New Old Phone

Since my cheap ass house phone gave me nothing but static, and prompted a blow up w/ the Fios installer, I ran out that day and bought another cheap ass house phone. That phone sucked so bad, I went right to eBay to look for another one.
It just arrived.

I figure this should be a good time to buy a phone.

They must have gotten all the kinks out of the system by now. They've been mass producing the guts of these things for years. Economy of Scale must have kicked in by now. They're not going to improve the design ever, so they're not going to get any better than they are right now.
I bet there's a glut of really good phones out there taking up warehouse shelf space. 

I already have a nice cordless Panasonic with the base station and the digital answering machine and the crystal clear sound. But I hadn't used it in years and the battery wouldn't hold a charge anymore. A new eBay battery just came in. It needs to charge for at least six hours, so maybe this system will come back to life... or not. We'll see.

But since you can't just plug into a telephone line and make a call, this gets a FAIL.

For a corded phone I found exactly what I wanted on eBay for $18.
It even has 24 selectable ringtones.

It's modern, sleek, sturdy, compact, has big buttons, has Caller ID, works wall mounted or on a desk... and doesn't need batteries. That other one I bought needed batteries to power the Caller ID screen. I shit you not, you plug this thing into 45 Volts DC and they still want you to buy four AA's to power the 3 Volt screen.

Anyways, this one plugs in and works... with CallerID... no additional power required.
So it's a winner, right?
Well, there's always something.

The ringer is just too loud.
24 different ringtones, all loud, and there's no way to lower the volume.

But don't all phones have a ringer volume adjuster switch or knob?
Well... look at a closeup of my "perfect" phone.
They left out the switches for two standard features.

You can see it says "T P" for the Tone-Pulse slider, in case you still use the ancient "rotary" system.
But the plastic is sealed where the switch would be.
OK, fair enough.

But no volume adjuster? It should be there on the left. The volume icon is on the plastic, but no switch or spinner.

Sneaky buggers!! Actively removing a feature I really want!!

I bet the circuit board inside has the ringer volume feature.
I have a soldering iron.
I might have to McGuyver this thing.

AMD, MicroCenter, and Dilligence

Black Friday, Cyber Monday, and the extended sales are still going on.
I keep my eyes and ears open and watch a bunch of YouTube tech channels.
You guys know I'm all about the best bang for the buck... don't need the cutting edge, want the max performance to price ratio.

Last week I snagged a 24" Samsung 1080p monitor for $99, shipped, no tax.
It wasn't rated as a "gaming" monitory, but I'm not into those twich-games anyway.
I swapped out my old odd resolution monitor and this one looks AMAZING by comparison... the colors are vivid, and the aspect ratio just looks better.

Earlier this year I gambled on that Salvation Army printer. Well it's more headache than it's worth. Every time it powers on it goes into a mode where it tells me to replace the ink cartridges, then 10 minutes later (to the second) it goes into "recalibrates printer heads" mode, it prints out a test page and USUALLY works fine... but sometimes reports that the heads are out of alignment. So alas, it had to go. $60 ventured, nothing gained.

In November 2014 I built my home computer on a budget and was proud of myself for building a half way decent machine on a shoestring. Of course I used an AMD CPU to keep the price down... the FX 6300 had six cores for $120. Forums told me not to buy this line of processor, it was already 3 years old and would be replaced in a few months. Wait for the new line, they said. Even worse, when I used the filters on New Egg to find a motherboard that would fit in the smaller case (uATX) they didn't have any with the latest features. Again I hit the forums and everybody told me nobody was going to make a uATX case with the new features for a CPU that was about to be discontinued.

I ended up getting the full size ATX motherboard with the features I wanted and the CPU I had been looking for.

Well it's November 2016 and AMD hasn't discontinued that line yet, and hasn't really done much in terms of introducing new tech to the marketplace. And still, two years later, nobody is making any newer small form factor motherboards. So I guess I made the right decision.

