Adam Herbst

New Jersey

Two Leftover Staircases: The remaining staircase from the Polo Grounds up on Coogan's Bluff and the remaining staircases in Penn Station from the old Penn Station

Like all good things are important for both what they are and what they represent. The Polo Grounds staircase speaks to the ball field that was once there - home of the Giants (baseball and football) from John McGraw, Christy Mathewson, and Mel Ott to Willie Mays and also the Mets (Marv Throneberry years). Although the Giants were not the first team to integrate baseball, they were in the thick of it with Monte Irvin and Mays. And the fact that they left for the West Coast also speaks to departures from the City of all types. As to the Mets, clearly they were part of that new growing out of the old that is emblematic of New York (and also a little objective correlative in Mad Men episodes). This area is now mainly public housing - only these stairs survive.

The staircases in Penn Station. Not that you would know it, but there used to be a railroad station in Penn Station and the only thing that is left are a few staircases down to the tracks. Perhaps there are two stories to be told here. The first, of course, of the destruction of the old without much thought as to its importance - time marching on, don't stand in the way, that type of thing. Not a happy story, but one that is implicit every time we look at a new structure going up. The second story is that those staircases speak to a wake up call - that there is meaning in the old and that if people don't do anything to protect the old, it won't be there any more whether we want it to be or not. Surely not every piece of real estate that is protected is something that everyone would want (I'm speaking to you, George Washington Bridge Bus Station), but having a conversation about the meaning of these things is, well, meaningful.