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These Stunning Maps Explore 'The Soul' Of NYC
By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 2, 2016
Modified Nov 2, 2016
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By
Ben Yakas
Published Nov 2, 2016
Modified Nov 2, 2016
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Whether they are judging Manhattan neighborhoods, exploring subway deserts, offering a glimpse into the city's past, or turning the five boroughs into Super Mario Land, we can't get enough of maps reinterpreting how we look at the city. A new book out this week has assembled an impressive gallery of hundreds of them to give readers a strange and wondrous view of NYC's past, present and imagined future.
Katharine Harmon's You Are Here: NYC: Mapping the Soul of the City collects 200 maps created between 1600 and 2015 that show the myriad number of ways one could begin to approach "mapping the soul" of NYC. Peruse a number of highlights from the book above, including Stanley Donwood's "Metallic Manhattan," which was inspired by roadside advertising and was used by Radiohead for their album Hail To The Thief. There's also the first sketch of Maira Kalman and Rick Meyerowitz's now-classic "Newyorkistan," which eventually appeared on the cover the The New Yorker.
There's more whimsical fare like Liz Hickok's jelly-based moldings of lower Manhattan, Katarina Jerinic's "Brooklyn Constellations" (Jerinic used the Yellow Pages to create an astronomy of the borough with places like Star Sporting Goods, Planet Kidz Fulton and other such star/planet establishments) and Inaki Aliste Lizarralde's deep dive into the "Apartments of Chandler + Joey and Monica + Rachel." Then on the historical side, there's everything from John Cage's waltz map commemorating Rolling Stone's move from San Francisco to New York, to Henry Wellge's "Greatest New York" lithograph from 1911.
The maps in the gallery above are just skimming the surface of Harmon's book—if you want to check out Andy Warhol's Central Park map, Christopher Mason's subway bacteria map, and the marvelous Manhattan Pizza Delivery Routes map, You Are Here: NYC, Mapping The Soul Of The City is available now.
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Ben Yakas
Ben Yakas is a former Gothamist reporter.
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