In that same line of CPUs, there were a few versions of the 8-core processors, but they were considerably more expensive. Worth it if you're a professional video or music editor, but not an amateur like me. Not enough power boost for the price increase. My solution had all the horse power I needed to do editing and play games.

Now AMD is about to finally release the new Zen line of processors starting in January 2017, but I wasn't going to wait around for that. And I won't even look at them until they are on the market for a while and the prices stabilize. Bottom line, don't always trust the fan boys in the forums.

SO...
Lots of the tech shows on YouTube would quote prices and deals, and they would sometimes say "If you're lucky enough to live near a MicroCenter, you could just stop in and get this awesome deal..."
Well it turns out, I just so happen to live near a MicroCenter... in Cross County Mall. (Formerly Best Buy) A couple of YouTubers did some special episodes on "how to get the most from MicroCenter" and "How to build the least expensive computer possible... from MicroCenter". In that episode of Jay's Two Cents, Jay said "The CPU was on sale and the motherboard was included FREE!" OK, worth checking out !!!

I went online to see what all the hoopla was about. Wow, they DO have some really good deals. You need to check the weekly deals, the refurbs, the open-box specials, and the BUNDLES. I found the bigger brother to my FX 6300, the Eight Core FX 8320e... but even better, the "e" means it's the power efficient version. So more computing power for less electrical power. Sounds like a good upgrade... but what's the price???

FX 8320e this week is $80. Huh? What?? Two weeks ago it was listed all over the place for $130. But wait... there's more. Buy a compatible motherboard and get an additional $40 off.

I really don't need a new computer. I just built a low budget bedroom computer and my living room computer is just fine. But it's hard to pass up a deal like this. I'm thinking I'll just upgrade the FX 6300 with this new FX8320e... but what do I do w/ the old CPU? I paid $125 for it, now you see it listed for $90-$100 (yes, even now it was on the list at MicroCenter for $90 while the big brother was right next to it for $80). I'm not gonna put it up on eBay... too much hassle. But if they're giving $40 off a motherboard, I'm well on my way to building another computer.

Now here's where the diligence comes in. I scour the MicroCenter web site for the AMD motherboards. As expected, all the uATX boards are still ANCIENT. Nobody's been making new ones for years. But I found one that even has USB 3.0 (sort of a must-have feature today). It was listed at something like $65... but was out of stock!!!

But looky here... a refurb of the same board for $52, and it clearly shows the "$40 discount with compatible CPU"... and it's in stock.

So I gather the two parts and hit the counter when, as I suspected, they tell me that $40 discount doesn't apply to the refurb. The cashier got on the walky talky and confirmed that the discount didn't apply. I told her I didn't want it at the full price.

But I went over to customer service and they told me the same thing, but I stuck to my guns. Politely and friendly, I kept saying "It's right here on your web site... refubished... discount applies." Eventually a manager came out, and in a few minutes he gave the thumbs up and I got the $52 motherboard for $12.

Mind you, this motherboard is nothing to brag about. But it is the uATX form factor, it does have USB 3.0... and it was $12 freaking dollars.  So for $92 (plus tax), I got the CPU upgrade which is still WAY less than it's usually listed for... and I'm well on my way to building a small form factor computer w/ the old CPU.

Oh, and for good measure, I threw in a refurb HP printer... usually $60, refurb was $40. I hate HP on principle, but my allegiance can be bought.

Me and The Clown

I had a bad run-in with Ronald McDonald tonight. I thought maybe me and The Clown could settle our differences. After all, it's been a long time.

Nope... no love under the golden arches.

Besides the food being terrible, besides the dining room being a basket of deplorables, I gave the touch screen kiosk a try. The thing went into Robo-Block. More accurately, it brought me to a dead end.

It starts out friendly enough... "Touch Screen to Get Started".

