Today we have three stories for you. Two of them happen to take place in New York City (perhaps because the city has been inhospitably hot and we need to remember why we like it). We love some lore. Read on!
An unusually quiet experience at CBGB:
"In September 2006, I spent 10 days shooting the interior of legendary NYC rock club CBGB. Six weeks later the club closed its doors forever, and the fabled walls and stage were dismantled. A year after that, as former owner Hilly Kristal succumbed to cancer, a high-end clothing store negotiated to take over the space. The club had been a favorite venue for countless rock and punk acts, but for those few days my experience of the club was the exact opposite of most people's. I came to look forward to my visits as a time of peaceful solitude. I arrived each morning at 11:00 with my tripod and camera, greeted Hilly at his desk, and then passed into a silent and empty club. During the following three to five hours of shooting, I rarely saw another human. The club was so dark, even during the day, that I had to carry a flashlight. After framing each shot, I took five to seven bracketed exposures, with each exposure lasting as long as 30 seconds, and I ended up with more than 1800 individual frames. And that's how I came to spend hour after hour sitting stock still in CBGB, alone in the dark among the empty beer bottles and broken guitar strings and abandoned drum sticks, waiting in the silence for the shutter to close."
A reservoir of knowledge replaces a reservoir of water:Â
Did you know that the main branch of the New York Public Library took the place of the reservoir that provided drinking water to NYCâs residents?
As New York was emerging as one of the worldâs most important cities, city leadership decided that to be a great center of urban culture, the city needed a great library. The site was chosen because of its equidistance to the two closest existing libraries, and because of its popularity for strolling. It took a âmereâ 500 workers two years to dismantle the reservoir and prepare the site.
The resulting structure was monumental. Built using Carnegie steel, what would amount to 75 miles (!!) worth of stacks extend below the main reading room, and a complex system of elevator pulleys and pneumatic tubes moved a steady stream of books up and down through the mammoth structure. This was the largest bookshelf in the world, holding 3,500,000 volumes.
Needless to say, New York City and the country were glowing with pride at this architectural triumph. When the library opened in 1911, Scientific American published a sectional view of the buildingâfar more detailed than the initial sketch by library director John Billings. We've lovingly restored Sectional view of the New York Public Library and now offer as an archival, museum-quality print. Between 30,000 and 50,000 people visited on the first day alone. We wish libraries were still this beloved.
An early eye test chart was surprisingly beautiful and accessible:
George Mayerle (1870-1929) created his Eye Test Chart in 1907 while working as an optician in the heart of San Francisco. The chart was marketed as the only tool âthat can be used by people of any nationalityâ. At the time, San Franciscoâs immigrant population was swiftly growing. Anticipating the difficulties of providing services to such a diverse community, Mayerle developed this chart to cater not only to multilingual patients but also to children and illiterate adults.
The Eye Test Chart combined four major subjective tests performed during an exam. The vertical panels that run through the center of the image tested visual acuity. These panels include two styles of the Roman alphabet for English-speaking and European readers, Japanese, Chinese, Russian, and Hebrew scripts. Additionally, Mayerle included a center panel consisting of non-alphabetic characters for those who were unable to read any of the other writing systems offered. Directly above these panels in the center is a radiant dial used for testing astigmatism, and flanking this on each side are four sets of lines used to measure the muscular strength of the eyes. Finally, six color swatches line the bottom of the chart for testing color vision, a feature marketed as specifically useful for the significant number of railway and steamboat workers in the city.
The chart measures 22 by 28 inches and is printed on heavy cardboard; a positive version of it appears on one side, a negative version on the reverse. It sold for $3.00 or for $6.00 with a special cabinet designed to reveal only those parts of the chart needed at the time.
