Celebrity Drag King Murray Hill and “Voice of the Subway” Bernie Wagenblast to Headline
On All Saints Day (Friday, November 1), the City Reliquary will celebrate the secular saint of New York, the Statue of Liberty, in a blowout celebration emceed by celebrity drag king Murray Hill, “the hardest-working middle-aged ‘man’ in showbiz.” Tickets are on sale now.
The celebration will mark the release of the exhibition catalog for Liberty the Tattooed Lady, a show about the history of Statue of Liberty tattoos that opened at the City Reliquary on March 15 and will close in mid-January. Copies of the book will be available for purchase. The exhibition is the first devoted entirely to the history of Statue of Liberty tattoos and was curated by Daredevil Tattooco-owner and tattoo artist, Michelle Myles. Through a stunning collection of vintage tattoo art–including pieces never put on public display before–it shows how the Statue of Liberty has been embraced and embodied by American tattoo artists since the turn of the century. See it while you can!
The highlight of the event will surely be the Lady Liberty Costume Contest. The chance to compete is included with event admission. Contestants of all shapes, sizes, and gender identities are invited to display their creativity and love for our national icon. Please note, the City Reliquary does not have a dressing room. Contestants should arrive in costume!
Contestants will be evaluated on personality and costume creativity by a panel of three judges: transgender NYC transportation icon Bernie Wagenblast, who is literally the voice of the New York City subway system (“Please stand away from the platform edge!”); the reigning 2024 City Reliquary Miss Subways, burlesque performer Queerly Femmetastic; and 2024 Miss Subways first runner-up, comedian Dani Riedel.
After careful consideration, our fabulous judges will present the winner with a $500 gift certificate to Daredevil Tattoo and a copy of the catalog autographed by exhibition curator Michelle Myles. The second-place prize is a $250 Daredevil gift certificate and an autographed catalog.
If you like Undiscarded, tune into The Brooklyn Public Library’s flagship podcast, Borrowed. Brooklyn has so many stories to tell, and a lot of them start at the library…
New York City is teeming with personalities larger than life itself – unapologetically brash, no-nonsense folks who can be intimidating but will always have your back. One of the greatest privileges of hosting this podcast project is not just delving into the city’s rich history but also acquainting myself with the colorful characters who populate it.
One of my favorite aspects of this project is the opportunity to interact with my enthusiastic guests, each passionate and worthy of a podcast feature themselves! But I especially love learning about unforgettable New Yorkers such as Charlie DeLeo (Episode 1 – lightbulb), Bill Butler (Episode 7 – Rollerskate), Asha Wabe (Episode 2 – Mannequin), who have come up in our episodes. But one of my favorites (even though you are not supposed to have one) was the story of Adam Petrella, who ran the beloved Petrella’s Point Newsstand at the border of Little Italy & Chinatown for nearly three decades.
Adam on the corner of Bowery & CanalExtra Extra!
Petrella’s Point, Adam’s newsstand, became an episode obsession for me and my co-planner, Jacob. Now reconfigured and preserved within a museum, it’s a vibrant red manifestation of old New York, bursting with hand-drawn art and declarations. This newsstand, unlike the sterile silver rectangular kiosks that now litter the city, embodies the spirit of a New York gone by.
Boring New Kiosks – Tdorante10
The newsstand encapsulates themes significant to many New Yorkers – the disappearance of historical institutions, evolving neighborhoods, political changes impacting local life, the city’s vanishing quirkiness, and the passionate preservationists striving to keep these memories alive. The City Reliquary, in essence, serves as a container for these invaluable relics of New York, and Petrella’s Point exemplifies their work perfectly.
Dave Herman – with one of Adam’s painted doorstoppersLovely Ladies
Petrella’s Point was more than a newsstand. It was a community hub where locals picked up their daily essentials and experienced Adam’s unique take on the neighborhood. His stand, dotted with humorous and helpful directions, also showcased his own artistic creations – the famous Bruce Lee and Marilyn Monroe drawings and pictorial narratives of the neighborhood’s changes over the years. As noted by Dave Herman on our podcast, Adam’s stand served as a source of inspiration for the City Reliquary.