My first choice was to select "Eat Here", then clicked in my order easily enough... swiped my card, and hit the buttons that should lead me to checkout. But at the end it brought me to a screen that insisted that I "Take a Table Number Indicator" and type in that number to an on-screen number pad. I couldn't get past this screen... what the heck IS a "Table Number Indicator" anyway?? The machine wasn't offering me anything. I looked over at the tables, and they weren't numbered and didn't have any indicators on them... and how the hell would I know which table I was going to sit at anyways... I was on the other side of the restaurant.

I hit the "need assistance" button, but nobody there was going to help. The cashier and staff were all busy doing their thing. Dammit, I can figure this out. It can't be THAT hard. What is a god damned Table Number Indicator... what would it look like... where can I "TAKE one??" Can I skip this option and just continue... nope, either enter a number or go back to the previous screen. NO OTHER OPTIONS.  In frustration I randomly hit the number "7" and hit enter. It went back to the start screen... no receipt, no "Your order has been entered"... just "Touch Screen to Get Started".

I yelled over towards the staff behind the counter, they said "Didn't it give you a receipt?" I said it's asked for a "Table Number Indicator"... they looked at me like I was crazy. They looked at their screen, saw that my order was on their list, and said "Take a seat".

So I sat down next to an old Spanish dude with a recently lit cigarette in his hand... it wasn't lit, but it looked like he had taken a few puffs from it a few minutes ago. He wreaked of cigarettes  He was yelling into his phone. He wasn't eating anything. All of the other tables had people sitting and talking... nobody seemed to be eating. There was a counter with tall stools (attached to the floor)... I moved over there. Eventually another customer came over to me and said that they were calling for me at the counter. Huh? I didn't hear anything.

So I went over to the counter trying to make eye contact w/ the staff. I had to speak up and say "Uh... did you call for me?" They seemed confused. Then I could see the light bulb go on over the cashier's head... "Oh yeah, that's his right there". She started handing me a bag... I said "That's to stay, please." (Remember, the first button I hit... probably the option that got me into this robo-block in the first place.) So she unpacked the food onto a tray and handed it to me. I then had to ask "Can I have some ketchup please?" I guess they don't give that out by default anymore.

So fine, I got my food. Now to enjoy some hot crispy Micky-D fries... ugh, just slightly above room temperature.

Screw You Clown !!! You stay on your side of the street and I'll stay on mine.

Me and David Bowie (RIP)

Everybody has a story about what music they were exposed to and how it influenced them.
I think my experience is a bit more diverse than most. In Inwood, most kids (after a certain age) were told what to listen to by the DJs on WPLJ.

My dad had several niches in the music spectrum that influenced me. Lots of Broadway plays dating back to the 50s (maybe older). Lots of folk music like Pete Seegar, Peter, Paul and Mary, etc. At the beach he always had the radio tuned to an "easy listening" station, which is a whole other subject (no room to talk about that here except to say that I heard that A LOT). And long drives in the car between LBI and NYC we'd listen to some big band and old blues like Lena Horn or Billie Holiday.

My oldest brother exposed me to a lot of rock music... lots of the classics, but also some more obscure stuff like Jefferson Airplane, Grand Funk Railroad... lots of other stuff. And at least one Bowie album... "Changesonebowie". It was a "best of" album and it contained "Space Oddity" which completely blew my 5th grade mind.

Of course there was a ton of other stuff... pop songs from a.m. radio, etc. Let's not forget the novelty albums like "Loony Tunes" or the  Dr. Demento show. But if anyone asked, I'd confidently and accurately say "I'm a Beatles fan".

By the time I got my own stereo late in the 70s, while most people were listening to WPLJ, I found WPIX which was ushering in The New Wave. This was great for a kid trying to build an identity which would make me stand out (and maybe get chicks.). There were also a bunch of other weird music outlets I was exposed to... most importantly Public Access Television. I saw a live call in show where these freaks who called themselves "The Sex Pistols" answered phone calls and cursed out whoever was on the line. I also found "The Uncle Floyd" show which brought all sorts of semi-famous bands to my screen... including The Ramones.

