MODERN TIMES 1929-1999

ORIGINS 
COLONIAL
 AMERICAN REVOLUTION
GROWING PAINS
BIRTH OF METROPOLIS
JAZZ AGE
MODERN TIME
 NOW

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1929-40  The Great Depression

​​The Great Depression (1929-39) was the deepest and longest-lasting economic downturn in the history of the Western industrialized world. In the United States, the Great Depression began soon after the stock market crash of October 1929, which sent Wall Street into a panic and wiped out millions of investors. Over the next several years, consumer spending and investment dropped, causing steep declines in industrial output and rising levels of unemployment. By 1933, when the Great Depression reached its nadir, some 13 to 15 million Americans were unemployed and nearly half of the country’s banks had failed. Though the relief and reform measures put into place by President Franklin D. Roosevelt helped lessen the worst effects of the Great Depression in the 1930s, the economy would not fully turn around until after 1939, when World War II kicked American industry into high gear. ( http://www.history.com/topics/great-depression)

1931-39 Rockefeller Center built

The building boom, which started in the 20s, came to an abrupt halt with the Stock Market Crash of 1929. City's only building project which lasted throughout the Depression was the Rockefeller Center. Although John D. Rockefeller Jr. spent most of his life engaged in philanthropy, his single, defining business venture was the creation of the “city within a city”. Constructed during the Great Depression’s worst years, the project gainfully employed over 40,000 people.​​

​1933 Prohibition repealed

The thirteen years of Prohibition were a dark time for the United States, as the criminalization of alcohol led not only to a rise in civil delinquency and organized crime, but also to the loss of customs associated with the production, preparation, and consumption of alcohol. Ironically, America's thirst for alcohol increased during Prohibition, and organized crime rose up to replace formerly legal methods of production and distribution. Following the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, 52nd Street replaced 133rd street as "Swing Street" of the city. The best Jazz joints were on 52nd Street, between 5th and 6th Aves. They called it Swing Street, or just The Street.  At its peak 52nd Street had about 40 joints, and it was where it all happened. Musicians who played for others in the early evening played for themselves on 52nd Street. From Prohibition to the Eisenhower era, 52nd Street was a place where musical styles mixed and mingled. Dixieland and Swing, Be-bop and Blues lined both sides of the Street. Politicians and song pluggers, businessmen, prostitutes and highbrows stood side by side, listening to the music. The Street was a never-ending block party. You could drop in on Billie singing the blues at The Onyx, or pick up on New Orleans-style bands at Ryan’s.  And, if you were really somebody you might be able to drop by and get a table at 21. (From  Riverwalk Jazz script by Margaret Moos Pick © 1990)

1934-45 Fiorello La Guardia elected mayor

In 1933, Republican reformer Fiorello La Guardia was elected mayor. La Guardia, sometimes considered New York's greatest mayor, was of both Italian and Jewish descent (his Italian grandfather, one of the Garibaldi's Red Shirts, married a Jewish girl). He acted as an exuberant populist with a multi-ethnic sensibility. He was the first mayor to overthrow Irish-dominated Tammany Hall and to end corruption in the city's government. He spoke several languages (his Italian and Yiddish were fluent), which he used when he worked at Ellis Island in his youth. La Guardia was elected to the office for 3 consecutive terms. He was honest and energetic, he went after organized crime, and cleaned up the Police Department, which was involved in a protection racket, a practice  wherein a person or group indicates that they could protect a business from potential damage that the same person or group would otherwise inflict. He was the one to pick Gracie Mansion (at East River and 88th Street) as the official residence of the New York City Mayor.​

1934-60 Robert Moses serves as NYC's park commissioner

Robert Moses played a larger role in shaping the physical environment of New York State than any other figure in the 20th century. For 44 years, from 1924 until 1968, Mr. Moses constructed public works in the city and state costing $27 billion.  Mr. Moses built parks, highways, bridges, playgrounds, housing, tunnels, beaches, zoos, civic centers, exhibition halls and the 1964-65 New York World's Fair. He created 17 miles of beaches including Jones Beach, 7 bridges, 2 tunnels, parkways and highways around the city.  He coordinated the erection of UN and was one of the founders of the Lincoln Center.” The master builder” cleared city of its slums replacing them with commercial establishments, cultural centers and parks.  To do so, he held several appointive offices and once occupied 12 positions simultaneously, including New York City Parks Commissioner, head of the State Parks Council, head of the State Power Commission and chairman of the Triborough Bridge and Tunnel Authority. Yet, for all the good he's done, his legacy is extremely controversial. By clearing slums he misplaced people, by building highways he destroyed functional communities, by constructing roads he was destroying the city's cultural heritage. He got thing done, but often put projects before humans, saying 'I raise my stein to the builder who can remove ghettos without removing people as I hail the chef who can make omelets without breaking eggs.' (Robert Moses, Master Builder, is Dead at 92 New York Times July 30, 1981)