No explantion needed…Useful Translations by AdamPetrella’s Point Interior
Just like the Jewish delis we discussed in episode 3, newsstands too have dwindled over time. Once numbering over 1,500 in the 1950s, now only about 300 stand, primarily in Manhattan. The shift from paper to digital news played a part, but politics as always contributed to this decline. In 1997, Mayor Giuliani increased the annual fee charged to news vendors from $538 to $5000, and sometimes even more if the location was more desirable. The Street Furniture Bill of 2003, introduced during Bloomberg’s term, called for the removal of the diverse, sometimes ramshackle newsstands, to be replaced by homogenous silver structures. These changes led to protests by Adam and a handful of newsstand operators, but to little avail. The original Petrella’s Point was even torn down covertly in the night in 2004 by a bank that moved in on his corner, only to be restored after community outcry. The bank agreed to pay for it’s replacement which was wood unlike it’s metal sturdy predecessor. Adam salvaged what he could from the dumpster and fortified the new newsstand with metal planks. Sadly, Adam’s passing in 2006 marked the end of Petrella’s Point as we knew it, saved ultimately by the Reliquary. Here are some shots of Newsstands over the years in NYC.
1902 Sidewalk Newsstand by Detroit publishing companyNewsstand Operator 2005 – Jorge RoyanUnion Square1936 – Bernice Abbot 1970s – National Archives at College Park32nd & Third_Avenue – Brenice Abbot2018 Not so much about the news anymore – Billie Grace Ward
The nostalgia for what Petrella’s Point represented still lingers. A Reliquary version of the stand was displayed at the Dumbo Arts Festival thanks to Dave Herman. The in April of 2013 three artists Anne Libby, Elise Mcmahon, and Sophie Stone created an homage to Adam’s beloved stand. The Petrella’s Import pop-up sold indie zines, journals, art and also regular Newstand fare. As the city frequently transforms, lamentations for the loss of its originality and individuality are common. Fortunately, we can still celebrate the memory of these characters and institutions through the City Reliquary.
Additional Reading & References: About Adam -Adam Petrella, 85, newsstand owner who had an artist’s soul – The Villager/NY AM -Remembering Petrella’s Point – EV Grieve
The Newsstands Battle/History As Bloomberg’s New York Prospered, Inequality Flourished Too – NY Times Newsstands of Tomorrow Get Mixed Reviews Today – NY Times News Vendors Face Prospect Of Last Stand – NY Times How New Yorkers Are Fighting to Save the City’s Struggling Newsstands – Thrillist
Patrellas Imports BLNK: Petrella’s Imports – Artfcity Petrella’s Imports Revives the Lost Individuality of NYC Newsstands – Hyperallergic
On View: March 15-January 12, 2024 Opening Reception: Friday, April 5 at 6 PM
The City Reliquary Museum and Daredevil Tattoo are proud to announce Liberty the Tattooed Lady: The Great Bartholdi Statue as Depicted in Tattooing. This new exhibition is the first devoted entirely to the history of Statue of Liberty tattoos. Through a stunning collection of vintage tattoo art–including pieces never put on public display before–it shows how the Statue of Liberty has been embraced and embodied by American tattoo artists since the turn of the century.
Since its unveiling in 1886, the Statue of Liberty has served as a symbol of New York City and the nation. Received as a gift from France to commemorate the Declaration of Independence and the abolition of slavery, Lady Liberty has long represented ideals often associated with the idea of America: freedom and liberty. Antique flash, vintage photographs, drawings, and other related objects on display in this exhibit show that Lady Liberty has been a popular subject in tattooing for as long as she’s stood in New York Harbor.
Guests will have the opportunity to view a stunning collection of vintage tattoo art, including pieces that have never been on public display before. The history of Lady Liberty in tattoo art is told through a stunning collection of antique flash, vintage photographs, drawings, stencils, paintings and other related objects.
This exhibition brings together artifacts from some of the most legendary tattooers of the early twentieth century, including–but not limited to–Bert Grimm, Owen Jensen, Dainty Dotty, Lou Normand, and Ralph Johnson.
This exhibition was curated by Michelle Myles of Daredevil Tattoo Shop & Museum.
BIRD SHOW documents the ways humans & birds notice, help, and threaten each other. Like all New Yorkers, wild birds are jostling for space and rubbing shoulders with others as they go about their day. Sometimes those interactions are with humans, sometimes with other wildlife; often these interactions are to the detriment of birds, sometimes, to the detriment of humans, and sometimes, to the benefit of both.
