AS I ARRIVE at Robert Caro’s house, down a rutted, unpaved road in East Hampton, he asks me whether I’d hit any traffic on the Long Island Expressway. I had, and I remark that I’m here to talk about the man who made that happen. Caro offers a wry smile and some coffee, and even before we sit down, we get into a conversation about Robert Moses and the Long Island landscape of potato farms and old estates that his highways converted into exurbs. Caro, of course, grew famous with his first book, The Power Broker, the definitive biography of Moses and the auto-centric New York City he created through unelected iron rule. On September 16, The Power Broker will turn 50, and the New-York Historical Society is marking the anniversary with an exhibition. Even now, Caro can spin off many of the book’s revelations without looking anything up. He reminds me that, when Moses built the LIE, everyone told him to acquire an extra 40 feet of right-of-way to accommodate a light-rail line. The extra land, back then, would have cost little. “He wouldn’t do it. And he built the foundations so lightly that it could never be added.” A few generations later, Long Islanders collectively lose millions of hours to that decision every day.
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 09 - 22, 2024-Ausgabe von New York magazine.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent ? Anmelden
Diese Geschichte stammt aus der September 09 - 22, 2024-Ausgabe von New York magazine.
Starten Sie Ihre 7-tägige kostenlose Testversion von Magzter GOLD, um auf Tausende kuratierte Premium-Storys sowie über 8.000 Zeitschriften und Zeitungen zuzugreifen.
Bereits Abonnent? Anmelden
Lonely Islands The epic melancholy of Caspar David Friedrich.
YOU KNOW THE WORK of Caspar David Friedrich even if you don't think you do.
As Seen at Sundance
The talk of the ski town this year was chilly.
RESTAURANT REVIEW - It Only Looks Humble
Zimmi's is like an Old Country inn where the details are just right.
THE LAST TABOO
14 ADULTS ON COMING TO TERMS WITH, LYING ABOUT, DEPENDING ON. AND SPENDING THEIR PARENTS' MONEY.
Global Tongue A class in Iran probes English's transformative and oppressive powers.
SOMETIMES I THINK you can only speak one language,\" says a character in Sanaz Toossi's English.
Bold Lines on the Block In Bed-Stuy, a deconstructivist tries his hand at affordable housing.
WALK DOWN AN ordinary, blah-colored stretch of Marcus Garvey Boulevard in Bedford-Stuyvesant, past the dispiriting bulk of Woodhull Hospital and the brown-brick boxes of the Sumner Houses, and you'll come upon an incongruous apparition, a giant sugar cube that's been carved, beveled, and knocked askew.
The Reluctant Romantic
An afternoon of banter and bottled water with Leo Woodall, Hollywood's favorite new heartthrob.
53 MINUTES WITH ...Spencer Pratt
The former reality-TV star lost his home in the fires and ascended to a new level of fame.
Brushing Up an East Williamsburg Railroad
Artist Scott Csoke took a can of pink paint to an otherwise ho-hum rental.
BIG FOOD GETS JACKED
HOW PROTEIN MANIA TOOK OVER THE AMERICAN GROCERY STORE.
