ABSTRACT
When John Jacob Raskob and his partners transformed the New York skyline by erecting the Empire State Building, they probably never considered that beneath the tower’s express elevators the old Sunfish Creek had once formed a natural swimming hole; nor did they imagine that across the East River in Queens, children would use the switching on of the building’s lights to tell the time for coming in from play. Indeed, the architects of cities in the United States did not design stoops for ball games or sidewalks for jumping rope, and no one considered the hazard to kites when they put up telephone wires. As a result of countless design decisions like these, however, a young person’s experience of New York gradually changed as streets were paved, buildings grew upward, cars pushed children from the streets, row houses filled once vacant lots, and the increasing density led to rooftop games and cellar clubs.
