The Rise & Fall of Penn Station

I just watched the fascinating documentary the rise and fall of Penn Station, which aired last week on PBS American Experience.  It boiled my blood.  Anyone who knows me or follows my work knows my love for lost and forgotten architecture and my desire for it be saved.  But more importantly, my hate for anything designed in the 1950-70's under the label of "modernism".  The fall of Penn Station would prove to be a double edged sword.  Not only was this beautiful example of Beaux Arts right in the middle of Manhattan torn down, but up in it's place went a couple of featureless skyscrapers and Madison Square Gardens, arguably the ugliest sports arena ever built.  I'm not sure which was the bigger crime.

The men who built and designed Penn Station had far more than their own legacies in mind when they did.  They wanted to give something back, to add to the greater good of man, to build a great public space and leave it to the people.  And with Penn Station, they did just that.  They would be shocked and appalled that their grand vision lasted only 53 years.  Perhaps architectural historian Vincent Scully said it best.  When once, "One entered the city like a god; one scuttles in now like a rat."  

The truth of the matter is that Penn Station had fallen into disrepair long before it's demolition.  The interior, once a beautiful pinkish white, was now all but black.  Broken windows were replaced by sheets of metal.  The cash strapped Pennsylvania Railroad Station simply didn't bother with any kind of upkeep, a crime in itself.  But, all that being said, buildings like this have to be cleaned, upkept, and renovated over the years.

If there's a silver lining to all this, it's that the demolition of Penn Station created enormous public outcry and served as the catalyst for the historic preservation movement that we know today.  It's death would lead to the very laws that saved buildings with similar fates, like that of New York's Central Terminal.  Still, far too many beautiful buildings all over the country were sacrificed in the name of progress.

I am currently living in a city of block concrete.  A sad story indeed, Le Havre was once a mini Paris on the English Chanel, nearly completely wiped out by Allied bombs in WWII.  When the dust settled they decided to hire one man to design and rebuild the entire city.  His name was Auguste Perret, and his favorite material was concrete.  Enough said.  Now, I was always taught to keep my mouth shut when I had nothing nice to say, so I'll stop right there.  Coming from New Orleans to Le Havre, I'll just say I know first hand how architecture can affect to the spirit of the people.  

The role of architecture and the effect it can have on the greater good's soul should not be over looked.  What would great cities be without great architecture?  What would Paris be?  London?  Chicago?  New Orleans?  The architecture is often the soul of the city...it's a part of the people, a direct reflection of the their attitude and spirit.  But I digress, I'm starting to get repetitive.  

Go watch the documentary (for free online), and bring of box of kleenex. 

Penn Station today. Progress, right?

"Great architecture has only two natural enemies: water and stupid men."

-Richard Nickel  

We Are Augustines

I've shared some songs from these guys on here before, but I just bought tickets to see We Are Augustines in Paris(!) next month and I'm very excited.  Here is a recent live performance on Letterman which I thought was really good.  I've never heard Letterman quote a band like he does at the end either:

"Life is an ocean, and we are all ships. Now, if your ship has sunk, don't despair, don't lose hope.  Rise ye sunken ships."

Here's my favorite song on the album, Headlong into the Abyss.  It never gets old.  Crank it.

If you haven't heard of them you really should check out the whole album.  It's fantastic, not a bad song on it.  Here's a good introduction to the band:

If you've read this far and are still intrigued, may I suggest this article for you to read.  You'll like them even more.  Enjoy.  

Let Us All Unite!

Even though this is not an official Ron Paul ad, it's still a brilliant endorsement of the guy.  This guy has an awesome grassroots network of cool people putting these things together.  Too bad he doesn't have the looks of Romney or the sweet charm of Santorum.  It's sad really, but just more proof that this country is not ready for a real change.  It's probably too late now anyway.

But enough about Ron Paul, that's not why I love this video.  That speech, in my humble opinion, may be the best ever written.  It pretty much covers everything. That was Charlie Chaplin, arguably the most famous silent movie to have ever lived, and that was his first full motion picture with full sound.  But what really makes the whole thing great though is that he wrote that himself.  In fact, he wrote and directed that entire movie, The Great Dictator.  Pretty impressive.

What's really scary is how relevant that message is today.  That could have easily been written in 2012.  Just goes to show there is nothing new under the sun.  Nothing.  Anyway, here is a transcript of the entire speech.  The writing is amazing.  It's definitely worth a look.  Below is a video of the entire speech, and it's just as good a video as the one above.  Check it out, I literally get chills every time I hear it.    

