26. Rockefeller Center, New York City

Join Jon and Jackie as they rise through the high rises that make up Rockefeller Center.  They will discuss hazardous working conditions, beautiful designs, and tiny confused owls.  Pour yourself some Rooibos Tea with a side of tomatoes and get cozy for this adventure to a Christmas wonderland in New York City.

Jackie Reilly: Host
Jon Schaller: Host
Charles: Producer
Email: cozynookexplorers@gmail.com
Instagram: @cozynookexplorers

Community Shoutout:
God's Love We Deliver

Mentioned In This Episode:
Rockefeller Center Tourism Website
The Rockettes
Best Bathrooms in NYC

Transcript

JACKIE: I’m Jackie 

JON: And I’m Jon 

JACKIE: And we are the Cozy Nook Explorers!

JON: Welcome to our show where we explore the world from our cozy nook here in a guest room in Southern CALIFORNIA using the power of the internet!

Jackie: Yes and it’s Wednesday which means it’s time for another exploration!

Jon:  Today we will be exploring an area that we have both been to many times before.

Jackie:  Since this is our Christmas episode we both took some time to think about where is the most Christmasy place to explore.  

Jon:  Though we had a number of suggestions and ideas the one place that was on both of our lists was Rockefeller Center.

Jackie:  In Manhattan in New York City!  

Jon: This is the epicenter of Christmas.

Jackie: Well, with the exception of the North Pole.

Jon: It was the epicenter of many of our Christmases because we both used to live in New York City! We lived in Astoria, Queens, but we would spend a lot of time celebrating the holidays in Manhattan!

Jackie:  Yes! Though there are so many spots in New York that really go all out.  Like every department store, Bryant Park, the displays on 5th Avenue, so many of the avenues in Queens, if I were going to take someone who was not from New York somewhere at Christmas, Rockefeller Center is where I would take them.  And then we would go somewhere for Tea and cozy times.  Probably a Pret! 

Jon:  And speaking of Cozy Times Jackie what is keeping you cozy.

Jackie:  Well speaking of tea the thing that is keeping me cozy this week is Rooibos Tea.

Jon:  Rooibos Tea?

Jackie: Yes! So, I stopped drinking regular coffee a bit back- I do still have a decaf sometimes, but now I mostly drink rooibos tea! It’s an herbal tea that has a light, but robust flavor and it’s red! I am obsessed with it and have been drinking a lot of cups a day. Like 4-6 cups a day.

Jon:  That’s a lot.  Now do you prefer your Rooibos Tea with Milk?

Jackie:  (Answer)

Jon: Is Rooibos Tea a Morning, Afternoon, or Evening tea?

Jackie: (Answer)  So Jon what is keeping you cozy today?

Jon:  What is keeping me cozy is Tomatoes it is the only Fruit that I like as much hot as I do refrigerated or room temperature.

Jackie:  Tomato is a veg-

Jon:  AHHh

Jackie:  Gotcha! I know it’s a fruit.

Jackie and Jon:  Because it has seeds on the inside.

Jackie:  Now do you prefer big tomatoes or little tomatoes.

Jon:  Little if they are on salad, big if they are on sandwiches

Jackie:  Have you ever grown tomatoes?

Jon:  Homegrown Tomatoes prominent amongst all other produce.  Though I have eaten many a BLT with the homegrown T being somehow the best part of the sandwich.  I have tried and failed to repeat the results of my own volition and I have tried and failed repeatedly.

Jackie:  So No

Jon:  Yes no

Jackie:  On that note, shall we explore Rockefeller Center?

Jon:  Ok Let’s get into it.

LET’S GET INTO IT

Jon: 1931 New York City was not the picture of a merry christmas.  The United States was still at the beginning of the Depression and the unemployment rate was above 20%. And for those lucky enough to have a job did not always have the best working conditions.  Take the example of those who built skyscrapers without hard hats or harnesses.  In fact Work foreman William Starrette said  “Building skyscrapers is the nearest peacetime equivalent of war.” It was exhausting and dangerous work and yet somehow these men took it upon themselves to have a Merry Christmas.  They pooled together what money they could and bought a 20 foot tree, a balsam fir tree.  They decorated it with strings of cranberries and tin cans.  Their families even made homemade garlands for the tree to adorned.  (CUTE!) And when these brave souls would line up for pay, they would do so in front of the tree that brought so much christmas cheer.  Two years later the boss felt that since the tree brought so much holiday cheer it would be an annual tradition.  The boss’s name was John D Rockefeller and this was the first Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree.

