Your channel is amazing, it makes things I have no interest in the most interesting thing ever, history as it SHOULD have been done in school, congratulations.
I was filming in NYC not too long ago and noticed all those old pilings everywhere. Didn't know they had such a cool story. There is a lot of abandoned stuff in NYC.
I grew up in City Island NY. It was a huge ship manufacturing hub. They build WWll PT boats, as well as a winning America cup yacht. Unfortunately the areas many boat yards have been sold off. With co-ops filling the landscape. City Island would be a very interesting place for you to do a history show about. Its still very nautical. More like a New England town, than an Island in the Bronx.
My parents, sister and I used to go to City Island once a month for many years as tradition. I used to love how different it was compared to my neighborhood in Manhattan.
My dad was born in Greenpoint in 1910. After Mom died in 1967, he took my brother and me to NYC. I recall a moment on a pier at the foot of Noble Street. As we played, Dad stood with hands in pockets, gazing across the river at a skyline devoid of landmarks that he knew. His palpable feeling of loss still makes me tear up.
I work at the auction house mentioned that has our storage facility in RedHook on Imlay street. I've been out there once but it is the most incredible building to tour, as you're surrounded by thousands of beautiful and priceless objects stuffed into every nook and cranny
What a great topic and video. One of the first large scale integral manufacturing, warehousing, and shipping (rail and boat) complexes in the world was the Bush Terminal in Brooklyn. Most of the piers are gone, but a number of the main structures remain and have been repurposed as artists’ studios, tech company facilities, loft apartments etc. Some of the piers were filled in to be a waterside park.
One of my first jobs in the 1970’s was making pick-ups over in the Red Hook area in Brooklyn and some of those pictures bring back memories ! God Bless the USA 🇺🇸 !
Cool. My dad was part of FDNY from 1950 to 1987. He served through much of the decay. Fires in those piers (and in the ship’s graveyards in Staten Island) were a nightmare for them.
I'm Currently working as a Longshoremen for 20 years, my grandfather's both longshoremen and uncles checkers and growing up in Brooklyn only walking distance from the Red Hook piers and not far from Moore McCormack and 23 and 39th stress, this video hits a nostalgic note. There should be more videos like this.. . I'm now working on the NJ side with 20 years in and about 20 left to go . God bless the ILA.
Yeah- New Jersey did to NYC what happened everywhere- it's tough to build a container port on the site of a more traditional port, especially if that is a riverfront port, the older kind. In London, the earliest docks in the Pool in the heart of London slowly yielded some place to wet docks and tidal docks downriver, then to huge Victorian and Edwardian wet docks in the Isle of Dogs and even farther downriver, and for a while there was work for all, but with the trend of shipping going to the newer, the bigger, the downriver, and by the late twentieth century all replaced by container ports still farther downriver. You need a lot of fresh space for open storage and cranes and big frontage to dock container ships. Easier to build a new site or on a derelict one.
Chelsea piers and actually all of the Piers in general have been really well repurposed.. My niece has had birthdays at Chelsea Piers and am amazed at how multi-purposed it is(didn't actually know the history, but the river is DEFINITELY cleaner than at its' industrial peak). And there ARE small ships that constantly leave from Chelsea Piers.. Party ships, rental ships, sight-seeing etc.. Even a ferry! I realize it's not exactly the same, but people still move and travel from Chelsea Pier. Another is a nice little shopping and outdoor area where you can just sit down and watch the river flow.. Also.. Cruise ships take off from one of the piers.. they even have a fairly annoying customs office for when you return from your cruise.(Complete with line of angry people you were dancing in a Congo line with yesterday) Modern NYC wasn't at its' peak at the time of the docks 1st use.. They were dirty places from a time when everyday refuse was tossed into the rivers without a thought and the EPA etc. didn't exist. I could go on, but..
Yeah "Dirty Places" when the U.S was self sufficient at making products and sustaining itself. But hey! As long as you have a place to shop in a crime ridden city and enjoy your overpriced Latte watching the river, all is well with the world.
@@JBB4118 do you live in NYC, or is your knowledge based on some articles you've read and the 1 time you visited? NYC certainly doesn't corner the market on overpriced lattes, as you've simplified it down to, and it seems to me the Midwest is cornering the market on horrifying crime these days
@@scoopydaniels8908 I'm From the Island originally. Where are you from....let me guess either Westchester or the Hudson valley amiright? You just love driving down the Cross Bronx heading to the airport telling your little niece "look at the blight, those poor people" or going to one of those little parties at the pier pointing to a over a homeless guy whispering to yourself "poor man" while taking a wide berth around him. I met a lot of people like you in this city who think nothing of buying and "gentrifying" a minority neighborhood pricing them out of the market the wondering why your property gets vandalized. I realize i'm not "elite" like you, i just work one of those "dirty jobs" as you like to say. But forgive me when i say "Take off!"
@@JBB4118 actually, I'm from Philly.. By all accounts, I HATE New York and everything about it, but I also think it's often maligned and misrepresented by people who don't know what they're talking about.. Sadly, you've made some very broad leaps about who I am and what I am about.. I think perhaps you should be a little slower on the draw with the crazy anger and JUDGEMENTS of others with ZERO info about those you're making assumptions about .. or perhaps that's just the New Yorker showing up in you
@@scoopydaniels8908 Ahh, your not even from there! No, i got you pegged alright... a champagne and limousine Liberal who looks down their noses at people. Someone who never got their hands dirty. Try working sometime and get back to me.
