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Summary: A powerful look at the greatest real estate development
Review: A must read book that historically details Rockefeller Center, constructed during a depressionary economy, as one the greatest office/retail real estate development in history. The book offers an interesting confluence of New York City history; Rockefeller family power; colorful and unlikely players; and depression concerns. This book is highly recommended. Perhaps equally intriguing, the reader can actually go to Rockefeller Center and see the labor of work and experience this book firsthand.
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Summary: Robert Caro Minus the Boring Bits
Review: Absolutely terrific! An absorbing look at the social and cultural history of New York in the first half of the 20th Century, told through the prism of the greatest construction project in American history. I figured it would be good, because I've read the guy's baseball stuff before, but I didn't figure it would be this good.Wonderfully anecdotal, seriously scholarly, ujtterly captivating. And you don't have to be a New Yorker to be bowled over!
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Summary: Like a Dickens novel
Review: An amazing cast of characters and great story-telling -- it's like reading Dickens, but even better it's about the greatest city in the world. Martha Graham and Benito Mussolini in the same book? Amazing.
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Summary: Vivid Rendering of Rock Center's Formative Years
Review: Daniel Okrent has produced a vividly rendered account of Rockefeller Center's formative years. This is a superb book, destined to the the definitive standard on its subject, that will appeal strongly to readers with a wide variety of tastes and interests. Seven decades removed from the event -- with Rock Center holding such an iconic place in the Manhattan skyline -- this reader was especially struck by Rock Center's seemingly star-crossed beginnings: its architecture universally excoriated (Lewis Mumford being among the most vociferous early critics, until suddenly and inexplicably reversing course); opening night at Radio City Music Hall an unmitigated flop; the sparsely-trafficked retail concourse derided as "the catacombs;" a controversial Diego Rivera mural providing a public relations black-eye, etc. With its leasing program stalled in the Depression-ravaged economy, the Rockefellers desperately slashed office rents from $4 to $1 per sq ft, under-cutting the market. Their tactic of buying-out the existing leases of companies being courted to lease space at the Center -- not uncommon in today's marketplace -- drew the opprobrium of rival property owners, including a lawsuit from August Heckscher (whose grandson would go on to be a high profile Parks Commissioner). "Great Fortune" is laden with rich anecdotes and compelling, larger-than-life characters like the mercurial John R. Todd (managing agent and construction manager and grandfather to the future New Jersey Governor, Christine Todd-Whitman); the lead architect with a penchant for fast living, Raymond Hood, and, of course, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his ambitious second son, Nelson, first among equals of the Rockefeller's third generation. Okrent is a gifted wordsmith (it's not suprising that the New York Times just named him its new ombudsman) who's penned an entertaining, fast-paced narrative. Anyone even remotely curious about New York City and its history will be held in thrall from cover to cover. Recommended.
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Summary: Vivid Rendering of Rock Center's Formative Years
Review: Daniel Okrent has produced a vividly rendered account of Rockefeller Center's formative years. This is a superb book, destined to the the definitive standard on its subject, that will appeal strongly to readers with a wide variety of tastes and interests. Seven decades removed from the event -- with Rock Center holding such an iconic place in the Manhattan skyline -- this reader was especially struck by Rock Center's seemingly star-crossed beginnings: its architecture universally excoriated (Lewis Mumford being among the most vociferous early critics, until suddenly and inexplicably reversing course); opening night at Radio City Music Hall an unmitigated flop; the sparsely-trafficked retail concourse derided as "the catacombs;" a controversial Diego Rivera mural providing a public relations black-eye, etc. With its leasing program stalled in the Depression-ravaged economy, the Rockefellers desperately slashed office rents from $4 to $1 per sq ft, under-cutting the market. Their tactic of buying-out the existing leases of companies being courted to lease space at the Center -- not uncommon in today's marketplace -- drew the opprobrium of rival property owners, including a lawsuit from August Heckscher (whose grandson would go on to be a high profile Parks Commissioner). "Great Fortune" is laden with rich anecdotes and compelling, larger-than-life characters like the mercurial John R. Todd (managing agent and construction manager and grandfather to the future New Jersey Governor, Christine Todd-Whitman); the lead architect with a penchant for fast living, Raymond Hood, and, of course, John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and his ambitious second son, Nelson, first among equals of the Rockefeller's third generation. Okrent is a gifted wordsmith (it's not suprising that the New York Times just named him its new ombudsman) who's penned an entertaining, fast-paced narrative. Anyone even remotely curious about New York City and its history will be held in thrall from cover to cover. Recommended.
