Zeppelins and the Empire City

This Saturday while paying a visit to New York’s favorite bookstore Strand Books, I found a book about the history of the Hindenburg for $1. After looking through the pictures in the book I became oddly fascinated with images of Zeppelins floating eerily above Manhattan.

Later that afternoon I went to the MoMA to see the “Dreamland” exhibit. While I was impressed but not amazed by the exhibit there was one phenomenal piece titled “Caught in the Act” by Madelon Vriesendorp. “Caught in the Act” (Flagrant Delit) is an animation using iconic images of New York City in a dark and fantastic way. In the end of the animation they showed the famous footage of the Hindenbug crashing. What a coincidence!

Later that evening I searched images and footage of Zeppelins and Manhattan.

An awesomely surreal depiction of the Hindenburg doing a Manhattan tour! And photos I found of different Zeppelins in New York online:

C. A.

G.W. Bridge

View of George Washington Bridge from Washington Heights. Taken on Nov. 8th 2008.

C. A.

Washington Heights Undiscovered

While living in New York and commuting to school there for 6 years I had never held a desire or need to go to Washington Heights. It wasn’t until March 4th when I was pawing through the Metro Section of the New York Times I read an article titled “New Winds at an Island Outpost” I learned that curtained behind the view from the West Side Highway there was a gem of a dying generation keeping the community alive. After that article I vowed to visit the area and see it for myself. It took a year and half but last Friday, November 8th I paid Washington Heights a visit.
Washington Heights is something that had always left a vague and unreal impression in my mind. For my whole life I had witnessed the shell of its existence from a car window while driving on the West Side Highway. I had always wondered where the tall, seemingly historic grassy hill and the gates compressed with trash against a cliff fit in with the rest of the city. These traits you get a glimpse of while remaining in the comfort of your own automobile feel as if they’re so distant from Manhattan. Its aesthetic appeal has a sort of awkwardness as the footpaths to the water slice around the highways and spaghetti entrance to the George Washington Bridge. The fact that Washington Heights is also the home to the highest natural point in Manhattan requires buildings resting off cliffs and curvy inclines in sidewalks New Yorkers aren’t used to. The interesting thing is that none of these things prevent the main avenues like Broadway from thriving with privately owned businesses and high foot traffic from the community. While being there I witnessed people shopping rolling racks outside of stores after dark and blasting music from their apartments and cars while chatting with their neighbors on the sidewalk.
After I walked to the water and it got quieter and quieter I gained a great appreciation for the unique twisted appearance the outskirts of Washington Heights had. It almost seemed as if all of the life existing on the inside of the district pushed everything else up onto the edges and it all ended up tossed together in a protective nest. The outsiders on the highway would always be so distracted by the mess that they would never understand the potential in Manhattan’s highest district.

I’d like to thank Manny Fernandez for writing that article that invited me to Washington Heights.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/04/nyregion/thecity/04domi.html?_r=1&scp=3&sq=washington+heights&st=nyt&oref=slogin

C. A.