The highway you mentioned was to be called Westway and is another grandiose NYC project that never went anywhere. For many decades, there was the West Side Highway, an elevated four-lane highway that ran along the Hudson waterfront from around 70th Street down to the southern tip of Manhattan. Then one day in 1973, a big slab of pavement just fell through, crashing 30 feet to the ground. Inspection revealed that the highway was basically falling apart and was closed down with plans to demolish it. Then the question came up as to what to replace it with. There was a grand announcement of a new highway to be called Westway and here's where the fun starts. One plan was a ground level six-lane highway, but people complained that it would cut off access to the waterfront. Another idea was for a underground highway with a park above it, but that brought up fire and safety issues. Other people didn't want a highway at all and that the money should go to mass transit. Another said that the highway would harm fish in the Hudson, but it's hard to see how it would be worse than what was already there. So after years of political infighting, disagreements, and lawsuits, the project was eventually abandoned.
As a boater and semi-recent resident of NYC and later NJ it always blows my mind how under utilized the Hudson and East River waterfronts are in regards to recreational boating. There are so many amazing sights to see yet so few people seeing them from the water.
I like your videos because they are a part of history that is lost to most people. I also like old buildings and the history of those places . I look forward to seeing more .
I used to work for a mental health organization that had fund-raisers every year. Chelsea Piers kindly donated tickets. In the 1960s I used to marvel at the sizes of the cruise ships docked at the piers. I'm so glad that not everything on the NYC waterfront is rotting away.
I can almost see my own ghost in these scenes. My early life from the 1940s and 1950s was spent along these docks when New York Harbor and its 92,500 liquid acres was nearly choked with surface traffic.
I used to walk up and down the pier all the time back when I was living in Brooklyn, stopping at the faded facade of Cunard White Star on Pier 54 where the Carpathia docked in 1912 to disembark the survivors of the Titanic, before heading up to Pier 59 where Carpathia dropped off the Titanic's lifeboats, completing its ill-fated journey where the ship herself was to dock once it reached New York. I'm surprised you somehow failed to include this rather substantial fact, yet you did reference the Andrea Doria which honestly is not nearly as tragic.
An excellent channel. We enjoy the concise, informative and entertaining format. PS: There were two George B. McClellan's. The one referred to here is the son, G.B.M. jr.
Ho hooo! I worked for Christie's Inc from 1999 - 2011. The Red Hook storage facility was a big deal then! A little tidbit for you - art storage was a major issue for the auction house regarding sales tax. Collectors used to purchase highly expensive art, delay picking it up, then would resell it using Christie's as the agent - and would AVOID storage fees and NYC sales tax. The model has long since been revamped. This - is an awesome channel!
My grandfather, an Italian immigrant landed a job on the docks, and several of his sons, my father included, joined him. I come from a family of longshoreman and there was nothing better for me as a kid then going to see my father at the 23rd street Brooklyn pier, Moore McCormack line with those gigantic, enormous ships and the hustle and bustle of activity among men in hard hats and hi-los going every which way. I’d meet men, none of whom were ever called by their real name, but nicknames. Blackie, Hollywood, Jackie the Giant Killer, etc. The plan for me was to get in when they opened the books, but the time I came of age in 1980, things have changed. Container ships changed everything, and that once bustling pier that looked like a beehive of activity, slowed down tremendously. I met a lot of great longshoremen in my younger years and always thought I’d be one myself. It was a hard and demanding job, but as a kid it was what I thought I wanted to be. It didn’t seem like a job as much as it did a family business of sorts.
Cool story! I often wondered where did all those Longshoremen live back in the early to mid 20th century? Did they stay close to the piers or commute to the outer boroughs?
Fascinating survey of a world that's now just over the edge of memory for most of us, either by being so removed from this way of life ourselves, or perhaps because even this way of life has given way to container ports, giant cranes, mechanization and computerization. Not that there still isn't hard physical work to be done on docks, but the bulk cargo and armies of stevedores don't look like they once did, and the great river ports with piers at the end of every street have mostly given way to the container ports at a distance from the urban core.
I always marveled at photos of lower Manhattan island from the early 20th century, particularly in the 1930's, with all the docks lining the shoreline. Now, all those stevadore jobs are lost to containerization and the once seedy low rent areas are now high rent commercial and residential districts.
Lower Manhattan was more picturesque and interesting then it is today. Elevated lines made their way between the towers. The narrow streets, gave it an atmosphere resembling towns in Europe, with their Medieval layouts. There were buildings, with architectural features which reflected the Dutch origins of the city. Abutting the skyscrapers constructed during the early decades of the 20th century, and the Art Deco icons, were old Federal style houses. A much more visually arresting mish mash of structures as opposed to the blanality and lack of character one sees today.
At 6:39 that's a picture of US General George B. McClellan in the civil war. He later served as Governor of New Jersey. The George B. McClellan who was Mayor of New York was his son.
My father would take me and my older sister down Kent Ave here in Williamsburg to look at and explore the waterfront in the 90s before it went to shit. These wooden docks were all over. It was so cool to see.
The mayor was George B McClellan, Jr, not his father (pictured) the Civil War general. Other than the photo, a very enjoyable and informative video. I sailed from Pier 88 on one of the last crossings of the SS France in 1974.
Fascinating slice of history, and one repeated in so many cities around the world, both at coastal ports and inland ports (cities like Glasgow in Scotland had large warehouses by the inland port of the canal system, for instance, derelict for years, now revamped as very handsome apartments by the water), or London's Docklands. I was at the massive Jean Michel Jarre concert in Docklands in mid 80s, when the area was in transition, much of the old port infrastructure and buildings still there, decaying, but the new plans for the area coming in, now it's totally changed. Our great cities adapt, but it's good we still have solid pieces of that history there to remind us of how the city was before.
At 15:12 , that is Major general George Brinton McClellan , briefly union army commander and losing presidential candidate during the us civil war. He was later the governor of NJ but not the Mayor of Nyc; that would be his son, George B McClellan jr. who also earlier had served as a Us Representative. Mayor McClellan also presided over the opening of the nyc subway system; they let him ceremonially drive a train and he had so much fun doing it he wouldnt give up the controls :-)
This reminds me of the docks in London, England. They have gone through many iterations in the last 400 years. For a long time, 200+ years, they were the busiest ports in the world. Imports from all over the world due to the British Empire flowed through them. You should do a video about them.
