New York's Working Waterfront

New York City is an archipelago of islands.  Of the five Boroughs, only the Bronx is connected by land to the continental United States. When temperatures rise many New Yorkers naturally gravitate to the 520 miles of shoreline along the rivers, bays and ocean that surround the city.  Or would, if they could. 

In recent years, sections of the waterfront have been reclaimed for housing and recreation; Brooklyn Bridge Park and Hudson River Park are two notable examples.  But from the days of the first Dutch colonial settlement in the 1600s, until the 1960s, most of the waterfront had been virtually inaccessible except to those involved in the commercial maritime activities that had been the basis of the city’s economy.   And if not consumed by docks, piers, factories and other structures, transportation arteries – railways, parkways, and highways – girded many more miles of the waterfront, further impeding access.    

The Municipal Archives collections includes extensive documentation of the City’s investment in its waterfront.  The records date from the earliest years of the Department of Docks (1870– 1897); Docks and Ferries (1898 -1918); Department of Docks (1919-1942); Marine and Aviation (1942-1977); Ports and Terminals (1978-1985), through its final iteration, the Department of Ports and Trade (1986-1991).  These series offer hundreds of cubic feet of maps, surveys, official correspondence and photographs.

Here are some of the more evocative images of New York’s working waterfront in its glory days.

The Department of Docks photograph collection includes numerous large-format glass-plate negatives that depict the intense commercial activity along both the East and North (Hudson) River waterfronts. West Street, ca. 1922. Department of Docks Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Teams waiting at East 35th Street for the ferry to Brooklyn, November 1910. Department of Docks Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Dozens of steamship lines brought hundreds of thousands of immigrants to the United States via New York City. Italian Line, West 34th Street, 1903. Department of Docks Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Not every inch of the waterfront was devoted to commercial activities. In 1897, the Department of Docks built the first Recreation Pier at Corlear’s Hook in Manhattan; others were added on the East River at 112th Street, and the Hudson River at Christopher Street and 50th Street. Designed in the French Renaissance style they featured seating for 500 on the second floor and typically offered musical entertainments and food concessions. Recreation Pier Rendering, undated. Department of Docks Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Recreation Pier. The sign over the entry doors reads: “Dancing on this Pier for Children from 3 to 5 p.m. Daily Except Sunday." Recreation Pier, undated. Department of Docks Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

The Cty began building the East River Drive in 1929 and the West Side Highway in 1931. By the time master builder Robert Moses finished construction in the 1950s, multi-lane arterial highways would line the waterfronts of four of the five Boroughs. Elevated Public Highway, looking south from Duane Street, June 23, 1937. Borough President Manhattan Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Completed in 1910, the Chelsea Piers along the Hudson River between Little West 12th Street and West 23rd Street were built to accommodate the new Titanic-class of ocean liners coming from Europe. Warren & Wetmore, architects of Grand Central Terminal, designed the pier sheds. Pier 56, Chelsea Piers Elevation, Department of Ports and Trade Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

In the 1930s, W.P.A. Federal Writers’ Project staff photographed dockworkers loading and unloading cargo on piers throughout the city. By the 1960s, containerization would eliminate thousands of these jobs. Unloading coffee from Brazil at the Gowanus Bay Pier, Brooklyn, ca. 1937. WPA-Federal Writers’ Project Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

The fishing industry persevered in lower Manhattan until 2005 when it relocated to the Hunts Point Market in The Bronx. Fulton Fish Market, April 14, 1952. Department of Marine and Aviation Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

By the mid-20th century, New York was one of the worlds’ greatest port cities. At its peak this vast infrastructure extended well beyond lower Manhattan and included miles of Brooklyn’s waterfront. Aerial view of the Brooklyn waterfront near Atlantic Avenue, September 19, 1956. Department of Marine and Aviation Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

The Department of Marine and Aviation collection includes large format color transparencies. Aerial view, East River, Manhattan, November 5, 1953. Department of Marine and Aviation Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Until the advent of jet air service in the 1960s, luxury ocean liners dominated the trans-Atlantic market. The S.S. United States and the S.S. America, New York harbor, April 7, 1963. Department of Marine and Aviation Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

