popturf

metro area: new york / northern new jersey / long island, NY-NJ-PA

111 eighth avenue

from google posted in technology by prof_improbable

Built in the Art Deco style and completed in 1932, this massive structure is the third largest building (in terms of square footage/2.9 million ft²) in Manhattan- just behind 55 Water Street (3.5 million ft²) and the Met Center (3.14 million ft²). It was formally the Port Authority headquarters and Inland Terminal Number One.

Google purchased the building in 2010, and it's currently the de facto headquarters for their east coast operations. The square footage of this single building is larger than the entire sum of all the buildings in the 26-acre Googleplex campus in Mountain View, California.

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the explorers club

from exploration, space exploration posted in history by crabapple

Located at this location since 1965, the Explorers Club is a group of professionals dedicated to the advancement of field research.

Members of the group were the first explorers to the North Pole (Robert E. Peary & Matthew Henson in 1909), first to the South Pole (Roald Amundsen in 1911), first to the summit of Mt. Everest (Sir Edmund Hillary & Tenzing Norgay in 1953), and first to the surface of the Moon (Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin & Michael Collins in 1969).

Today, the off-world colony group known as Mars One hold regular meetings to plan for a proposed manned mission to Mars in 2025.

Source: New Yorker, April 25, 2014

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36 records

from wu-tang, ol’ dirty bastard posted in music by pete_nice

This studio in Hell's Kitchen, owned and operated by RZA (the Razor), is named after the Wu's debut album, Enter the 36 Chambers.

It's also the unfortunate location of the passing of Ol' Dirty Bastard, on November 13, 2004, from a drug overdose.

Eskimos, submarine operators and everyone else who liked rap jams still mourn his passing.

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chumley’s

from j.d. salinger posted in literature by pete_nice

Closed since the facade collapsed in 2007, Chumley's has been undergoing renovations for seven years. In early 2014, the classic tavern faced a new challenge- neighbors who are sick of unruly tourists flocking to the destination (NY Times article link here).

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green-wood cemetery

from american revolution posted in history by crabapple

Inside this cemetery (established in 1825) is Battle Hill, the highest natural point in Brooklyn (220 ft tall) and a pivotal spot during the largest battle of the American Revolution- the Battle of Brooklyn on August 27, 1776.

The cemetery itself contains the final resting place for many famous and infamous Americans: composer Leonard Bernstein, inventor Samuel F.B. Morse, political operative Boss Tweed, and notorious thug Bill the Butcher (dramatized in Scorsese's Gangs of New York).

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