1939-40 New York World's Fair

The 1939 New York World's Fair opened on April 30, 1939, which was the 150th anniversary of the inauguration of George Washington in New York City, back when it was the nation's first capitol. President Franklin D. Roosevelt gave the opening speech while an estimated 1,000 visitors watched the opening on 200 televisions sets in various locations throughout the Fair. The Fair, whose theme was "Building the World of Tomorrow”, was attended by about 40 million people, with pavilions representing 33 countries. Exhibitions in the USSR Pavilion included the life-size copy of the interior of the showcase Mayakovskaya station of the Moscow Metro. The Jewish Palestine Pavilion introduced the world to the concept of a modern Jewish state, which a decade later would become Israel. The "World trade center" pavilion, dedicated to "world peace through trade", gave the idea to the future contraction of the World Trade Center.  (1939 New York World's Fair From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

1952 United Nations Headquarters built

New York emerged from the WWII as the leading city of the world and in 1951, the United Nations relocated from its first headquarters in Flushing Meadows Park, Queens, to the East Side of Manhattan. The United Nations Headquarters complex was constructed beside the East River, on 17 acres of land purchased from the foremost New York real estate developer of the time, William Zeckendorf. Nelson Rockefeller arranged this purchase, after an initial offer to locate it on the Rockefeller family estate of Kykuit was rejected as being too isolated from Manhattan. The $8.5 million purchase was then funded by his father, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., who donated it to the City. Rather than announce a competition for the best design, the UN decided to commission a collaborative effort among a multinational team of world leading architects. The board included Wallace Harrison, the personal architectural adviser for the Rockefeller family, architectural giants like Le Corbusier (Switzerland) and Oscar Niemeyer (Brazil), who continued to work well into his 90s and died 2012 at the age of 104.

1959-1966 Lincoln Center built

A consortium of civic leaders under the initiative of John D. Rockefeller III built Lincoln Center as part of the "Lincoln Square Renewal Project" during Robert Moses's program of urban renewal. Lincoln Center is home to 12 institutions, including the Metropolitan Opera, the Lincoln Center Theater, the New York Philharmonic and the New York City Ballet. Thousands of concerts and performances happen here each year, making it one of New York's most visited venues. Rockefeller was Lincoln Center's inaugural president from 1956. He is credited with raising more than half of the $184.5 million in private funds needed to build the complex, including drawing on his own funds. As successful as the complex is now, it was very controversial at the time of its conception.  To build it, 17 blocks of ethnic tenement neighborhoods were demolished, forcing out 7,000 families.

​1965 Landmark Preservation Commission

​After the destruction of Pennsylvania Station, one of the most beautiful buildings in New York, to make way for the construction of the current Madison Square Garden, one of the ugliest, the same fate was set to befall the Grand Central. Public outcry caused by destruction of historic and cultural treasures of New York City resulted in creation of Landmark Preservation Commission. This organization is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and culturally significant buildings and sites by granting them landmark or historic district status. Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis became the public face of the campaign for creating the Commission. With Mrs. Onassis in the lead, the Municipal Art Society formed the Committee to Save Grand Central Station with former mayor Robert Wagner as chair, and such luminaries as Philip Johnson. “If we don’t care about our past, we cannot hope for the future,” said Mrs. Onassis at the press conference announcing the Committee, held near the Terminal’s Oyster Bar. The group then traveled by train, dubbed the “Landmark Express,” to Washington D.C., in order to call attention to the Supreme Court hearing regarding the case. The campaign proved successful. The Grand Central Terminal is still gracing the streets of New York, and the Landmark Preservation Commission was destined to save many more historic buildings.

1964 New York World Fair, 1964

The Fair's theme was "Peace Through Understanding," dedicated to "Man's Achievement on a Shrinking Globe in an Expanding Universe". The theme center was a 12-story high, stainless-steel model of the earth called Unisphere. The Bell System hosted a 15-minute ride in moving armchairs depicting the history of communications in dioramas and film. Other Bell exhibits included the Picturephone as well as a demonstration of the computer modem. General Motors exhibited Futurama, a show in which visitors seated in 3-abreast moving armchairs glided past detailed miniature dioramas showing what life might be like in the "near-future." The Sinclair Oil Corporation sponsored "Dinoland", featuring life-size replicas of nine different dinosaurs, including the corporation's signature Brontosaurus. The Ford Motor Company introduced the Ford Mustang automobile to the public. The Vatican pavilion brought Michelangelo's sculpture, the Pieta. The Belgian exhibit was a recreation of a medieval Belgian Village where visitors were treated to a new taste sensation in the form of the "Belgian Waffle" -- a combination of waffle, strawberries and whipped cream. * The World Fair was visited by 51 million people! (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1964_New_York_World%27s_Fair)

1970s Ford to NYC: "Drop Dead!"

