The Wall Breakers

I've often felt that New York city was the most Roman city since Rome itself. The Romans were long noted for stealing the art, culture, and architecture tips and styles from different societies which they conquered to use in Rome. New York, with it's many Greek, Roman, Egyptian, and "Far Eastern" architectural motifs is very Roman indeed. The architectural period called Art Deco coincided with the rise of many of New York's great skyscrapers. The most famous Art Deco example is The Chrysler Building, but many other buildings had deco motifs. See some lesser-known examples of the Art Deco style in New York's architecture below.

A new talent has been discovered. Filmmaker Joe Nicolosi sat down with his mom to watch The Matrix and then recorded her summary of the film. Moshimo!

The Original Penn Station was quite possibly the most beautiful train station in history. See rare images of it below in all it's glory prior to it being torn down in favor of the fourth Madison Square Garden.

Do most people realize that the current Madison Square Garden is actually the 4th building to have that name? The 4th incarnation of the Garden opened on February 11, 1968 as is now the oldest sports arena in the NHL and the 2nd oldest in the NBA. It's the previous version we'd like to focus on.

The 3rd version of the Garden opened it's doors in 1925 and was located on Eighth Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets in Manhattan, on the site of the city's trolley-car barns. MSG III was the home of the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League and the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association, and also hosted numerous boxing matches, concerts, and other events. By the late 1950s a need for a new arena was growing and developers used a new Madison Square Garden as an excuse to tear down Penn Station (just my opinion). 

When the third Madison Square Garden was torn down there was a proposal to build the world's tallest building on the site, prompting a major battle in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood where it was located. Ultimately, the debate resulted in strict height restrictions in the area. The space remained a parking lot until 1989(!) when Worldwide Plaza, designed by David Childs of Skidmore, Owings and Merrill, opened on the site of the old Garden. It's a travesty that such an important building was so easily torn down and the site in which it stood remained vacant for over 20 years thanks to poor city planning, corruption, and political strife. The arena itself was a majestic, box-shaped masterpiece. I'd love to have been able to have seen it and stepped on its floor. The last show to be housed in the 3rd Garden was the Westminster Dog Show in 1968. In the 2nd photo you can see it's advertisement as well as another advertising the Knicks at the new Garden. Take a look at some rare, beautiful images of MSG III below.