Introducing: The Most Jane Jacobs Block in NYC Contest

1.

The other contest that could be created is the least Jane Jacobs block in the city: ie what the city would look like if the preservationist movement didn't exist, something like this: http://maps.google.com/?ll=40.712415,-73.982213&spn=0.001919,0.003616&t=k&om=1

marc

2.

awww - this is a really great idea - the woman had huge cajones

3.

Marc:

That corner of the city bums me out so much.

4.

That pic looks like St. Marks Place between 3rd and 2nd. I would say that would run high in my thoughts. Jane Jacobs thought very highly of the Upper East Side with it's short blocks (west of 3rd Ave) and diverse set of buildings. However she despised most of the Upper West Side for having long blocks between avenues (except next B'way) and she called out Park Ave for not mixing in commercial uses - they need doormen for "eyes on the street". I would say that Broadway is the best and Park Ave is the worst.

5.

that has been my block for nigh on 30 years. yes. only lovely every decade or so during a blizzard. i wish i could enter this contest, unfortunately the pictures reside only in my mind. it was quite the boulevard in 1979 or so before all the commercial estabs built half a dozen feet toward the curb. and when i close my eyes i can see the movie theatre on the corner of 2nd ave and the bills pasted to the wall there. the invaders. the lounge lizards. the bloodless pharoahs. then the gap. quite convenient when there was no clean laundry. and now various and sundry. italian tomato. curry club. saint honore.

6.

· Choose a single block within NYC (define the street, and the cross-streets)
· Submit at least 3 but up to 6 pictures of the block
· Write 250 words or less describing the block and its Jacobsian characteristics. Any style welcome.
· Video in lieu of pictures and words (2 min or less) is cool
. Then go and get a life.

7.

That is a very creative idea. Kudos to whoever thought that one up!

8.

It's a cute idea, but misguided. You are picking up on the New Urbanist ideal of, well, an idealized street or block. If you really knew Jane and what she wrote about, you'd know that it was not about one single block to Jane. It's about neighborhoods and blocks together composing those neighborhoods. The block she lived on for the past 38 years in TO is entirely residential, and right around the corner from the busy Bloor Street. That block was probably ideal to her.

9.

Friend of Jane:

But we can point out nice blocks, even residential blocks, that are in well-integrated, healthy neighborhoods.

Marc:

Some other anti-hoods:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=NY,+NY&ll=40.774107,-73.984852&spn=0.015762,0.042787&t=k&om=1

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&q=NY,+NY&t=k&om=1&ll=40.79578,-73.965368&spn=0.007879,0.021393

I imagine Stuy Town and Spanish Harlem speak for themselves.

10.

I love this idea-- it will be great to see what other people come up with-- so many great neighborhoods to celebrate!

11.

I also have mixed feelings about this competition.

On the one hand, I think it is great for people to discuss real life examples of Jacobs' theories -- and I had actually hoped for a similar competition myself! Plus, I think it's important to think about real life examples of favorite and least favorite blocks and about what make them good or bad, beautiful or ugly.

But, on the other hand, it also seems to me that the concept of this particular competition (judging individual blocks) and the criteria being used to judge the submissions (largely photos) are somewhat misguided and not in tune with what Jacobs was really, in my opinion, writing about.

Similar to what another poster said above, I don't think Jacobs was concerned as much with individual blocks, per se (and especially with their aesthetics), as much as with streets, neighborhoods and the relationship of various blocks to one another.

Also, I think too many people incorrectly think that Jacobs was writing about aesthetics, when she was really writing, in my opinion, about processes and "systems" (social, political, etc.) and, most particularly, economics. The criteria for this competition, however, seems to reinforce the inaccurate, in my opinion, idea (especially among her critics) that Jacobs' concerns were primarily aesthetic. (By the way, Jacobs' own house on Hudson St. was a bit on the homely side when she lived it it -- it is a lot "prettier" now.)

- - - - - -

One of my favorite Jane Jacobs STREETS, for example -- the one that I would nominate if it was a competition among streets -- is University Place, which is not a particularly pretty street (and may be, actually, a bit homely, perhaps, in spots).

And while some blocks of University Place are more interesting / diverse than others, what makes this street such a great "Jane Jacobs" street, in my opinion, is the amazing diversity and vitality (round the clock, and year round) of the street as a whole. THIS seems to me to be a street that serves both residents and workers well AND is a street that is capable of generating new city work and new city businesses.

To illustrate the incredible diversity and economic vitality (and potential economic fertility) of this street, look at the block between E. 13th and E. 12th.

If I remember correctly, on the east side of this block is the following: a small office building (containing the offices of various unions, various small law offices, etc.) with, by the way, a brick sidewalk that seems to melt the snow in the wintertime; a small Deco apartment house (with both a high end camera store and an internet cafe, I believe, on the ground floor); a much larger (luxury?) brick apartment house with various other storefronts (a cellular telephone store, a shoe repair shop, a coffee shop, etc.) on the ground floor.

On the west side of the street, is a large parking garage that has a popular Japanese restaurant on the ground floor, along with, I believe a tobacco shop and a pizza parlour. Above the garage is a very popular (and trendy) bowling alley and on the roof is a tennis bubble! Next to the garage is a smaller residential building (that looks kind of run down and "low rent") that also has 24-hr. "Korean" greengrocer on the ground floor.

BUT this block is not particularly pretty -- and some might think it even a bit homely -- and I doubt it photographs very well.

Plus what makes the street so wonderful is that the blocks to the north and south are themselves very different (whether they are individually diverse or not).

On the east side of the block between 12th and 11th is a large loft building that seems to take up a good portion of this relatively boring block. The loft building (which used to have a large health food market on the ground floor) houses, I believe, many architectural firms. There is also a very large antique auction house ion the ground floor of this building (or the next one).

The block below that has a large old-fashioned luxury apartment house with an amazing lobby and, I believe, a spectacular tower/penthouse apartment that has/had, I think, a very famous tenant living in it.

Plus other blocks on this street have/had some world famous bars (like the Cedar Tavern that used to be "the" hangout for big name visual artists), a supermarket with a proprietary audio-electronics school occupying the floors above, a number of unique boutique type stores, a bagel shop, a liquor store, a high end dry cleaners, etc., etc. etc.!!!

But again while some blocks are diverse, others are relatively undiverse -- and none of the blocks are probably spectacularly pretty enough to win a beauty contest. (Which isn't to say that a diverse and economically vital block/street can't be very pretty too. It's just that this one happens not have such blocks or to be such a street.)

However, the street as a whole seems to me to be a good example of what Jacobs thinks is most important in a city street.