"I'm sorry, but I don't want to be an emperor. That's not my business. I don't want to rule or conquer anyone. I should like to help everyone if possible; Jew, Gentile, black man, white. We all want to help one another. Human beings are like that. We want to live by each other's happiness, not by each other's misery. We don't want to hate and despise one another. 

In this world there is room for everyone, and the good earth is rich and can provide for everyone. The way of life can be free and beautiful, but we have lost the way. Greed has poisoned men's souls, has barricaded the world with hate, has goose-stepped us into misery and bloodshed. We have developed speed, but we have shut ourselves in. Machinery that gives abundance has left us in want. Our knowledge has made us cynical; our cleverness, hard and unkind. We think too much and feel too little. More than machinery, we need humanity. More than cleverness, we need kindness and gentleness. Without these qualities, life will be violent and all will be lost. 

The airplane and the radio have brought us closer together. The very nature of these inventions cries out for the goodness in men; cries out for universal brotherhood; for the unity of us all. Even now my voice is reaching millions throughout the world, millions of despairing men, women, and little children, victims of a system that makes men torture and imprison innocent people. 

To those who can hear me, I say, do not despair. The misery that is now upon us is but the passing of greed, the bitterness of men who fear the way of human progress. The hate of men will pass, and dictators die, and the power they took from the people will return to the people. And so long as men die, liberty will never perish. 

Soldiers! Don't give yourselves to brutes, men who despise you, enslave you; who regiment your lives, tell you what to do, what to think and what to feel! Who drill you, diet you, treat you like cattle, use you as cannon fodder. Don't give yourselves to these unnatural men - machine men with machine minds and machine hearts! You are not machines, you are not cattle, you are men! You have the love of humanity in your hearts! You don't hate! Only the unloved hate; the unloved and the unnatural. Soldiers! Don't fight for slavery! Fight for liberty! 

In the seventeenth chapter of St. Luke, it is written that the kingdom of God is within man, not one man nor a group of men, but in all men! In you! You, the people, have the power, the power to create machines, the power to create happiness! You, the people, have the power to make this life free and beautiful, to make this life a wonderful adventure. Then in the name of democracy, let us use that power. Let us all unite! Let us fight for a new world, a decent world that will give men a chance to work, that will give youth a future and old age a security. 

By the promise of these things, brutes have risen to power. But they lie! They do not fulfill that promise. They never will! Dictators free themselves but they enslave the people. Now let us fight to fulfill that promise. Let us fight to free the world! To do away with national barriers! To do away with greed, with hate and intolerance! Let us fight for a world of reason, a world where science and progress will lead to all men's happiness. Soldiers, in the name of democracy, let us all unite!"

Thanks Steve

To me, that quote best sums up Steve Jobs. He said that in 1982.

I hate to jump on the bangwagon with this whole Steve Jobs thing, but I have to. There is absolutely nothing I can say that hasn't been said before or better, but here are my two cents.

I only own one Apple product- an old iPod. I'm not a Mac guy, never have been and probably never will be. I won't ever own an iPhone (I love my Droid). But that doesn't matter. This guy made them all. There would be no Droid without him. Personal computing as we know it would not exist. Every piece of technology we use on a daily basis this guy invented. That's mind-boggling. Yes, of course there were thousands of people involved. Yes, he couldn't have done it on his own. But the guy was a leader of men. He could inspire anyone to do anything. That is rare.

It is impossible to imagine a world without the products that Steve Jobs dreamed up. I thought I'd be jammin' out to a Discman with 10-second anti-skip til the day I died. (Do you remember those things???) I could go on, but I've made my point. Once-in-a-world kinda guy. The da Vinci of our time. I can't wait to read his autobiography. Who knows, I might become a Mac guy afterall.

But as genius of a visionary as Steve Jobs was, he was a better human being. His outlook on life and death were profound. His faced his battle with cancer with a bravery most of us can't understand, still inventing and still inspiring til the very end. He literally changed the world and I hope he is rewarded for it.

Watch this:

One more thing:

"Sometimes life is gonna hit you in the head with a brick. Don't lose faith.

“No one wants to die. Even people who want to go to heaven don’t want to die to get there. And yet death is the destination we all share. No one has ever escaped it. And that is as it should be, because Death is very likely the single best invention of Life. It is Life’s change agent. It clears out the old to make way for the new. Right now the new is you, but someday not too long from now, you will gradually become the old and be cleared away. Sorry to be so dramatic, but it is quite true.

“Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary.”

-Steve Jobs, 2005

Quote of the day

Too weird to live, and too rare to die...