For clarity: stevedores are those who move cargo _between_ ship and shore; longshoremen handle cargo _on the dock_(ie, 'along the shore'). For the men involved the distinction is important.
could you please do a video on the old Sacramento Northern? the electric line that ran from Oakland to Sacramento. it would be so cool because not a lot of people knew about it
I'm surprised there was no mention of the mafia's strong influence on the waterfronts particularly during World War II and the Lucky Luciano and Albert Anastasia days. There are some stories that the FBI and US military asked Luciano for help in maintaining order on the docks when there were a series of dock bombings and sabotage during the war. It is often assumed he was released early, (but agreed to be deported to Italy) because of his "service" to the U.S. during the war. The feds deny this of course. The movie "On the Waterfront" about problems with dock workers, unions and mob bosses won 8 Academy Awards. The story takes place on the New Jersey docks, BUT the problems there were just magnified in NY. Anyway I just thought any subject on NYC lost docks would have at least a token mention of the mobster influence. Thanx.
New York piers had four phases of pier constructions thanks to the length and span of ship growth. Originally oldest pier in New York, Manhattan currently is Pier A. Pier 1 and to Pier 25 was the first phase serving for ships originally under the 100-meter mark and bit over built-in 1800s serving White Star Oceanic class, etc. Pier 25 up all the way to Pier 59 were built between the 1800s and 1900s as ships reached close to two hundred meters in length serving RMS Lusitania for example. Chelsea Piers was listing Pier 59 to Pier 62 starting serving ships from the 1910s up till the post-war period with a length of two hundred and past expected to be used by RMS Titanic. The last fourth phase is part of Manhattan Cruise Terminal listing Piers 88 to Pier 94 for ships of three hundred meters like RMS Queen Mary and her sister ship RMS Elizabeth and current cruise ships like Queen Victoria. Across there were also between the docking port were service piers for firefighters, air intake for Holland Tunnel, and other port services.
@@lookoutforchris East River Piers was the front area starting from the old Pier A being the oldest port area toward East numbering from Pier 1 up to still existing Pier 42 mostly for cargo ships since there was a large area of factories that got shuttered up till 80's redevelopment of East River Waterfront. Yes, it had a limit for ship sizes as docks did not go any further than Williamsburg Bridge. East River was less wide than the Hudson River. Ships of size to hundred and bit over two hundred since it would be a tight squeeze with more ship length. Today most large-size cargo ships dock at Newark Bay.
For some reason, I'm highly intrigued by the NY docks area between say 1920 and 1950, when the railroad cars were loaded onto ferries. I grew up in Jersey in the 60's and always wondered what those enormous building were on the Hudson shoreline. I never saw railcars loaded onto ferries in the 60's not that I can recall. There was still reasonable activity during that time but apparently the writing was on the wall. I had not considered that this railcars-on-ferry boats was a profoundly inefficient manner in which to transport and transfer bulk goods. NY still had plenty of manufacturing going on in the 60's though much/most of it had moved out from Manhattan into the outer boroughs or Long Island City.
I never thought i would be interested in history, because throughout school it was the driest subject. Though now with the advent of TH-cam, I'm actually enjoying history lessons.
You might want to add the Piers at the South Street Seaport Museum on the East River. Their re-development has spurred the inland parts of the area as a historic site.
I remember the abandoned piers along the Hudson river in the 1970s, I used to explore a number of them around Greenwhich Village, Canal St, 14th st etc I remember one burning around 1976- black acrid smoke from the creosote saturated wood. I have an antique Weston ammeter I removed from some control room out at the end of one of the piers.
The reference to Mayor George B. McLennan was a accompanied by a photo of Civil War Union General George B. McClellan. When the Chelsea docks were constructed McClellan had been dead about 20 years, dying in 1885. The dreaded homonym.
It's crazy to think that docks once teemed with men unloading ships and now there are maybe a handful with one or two crane operators removing all the shipping containers
The piers off the BQE if you where heading west sat empty for years too. Now it's a park and they turned the wearhouses into high end apartments n lofts .
Out of curiosity, why don’t they remove the old piling posts from piers that are gone? Example the old Cunard dock which now has little island over it. Also, who owns these piers? The port authority?
I wondered about that... I can only guess that, too rotten for construction, they're of no use to anybody, not even as firewood, or as features for garden landscaping projects, the cost of removal, drying out, storage etc. being prohibitive. I should think that until they become actively in somebody's way, they're going nowhere. Of course, that's not really an answer though! (I'm afraid I wouldn't even have a notion as to the answer to your second question!)
Just a thought, perhaps a video on a peninsula America lost is in order. That being Cape Cod, which was effectively turned into an island with the completion of the Cape Cod Canal. Even if I am saying lost in a tongue-in-cheek manner, that canal and the reasons for building it in the first place make for an interesting bit of history imo.
Excellent video. As I watched movies and tv shows over the years they would include glimpses of the dilapidated docks of New York. It would occur to me what happened that resulted in causing this to occur. Your video answers that question. I'm glad to see that there is a resurrection of that area.
What ever happy to the Iron archway that said White star on it. It was painted white.. It was where the Titanic was suppose to tie up had it not sunk. You have a lot of pictures of the west side!! The archway was there as of the early 2000's I'm in a union in New York and I remember doing work not far from it.
The Mayor of New York City from 1903-1910, was George B. McleLLan JR., the son of the (pictured in the video) Union General & New Jersey Governor George B. McClellan. George Sr. died in 1885.
Another pier that has not been lost is located at 43St. This has the New York portage of the Enterprise Aircraft Carrier Museum. And the Cunard lines still maintain portage for their passenger lines.
