From Tar Beach to Green Roofs

Rooftops were part of the everyday life of tenement dwellers of New York City.  For those tenants who lived on the upper floors of a tenement, rooftops were as important as the sidewalks and the streets below.  Summer heat added high temperatures to the tight living in tenement apartments.  The rooftops became a respite after the sun went down.  Blankets and newspapers on rooftops provided places to sit and enjoy the early evening breezes.  During Spring, Summer, and Fall the rooftop played its role as a place for drying the laundry or for the newborn’s bassinet.  For those who could find the time, the rooftop, or tar beach as it became known, provided the place for a summer tan.    The rooftop also provided the space for tenant gatherings for conversation and partying.

Photo of Richard and his father and baby sister, Erna, on the tar roof of their tenement building

Richard, his father, and baby sister, Erna, on the tar roof of their tenement in 1934.

Time has changed the function of New York rooftops.  Urban growth, high-rise architecture and a diet conscious populace have provoked the greening of New York rooftops.   Urban agriculture and gardening  have changed the scenery of the roofs of New York.  A more imaginative and civic-minded generation have created a multitude of happier uses for  older structures.

Photo of roof garden in Manhattan

Photo of roof garden in Manhattan from The Daily Mail Reporter.

The High Line on Manhattan’s West Side has opened the door to developing a refreshing approach to the use of an abandoned railway line.

High Line on West Side

High Line Park on Manhattan's West Side.

The photos above are from an article  in The Daily Mail Reporter about green roofs in Manhattan: Green Roofs.

Chapter 4 – The Games We Played

Friendships on New York City streets are made and solidified by the games young Richard plays after school and on Saturdays. Games are played on the numbered side streets where traffic is less intense. The games are mostly street versions of baseball and are played with a “spaldeen”–the street name for Spalding, whose trademark is on a hollow rubber ball. Which game is played depends on how many people show up on the block. The games begin when two are on the street to play handball. When four are present the game is point ball off a tenement stoop or a low building ledge. If eight, the game becomes box ball with a rectangular “diamond” chalked in the street. If ten or more show up, stickball becomes the game of choice. Stickball is not appreciated by the tenants in the apartments along the street nor by the local police officers who are ever on patrol.

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Welcome to “On the Sidewalks of New York”

This is a note of appreciation for all those folks who have found themselves reading or listening to “On the Sidewalks of New York.”  This website was the good work of my daughter Margaret.  The autobiography was originally written for the family, especially the offspring, who wanted me to put down my stories on paper two decades ago. Under gentle pressure, the stories have now been elevated to public listening via podcasts.

After some hesitancy, and lively conversation with Margaret, a theme for this blog was decided upon. Thinking back over time, it became apparent that the Depression years, which left a deep impact upon my consciousness, is in replay in this last decade. I came through my young adult years, after having chosen a religious course, realizing the close relationship between a prophetic religion and the equality and justice called for in our society. Today, most organized religion is seen as retrogressive in the cause of justice to bring balance to the inequalities evident today. So I decided that this website would engage the conversation about how the prophetic religion we have inherited from our Biblical heritage needs to come into play within this political season. So let the discussion begin.

Chapter 3 – Life Leaves Grooves on Windowsills

Richard’s family lives in a front apartment on the top floor of a five-story “old law” tenement. Shared toilets are in the hall, the kitchen is heated by a coal stove, and clothing is washed in the kitchen tub and dried on the roof. The front apartment windows look out onto First Avenue. The windowsill is the instrument of social interaction between neighbors and the social control of children on the street. On one occasion, Richard sees a delivery truck accident that exposes the presence of an illegal booze still in the neighborhood. A front window also opens onto a fire escape. One night, Richard’s mother wakes him in a panic. Richard is carried by a fireman through the window and over the fire escape to safety.

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Chapter 2 – The Sidewalks as Playground

Richard’s first ten years on First Avenue lay the foundation for life ahead. Within a three block radius of his tenement is a whole world. Eightieth Street and the sidewalk are his playground—where he makes “hot mickeys” with a lump of coal and a purloined potato. The shops on the block provide everything his family needs: a bakery, a grocer, a fruit and vegetable market, an ice cream parlor, and his own optometrist. On 82nd Street there is an elementary school, on 80th Street and Second Avenue a Sunday School for religious education, on 79th Street a public library for exploring the world. For Richard, these were the essential building blocks for integrating life and preparing for the future.

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Chapter 1 – The Making of a Political Consciousness

Album artwork for podcastBorn in 1925 in the Yorkville neighborhood of Manhattan’s East Side, Richard grows up in a working class German-American family surrounded by immigrants from the now defunct Austro-Hungarian Empire. Scenes of the Great Depression, the rise of Hitler in Germany, and anti-Semitic sentiment become etched in his memory. Richard receives an early political education from his Socialist cigar maker grandfather who emigrated from 1880s Germany, by hearing over-the-counter conversations about European politics at the butcher shop where Richard worked on Saturdays, from the Franciscan priest at the Hungarian parish where Richard made meat deliveries, and through his aunt Augusta Wagner, who in 1937 returned to Yorkville while on furlough from occupied China, where she was a professor of economics at Yenching College for Women in Peking.

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Getting Set Up

Hello everyone. This is Margaret. I’ve spent the weekend getting this website and blog set up so I can show it to my dad. It’s been a bit tricky because I’m not a pro, and I don’t fully understand blogging and how to set one up. I’ve noticed that when I run into a problem that I can’t figure out how to fix, taking a nap usually helps.

There are many pieces to this production, but I’ve made a lot of progress over the past few days putting them in place.  Next, I want to introduce dad to blogging, get the Facebook page up and running, and figure out how to post podcasts of On the Sidewalks of New York to the blog. Eventually I’d like to put a trailer on YouTube and upload the podcasts to iTunes–none of which I’ve ever done before. By the time I’m finished with this, I’ll be an expert.

Stay tuned!