In the 1960s the commercial cargo industry defected to the Port of Newark in New Jersey which had space to accommodate the mechanized equipment needed to load and unload the containerized shipments. Many of the City’s plans to improve its waterfront infrastructure during that time period went no further than the drawing board. East River, Manhattan, Pier Improvements, Rendering. Department of Marine and Aviation Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Perhaps Department of Marine and Aviation Commissioner Edward F. Cavanagh was mourning the end of an era as he watched the arrival of the Queen Mary in New York harbor on February 6, 1953. (Negative damaged.) Department of Marine and Aviation Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Inspiring Women – The Women’s Activism Story – Writing Contest

Who are the women who inspire you? Public figures, historic change makers or perhaps women you know personally and admire.  Our communities are home to countless inspirational women – friends and neighbors, teachers and community leaders - yet their stories are seldom told.  Now, you’re invited to enter the WomensActivism.NYC  Story Writing Contest for a chance to win prizes of $500, $350 and $150 by sharing the important role these women played in your life, your community or the world. 

WomensActivism.NYC is a project spearheaded by the NYC Department of Records and Information Services (DORIS) in celebration of the 100th anniversary of women gaining the right to vote in the United States.  The stories collected for the contest will be preserved by the Municipal Archives to inspire future generations.  The goal is to collect 20,000 stories honoring women across the globe by the close of 2020. 

This is your opportunity to help write the women who inspire you into history.

The contest is sponsored by the New York Archival Society, which acts as a fiscal agent, advocate, and promoter of the City's archives and library.  Story submissions will be accepted from July 15 – August 15, 2020. Winners will be announced by August 25, 2020. For contest rules and guidelines visit  NYArchivalSociety.

 On August 26, 2020, the centennial of women’s suffrage in the U.S., DORIS will mark the occasion by lighting up the New York City skyline in purple and holding a virtual write-in event. For more information, please email: womensactivism@records.nyc.gov. 

Read the stories of these inspiring women, add your own, and, maybe, win a prize!

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Helen Praeger Young

Helen Praeger Young, 1932 – Today.  By Ann Reisenauer

My neighbor, Helen Young, is a remarkable woman. She’s an ardent supporter of women’s rights, a role model and mentor for many women including myself. Although she’s now in her 80s, she’s still feisty and outspoken. She’s played many roles in her life – mother, teacher, writer, and women’s rights activist. When she went back to college in her 40s, her classmates were the same age as her kids. But that didn’t stop her. She moved to China and learned another language and culture in her late 40s and 50s. She gave her first academic paper and published a book about women Red Army soldiers on the Long March in her 60s, and presented her first paper at an international conference at 70. Although Helen’s been a feminist her entire life, she became more active in the women’s movement while teaching at the Beijing Foreign Studies University. There she was a founder of the Women’s Studies Forum and later started a branch of WSF at Stanford as a visiting scholar. In 1995 Helen was an NGO delegate to the 4th UN conference on Women in Beijing. Helen is still going strong in her 80s – championing women’s rights and pushing for adoption locally of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). This major UN treaty says that all discrimination against girls and women must end. The US is one of six countries left to ratify this treaty. Helen is working to change that. Helen’s advice for others: “If there’s an issue that interests you, learn what you can, find an organization to work with and get busy. Try to generate enthusiasm – but stay with it.” What keeps her motivated? She wants to see CEDAW implemented while she’s still alive – that and stubbornness, the key to success.