Jackie:  Today the tradition is still going strong.  The 2020 Rockefeller Christmas Tree is a 75 foot Norway spruce tree that has 5 miles of lights and a 900 lb star on top of it.  It is the 88th Rockefeller Christmas tree to be lit.  The lighting occurred on Wednesday December 2nd for all to see on television. Because of the pandemic they want to keep the crowds away for the Tree lighting this year.  Can we talk about the tiny owl that was inside the tree!?!?

Jon:  I am not going to stop you.

Jackie:  I won’t let you stop me from talking about this adorable owl. His name is Rockefeller.

Jon:  Oh I see what they did there.

Jackie:  Shush, I am talking about owls.

Jon:  My apologies.

Jackie:  So Rockefeller the owl made his home in his tree in upstate New York and when they brought the tree to Manhattan they accidentally brought him with the tree.

Jon:  That must have been scarry for the owl.

Jackie:  Well the staff of Rockefeller Center and the Ravensbeard Wildlife Center in Saugerties, N.Y. saved him!!! They have given him a clean bill of health and are releasing him back into the wild.  Isn’t that so nice.

Jon:  Yes that is nice

Jackie:  Welcome to Rockefeller center it is 19 buildings on 22 acres which is less than a 8th of a Dineyland.  It was designed to be “A city within a City” according John D Rockefeller Jr. And it was recently and briefly the home of Rockefeller the owl.

Jon:  Well what it lacks in area it makes up for in height the top of the Rock is 66 storys or 850 feet or 260 m.

Jackie:  I mean it is not that huge it is only the 28th tallest building in New York. But, Top Of The Rock has some really great views. I’ve actually been with my Dad. Have you done Top Of The Rock, Jon?

Jon:  Yes I have. It may not be the tallest building by far, but in my opinion it does have the best view in all of New York.  It was usually where I took my friends who were from out of town. 

Jackie:  I’ve been to Rockafeller center many times. I’m honestly not sure when I went for the first time, but I’m sure I was little and it was probably to see the tree. It’s a very festive and very crowded part of Manhattan during the holidays.

Jon:  Though the buildings in Rockefeller Center are aesthetically very pretty the architect who designed them, one Raymond Hood, had said publicly that “Beauty is utility, developed in a manner to which the eye is accustomed by habit, in so far as this development does not detract from its quality of usefulness”

Jackie:  It is hard to imagine that the guy who created Rockefeller Center, which is one of the best Art Deco Buildings of all time said that.

Jon:  Even on the inside it is a good looking building.  And there is a great deal of interior space.

Jackie:  743,000 square meters of interior space.  It is hard to imagine how much work went into the buildings.

Jon:  I always think of the photo “Lunch Atop A Skyscraper”  showing the 11 guys eating lunch on a beam during the construction of Rockefeller center with the city below them with nothing to break their falls.

Jackie:  That photo is too stressful.

Jon:  They didn’t even know who took that photo until 2003 when it was discovered that Charlie C Ebbets took the photo.

Jackie:  It is too stressful to take that photo.

Jon:  It was actually a series of photos including some of the men throwing a football up there.

Jackie:  Nope.

Jon:  And images of the men pretending to sleep up there.  

Jackie:  Nope too stressful.

Jon:  The photos were originally placed in the New York Herald tribune on october 2 1932.

Jackie:  Well let’s go back before that to 1928.

Jon:  Ok.

Jackie:  That was when Rockefeller leased the land from Columbia University.

Jon:  Because Columbia University owned all of the land that is now Rockefeller center.

Jackie:  Originally it was supposed to house the Metropolitan Opera. And do you know what happened?

Jon:  There was a market crash.

Jackie:  There was a market crash!!!! And Rockefeller kepted the project going- in other words- he kept shelling out cash- until it was completed in 1937.

Jon:  At the time it was the largest private development in history.

Jackie:  How big is this place? It houses Radio City Music Hall which is a 6,015 seat theater!  

Jon:  I saw the Tony awards rehearsal there shout out to Jessica for making that happen.

Jackie:  Yes shoutout to Jessica- Charles says hi.

Jon:  You can actually go on tours of Radio City music hall.

Jackie:  Really?!

Jon:  I mean you can during non pandemics.

Jackie: (glad I realized my mistake) There you go.

Jon:  I would love to see the original Donald Deskey designs

Jackie:  Who is Donald Deskey?

Jon:  Who is Donald Deskey who is Donald Deskey?

Jackie:  Should I know who this is?

Jon: Actually yes.  But I didn’t know who he was either but he was THE designer of his generation.  And in the 1930’s he won a competition to design the interiors of Radio City Music hall.  This guy was everywhere from manufactured furniture to the design packaging of Crest Toothpaste to the Tide Bullseye.  I mean this guy designed so many packages for Proctor and Gamble they should have added his name to the company.  When you think of old street lamps in New York city and that very specific design that you just don’t see anywhere else he is the one who designed them.

