Fri, 31 Mar 2006 15:48:40 -0800 E.R.N. Reed wrote: > Tom C wrote:
>> I haven't ever really thought about it as ugly or beautiful until now. >> I'd probably land on the positive side of it's aesthetics. >> It's hard to imagine Paris w/o it though. Like London w/o Big Ben, >> Seattle w/o the Space Needle, SF w/o the Pyramid, St. Louis w/o the arch, >> NYC w/o the Empire State Building. > What I find kind of interesting about that list is that all those cities > are older than the landmarks in question. You'd be imagining a situation > that in fact has existed, for quite a while. > Addition to the list, of course, would be "San Antonio without the Alamo." > :) Yes, this is an interesting observation. But people get used to the landmarks quickly. However, as for "hard to imagine", yet 6 years ago I would've said "..NYC without Twin Towers". I moved from NYC in May 2001. When I came back to NYC in Nov. 2001, it was weird and very unreal not seeing the Twins.. It still doesn't quite fit in my mind. BTW, probably not that many people know that Empire State Building withstood a B-25 bomber hitting it and being stuck in the building at the 79th floor in 1945. I learned it about 10 years ago from a great technician in our lab whose cousin (or uncle?) used to work very close to the building when that happened. I have a copy of the tape with the radio-news about the incident. These days one can find qute a few facts on the web, e.g. here: http://www.esbnyc.com/tourism/tourism_facts_esbnews_mar1996.cfm Yet another interesting (though not as dramatic) story about landmarks. Those who visited Boston probably saw the "Citgo" sign above Kenmore square, which is well seen in the evening skyline of the city (especially from across Charles river). It is present on many Boston cards. Funny enough that at some point there were no Citgo gas stations in the vicinity of that sign. So, at some point Citgo decided to remove the sign. City realized that the sign became a landmark, and took it on its own budget. The hours when the sign is lit are shorter (they switch it off around 11pm or midnight, I believe), but it stays there. See it e.g. here: http://www.boston.com/travel/boston/must_sees_4/ or here: http://images.google.com/images?svnum=10&hl=en&lr=&q=Citgo+Boston Igor