The New York City of the 1970s looked very different from the gentrified metropolis we know today. The Bowery, now lined with luxury apartments, housed much of the city's illicit activities, while drug dealers and prostitutes worked openly from Park Slope to Times Square. Industrial decline, economic stagnation, and ‘white flight’ to the suburbs led to the dramatic downturn for America's largest city. New York City saw 2,228 homicides in 1980 — compare to 684 in 2012 — while the population declined to just over 7 million from nearly 8 million a decade before. Crack and heroin infested the city, driving the crime rate even higher. The city lived in fear. Even though the quote might be inaccurate, that's the way it went down in history: Mr. Ford, on Oct. 29, 1975, gave a speech denying federal assistance to spare New York from bankruptcy. The front page of The Daily News the next day read: “FORD TO CITY: DROP DEAD.” (http://www.businessinsider.com/new-york-used-to-be-terrifying-2015-1)

1972 World Trade Center is built

The WTC was designated one of the "Seven Wonders of the Modern World" by the American Society of Civil Engineers Lower Manhattan Association, created in 1959 by David Rockefeller in order to revitalize lower Manhattan, began promoting the idea of a "world trade and finance center" in New York City. The idea was finalized as a complex of seven buildings with two 110 stories Twin Towers at its core.  At 1,368 and 1,362 feet, they were to be the world’s tallest skyscrapers. The gargantuan office space could accommodate 50,000 people; it even had its own postal index. The South Tower had the Top of the World Observation Deck and North Tower hosted the famous Windows of the World Restaurant. In August 1974 French tightrope artist Phillippe Petit, who fell in love with the Twin Towers, performed an illegal, but breathtaking walk between the two buildings. The Twin Towers along with other 5 WTC skyscrapers were destroyed on September 11th, 2001 by Islamist terrorists who hijacked planes and crashed them into the towers. 2,753 lives were lost in horrific attacks. The tragedy of Sept 11 forever changed nation's psychology . It grew up.​​

1980s Rebirth of Wall Street

New York's economy not only grew during the eighties but also underwent a restructuring. Manufacturing witnessed a decline, but finance, insurance, and the real estate industry expanded by 64% in one decade and came to become major New York industries. A rebirth of Wall Street during the 80s reclaimed New York's role as the center of the worldwide financial sector Unemployment and crime remained high, the latter reaching peak levels in some categories around the close of the decade. Edward I. Koch was elected the 105th Mayor of New York City in 1977 and remained in the office until 1989. With his colorful personality, the honest and capable leader led the city out of its worst economic times. He said: "We have been shaken by troubles that would have destroyed any other city. But we are not any other city. We are the city of New York and New York in adversity towers above any other city in the world." With New York City's treasury near empty, Koch restored the city's credit in his first term through a series of budget cutting measures, enabling the city to enter the bond market within a few years and raise capital funds. As the city's fiscal prognosis began to brighten, so too did the mood of New Yorkers. Under Koch, the city's annual budget doubled to $26 billion and approximately $19 billion was spent on capital projects in the 1980's. His trademark greeting was “How 'm I Doin'." Mark David Chapman murders John Lennon outside the Dakota Building in New York City, NY, the evening of December 8, 1980. The musical Cats debuts on Broadway, October 8, 1982. It would hold the record for most performances (7,484) until surpassed by The Phantom of the Opera in January 2006. (http://www.nyc.gov/html/media/mrmayor/koch_bio.html)

​1990s New York City is safe again

​In the late 1990s, the city benefited from the success of the financial sectors and led to a decade of booming real estate values. During the 1990s, according to the National Bureau for Economic Research, unemployment dropped hugely in New York City — 39% from 1992 to 1999. New York's murder rate had dropped 56% from 1990 to the end of the decade. New York City became safe again. It was once again able to attract more business, and convert abandoned industrialized neighborhoods into arts or attractive residential neighborhoods, such as  the Meatpacking District, Chelsea and Williamsburg. In the 1990s the city's population and real estate prices started to soar.

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