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Annie Harper

Annie Harper, 1920 – 2015, by Sandye Wilson

Annie Harper was fearless, unyielding, bigger-than-life, and at times, a bit of a tyrant. She was tough. Annie was Born in Saluda, South Carolina, on October 19, 1920 or ...maybe it was October 20. Annie often said, ‘They didn’t always get the birth certificate right with colored folks back then, but, no matter… I am here.’ Yes, she was. Annie Harper was SO here. She was a nurse and a matriarch to many. Annie had a no-nonsense demeanor; a big laugh and personality but she didn’t suffer fools, lightly. Incredibly generous, there were many folks that counted on her in some kind of way... whether they needed money or food or a way out of a situation that was much too painful for them. Annie gave without expecting in return. She was direct and stern but supported anyone in need. She taught me to do the same; to walk in other's shoes; to live in truth and integrity and to always be in service...but not to be a fool. Annie was something... She filled my childhood with laughter, southern rituals, church, car trips up north, coconut pies, boiled peanuts, fried fish with biscuits and Annie-isms that will last a lifetime. One of my fondest memories was when my boyfriend and I went to visit Annie in Columbia, South Carolina, in the 1980’s before we took a cross country road trip. We had an old, sexy, white, two seater, spitfire car. We were just in the midst of saying our goodbyes… I was a bit teary-eyed when Annie pulled me aside and said ‘Take a little walk with me before you get back on that road.’ She handed me an envelope with a wad of cash in it… I tried to give it back to her. I told her that we had both saved up for the summer for this trip so we were prepared. I wanted her to know I was all grown up. Annie shook her head and said ‘Take this money, you gon’ need it—That car ain’t gonna make it cross country’… She was right. Annie died on June 17, 2015 at age 94. I was unable to stand up and speak at her funeral… I felt my legs and heart unstable… Here’s to Annie: Thank you for the love, the fierce care, for straightening my hair and letting it out so I could feel it down my back… Thank you for making sure I woke up in church in time for the sermon, for sewing my clothes so beautifully, for the car trips, the coconut pies, the money when I needed it. Thank you for sharing the brandy with me when I was finally an adult… and telling me that I could re-invent myself at any time because the world really was mine....

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Meghan Farina

Meghan Farina, 1995 - 2008

Meghan’s amazing sense of humor is the first thing you’ll notice about her, next to her warm smile. Although she only was given 13 years with us, in those 13 years she filled everyday with laughs and love. Even after she was diagnosed with Diffuse Intrinsic Pontine Glioma (DIPG), a rare childhood brain tumor located on the brainstem, her personality was unchanged. Meghan joked with all the nurses and doctors, and kept my family positive in a time that was not. Her perseverance in the difficulty that was thrown at her was and is truly inspiring, refusing to give up. One memory that paints a picture of her wonderful sense of humor and tremendous heart was when she was asked by the Make a Wish Foundation if she had a wish. She could ask for anything in the world, but asked for a dozen Krispy Kreme donuts. My dad asked her if that was all she wanted, and she responded, “Okay… TWO dozen donuts.” She ended up asking to go to the filming of High School Musical 3, but they didn’t have room. When told that she wouldn’t be able to go, my sister apologized for taking too long to decide. This is how my sister was; genuine, giving, hilarious, and strong; and she refused to let this terrible disease change that.

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On August 26, 2020, the centennial of women’s suffrage in the U.S., DORIS will mark the occasion by lighting up the New York City skyline in purple and holding a virtual write-in event. For more information, please email: womensactivism@records.nyc.gov

The Battle for Gay Civil Rights

The surprising but very welcome Supreme Court decision that lesbian, gay and transgender people are covered by the Civil Rights Law prohibiting discrimination in employment was long overdue.  Many people may take for granted that New Yorkers are protected but there was a long, painful fight for those same rights in New York City.  This 50th anniversary year celebrating the first gay pride parade is a good time to highlight the struggle

Now we refer to LGBTQ rights (Lesbian Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer) in order to be inclusive.  In the 1970s and 1980s terminology evolved from homosexual rights to gay rights.  It was a big change to name lesbian and gay rights.  Transgender activists like Marsha P. Johnson and Sylvia Rivera, leaders in the fight for equality, faced discrimination within their own movement.

Intro. 475 of 1971. Mayor John V. Lindsay Subject Files. NYC Municipal Archives.

The Municipal Library and Archives collections provide a trove of materials documenting the struggle to outlaw discrimination in the City. The first gay rights bill was introduced in the City Council in 1971 during the Lindsay Administration and assigned to the City Council’s General Welfare Committee. And there it lingered, rejected by committee members on four occasions.  The New York City bill was simple—it amended the law that created the Commission on Human Rights by adding the words “sexual orientation” alongside the existing covered groups: race, creed, color, national origin or sex.  It would have banned discrimination in housing, employment, places of public accommodation, resort or amusement and commercial space based on a person’s sexual orientation.  