A 3rd generation NYC Dockbuilder. Yes it was the fact that New York was the greatest port in the world. That’s what made it the greatest city in the world.
The photo at 6:42 is incorrect: you show Mayor McClellan’s father, General George B. McClellan. The father died in 1885, long before the Chelsea piers were built.
A historical "detail" you omitted to mention was that the abandoned piers became a hive of gay activity in the 1970s-1980s. As gay guys began to find each other in that time period, the piers and the waterfront buildings became places to find one's own kind. For the gay community, that era was a passing phase, just one phase in a long growing up process, but it was still a phase of great importance to us.
it all changed so fast. I started trucking with dad in the 70s. container hauling.. bouncing around nyc for a tight ride the whole way. Never did understand the masochist approach to shipping. Jersey was so new, they let drivers walk around, even as the man made approach to unloading from giant ships went over our heads. My dad even lost me once.. I was wandering around between rows and rows of containers. A little kid. no hard hat,vests,nothing... lots of mob activity for sure. It has come a long way from neck deep in smog and even an I-95 that snaked its way to smacking mirrors with other trucks. I may visit again one day... personal vehicle.
I live in Brooklyn, I love Chelsea, I really wish I knew where I was chilling at...inuse to go to pier 44 EVERY Night ...I mean every until its too cold even then ...we'd be there the village kids lol
Fascinating topic with wonderful images and maps but it is delivered in such a rush that, for me, makes clear comprehension difficult. E.G., I found it difficult to relate the maps shown from 0:48 to 1:15 . A little more colour code graphic illustration would have been helpful. (Obviously I,m not a New Yorker, not even American). Also a map indicating where the Chelsea, Red Hook and Pier 97 docks where/are in relation to the city, etc, would have provided more enlightenment to a simple man like myself. I sincerely hope that you appreciate my critical observation of your enjoyable documantary
Red Hook is over in Brooklyn, so is not on the map he uses. But here's a tip I learned as a kid: Subtract 40 from the pier number and that gives you the cross-street number. So Pier 97 would be at the west end of 57th Street. The new Chelsea Piers used to be the old Piers 59, 60, and 61, so that would be at 19th, 20th, and 21st Streets. Hope this helps
You know Chelsea Piers is still an operating marine terminal right? Coastal cruise ships dock there during the summer and fall to sail the Hudson River and Erie Canal cruises. Not to mention Entertainment Cruises operates out of there. Great story but it’s sad about red hook we see the decay of what could have been and the greediness of Bloomberg with the hulk of what use to been the Brooklyn Historic Railway.
The unions, the mob, and the government with tolls and taxes certainly helped put the nail in the coffin on the NYC piers. Tne shipping companies had enough and moved to where they had less hassles.
just a small mistake to clear: George B Mclellan was never mayor of new york. After his failed campaign against A Lincoln for the presidency he went on to become Gov of New Jersey. His SON, George Mclellan Jr. became mayor of new york. the pic showed @ 6:36 is General G.B. Mclellan Sr.
@@ITSHISTORY it’s a small detail not really worthy of retraction or footnote. I was just being pedantic really. Mclellan sr died in 1885. His son was mayor of nyc around 1909. He presided over the opening of the Manhattan and queensboro bridge and his name appears on both of them on plaques. Your videos are thorough and engaging so don’t take any of that as criticism.
Correction required: at 6:33 you state "Mayor George B. McClellan stated . . . " The picture is of Mayor McClellan's father, Civil War General and later Governor of New Jersey George B. McClellan, Sr. It's an easy mistake to make, but given that this is a historical channel, you should fix it.
Your channel is amazing, it makes things I have no interest in the most interesting thing ever, history as it SHOULD have been done in school, congratulations.
For real bro
I was filming in NYC not too long ago and noticed all those old pilings everywhere. Didn't know they had such a cool story. There is a lot of abandoned stuff in NYC.
I grew up in City Island NY. It was a huge ship manufacturing hub. They build WWll PT boats, as well as a winning America cup yacht. Unfortunately the areas many boat yards have been sold off. With co-ops filling the landscape. City Island would be a very interesting place for you to do a history show about. Its still very nautical. More like a New England town, than an Island in the Bronx.
My parents, sister and I used to go to City Island once a month for many years as tradition. I used to love how different it was compared to my neighborhood in Manhattan.
My dad was born in Greenpoint in 1910. After Mom died in 1967, he took my brother and me to NYC. I recall a moment on a pier at the foot of Noble Street. As we played, Dad stood with hands in pockets, gazing across the river at a skyline devoid of landmarks that he knew. His palpable feeling of loss still makes me tear up.
I've always tried to explain this to all my NYC transplant friends. This helps so much in visualizing it to them..loved living here all my life
I work at the auction house mentioned that has our storage facility in RedHook on Imlay street. I've been out there once but it is the most incredible building to tour, as you're surrounded by thousands of beautiful and priceless objects stuffed into every nook and cranny
Shout out to Christie's!!
What a great topic and video. One of the first large scale integral manufacturing, warehousing, and shipping (rail and boat) complexes in the world was the Bush Terminal in Brooklyn. Most of the piers are gone, but a number of the main structures remain and have been repurposed as artists’ studios, tech company facilities, loft apartments etc. Some of the piers were filled in to be a waterside park.
That's cool
One of my first jobs in the 1970’s was making pick-ups over in the Red Hook area in Brooklyn and some of those pictures bring back memories ! God Bless the USA 🇺🇸 !
Red Hook in the 70s was pretty tough. My brother was a cop there in the 90s and he had stories even then.
Cool. My dad was part of FDNY from 1950 to 1987. He served through much of the decay. Fires in those piers (and in the ship’s graveyards in Staten Island) were a nightmare for them.
