High Steel

Considering our love of the city's buildings, Gothamist's attention was directed to High Steel, a book by Jim Rasenberger about the ironworkers who built structures like the Brooklyn Bridge, Empire State and Chrysler bulidings, World Trade Center, and even the Time-Warner Center. We've always marveled at how those buildings touch the sky and wondered how they get built. Rasenberger looks at the immigrants who built the earliest structures and what drives them to do such a job,

The Washington Post's review noted the iconic picture of men eating lunch on skyscraper beam, 800 feet above 6th Avenue in 1932.

Buy High Steel. And here's how skyscrapers work and how bridges work.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Jen Chung in Arts & Entertainment on May 11, 2004 4:48 PM

Comments [rss]

Dave

I'm currently in the middle of Joseph Mitchell's Up In The Old Hotel--which might be one of the greatest collections of stories about NYC ever--and one of the stories is called "The Mohawks in High Steel", written in 1949. It's about the Caughnawaga tribe from Montreal that had may members move to New York and then migrate around the country doing bridge and skyscraper work. For those interested in skyscrapers, you should camp out in B&N and read the story. You'll probably wind up taking the whole book home with you though.

Skunk B

Fascinating stuff - an often overlooked piece of history.

joeq

i thought the barometer was a floor a week? that said, every time i turn around, it looks they've added two floors to 7 wtc.

Jen

RIO, thanks for your thoughts re: comments. I'll leave yours up there but that's it, because it's off topic. Just to clarify why we decide to shut down comments: It's difficult to monitor the comments. We're fine with constructive criticism, but just irrational badmouthing gets boring - if it's been said already, pick something new. Or email us and let us know. Comments aren't an area for people to rage and rant. It's for a dialogue, not just relentless slams. We've been open to dissenting thoughts, but when the dissenting thoughts come without insight on how to improve or build upon them, why pay attention? And it's not like krucoff didn't point out other areas to vent - there are the Gothamist Forums, too.

That said, glad you enjoyed the NY Bloggers Talk. Now, let's talk about skyscrapers: I heard that a new floor to a skyscraper can be added every few days. How's that for scary?

RIO

Random thought here. I was reading the interview section, then read the comments. Yes some were rude, some were praising, but what really offended me was that the person organizing the interviews got into a snit and essentially said, "just for that, I'm turning off comments!" Now I didn't make any of the offending or praising comments there, but as a native New Yorker I think the spirit of real New York is not shying away from criticism, or censoring dissent. I loved growing up watching Mayor Ed Koch walk the streets of New York and ask "How am I doing?" of average citizens. Some people kissed his ass, some actually cursed the Mayor of New York out right there on the street. In both cases I felt, "this is what is so great about New York, no bullsh-t." I think turning off comments is bullsh-t. And yes, I have my own website that I can do anything with the comments I like, but I love Gothamist and thought I'd add a note of concern. Good luck either way!

p.s. enjoyed the Apple Store event. jen is even cuter in person, and choire deserves his own tv show--very funny!