Calendar of Events

Prospect Park was designed 10 years after Central Park and was given everything that Olmsted & Vaux had to fight for in Central Park. After long battles over Central Park, Olmsted worked in the Sanitary Commission as part of the Civil War and then went out west to prospect for gold. He was loured back by Vaux to do Prospect with the promise of lots of funding, no politics and a beautiful site. Brooklyn, then a city of its own, was very competitive with New York City and wanted a better park than Central. The Park was a great incentive to the growth of Brooklyn as was the development of Eastern and Ocean Parkways. Over the years the Park was heavily used and loved but it suffered the same fate as the rest of Brooklyn in the 1960′s and 1970′s, when crime and mismanagement kept people at out.

In 1980 the City of New York and the Brooklyn Borough President funded a new position, Park Administrator and provided $10 million in capital projects to start to turn the park around and return it to the people of Brooklyn. Now over 30 years later, the Park is thriving. The Prospect Park Alliance which combines the Parks Department, the community and the private sector is adding more and more program, improving operations and continuing with capital projects. Almost 10 million visits are made annually to this 580 acres park. This 19th century beauty is now ready for the 21st century.

http://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2012/05/22/prospect-park-rated-best-park-fredrick-law-olmsted-tupper-thomas?pref=node_type_search%2Fevents

This illustrated presentation sheds light on the infrastructure and services that make life and work possible in a modern skyscraper. The author examines everything that goes into designing, building and maintaining these towering buildings.

http://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2012/05/29/heights-anatomy-skyscraper-kate-ascher?pref=node_type_search%2Fevents

This lecture takes a fresh look at the planning and construction of two key links in the transportation infrastructure of New York and New Jersey–the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels. The author explores these two monumental works of civil engineering and the public who embraced them. He describes the building of the tunnels and places the structures into a meaningful cultural context with the music, art, literature, and motion pictures that these tunnels, engineering marvels of their day, have inspired over the years.

http://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2012/05/30/crossing-under-hudson-story-holland-and-lincoln-tunnels-angus-kress-gil-0?pref=node_type_search%2Fevents

In this illustrated lecture, the author highlights the most notable homes and buildings from 2000-2010 in New York City. He covers all five boroughs and all types of buildings (from glass high rises to townhouses; from Prada to firehouses) and public spaces. He chronicles the architecture of this decade, selecting buildings that have a point of view, and creates walking tours organized by neighborhood to make it easy to take your own guided tour.

http://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2012/06/07/guide-contemporary-new-york-city-architecture-john-hill-0?pref=node_type_search%2Fevents

The New York City subway system has 842 miles of track, making it the largest in North America. However, there’s even more to it than riders see: dozens of tunnels and platforms that were either abandoned or were built but never used. They form a kind of ghost system and this visual presentation reveals how the city’s transit ambitions have been both realized and thwarted.

WNYC reporter Jim O’Grady will talk about those lines and stations that never were–or were started and are now unused. Guided by an “urban explorer,” he snuck into one of them deep under Brooklyn. He’ll also speak about creating an interactive online map that overlays these phantom lines and stations on top of the existing system. The map has been the most popular feature in the history of wnyc.org.

http://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2012/06/14/new-yorks-lost-subways-jim-ogrady?pref=node_type_search%2Fevents

This illustrated lecture documents the fading ads that are visible, but less often seen, all over New York. Disappearing from the sides of buildings or hidden by new construction, these signs are remnants of lost eras of New York’s life. They weave together the city’s unique history, culture, environment and society and tell the stories of the businesses, places and people whose lives transpired among them—the story of New York itself. This photo-documentary is also a study of time and space, of mortality and living, as the author’s campaign to capture the ads mirrors his own struggle with HIV. Experience the ads—shot with vintage Kodachrome film—and the meaning they carry through his lens.

http://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2012/06/20/fading-ads-new-york-city-frank-jump?pref=node_type_search%2Fevents

When Roosevelt was appointed police commissioner, he tried to shut down brothels, gambling joints and saloons. This illustrated presentation is the story of how Roosevelt took on Manhattan vice…and vice won. It is an unforgettable snap­shot of turn-of-the-century New York in all its seedy glory and a brilliant miniature of one of America’s most colorful presidents.

http://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2012/06/21/island-vice-theodore-roosevelts-doomed-quest-clean-sin-loving-new-york–0?pref=node_type_search%2Fevents

This illustrated lecture is about the Brooklyn Heights Promenade, one of the most romantic spots in New York City and the destination for thousands of first dates, wedding proposals and anniversary celebrations. Take a journey through the history of this 60-year old landmark and its significance to the people of the city that helped make it famous.

http://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2012/06/27/brooklyn-heights-promenade-henrik-krogius?pref=node_type_search%2Fevents