I'm Currently working as a Longshoremen for 20 years, my grandfather's both longshoremen and uncles checkers and growing up in Brooklyn only walking distance from the Red Hook piers and not far from Moore McCormack and 23 and 39th stress, this video hits a nostalgic note.
There should be more videos like this.. .
I'm now working on the NJ side with 20 years in and about 20 left to go .
God bless the ILA.
Yeah- New Jersey did to NYC what happened everywhere- it's tough to build a container port on the site of a more traditional port, especially if that is a riverfront port, the older kind. In London, the earliest docks in the Pool in the heart of London slowly yielded some place to wet docks and tidal docks downriver, then to huge Victorian and Edwardian wet docks in the Isle of Dogs and even farther downriver, and for a while there was work for all, but with the trend of shipping going to the newer, the bigger, the downriver, and by the late twentieth century all replaced by container ports still farther downriver. You need a lot of fresh space for open storage and cranes and big frontage to dock container ships. Easier to build a new site or on a derelict one.
Pretty cool info 👍👍👍👍🫡
I love this video
Chelsea piers and actually all of the Piers in general have been really well repurposed.. My niece has had birthdays at Chelsea Piers and am amazed at how multi-purposed it is(didn't actually know the history, but the river is DEFINITELY cleaner than at its' industrial peak). And there ARE small ships that constantly leave from Chelsea Piers.. Party ships, rental ships, sight-seeing etc.. Even a ferry! I realize it's not exactly the same, but people still move and travel from Chelsea Pier. Another is a nice little shopping and outdoor area where you can just sit down and watch the river flow.. Also.. Cruise ships take off from one of the piers.. they even have a fairly annoying customs office for when you return from your cruise.(Complete with line of angry people you were dancing in a Congo line with yesterday)
Modern NYC wasn't at its' peak at the time of the docks 1st use.. They were dirty places from a time when everyday refuse was tossed into the rivers without a thought and the EPA etc. didn't exist. I could go on, but..
Yeah "Dirty Places" when the U.S was self sufficient at making products and sustaining itself. But hey! As long as you have a place to shop in a crime ridden city and enjoy your overpriced Latte watching the river, all is well with the world.
@@JBB4118 do you live in NYC, or is your knowledge based on some articles you've read and the 1 time you visited? NYC certainly doesn't corner the market on overpriced lattes, as you've simplified it down to, and it seems to me the Midwest is cornering the market on horrifying crime these days
@@scoopydaniels8908 I'm From the Island originally. Where are you from....let me guess either Westchester or the Hudson valley amiright? You just love driving down the Cross Bronx heading to the airport telling your little niece "look at the blight, those poor people" or going to one of those little parties at the pier pointing to a over a homeless guy whispering to yourself "poor man" while taking a wide berth around him.
I met a lot of people like you in this city who think nothing of buying and "gentrifying" a minority neighborhood pricing them out of the market the wondering why your property gets vandalized.
I realize i'm not "elite" like you, i just work one of those "dirty jobs" as you like to say. But forgive me when i say "Take off!"
@@JBB4118 actually, I'm from Philly.. By all accounts, I HATE New York and everything about it, but I also think it's often maligned and misrepresented by people who don't know what they're talking about.. Sadly, you've made some very broad leaps about who I am and what I am about.. I think perhaps you should be a little slower on the draw with the crazy anger and JUDGEMENTS of others with ZERO info about those you're making assumptions about .. or perhaps that's just the New Yorker showing up in you
@@scoopydaniels8908 Ahh, your not even from there! No, i got you pegged alright... a champagne and limousine Liberal who looks down their noses at people. Someone who never got their hands dirty. Try working sometime and get back to me.
The highway you mentioned was to be called Westway and is another grandiose NYC project that never went anywhere. For many decades, there was the West Side Highway, an elevated four-lane highway that ran along the Hudson waterfront from around 70th Street down to the southern tip of Manhattan. Then one day in 1973, a big slab of pavement just fell through, crashing 30 feet to the ground. Inspection revealed that the highway was basically falling apart and was closed down with plans to demolish it. Then the question came up as to what to replace it with. There was a grand announcement of a new highway to be called Westway and here's where the fun starts.
One plan was a ground level six-lane highway, but people complained that it would cut off access to the waterfront. Another idea was for a underground highway with a park above it, but that brought up fire and safety issues. Other people didn't want a highway at all and that the money should go to mass transit. Another said that the highway would harm fish in the Hudson, but it's hard to see how it would be worse than what was already there. So after years of political infighting, disagreements, and lawsuits, the project was eventually abandoned.
As a boater and semi-recent resident of NYC and later NJ it always blows my mind how under utilized the Hudson and East River waterfronts are in regards to recreational boating. There are so many amazing sights to see yet so few people seeing them from the water.
I like your videos because they are a part of history that is lost to most people. I also like old buildings and the history of those places . I look forward to seeing more .
I used to work for a mental health organization that had fund-raisers every year. Chelsea Piers kindly donated tickets. In the 1960s I used to marvel at the sizes of the cruise ships docked at the piers. I'm so glad that not everything on the NYC waterfront is rotting away.
I can almost see my own ghost in these scenes. My early life from the 1940s and
1950s was spent along these docks when New York Harbor and its 92,500 liquid
acres was nearly choked with surface traffic.
Thank you Ryan for more interesting history.. Thx for taking us along...
I used to walk up and down the pier all the time back when I was living in Brooklyn, stopping at the faded facade of Cunard White Star on Pier 54 where the Carpathia docked in 1912 to disembark the survivors of the Titanic, before heading up to Pier 59 where Carpathia dropped off the Titanic's lifeboats, completing its ill-fated journey where the ship herself was to dock once it reached New York. I'm surprised you somehow failed to include this rather substantial fact, yet you did reference the Andrea Doria which honestly is not nearly as tragic.
