New York Underground: The Anatomy of a City by Julia Solis

From the Publisher

Did alligators ever really live in New York's sewers? What's it like to explore the old aqueducts beneath the city? How many levels are beneath Grand Central Station? And how exactly did the pneumatic tube system that New York's post offices used to employ work? In this richly illustrated historical tour of New York's vast underground systems, Julia Solis answers all these questions and much, much more. New York Underground is timed to release in the centennial year of the city's subway system. It takes readers through ingenious criminal escape routes, abandoned subway stations, and dark crypts beneath lower Manhattan to expose the city's basic anatomy. While the city is justly famous for what lies aboveground, its underground passages are equally legendary, and tell us just as much about how the city works.

The Washington Post - Jonathan Yardley

The subways are only part of the story that Solis tells. Herself what might be called an urban spelunker -- a person who loves to explore urban undergrounds -- she provides a tour of everything in New York from sewers and water mains to railroad tunnels and secret wine cellars built (most famously, at the "21" club) during Prohibition.

Library Journal

Does your library really need another book on New York City? Well, yes, and how about these two different and unique looks at the Big Apple. Solis, a local photogra-pher and writer, goes beneath the streets to present readers with a fascinating glimpse of the architectural wonders few ever chance to see. She features not only the subways but also bridge supports, abandoned rail stations, aqueducts, viaducts, and maxes of tunnels beow Chinatown. In the process, she covers such topics as whether or not there are giant alligators living in the sewers and the devastating effect that the 9/11 attacks had on the underground structures. Above ground, Dunn and Hood, freelance journalists based in New York City, also go beyond the usual landmarks to bring readers humorous accounts of places often overlooked in standard tour guides. How about, for example, checking out the building that has incorporated Art Deco figures of rats climbing up ropes? Or the giant Macy's sign that doesn't belong to Macy's? Will you ever think of the UN in the same way once you read about the land it was built on and its bloody history? This is a fun book to bring along with your Frommer's for a quirky, irreverent, and just plain nutty look at a great city. Both books are highly recommended for all public libraries.-Joseph L. Carlson, Allan Hancock Coll., Santa Maria, CA Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.

What People Are Saying

Want to know what's amazing underneath New York City? Start digging into Solis' anatomical report on the Big Subterranean Apple.
—Robert Sullivan, Author of Rats: Observations on the History and Habitat of the City's Most Unwanted Inhabitants

Product Details

• ISBN: 0415963109
  
• ISBN-13: 9780415963107
• Format: Paperback, 251pp
• Publisher: Taylor & Francis, Inc.
• Pub. Date: November 2007
• Sales Rank: 123,815

• Table of Contents

Table of Contents