For almost five years, we have been extolling the virtues of New York's greatest and most treasured landmarks in our podcasts. At last, we can actually bring to your attention a very special project where you'll get to interact with some of these places and help get them get sorely needed funding.
The Bowery Boys: New York City History will be blog ambassadors for the Partners In Preservation initiative, sponsored by American Express in partnership with the National Trust for Historic Preservation. The initiative has helped historic sites in Chicago, Minneapolis-Saint Paul, Boston, Seattle-Puget Sound, San Francisco and New Orleans in prior years. Finally they've come to New York City!
Partners In Preservation is providing $3 million to be given away to historic sites who have submitted grants. Each place has a different need in mind -- basic maintenance, renovation, site expansion, you name it.
Here's how we all come in. You can vote once a day for a particular site you want to support. Go directly to the Partners In Preservation webpage or vote on their Facebook page. The four sites that get the most votes will have their grant requests fully funded, and the remainder of the pot will be split between other sites chosen by an advisory committee made up of civic and preservation figures here in New York.
The list of 40 nominated sites is listed below, after the jump. We have spoken about a great many of them in our podcasts and here on the blog. Over the next few weeks -- up until the voting deadline of May 21 -- we will turn our focus on a few more of these great places. Our new podcast next week will feature one particular spot and its relation to one of our favorite early New Yorkers.
As for the contest itself, we don't have a particular horse in this race. The choice is yours. Just look through the list and find a spot that you have either a particular love for or a place you feel passionate needs the support. There are big places and very small places. Spread the love! Go here to vote once a day. In a couple days I'll have an interface for the blog and our own Facebook page.
Next weekend (May 4-5), all 40 sites will have an open house with special events. Have fun with this! Visit and explore a place you've never been. And come back here for our take on a few of these interesting sites.
The nominees are:
PARTNERS IN PRESERVATION NOMINEES
-- Alice Austen House Museum, Staten Island
-- Apollo Theater, Manhattan
-- Astoria Pool, Queens
-- Bartow-Pell Mansion Museum, Bronx
-- Brooklyn Public Library, Central Library, Brooklyn
-- Brown Memorial Baptist Church, Brooklyn
-- Caribbean Cultural Center, Manhattan
-- City Island Nautical Museum, Bronx
-- Cleopatra's Needle, Manhattan
-- Coney Island B&B Carousell, Brooklyn
-- Congregation Beth Elohim, Brooklyn
-- Duo Multicultural Arts Center, Manhattan
-- Ellis Island Hospital Complex, Manhattan
-- Erasmus Hall Campus, Brooklyn
-- Federal Hall National Memorial, Manhattan
-- Flushing Town Hall, Queens
-- Gateway National Recreation Area, Brooklyn
-- Greenpoint Manufacturing and Design Center, Brooklyn
-- Guggenheim Museum, Manhattan
-- Helen Hayes Theatre, Manhattan
-- Henry Street Settlement, Manhattan
-- High Line, Manhattan
-- Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum, Manhattan
-- Japan Society, Inc., Manhattan
-- Jefferson Market Library, Manhattan
-- Louis Armstrong House Museum, Queens
-- Lower East Side Tenement Museum, Manhattan
-- Mind-Builders Creative Arts Center, Bronx
-- Museum of the City of New York, Manhattan
-- New York Botanical Garden, Bronx
-- Our Lady of Mount Carmel Society of Rosebank, Staten Island
-- Queens County Farm Museum, Queens
-- Rocket Thrower, Queens
-- Rossville African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, Staten Island
-- Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Manhattan
-- St. Mark's Church in the Bowery, Manhattan
-- Staten Island Museum at Snug Harbor, Staten Island
-- Tug Pegasus & Waterfront Museum Barge, Brooklyn
-- Weeksville Heritage Center, Brooklyn
-- Woodlawn Cemetery, Bronx
