October 18, 2006

Morrone List No 1: Eight Myths about New York

Historian, lecturer, pizza aficionado and architectural biographer of Manhattan and Brooklyn, Francis Morrone returns to NewYorkology as a contributor to kick off an occasional series of lists about New York City. Don't let that smiling mug fool you. He plans to burst your bubble today.

Eight Myths about New York

1. The bronze figure of Governor Seward, in Madison Square, used a casting of a figure of Lincoln by the same sculptor (Randolph Rogers).

This is demonstrably false. No one has ever adduced the purported original (it is not the Lincoln figure Rogers did for Philadelphia's Fairmount Park) and the whole canard seems to have been started by an anonymous letter writer to the New York Times.

2. Lillian Russell once resided in the Shore Road house that is now Fontbonne Hall Academy.

Not a shred of evidence exists, to my knowledge, to support this story.

3. There are many unutilized underground tunnels beneath Grand Central Terminal that were colonized by "mole people."

Joseph Brennan went to great analytic lengths to dispel this cockeyed notion. Simple logic, moreover, tells you that the sheer expense and time involved in blasting through bedrock and constructing tunnels that would then be abandoned defies all reason.

4. Frederick Law Olmsted designed Central Park and Prospect Park.

Olmsted certainly contributed, but Calvert Vaux is the true auteur of both parks.

5. Grimaldi's pizza is any good.

I take it on faith that it may once have been OK. The crust is limp, doughy, and tasteless, the mozzarella is flavorless, and it is served with a surly attitude.

6. A thousand or more people died in the New York City draft riots.

The number is hard to pin down but is surely closer to one hundred than one thousand.

7. Brooklynites so loved their Dodgers.

Really? Why, during the Dodgers' greatest decade, did Brooklynites stop going to the games? Brooklynites' indifference to their beloved Dodgers is, to any true sports fan, breathtaking.

8. There was once a murder a night in the Five Points.

No, there wasn't.

Please let us know your own favorite myths about New York -- or feel free to contradict any of the above. And be aware that any opinions herein expressed are those of the list-compiler and do not necessarily reflect the views of NewYorkology's management. -- Francis Morrone

October 18, 2006 02:10 PM in Architecture, Foodology, History, Sightsology, Transportology

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