The Commission on Human Rights subject files in the collection of Mayor John Lindsay include a folder of documents received and sent by City officials.   Correspondence in 1971 between members of The Mattachine Society and the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA) and City officials show the organizations were pushing the Mayor to both “actively and personally” support the gay rights bill and to issue an executive order ending discrimination against homosexuals in the City’s hiring practices.  The GAA further threatened to activate gay liberation organizations across the country to “harass and demonstrate against Lindsay as he campaigns to secure the Democratic Party nomination.” 

Gay Activists Alliance Press Release, November 20, 1971. Mayor John V. Lindsay Subject Files. NYC Municipal Archives.

This, despite the Mayor’s earlier support in a letter to the sponsors of the gay rights bill commending them for their leadership in raising the issue and stating that it was appropriate for the City to “broaden its safeguards for citizens against all forms of arbitrary victimization.”   The letter concluded by noting the Commission on Human Rights willingness to “lend assistance to passage of this useful legislation.”

In December 1971, Marvin Schick an assistant to the Mayor who, along with Ronnie Eldridge, was the point person on gay rights, testified on behalf of the administration in support of the gay rights bill. “We in the Administration believe that New York owes those of our citizens who happen to be homosexual no less than it owes the many others who have come to this city seeking tolerance, fairness and personal freedom.  Our city should now take this logical step:  to provide the protection of the law against the many abuses which homosexuals still encounter constantly.”

In January 1972, the GAA again pressed the administration to prohibit discrimination against gays in City municipal employment and expressed anger with the lack of progress.  “We are appalled by the lip service the Mayor has given the issue” and threatened to hold him personally responsible if the gay rights bill failed.  The pressure worked.  In February, the Department of Personnel issued a policy bulletin that prohibited discrimination based on sexual orientation in hiring and promoting within the municipal workforce. But, as the Association of the Bar of the City of New York noted in a committee report urging passage of the civil rights bill, the executive order “does not, of course, reach private employers.” 

Department of Personnel, Personnel Policy and Procedure Bulletin, February 7, 1972. Mayor John V. Lindsay Subject Files. NYC Municipal Archives.

Later in a 1972 statement to the media, Mayor Lindsay expressed disappointment when the Council committee didn’t advance the bill.  The action “further postpones the time when a person whose sexual preference may differ from the majority’s can seek equal justice from the City Commission on Human Rights if he or she has been discriminated against in obtaining or keeping a job or in obtaining or securing housing accommodations.”   And that was that from the Lindsay administration.

By 1974, several municipalities and states had adopted gay civil rights laws, including Columbus, Minneapolis, Boulder, San Francisco, Berkeley, Seattle, Detroit, Ann Arbor, East Lansing, Washington and Toronto.  One would think that New York City, home to the nation’s largest LGBTQ population would have been in the forefront.  But, no. 

In 1974, during the Beame administration, the gay rights bill finally was passed out of committee with seven of the eight members present supporting it, although some committee members did not show up to vote.  In order to move the bill out of the committee an amendment clarifying that the definition of sexual orientation should not “be construed to bear upon the standards of attire or dress code.”  Basically, excluding transgender people. Twenty of the Council’s 43 members co-sponsored the bill, meaning that only two additional council members were needed to vote in support for the bill to become law.  Luminaries such as Eleanor Holmes Norton the head of the Commission on Human Rights, and then-candidate for Manhattan District Attorney, Robert Morgenthau testified in favor of the legislation. Former Mayor Wagner sent a statement of support and Mayor Abe Beame announced he would sign the civil rights bill into law. 

A done deal, right?  Wrong. The opposition was lining up.  The Uniformed Fire Officers Association led the charge, spending $10,000 ($52,000 in today’s dollars)  in ads against the bill.  The New York Times quotes a member of the Uniformed Fire Officers Association executive committee explaining the organization’s view “All members of the team have to be a man’s man.”   The Daily News reported that Orthodox rabbis were denouncing the legislation.  The New York Catholic Archdiocese mobilized against the bill and editorialized in the weekly paper distributed in parishes throughout the area that the bill was “a menace to family life.”  In a front page editorial against the bill the editors claimed it would “Damage the true civil rights cause in this city and will endanger the freedom of every citizen to protect his family from a serious immoral influence.” 

Clipping, Daily News, May 4, 1974. Municipal Library Vertical File, NYC Municipal Library.

Newspaper clipping, April 29, 1974. Municipal Library Vertical File, NYC Municipal Library.

