The Dakota is one of New York City's great buildings. And its backstory is pretty great to boot.
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The mom. Guess what what's up we were in the woods playing, follow the leader on our bike: soo that sounds fun and we saw a sasquatch family drinking coke, breeze, sign, okay, sasquatch, family drinking capri, sun yeah, and we all went ah and they all went ah, and then we were all like. Oh right, it was so
your free son, it's gonna, be epic.
Hey and welcome to the short stuff, I'm Josh and there's chuck and we're going short stuff, architectural style, specifically architectural style from the mid to late nineteenth century, specifically in manhattan, on the upper west side, specifically about the dakota. That's right can I say something very quickly since, as a short stuff sure
right before we recorded, he said, Dakota fanning, and that reminded me. I just got back from new york and I had six celebrity sightings, one of which was l, fanning, oh yeah, yeah she's in the lobby of the hotel. I go in that hotel to pee
I'm always got my head on a swivel in that town, especially in fancy hotel lobbies. Sure- and I was like hey Mr Dakota fanning, and I was like she was sitting with people's ex there's gotta, be somebody else famous went to the bathroom came out sitting next to jessica Chastain.
How pretty major citing then at one of my pavement shows. I saw no a bomb bach.
and gretta girl, wig
Are they in item?
Although the other married okay, wow, so power couple the enemy he covered double
with her and dean way
from of Luna. They are all good friends and they are all together. So that was a three banger in one and this and this lady near me, was jumping up and down like screaming it at greta gerwig and she was very sweet from up above in the balcony and like made the little heart symbol, and like said she,
It was very sweet pilots and then I sat next to tiffany hamish on there were on the flight home. Why
we'll use a girl across the aisle from me. Did you? Why did you bugger the whole time nah? I didn't say anything for you, like: hey, hey, tiffany, you remember this. One joke tone is hilarious she's great though she's very pretty too yeah. Yes, it is wonderful. I like that voice who she got, that sort of a low voice kind of like this, I'm tiffany haddish, okay, alright, we gotta go cause we're talking the dakota here, not dakota, fanning or elle, fanning now the apartment building in new york
diddy, that's right! The one where John lennon was shot in front of his live there at the toledo know he lived there and he was. He was shot on the sidewalk outside the dakota. So that's not the only reason, Dakota's famous, although it's probably the biggest reason, the dakota's famous one of the reasons that Dakota is famous, is because it was one of the first apartment buildings in new york city like they didn't do apartments back then, and even more spectacular than that it being one of the first apartment buildings is that it was plunked down in the upper west side at a time when central park west one of the most, what is it white, heeled high heeled
well. Heeled well, heeled, like bits of stretches of real estate in the world, was a dirt road still and no where's phil nowhere. Yet nobody wanted to go up that far there like there's nothing up there. That's right, your hay seeds and in fact it was so far out that I'm the guy who built the dakota who will meet in the second edward kabak clark, bought it from an industrialist whose wife threatened to divorce him. If he built
their house out there and he's like alright I'll just get rid of the piece of land. Then yeah she's like I want to live down here, where it's posh in alphabet city you know what's funny, is, if you you remember
You go read our book. There is a whole chapter on keeping up with the joneses in it now he talks a lot about this part of of new york history, where there are all sorts of nowhere. Villes around that today are just like, incredibly famous and and expensive. That's right. All right said the dakota.
Like you said. People were not living in apartments at the time they were living in brownstones, which were single family homes, and there were a couple like a couple started to spring up in the eighteen seventies
they weren't great, they were can like you'd, think of new york apartments. They were so
They didn't have a lot of white people, didn't love renting.