Well Public Access had a few video shows long before MTV was even a pipe dream. Who was making videos back then? Well David Bowie had a few back in '79... very weird and obscure. I swear I'm the only one in the world who saw a lot of these show... though I'm sure there are a few others like me. There was also this awesome chick called Ellen Foley, who I'm still in love with... and saw her live a couple of years ago in a small club in NYC. (She's the one The Clash sings about when they sing "Should I stay or should I go now.")

Through all this I was aware of this underground music scene in NYC, and I even tried to get into Max's Kansas City once... and got laughed at by the bouncers. (The band was The Sick F*CKS... I'll tell you more about them some time).

I guess we were still in High School when J-man, myself, and Gerrard Foster went to the 8th Street Playhouse to see "Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars". Well still to this day I think that film captured the APEX of ... uh... well something... that underground glam-rock scene that fits somewhere between New York Dolls and Peter Gabriel era Genesis. It totally blew my freaking mind. I was kind of confused when during the performance Bowie announced that this show would be his last... I mean we were all aware that he had released many albums since that performance. Of course he meant  it was the last show for "Ziggy Stardust".

Right around then the "Scary Monsters" album came out. It was a radical change for Bowie, who was just coming off what I now know are three very important albums... his "Berlin trilogy". He and Iggy Pop went to Germany to escape the crazy and deadly lifestyle they were leading in America... turns out Germany can get pretty crazy too. Anyway, I knew mostly nothing of those albums, but I bought Scary Monsters and played it out. In retrospect, it may have been a "jump the shark" album for Bowie... though most would call it a re-invention of himself. The next album was "Let's Dance", which had definitely jumped the shark, imo. It was hugely popular during my High School Prom... but I thought it was over-produced, pop-oriented, and lacked soul. This is DESPITE the fact that Stevie Ray Vaughn played guitar on that album.

So recently I procured Bowie's entire discography. (Like six months ago.) I was warned that his early stuff is a bit difficult. Certainly his very first album is pretty boring, but really everything else (up to but not including "Let's Dance") is really good. Not every song is a winner, but every album has some amazing features. And some things might not suite my every mood, but will sound good at another time. Diamond Dog is rock-n-roll gold. They all give this vibe of gritty underground activity that somehow should be hidden from polite society... but you're in on it. Lots of complex melodies and rhythms, and some good old kick ass rock-n-roll. Some wispy airy melodies too. He collaborates with producers like Brian Eno, and musicians like Robert Fripp.

I didn't listen to any of his albums since "Let's Dance", but did listen to the one he put out last year... and I plan on listening to the one from last week soon. From the bits I heard, they are interesting and entertaining... though not "rocking".

Meaning in Life

(Warning: the following contains subtle hyperbole for comedic effect)

If asked "What is the meaning of life?", a well trained Christian boy should be able to rattle off the answer without a thought... "To serve The Lord in thoughts and deeds..." (something like that). But if you take away the traditional God concept, people tend to become uneasy. What IS the meaning of life if not dictated by a supreme being?

I've long been an advocate of the idea that people are free to make their own meaning in life. If you find joy, happiness, and meaning in studying ants, or helping the poor, or kicking a foot ball, or investing money, or raising a family... that's your choice.

It could be something altruistic, such as promoting literacy, or giving comfort to the sick and suffering... it could be something creative like building the Real Life Mousetrap, or painting your masterpiece... or it could be something more mundane, like cheering for your football team or watching survivor. My judgement of the worthiness of the activity is irrelevant... as long as it doesn't directly conflict with my goals.


If your choices directly conflict with others, then you should expect some friction. If your choice directly harms others, then you should expect some friction from ME and many others, as most people choose to live in a world where harm is reduced.

But often people can not find meaning in life, or are on a quest to find it. I used to be in that category... until now.

I finally found the cause that has given me purpose and drive... and a nifty new title.