Supporters included the American Civil Liberties Union, the Citizens Union, the Association of the Bar of the City of New York, the Gay Activist Alliance and the Ad Hoc Coalition of Gay Organizations.  Surprisingly, the powerful county leaders, who typically instructed councilmembers on how to vote were split with the Brooklyn and Bronx leaders supporting the bill while the Queens leader opposed it.

This battle predated the internet and social media.  Supporters and opponents instead relied on the U.S. Mail to air their views. It was estimated that council members were receiving 100 letters per day on the proposal.  That was a lot considering that this was the era when the Council was compared negatively to a rubber stamp because a stamp left an impression.

By the time the bill came to the full Council, tensions were high.  At the hearing, curses and epithets were shouted, hisses and boos as well as applause rained from the chamber balcony.  The debate was brief but heated.  The New York Times wrote that the Councilmembers praised it “as a simple civil rights measure and denounced it as an attempt to endorse a deviant live style.”

A Catholic priest, Louis Gigante who also was a Councilmember rejected the Archdiocese guidance.  He explained that the bill said, “Give them the right to live.  With all my Christian conscience, my priesthood and as a human being, I emphatically vote, yes.”

Harlem Councilmember Frederick E. Samuel, one of only four black members, said he’d been warned that a yes vote would be political suicide.  “As a black legislator, I say to you then that I will enter my political graveyard with a deep sense of pride.”

The bill was defeated in a vote of 22 to 19, with two abstentions.  And year-after-year the civil rights bill was reintroduced, referred to the General Welfare Committee.  Eight times, sponsors tried to move it to a full Council vote and failed.  Finally, in 1986, the bill became law.  That is another chapter in the long LGBTQ battle for equal rights and the subject of a future blog.

Happy Independence Day

Wishing everyone a happy and safe Independence Day.

Tall ships from around world sailed into New York Harbor in a salute to the Fourth of July and the centennial of the Statue of Liberty, July 4, 1986. Mayor Koch Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

A flotilla of smaller boats joined tall sailing ships from around the world in New York Harbor for the centennial of the Statue of Liberty, July 4, 1986. Mayor Koch Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Sailors on the deck and masts of their historic sailing vessel, New York Harbor, July 4, 1986. Mayor Koch Photograph Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Building Coney Island’s Centerpiece – The Boardwalk

Through the ups and downs of nearly 100 years, Coney Island’s boardwalk has been the beachfront spot for untold millions to stroll, catch some sun, meet friends, munch hot dogs, or just look out at the water. And, like all big new projects in New York City, bringing the boardwalk to life hit snags and was kicked around as a political football while its cost went up and work moved more slowly than expected.

Boardwalk, Coney Island, general view looking east from Municipal Bath, July 7, 1922. Photographer: Edward E. Rutter. Borough President Brooklyn Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

The first serious talk of building a public boardwalk came in the 1890s, when Coney Island was transitioning from a private playground for the rich – with giant fences preventing public access to the beach – to a place of fun, leisure and a little weirdness for all.

The Municipal Archives holds some 200 pictures of what was originally known as the Coney Island Boardwalk, including dozens of the construction in 1922 and 1923. Newspapers of the day, especially the old Brooklyn Daily Eagle, tell the story.

Boardwalk, Coney Island, general view, looking west from Martino’s Bath, July 7, 1922. Photographer: Edward E. Rutter. Borough President Brooklyn Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

While the idea of a public boardwalk was debated for years, planning didn’t begin in earnest until August of 1912. The West End Improvement League, consisting of merchants and developers, launched a campaign to build the promenade, starting a local newspaper and mailing 12,000 postcards to politicians, business owners and influencers. Although there was strong public support locally, landowners along beachfront area fought the proposal bitterly and tried to find friendly lawmakers to stop it.

On October 24, 1912, the Eagle reported on the first legal salvo in the war to build a boardwalk: “State Sues to Win Back Coney Island Beach for the People,” the headline screamed. “Demands Removal of Obstructions Preventing Free Passage for Purposes of Bathing, Boating and Fishing.” The story reported that State Attorney General Thomas Carmody had filed suit against the owners of the Steeplechase Company and other landowners, claiming the beach belongs to the public and branding the fencing and barriers “a public nuisance.”

