The early decades of the twentieth century were among the most vibrant for both New York City and the world of postcards. The 1898 consolidation of the city's five boroughs sparked a building boom that inspired a heightened awareness of the city's changing landscape. In response to this new appreciation, the postcard industry began a colorful pictorial record that was especially rich for New York.
Early Wall Street: 18301940 traces the development of New Yorks financial district, from the low-lying city of the early 19th century, through the building boom of the 1870s and 1880s, and into the skyscraper era. A sequence of views shows 40 Wall Street as a modest three-story walk-up topped by a figure from Greek mythology, then the stately Victorian structure that replaced it, and finally, the skyscraper that missed being the tallest building in the world by a spires length. A rare 1860s photograph captures the first New York Stock Exchange building when the marble on the exterior was still pristine. In these images, Wall Street celebrates, and Wall Street mourns. Stagecoaches clog Broadway, clipper ships dock at East River piers, and elevated trains chug through the financial district.
Illustrated with eighty vintage city postcards made between the turn of the twentieth century and through the 1970's (with the emphasis on the first four decades), historical geographer, John A Jakle turns his attention to early-twentieth-century nocturnal views of America's cities and to the role of the picture postcard in popular culture. 'Postcard images', the author writes, offered important visual 'fixes' -- mental templates for visualising cities -- the vista of a downtown street at night, or a bird's eye view of a vividly lit downtown, or the dramatic lighting of monuments and other architectural landmarks. As a result, the popularity and proliferation of the penny postcard influenced how Americans thought about cities as landscape displays.
Times Square, celebrated as the crossroads of the world, begins at 42nd Street, America 's main stem. Times Square has a rich history as the center of American popular culture, embracing music, theater, and hospitality. Forty-second Street, once the northern boundary of commercial New York, was transformed into a legendary focal point of the publishing, entertainment, and transportation industries following the expansion of Grand Central Terminal.
New York magazine was born in 1968 after a run as an insert of the New York Herald Tribune and quickly made a place for itself as the trusted resource for readers across the country. With award-winning writing and photography covering everything from politics and food to theater and fashion, the magazine's consistent mission has been to reflect back to its audience the energy and excitement of the city itself, while celebrating New York as both a place and an idea.
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