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Landscape/Environment: forest, water resources, bodies of water and rivers,contours of land, air temp/humidity,climate/micro climate,precipitation throughout the year,wind patterns, soil, geology.
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Heyho. There seems to be an aerial lift (Gondola lift?) going from Manhattan to Roosevelt Island; I heard about it due to an electrical failure in it yesterday (the 18th of march, 2006). It was built in 1976 as a passenger ferry to Roosevelt Island, and is supposedly the only lift of it's type in the US. It travels at up to 45 meters high... and I know nothing more about it. --
Smári McCarthy 20:18, 19 April 2006 (UTC)reply
Should there be some information on the reasons for the sequence of name changes?
Agingjb (
talk) 07:29, 30 July 2009 (UTC)reply
Map
A map would be nice to illustrate the location of the island with regards the rest of New York.
KTo288 20:46, 1 December 2007 (UTC)reply
The source was in the previous paragraph, the Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation, which is the source for all the demographic information in the section. I've made that explicit for each of the paragraphs.
Beyond My Ken (
talk) 03:07, 18 August 2011 (UTC)reply
Opps, my mistake. I must have missed that when I went to the link. Thanks.
UrbanNerd (
talk) 03:12, 18 August 2011 (UTC)reply
Demographics
Can the 2010 demographics breakdown be corrected? It adds up to 118.7%, so there's clearly something wrong. — Preceding
unsigned comment added by
James Balti (
talk •
contribs) 12:39, 9 October 2019 (UTC)reply
Prose?
Should the history timeline be in prose? I'm gonna put a prose tag on it and see if anyone changes it.
Agent 78787 (
talk) 23:17, 13 January 2012 (UTC)reply
I changed it. Sometimes prose is better, and sometimes a list is. In this case -- a timeline -- prose would just ended up being the list reformatted into paragraphs, making it harder to read.
Beyond My Ken (
talk) 02:42, 14 January 2012 (UTC)reply
two islands
Contradictory info between related articles:
This article about Wouter Van Twiller claims he purchased "Governors Island"
Wouter Van Twiller
However, this article about "Roosevelt Island" claims it was purchased by Wouter Van Twiller (from the same group of Indians).
Roosevelt Island
1. These are two different islands.
2. The Indian Tribe's name is spelled slightly differently on both pages.
— Preceding
unsigned comment added by
98.28.142.49 (
talk) 22:44, 12 July 2012 (UTC)reply
I don't know much about history, but I do know that spellings of Indian names have often been uncertain. —
Tamfang (
talk) 23:36, 12 July 2012 (UTC)reply
When I first heard this name years ago, I had assumed New York had built public housing on the island. Or was it because of the location of the hospital? Shouldn't the reason for the name be given in the article?__
209.179.80.169 (
talk) 17:30, 14 November 2014 (UTC)reply
Done by
Jim.henderson. It was renamed for the hospitals, this source may be handy:
50.14.142.33 (
talk) 11:16, 16 November 2014 (UTC)reply
Yes, if memory serves, the island was a splendid place for contagious diseases which were rife in the 19th century, being isolated yet inside City limits. North Brother Island was even better for the most difficult cases such as Typhoid Mary. Madhouses were also put in both islands. Out of sight, out of mind, so to speak. Hardly anyone lived there except inmates and staff. Later, better sewers and better understanding reduced the problem of infection. And eventually antibiotics. Old hospitals were lightly maintained and closed when they became obsolete and run-down, new hospitals in more convenient locations having taken up the load.
Jim.henderson (
talk) 02:15, 18 November 2014 (UTC)reply
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I asked (via
Twitter) if anyone could identify areas for improvement on the article and received a few answers that I am going to document here so that we can track recommended edits. Suggestions were made by twitter users
minnehanonck and
RI_Daily
Recreation: Add: Octagon tennis courts, Sportspark, tennis bubble and image of garden club
Parking: There are no limits, especially in the canyon. There are no "car free zones," just parks without roads.
Media: The WIRE has not published in over two years. "The Daily is not "an opinion blog," but an online newspaper and far more than simply my perspective."- quote from David Stone, regarding the characterization of the Roosevelt Islander. (Via same twitter thread)
Buildings: Both Rivercross and Island House have left Mitchell-Lama. Under architecture, Northtown also includes Manhattan Park.
Organizations: Roosevelt Island Parent Network. Also, Roosevelt Island Visual Art Association, the Residents Association, Roosevelt Island Day Nursery, and also the Main Street Theater and Dance Alliance.
Residents current residents should include international philanthropist Jim Luce (Roosevelt Landings) and legendary pianist Roy Eaton (Rivercross), a member of the Advertising Hall of Fame. Add former resident, legendary writer Alice Childress
Re:Residents. There are Wikipedia pages for Roy Eaton and Alice Childress (but not Jim Luce). Now I'm looking for any citations or reference material that says they were/are island residents.