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Summary: Rockefellers, Rockettes, Radio City And Diego Rivera
Review: Daniel Okrent provides both the big picture: the history, the architecture and the architects, the politics and the economics of the project, etc., and the little picture: "In 1965 (Radio City) maintenance workers were still scraping twenty pounds of chewing gum off the undersides of the auditorium's seats each day." Mr. Okrent tells us that the story really began when Columbia University, which owned 11.7 acres of prime midtown real estate but was making peanuts from the property, agreed to lease the land to John D. Rockefeller Jr. ( known as Junior - to differentiate him from his father, the oil baron, known as Senior). One of the reasons Junior got involved was that Otto Kahn, a wealthy opera-loving New Yorker with a majority interest in the Metropolitan Opera Company (and who owned 2 season tickets to the opera: one seat reserved for himself, and one for his hat and coat), wanted a nicer venue. The then current opera house, at 40th Street and Broadway, had been around awhile and was getting a bit seedy. But although Kahn had a majority interest in the opera company, he didn't have control of the opera house itself, whose wealthy owners were represented by a fellow by the name of R. Fulton Cutting. As you might expect, political infighting and difficulties ensued, and the Met dropped out of the running as a possible "anchor" for the proposed development. Anyway, that's just the starting point for Mr. Okrent. He follows the story as Junior's company buys up residential and commercial leases in the area. Mr. Okrent gets a chuckle over the fact that both Columbia and the blueblood Fifth Avenue Association were aghast that entertainment related businesses such as RCA and RKO were going to be involved in the new project. (The reason for the laughter? Many of the prior leases were held by people who ran flophouses, bordellos and speakeasies.) The author informs us that Rockefeller Center (Junior was very reluctant, by the way, to name the development after the family. He thought it was bad form to toot his own horn.) pretty much, single-handedly, kept the construction industry going in NYC during the Depression (after the Empire State Building was completed in 1931). Laborers and companies were desperate for jobs, which helped keep them humble and kept construction costs down. When U.S. Steel got the steel contract, the president of the company was so grateful that he came, in person, to sign the deal. He didn't even bring any lawyers with him. (Can you imagine such a thing today?) On the other hand, since times were tough, it was difficult to rent out so much office space. Rockefeller's minions played some hardball in this area as well. When the contract to put in elevators was up for grabs (the largest expense - after steel - representing 13% of construction costs), it was made quite clear that breaking your lease and moving into spanking new offices at Rockefeller Center would be greatly appreciated. Otis Elevator balked. Westinghouse thought a change of scenery might do them good. Westinghouse got the contract. An alternate title for this review could be, "If You Build It, They Will Come To Like It." Columbia and The Fifth Avenue Association, as mentioned, were dismayed by who was moving into the neighborhood, commercially speaking. Critics, such as Lewis Mumford, lambasted the architecture, in both professional journals and in influential upscale popular magazines such as "The New Yorker." (After years of venomous criticism, Mumford did a 180 and all of a sudden thought Rockefeller Center was the greatest thing since sliced bread. He never explained his about face and never even acknowledged his prior negative opinion. Ah....critics!) Where does Diego Rivera come into the picture, you might wonder? Nelson Rockefeller, only in his 20's but already a lover of modern art, brought the famous Mexican muralist (and communist) on board to paint a mural in a place of honor in the lobby of the RCA building. Nelson was able to tolerate most aspects of the mural, for example the depiction of cops apparently getting ready to rumble with the workers, while high society types in evening dress quaffed cocktails. However, when Rivera decided to up the ante by adding the mug of V.I. Lenin to the mural,(and wouldn't back down - he was trying to get back into the good graces of the Communist Party, from which he had been ejected for consorting with known capitalists) that was the last straw: some of "the workers" were enlisted to pound the plaster into powder. Finally, Mr. Okrent doesn't neglect bigotry and racism. For example, the first black Rockette wasn't hired until 1987; black entertainers weren't allowed, for many years, to perform in the famed "Rainbow Room"; and "The Luncheon Club" (back in the 1930's) had a quota which capped Jewish membership at 3.5 percent. As the club's president explained, "because it was exactly the proportion of Jews in the American population." It's all in this witty and beautifully written book - from soup (and lawsuits) to nuts (and rivets).
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Summary: Remember Tracy Kidder?
Review: Daniel Okrent takes his little theme - which involves the whole history of American real estate development, big business, big law, big oil, the growth of the 20th century American university, the Depression, the New Deal, the growth of New York City, the twentieth century transformation of architecture, the clash of egos, the history of American theatre and more - and yet, despite this narrow focus, makes it even more interesting, absorbing and thrilling than Tracy Kidder's epic of building a single family dwelling in HOUSE.
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Summary: Very well done
Review: Daniel Okrent, public editor of the New York Times, has crafted a terrific history and love letter to New York through the microcosm of the tale of Rockefeller Center, one of the seminal landmarks of the city and one of those true stories that seem stranger than fiction. I can only speak for myself but I imagine that it's hard for anyone who has lived in New York in a time when Rockefeller Center has always existed to appreciate the level of diplomacy, architecture, finance, and artwork that went into creating the complex, not to mention the somewhat scandalous occurrences, but Okrent captures it with a snappy prose style that also manages to blend in some fine observations and humorous analogies. Especially due to the continued presence of the Center, it is gratifying to be able to put into modern context the various descriptions and details and visualize them as they exist today. The history of the Rockefellers, while obviously much broader and filled with much more intriguing information than is relevant here, is nonetheless captured more than adequately, particularly John D. Rockefeller Jr. and his second son Nelson. More than just the account of a building project, the book also marks the transition between old-time New York society of the Gilded Age and the modern New York of the twentieth century. The chapter regarding the controversial Diego Rivera mural seeks to set the record straight on a story that has taken on it's own life over the years and the characters who have previously been given short shrift finally get their due. Perhaps it's fitting that the seminal word on the complex should come from the Gershwins - "They all laughed at Rockefeller Center, now they're fighting to get in." And we still are. Great book for fans of history, New York, architecture, or just plain good writing.
