When the Wright Brothers did their thing in 1903, it apparently put the idea in people's heads that one day we'd all be flying, everywhere, for everything... even to our jobs. We've had this fantasy pop up time and time again—including the most popular pop culture reference of all, in The Jetsons—but it has yet to really happen on a broad scale, and for a long period of time. Sure, we had New York Airways, which helped some commuters skip traffic into the city, but that ended in the 1970s after too many people died and the company shut down operations. But let's go back further in time, to 1919, when this airplane business was new, and the ideas were even more wild.
1
Results tagged “popularscience”
The People Of 1919 Imagined Circular Runways For NYC (You Know, For Our Personal Commuter Airplanes)
1924 Traffic Congestion Solution: Drain the East River!
In this issue of Popular Science, circa 1924, there's an article discussing New York's traffic problem — which at the time was reportedly causing the city to lose over $1M a day. One proposed solution: drain the East River and convert it into a 5-mile system accommodating roadways and the subway, while also providing parking spaces in garages and housing city centers.
Envisioning New York's Aerotropolis in 1939
In the November 1939 issue of Popular Science, New York commercial artist Nicholas DeSantis designed a "metropolitan skyport of tomorrow". His five years of study led to a proposal that included a 200-story building topped off with a landing field spanning 8 city blocks long and three wide. And to top that all off, the 50 highest floors in the building were reserved for light aircraft, so one could commute to work in the city and leave their plane in the hangars while 250,000 private cars and taxis awaited to whisk them off to work.
Is NYC More Techy Than Silicon Valley?
A report being released tomorrow by the Industrial Assistance Corporation (IAC) titled "Buried Treasure: New York's Hidden Tech Sector" asserts that New York City rivals cities like Seattle and areas like Silicon Valley as the largest technology center in the country. The study counted the number of tech workers in the city, at branches of corporations like IBM, Microsoft, Google, and the research and development departments of medical centers in the city. The IAC report actually considered all of the "New York Metropolitan Statistical Area," which includes southern New York State and northern New Jersey. The Associated Press story says that IAC found 620,000 tech workers in that area, more than twice the number found in Silicon Valley.
Weekend gets a chilly start
Chilly and windy tomorrow. It won't get too cold tonight in the city because of the wind, but don't expect tomorrow's high temperature to go much above 40. A good day for hot chocolate. Sunday is looking better, with a high in the mid-50s if you believe AccuWeather or weather.com, but slightly if you're a National Weather Service fan (the Weather Underground merely repackages NWS forecasts). All three forecast outlets raised their maximum forecasts by several degrees from the beginning of the week.
« Previous
1
Next »
send a tip
tips@gothamist.comsubscribe
Use an RSS reader to stay up to date with the latest news and posts from Gothamist.