Ben

Westchester

I'll nominate a few:

1) A "red bird" number 1 subway car from the 1980s.

2) A pay phone. Ideally, the bank of twenty pay phones in a row that lived until 1990 on the north end of the Times Square mini block of 43rd St., the island between 7th and Broadway.

3) The guest book for any ultra-popular restaurant from the 1980s or 1990s, any era, really.

4) One of Manhattan's ugliest buildings, 33 Thomas St.

5) The golden orb clock that sits in the middle of Grand Central Terminal.

I'll nominate a few:

1) I don't think you can tell the history of New York without putting a subway car in the exhibit. The reasons are many, but the 24/7 nature of the city, the bringing together of cultures, races, and classes, these are all about the subway. There is no more enduring symbol of the city than a single red bird 1 car from the 1980s.

2) A pay phone. You can't possibly explain the import of pay phones to anyone under 25 years of age. But this was the symbol of New Yorkers always in touch, always on the go.

Growing up, on the north end of the Times Square mini block of 43rd St., the island between 7th and Broadway, there used to be about twenty pay phones in a row. That was a total symbol of New York.

3) I'd love the guest book for any ultra-popular restaurant from the 1980s or 1990s, any era, really. You could argue Elaine's, Babbo, Daniel, I don't really care. I just think the booking of a thousand people into time and space, with phones and names and notes of who is how important and who knows who -- speaks to New York City's nature of access, exclusivity, getting in, being seen, etc.

4) Finally, I'll nominate one of Manhattan's ugliest buildings for a very specific reason. 33 Thomas St. is a huge, windowless tower, full of telephone switching equipment. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/33_Thomas_Street

The "nerve center" quality of New York is best expressed by looking at a giant building whose sole purpose, identity, and design is based around the flow of terabytes of information per nanosecond.

5) The golden orb clock that sits in the middle of Grand Central Terminal. Its ability to masquerade as an object of classic art, while in fact it remains connected to the coming and going of a thousand trains and a million people every day, is pure New York City.