Jackie:  I love those street lamps.

Jon:  And we have Donald Deskey to thank for them.

Jackie:  Did he design desks and keys?

Jon:  Boo but also he did design desks you should look up his work it is quite good.  And you can see it in person in Radio City Music Hall: Stage Door Tour.

Jackie:  Speaking of Radio City Music Hall we should discuss the Rockettes.  

Jon:  I learned that those kicks that they do are called eye height kicks.  

Jackie:  I learned that during non-pandemic times they do 28 shows a week.

Jon:  That is too many! How do you even get into that kind of shape where you could do that?

Jackie:  Well if you go on to their website they actually teach you the exercises that they do in order to be able to do all their crazy moves.  And exercises to be able to be in the kind of shape where you can perform 28 shows a week.

Jon:  If you can see the Christmas Show live, do so because it is quite something.  Do you want to be a Rockette?

Jackie: Well you have to be between 5’6 and 5’10, so those dreams were crushed quite early on.

Jon:  Ahh Well they have to be those heights so that when they dance they can be the same height.

Jackie:  Oh that is such a neat trick! They wear high heels that are slightly different heights, so that when they do the kick line they all appear to be the same height.  

Jon:  It is not just performance art that can see in Rockefeller Center there is also a cornucopia of visual art.  Which we will talk about after a quick word from our sponsor.

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Jon:  So back to all the visual art at Rockefeller Center.  They have over 100 different sculptures, mosaics, and murals.

Jackie:  I like the gold guy next to the ice rink

Jon: The statue of Prometheus

Jackie: Yes!

Jon: he is literally holding fire and you didn’t know that was prometheus 

Jackie:  The statue is not wearing a name tag.  Which one is your favorite?

Jon:  The statue of Atlas I know him even though he is not wearing a name tag because he is holding up the world.

Jackie:  I think a sign that says Hello my name is Atlas would be a nice addition.

Jon:  The guy who decided to sculpt atlas without a name tag was a guy named Lee Lawrie. 

Jackie:  His stuff is so cool we should do an episode on the Nebraska state capitol building just so we can talk about him again.

Jon:  Agreed Lee Lawrie created the highest number of Art pieces by a single artist for Rockefeller center.  Guess how many?

Jackie:  11

Jon:  Good guess

Jackie: 12

Jon: Perfect guess! If you want to see more of this guy's work check out the book “Lee Lawrie’s Prairie Decco” he also did my favorite relief sculpture. 

Jackie:  Is that the sculpture with the guy shooting lightning from his fingers and the crazy beard?

Jon:  Yes

Jackie:  Where the beard goes up at an angle?

Jon:  Yes the Relief is called Wisdom and it is in Front of the RCA building.   It has the bible verse from isaiah 33.6 Wisdom and knowledge shall be the stability of thy times

Jackie:  Because we are broadcasting during a pandemic I am realizing how true that might be.  

Jon:  Speaking of broadcasting just to give you an idea of how many tv shows and movies were recorded or broadcasted guess how many titles are listed under IMDB for Rockefeller Center as a whole.

Jackie:  So what is a title? Is that one episode or one show? 

Jon:  It is one episode or movie.

Jackie:  Ten Thousand?

Jon:  Good guess

Jackie:  Ten thousand and one

Jon:  Better guess

Jackie:  How many?

Jon:  10,999 titles.

Jackie:  So many titles.

Jon: They shoot SNL there.  They shot the tonight show with Johnny Carson there from 1962-1992

Jackie:  He did that show for 30 years?!?

Jon:  I know it's hard to imagine.  The Howdy Doody Show the game show 21 where they found out the producers and some of the contestants were cheating.

Jackie:  There was a game show where the producers cheated?!

Jon:  Yes it was called 21 and there is a movie called quiz show all about it.

Jackie:  Huh

Jon:  The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt was shot there.

Jackie:  I love that show

Jon:  And 30 Rock which is a show made in 30 Rockefeller center about a show made in 30 Rockefeller Center

Jackie:  That is Meta and that’s also a great show. I love me some Scott Adsit! 

Jon:  Going back to Saturday Night Live it is a tradition to sign off the Christmas show with the entire cast on skates in the ice rink of Rockefeller Center.

Jackie:  It is so cool to watch the cast move down 8 floors, put on winter clothes put on skates and skate to the middle of the pond in less than 3 minutes to sign off on live tv.

Jon:  And speaking of that ice rink you have actually skated there.

