Themes in American History

Throughout the course of this class, we’ve touched on the evolution of many different things that were pivotal in the evolution of New York as a whole. We’ve discussed the evolution of entertainment such as the Barnum Museum in the mid 19th century. P.T Barnum pushed the envelope with the shows held at his museum. His shows were capivating and up until the opening of the museum in 1841, no one dared to entertain the general public like he did. We also took a glance at the evolution of fashion in the early 1900’s. Woment were beginning to get more into fashion and trendy wearing shirtwaist blouses that were flattering and popular during this period. What we didnt talk about was the evolution of cuisine in New York.

Its no surprise that Americans love food. One of our all time favorite food is Pizza. Pizza has been adopted into American culture for over 100 years. Its simple ingredients and delicious taste is what makes pizza so easy to love.

Three weeks ago, I was invited to come along on a pizza tour in lower Manhattan. Our pizza tour guide, Scott, of ‘Scott’s Pizza Tours’ is a fanatic if i’ve ever met one and was uber excited to show us why pizza is so important to New York. Our tour began on Spring Street between Lafayette St and Mulberry St. in front of a restaurant called ‘Gatsby.’ Gatsby used to be called Lombardi’s Pizza back in 1905 (one year after the Subway system was built.) Lombardi’s Pizza was the FIRST pizzeria to be opened in New York. The pizzeria became very popular over the years. The reason why is because they used a brick oven stove that was built into the establishment. The pizza was fresh and the turnaround time for brick oven pizza is faster than pizza made from electric stoves. Unfortunately, the stove broke 80 years after the opening of Lombardi’s Pizza due to the trains that run directly underneath the restaurant. The shaking and rattling of the trains cracked the bricks inside of the oven rendering the oven useless. The amount it costs to fix such an oven is very pricey and the owner didnt want to have to repair it in another 80 years. Lombardi’s Pizza moved one block down to the corner of Spring St and Mott St. where it still stands today.

–Here is a clip of Lombardi’s kitchen. That oven reaches over 800 degrees on any given day.

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On our way to the second Pizzeria, we passed by the Bayer-Condict Building on Bleeker St between Lafayette and Broadway. Scott explained to us that this building was built in the late 1800’s early 1900’s (during the rise of the industrial revolution) by an architect named Louis Sullivan. The building is considered to be a sky scraper because of its steel frame and very avante garde during this time because of its architectural design.

–Heres a clip of the facade of the Bayer Condict Building

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