I was visiting the trolley by the red hook docks today, and went shopping in that food Bazaar on my break at work today haha
Thank you for doing this series of highly informative programs. They are extremely intersting.
Amazing seeing how these places looked. So beautiful. By the time I was born everything was run down
An excellent channel. We enjoy the concise, informative and entertaining format. PS: There were two George B. McClellan's. The one referred to here is the son, G.B.M. jr.
Ho hooo! I worked for Christie's Inc from 1999 - 2011. The Red Hook storage facility was a big deal then!
A little tidbit for you - art storage was a major issue for the auction house regarding sales tax. Collectors used to purchase highly expensive art, delay picking it up, then would resell it using Christie's as the agent - and would AVOID storage fees and NYC sales tax. The model has long since been revamped.
This - is an awesome channel!
Yea it is pretty good stuff i stop where i was out side just to catch these video an its 102 degrees pretty good stuff 👍👍👍👍👍
The "Chelsea docks" hold an entirely different memory in the 70s.
In reading adventure novels from the 30’s, they really show how busy the waterfront areas were in that period with ships, seaplanes and the like.
Great documentary! 👍
My grandfather, an Italian immigrant landed a job on the docks, and several of his sons, my father included, joined him. I come from a family of longshoreman and there was nothing better for me as a kid then going to see my father at the 23rd street Brooklyn pier, Moore McCormack line with those gigantic, enormous ships and the hustle and bustle of activity among men in hard hats and hi-los going every which way. I’d meet men, none of whom were ever called by their real name, but nicknames. Blackie, Hollywood, Jackie the Giant Killer, etc. The plan for me was to get in when they opened the books, but the time I came of age in 1980, things have changed. Container ships changed everything, and that once bustling pier that looked like a beehive of activity, slowed down tremendously. I met a lot of great longshoremen in my younger years and always thought I’d be one myself. It was a hard and demanding job, but as a kid it was what I thought I wanted to be. It didn’t seem like a job as much as it did a family business of sorts.
Cool story! I often wondered where did all those Longshoremen live back in the early to mid 20th century? Did they stay close to the piers or commute to the outer boroughs?
@@Picasso_Picante92 Absolutely! Spread out over Brooklyn. Once retired, the migration to Staten Island or New Jersey began. Thanks for commenting.
@@nja3224you think NY could begin moving back towards this, even on a smaller scale?
Fascinating survey of a world that's now just over the edge of memory for most of us, either by being so removed from this way of life ourselves, or perhaps because even this way of life has given way to container ports, giant cranes, mechanization and computerization. Not that there still isn't hard physical work to be done on docks, but the bulk cargo and armies of stevedores don't look like they once did, and the great river ports with piers at the end of every street have mostly given way to the container ports at a distance from the urban core.
I always marveled at photos of lower Manhattan island from the early 20th century, particularly in the 1930's, with all the docks lining the shoreline.
Now, all those stevadore jobs are lost to containerization and the once seedy low rent areas are now high rent commercial and residential districts.
Lower Manhattan was more picturesque and interesting then it is today. Elevated lines made their way between the towers. The narrow streets, gave it an atmosphere resembling towns in Europe, with their Medieval layouts. There were buildings, with architectural features which reflected the Dutch origins of the city. Abutting the skyscrapers constructed during the early decades of the 20th century, and the Art Deco icons, were old Federal style houses. A much more visually arresting mish mash of structures as opposed to the blanality and lack of character one sees today.
At 6:39 that's a picture of US General George B. McClellan in the civil war. He later served as Governor of New Jersey. The George B. McClellan who was Mayor of New York was his son.
Didnt Lincoln fire him as General in Chief for Grant? Eventually McClellan ran and lost to Lincoln for the Presidency in 1864?
My father would take me and my older sister down Kent Ave here in Williamsburg to look at and explore the waterfront in the 90s before it went to shit. These wooden docks were all over. It was so cool to see.
Wow! did you guys take any photos ever?
Great video! 👍🏿
Amazing video, i have seen and been In many abandoned/renovated warehouses along the docks of Brooklyn. Glad to learn the history in great detail
The mayor was George B McClellan, Jr, not his father (pictured) the Civil War general. Other than the photo, a very enjoyable and informative video.
I sailed from Pier 88 on one of the last crossings of the SS France in 1974.
Fantastic video and unique, fresh subject matter from what else is out there. Keep up the great work!!!
Fascinating slice of history, and one repeated in so many cities around the world, both at coastal ports and inland ports (cities like Glasgow in Scotland had large warehouses by the inland port of the canal system, for instance, derelict for years, now revamped as very handsome apartments by the water), or London's Docklands. I was at the massive Jean Michel Jarre concert in Docklands in mid 80s, when the area was in transition, much of the old port infrastructure and buildings still there, decaying, but the new plans for the area coming in, now it's totally changed. Our great cities adapt, but it's good we still have solid pieces of that history there to remind us of how the city was before.
At 15:12 , that is Major general George Brinton McClellan , briefly union army commander and losing presidential candidate during the us civil war. He was later the governor of NJ but not the Mayor of Nyc; that would be his son, George B McClellan jr. who also earlier had served as a Us Representative. Mayor McClellan also presided over the opening of the nyc subway system; they let him ceremonially drive a train and he had so much fun doing it he wouldnt give up the controls :-)
This reminds me of the docks in London, England. They have gone through many iterations in the last 400 years. For a long time, 200+ years, they were the busiest ports in the world. Imports from all over the world due to the British Empire flowed through them. You should do a video about them.
Is that George Costanza at 3:16?
Another great video Ryan!
well he did mention the Andrea Doria!
I thought it was Newman!😂
For clarity: stevedores are those who move cargo _between_ ship and shore; longshoremen handle cargo _on the dock_(ie, 'along the shore'). For the men involved the distinction is important.
Fascinating !