Jackie:  I have. It is expensive at peak times and I honestly recommend Bryant Park more, but there is something magical about skating while looking at a massive beautiful christmas tree and being surrounded by all those buildings. Though, you literally can do that at Bryant Park too. 

Jon: They don’t have a massive Christmas Tree.

Jackie: Yes they do.

Jon: It’s not as massive.

Jackie: Still massive. Oh and I have to tell you about the bathrooms.

Jon:  Oh great go ahead

Jackie:  They exist and they are open to the public.

Jon:  Oh great.

Jackie:  You know it is amazing in Manhattan to have accessible restrooms

Jon:  No I am just joshing ya.  I know what a big deal that is 

Jackie:  It is a big deal to find public bathrooms in Manhattan. You need to know what you are looking for. There’s actually a really great article that I found that I'll include in the show notes that has a lot of great recommendations.

Jon:  How do you know the article is credible?

Jackie: I’m going to be honest- I’m not sure how credible the Daily Dot is as a publication, but this article lists quite a few of my go-to bathrooms when out and about in the city.  They have the Time Warner Center bathrooms as the best bathrooms which is 100% correct and they even have the secret Marriot Marquis bathrooms in Times Square. Even though I’ve never been to the Rockefeller Center bathrooms mentioned, I feel pretty confident in this recommendation.

Jon: So, where are the bathrooms?

Jackie: The article says to go inside Rockefeller Center and go to the basement. Once you are in the basement ask someone with a uniform where the bathrooms are. That’s a big takeaway with New York City bathrooms- they are usually hiding in plain sight, but you need to be assertive and know what you’re looking for. 

Jon:  I have no segue for this but We should probably talk about the Rainbow Room.

Jackie:  Ohh the Rainbow Room!!!

Jon:  I have always wanted to go there since I learned about it 3 days ago.

Jackie:  Doesn’t that brunch look amazing?

Jon:  It looks like it was made for Kings

Jackie:  For 95 dollars I would hope it was made for kings.

Jon:  For all of the gentlemen who wish to attend it does require a jacket as part of the dress code.

Jackie:  The Rainbow Room first opened in 1934 and it was a focal point for the city's elite as well as one of the United States' highest restaurants above ground.  People knew they had made it into high society if they could dine in the Rainbow Room.

Jon:  The pictures of the chandelier dome lights are the most impressive atmosphere that I have seen in a restaurant.

Jackie:  It is so nice, that it was declared a landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission.

Jon:  And in 2017 the  American Institute of Architects gave the Rainbow Room an award for outstanding interior architecture

Jackie:  There is an American Institute of Architects?

Jon: Oh yeah.  Those guys know how to party

Jackie:  Hehehe anything else?

Jon:  Yes according to the New York Daily News "throughout his life, whenever he has been asked 'What'll it be?', [Rockefeller] has always replied, 'milk'."

Jackie:  And with that we will be back after a quick word from our sponsor.

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Community Shoutout

Jon: Every episode we like to research and highlight something special in the community that we are exploring.

Jackie: Today’s community shoutout is God’s Love We Deliver.

Jon: They prepare and deliver nutritious, high-quality meals to people who, because of their illness, are unable to provide or prepare meals for themselves

Jackie: They also provide illness-specific nutrition, education, and counseling to their clients, families, care providers, and other service organizations.

Jon:  All of their services are provided free to clients.

Jackie:  This organization began during the AIDS crisis in New York. They are amazing and as important as ever during the pandemic since many of their clients are at high risk for COVID-19.

Jon:  We will include a link in the podcast notes where you can donate.

Jackie:  You can also donate handwritten notes through the Cards For Caring project that are included with the meals being delivered!  Just make sure you spell things correctly.

Jon:  Yes while writing this podcast I kept writing God’s Love we Delivery which is not only incorrect it is also not English!

Jackie: We will include a direct link to the Cards For Caring project as well!  Well, that’s our show. Thank you so much to our lovely producer Charles.

Jon: Thank you so much Charles. 

Jackie: And of course we are so thankful that you listen to our show! 

Jon: Yes, thank you so much to our listeners!

Jackie: If you’ve been enjoying this podcast please take the time to subscribe, rate us, and write a review on apple podcasts. It helps the show, so we’d really appreciate it!

Jon: Also, make sure to tell your friends! If there is anyone you know who you think would enjoy this podcast please make sure to share! 

Jackie: Also, you can also follow us on Instagram @cozynookexplorers or send us an email at cozynookexplorers@gmail.com. 

Jon: We love getting to hear from you and we are always looking for travel suggestions! 

Jackie:  We will be back in TWO Wednesdays with our next exploration! 

Jon: Yes, on Wednesdays we explore!

Jackie: Stay cozy, and we’ll see you soon.