Boardwalk, Coney Island, general view showing pouring of a reinforced concrete girder, July 7, 1922. Photographer: Edward E. Rutter. Borough President Brooklyn Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

A lawyer for the owners, claimed they had a legal right to the beachfront land and said, “…we certainly intend to fight the state’s claim to the finish.” The “finish” came rather quickly: A judge upheld the state’s claim in 1913 and the Court of Appeals affirmed it in 1916.

Political wrangling in the State Legislature delayed progress for several years, but on August 22, 1920, The Brooklyn Eagle optimistically reported: “Coney Island Boardwalk to be Completed by 1921.” Brooklyn Borough President Edward Riegelmann, an “energetic booster” of the plan had laid out details earlier that month.

Boardwalk, Coney Island, general view, looking west from Municipal Bath, August 4, 1922. Photographer: Edward E. Rutter. Borough President Brooklyn Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Riegelmann, who some dubbed the “Father of the Boardwalk,” said it would be 80 feet wide and two miles long running from Ocean Parkway to Sea Gate. He estimated the boardwalk would be built at a cost of $4 million (more than $50 million today). It would use 1.7 million cubic yards of sand, 110,000 tons of stone, and 7,700 cubic yards of reinforced concrete. Workers would build 16 rock jetties spaced 600 feet apart to protect the boardwalk from violent waves, while others drove 28-foot-long piles 19 feet deep into the sand. But the political wrangling continued even before the first shovel hit the ground. On Jan 6, 1921, the Eagle reported that the plan had hit “a $7 million snag,” the amount the owners claimed  they would lose in property values – perhaps the first sign that the boardwalk would not be completed in 1921.

Boardwalk, Coney Island general view, looking east from Martino's Bath, August 4, 1922. Photographer: Edward E. Rutter. Borough President Brooklyn Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Five months later, a fight erupted over whether to use timber or concrete for boardwalk supports. Advocates for the use of concrete argued that wood would not be “permanent” and would have to be replaced or shored up from time-to-time. Wood supporters argued that concrete was much more expensive than creosoted timber and noted that wooden trestles under the LIRR’s Jamaica route were still in good condition after many years and that the first concrete-supported Santa Monica Pier had “gone to pieces” in just a few years. Concrete won the day.

Undeterred by the delays, a long story in the July 3, 1921 edition of the Brooklyn Eagle breathlessly – though erroneously – reported: “Coney Island is to Replace Atlantic City as Society’s Playground, is Prediction.” The story began: “If the prediction of the Coney Island Boardwalk enthusiasts should be verified in the not distant future, the sad waves will murmur ‘Good night’ to Atlantic City and gently rock that out-of-date seaside resort to sleep … Good-bye hot dog; Good-bye chamber of horrors; Good-bye museums of monstrosities …”

Boardwalk, Coney Island hauling floor beams to the top of the walk by tractor, August 4, 1922. Photographer: Edward E. Rutter. Borough President Brooklyn Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

Boardwalk construction finally began in 1922, with wooden planks in a chevron pattern atop the concrete and steel bearings. The first section, from Ocean Parkway to West 5th Street, opened to the public in October 1922. The second section, from West 5th Street to West 17th Street, opened with pomp and a ribbon-cutting on Christmas Eve of 1922 attended by Borough President Reigelmann and thousands of celebrants.

Boardwalk, Coney Island, Borough President Riegelmann opening the Boardwalk between West 5th and West, December 24, 1922. Photographer: Edward E. Rutter. Borough President Brooklyn Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

The city held a formal opening of the entire boardwalk – which was re-named the Riegelmann Boardwalk – in May 1923. Some mildly amusing controversy continued: In June 1923, the Eagle reported that 25 people plead guilty and were fined $25 each for violating a public ordinance by strolling along “only in their bathing suits.” And that August, there were complaints that mothers were bringing their children to benches on the boardwalk to eat, leaving food scraps and refuse on the boardwalk – and that amorous couples were “spooning” on the benches.   

Boardwalk, Coney Island, looking northeast from Boardwalk, near West 12th Street, showing present character of buildings, September 6, 1922. Photographer: Edward E. Rutter. Borough President Brooklyn Collection. NYC Municipal Archives.

