NEW YORK GALLERY

PETER LASKOWICH

“I strive to link your ordinary experience – what you see, hear and feel – with the history and culture of New York.”

Peter Laskowich: Historian, Lecturer and Guide

The natural features of the area - a vast harbor, an ice-free port, access to the interior - made New York’s rise to greatness a certainty.
Looking towards Battery Park and Lower Broadway from the old Dutch fort and site of today's Custom House - Newcomer and native did not always get along. The Dutch attempt to tax the Indians (!) went about as well as you would expect.
Downtown Manhattan circa 1650, with the East River and Brooklyn in the background - New York's distinguishing traits (remarkable openess and a hard practicality) are owing to the founding Dutch.
The wall of Wall Street - Wall or no, in 1664 the British took over. In a pattern of growth that is still apparent, the city grew up the island from there.
New Amsterdam in 1660 - Wall Street was once uptown.
New Amsterdam in 1664 - Notice the curl of streets towards the salty (ice-free) East River.
The South Street Seaport from Wall Street circa 1890 - Wall Street is there because the great Seaport was here.
1875 - Grand Central Depot, down 42nd Street to the left, stands on the same site as the Terminal today. Midtown Manhattan grew up around both.
Grand Central Depot in 1890 - Railroading once meant luxury as well as unparalleled speed.
The old Madison Square Garden is also significant to sports history but Madison Square Park, foreground, is where baseball began.
Mulberry Street in 1900 - Once Irish, then Jewish/Italian and now Eastern Asian, the Lower East Side remains a great doorway between Old World and New.
West Street in 1901 - The waterfronts were noisy, dirty and generally foul. Here's why the wealthy moved up the middle of the island: 5th Avenue.
Looking south from 49th Street and Park Ave. in 1909 - A given area north of Grand Central stands atop a great train yard.
The original Penn Station (1910 - 1963)
Penn Station - Urban preservation in the U.S. took off with the 1963 demolition of this surpassing building.
1930 - The Empire State Building goes up.
Lunch break at Rockefeller Center - September 1932
Times Square (circa 1960) is central to the Theater District but its colors and lights provide a show all their own.
Times Square circa 1960
Harlem: brass appointments, wooden floors, marble fireplaces... acknowledged as the finest housing stock in the United States today
Downtown Manhattan from Brooklyn Heights - The world’s first business district from the world’s first suburb
The Carnegie mansion on 91st Street and 5th Avenue
Not a lot of frills to New York’s subways but the system is generally quick and reliable. New York grew dramatically after its subways opened in 1904.
The splendid High Line
The High Line is an official New York City park that has rejuvenated the Far West Side and serves as a model for innovative re-use everywhere.
Looking towards the Harbor from the Bronx
The nation's symbol, at the nation's gateway

Copyright © 2019. All Rights Reserved, New York Dynamic l Privacy Policy