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Summary: Thoroughly Researched and Richly Detailed
Review: Everyone who has ever visited Rockefeller Center in the heart of Manhattan --- that probably includes a majority of the American people --- has perhaps wondered: How did all this happen? Who dreamed up this incredible place? Why here? Daniel Okrent, who has spent much of his working life at Rockefeller Center (with Time and Life magazines) has set out to answer these questions in GREAT FORTUNE, starting with the days when Manhattan Island was owned by the Dutch and bringing things pretty much up to the present. It is a fascinating tale, told here with literary flair, thorough research and broad historical perspective. The best-known component of Rockefeller Center, of course, is the famous Music Hall with its enormous stage, elevator-equipped orchestra pit and Rockettes chorus line. That theater is duly celebrated in the book, but Okrent's focus is much wider, encompassing the complex land deals that brought the site under the wing of the Rockefeller family, the cast of wildly disparate characters and clashing temperaments who built and guided it, and the tangled web of Big Business and High Society interests that made the place what it is today --- a world center for communications, business, trade and political wheeling-dealing as well as for mass-market entertainment and tourism. The cast of characters is large. The expected famous names are all present --- John D. Rockefeller Jr. and the whole Rockefeller clan; S. L. "Roxy" Rothapfel, showman extraordinaire; Nicholas Murray Butler, dour president of Columbia University; and Otto Kahn, early patron and financier of the Metropolitan Opera. But what gives Okrent's book a special flavor are the many other major players in this drama that most of us have never heard of. Two names stand out: John R. Todd, the crusty boss of the entire construction operation and the finished Center itself, and Raymond Hood, a hard-drinking architectural genius whom Okrent credits as the Center's principal designer. There are cameo appearances by all sorts of celebrities --- Arturo Toscanini, Diego Rivera, and even Benito Mussolini, who gave his blessing to a building on the site that housed Italian business interests. Okrent is both a clever phrasemaker and a shrewd judge of character. In his narrative John D. Rockefeller Jr. begins as a timid and diffident patron, almost afraid to take control of the huge enterprise that had been unexpectedly dumped into his lap, only rising late in the game to a level of confidence that made his hand on the helm a sure one. His son Nelson comes off as a hard-driving schemer whose zeal to get things done left twisted bodies in his wake, some of them his own brothers. The idea that became Rockefeller Center began in the 1920s as a scheme to find a new home for the Metropolitan Opera. There was, alas, factional feuding between the opera-minded people around Otto Kahn and the board that controlled the company's real estate. After the opera group backed out, famed publicist Ivy Lee was the man who brought Rockefeller into the picture. Okrent reports that Rockefeller spent about $60 million of his own money plus another $44.6 million obtained through the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company via a mortgage loan. In 2003 terms, those figures amount to $805 million and $599 million. "Boggles the mind," as Center tenant Time magazine used to put it. In addition to such nuts-and-bolts reporting, Okrent's book is crammed with illuminating anecdotal detail that gives it a wonderfully rich texture. He unearths, for instance, this quote from a Depression-weary society dowager about the Metropolitan Opera: "Now that we don't dare to display our jewelry in public, why should we continue to support these wops?" Rockefeller Center today is a totally different entity from the one envisioned by its founders. It had from the start --- and continues to have --- plenty of detractors (social critic Lewis Mumford led a chorus of catcalls for years). Okrent was not auditioning for cheerleader when he wrote this book; he has, however, made himself Rockefeller Center's premiere historian. --- Reviewed by Robert Finn
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Summary: A grand place gets a grand history.
Review: For most, Rockefeller Center makes its impression on people early in their lives. Many of us as children were introduced to it by either a show at Radio City Music Hall or by a visit to the Christmas tree. Either way, the event was usually magical, and Rockefeller Center always seemed to maintain that Art Deco dreamlike place in our hearts. Finally, this book, "Great Fortune: The Epic of Rockefeller Center" by Daniel Okrent sort of pulls down the facade to reveal the all too human faces behind this self-contained wonderworld. This story isn't too well-known, and the evolution of the site from midtown wasteland to potential opera house to what it is today is strange enough to pass as fiction. Daniel Okrent does a more than efficient job of balancing all the various elements and characters that went into this place: greed, art, revolution, riches, poverty, Luce, Vanderbilt, Rivera, and, of course, the Rockefellers. There are many more characters and events chronicled here--this isn't light reading! But Okrent makes the ride interesting, balancing dry economics with witty commentary (his own and from others). The pacing is actually very swift, and this is a testimony to Okrent's devotion to his subject and his own writing talents. Pick up a copy of this book; you're sure to enjoy it. Rocco Dormarunno, author of The Five Points
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