- Hardcover: 176 pages
- Publisher: Routledge; illustrated edition edition (2 Dec 2004)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0415950139
- ISBN-13: 978-0415950138
- Product Dimensions: 28.4 x 22.1 x 2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 384,588 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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More About the Author
Product Description
Review
""Want to know what's amazing underneath New York City? Want to know about all the stuff that you'd never guess is below Manhattan, including everything from secret subway stations to cave crickets? Then start digging into Julia Solis' anatomical report on the Big Subterranean Apple, which is dark and deep and, despite eight million people living on top of it, largely unknown."
."
-Robert Sullivan, Author of Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants
"Solis takes us spelunking beneath the city's streets, exploring its layers
of history along the way. Even New Yorkers will be astounded to discover the
secrets underground. Her entertaining and informative book dispels some favorite urban legends and unearths long-forgotten lore..""
-Margaret Morton, Photographer and author of The Tunnel
"Underground space is one we New Yorkers flee --the subway being its most familiar instance. But both in her text and in the photos Solis shows us its mysteries, beauties, dangers, and desolations."
."
-Saskia Sassen, author of The Global City
"Mentioned."
-Publishers Weekly, August 9, 2004
"Diehl's "Subways" and Julia Solis's "New York Underground" commemorate the subway's anniversary in different but complementary ways. Diehl's is a compact, well-illustrated history of the system, from the one-block, pneumatically driven line that Alfred Ely Beach constructed in the late 1860s -- incredibly, he built it secretly, because "Boss" Tweed's cronies were opposed to subways -- to the revival of the system in the 1990s after its painful decline in the 1970s. The subways are only part of the story that Solis tells. Herself whatmight be called an urban spelunker -- a person who loves to explore urban undergrounds -- she provides a tour of everything in New York from sewers and water mains to railroad tunnels and secret wine cellars built (most famously, at the "21" club) during Prohibition.
."
Tokens of Esteem
-Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post, 10/28/04
."
-Robert Sullivan, Author of Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants
"Solis takes us spelunking beneath the city's streets, exploring its layers
of history along the way. Even New Yorkers will be astounded to discover the
secrets underground. Her entertaining and informative book dispels some favorite urban legends and unearths long-forgotten lore..""
-Margaret Morton, Photographer and author of The Tunnel
"Underground space is one we New Yorkers flee --the subway being its most familiar instance. But both in her text and in the photos Solis shows us its mysteries, beauties, dangers, and desolations."
."
-Saskia Sassen, author of The Global City
"Mentioned."
-Publishers Weekly, August 9, 2004
"Diehl's "Subways" and Julia Solis's "New York Underground" commemorate the subway's anniversary in different but complementary ways. Diehl's is a compact, well-illustrated history of the system, from the one-block, pneumatically driven line that Alfred Ely Beach constructed in the late 1860s -- incredibly, he built it secretly, because "Boss" Tweed's cronies were opposed to subways -- to the revival of the system in the 1990s after its painful decline in the 1970s. The subways are only part of the story that Solis tells. Herself whatmight be called an urban spelunker -- a person who loves to explore urban undergrounds -- she provides a tour of everything in New York from sewers and water mains to railroad tunnels and secret wine cellars built (most famously, at the "21" club) during Prohibition.
."
Tokens of Esteem
-Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post, 10/28/04
Product Description
Julia Solis's New York Underground , originally published in Germany by Christoph Links Verlag in 2002, is an informal and accessible history of New York's underground - from the subways to the bowels of Columbia University to its old pneumatic tube mail system. The author, an accomplished artist who has lived in America since 1977 and in New York since 1995, has spent years investigating the dark places of the city. The book is beautifully illustrated and features many of the author's own photos. Just as important, the stories she tells are fascinating - from the urban legends of alligators in the sewer systems to a late nineteenth century inventor trying to outwit Boss Tweed by building a downtown pneumatic subway system on the sly. As the story unfolds, she takes us through both abandoned train stations (where the fabled 'mole people' live) and the infrastructural ruins entombed in the bowels of the city. The portrait of New York's physical underworld that emerges is panoramic; Solis leaves no stone unturned.
Inside This Book
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First Sentence
New Yorkers have long been fascinated by the underground. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
New Yorkers have long been fascinated by the underground. Read the first page
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Concordance
Browse Sample PagesConcordance
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"SEE YOU LATER ALLIGATOR!",
By
This review is from: New York Underground (Hardcover)
Julia Solis, author, urban explorer, historian, and brilliant photographer. That she is a member of San Francisco's own legendary 'Suicide Club' might indicate that this lady has a devil-may-care attitude that would drive her to explore the more inaccessible subterranean spaces of New York City at some risk to herself and record her fearless dark, dank, eerie journeys with a series of amazing photographs which along with some excellent illustrations and informative commentary make up a 'darn' good book.
Everyone is aware of the subway transportation system but that is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to tunnels, holes, voids, and caverns under New York City. Some of the inaccessible subterranean spaces of New York City include the cathedral-like inner sanctums of the Brooklyn Bridge, which resembles a Gothic cathedral, and the horrific remnants of many old hospitals and asylums. Then there's the bowels of Columbia University, the old pneumatic tube mail system, abandoned train stations, the bowels of Grand Central, sewers, the labyrinthine ruins of the Old Croton Aqueduct, and the old gang tunnels that run below the streets of Chinatown ......and more. Others to venture beneath the City are the graffiti artists some of whose work was captured on film by the author. And yes, an alligator has been found. In early February 1935 snow clearers in Harlem saw an open sewer manhole and decided it would be a good place to dump some snow. However on closer inspection one of them saw an alligator down there, which when retrieved, weighed in at 125 lbs and was almost eight feet long. A few others have been discovered since. Julia Solis subterranean adventures beneath the city's streets, explores its layers of history along the way which will be of interest to not only visitors to the city, and devotee's, but also to New Yorkers who will be astounded to learn of the secrets lurking beneath the pavements. Didn't think I would much enjoy the book but Boy! was I wrong....absolutely loved it but realistic enough to accept that it probably has a restricted readership.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.3 out of 5 stars (14 customer reviews) 9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Truth May Be Stranger Than Fiction,
By Rosemarie S. "Radcliffe" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: New York Underground (Hardcover)
This is a great book for anyone interested in learning more about the Tunnels under New York City. Solis gives interesting accounts of the history behind each kind of tunnel and her own experiences exploring them. She warns that while popular fiction on this topic may be overly romanticized, she sticks solely with the FACTS. However, even thought I am a BIG fan of one such fictional account of the people living below New York City, the '80s TV series "Beauty & the Beast," I was still very much intrigued and amazed by her "real life" stories. Great pictures of the Tunnels found throughout the book as well.
30 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Too Much of the Author,
By D. N. Roth - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: New York Underground (Hardcover)
The book is an interesting look into the lost and forgotten places of the New York Underground. There is a lot of history presented by the author which is interesting and insightful.
However, after the book starts exploring the author's expeditions, it sort of becomes like watching a relative's slide show of their recent RV trip. The photographs become "Here I am in [x aqueduct]" and "Here I am in [x tunnel]." In other words, the book loses its focus on being informative, and rather focuses on the author herself. 9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
underground review,
By Andrew Beneze "azpicman" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: New York Underground (Hardcover)
Excellent book if you are looking for the real stories behind (or below) the streets of NY. Nicely written. Sticks to the facts and the author's impressions of the scenes did not affect the character of the book. The photographs are amazing! If you want a good introduction into the NY underground this is the place to start.
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