Iamjessklein (
talk) 00:24, 12 August 2020 (UTC)reply
Twitter user
@iDig2Learnadded the comment that " Roosevelt Islanders created an expanding Monarch butterfly corridor throughout the island to combat the species 85% population loss by planting the host plant milkweed, & nectar rich plants like Aster and Goldenrod at Lighthouse Park, P.S. 217 & gardens"
Iamjessklein (
talk) 12:45, 13 August 2020 (UTC)reply
We cannot use tweets as a source unless the tweeter is a regonized authority on the subject and the account is verified.
Beyond My Ken (
talk)
Delete out of date "famous poeple" section?
Are there good criteria on who is famous? This section on people seems outdated and possibly inappropriate for an area as large as this. --
Mmcdougall (
talk) 20:35, 21 September 2020 (UTC)reply
E.L. Doctorow's novel "The Waterworks" Chapter 27 is set in the asylum for the criminally insane on Blackwell's Island where a main character has been committed (avoiding spoilers here) and a newspaperman conducts a detailed debriefing re: motivations, etc. (2013 audiobook, set in 1871-72, also describes parts of the end of Boss Tweed's reign over the Tammany Hall crime syndicate)
159.39.58.137 (
talk) 18:55, 7 July 2021 (UTC)reply
Map image says “Oosevelt Island”
It still needs to be fixed, thank you
UsersLikeYou (
talk) 00:09, 14 March 2022 (UTC)reply
In popular culture
This section is largely unsourced and violates
MOS:POPCULT. I have removed it and am planning to rewrite it, but here are the contents of that section, although this can also be split into a new article.
Epicgenius (
talk) 17:36, 18 March 2024 (UTC)reply
Extended content
Literature
1867 – In chapter 13 of
Horatio Alger's novel Ragged Dick: Or, Street Life in New York with the Boot Blacks, the character Mickey Maguire, a young tough from
Five Points "had acquired an ascendency [sic] among his fellow professionals, and had a gang of subservient followers, whom he led on to acts of ruffianism, not infrequently terminating in a month or two at Blackwell's Island".
1904 – In
O. Henry's
short story "
The Cop and the Anthem", the main character, a homeless man named Soapy, schemes to have himself arrested so as to spend the harsh winter serving a three-month sentence in Blackwell's Island prison.
1922 – Yank, the main character in
Eugene O'Neill's comedy The Hairy Ape, is imprisoned in Blackwell's Island prison, in chapter VI.
2007 – In the novel by
Cassandra ClareCity of Bones, the protagonist is drawn to the island for a showdown with the elusive villain, Valentine.
Film
1932 – A
Paramount Pictures film entitled No Man of Her Own is released, a light comedy film starring Clark Gable and Carole Lombard. Upon learning that Gable's character is not in South America, but instead learns he has negotiated a deal to serve 90 days and "he's across the river", Lombard's character then looks out of her hotel window to a view across the East River and the
Queensboro Bridge, later referring to this as "Blackwell's Island".
1966 – In the film Mister Buddwing, a sign posted on a bridge in the film reads "Stairway to Welfare Island".
Suzanne Pleshette, playing the character Grace, tries to throw herself off the bridge wearing nothing but a fitted trench coat and white ankle boots, before
James Garner's character saves her.
1985 – In the final scenes of the film Turk 182 the
Timothy Hutton character swings above Roosevelt Island on the Queensboro Bridge.
1990 – In the first Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles film, exterior shots of the Renwick Ruins are used as the fictitious location for the
Foot Clan's secret hideout.
1991 – In the opening scene of City SlickersBilly Crystal's character "Mitch Robbins" is shown commuting to work via the Roosevelt Island tram.
1993 – In the film For Love or Money, Doug Ireland (played by
Michael J. Fox) wants to buy the "abandoned hotel" at the south end of Roosevelt Island, referring to the ruins of the
Smallpox Hospital.
1994 – In The Professional, Mathilda Lando (played by
Natalie Portman) takes the Tramway to Roosevelt Island to seek asylum at what is implied to be the Spencer School; however, in the beginning of the film the school's head mistress states on the phone that the school is located in
Wildwood, New Jersey.
1997 – The film Conspiracy Theory was shot on location in and around New York City, including Roosevelt Island.
2001 – The fictional "Saint Adonis Cemetery" in the film Zoolander was built on Roosevelt Island.
2002 – Near the end of the film Spider-Man, the
Green Goblin blows up the Roosevelt Island side tram station and leaves a group of children hanging inside one car. He also brings
Spider-Man down to fight with him in the abandoned
Smallpox Hospital on the island. The tram and the island make other appearances in Spider-Man media. The island is featured in the
video gameSpider-Man 2. In The Amazing Spider-Man #161 and #162, appearing on the cover of the latter,[3] and Spider-Man and Hulk fight on Roosevelt Island in The Amazing Spider-Man #328.
