A visit to Wall Street the day after the crash [PHOTOS]

by Tom Johansmeyer on

On a normal day, the small sidewalk on Wall Street between Broadway and Broad Street is crammed with tourists. People in suits cram hurriedly between them to get to their desks. Of course, there’s the occasional television truck or nut holding a sign. When the market turns, however, the vibe in that part of town changes quickly. The tourists remain, but they’re pushed around by the increase in activity, as New York’s financial center seeks to cope with a massive loss of wealth.

There’s nothing quite like visiting this part of New York City the day after a dive.

For those of you not keeping score at home, a dismal stock market day on Friday was followed by a worse one yesterday. The major indexes fell close to 7 percent – which stings. It really does. This led to a profound change the population of Wall and Broad today. Yes, the tourists were out in force (as usual). But, they had to share the streets.

Here’s what it looked like:

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Photos courtesy of Inside Investor Relations

Excavating Central Park’s forgotten village

by Sean McLachlan on

Central Park is sometimes called the “lungs of New York City”. Locals and visitors alike come here to enjoy a bit of fresh air and greenery. The park was approved in 1853 in order to leave a green patch in the rapidly expanding metropolis. The city government took the land between 59th and 106th Streets, between Fifth and Eighth Avenues, by eminent domain. About 1,600 residents were paid for their property and forced to move by the summer of 1856.

While a beautiful park was born, its birth was the death of Seneca Village, a prosperous community of almost 300 people. Two-thirds of the population was black and it may have been the first community of middle-class black landowners is New York. The rest were white, many of them Irish immigrants. Of the village’s three churches, at least one was integrated.

Seneca Village was founded in 1825, two years before New York freed most of its slaves, and expanded quickly in the following few years. Living conditions downtown were unhealthy and property prices high (some things never change) so blacks with enough money were eager to move up to this area. The map, Columbia University, shows Seneca Village. Eighth Avenue is at the top of the picture. Seventh Avenue is at the bottom, with 82nd St. on the left and 86th St. is on the right.

Today archaeologists from the Seneca Village Project have finished the first-ever excavation of this historic community. After painstaking research through city records, they were able to locate the precise spots where many of the houses stood. They decided to excavate the property of two black residents: the yard of Nancy Moore, and the home of William G. Wilson. They found a wealth of nineteenth-century artifacts, including some porcelain imported from China, showing that some residents were quite well off. They even found a shoe that may have belonged to one of Mr. Wilson’s children.

If you’re heading to Central Park, check the project’s interactive map to see the history under your feet.

Photo of the day – Statue of Liberty

by Alex Robertson Textor on

The Statue of Liberty is beyond iconic. It’s the sort of place that most visitors to New York seek to visit, even if they’re not sure why, the sort of place with a symbolic and cultural reach that goes well beyond your average top tourist attraction. Today’s beautifully realist Photo of the Day, by Flickr user jwannie, depicts the Statue of Liberty as many visitors might encounter it, framed by a boat window.

Have an image that you’d like to see as a future Photo of the Day? Submit it to the Gadling Group pool on Flickr. If we like it we might just select it to be a future Photo of the Day.

September 11 Memorial distributes more than 24,000 passes in first day

by Sean McLachlan on

As we mentioned yesterday, the National September 11 Memorial & Museum started handing out free passes on Monday in anticipation of their opening to the public on September 12. Everyone anticipated a huge response, and there certainly was one. In just the first few hours that tickets were available, 24,000 were been handed out. Figures for the whole day are not yet available.

The memorial in New York City will open for a private ceremony for the victims’ families this September 11, the tenth anniversary of the attacks.

While the 9/11 memorial is free, because of high demand and limited space within the grounds, tickets must be reserved in advance for a particular entry date and time. Once inside, visitors may stay as long as they like, so this could mean slow lines. You can reserve your tickets online.

[Photo courtesy National Park Service]

Recovering from surgery? Now you can do it in The Pierre Hotel

by McLean Robbins on

The rich have long flocked to boutique recovery suites to heal themselves from cosmetic surgery nips and tucks – but how many can say they’ve spent their R&R in a five-star hotel? New York City’s Pierre Hotel has has partnered with Dr. Robert T. Grant, the Plastic Surgeon-in-Chief at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia University and Weill Cornell Medical Center to house post-op patients.

Guests enjoy the services of a surgeon, nutritionist and stylist to pamper post-op patients and provide 24-hour care and privacy, including round-the-clock care from Dr. Grant himself, personal shopping, custom menu creation, private escort to and from the room, spa and salon services in-room, 24/7 masseuse availability, car services and more.

Hmm, sure does sound better than sitting in our own bed. But, like most good things in life, all of these services are available at an extra cost and start at around $650 (a nutrition consult and five follow-ups). Add that to the $600+ per night hotel charge and you’ll find that your recovery time just might be more expensive than the surgery itself, albeit a touch more pleasant.