Lost in Translation

One of the things I love to do is take people to the New York Public Library. It is free. It is so New York City. 

The Lions guarding the front originally named Leo Lenox and Leo Aster, the first contributors.. 

During the Great Depression the lions names changed to Patients and Fortitude.  

I was working with a French family, and I asked, “do you know the story ‘Winnie The Pooh?’

We were standing next to the Ladies Room on the first floor, besides the children’s sections in the library, when the young lady from France said, ‘No thank you.’ 

That is when I learned that Pooh means the same thing in France as in America.. 

I took this young lady by the hand and dragged her into the children’s section to see that Eeyore looked like he had the mange with so many patches, Piglet is literally 3 inches tall, Kanga has a broken neck, no Roo.. Tigger is there too. 

I was lost in translation.. 

One Token Tours will take you by the hand and find secrets and symbols in plain site.  

Orange is my Color

You got to have a gimmick. 

When I started I didn’t have a gimmick and I was not going to carry a flag, a light saber, or an umbrella. Yes, I have an umbrella in case it rains and yes, it is orange. 

Before I began touring, I worked for a wholesales apparel company and one season, orange was a color projection so we received a number of apparel samples in orange. 

It has made for some very interesting comments over the years. 

A couple of years ago, this 14 year old boy asked, “Mr. Sean, how many orange polos do you have?” First I said to the young man, “how do you know I changed my shirt?” Then followed, “I have enough so that I don’t have to do laundry while you’re in town.” 

My neighbors have followed my career since the beginning. At the mailbox those first years, a neighbor would see me in orange and say, “you worked today.” Now, over fifteen years later they say, “gosh, you work all the time.” 

It is funny how my coworkers perceive my obsession. I showed up for a non-work function as a civilian, a coworker asked, “where is your orange?” 

Every time on tour I would wear orange in that first season, someone in my group would come up to me and say, “I thought I lost you and then I saw your orange jacket.” After the third time, orange became my thing. 

Welcome to One Token Tours... 

40 Wall Street for the Win

40 Wall Street

40 Wall Street was the first building to surpass the Eiffel Tower, becoming the tallest building in the world.  

I don’t think that 40 Wall Street nor the Chrysler Building started out to be the tallest buildings. If you can find drawing of the original designs they do not look like they do today. I don’t think the foundation was expected to hold more than 60 floors. Ego became the drive and The demand, higher, higher!

There is a reason why few know this because it was the tallest building for a very short amount of time as Chrysler Building had a secret weapon. 

When you meet me in New York City, I will share the entire story. 

For that extra height on 40 Wall Street a flagpole was added to the top. It was decided that the flagpole was added after the fact and can be removed therefore, does not count as part of the height.

Join me, One Token Tours.

This is not Gossip Girl nor Sex and the City

The Chrysler Building

The Chrysler Building is one of my favorites and I have many favorite building in New York City, an icon that appears in the opening credits of TV shows and movies. 

I studied architecture, interiors at the College of Architecture at Auburn University and I am fascinated by the vocabulary of architecture.

Classical architecture is about proportion to the human. Contemporary architecture during the Art Deco period is about motion, it is about energy. 

The concept of architecture we understand is more than just shelter. 

Within different cultures architecture tells the story of the place it exists. 

Cars, cars, cars, drive the skyline of this great city in 1930.

The featured ornamentation, they are not gargoyles lIke one might find in history, they are not warding off evil.. They are hood ornaments, and design features of the Chrysler automobiles. 

Imagine yourself owning a Chrysler car.. That hood ornament defines status. The striving to become..  The American dream. 

The Chrysler Building erected during the Great Depression is the difference between the haves and have nots during a very difficult period of American history.  

What it, The Chrysler Building represents within the record of architecture, it holds a prestigious right as the ‘Tallest building in the world because of that spire.” This is a story for another time. 

Join me at One Token Tours and I will share with you which building surpassed the Eiffel Tower first.

The Race to the Sky

From left to right: 40 Wall Street, Empire State Building, Chrysler Building

Before there were the tall building of New York City the tallest structure in the world was The Eiffel Tower since 1886 standing at 1,063 feet tall. 

