The manned elevators of NYC (2017) | Hacker News Reader

The manned elevators of NYC (2017)

nytimes.com

52 pointsjaredwiener15 comments

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.

Got any pictures anywhere?

http://deadword.com/site1/pay/work/stories/004/index.htm

No pictures and only tangentially related but interesting anyway.

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."

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!

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

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.

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.

Nah, percolators make better coffee too.

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.

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.

> 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.

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

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

Reply on news.ycombinator.com