Curated by our own Board Member and Designer About Town Jacob Ford, BIRD SHOW exhibits art and artifacts illustrating these human-bird interactions and asks how we can better adapt to our fellow creatures and create a better habitat for us all.
Taxonomized incorrectly as science fair, fairly as art gallery, but most specifically as museum exhibition, BIRD SHOW looks at humans watching birds, and the birds staring back.
Join us for a brunch reception on Sunday, November 12 at noon to celebrate the opening of NYC Trash! Past, Present, & Future.
We will be joined by Council Member Antonio Reynoso, representative for District 34 and Chair of the council’s Committee on Sanitation and Solid Waste Management. Representatives from the Bureau of Recycling and Sustainability of the NYC Dept. of Sanitation will distribute free bags of compost to promote their new curbside Organics Collection program.
$5 admission includes complimentary coffee courtesy of Oslo Coffee Roasters and light refreshments. Brunch cocktails and Brooklyn Brewery beer available by suggested donation.
This exhibition presents the stories behind New York’s solid waste, from “one man’s garbage is another man’s gold” to the inventive ways New Yorkers are reusing and recycling. It traces the trajectory of waste management in New York, from the squalid nineteenth-century tenements documented by Jacob A. Riis, to the Dead Horse Bay landfill and the beginnings of the NYC Department of Sanitation at the turn of the century. It also addresses the mid-century landfill of Fresh Kills on Staten Island and the ecological restoration project currently underway to convert this site into park space.
The exhibition culminates in profiles of seven artists and nonprofits that offer innovative ways of considering waste now and in the future:
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, whose work highlights overlooked social aspects of trash disposal. Update: Mierle Laderman Ukeles will attend the Nov. 12 reception for NYC Trash. Unfortunately, her artwork “The Social Mirror” will not be on display at the Reliquary. DSNY has discovered damage to the truck that precludes moving it from its storage facility.Ukeles’s 1983 work The Social Mirror will be on display at the Reliquary for the November 12 opening reception.
Materials for the Arts, a nonprofit that collects and distributes art supplies and materials to nonprofit organizations with arts programming and public schools
RISE Products, creates nutritious ingredients from upcycled organic byproducts, which reduces waste and preserves the environment
The exhibition will also explore the role of trash as cultural archive through objects selected from the Treasure in the Trashcollection of Nelson Molina. In his thirty years on the job as a DSNY employee, Molina amassed a monumental collection of ephemera picked from the castoffs of everyday New Yorkers. Read more about his museum in this New York Times article.
NYC Trash! runs from November 2, 2017 to April 29, 2018. A display of trash art by a number of local artists will complement the exhibition and will open in the Reliquary sculpture garden on April 5, 2018.
Jacob A. Riis, “Rivington Street Dump, woman working there,” ca. 1890. Museum of the City of New York (90.13.4.211).
Treasure in the Trash Museum, Copyright 2017, Anna O. Grant.
Gowanus E-Waste Warehouse of the LES Ecology Center, copyright 2017, Anna O. Grant
“Roberto, Brooklyn.” Copyright 2017, Larry Racioppo
Materials for the Arts, Copyright 2017, Anna O. Grant.
Treasure in the Trash Museum, Copyright 2017, Anna O. Grant.
Treasure in the Trash Museum, Copyright 2017, Anna O. Grant.
Materials for the Arts, Copyright 2017, Anna O. Grant.
Treasure in the Trash Museum, Copyright 2017, Anna O. Grant.
Fresh Kills Landfill. Courtesy of DSNY.
Copyright 2017, Larry Racioppo
Copyright 2017, Larry Racioppo
Copyright 2017, Larry Racioppo
Jacob A. Riis, “Italian Home Under a Dump,” ca. 1890. Museum of the City of New York (90.13.1.208)
Mierle Laderman Ukeles, “The Social Mirror” (1983), New York City Department of Sanitation
Jacob A. Riis, “Under the Dump at West 47th Street,” ca. 1890. Museum of the City of New York (90.13.4.209).
Materials for the Arts, Copyright 2017, Anna O. Grant.
Gowanus E-Waste Warehouse of the LES Ecology Center, copyright 2017, Anna O. Grant
Gowanus E-Waste Warehouse of the LES Ecology Center, copyright 2017, Anna O. Grant
Fresh Kills Landfill. Courtesy of DSNY.
