NYC AND ITS ENVIRONS – FALL 2025 VIDEOS
Lead Coordinator: Paul Golomb
New York City and Its Environs is a history and philosophy course that explores the city’s 400-year development through its neighborhoods.
To view a video click on the link above its description.
NEW YORK CITY AND ITS ENVIRONS
Newark
Presenter: Pete and Judy Weis
Presentation Date: February 13, 2025
Just eight miles west of 25 Broadway is New Jersey’s largest city. Newark has an international airport, the East Coast’s busiest seaport, two concert halls, three Olmstead-designed parks, two railroad stations, a subway, a museum with the largest collection of American art, two state university campuses, business and tech corporate headquarters, a sometimes-troubled history, environmental (in)justice issues, and 312,000 residents in vibrant ethnic neighborhoods. All this could fit into the South Bronx with room left over.
NEW YORK CITY AND ITS ENVIRONS
Ridgewood
Presenter: Larry Shapiro
Presentation Date: February 27, 2025
My first visit to Ridgewood was to search for a Vietnamese restaurant that had moved for the third time, in each case to a location more obscure than the last. (Is Ridgewood in Brooklyn or Queens? Yes.) Walking the streets, I encountered a neighborhood of families whose people had been living there for generations, also recent arrivals from other countries and other parts of this city. I saw traces of a history extending back to the colonial era, and an architecture that preserves the look of 100 years ago. It seemed like a rarity, a neighborhood updating itself without changing its essence. In the years since, I’ve been back to look and shop and hang out, and I’d like to share some of my impressions.
NEW YORK CITY AND ITS ENVIRONS
NYC Tunnels
Presenter: Bob Reiss
Presentation Date: March 13, 2025
We are a city of islands. Four of our five boroughs are situated on islands. To function as a city, these islands must be interconnected by bridges, tunnels, ferries and even a tram. This talk focuses on our remarkable network of tunnels, their history, engineering challenges, and innovative features. Towards the end of the talk, I will describe a NYC tunnel that I bet no one has heard of (except maybe the people I told in the lunchroom).
NEW YORK CITY AND ITS ENVIRONS
Hamilton Heights
Presenter: Judy Weiss
Presentation Date: March 27, 2025
Hamilton Heights covers western Manhattan from 135th to 157th St, from St. Nicholas Ave to Riverside Park. It includes some historic landmarks including the campus of City College, the House where Alexander Hamilton lived, “Hamilton Grange” (after which the neighborhood was named), and the Morris Jumel Mansion, both of which are open to the public for tours.
The neighborhood was first settled by the Dutch, followed by a mix of Irish, Italian, African, West Indian, German, Jewish, African Americans, including prominent people of all races. For years the Polo Grounds were the home of the baseball Giants. In the 30s and 40s more African Americans moved in and “white flight” and deterioration of the neighborhood took place, but in the 2000s diversity is increasing and the neighborhood is attractive to many people. It is the home of a beautiful state park – Riverbank State Park, built in the 1980s on top of the first sewage treatment plant to serve the entire upper west side of Manhattan.
NEW YORK CITY AND ITS ENVIRONS
BoCoCa
Presenter: Sandra Abramson
Presentation Date: April 10, 2025
What is/where is the neighborhood of BoCoCa? Well, to be honest, there is no NYC neighborhood with that name. Actually, it is a concocted name (likely by the real estate industry) for an area very near Downtown Brooklyn that is the combination of the first letters of three neighborhoods — Boreum Hill/Cobble Hill/Carroll Gardens. We’ll amble through these three lovely old neighborhoods visiting their churches, homes, commercial centers and see how people lived hundreds of years ago and today.