scene is a little heavy on the advertisements.

• FIFTH AVENUE (1911) Washington Arch - No. 12 Apartment house, West 8th St.

From Fifth Avenue, New York, from start to finish
About this collection, from the NYPL website: "In 1907, alarmed at the approach of factories, the leading merchants and residents formed the Fifth Avenue Association. The "Save New York Committee" became a bulwark against the wrong kind of development. Perhaps inspired by this contemporary movement, photographer Burton Welles used a wide-angled view camera in 1911 to document this most important street from Washington Square, north to East 93rd Street."
Source page
Note: The wide-angle views of Fifth Avenue are worth viewing in their entirety. We can catch the last glimpses of Henry James and Edith Wharton's New York. Contemporary walkers may want to stroll Fifth Avenue to search for what remains.

• Department of Docks and Police Station, Pier A, North River, Manhattan.

Changing New York
Berenice Abbott 1935
Source page
Note: In 1935, Berenice Abbott (1898-1991), a champion of the great Paris work of Eugène Atget (French, 1857-1927), launched a well-known documentary project for a rapidly modernizing New York. The Federal Art Project of the 1930s provided support for her work. Readers may recognize Pier A at the Battery, now repurposed as a restaurant.

• Oliver Street, 25-29, Manhattan.

Berenice Abbott
1935 Federal Art Project
Source page
Note: 25 Oliver Street on the Lower East Side was the home of New York Governor Alfred E. Smith from 1907-1923. In a simple and balanced street scene, Abbott conveys energy and motion with a couple of walkers, a person emerging from a basement apartment, and a woman leaning out a window.

• Penn Station, Interior, Manhattan.

Berenice Abbott
1935 Federal Art Project
Source page
Note: In other big news this month, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo announced ambitious plans for the renovation of the current Penn Station and the creation of a new train and retail hub in the Farley Post Office building across the street. (NYT story) Here's one of Abbott's haunting pictures of the old Penn Station, McKim, Mead and White's 1910 monumental masterpiece that was demolished in the 1960s. Fans of MAD MEN may remember an episode involving the controversy surrounding the preservation battle.

Begin your own explorations of the NYPL collections online here. *See press release for details.

A New York Spring Calendar: Blooming Times and Seasonal Events

See the UPDATED 2018 CALENDAR HERE . Updated for 2017 . At this time of year, thoughts turn to spring. Let's spring forward to blooming times, the best locations for witnessing spring's beginnings, and springtime events in the big city. While the occasional snow could blow through the city, we're just weeks now from callery pears in bloom and opening day at the ballpark. In The Ramble, Central Park. mid-April Blooming Times • Central Park Conservancy's website lists blooming times within the park. During the month of March we begin to see crocus, daffodils, forsythia, snowdrops, witch-hazel, and hellebores. Species tulips will emerge in several places, but the Shakespeare Garden and Conservatory Garden are particularly good places to catch the beginning of Spring blooms. Central Park near E. 72nd St., saucer magnolia, typically end of March. • Citywide Blooming Calendar from New York City Department of Parks & Recreation April is u

Museums in New York Open on Mondays

Please see this post for current announcements of reopenings . Please consult the museum websites for changes in days and hours. UPDATED September 23, 2020 Advance tickets required for many museum reopenings. Please check museum websites for details. • The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) reopened to the public on August 27 , with new hours for the first month, through September 27: from 10:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday to the public; and from 10:30 a.m. until 5:30 p.m. on Mondays for MoMA members on ly. Admission will be free to all visitors Tuesday through Sunday, through September 27, made possible by UNIQLO. See this new post on WOTBA for a sense of the experience attending the museum . • New-York Historical Society reopened on August 14 with an outdoor exhibition, "Hope Wanted: New York City Under Quarantine,” in the rear courtyard. The exhibit by activist Kevin Powell and photographer Kay Hickman will highlight how New Yorkers weathered the quarantine

25 Things To Do Near the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)

(updated 2016) The Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) at 11 W. 53rd Street is near many other New York City attractions, so before or after a trip to the museum, a short walk in any direction could easily take in additional experiences. Drawing a square on a map with the museum at the center, a shape bounded by 58th Street to the north and 48th Street to the south, with 7th Avenue to the west and Park Avenue to the east, proves the point of the area's cultural richness. (A map follows the list below.) While well-known sightseeing stops fall with these boundaries, most notably Rockefeller Center, St. Patrick's Cathedral, and the great swath of famous Fifth Avenue stores, cultural visitors may also want to check out places such as the Austrian Cultural Forum, the 57th Street galleries, the Onassis Cultural Center, and the Municipal Art Society. The image above shows an intriguing glimpse of the tops of two Beaux-Arts buildings through an opening of the wall inside MoMA's scu

25 Things to Do Near the American Museum of Natural History

After visiting the American Museum of Natural History, explore attractions on the Upper West Side or in Central Park. Visitors to New York often run around from one major tourist site to the next, sometimes from one side of the city to the other, and in the process, exhaust themselves thoroughly. Ambitious itineraries often include something like coffee in the Village in the morning, lunch near MoMA, a couple of hours in the museum, a ride on the Staten Island Ferry in the afternoon, cocktails at the midtown hotel, a quick dinner, and then a Broadway show. It's a wonder people don't pass out at the theater. While sitting on the steps of the American Museum of History, consider exploring the Upper West Side and nearby sites of interest in Central Park. There's a better way to plan a New York trip. Consider grouping attractions together geographically. Several posts on this site address this recommended approach. The Wild West of the Tecumseh Playground Groupin