Materials for the Arts, Copyright 2017, Anna O. Grant.
Treasure in the Trash Museum, Copyright 2017, Anna O. Grant.
Jacob A. Riis, “Italian Home Under a Dump,” ca. 1890. Museum of the City of New York (90.13.1.208)
CALL FOR EXHIBITORS: NYC Trash! Past, Present, & Future
The City Reliquary invites proposals for its upcoming exhibition, NYC Trash! Past, Present, & Future, which will open in October 2017 and run through April 2018. From Jacob A. Riis’s images of 19th-century squalor to plans for waste management in the 21st century and beyond, this show will explore the diverse ways that New Yorkers relate to and deal with their trash.
Waste management experts, collectors of NYC Department of Sanitation ephemera, enthusiasts of reuse/recycling, and anyone invested in the past, present, or future of trash in New York City are encouraged to submit their ideas. Contact [email protected] with your name, phone number, and a brief description of your exhibit idea including any AV and/or size & space requirements.
The curators are particularly interested in contributions that address projects related to reuse and recycling and how the city must deal with its waste in the future, but all proposals will be considered. The deadline for submissions is August 14, 2017.
New extended date!
The United States: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow June 29 – August 20, 2017 Sept. 24, 2017 Opening reception: Saturday, July 1 @ 7 PM Admission: $5
The City Reliquary proudly presents, in partnership with the New York Chapter of the SS United States Conservancy, The United States: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. This exhibition celebrates the extraordinary career of the luxury liner known as “America’s Flagship” and her relationship with the City of New York. The show will run from June 29th to September 24, 2017.
The opening event at The City Reliquary on Saturday, July 1 at 7 PM will commemorate the 65th Anniversary of SS United States’ famous record-breaking Maiden Voyage. There will be an 8 PM screening of the film Colossus On The River (1965; Runtime: 15 min.). Beverages available by suggested donation, with beer courtesy of The Brooklyn Brewery and a specialty cocktail courtesy of Montauk Rum.
This show will trace the life of the ship, from young speed queen and popular cover girl to aging star of yesteryear and nearly forgotten “has-been,” and finally–with your help–to one of the great comeback stories in U.S. history.
About the SS United States:
Upon its completion in 1952, the SS United States immediately won the Blue Riband for setting a new Transatlantic speed record–a record that remains unbeaten.
In her heyday, the ship welcomed celebrities from the golden age of Hollywood, such as Marilyn Monroe, Judy Garland, Mahalia Jackson, Salvador Dalí, Grace Kelly, and Joan Crawford. During the 1964 New York World’s Fair, it was touted as the fastest and most luxurious way to travel to Europe. With the advent of jet technology, however, overseas travel began to look less exciting and became less profitable. In 1969, theSS United was abruptly withdrawn from service while docked in Newport News, Virginia for annual maintenance. She was moved to South Philadelphia in 1996 where she remains today.
The SS United States Conservancy purchased the ship outright in February 2011. They hope to find a new purpose for the fastest, finest, and largest ocean liner ever to be built in the United States.
Want to get in touch with the SS United States Conservancy’s New York Chapter? Drop them a line at [email protected]
In the winter of 2015 in the Children’s Workshop School in the East Village, a Manhattan fourth grader peered into the dusty crevices beneath his classroom closet floorboards. He wondered what treasures might have fallen there in the 104 years since the building was constructed. His classmates took notice and joined him in poking under the boards and pulling out artifacts of everyday life.
Through this “closet archaeology,” the students excavated an accidental time capsule built over a century by the students who had also once sat in their classroom. These junior archaeologists have unearthed love notes, spelling tests, caps from glass milk bottles, portraits of silent film stars, penny candy wrappers, and more. They have even found former students, now adults, who remember losing these items. The project was covered in The New York Times. Miriam Sicherman runs the Closet Archaeology Instagram account.
The City Reliquary is proud to present the first formal exhibition of Closet Archaeology after featuring it at Collectors’ Night 2017.
