Getting it Right

Sometime during the first Eisenhower administration I looked at the trivet my mother had hanging between the two kitchen windows and knew something was wrong. The trivet was from somewhere, and depicted a map of NYC, showing the major landmarks, mostly Manhattan and parts of the Bronx.

There was the Harlem River, and to its left, in Manhattan, was a small version of a baseball stadium, labeled Yankee Stadium. Nearly immediately to its right, east of the Harlem River, was another depiction of a baseball stadium, this one labeled Polo grounds.

I pointed this out to my parents. Neither seemed too perturbed by it, even though my father was built several years before the 'House that Ruth Built' was actually built, and surely knew where the ballparks were. I couldn't understand how in the world did they mix up where the ballparks were? To me, it was like showing the Statue of Liberty holding the torch in her left hand. (The statute was correctly depicted on the lower left portion of the trivet.) God knows I wish I still had that trivet.

Today's paper brings further proof that NYC landmarks, if not incorrectly placed, can be incorrectly referred to.

Today's NYT carries a story by David Dunlap that comes under the headline, 'Port Agency Tells Store to Drop 9/11 Items.' Based on NYT Web information, Mr. Dunlap is their infrastructure reporter.  This explains the theme I failed to notice whenever I read his pieces. And this one falls under infrastructure, for sure.

The 9/11 items are plates at Fishs Eddy, an eclectic store of glasses, plates, and dinnerware on Broadway and 19th Street. It's a fun place to browse through. Nothing will set you back an arm and a leg.

Well, it seems the store, according to Port Authority lawyers and reported by Mr. Dunlap, is "unfairly reaping a benefit from association with the Port Authority and the attacks" of September 11. Mr. Dunlap explains that they are doing this by selling two lines of goods--'212 New York Skyline' and 'Bridge and Tunnel'--items that are adorned with fanciful, cartoonish depictions of the twin towers, the new 1 World Trade Center and the Holland and Lincoln Tunnels, labeled with their names, all of which the agency claims as its 'assests'."

Oh boy. Why Verizon hasn't yet weighed in the use of the 212 telephone area code is unknown. Perhaps their lawyers have something else to do.

Anyone who has spent some time in New York (like from birth) knows the Port Authority operates in a somewhat Byzantine fashion. And that's probably understating it. They are responsible for bridges, airports, rail lines buildings and piers. They are a city-state and could qualify for a seat in the U.N.'s General Assembly. They probably only lack cruise missiles and an air force.

I survived being in one of their "assets" when Osama bin Laden turned Manhattan into an airport on 9/11. I can't understand what can be so proprietary about an image of two buildings that didn't make it past noon on 9/11/2001. After 9/11 my daughters gave me a photo of lower Manhattan that is clearly meant to show off the World Trade Center and the World Financial Center. It's one way I remember the day.

The owners of the store are of course flummoxed by the agency's legal letter. Why take umbrage with something after all these years? I've heard some building have tried to copyright their image for use in movies, but plates? Is the agency afraid some Ragu between the towers will create some kind of blasphemy? I am certain that trivet from the 50s showed the George Washington Bridge, another Port Authority "asset." Maybe I can't find because they came in and took it?

The "212" line at Fishs Eddy does make a mistake for this generation of childhood New Yorkers to be raised on. The mugs, dinnerware, etc. refer to Grand Central Terminal as Grand Central Station. This is a common mistake, repeated in many places, by many people, over many years..

The railroad station is properly referred to as "Grand Central Terminal" and the adjacent post office is referred to as Grand Central Station. There are plaques, but who reads plaques?

As a complete aside, the name of the store might strike those as also being a mistake. Fishs Eddy. Huh? Should that be Fishes Eddy? Or Fishy's Eddy? No.

There is an upstate town in New York on Route 17, somewhat south of Binghamton that is called Fishs Eddy. Why it is called Fishs Eddy is certainly another topic in itself. It is known for its fly-fishing, and there are roads and streets in the town called Fish Creek Road and Fish Eddy-Sullivan County Line Road. Did someone leave off the apostrophe? How do you pronounce an apostrophe anyway?

I suspect the store has sold out at this point. There is no such thing as bad publicity.

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