From now on, I am an ADVOCATE OF TAU... feel free to use that in lieu of "Esq" when referring to me by name.

So what is an Advocate of Tau? Essentially and Advocate of Tau is dedicated to the annihilation of Pi. Yes, the mathematical constant Pi has to go !!!

In its place, we will instead use the more elegant constant Tau, which is simply two times Pi.

There is an enormous amount of work to do, getting every single text book from 5th grade mathematics up to Quantum Physics to replace every reference from 2Pi to Tau... but it must be done, and I intend to do my part to make it happen.

I've followed my bliss and it lead me to this.
Hmmm... I wonder if I should get a funny hat to go along with my new title.... like the Bishop of Canterbury or Cardinal of the Arch Diocese.

p.s. Once this goal is achieved, I'll take on switching our number system from base 10 to base 12.

Hacking the Phone

Once again an essay, or a rant... in either case, to big for an e-mail or a FB post. And the blog has a sense of permanence to it, so here it goes.

A few months back I got a call from a client who often has decent paying jobs for a freelance tour guide. Lots of airport "meet and greet" type stuff. I got her call midday in mid-town, and she asked if I was available on a particular date the next week. I had to say "I'll be home in an hour and will check my calendar and let you know ASAP."

The job went to somebody else. That's when it was decided to step up to an Android phone.

Miser that I am, I am definitely not the early adopter. (Been there... got paid for that.)  But when I'm LOSING money for being a generation or two behind... well, that's just unacceptable.

Frankly, it's embarrassing to have been THAT far behind the times. And even my old phone did have some sort of calendar feature, so my laziness is certainly a factor here. But in any case, the quest for the best Bang for the Buck had begun.

I was already signed up for the best deal in town, as far as carriers go.  Virgin Mobile had me with unlimited text and data, and 300 minutes of voice... for $25 per month. That's under $30 with the fees. Nobody beats that.

Only catch... well 2 catches...
Buy your own phone...
OK, so I shell out $100 for a phone and I'm still WAY ahead of the game compared to Verizon or AT&T.
Reception Area...
OK, this is bad. But hear me... I get GREAT reception EVERYWHERE I GO... except my apartment.

In any case, the $25 plan is not even available anymore (it's $35 now), but they keep renewing me every month. I feel like I'm saving $10 a month.

So, I check what Android phones are available on my current plan... and HELLO, a $70 LG Optimus V. Don't worry if you're not impressed. The title "Optimus" doesn't mean anything, and the V isn't even a 5... it's "V" for "Virgin". But did I mention it's a fully functional Android phone for $70?!?

This was not even a question. I was ENTERING the world of Android (not exactly true, my tablet is Android), but I was coming in on the entry level out of necessity, but with confidence that the current state of tech would alow me to do EVERYTHING that was required. I was going ENTRY LEVEL, and will squeeze whatever I can out of this thing.

I resist the urge to go "kid in a candy shop" and instead choose only to install apps that I will use. Google Calendar (obviously), Google Maps, several mail clients for my several e-mail accounts (gonna trim this down soon), a subway alert app... not much else. I even tried to delete some of the bloat that they shipped with... Point, SCVNGR, some sort of bloated Twitter client... but these are locked into the system and can't be removed. They apparently reside in the ROM. (stay tuned)

So that's that... $70 phone, lowest monthly plan EVER, and all the features I need. But I had to push it. I want FACEBOOK!

Yup, I want to "check in" at the Statue of Liberty, I want to check in at Grants Tomb, or wherever I happen to find myself on a particular day. I want to tell the world that I'm dining with an attractive young lady. Shouldn't I have that option, even at the entry level??

Well, no. You see FaceBook is a memory hog. Of course that term only makes sense in relation to a device that has less than enough memory to run FaceBook. But long story short, when I install FaceBook, I start to get warnings that I'm running low on Memory and my incoming TEXTS get rejected. Clearly, this is not acceptable. FaceBook gets the big DELETE. :(

OK Open Source Community... OK Linux Community... Talk to me Powers of the Tech World Who's Name We Dare Not Speak.... what are my options ?!?!?