The Opening Reception on Sat., June 3 at 2 PM will include presentations from some of the junior archaeologists from the Children’s Workshop School as well as professional collectors and anthropologists:
Miriam Sicherman, Schoolteacher and Closet Archaeology Director
Bobby Scotto & Dinah Landsman, Closet Archaeology Student-Founders
Sunday, May 7, 2-5 PM
Admission: $5, available at the door
Join us as we bid farewell to our exhibition, Heroes of the Knish: Making a Living and Making a Life. This show traced the history of the iconic New York City street food from its origins in Eastern Europe to its arrival in the US with Jewish immigrants, to its popularization through early knish makers such as Mrs. Stahl, Mano Hirsch, Ruby the Knishman, and Yonah Schimmel.
The event will celebrate the knish in style, with live music from All That Jazz (Rachel Levine on vocals, Christopher Bandini on guitar) and a curator’s talk from Laura Silver, author of Knish: In Search of the Jewish Soul Food.
We’ll serve an international spread of knishes and knish cousins such as dumplings from Vanessa’s Dumpling House, pierogi from classic Greenpoint spots, and more!
To commemorate the 106th anniversary of the Triangle Waist Factory Fire, The City Reliquary will display Robin Berson’s memorial quilt in its front room exhibition space until May 2017.
The Triangle Waist Factory Fire
On Saturday, March 25, 1911, at 4:45 pm, almost closing time, a fire broke out on the 8th floor of the Triangle Waist Company located one block east of Washington Square Park at Washington Place and Greene Street. The owners had locked the doors to the stairwells and exits to prevent workers from taking unauthorized breaks and to reduce theft. Fire escapes collapsed by the weight of the workers dropping them to their deaths. Workers on the 10th floor were warned by telephone and escaped to the roof. No one warned the workers on the 9th floor. A locked exit door trapped the workers on the 9th floor. Surrounded by flames many of the workers jumped to their death. Fire trucks arrived but their ladders only reached the 6th floor and the rescue nets could not hold the force of the bodies jumping from such a height. The heroic elevator operators ran the elevators as long as they could as workers pressed into the cars; some tumbled down the elevator shaft. In the end, 146 people died.
The Triangle Fire—and the memorial quilt—represent an appalling moment in history, but one that drew an intelligent, far-reaching reform response across America. The fire became a rallying cry for the international labor movement and resulted in numerous state and national workplace reforms. Many of our fire safety laws were created in response to this tragic event. That is the history we must keep alive, for the sake of every working person in the country (and, in this globalized world, every worker everywhere). The need is greater than ever.
The Memorial Quilt
The Triangle Factory Fire Memorial quilt is one of two quilts in the series Workers Memorial Quilts created by quilter, author, and historian Robin Berson. The two quilts honor garment workers who died in twin workplace disasters that bookended the past century: the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire of 1911 and the Tazreen fire and Rana Plaza collapse of 2012 and 2013 in Bangladesh.
Conceived, Designed, and Sewn: Robin Berson Contributors: Sandra Cain, Donna Choi, Deanna Gates, Pauline Hazard, Genevieve Hitchings, Maureen Hyslop, Jennifer Merz, Rena Rappaport, and Lea Williams Rose
To make this quilt, Robin Berson put out a call to a number of quilters’ guilds, assorted artists’ circles—and quite a few women. The quilt includes blocks by four quilter’s guild members: Sandra Cain, Pauline Hazard, Maureen Hyslop, and Rena Rappaport; two members of Robin’s knitters’ circle: Lea Williams Rose and Deanna Gates; and three students from an FIT class on illustration: Donna Choi, Jennifer Merz, and Genevieve Hitchings. Robin created the rest of the blocks herself, in some cases working from old family portraits and archival photos, but in most cases tinkering elaborately with enlarged images from small photos in 110-year-old newspaper clippings. In addition to the factory worker victims, the quilt also depicts the two heroic elevator operators, Joey Zito and Gaspare Mortilalo; and the African American porter, Thomas Horton.
Texts on the quilt include passages from beloved labor songs and quotes from notable American figures on the rights of workers—from Frederick Douglass to Dwight Eisenhower to Myles Horton—plus a listing of all the victims’ names.
The memorial quilts have been displayed at numerous small museums and galleries in New York City; the Cathedral of St. John the Divine; Iona College; the Virginia Arts of the Book Center, through the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities. In March 2015 they were featured at the conference of the UN Commission on the Status of Women, hosted by Fordham Law School. For International Women’s Day 2016 they were part of a day-long presentation on the Triangle Fire at Hofstra University. The Triangle Quilt is featured in the book Quilts and Human Rights, with a foreword by Desmond Tutu.
