Synopses & Reviews
A panoply of historic and contemporary images of this famous park throughout its 150-year history, as well as the roads and landmark buildings surrounding it Central Park is an 843-acre sylvan landscape filled with a uniquely New York urban vitality. Crowds in long gowns and top hats change to mass gatherings in modern times, such as the 1968 rally against the Vietnam War and the vigil following John Lennon’s death in 1980. Lost structures are revealed, including a lavish 1920s era nightclub, known as the Casino, and elaborate rustic shelters and bridges. The book is a “walk through the park,” beginning at its elegant Fifth Central Park Avenue entrance at East 59th Street with views of the Plaza Hotel and Grand Army Plaza. It moves north along Manhattan’s Upper East Side, taking in the Zoo, magnificent Mall, Terrace, Bethesda Fountain, and Metropolitan Museum of Art. It extends to the park’s northern border at 110th Street in Harlem, returning south along the Upper West Side to West 59th Street. It presents picturesque scenes along the lake and boathouse, as well as the Great Lawn and Sheep Meadow where historic rallies and concerts took place. This side of the park also reveals hidden sites in the wooded Ramble, the glittering Tavern on the Green restaurant, and a Thanksgiving Day Parade that took place along Central Park West more than half a century ago. Other sites include Millionaires Row, Carriage Row, Inscope Arch, Belvedere Castle, Gapstow Bridge, Wollman Rick, Balto Memorial, Obelisk, Dairy, and Arsenal. Rare archival images are paired with specially commissioned photographs, bringing the past and present together to reveal New York’s fascinating history; its major events, controversies, and cultural changes throughout the decades.
Review
"The pictures alone are worth the price of admission." —Publishers Weekly
Review
"As a native New Yorker, I can wax poetic about a long list of favorite haunts that have disappeared from the island . . . All these iconic images are retained in glorious black and white." —DowntownMagazineNYC.com
Review
"[Lost New York] is beautifully illustrated in aged black-and-white photos and burnished with charming prose based on many years of research." —Library Journal
Review
"History buff or NYC lover — or both — make sure you add this book to your library ASAP!" —DoobyBrain
Review
"A gorgeous, photo-studded work that sheds light on various sites throughout New York that have since been adandoned or demolished. . . . The book also contains some sizzling salacious details on New York history." —LibraryJournal.com
Review
"...gorgeous." —LibraryJournal.com
Synopsis
Central Park is an 843-acre sylvan landscape filled with a uniquely New York urban vitality. Crowds in long gowns and top hats change to mass gatherings in modern times, such as the 1968 rally against the Vietnam War and the vigil following John Lennon's death in 1980. Lost structures are revealed, including a lavish 1920s era nightclub, known as the Casino, and elaborate rustic shelters and bridges. The book is a "walk through the park," beginning at its elegant Fifth Central Park Avenue entrance at East 59th Street with views of the Plaza Hotel and Grand Army Plaza. It moves north along Manhattan's Upper East Side, taking in the Zoo, magnificent Mall, Terrace, Bethesda Fountain, and Metropolitan Museum of Art. It extends to the park's northern border at 110th Street in Harlem, returning south along the Upper West Side to West 59th Street. It presents picturesque scenes along the lake and boathouse, as well as the Great Lawn and Sheep Meadow where historic rallies and concerts took place. This side of the park also reveals hidden sites in the wooded Ramble, the glittering Tavern on the Green restaurant, and a Thanksgiving Day Parade that took place along Central Park West more than half a century ago. Other sites include Millionaires Row, Carriage Row, Inscope Arch, Belvedere Castle, Gapstow Bridge, Wollman Rick, Balto Memorial, Obelisk, Dairy, and Arsenal. Rare archival images are paired with specially commissioned photographs, bringing the past and present together to reveal New York's fascinating history; its major events, controversies, and cultural changes throughout the decades.
Synopsis
Putting archive and contemporary photographs of the same landmark side-by-side, Central Park Then and Now(R) celebrates the famous park throughout its 150-year history, as well as the roads and landmark buildings surrounding itCentral Park is an 843-acre sylvan landscape filled with a uniquely New York urban vitality. Crowds in long gowns and top hats change to mass gatherings in modern times, such as the 1968 rally against the Vietnam War and the vigil following John Lennon's death in 1980. Lost structures are revealed, including a lavish 1920s era nightclub, known as the Casino, and elaborate rustic shelters and bridges. The book is a walk through the park, beginning at its elegant Fifth Central Park Avenue entrance at East 59th Street with views of the Plaza Hotel and Grand Army Plaza. It moves north along Manhattan's Upper East Side, taking in the Zoo, magnificent Mall, Terrace, Bethesda Fountain, and Metropolitan Museum of Art. It extends to the park's northern border at 110th Street in Harlem, returning south along the Upper West Side to West 59th Street. It presents picturesque scenes along the lake and boathouse, as well as the Great Lawn and Sheep Meadow where historic rallies and concerts took place. This side of the park also reveals hidden sites in the wooded Ramble, the glittering Tavern on the Green restaurant, and a Thanksgiving Day Parade that took place along Central Park West more than half a century ago. Other sites include Millionaires Row, Carriage Row, Inscope Arch, Belvedere Castle, Gapstow Bridge, Wollman Rick, Balto Memorial, Obelisk, Dairy, and Arsenal. Rare archival images are paired with specially commissioned photographs, bringing the past and present together to reveal New York's fascinating history; its major events, controversies, and cultural changes throughout the decades.
Synopsis
Coney Island's Dreamlanddestroyed by fire in 1911, Metropolitan Opera Housedemolished in 1967, Moondance Dinermoved to Wyoming in 2007. A celebration of the cherished parts of New York that are no longer. The New York landmarks remembered here include Coney Island's "Elephant Colossus," an elephant-shaped hotel rumored to be a brothel and destroyed by fire in 1896; the Manhattan Beach Hotel; South Street Seaport; Stanford White's Madison Square Garden; the Vanderbilt, Tiffany, and Astor mansions; Central Park's elevated railway; the first Waldorf Astoria Hotel; the 1939 World's Fair site; Manhattan Train Terminal on Brooklyn Bridge; Ebbet's Fieldhome of the Brooklyn Dodgers; and the Polo Groundshome of the NY Giants baseball team. This collection celebrates old theaters and hotels that have burned or been razed, vanished ferry buildings, removed-from-service trolley cars, classic art deco diners, and the demolition that sparked a strong preservation movement in the city: Pennsylvania Station.
About the Author
Marcia Reiss is the author of Architectural Details, Brooklyn: Then and Now, Lost New York, New York: Then and Now, and a series of guides to historic Brooklyn neighborhoods for the Brooklyn Historical Society. She is former policy director of the Parks Council, now New Yorkers for Parks, and former public affairs director for the New York City Department of Ports and Trade. She also taught at Columbia University and Hunter College and was a reporter for the Brooklyn Phoenix. A former resident of Brooklyn and Manhattan, she lives in upstate New York.