Greenpoint, October, 2015

Tuesday, June 28, 2011

Another Crazy White Emperor

In The Power Broker, his massive biography of Robert Moses, Robert Caro recounts how, during the construction of the BQE, Moses rented a penthouse in the Marguerite Hotel in Brooklyn to use as an office: "He spent a lot of time looking down at it, watching the cranes and derricks and earth-moving machines that looked like toys far below him moving about in the giant trench being cut through mile after mile of densely packed houses, a big black figure against the sunset in the late afternoon, like a giant gazing down on the giant road he was molding."
I can't find any evidence online for a Marguerite Hotel. Looks like the magnificent Caro goofed and he is talking about the former Hotel Margaret in Brooklyn Heights, seen above in a pre-BQE image from 1930. The photo comes from the awesome City Noise website page about New York City in 1930. (BTW: Werner Herzog was the crazy white emperor referred to in previous post--not me. I think RM and WH would have a lot to talk about.)

2 comments:

  1. "If zee albino crocodiles got onto the BQE, what would they make of it?"

    Quote from W.Herzog's new film, Highways of Forgotten Traffic Jams opening July 1st.

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  2. Good one. I guess July 1 in Canada is like April 1 down here. Happy Canada Day/BDay!

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