Ephemeral New York
ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com · Personal blog · on HN since 2013
Ephemeral New York chronicles the city's history through old photos, artifacts, and local stories, written in a short post format.
What HN saysHN commenters call it terrific for New York history and link its posts on the Chrysler Building's colonial road and noisy 19th-century city life.
16HN people shared it
8linked it in comments
31stories submitted
324story points
3 months agolast shared
2013people per year2026
Most-shared posts
- 1How New York became a metropolis of stoops2 people · 73 points · first shared 2020 · 23 comments on HN
- 2Ephemeral New York: Chronicling an ever-changing city through faded artifacts2 people · 1 points · first shared 2014 · discussion on HN
- 3The ghost of a colonial road on the eastern side of the Chrysler Building1 people · 64 points · first shared 2023 · 23 comments on HN
- 4A vintage 1903 espresso machine at a Village cafe (2012)1 people · 51 points · first shared 2024 · 29 comments on HN
- 5Quiet glimpses of the turn of the century NYC through an amateur’s camera1 people · 32 points · first shared 2022 · 10 comments on HN
- 6Where the Hangman Lived on Washington Square1 people · 21 points · first shared 2019 · 2 comments on HN
- 7The 1950s plan for a Washington Square Highway (2014)1 people · 19 points · first shared 2020 · 18 comments on HN
- 8The “bobbed-hair bandit” on the run in Brooklyn1 people · 19 points · first shared 2019 · 9 comments on HN
- 9How yellow fever rebranded a Brooklyn village1 people · 5 points · first shared 2020 · 1 comments on HN
- 10The sudden demise of New York’s organ grinders1 people · 4 points · first shared 2015 · discussion on HN
- 11The tiny holdout building in the middle of Macy’s1 people · 4 points · first shared 2020 · 1 comments on HN
- 12A Mob Torches New York’s Quarantine Hospital1 people · 3 points · first shared 2020 · discussion on HN
- 13What a tourist saw on a trip to New York in 19701 people · 3 points · first shared 2019 · discussion on HN
- 14How New York City Invented the Penthouse1 people · 2 points · first shared 2018 · discussion on HN
- 15Tracking the “Mousetrap” of Greenwich Village1 people · 2 points · first shared 2020 · discussion on HN
What HN people wrote when they linked it
smacktoward · 2019-01-22
Arguably, that process has already started. To anyone who was born after 9/11 (and that was almost 18 years ago, so there are people born after 9/11 who are almost old enough to vote!), that event is already kind of an abstraction, in much the same way that the attack on Pearl Harbor is to almost everyone reading this. The passing of an event out of living memory is the first stage of that kind of transition from experience into legend.
And also, if you're interested in this sort of thing, I recommend subscribing to the blog Ephemeral New York, which highlights all sorts of still-existing traces of New York Cities long gone: https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/
mcenedella · 2014-12-30
The website Ephemeral New York is terrific for all sorts of interesting New York history: https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com (the New Year's day post is where I found the reference to her diary)
And the Historical Atlas of New York City is both visually and textually superb for all sorts of fascinating details of New York's development: http://www.amazon.com/Historical-Atlas-New-York-City/dp/0805078428
Finally, "Letters of Note" has great finds from historical letters throughout history: http://www.lettersofnote.com/
mncharity · 2024-06-14
That reminds me of the trapezoidal Chrysler Building[1] in NYC, shaped by a plot boundary reflecting the pre-grid Boston Post Road[2] (only 2 weeks NYC-Boston!). The Road elsewheres reflects 1600's colonial improvements to the earlier Pequot Path, and influenced US1 et al.
[1] https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/tag/chrysler-building-boston-po… [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Post_Road
tzs · 2024-01-30
Sniffnoy · 2023-12-27
This is a link to a tag on the blog rather than the particular blog post. It should link here: https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2022/09/15/the-ghost-of-a-colon…
SilasX · 2019-10-30
Yes, I remember hearing that they had to convince the public it was safe by having elephants cross it first.
I looked it up, and it turns out that there was an elephant march, but it was delayed until long after the (for-humans) opening, but still was a big spectacle:
https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2011/12/22/the-elephants-that-t…
jseliger · 2018-03-30
For a little more context, about 40% of the buildings in Manhattan couldn't be built under today's zoning laws: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/05/19/upshot/forty-percent-of…
In other words, the very thing that people move to NYC for can no longer be built in much of NYC. Pretty perverse.
In the 1950s, nice apartments in Greenwich Village or the UES might be $800 – $1,500, adjusted for inflation: https://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2013/09/02/what-a-west-village-… .
What changed between then and now? Zoning: https://jakeseliger.com/2015/12/27/why-did-cities-freeze-in-the-1970s
malandrew · 2013-10-26
It's remarkably hard to find images of what it used to look like. I've seen some before. Here's what one section looked like in the 1870s when the railroad run underneath it:
http://www.iridetheharlemline.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/05/f1.jpg
Here's park avenue in the 1920s:
http://screencast.com/t/7GRMhOzq
Park Avenue (used to be 4th Avenue) has probably changed more than most Avenues in NYC. Here are some images of when railroads ran down it.
http://ephemeralnewyork.wordpress.com/2013/01/28/three-views-of-park-a…
You may also enjoy seeing these photos of the NYC mansions from back in the day:
http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2012/02/09/looking_back_at_manhattans_lo…