12th Street

I started a little project that will soon be coming to an end.

When we moved our offices into the Forbes building a few months ago I was shocked by how beautiful West 12th Street is.

Clip Clop

New York City used to be a horse town.

People used to ride down Broadway. Buses used to be pulled by draft horses. Rather than streets full of yellow taxis there were streets full of neighing, pooping, kicking horses.

I wish I had seen those days.

The only remnant of the golden days of equine New York is the NYPD Mounted Unit. When I hear the clipclop of a police horse, my heart skips a beat and I get a little giddy. I turn into a 6 year old, I want to pet the horse!

Recently I was bumming around Tribeca when a very familiar smell hit my nose. Manure. Then I looked around and noticed all the trailers, and then I saw a mounted policeman. I asked if there was a stable around and he gestured down the street. Right there, opening up onto Washington Street, was a barn.

I could hear small rustlings, low whinnies, and see an occasional tail flick, but these are working animals and kept at a safe distance from over-enthusiastic ex-equestriennes like myself.

Not ready to join the NYPD? Then why not think about joining the New York Parks Enforcement Auxiliary Mounted Unit? You can patrol some of the city’s most beautiful parks and help lost kids find their parents and do a good thing for your city!

Manhattanhenge

Stuyvesant Street is the only street on Manhattan that actually runs on the true East-West axis. All the other streets are slightly tilted. This allows for a curious phenomenon that occurs twice a year at sunset that has become known as Manhattanhenge.

The sun comes pouring down all the streets, turning them into bright orange canyons of light. It’s truly spectacular, and a little awe inspiring. There’s another one on July 13th in case you missed this one.

Water Water Everywhere

Those wooden tanks dotting the roofs of buildings all over New York City, as ubiquitous to the skyline as the Empire State Building, actually serve a purpose other than providing a dramatic arc for Law & Order plots.

Most buildings over 6 stories tall have one. Why? Because, we built this city on rock (no roll).

The bedrock is really, really hard meaning we can’t drill for water, and so our water comes from Upstate, through water tunnels. Without any assistance, the water will rise up to the 6th story, but no higher and since lots of buildings here are taller than that, it makes more sense to pump the water up to a tank on the roof once, than to pump the water numerous times to numerous places each time someone opens a tap or spigot. And so, we have water tanks.

Most are still made of wood, mainly by the Rosenwach Tank company, but some are made of metal, and I think there was (is?) even one made of resin.

Whatever the material, I really like them. They remind me of the past, which in a city that changes as rapidly as this one can, is comforting.