Well, funny that you ask... because they actually have an answer. Might not be completely pretty... but honestly, it's kinda BEAUTIFUL to my way of thinking.

So you have an SD card slot, right? And that can give you up to 32Gb of memory, right? Plug into your computer and drag and drop movies, videos, and tunes !!!  But is that any different from the memory that this phone RUNS on ??? Uh, apparently no! Or, kinda sorta.

In any case, the underlying tech for Cell Phone Memory is layered between "onboard" and external. Except they are really using the same basic tech... but are produced in quantity in such a way that there is a distinction. (Some is hard wired onto a sort of motherboard, other is buss-ed in from external sources).

So the fact is, the entry level phone has little built in memory, but up to 32GB via SD card. And there is a lower level of memory, closer to the CPU, but let's not even go there... the rest is handled by swapping out to the memory pages.

Well it turns out that most apps have their memory requirements mapped out into three discrete units. We can fool the system into stashing two of the three units onto the external memory, thus leaving plenty of space on the phone's internal memory. The apps don't even have to be aware of this (or written to support this)... if they write as per the Android specs, this will just happen seamlessly.

Hurdle #1 (not a huge deal, but not trivial):  Root the phone.
Anybody coming from the Unix world knows what "root access" means. You get to read and write to memory locations that are not available to most applications. This is essentially what happens when you root a phone. It voids the manufacturer's warranty (as if Virgin was gonna get into this with me), but you get access to files you otherwise would not have had access to. This includes the Operating System.

Lots of apps written for the Android phones simply don't work, or only have limited capabilities if you don't have root access. But in my case, this was essential to achieve my goal.

Rooting the phone is easy enough... if all goes well. The first attempt (which everybody seems to advocate) didn't work. It gave me an error, something about drivers not installed... went down the rabbit hole of making sure the right drivers where in the right locations... then bailed. I bet this method works perfectly for most users... I saw 5 different YouTube vids with MY PHONE doing this in 60 seconds. But I got error due to missing drivers.

Found 2nd method of rooting device. Downloaded script for my phone (directly from my phone, not my computer) and got it rooted with no problems.

Won't get more into detail now. More than enough details out there. Talk to me in person if you plan on doing this.

Then the simple app fixed everything... Link2SD.  OK, still not trivial, but conceptually clear. My SD card holds 8Gb of data. Mount as a drive in Windows (i.e. plug your phone into USB Port and go to "share as drive"), and use a 3rd party app (Windows Disk Manager could NOT do this !!!!). Partition your SD card so 6GB (more or less) are available for storage, and the other 2 GB (totally invisible to Windows) is partitioned and formatted and ready to use.

Now return back to the phone, and install Link2SD. Reboot at least once, and then start moving apps to the SD card, or LINKING apps that can not be moved. The "LINKING" moves a large portion of the app onto the SD card, leaving the internal memory available for every day operation.

I should probably end here and now. My $70 phone can now run SCORES of apps that would otherwise tell me I was out of memory. I have Facebook running, at the same time as Google Maps, and some other "hogs"... and text messages are not being rejected.

I expect to be able to install dozens or maybe hundreds of apps in this configuration.

..................
..................

But I'm just not satisfied !!!

OK, granted, I'm ELATED!!!!
My $70 phone with a ($15, generously priced) 8Gb SD card has all the memory and power to keep track of my calendar, my multiple e-mail accounts, all my business needs, and my Face Book nonsense !!!

But what's all this up around the bend??? I have a bunch of bloatware installed on my system that STILL doesn't give me the option to delete. And what's all this I hear about ROMs ???