It is not until the Art Deco period of the 1930s does New York architecture surpass the tower of France. 

During my tour it is not uncommon for me to ask my groups if they know which of the three buildings, 40 Wall Street, Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, is the first one to surpass the Parisian edifice and in what order?

Do you think you know the answer? 

While researching this bit of history, there are varying versions as it is known to some as ‘The Race to the Sky.’ I enjoyed the novel by Neal Bascomb called ‘Higher’ I found it so interesting as it was the height of the Great Depression when these buildings begin to become icons of this great city and the United States.

The competition was between the egos of the developers, Walter Chrysler, engineer and automobile manufacture hence the Chrysler Building and The Manhattan Company, headquarters for the Bank of Manhattan Trust Company, known by its address, 40 Wall Street. 

Walter Chrysler joined forces with architect William Van Alen and 40 Wall Street, the architect Craig Severance. Van Alen and Severance had been partners for about ten years and they were getting critical acclaim for their work; however, the articles more times than not would begin “William Van Alen and Craig Severance,” yet Van Alen was getting the credit as a contemporary designer where as Severance more of a classicist. It caused a rift between they two and they severed their professional relationship by 1924. This fuels the fire for contemporary technology in architecture and the egos involved. 

The Empire State Building jumped into the race backed by General Motors, a direct competitor to the Chrysler Corporation. Cars, cars, cars, and money drives the skyline of this city. 

It is an epic story, it plays out in the court system, the newspapers, and the public as they witness these building climb higher, and higher a mantra by egos and fists beating table tops to go HIGHER. 

Join me at One Token Tours to get the rest of the story. Stay tuned to learn which building is the first one. 

Hidden Gems - Community Gardens

There are many people that think of NYC as a ‘concrete jungle.’ 

Well, that is until people visit Central Park, particular north of the Bethesda Terrace which feels very Victorian in design to me. Central Park is a project won by Culvert Vaux & Frederick Olmsted in the 1850s. It is considered The City’s backyard. 

Bethesda Terrace, Central Park 

Once you get into the area known as The Ramble, you get a feeling of being in the woods, maybe not the woods but an idea of the natural terrain of the island before it had all of the tall buildings; one of the concepts of the design of the park. 

Fast forward to the plight of the 1970s. New York City was in decline. There were burned out buildings. My neighborhood, became in large part a ‘squatters village and tent city.’ Particularly in and around Tompkins Square Park, in Alphabet City.  

Out of this comes a movement of community gardens within empty, abandoned lots peppered throughout neighborhoods like the East Village. 

These community gardens were for many individuals a places to plant flowers, or small box gardens, goldfish ponds, sculptures and a variety of trees to relieve the stress of the hard times.

Once The City began to rebound, developers became interested and these small community areas became territorial battlegrounds. 

Liz Christy, a leader of this grassroots (pun not intended) movement to solve some of the issues of urban decay. Banded together with a group that became known as the Green Guerillas: To get people working together to stabilize their city blocks. 

Today, these are little hidden gems in neighborhoods around The City that provide respite from the busy streets, a place of solitude, and meditation - supplies a place for creativity. 

Left photo, Miracle Community Garden, Top, Garden on Bleeker St., Bottom, Marble Cemetery

When people say that they are looking for a guide, they say that they want to see where the ‘New Yorkers’ hangout. Here, One Token Tours we can customize just for you.

Flatiron Building

The Fuller building is a result of the past merging with the present. 

It became known as the Flatiron Building. 

Working with kids, I often ask if they know what a flatiron is, and the answer I get from a fourteen year old is, “it is what I used to straighten my hair.” 

I have to explain, “a flatiron is a triangle cast iron, iron, used when New York City was the center of the garment district.” 

The Fuller Building sits on the crossroads of 5th Avenue and 23rd Street. Within the concept of the Grid Plan of 1811. Broadway does not conform to the grid because it follows the Native American Indian trial familiar to everyone at the time. It cuts a rectangle into a triangle. 

Technology was booming in 1901 and the Fuller Building becomes the tallest building in New York City at 23rd Street. 

The past dictated the reality of this building. It is one of my favorite stories to tell. 

I can’t wait to see you in New York City and share more of this story.