The Manhattan Bridge is not the Brooklyn Bridge. Yes, both bridges cross the East River and connect Manhattan and Brooklyn. On the Brooklyn side, you can walk from one to the other in just over 5 minutes. They’re brothers separated by 26 years. (Sisters? I’m never sure about the genders of inanimate objects.) The Brooklyn Bridge is iconic, though. There are 2027 bridges in this town, but the Brooklyn Bridge is the one that immediately comes to mind when someone from the other side of the world hears the words “New York City” and “bridge.” The Manhattan Bridge is bigger, younger…and bluer, painted the color of Dutch Delft tiles.
I love the Manhattan Bridge.
Image may be NSFW.
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Top (1908): Eugene de Salignac, New York City Municipal Archives
Middle (1974): Danny Lyon, National Archives and Records Administration
Bottom (1984): Still from Once Upon a Time in America, Directed by Sergio Leone
Tucked under the Manhattan Bridge on the Brooklyn side is my new part-time neighborhood, DUMBO. My apartment is really close the the bridge–it’s in a factory built by Robert Gair (inventor of the corrugated cardboard box) in the 1880s. You can see the building in all three of the photos above, and it still looks pretty much the same in 2012 as it did in 1908.
Whether I’m walking home from the subway, talking the dogs out for their evening stroll, or talking a little time to myself on the little beach in the park, I cannot get enough of the Manhattan Bridge. The more time I spend in DUMBO, the more I get to know this big blue friend from all angles. It doesn’t have a bad side. I take a photo of it almost every day.
Image may be NSFW.
Clik here to view.
On Friday I wrote a little bit about the passing of Adam Yauch and about having been a Beastie Boys fan for two and a half decades. The Beasties are New York for me…they are Brooklyn. That’s why they’re on my “Summertime Jams” and “Hustle” mixtapes: They signify energy and sunshine and attitude. Walking down the street feeling like a badass. A badass with a sense of humor.
I can’t separate the Beasties and MCA from Brooklyn, and combined with my new-found love for the Manhattan Bridge, I was pretty excited last night when Neal Brennan uploaded some previously-unseen footage of the Beastie Boys performing “The New Style” on a boat in the East River in 2004. It was supposed to air on the third season of Chappelle’s Show (which of course never happened). The best part is Ad-Rock yelling out “let me clear my throat” just before a subway rumbles overhead on the Manhattan Bridge…a sound that sings me to sleep every night I’m in Brooklyn.
Kick it over here, baby pop…
EDIT: It’s back!
EDIT: Sorry guys, the video is being repeatedly yanked by Viacom. Here’s an article about why. If Neal Brennan can find a way to get it out there legally, I’ll re-edit it back in. Sad…