The High Line and Chelsea Market: A Good Pairing for a Walk

(revised 2017) The advent of spring, with its signs of growth and rebirth, is apparent both on the High Line , where volunteers are cutting away the old growth to reveal fresh blooms, and inside the Chelsea Market, where new tenants are revitalizing the space. A walk to take in both can become an exploration of bounty and surprise, a sensual walk of adventure and sustenance. A good pairing for a walk: The High Line and Chelsea Market Walking the High Line for a round trip from Gansevoort to W. 30th and then back again adds up to a healthy 2-mile walk. Regular walkers of the elevated park look for an excuse to go there. Especially delightful is showing off the park, a model of its kind, to visitors from out of town. A stroll through Chelsea Market. Time check. If you haven't stopped into Chelsea Market lately, you may want to take a detour from the High Line at the stairs on W. 16th St. and walk through the market for a quick assessment or a sampling. Among the sampli

25 Things to Do Near the Metropolitan Museum of Art

(updated) Sitting on the steps in front of the Metropolitan Museum of Art is one of those iconic things to do in New York City. On a sunny day, the wide steps can become crowded with the young and old, the tourist and the resident. It's tempting to stay awhile and soak in the sun and the sights. Everyone has reasons for lingering there, with one being the shared pleasure of people watching along this expansive stretch of Fifth Avenue, a painting come to life. Certainly, just getting off one's feet for a moment is welcome, especially if the previous hours involved walking through the entirety of art history from prehistoric to the contemporary. The entrance to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, Fifth Avenue The Metropolitan Museum of Art should be a singular pilgrimage, uninterrupted by feeble attempts to take in more exhibitions along Museum Mile. Pity the poor visitor who tries "to do" multiple museum exhibitions in one day, albeit ambitious, noble, and uplift

Taking a Constitutional Walk

A long time ago individuals going out for a walk, especially to get fresh air and exercise, often referred to the activity as "taking a constitutional walk." The word "constitutional" refers to one's constitution or physical makeup, so a constitutional walk was considered beneficial to one's overall wellbeing. (Or, as some would prefer to call it, "wellness.") The phrase is more common in British literature than in American letters. As early as the mid-nineteenth century, many American commentators expressed concern that their countrymen were falling into lazy and unhealthy habits. Newspaper columnists and editorial writers urged their readers to take up the practice of the "constitutional" walk. One such essay, " Walking as an Exercise," originally printed in the Philadelphia Gazette and reprinted in New England Farmer , Volume 11, 1859, urges the people of farm areas to take up walking. City dwellers seemed to have the

Introducing Birds of Inwood

Introducing a New Website It's been a moment since I posted last. Please forgive me. I have been in the forest down the street. After spending many of my leisure hours taking photographs of birds in my local neighborhood of Inwood, I am introducing to you a new website featuring these beautiful and often enigmatic creatures. It's called Birds of Inwood . As I write there, "Inwood is my Amherst." With time, my advancing age, and the pandemic, I have learned to find depth and beauty in places close to home. I have also found to my delight that designing a new website presents great opportunities. Birds of Inwood is pretty flashy! The birds are even larger than life on these new pages! Please visit. You'll be glad I didn't call it "Flying Off the Big Apple." Check out my forest home. - Teri

14 Useful Mobile Apps for Walking New York City

Texting and walking at the same time is wrong. Talking on the phone while strolling down the street is wrong. Leaving the sidewalk to stop and consult the information on a cellphone, preferably while alone, is OK. What's on Walking Off the Big Apple's iPhone: A List Walkmeter GPS Walking Stopwatch for Fitness and Weight Loss . While out walking, Walkmeter tracks routes, time, speed, and elevation. This is an excellent app for recording improvised or impromptu strolls, especially with many unplanned detours. The GPS function maps out the actual route. The app keeps a running tally of calories burned while walking, useful for weight loss goals. Another welcome feature is the ability to switch over to other modes of activity, including cycling. An indispensable app for city walkers. $4.99 New York City Compass , designed by Francesco Bertelli, is an elegant compass calibrated for Manhattan, with indications for Uptown, East Side, Downtown, and West Side. While facing a cert

Visiting New York on a Monday

Mondays are OK. Let's have a look at some of the museums open Mondays - • American Museum of Natural History • Jewish Museum • Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) • National Museum of the American Indian • Neue Galerie • Guggenheim Museum • South Street Seaport Museum Any of these museums could be paired with a nearby restaurant or bar, making a complete full afternoon or day in New York. Monday is especially good for a museum visit, because the crowds tend to be thinner, and restaurants, too, tend to be less busy than on a weekend. A fun museum and bistro walk on the Upper West Side would be a combination of the American Museum of Natural History and the nearby Cafe Lalo on W. 83rd St. I also would suggest a pairing of the Neue Galerie with a nearby cafe, but the two cafes inside the musuem are so good, why go anywhere else? Image above: The Guggenheim on left and Beaux-Arts townhouse on right. View from E. 88th St. by Walking Off the Big Apple.

Walking Off the Big Apple

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