Gallery: 10 Designs That Helped Shape New York City
Photo: Courtesy of Spalding01Spalding 3.jpg
The pink Spalding—or "Spaldeen," as it's said by New Yorkers—balls were originally defective tennis balls taken off the assembly line and sold to five-and-dime stores. When city kids discovered the high-bounce balls, street games like stickball, stoopball, and hit the penny were born, and "transformed big-city streets and sidewalks into playgrounds," says Sam Roberts, author of *A History of New York in 101 Objects*.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art02Roberts 88-I Love NY MoMA-Glase-sketch
Milton Glaser once said design was a process of "moving an existing condition to a preferred one," writes Roberts. In the 1970s, New York's existing condition was a mess: crime ridden, filthy, and frowned upon by its own country. By sketching out a red heart logo, Glaser reminded the city, and tourists from around the country, to start loving New York again.
Lisa Larson-Walker03Roberts 58-Artichoke
In the early 1900s, Sicilian mobster Ciro Terranova—"The Artichoke King"—brought organized crime, and artichokes, overseas to New York City. His fate was intertwined with then mayor Fiorello La Guardia's: investigations into a robbery that Terranova was likely involved in led to La Guardia's election. Later, La Guardia would ban the sell of artichokes in an effort to rid the city of Terranova and his mafia.
Ed Sijmons04My beautiful picture
Cabs have carted millions of New Yorkers around since before the Great Depression, but they didn't have a singular design until 1952, when Checker Motors started manufacturing cabs with the checkerboard stripe. They came in all colors until 1970, when the city mandated they all be yellow. Now, the Nissan Taxi of Tomorrow—with lower carbon emissions, sliding doors, and charging outlets—is the new thing.
Lisa Larson-Walker05Roberts 47-BandWcookie
When Roberts cast an open call in *The New York Times* for objects that told New York's history, he got the most suggestions for food. "It was pizza, knishes, egg creams, bottles of seltzer, egg foo young, and every variety of ethnic food you could imagine. I had to limit it, it wasn’t a cookbook.” It's his book, so he chose his favorite dessert: the back-and-white deli cookie.
American Antiquarian Society06Roberts 19-Washington Irving
When Washington Irving placed a fake missing person's ad in an 1800s newspaper, to gain publicity for his new book, he also unwittingly jumpstarted the public relations industry. "That was the birthplace of celebrity, and the hype and public relations, and it began with that little notice on the front of the newspaper—and New York became known for that," Roberts says.
Museum of the City of New York07BrooklynBridgeRailroadTicket.jpg
From the time of its opening in 1883 to 1911, the trustees of Brooklyn Bridge imposed tolls to cross. The abolishment of those tolls spoke volumes about what Brooklyn meant to the creation of a Greater New York: some historians consider the bridge to have allowed for the first real commuter culture, since workers could easily get from downtown Manhattan back to their neighborhoods.
Sesame Workshop08Roberts 40-Stoop
The stoops outside of New York City row houses were thought to come from Dutch settlers, who had immigrated from flood lands. They would eventually become a fixture in film, like *The Godfather* and on *Sesame Street*, and play a role in neighborliness.
The Commercial Appeal09BYGONE
Machines feature prominently in the book and the exhibit, but not always for obvious reasons. The mechanical cotton picking machine, for instance, was probably a useless tool to have around on the concrete streets of New York. But as Roberts points out, its introduction made it possible for a new demographic of black workers in the south to head north, and seek new opportunities.
Courtesy of William Dobbs10Tell NYC's History through 50 Objects
When AIDS came to the fore in 1982, New York City was in the center of the epidemic. The disease not only attacked the human body, it attacked the nascent civil liberties being experienced by the gay community. When the activist group ACT UP launched, they not only asked the city to respond medically, they asked them to respond to the gay rights movement.