Most frustrating of all was watching multiple YouTube vids showing my how easy it was to install "Rom Manager" and show how I could load different versions of Android OS on my phone. And in fact back in 2011 when this phone was the hot low end phone to hit the market, it WAS easy to root and hack this phone with different ROMs. But as of August 2013, it is extremely difficult to find the software needed to to install the Rom Manager or Recovery software for this phone.

Let's be clear... there are layers of software installed on my LG Optimus V (LGMV670) phone. Root gives me access to all on the phone... but software needed to update the basic OS files is hard to acquire. Maybe a year ago, this was easy to get. But today it seems to have dried up and disappeared. I signed up to the forum sights, but all the software that is supposed to give me access to "Flash the Rom" has disappeared into the vapor. These are apps that clearly worked a year ago (as per YouTube), but just don't work anymore. On the forum sights, I get a message that "This software is not available in your region." So these "underground" sights are not so underground after all... and apparently neither am I. :(


To this extent "Rom Manager" was THE GO TO APP that would allow you to choose the OS into which your phone would boot.
After installing "Rom Manager", it clearly states that it WILL NOT allow me to change the ROMs (basic operating system files) on my phone.
"Xenobia" (or something like that) says that downloads are not available in my area of the world.

It seems that "The Marketplace" has decided what I can and can not download... even for free... in my current location. That I as an individual, who I purchased a device for $70, am not allowed to download certain files that may make MY device more useful to ME.

Bottom line to this rant... It's not a rant !!
I'm SUPER happy with my $70 phone, my $15 memory card, and my ability to do my business from ANYWHERE and still post my stupid Face Book stuff.
The rest is a work in progress. I'm confident that if I care to spend the time and effort, I will figure out how to install different ROMs on this phone and choose which works best for me, and delete Point, SCVNGR, and the rest... and customize MY phone the way I want it.

It does irk me (understatement!) that the apps to do the ROM replacements were easy to acquire back in 2011, and now seem to have been scoured off the Internet. I'll keep looking... I'm sure they're out there. But the YouTube vids from 2011 just seem to taunt me... "Look, now just download 'ROM Manager" and you're all set." ARG!!!  ROM Manager tells me specifically that it will no longer support my phone!!

Anyway, thanks for letting me vent. I LOVE the state of Tech today. $70 and a $15 SD card, with a $30 monthly plan... and I'm running dozens and dozens of apps in real time !!!!!!!!!!!!

A True New York Story

A good few years ago, VB sent us a nice scan of a fold-up map that was given away as a freebe by MTA in honor of an anniversary they were celebrating, probably the 2004 centennial. This giveaway was a re-print of an old map. When it was originally published, it was sponsored by a shopping center who's building was prominently displayed in the center. I can't find the scan now, but the place of business was an impressive looking building near Astor Place, and was identified as "Stewart's"... most likely "Stewart's Cast Iron Palace" or something similar.

I remember trying to find information on this place via a few different searches. Finding nothing definitive, I decided to hoof it down there to see what (if anything) stood there now. In what appeared to be the location indicated on the map now stands an incredibly impressive building which WAS an important shopping center... though it was markedly different from Stewart's as it appeared sketched on that map.

Well I sort of filed that whole story in the back of my mind, and slowly over time the information presented itself. And to my delight, the story keeps getting better and better.



=====================
NOTE: I had written the above (and what follows) a day or so ago, and have since discovered more information. A.T. Stewart's Cast Iron Palace was NOT the business establishment featured on that map. It was in fact Mark Arnheim Tayloring... another five story building erected next to the Cast Iron Palace, touted as The World's Largest Tayloring Establishment. Will follow up about Arnheim later, as he too has a story to tell.
======================

As it turns out, if I had just known the actual name of this Stewart, this was mostly all spelled out in a single Wikipedia entry. But I took the long route, including a book I just purchased at The Strand to get the details.