2002 – In the film Gangs of New York,
Leonardo DiCaprio's character Amsterdam Vallon is seen leaving "Hellgate House of Reform, Blackwell's Island, New York City".
2003 – In the film Anything Else,
Woody Allen's character, David Dobel, is a schoolteacher who lives on the island.
2005 – Roosevelt Island is the setting for the film Dark Water by Brazilian director
Walter Salles, where Dahlia (
Jennifer Connelly) moves into a low-rent apartment with her daughter and then is terrorized by the ghost of a girl that used to live upstairs.
2007 – In the film The Brave One, starring
Jodie Foster, a scene takes place at the Roosevelt Island parking lot. The film mentions the island several times.
2009 – In the final scene of Daddy Longlegs, the characters board a tram for Roosevelt Island.
1958 – In the "Violent Circle" episode of Naked City (season 1, episode 5), Detective Halloran (
James Franciscus) poses as a mental patient in a hospital mental ward on the Island to uncover a murderer.
1963 – In the "Carrier" episode of Naked City (season 4, episode 29), a woman (
Sandy Dennis) escapes from a chronic care hospital on Welfare Island – as it was then called – to carry a rare disease through New York City.
1993 – in the "American Dream" episode of Law & Order (
season 4, episode 8), a body is found during archaeological excavation on Roosevelt Island, forcing a new trial of a Wall Street broker (
Željko Ivanek) who had been convicted based on a witness claiming they had buried the body in New Jersey in the early '80s.[5]
2005 – In the
second season episode of CSI: NY called "Dancing with the Fishes", a crime is committed inside the Roosevelt Island
tram.
2010 – On the TV show 24, NY CTU is based on Roosevelt Island.
2011 – The television series Unforgettable takes place in part on Roosevelt Island.
2012 – The season three finale of White Collar is set largely on Roosevelt Island, including a stunt in which the show's protagonist jumps midair between Tram cars to avoid being captured by the FBI.
2013 - The second season episode "On The Line" of Elementary opens with a woman shooting herself on the
Roosevelt Island Bridge and staging it to look like a murder in order to frame the man who got away with killing her sister.
2015 - In
season four, episode sixteen of the
TruTV show Impractical Jokers, "Captain Fatbelly", a punishment is filmed on the Roosevelt Island Tram. During the scene Joe Gatto performed several strange tasks while riding on top of the tram dressed as the superhero "Captain Fatbelly".
2015 – The second season of
FX's series The Strain has several scenes which take place on Roosevelt Island.
2016 – In the third season episode '"P is For Pancake", of
TV Land's series Younger, a potential love interest for
Hilary Duff's character is rebuffed when he is revealed to be a resident of Roosevelt Island.[6]
2018 – In the
Netflix original miniseries Maniac,
Jonah Hill's character lives on Roosevelt Island.
2019 – The fourth season episode "Maximum Recreational Depth" of Billions, first broadcast on April 21, features a meeting between Wendy Rhoades and Taylor Mason at the FDR Four Freedoms State Park, where they discuss Roosevelt's State of the Union speech and the relationship between architect-designer
Louis Kahn and his son.
2019 - The seventh season episode "Into The Woods" of Elementary, first broadcast on June 20, has Joan meet with billionaire Odin Reichenbach at the
Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms Park; at the end of the episode, she and Sherlock meet him there again to confront him over sending them on a wild goose chase. The following episode, "Command: Delete", immediately follows up on this, continuing this meeting.
Video games
1992 – In the final level of the video game Atomic Runner for the
Sega Mega Drive/Genesis the level takes place on Roosevelt Island Southpoint Park.
2008 – In the video game Grand Theft Auto IV there is an island resembling Roosevelt Island, named Colony Island. It also includes the ruins of a hospital, similar to the
Smallpox Hospital. There is also a replica of the tram available for players to ride.
2011 – Parts of the video game Crysis 2 take place on Roosevelt Island.
Other
1973 – In the original video for
Pink Floyd's song "
Us and Them", Roosevelt Island appears during a lengthy sequence shot from the Queensboro Bridge.[7]
^Shrestha, Naman.
"Where Was John Wick 4 Filmed?"Archived March 26, 2023, at the
Wayback Machine, The Cinemaholic, March 21, 2023. Accessed March 26, 2023. "Additional portions for John Wick: Chapter 4 were lensed in and around New York City as the production team made the most of the Big Apple's locales. Specifically, Franklin D. Roosevelt Four Freedoms State Park at 1 FDR Four Freedoms in NYC's Roosevelt Island features in one of the essential portions of the movie."