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Old Posted Aug 22, 2014, 7:56 PM
THE BIG APPLE's Avatar
THE BIG APPLE THE BIG APPLE is offline
Khurram Parvaz
 
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Smile NEW YORK | Brooklyn Bridge | 276 FT | ≈ FLOORS | 1883

BROOKLYN BRIDGE, 'THE ONLY BRIDGE OF POWER, LIFE AND JOY,' TURNS 100; TODAY


By DEIRDRE CARMODY
Published: May 24, 1983

Quote:
Tens of thousands of New York City residents and out-of-town New York City buffs will flock into lower Manhattan and Brooklyn this morning and onto the banks of the East River tonight to pay joyful homage to the Brooklyn Bridge, which is 100 years old today.

Tributes and visitors poured in all day yesterday in preparation for the ceremonies. The Lord Mayor of London sent a message. The Mayor of Cincinnati prepared to watch the ceremonies from the reviewing stand to commemorate the fact that John A. Roebling, the designer of the Brooklyn Bridge, built a bridge - still used today - in Cincinnati 16 years before he built the Brooklyn Bridge.

A 60- by 90-foot American flag was being prepared to be hung today from the George Washington Bridge, the Hudson River arriviste that is a mere half-century old.

To the rest of the world, the Brooklyn Bridge has been a symbol of New York for all of its 100 years. It has been written about, sung about and filmed. It has developed a lore of its own, including silly stories about people in bars who sold the Brooklyn Bridge to other people in bars. At no time, however, has the selling of the Brooklyn Bridge been raised to such an art as it has for its centennial.

The bridge has appeared on T-shirts, posters, silver spoons from Tiffany's, paperweights and ashtrays. Sherry-Lehmann is selling a popular ''Great Bridge White Wine.'' The Postal Service has struck a commemorative stamp. Andy Warhol has done a poster. A million kits on the history of the bridge are being given to children in New York City's public, parochial and private schools.

All year, preparations for the centennial have dominated the scene, and there cannot be many people in New York unaware of the importance that is being put on this day. 'A Span, a Cry, an Ecstasy'

''What bridge?'' wrote Thomas Wolfe. ''Great God, the only bridge of power, life and joy, the bridge that was a span, a cry, an ecstasy - that was America.''

As New York prepared its celebration, the police warned of the possibility of enormous traffic jams and urged people coming into the area to leave their cars at home and use public transportation.

''Don't even think of driving,'' said Samuel I. Schwartz, the deputy transportation commissioner, at a news conference called to announce a ''gridlock prevention plan.''

The bridge itself, having served the public so valiantly for its hundred-year existence, is being given a rest and will be closed to vehicular traffic all day. Eighteen thousand marchers, many of them in period costume, are expected to parade across it in the morning.

In the evening there will be street fairs and formal ceremonies; a harbor craft parade on the East River; a Sound and Light Spectacle on the bridge's south face, and a half-hour of fireworks billed as one of the biggest pyrotechnic displays in American history.

New Yorkers have a reputation for being cynical about many aspects of the daily life of their city. But when it comes to the celebration of their history and of their monuments, they are as softhearted and as corny as any small-town resident in the rest of the country.

New Yorkers stunned out-of-towners with their old-fashioned good humor and outpourings of enthusiasm on the day of the Bicentennial, and all indications yesterday were that they were eager to do the same again for their beloved Brooklyn Bridge.

The weather forecast was for partly sunny skies and temperatures in the 70's - a day reminiscent of that warm and glorious day exactly 100 years ago when the bridge was opened. That day every house in the area was draped with red, white and blue bunting. Flags flew in the breeze and crowds packed the rooftops and jammed the waterfront.

President Chester A. Arthur, in black frock coat, white tie and a flat-brimmed black beaver hat, led the marchers across the bridge from Manhattan to Brooklyn. He was accompanied by Grover Cleveland, the portly new Governor and future President.

Today, the parade will go the other way, starting from Cadman Plaza West in Brooklyn at 9:30 A.M., continuing over the bridge to Manhattan and proceeding behind City Hall and down Broadway to the Battery, where dispersal is expected around 12:30 P.M.

Neither the President nor the Governor will be in attendance this time, although they were both invited. Governor Cuomo said his wife, Matilda, would stand in for him at the formal ceremonies at Fulton Ferry Landing tonight. Koch to Speak at Ceremony

The Governor said that he had appointments today and tomorrow in Buffalo that had been scheduled for some time and that he intended no slight to Brooklyn. He spoke while wearing a Brooklyn Bridge Centennial tie.

Mayor Koch will speak at the formal rededication ceremony, which begins at 8 P.M., as will the Manhattan and Brooklyn Borough Presidents, Andrew J. Stein and Howard Golden, and the president of the Brooklyn Bridge Centennial, Richard G. Perry. The ceremony, the sound and light show and the fireworks will all be carried live on WPIX-TV, Channel 11, from 8 to 10 P.M. WNEW-AM radio will carry a simulcast of the ceremonies and the sound and light show.

The Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive will be closed from Houston Street south from 5 P.M. on. At 7 P.M. the northbound lane will be opened to spectators from Jackson Street south to the Battery. The southbound lane will be kept free for emergency vehicles. Pedestrians can get on the drive from Jackson Street on the north end and from the South Ferry area on the south end. Those who wish to come by subway can take the F train to the East Broadway stop, which is at Canal Street, and walk to Jackson Street, or take any subway that goes to the South Ferry area.

The Brooklyn Bridge Centennial Commission says that the Franklin D. Roosevelt Drive is the best place to view the sound and light show, which begins at 9 P.M., and the fireworks, which are scheduled for 9:25 P.M.

Some bridge and tunnel lanes will be reversed this afternoon to let cars leave Manhattan more easily and to make up for the closing of the Brooklyn Bridge. Large areas of lower Manhattan and some areas in Brooklyn will be closed to traffic in the morning and again in the evening. The Staten Island Ferry will stop operating at 7:30 P.M. and not resume again until 10:15 P.M. from the Manhattan side and 11 P.M. from Staten Island.

Ferry service is being suspended because many boats are expected to mass in the river to toot their horns and set off jets of spray. That, too, will be reminiscent of opening day 100 years ago, when at least 50,000 people came into the city by train and probably an additional 50,000 arrived by boat to see the world's longest suspension bridge.

''Our most durable monument,'' wrote Montgomery Schuyler in the Harper's Weekly dated May 24, 1883. It is that very durability that is being celebrated today.

With the Verrazano Narrows Bridge turning 50 in November, I though that the bridges deserve some love too.
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Last edited by THE BIG APPLE; Aug 25, 2014 at 1:08 AM.
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Old Posted Aug 22, 2014, 8:16 PM
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Perklol Perklol is offline
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This is a marvelous bridge with fine details.

The same cannot be said of others built during 1950+.
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