The boardwalk would be repaired many times over the years and, in 1938, under City Parks Commissioner Robert Moses, parts of it were expanded, straightened, and relocated 300 feet inland. He tried to expand it again into Manhattan Beach, but that plan was defeated.  

The city declared the Riegelmann Boardwalk a landmark in 2018.

San Juan Fiesta, 1979

Starting in 1952, late June in New York City has been marked every year by the San Juan Fiesta. Although the parade nominally celebrates the Catholic holiday of the Feast of Saint John, it is really a celebration of San Juan, the capital of Puerto Rico, and of Puerto Rican culture and traditions.  By the 1970s, the festival drew tens of thousands of revelers with themed floats, marching bands, an outdoor Catholic Mass, representatives from local unions, traditional food stalls and beverage company sponsorships. The Municipal Archives has recently digitized unique footage of the 1979 parade taken by the New York Police Department’s Bureau of Special Services and Investigations, a.k.a. “BOSSI”.

More than 100,000 people attended the 1979 festival and 5,000 took part in a Mass held in the Central Park band shell. Cardinal Terrence Cooke of New York and Bishop Ricardo Surinach of Ponce, Puerto Rico presided over the Spanish language service. The festivities also included open air food stalls serving piraguas and deep-fried treats like tostones, carnival games of chance, and even a piñata with candy for kids. The 1979 San Juan Fiesta sponsors hired a private sanitation company to keep the event as clean as possible, with Park Commissioner Gordon J. Davis remarking that “this is the most responsible group that uses the park.”

The parade itself featured scaled down replicas of Spanish colonial ships under command of the first Spanish governor of Puerto Rico, Ponce de Leon. Dancers in traditional costumes matched their choreography to the tunes of marching bands from local high schools ahead of the queen and princesses of the San Juan Fiesta. In addition to the Puerto Rican history and tradition celebrations, factory worker unions, New York police associations and church congregations also took part in the parade. Corporate sponsors such as Miller High Life and Pepsi even made elaborate floats and supplied drinks for many of the vendors.

The tradition of the parade began during a tumultuous period of Puerto Rico’s history. After centuries of Spanish Colonial rule, the USA invaded Puerto Rico in 1898 and imposed a military government. In 1952, the Constitution of Puerto Rico was officially ratified, and the island archipelago became an unincorporated territory of the USA. President Truman granted Puerto Ricans the right to choose their own governor for the first time in 1947, culminating in the 1948 election of Luis Muñoz Marín, who once supported independence but went on to become a proponent of the Free Associated State structure or ELA (Estado Libre Asociado). This election took place just a few months after the passage of Law 53, better known as the Gag Law. The law made it illegal to own or display the flag of Puerto Rico, sing the Puerto Rican national anthem, speak against the United States government, or write, sing or assemble in favor of Puerto Rican independence. Enforcement of the law led to the open persecution of Puerto Ricans that supported independence.

Resistance to the Gag Law, the new governor, and the American federal government was fierce. Oscar Collazo, a New York-based member of the independence-oriented Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, attempted to assassinate President Truman in 1950. He was set to be executed before his sentence was commuted to life in prison.

In 1953 alone, at the peak of migration, more than 75,000 Puerto Ricans moved from the island to New York City. In 1954, Rafael Cancel Miranda, Lolita Lebron and two other Puerto Rican nationalists opened fire in the United States Capitol, injuring several members of Congress. Denounced as terrorists by the United States government, some Puerto Ricans saw the nationalists as freedom fighters in a global wave of resistance to colonial powers after the end of World War Two.

In the 1979 NYPD BOSSI footage a parade float shows prison cells labeled ‘Miranda’ and ‘Collazo,’ advocating for their release.  A few months later, President Jimmy Carter pardoned Collazo, Miranda, Lebron and several other high profile Nationalist Party members who had served decades in prison. Years later, on June 22, 1990, Miranda joined Nelson Mandela on stage in New York City to support global efforts for self-determination.  

In addition to the San Juan Fiesta, BOSSI created photographic records of several Puerto Rican Day parades throughout the 1970s. Like the San Juan Fiesta, these parades offered both a celebration of Puerto Rican history and culture, as well as opportunities to comment on the politics and governance of Puerto Rico.