once upon a time there was a botanical garden in the middle of manhattan the
elgin botanic garden owned by david hosack dr hosack is famous
for being the attending doctor to the duel between alexander hamilton and aaron burr
and you'll learn all this in the musical hamilton but going back to the botanic garden after a while
dr hosack couldn't afford the upkeep of the garden so he petitioned the state of new york to purchase
the garden to benefit the medical schools of new york the responsibility of the garden passed hands
until it was eventually transferred over to columbia university
but colombia didn't set up campus in this area for reference colombia today is here so at this point
the botanic gardens started to decline since there was not much interest in maintaining it
the lot was rented out to different tenants the plants were relocated to morningside heights
and the horticultural textbooks were taken in by the new york botanical gardens in the bronx
the area became a residential neighborhood with stylish row houses but these homes didn't
stay stylish for long and soon the area was full of nightclubs speakeasies and brothels
and this was the case until the metropolitan opera started looking to replace its opera house
and they were interested in a plot of land right around where the botanical gardens had once been
they approached john d rockefeller jr in the hopes that he would donate land that could be
made into a front plaza for the new opera house jd rockefeller jr being the entrepreneur that he was
thought that maybe he could lease a large chunk of land he could let the met opera
have part of it and the rest he could sub lease to commercial businesses it was estimated that
he could possibly make five and a half million annually with this setup so he signed a contract
with columbia university to lease the land but oh no the following year the stock market crashed
initiating the start of the great depression this was not a good time for everyone financially
including the met opera who canceled their plan to move to this area but jd rockefeller jr had
already signed a lease so he was stuck having to pay 3.8 million a year in rent so he decided
being stuck with the contract to just continue developing the property even without the met opera
so the construction of the complex began 228 buildings were demolished and 4 000 tenants were
relocated but in exchange the construction project provided 75 000 jobs during the great depression
which i was told by a guide that all the workers were paid above minimum wage the major tenant of
the complex became radio corporation of america or rca luckily radio remained profitable during
the depression a subsidiary of rca was nbc and soon rockefeller center became known as radio
city this is why you'll see symbolisms of radio and broadcast and a lot of the art on the complex
today the rockefeller center still stands and is one of the most iconic nyc attractions and
in this video we are going to talk about its background and what you can see and do there when
you visit and we'll also point out not one but two holdouts a holdout is a piece of property that was
supposed to be part of a large development but for some reason or other the owners refused to
sell this piece of property so it never became part of the development hi and welcome to urban
caffeine my name is thea and you're watching a channel that talks about urban culture transit
and history if you like exploring the concrete urban jungle hit that like button now let's talk
about the rockefeller center rockefeller center is in midtown manhattan it's bounded by 5th and
6th avenues from 48th street to 51st street the overall theme for the rockefeller center is new
frontiers and the march of civilization so you'll see this theme a lot when you look at the decor
and art scattered throughout the complex you'll also see a lot of bronze gold and geometric shapes
this is a feature of the art deco style since the complex was constructed during the art
deco period if you're a big art and architectural buff i recommend taking the walking tour that the
center offers it's about 90 minutes long and you can buy your walking tour passes along with your
ticket to the observatory and we'll talk about the observatory in this video so keep watching
if there were to be a front of the center then it would be from fifth avenue
because back in the complex was being built there was an elevated train on sixth avenue the elevated
train is no longer there but back then a view from sixth avenue wouldn't have been very picturesque
from fifth avenue you will see the promenade also known as the channel gardens it's about 200 feet
long with the water featuring the middle it's decked out according to the seasons so if you
visit at different times of the year you'll notice it's decorated according to the current holiday
notable about the promenade is that it separates these two buildings one is themed french and the
other british and why do we have these two themed buildings back then american tenants
were reluctant to rent out commercial spaces so these spaces were offered to foreign tenants
and so these buildings were decorated according to the country of the foreign tenant both are
decorated in the art deco gold that we talked about the french themed building shows new york
in paris holding hands and figures that represent poetry beauty and elegance the british empire
building has nine figures that represent the nine industries and products traded within the empire
these two buildings were kept at a relatively lower height so that they wouldn't overshadow
the buildings on fifth avenue in effect the real estate valley on fifth avenue remained high
in front of the promenade is not really part of rockefeller center but i should
mention it because it's just right there is saks fifth avenue during
the holidays they have a light show and gorgeous window displays
i created another video of holiday things to do and link to that is in the description below to
the right of all this is the statue of atlas the titan god condemned to hold up the heavens for
eternity you'll notice there are several pieces that reference greek mythology in the complex
like other sculptures in the rockefeller center atlas is bronze and is the largest sculpture
in the complex right across from atlas is also not part of the rockefeller center but
worth mentioning because it's so prominent is st patrick's cathedral many celebrities
and famous people have been either married here or had their memorials
beyond the promenade is the lower plaza where you will see another greek god prometheus was
