What's the deal with Roosevelt Island?

January 2, 2023 3:26 PM

In the middle of New York City, Roosevelt Island has a quirky, small town vibe.
posted by SituationNormal (18 comments total)

I had a friend who lived there for a while. And yes, it's a slightly cheaper Manhattan, with all the expected amenities walking distance to your apartment. But... living there isolates you from other New Yorkers, and also from all the things on Manhattan that New Yorkers line up to buy/eat/watch because of Fear of Missing Out. But if you accept that you will be Missing Out, seems like a sweet deal. In New Yorker terms, this is like living in Boston except you're a tram ride from Manhattan.
posted by ocschwar at 3:53 PM on January 2, 2023 [5 favorites]

I knew nothing about Roosevelt Island except its name, so nice info! But since I am a compulsive reader, I had to read about Anne first. If I were stuck on a desert island with her, I'd throw myself to the sharks because I am a pacifist.
posted by kozad at 3:58 PM on January 2, 2023

The previous neighborhood piece, about Clinton Hill, is also lovely (and pretty accurate, it's where I live).
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 5:24 PM on January 2, 2023

Not just the tram. F train stops there on a DEEEEEP station, the ferry, and there are buses to elsewhere via queens.

The new cornell campus is..... nice? North of the island has a rehab facility, and some funky mirrored sculptures and a HUGE parking garage. Great views of the city all the way round the island, apparently greater from the top of the new hotel.


The funkily architectured octagon has a sports club (private) and the sanctuary looks like it's fun for events.

Citibikes worked well for riding around to discover all of the above in about, oooh, 90 minutes?

But GOD would it be boring to live there. As oschwar notes, concentrated FOMO mists would roll in off the east river EVERY DAY.

Parts of it feels like the Barbican in London designed by a bunch of substandard architects on quaaludes, tho.
posted by lalochezia at 5:42 PM on January 2, 2023 [7 favorites]

I considered living there when i was in NYC. At the time i would habitually avoid the latest it thing because of my aversion to crowds. I’d often take the tram over just to walk around.

Instead of moving there I eventually realized that maybe New York wasn’t my cup of tea and i moved to a smaller city. It still hits all of my “middle of nowhere in the middle of the center of everywhere” vibes though.
posted by q*ben at 6:46 PM on January 2, 2023 [2 favorites]

designed by a bunch of substandard architects on quaaludes, tho

Actually, the architectural pedigree of the original Roosevelt Island redevelopment team was quite distinguished: master plan by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, buildings by Corbusier protege Josep Lluís Sert, Boston City Hall designers Kallmann & McKinnel, and "Harvard Five"member John Johansen. And the Five Freedoms monument is by Louis Kahn! That said it is all very seventies, including the Kahn, which was designed in '73 even if it didn't open until nearly 40 years later. If you don't have a soft spot for that very hard brand of brutalism, Roosevelt Island's charms will prove...elusive.
posted by How the runs scored at 6:52 PM on January 2, 2023 [8 favorites]

When I first moved to the city, the two things I knew about Roosevelt Island were the tramway, and that people weren’t allowed to own dogs there. Apparently they’ve changed the laws about dogs since then - IMO, that was truly insane.
posted by Mchelly at 6:59 PM on January 2, 2023

Roosevelt Island always gives me strong company town vibes, like Stuy Town since the developer took it over, or Hudson Yards. It’s nice, but it’s centrally controlled. Even the weirdness is chosen and approved.
posted by minervous at 7:20 PM on January 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

I loved living there and would be living there still if I could. It's chill and quiet, and when the F is running, convenient.

I miss walking from the smallpox hospital to the baby lighthouse, sitting in my reading nook watching snow fall over the river, and central heating & air that were under my control.
posted by betweenthebars at 7:31 PM on January 2, 2023 [14 favorites]

I went to the Cornell campus in Manhattan and the student housing on Roosevelt Island had many advantages over that available on the mainland as I remember it but I have an irrational phobia of tunnels that go underwater and bridges over water (and likewise the tram), which made living in NYC a trial (I didn't have to commute by subway most days at least and a tunnel under the street is somehow ok-er, but wow, taking the Tappan Zee to go visit relatives upstate was....well. I'm glad I never do that anymore). So I feel like I missed out by not taking the chance to live on Roosevelt Island but my apartment did overlook the island and had a neato view of the tram going back and forth so that was cool!

(I believe there was an unfortunate tram incident where people were stuck in there for like a day and they had to fly in the Swiss, but I can't remember if that occurred before or after my living space decision...is mine really an irrational fear when things like that actually do happen?)
posted by Tandem Affinity at 7:51 PM on January 2, 2023 [3 favorites]

It’s not my cup of tea but I did have a good friend who lived there (with a dog) and enjoyed it. There’s a certain kind of exhaustion I get in some planned communities that are too conspicuously orderly, with sort of no interesting corners in sight. I’d put Roosevelt Island in that category, along with Bentonville, Arkansas, and Irvine, California, and most outdoor malls.

They also have an interesting garbage disposal system, where most of the buildings have chutes on every floor where residents drop trash, which then gets pulled to a central trash plant through underground pneumatic tubes.

On the other hand, they have had police brutality issues over the years, which seems to be related to the pursuit of the orderly suburban energy the article mentions. In addition to NYPD having jurisdiction , the state authority that manages the island has its own Public Safety Department with police powers and similar accountability issues to many other police agencies.
posted by smelendez at 7:58 PM on January 2, 2023 [7 favorites]

Lovely article. I knew folks who lived there and went often to walk around because I was on the upper East just across for 6 years. This podcast episode is also great: Link here.
posted by Buckt at 11:54 PM on January 2, 2023

It’s also a fantastic place to see the East River fireworks if you can score tickets (they reserve most for locals).
posted by Mchelly at 6:30 AM on January 3, 2023

I'd love to read more about how creating the Cornell Tech campus there has changed the island. This article only briefly mentions it as "obviously built by billionaires from Mars". It was a major investment made recently, it's got to have had some cultural impact.
posted by Nelson at 7:54 AM on January 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

master plan by Philip Johnson and John Burgee, buildings by Corbusier protege Josep Lluís Sert, Boston City Hall designers Kallmann & McKinnel, and "Harvard Five"member John Johansen. And the Five Freedoms monument is by Louis Kahn!

Man that is equivelent of the Horsemen of the Apocalypse for a list of architects. Yikes. Only one missing is IM Pei to complete the destruction of the public sphere of the world.
posted by The_Vegetables at 9:07 AM on January 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

That was a fun read! Giraffe!
posted by davidmsc at 10:28 AM on January 3, 2023

Yup a slow life read. Nothing frantic in the style, but piercing instant intimacy, made public.
posted by Oyéah at 6:56 PM on January 3, 2023 [1 favorite]

I lived there for a few years, over a decade ago. It was pretty magical. The quiet, the community garden, the views. Packs of elementary school kids would wander unsupervised like it was a small town, not NYC because it was that safe.
posted by slateyness at 12:14 AM on January 7, 2023