Extremely interesting history.👍✌️🇺🇲
Fantastic!!! I enjoyed it very much. Great topic! So much has been lost , there are parts of old structures on the Henry Hudson Parkway.
could you please do a video on the old Sacramento Northern? the electric line that ran from Oakland to Sacramento. it would be so cool because not a lot of people knew about it
the picture of george b mcclellan you posted was the senior (civil war general, presidential candidate and governor of NJ) the mayor was his son.
I'm surprised there was no mention of the mafia's strong influence on the waterfronts particularly during World War II and the Lucky Luciano and Albert Anastasia days. There are some stories that the FBI and US military asked Luciano for help in maintaining order on the docks when there were a series of dock bombings and sabotage during the war. It is often assumed he was released early, (but agreed to be deported to Italy) because of his "service" to the U.S. during the war. The feds deny this of course.
The movie "On the Waterfront" about problems with dock workers, unions and mob bosses won 8 Academy Awards. The story takes place on the New Jersey docks, BUT the problems there were just magnified in NY. Anyway I just thought any subject on NYC lost docks would have at least a token mention of the mobster influence. Thanx.
We docked at Red Hook for repairs...USNS Neptune....back in 1977. Very dangerous area.
Same thing, in London England. There, dock workers were called simply "Dockers".
New York piers had four phases of pier constructions thanks to the length and span of ship growth. Originally oldest pier in New York, Manhattan currently is Pier A. Pier 1 and to Pier 25 was the first phase serving for ships originally under the 100-meter mark and bit over built-in 1800s serving White Star Oceanic class, etc. Pier 25 up all the way to Pier 59 were built between the 1800s and 1900s as ships reached close to two hundred meters in length serving RMS Lusitania for example. Chelsea Piers was listing Pier 59 to Pier 62 starting serving ships from the 1910s up till the post-war period with a length of two hundred and past expected to be used by RMS Titanic. The last fourth phase is part of Manhattan Cruise Terminal listing Piers 88 to Pier 94 for ships of three hundred meters like RMS Queen Mary and her sister ship RMS Elizabeth and current cruise ships like Queen Victoria. Across there were also between the docking port were service piers for firefighters, air intake for Holland Tunnel, and other port services.
We're the East River piers different than the Hudson River piers? We're there limits on the size of ships for the East River?
@@lookoutforchris East River Piers was the front area starting from the old Pier A being the oldest port area toward East numbering from Pier 1 up to still existing Pier 42 mostly for cargo ships since there was a large area of factories that got shuttered up till 80's redevelopment of East River Waterfront. Yes, it had a limit for ship sizes as docks did not go any further than Williamsburg Bridge. East River was less wide than the Hudson River. Ships of size to hundred and bit over two hundred since it would be a tight squeeze with more ship length. Today most large-size cargo ships dock at Newark Bay.
6:41 Hidden hand and the buttons are 666
For some reason, I'm highly intrigued by the NY docks area between say 1920 and 1950, when the railroad cars were loaded onto ferries. I grew up in Jersey in the 60's and always wondered what those enormous building were on the Hudson shoreline. I never saw railcars loaded onto ferries in the 60's not that I can recall. There was still reasonable activity during that time but apparently the writing was on the wall. I had not considered that this railcars-on-ferry boats was a profoundly inefficient manner in which to transport and transfer bulk goods. NY still had plenty of manufacturing going on in the 60's though much/most of it had moved out from Manhattan into the outer boroughs or Long Island City.
I knew what they were but still I love what you are doing,thank you so much! From Da Bronx got nothing but love for you!
Thanks!
I never thought i would be interested in history, because throughout school it was the driest subject. Though now with the advent of TH-cam, I'm actually enjoying history lessons.
Awesome channel
You might want to add the Piers at the South Street Seaport Museum on the East River. Their re-development has spurred the inland parts of the area as a historic site.
I love it, Its like you are reading my mind. Great Stuff! ✌️❤️
Nice video! The wealthy people of that time lived far away from the waterfront. 5th Avenue, Park Avenue etc.
I remember the abandoned piers along the Hudson river in the 1970s, I used to explore a number of them around Greenwhich Village, Canal St, 14th st etc I remember one burning around 1976- black acrid smoke from the creosote saturated wood. I have an antique Weston ammeter I removed from some control room out at the end of one of the piers.
The reference to Mayor George B. McLennan was a accompanied by a photo of Civil War Union General George B. McClellan. When the Chelsea docks were constructed McClellan had been dead about 20 years, dying in 1885. The dreaded homonym.
did the focus switch to the west coast?
It's crazy to think that docks once teemed with men unloading ships and now there are maybe a handful with one or two crane operators removing all the shipping containers
Reminds me of ‘gangs of new york’, one of my fav movies.
So interesting
Yes it would be good to hear your New Jersey Devil encounter.
The piers off the BQE if you where heading west sat empty for years too. Now it's a park and they turned the wearhouses into high end apartments n lofts .
Out of curiosity, why don’t they remove the old piling posts from piers that are gone? Example the old Cunard dock which now has little island over it. Also, who owns these piers? The port authority?
I wondered about that... I can only guess that, too rotten for construction, they're of no use to anybody, not even as firewood, or as features for garden landscaping projects, the cost of removal, drying out, storage etc. being prohibitive. I should think that until they become actively in somebody's way, they're going nowhere. Of course, that's not really an answer though! (I'm afraid I wouldn't even have a notion as to the answer to your second question!)
@@richiehoyt8487 I think you’re right.
Just a thought, perhaps a video on a peninsula America lost is in order. That being Cape Cod, which was effectively turned into an island with the completion of the Cape Cod Canal. Even if I am saying lost in a tongue-in-cheek manner, that canal and the reasons for building it in the first place make for an interesting bit of history imo.