the titan god who gave fire to humans the statue of prometheus is in line with the theme of new
frontiers in the march of civilization that we mentioned earlier because fire was extremely
important for our existence and ultimately establishing a civilization right in front of
prometheus is the area for the ice rink that is there every holiday season during warmer months
this area turns into an outdoor cafe behind prometheus is the location of the holiday tree
when it's not the holiday season there is a marker that holds the spot of the tree
the tradition of the holiday tree started out with the construction workers working on site back in
1931. they pulled money together to put up a tree the sentiment was so nice that the rockefeller
center decided to make it a tradition every year so the first lighting ceremony happened in 1933
and every year since we've always had a tree at the rockefeller center during the holidays
the rockefeller tree has become such a tradition that there's so much hubbub from the moment it's
picked out to the time it arrives up until it's donated to habitat for humanity and it's
not just tourists that come here to see the tree there are many locals that pay homage every year
beyond the lower plaza is the building with the address 30 rockefeller center
also known as 30 rock the namesake for this show which i highly recommend 30 rockefeller was
first called the rca building because rca was the primary tenant when it was first built later the
name changed to the ge building who owned nbc they also owned rca which they eventually liquidated
and today it is the comcast building you might be familiar with this photograph titled lunch atop
a skyscraper this was taken when 30 rockefeller was being built at the entrance of 30 rockefeller
facing the lower plaza is another art piece with some golden art deco elements titled wisdom
again think back to our theme new frontiers in the march of civilization also in pop culture a
movie worth watching is frida although the movie centered on the life of frida in it was also
the story of her once husband diego rivera diego rivera was a famous muralist who was commissioned
to paint a mural at the lobby of 30 rockefeller his mural titled man at the crossroads featured
contemporary society and advancement in science and technology however in the mural diego rivera
included the image of vladimir lenin who was the founding head of government of soviet russia
as a side note diego rivera was an open communist he made this mural in 1933 during the time when
the general population in the united states had strong feelings against communism needless to say
the mural was destroyed and in its place was this mural called american progress by jose maria sert
sometimes people refer to 30 rockefeller building as top of the rock building that's
because 30 rockefeller has the top of the rock observatory the entrance to access
the observatory is here this is also where the walking tour meets just look for the red carpet
top of the rock observatory is actually my favorite observatory in new york city
in terms of actually seeing the city mainly because of its location it's smack right in the
middle of midtown manhattan it's in the perfect spot to view both midtown and lower manhattan
as well as the hudson river and east river plus central park and the upper east and west sides
the observatory itself has three levels to disperse the crowd and if you don't like looking
through glass you can go to the very top level for unobstructed viewing from top of the rock
you can see most of the popular buildings in new york city including all the other observatories
and while the very top of 30 rockefeller building is the observatory
at the basement level is a concourse line with different restaurants and shops
the building over here is 10 rockefeller center at one point eastern airlines was the primary
tenant of this building in the lobby there is a mural titled the history of transportation
it's painted in silver and gold silver for air transportation and gold for land and sea
transportation again think back to our theme of new frontiers and the march of civilization
at this corner is nbc studio 1a where they film the today show on weekday mornings
so if you want a chance to be in the backdrop of the today show you can try standing outside
the window when they are filming on the other side of the complex is radio city music hall
when it first opened it was the world's largest theater
since 1933 radio city music hall has been producing a holiday show every year called
the christmas spectacular starting the radio city rockettes it's an over-the-top 90-minute long show
with singing and dancing all within christmas themes to give you an idea of just how over the
top it is they had camels on stage that's right live camels and to top off everything that
rockefeller center has going on with its story it has not one but two hold out as a recap holdouts
are pieces of land that was supposed to be part of a larger development but for some reason or other
the owner refused to sell the slot so it never became part of that development and usually
construction would happen around that property think about the movie up
holdouts in spite buildings are more common than you think in new york city and that's a good topic
for a future video the rockefeller center holdouts are these two hurley's was an irish pub at the
time the owners of that irish pub had a lease on this part of land at the time and they refused
to give up that lease they were asking for 250 million dollars which was of course unreasonable
because that was the cost to build the entire site in the end they kept their lot and the
rockefeller complex was built around it the pub is no longer there because its own lease eventually
ended in 1975 today it's now occupied by magnolia bakery but you can clearly see the difference in
architecture ironically enough during its heyday it was a popular spot for the nbc crew and stars
to hang out at and during the prohibition it had a speakeasy the second holdout is on the opposite
side of the block the occupant here just straight out refused to sell today it's occupied by warby
parker and you can clearly see the difference in architecture on the facade and that's a wrap
thank you so much for watching if you've made it this far hit that like button and if you
know someone who wants to visit the rockefeller center or visiting new york feel free to share
this video with them until next time thank you so much for watching and happy new yorking