Before It's Gone: The Elizabeth Street Garden

Somehow, I'd never been to the Elizabeth Street Garden in 20+ years of living in New York City, despite having spent plenty of time in the Lower East Side. At least, I don't remember ever going there, and it's a memorable place. But when I heard it was in imminent danger of succumbing to yet another development plan, I made a point of visiting to check it out for my "Before It's Gone" series.

In 1990, an antiques dealer named Allan Reiver leased an abandoned city-owned lot next to his gallery/store to serve as overflow storage for his stock. He kept antique busts and oversize sculptures on it, and eventually began to plant perennials, grass, and trees. People started to come through the store to hang out in the green space, and eventually, in 2013, he added a public entrance to the garden. Besides being a green space, in recent years it has become a community space, hosting yoga classes, concerts, movie nights, readings, and the like.

A few years ago, the city announced plans to turn the lot over to a developer who would build housing units. The pitch is that it would be very affordable housing for senior citizens. They also promise that units will be set aside for the homeless, and that it will be a green eco-friendly building, and LGBTQ-friendly. A lot of promises. And apparently this lot is the only site anywhere in the city that this can be built. Last month, the city served the garden with an eviction notice. Some neighborhood locals, including the late Allan Reiver's son, Joseph, are attempting to fight it in court, but I imagine  that will go the way it usually does. 

As to the question of whether this place is worth saving, I was a bit agnostic, and still am. After visiting this garden, it really did strike me as a special spot, especially in this area of the city, which is really lacking green spaces. It helped that it was a particularly beautiful, unseasonably warm Autumn day when I went. The garden was full of people of all types, enjoying the day and chilling in this peaceful, beautiful spot. What makes it especially attractive is that it has such a quirky, individual, organic character, as opposed to all the generic, cookie cutter plazas that get plopped down by planners.

On the other hand, truly affordable housing really is very, very needed. I'm a bit skeptical of all the promises this developer is making, but it sounds really great on paper. At least it's not just another luxury condo or overpriced retail space. Also, there's a lot of anti-development sentiment that seems to me borders on fetishization. Some people want to preserve every single building, every site, every inch of the city, no matter what, just on some principle. 

Recently, I've been reading a book called Lost New York, and it's striking in how many things have existed in this city which were, in their time, considered iconic and irreplaceable. Much more so than this garden, and with a lot more history . . . it occurred to me that perhaps the reason I wasn't familiar with this garden is because actually it's only been open to the public for less than a decade. So, that puts it into some perspective. It will still be a sad day when this gets bulldozed - I wish the garden's defenders luck, but I don't think they have a chance. So go check it out while you can.

Happy Birthday, Charles Feltman!

Today is the birthday of Charles Feltman (1841-1910). He would have been 180 years old! His claim to fame is as the inventor of the hot dog. Awhile back, I happened to draw his mausoleum in Green-Wood Cemetery.

Feltman emigrated to the U.S. from Germany in 1856, at the age of fifteen. In 1867, he started a business selling food from a pushcart to beachgoers at Coney Island, including frankfurters from his native land. His innovation in 1869 was to insert the frankfurter into a custom-made elongated roll, eliminating the need for plates and utensils. He called the invention the Coney Island Red Hot, but it became better known as the 'hot dog,' perhaps because there was some question as to exactly what sort of meat was in that sausage.

Henry Collins Brown, New York historian and founder of the Museum of the City of New York, explained that "It could be carried on the march, eaten on the sands between baths, consumed on a carousel, used as a baby's nipple to quiet an obstreperous infant, and had other economic appeals to the summer pleasure seeker." I never thought of using hot dogs to pacify my children when they were babies!

In 1871, Feltman leased some land on the boardwalk and began building an entertainment complex that eventually included several restaurants and bars, a beer garden, a carousel, a roller coaster, an outdoor movie theater, a hotel, a bathhouse, a pavilion, and a maple garden. By the 1920s, Feltman's Ocean Pavilion was billed as the world's largest restaurant, serving over five million customers a year. It was actually better known for its seafood than for hot dogs.

In 1916, one of his employees, a roll-slicer named Nathan Handwerker, quit and founded a rival hot dog restaurant. A downscale version of Feltman's, Nathan's sold its hot dogs for five cents as opposed to Feltman's 10-cent weiners. Feltman's empire lasted until the early 1950s, when his sons sold the land to be developed into Astroland Amusement Park. Feltman's is now mostly forgotten, while Nathan's continues to reign as the iconic Coney Island hot dog king.

Feltman's placemat. Image from Green-Wood Cemetery Collection

REFERENCE:

Coney Island History Hall of Fame: Charles Feltman

Ferrari 641

Another set of drawings from the car exhibit at MoMA.

The Ferrari 541 is considered one of the most beautiful Formula 1 race cars of all time. It debuted in 1990 and won six of the sixteen races it entered, nearly winning the World Championship for Ferrari for the first time in seven years. Its shape was designed using exhaustive wind-tunnel studies and a precise size/weight/materials formula to maximize its aerodynamic properties. With minimal drag, it could handle at speeds over 200 mph (322 kph) and withstand lateral forces of up to 4G.

On the left is the Ferrari logo. Agip is the Italian gas company. The six-legged dog of its logo represents the four wheels of the car with the two legs of the driver.

Fiat 500F

The Fiat 500 City Car was conceived as an economic car for the masses. Three feet shorter than a Volkswagen Beetle, it was compact yet spacious enough to accommodate four passengers. Cheap but reliable, it became highly popular in Italy and then throughout Europe. Designed by Dante Giacosa, who was lead engineer for Fiat for almost 25 years, it was launched in 1957 and remained in production until 1973.