Excellent video. As I watched movies and tv shows over the years they would include glimpses of the dilapidated docks of New York. It would occur to me what happened that resulted in causing this to occur. Your video answers that question. I'm glad to see that there is a resurrection of that area.
While you touched on the rail road piers, that would make another great video.
And one criticism - why show Penn Station?
Great video
@10:06 what's with the seperate sides for men and women on the ferry?
Pier 54 and 59 we're known for famous shipping lines.
What ever happy to the Iron archway that said White star on it. It was painted white.. It was where the Titanic was suppose to tie up had it not sunk. You have a lot of pictures of the west side!! The archway was there as of the early 2000's I'm in a union in New York and I remember doing work not far from it.
The photo at 6:30 is George B McClellan Sr. The mayor of New York was George B McClellan Jr.
The Mayor of New York City from 1903-1910, was George B. McleLLan JR., the son of the (pictured in the video) Union General & New Jersey Governor George B. McClellan. George Sr. died in 1885.
Was just about to comment that
Hah- I just commented that without having scrolled down far enough!
14:25 Comfort stations? As in houses of ill repute, work stations for the ladies of the night?
Another pier that has not been lost is located at 43St. This has the New York portage of the Enterprise Aircraft Carrier Museum. And the Cunard lines still maintain portage for their passenger lines.
You mean the Intrepid, right?
@@davidfrischknecht8261 yes , thank you
14:16 that architecture.. oh no
Pier 92 RMS Sylvania, Cunard line, last Liverpool to NYC passenger crossing, 1965
The picture you show seems to be Gen George McClellan from the civil war!
A 3rd generation NYC Dockbuilder. Yes it was the fact that New York was the greatest port in the world. That’s what made it the greatest city in the world.
Someone should make a mint harvesting all those old piers, that wood is all good under the low water line.
The photo at 6:42 is incorrect: you show Mayor McClellan’s father, General George B. McClellan. The father died in 1885, long before the Chelsea piers were built.
There are so many abandoned docks that you'd think someone would buy them and turn them into pleasure boat marinas. I think they did with a couple
@8:35 adrie a doria? andree a doria. you forgot the letter “n” as the second letter
A historical "detail" you omitted to mention was that the abandoned piers became a hive of gay activity in the 1970s-1980s. As gay guys began to find each other in that time period, the piers and the waterfront buildings became places to find one's own kind. For the gay community, that era was a passing phase, just one phase in a long growing up process, but it was still a phase of great importance to us.
it all changed so fast. I started trucking with dad in the 70s. container hauling.. bouncing around nyc for a tight ride the whole way. Never did understand the masochist approach to shipping. Jersey was so new, they let drivers walk around, even as the man made approach to unloading from giant ships went over our heads. My dad even lost me once.. I was wandering around between rows and rows of containers. A little kid. no hard hat,vests,nothing... lots of mob activity for sure. It has come a long way from neck deep in smog and even an I-95 that snaked its way to smacking mirrors with other trucks. I may visit again one day... personal vehicle.
I live in Brooklyn, I love Chelsea, I really wish I knew where I was chilling at...inuse to go to pier 44 EVERY Night ...I mean every until its too cold even then ...we'd be there the village kids lol
Hard working Americans that built this country. Thank you so much. Love the immigrants. We all came from that.
The picture you show of McClellan as mayor of NYC is incorrect. He never served as mayor, but his son did.
Fascinating topic with wonderful images and maps but it is delivered in such a rush that, for me, makes clear comprehension difficult.
E.G., I found it difficult to relate the maps shown from 0:48 to 1:15 . A little more colour code graphic illustration would have been helpful. (Obviously I,m not a New Yorker, not even American).
Also a map indicating where the Chelsea, Red Hook and Pier 97 docks where/are in relation to the city, etc,
would have provided more enlightenment to a simple man like myself.
I sincerely hope that you appreciate my critical observation of your enjoyable documantary
Red Hook is over in Brooklyn, so is not on the map he uses. But here's a tip I learned as a kid: Subtract 40 from the pier number and that gives you the cross-street number. So Pier 97 would be at the west end of 57th Street. The new Chelsea Piers used to be the old Piers 59, 60, and 61, so that would be at 19th, 20th, and 21st Streets. Hope this helps
You know Chelsea Piers is still an operating marine terminal right? Coastal cruise ships dock there during the summer and fall to sail the Hudson River and Erie Canal cruises. Not to mention Entertainment Cruises operates out of there. Great story but it’s sad about red hook we see the decay of what could have been and the greediness of Bloomberg with the hulk of what use to been the Brooklyn Historic Railway.
Yes Bob Diamonds dream....
@11:05 not sure where those mountains in the background are. Looks like misrepresentation.
The unions, the mob, and the government with tolls and taxes certainly helped put the nail in the coffin on the NYC piers. Tne shipping companies had enough and moved to where they had less hassles.
You said it so well.
just a small mistake to clear: George B Mclellan was never mayor of new york. After his failed campaign against A Lincoln for the presidency he went on to become Gov of New Jersey. His SON, George Mclellan Jr. became mayor of new york. the pic showed @ 6:36 is General G.B. Mclellan Sr.
if you shoot me an email with this info and sources I'll post a retraction.
@@ITSHISTORY it’s a small detail not really worthy of retraction or footnote. I was just being pedantic really. Mclellan sr died in 1885. His son was mayor of nyc around 1909. He presided over the opening of the Manhattan and queensboro bridge and his name appears on both of them on plaques. Your videos are thorough and engaging so don’t take any of that as criticism.
Several piers and even a ship was found on the World Trade Center site during the excavations to clear the site.
Correction required: at 6:33 you state "Mayor George B. McClellan stated . . . " The picture is of Mayor McClellan's father, Civil War General and later Governor of New Jersey George B. McClellan, Sr. It's an easy mistake to make, but given that this is a historical channel, you should fix it.