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Ranging from the early post-World War II years when the city came into its own to the mid-1970s when the city nearly went bust -- and featuring interviews with such New York luminaries as Jimmy Breslin, Bill Gallo, Monte Irvin, Robert Merrill, Herman Badillo, Elaine Kaufman, Jerry Della Femina, and Pauline Trigere, plus the everyday people who form the hustle and bustle of the city's daily life -- this book will bring you back to a glorious era when the great ocean liners still docked in the Hudson River ports; when Checker cabs hurtled across a two-way Fifth Avenue; when eleven daily newspapers covered the city beat; when young women hurried to their Katharine Gibbs classes in hats and white gloves; when the Third Avenue el cast long shadows on the street. It will take you to SoHo before it had a name, and the Brill Building when it was home to Tin Pan Alley songwriters. It will re-create the experience of childhood in Harlem and the Lower East Side, visit the Garden, the Garment District, and Greenwich Village, and bring to mind the throbbing music of 52nd Street jazz joints and the Fillmore East, the taste of a Ratner's onion roll and a chocolate egg cream, the aroma wafting from Little Italy's trattorias, and the rumble of the subway from beneath the sidewalk grates. For anyone who grew up in or near "The City" -- or fell in love with New York as an adult -- this unique history, filled with vintage photos, is a compelling read...and a powerful testament to the indescribable mystique of magical, memorable Manhattan.
| Acknowledgments | xi | |
| Cast of Characters | xv | |
| Prologue | xix | |
| Part 1 | ||
| Chapter 1 | On the Sidewalks of New York | 3 |
| Childhood reminiscences from the Upper West Side | ||
| Harlem | ||
| Yorkville | ||
| Times Square | ||
| The Lower East Side | ||
| Chapter 2 | I Want to Be a Part of It | 33 |
| Winning auditions for the Philharmonic and the Met | ||
| Landing a job at the New York Times | ||
| Coming to MoMA from Portland, Oregon, and to Barnard from Brooklyn | ||
| Running the streets for the Mercury Messenger Service | ||
| Wearing "the uniform" at Katie Gibbs | ||
| Chapter 3 | If I Can Make It Here ... | 55 |
| Reaching for the stars: Stories of Zabar's, Russ and Daughters, and Balducci's | ||
| Making a name on Madison Avenue | ||
| Bringing the Beatles to Carnegie Hall | ||
| Discovering a calling in SoHo | ||
| Part 2 | ||
| Chapter 4 | Puttin' on the Ritz | 83 |
| Food: Le Pavillon launches a gastronomic revolution | ||
| From the Colony to Le Cirque | ||
| Fashion: Inside Harper's Bazaar | ||
| New York steals the crown from Paris | ||
| From Sophie's Salon at Saks Fifth Avenue to sewing skins in the fur district | ||
| Chapter 5 | Sanctuaries in the City | 117 |
| The glorious choirs of Harlem churches | ||
| Getting the call to the priesthood | ||
| The Brotherhood Synagogue and the Jewish motor of New York | ||
| Chapter 6 | High Culture or "Who the Hell Is de Kooning?" | 129 |
| The art and music scene in the postwar years: from the abstract expressionists to Andy Warhol and pop art | ||
| Memories of the great conductors | ||
| Summer serenades at Lewisohn Stadium | ||
| The move from Carnegie Hall and the Met to Lincoln Center | ||
| Chapter 7 | Making Music | 153 |
| Memories of Tin Pan Alley | ||
| Atlantic Records and the record industry | ||
| Working as an usher at the Fillmore East | ||
| Chapter 8 | East Side, West Side | 175 |
| Stories from the neighborhoods | ||
| The Upper West Side | ||
| Chelsea | ||
| Greenwich Village | ||
| Harlem | ||
| Chapter 9 | All Around the Town | 213 |
| When New York had eleven-plus dailies | ||
| The life of a reporter | ||
| Walter Winchell and Ed Sullivan | ||
| Gangsters and the sporting life at the old Madison Square Garden | ||
| Nightlife from Toots Shor's to Elaine's to Irish pubs to nightclubs to theater | ||
| Part 3 | ||
| Chapter 10 | Politics As Usual | 247 |
| New York mayors from Wagner to Beame | ||
| Changing demographics | ||
| The financial crisis of '75 | ||
| Urban renewal | ||
| Roosevelt Island | ||
| Chapter 11 | Looking at New York Through Its Buildings | 267 |
| The changing look of New York | ||
| The Third Avenue el comes down, the white apartment houses go up | ||
| Preservation movements: the saving of the Jefferson Market Courthouse in Greenwich Village | ||
| The creation of SoHo | ||
| Reprise: If You Live Long Enough ... | 289 | |
| P.S. | 303 | |
| Photo Credits | 304 | |
| Index | 306 |
Anonymous
Posted November 20, 2001
Certainly is a handsome volume--good cover and production values.And it captures Manhattan in a way that puts that borough in sharp contrast to Brooklyn. Those giving testimony in the Brooklyn book were steeped in the lore of their neighborhoods, knew their streets and schools, and rooted for their beloved bums. A job well done--but, when can we expect 'It Happened in Staten Island'?
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted October 28, 2001
Contrary to the popular notion, nostalgia is pretty much what it's always been, judging by the latest offering from the Frommers ('It Happened on Broadway' 1998, etc.). The professors Frommer (Liberal Arts/Dartmouth) have gathered interviews with iconoclastic New Yorkers Jerry Della Femina, Robert Merrill, Jimmy Breslin, Monte Irvin, Elaine Kaufman, Saul Zabar, and 57 others. They recall life in Manhattan from the end of World War II to the mid seventies. The New York of wonder is evoked once more with as in Proust, the reference to indigenous food (e.g., entrees at Le Pavilion or classic egg creams). And from Harlem to Wall Street, Washington Heights to Greenwich Village, there are old churches and delis gone by, the surviving Guggenheim and the lost Automats, Lincoln Center newly built and Lewisohn Stadium since gone. There are shopkeepers with pencil stubs behind their ears and practitioners of the rag trades, artists, sportswriters, and gossip columnists. The memorists speak with the distinct flavor of Yiddish or of Italian. And there's a Hispanic rhythm and that of Lenox Avenue too. Study the ladies in gloves, the gents in fedoras, the haberdashers' billboards, the movie marquees, the street furniture. Self-congratulatory oral history, garrulous nostalgia, and great fun for those who recall the days of Tin Pan Alley and three baseball teams in one small, favored place
Was this review helpful? Yes NoThank you for your feedback. Report this reviewThank you, this review has been flagged.Anonymous
Posted November 15, 2001
THANKS FOR MANHATTAN. I LOVE IT. I READ A LITTLE BIT EACH NIGHT AND ENJOY IT. MANY FOND MEMORIES.
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Overview
Ranging from the early post-World War II years when the city came into its own to the mid-1970s when the city nearly went bust -- and featuring interviews with such New York luminaries as Jimmy...