In a little cul-de-sac in Greenwich Village next to the Cherry Lane theater is a nifty looking 19th Century three story brick home with a plaque that explains that this was once the home of A.T. Stewart, the Merchant Prince. At the time when this building was erected, this neighborhood was home to the wealthy New Yorkers who fled the overcrowding and disease ridden lower Manhattan. Massive amounts of resources were spent during this period developing the land, including changing the course of the streams, draining the swamps, and laying out streets among the farms, fields, and orchards. Stewart was among these men of great means.




Immigrating from Ireland as a youth, he arrived with a decent amount of money in his pocket... saved from working as a stock boy in a retail store. Later he inherited another decent amount from his family's estate. Not enough to make a man wealthy, but enough to get him started in a retail business in New York City. He also married into a well established family over here.


Through hard work and ingenuity, he re-defined the nature of the retail store. He included a show room above the store with full length mirrors, so ladies could try on their wares before making the purchase. This seemed to attract an affluent clientele, and soon his dry goods shop became a lucrative outlet for the fashionably dressed.

In an effort to expand his clientele, he dreamed up a risky scheme which payed off in spades. He put together a catalog of items and used the US Mail to send these westward across the country. With the use of a system known as Wells Fargo, he would deliver items to consumers across the ever expanding nation.

He took these successes and leveraged a MAJOR real estate venture. He erected what will always be known as the first true shopping center... The Marble Palace. This was in Lower Manhattan, just immediately north of City Hall. This "palace" is still there. It is still an impressive building, even by today's standards. It was so impressive, taking up the entire city block, that eventually "The New York Sun" newspaper took over the space. (You may remember "Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus")

Since this shopping center proved to be a success, and while New York City itself was expanding northward, he next erected The Cast Iron Palace. At the time, the Astor Library (now NYC's premier Shakespeare repertory theater, The Public Theater) as well as the Astor Opera House were among his neighbors. This was during the architectural revolution taking place where the use of cast iron as a structural material was allowing buildings to go higher than had ever been dreamed. This all taking place around the Civil War era, 1860's or there about. The garment industry had flourished in NYC sparked by the need for uniforms for the Union soldiers. This infrastructure quickly turned to fashion for the masses.

Later he took this fortune and entered the Rail Road business, owning a lucrative stretch of rails that eventually became part of The Long Island Rail Road.



By now he had moved up to what may have been the first of many true mansions along 5th Avenue, his being way out of town on 34th Street. It no longer exists.

Eventually, after his time on Earth, an even larger shopping center was constructed on the adjacent block to the Cast Iron Palace. This was the old Wannamaker's department store, one of two, the original being in Philadelphia. This is the building that still stands today. Wannamaker purchased The Cast Iron Palace and built the even larger building across the street, connecting the two via several cross walks high above the street bellow. Unfortunately, The Cast Iron Palace burned to the ground in a terrible fire... terrible enough to burn a cast iron building. Today a 1950s era condominium stands in this location, and while architecturally not to everybody's taste, it is quite impressive in size.

OK, so I found where he came from, where he lived, where he made his fortune, and the fate of the Cast Iron Palace. But were was he laid to rest??? Well that's where it gets REALLY interesting... and I can't make this up.

So after his death in 1876, he was buried in an exclusive location that few people could afford, in the main yard of The Church of St. Marks on the Bowery, next to former governors and mayors (some dating back to the British Colonial days). Heck, even the DUTCH Director General of New Amsterdam, Peter Stuyvesant, has his bones and peg leg interred in the wall of that church.

At the time of his death, it is estimated that his estate which passed on to his widow was $40 Million... that's $40 Million in 1876 dollars, not adjusted for inflation.

Now here's where it gets weird... "poor" AT Stewart apparently was not destined to Rest In Peace. Not long after his death, grave robbers busted up the flat stone laid horizontally on the church ground, cut through the copper vault, broke through the wooden casket, and stole Stewart's remains. Anonymously, the thieves hired a lawyer to negotiate with his estate for a ransom of the remains, which apparently WAS paid and the body was returned to be buried in a different location.