
The manned elevators of NYC (2017) - jaredwiener
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/15/nyregion/manual-elevators-operators.html
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Cool article. Ive done alot of specialty flooring jobs in the city and have
been in some amazing buildings. They forgot to mention the amount of service
elevators that are required to have a operator. My favorite was 20 broadway,
rockafella standard oil building. There service elevator was 100+ years old,
you could maybe fit 4 people in it. You have to take 1 elevator down then walk
accross a super creepy basement with random staircases that lead to arch
doorways of brick, broken concrete.Really cool stuff. The operator was a real
bundle of joy too. If you juiced him, he would get you and your tools up
before anybody else, ive seen this quite a few times. The floor i was working
on too was intresting, it was a old lawyers office, there was an illumaniti
triangle designed in the orginal concrete from 1928, and they made a big deal
about not touching it the entire project (it was cracked, had holes) I ended
up repairing it on one of the last days.

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theoh
[http://deadword.com/site1/pay/work/stories/004/index.htm](http://deadword.com/site1/pay/work/stories/004/index.htm)

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_nalply
No pictures and only tangentially related but interesting anyway.

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theoh
I intended to quote this passage, but had phone problems:

"And then, after the service entrances, you have to ride in the service
elevators. These are some of the scariest places in the world, if you ask me.
New York is full of old ones that are operated by cables. And the high rise
types are like being inside wind tunnels--try riding in one with too much
weight. We had to lift this 1000 pound marble slab into the elevator of the UN
apartment building because it was too long to go straight in. It took about
six of us to lift it. Then, while it was leaning against the elevator wall and
we were underneath it, the car started to drop erratically because of the
weight. We got stuck in there for almost an hour; the whole time was spent
thinking we were going to die, telling stupid jokes about disaster movies and
trying not to shit in our pants. This was done for this bachelor type who had
nothing but Hawaiian shirts in his closet. Family money from aluminum, I
think.

The service entrances and elevators make you realize that you are part of the
lower class and I guess, in that, the architects have succeeded in some
perverse way. I mean, you feel like a service person when you are in them--you
know where you are and why you're there. It's very humiliating--as is being
treated like shit by the owners and the doormen and everyone else--but it
makes a certain amount of sense, architecturally. I just wish I could make
every architect who designed a small elevator or a dangerous service entrance
come on the truck with us for one day, so I could show them what idiots they
are. I have a real distaste for architects now. Look at all the ugly buildings
in New York City and remember: they are worse on the inside."

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js2
I recently learned something interesting. How many elevators do you think the
Empire State Building has? Take a guess. I won't give away the answer here. It
surprised me too.

Interestingly, One World Trade Center has the same number. I thought maybe it
was a thing to have that many elevators in a sky scaper, but the Sears Tower
(alright, Willis Tower... still can't get used to that) has about 40% more!

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lfowles
After spending much of my childhood playing SimTower (aka Elevator Sim 1994),
I'm not too surprised by the number!

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hprotagonist
_He fetched a stovetop espresso maker known as a moka pot. “This thing,” he
said, “makes a better cup of coffee than that one,” and he pointed to the
Keurig on the counter._

Seriously, a true hallmark of quality. I'm not surprised.

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js2
My wife makes her coffee in a moka pot. I still prefer an aeropress for mine.
But she's making cafe con leche and I drink mine black.

You can make good cafe cubano using a moka pot too, but it's not really a
proper substitute for an espresso machine.

Just about anything but maybe a percolator makes better coffee than a Keurig.

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ams6110
Nah, percolators make better coffee too.

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danbmil99
Grew up in one of these. It was hell to keep the damn thing running, half the
time it was out of service and we used a similar service elevator.

The elevator men would sometimes let kids run the thing, a bit scary but a ton
of fun. There's no automation, you had to eyeball the stopping point. If you
went too far, it hit some sort of emergency brake.

Good times.

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mstade
My cousin used to live in a place on the upper east side that had a manned
elevator. It was the first time I’ve ever been in one, and initially it felt a
bit awkward but a ride or two later I was got used to it and then wondered why
not all elevators are manned. So nice to have a brief conversation with
someone about nothing at all. I also got to experience the operator calling
out to folks waiting on another floor. Such a cool experience.

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pavel_lishin
> _So nice to have a brief conversation with someone about nothing at all._

On the other hand, I as an introvert, treasure those moments where nobody is
around me at all.

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electrichead
If you're in Toronto, the Fifth grill has one too. It is such a long ride for
such a short distance but pretty cool. The elevator is about a hundred years
old

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myegorov
I found it quaint that NYC buildings skip the 13th floor.