And living in them and I want him
guy edward cabot clark that you mention he was president of the singer, sewing machine companies that he was loaded and he got together with an architect name. Henriette
janeway harden burg
eight name in to get into real estate. In the first thing they built witches,
I will not say any more- is kind of a prototype for the dakota
the Van core leir, a red, brick, five story: thirty, six apartment building that was on seventh between fifty five and fifty six
yeah. It immediately improved on its predecessors, because the rooms were larger. The apartments themselves were larger. There's a courtyards there's plenty of like natural light and air
had elevators apparently, which we welcome, like the eighteen, eighties eighteen seventies, and there was also, I think, a yeah. What was there? Oh, there is a ramp that went beneath it, so
and then you didn't have to solely your family reputation by accepting deliveries out there in public. You could go down to the basement and meet the delivery driver for to get them to take whatever they gave you
and it was just nicer overall. I think that was an intercom system and you know, like spanish tile was just is just a step up for sure and all of a sudden
eighteen. Seventy eight they rented out very quickly and so clark was like all right
out of you. If you build at nice enough, they will come and apartments can be
the real thing and like you said, but that property or I guess it was just landed the time right. Yeah yeah thought this land from
It can Henry if way way, uptown and-
I decided to build his second sort of dream property there yep, which would be the dakota, and I say that we pause for a message break and then return and begin talking about the dakota S'More
and tiffany hellish right after this long guess why? What's up, we were in the woods, cling follow the leader on our bikes, sue, that's einstein and we saw a task watch family drinking caprice, sign
this ask, watch family drinking caprice, son yeah and we all want- and they all went and then
all like right. It was so it
Your free son, it's gonna, be epic,
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for today the so chuck were talking about the dakota now starting now? Okay, so if the bank corp lear, was the advancement based on the stuff that came few years before it, the dakota was an even better advancement or improvement based on the bank or lear it had big
parliament's big rooms, courtyard lots alight ramp underneath and all that stuff, but it was also like even more luxuriously design like if you came over to someone's apartment,
couldn't see, threw down the hallway to every single room. The walls were kind of like designed around so that you you couldn't you like. There was us
separation between your visitors in the living part of the apartment or the sleeping part. You know the family part, I guess, is what you call it just little. Details like that, and another big detail was that it had it's own power plants that generate electricity for in the eighteen seventies, yeah, not bad. Ah, the kitchens had little balconies said he had stinky stuff like garbage that you couldn't get down or maybe even stinky food or something
but it just right outside the kitchen, which was something that a lot of places didn't have. They had a boiler, so they
insulated pipes bringing steam and hot water into the building, which was a big innovation at the time
and they had tennis courts. They had croquet courts, it was. It was
real Jim. It still is one of my favorite,
buildings in new york there. Every time I go up there to central park at least try to pop out
on that area and just go. Go. Give it a look, because it's a beautiful building, it's sort of a mishmash of styles and it's been called. You know french renaissance or got german gothic or even victorian, and it's kind of a little bit of everything. But it's it's beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen it in person. If I have a, I didn't realize it, you may have it's: it's lovely, it's right there on the corner. So here's the thing when edward cabot clark was creating the dakota and he was widely derided for it. They call that Clarke's folly, because people were deeply insensitive in the nineteenth century and the reason why they call it as because again it's in the middle of nowhere and people aren't really into apartments like we said they live in. Like three story: brownstones
they live in homes, they don't live in apartments. The people lived in apartments as far as the how stuff works. Article points out were widows, widowers and people who are waiting for their wealthy relatives to die, so they could inherit their house and all of a sudden clark is like no, no we're changing the game. Anyone who is anyone is going to want to live in an apartment and it turns out his gamble paid off. He was right, yeah he'd. Sadly, he died before it was finished.
So he didn't get to see it come to fruition. But it was certainly not his folly because, like you said, people lined up to read these things, or I guess
Montana, where they all rentals at the time. I wonder if anyone were available for sale, I think they were all rentals. Okay, while people read it, but they were people that had money. They just one.
like robber barons who wanted to live in mansions, they were, they were
sorted the early new york, you no upper class. They were people who, like we're bank president's in people who, like the see us
time. Apparently, the atom sisters were heirs to a chewing gum fortune,
they live there with that and that flavoured t bearing one of the greatest gum flavors of all time. At them with it, wasn t very now, are you kidding cause? I can't tell you know now: let's for real, it's like a kind of salmon pink colored. I've got. You know that the rapporteur is it tastes like salmon to know it's a really delicate, unique flavour, and you could probably find it a cracker barrel that they also its old time. He candies requires rocket. These places have ninety anywhere the cells candy I'll bet they have to bear
stick gum in its really worth trying right, we'll take my my step there. That's so did you go to started a trend? All of a sudden luxury apartment houses started popping up all over the place can have been the same model with like bigger rooms and higher ceilings and stuff like that.
and the upper west side, it wasn't right
then, but around the early nineteen hundreds that really started to take off and really changed the face of europe.
new york. You know they they started building up
or after world war, one obviously
when new york said they could and apart
became the way to go yeah. Eventually the the dakota started, seeing a different clientele. Not you know: streets and squares, like bank president's publics,
art like lord, but call and judy garland. While we were worse karlov too, that's pretty
imagine living next to him and then, of course, to the most famous residents
John Lennon, in Yoko Ono, who is widely blamed for
moving John lennon till the dakota and he would have lived had she not done that two people say that
somebody out there, ok poking fun it those people, I think he loved the dakota yeah ever seem to be at home. They were therefore like a dozen years. I think
before he died. I'm not sure how long he loved new york city, though it was. It was a great scene for both he and Yoko yup anything else. I got nothing else, go check out the dakota. If you're in new york, it's a great great looking building. Yes, it is, and since chuck's
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Transcript generated on 2023-11-09.