A highlight from Short Stuff: The Dakota
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Yeah, she's in the lobby of a hotel. I go in that hotel to pee I'm always got my head on a swivel in that town, especially in fancy hotel lobbies Sure, and I was like, hey, this is Dakota Fanning and I was like she was sitting with people I was like, there's got to be somebody else famous went to the bathroom came out sitting next to Jessica Chastain Wow, pretty major sighting then at one of my pavement shows I saw Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig Yeah, they're married okay Wow say so power couple yeah, I mean he co -wrote Barbie with her and Dean Wareham of Luna, they're all good friends and they were all together So that was a three banger in one and this this lady near me was jumping up and down like screaming it at Greta Gerwig and she was very sweet from up above in the balcony and like made the little heart symbol and like said she Loved her was very sweet. Oh, that's sweet. And then sat next to Tiffany Haddish on the way on the flight home Wow She was a girl across the aisle from me. Did you but did you bug her the whole time? No, I didn't say anything. Were you like, hey, hey Tiffany, you remember this one joke you told? Layers She's great though. She's very pretty too. Yeah. Yes. It is. Wonderful. I like that voice. She's got that sort of a low voice kind of like this I'm Tiffany Haddish. That's right Okay. All right. We got to go cuz we're talking the Dakota here and not Dakota fanning or Elle fanning No, the apartment building in New York City. That's right. The one where John Lennon was shot in front of Live there. No, no. No, he lived there and he was he was shot on the sidewalk outside the Dakota. So That's not the only reason the Dakota's famous. Although it's probably the biggest reason the Dakota's famous One of the reasons that Dakota is famous is because it was one of the first apartment buildings in New York City like they didn't do apartments back then and even more spectacular than that it being one of the first apartment buildings is that it was Plunked down in the Upper West Side at a time when Central Park West one of the most What is it white healed high healed? Well healed well healed like Bits of stretches of real estate in the world was a dirt road still and nowhere's Phil nowhere Yep, nobody wanted to go up that far. They're like, there's nothing up there That's right. Hey seeds in in fact, it was so far out that The guy who built the Dakota who will meet in the second Edward Cabot Clark bought it from an industrialist Whose wife threatened to divorce him if he built their house out there and he's like, I don't just get rid of this piece of Land then yeah, she's like I want to live down here where it's posh in alphabet city You know, it's funny is if you you remember if you go read our book There's a whole chapter on keeping up with the Joneses in it Oh, yeah talks a lot about this part of of New York history where there are all sorts of nowhere's Ville's around that today are just like incredibly and famous Expensive that's right. All right, so the Dakota like you said people were not living in apartments at the time they were living in brownstones, which were single -family homes and There were a couple like a couple started to spring up in the 1870s They weren't great. They were Kind of like you think of New York apartments. They were small. They didn't have a lot of light People didn't love renting And living in them and along came this guy Edward Cabot Clark that you mentioned He was the president of the Singer sewing machine company So he was loaded and he got together with an architect named Henry Janeway Hardenberg a great name and to get into real estate and the first thing they built which is sadly not there anymore is Kind of a prototype for the Dakota called the van Corlier a red brick five -story 36 apartment building that was on 7th between 55th and 56 Yeah, and it immediately improved on its predecessors Because the rooms were larger the apartments themselves were larger. There was a courtyard. So there was plenty of like natural light and air Had elevators apparently which are we're talking like the 1880s 1870s and there was also I think a What was there oh there was a ramp that went beneath it so then You didn't have to solely your family reputation by accepting deliveries out there in public You could go down to the basement and meet the delivery driver to get them to take whatever they gave you Yeah, and it was just nicer overall I think there was a an intercom system and you know, like Spanish tile. It was just it was just a step up for sure and all of a sudden in 1878 They rented out very quickly and so Clark was like, alright it turns out if you if you build it nice enough they will come and Apartments can be a real thing and like you said bought that property or I guess it was just land at the time, right? Yeah, yeah bought this land from Jacob Henry Schiff way way uptown and Decided to build his second Sort of dream property there. Yep, which would be the Dakota and I say that we pause for a message break and then return and begin talking about the Dakota some more and Tiffany Haddish right after this I'm Jonathan Strickland host of the podcast tech stuff I sat down with Sunun Shahani of Surfare Mobility, which recently went public We talked about flying and electric planes and regional air mobility The future of travel doesn't have to include crowded airports cramps seats or long road trips It can be as simple as using an app to book a short -range flight on an electric plane Learn more on tech stuff on the I heart radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you get your podcast This episode of stuff you should know is brought to you by t -mobile for business Hey everybody have you ever been driving around looking for a parking spot getting more and more irritated and you think why can't I just Look up parking spaces around my area I mean like wouldn't that make sense and if you find the spot faster You're going to create less traffic and in that sense Everybody's life is made better just by the ability to look up a parking spot. 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That's right offering the nation's largest 5g network T -mobile is the best network partner to take your business to the next level now is the time to business Bravely and start building your future today Just go to t -mobile .com slash now to learn more So Chuck we're talking about the Dakota now starting now Okay, so if the van Corleer was a Advancement based on the stuff that came a few years before it the Dakota was an even better advancement Improvement based on the van Corleer. It had big apartments big rooms Courtyard lots of light Ramp underneath and all that stuff, but it was also like even more Luxuriously designed like if you came over to someone's apartment, you couldn't see through down the hallway to every single room the walls were kind of like designed around so that you couldn't like there was a Separation between your visitors in the living part of the apartment or the sleeping part, you know the family part I guess is what you call it just little details like that Another big detail is that it had its own power plant that generated electricity for it in the 1870s Yeah, not bad the kitchens had little balconies so if you had stinky stuff like garbage that you couldn't get down or Maybe even stinky food or something. You could put it just right outside the kitchen, which was something that a lot of places didn't have Yeah, they had a boiler So they had insulated pipes bringing steam and hot water into the building Which was a big innovation at the time and they had tennis courts. They had croquet courts It was it was a real gym. It still is it's one of my favorite buildings in New York Every time I go up there to Central Park, at least I try to pop out on that area and just go go Give it a look Because it's a beautiful building. It's sort of a mishmash of styles It's been called, you know, French Renaissance or got German Gothic or even Victorian and it's kind of a little bit of everything But it's it's beautiful. I don't think I've ever seen it in person if I have I didn't realize it You may have it's it's lovely. It's right there on a corner. So here's the thing when Edward Cabot Clark was creating the Dakota He was widely derided for it. They called it Clark's Folly because people were deeply insensitive in the 19th century and the reason why they call it that is because again, it's in the middle of nowhere and People aren't really into apartments Like we said they live in like three -story Brownstones like they live in homes They don't live in apartments the people who lived in apartments as far as this house stuff works article points out were widows Widowers and people who are waiting for their wealthy relatives to die so they could inherit their house And all of a sudden Clark is like no. No, we're changing the game Anyone who is anyone is gonna want to live in an apartment and it turns out his gamble paid off. He was right Yeah, he sadly he died before it was finished So he didn't get to see it come to fruition But it was certainly not his folly because like you said people lined up to rent these things or I guess I don't know were they all rentals at the time. I wonder if anyone were available for sale. I think they were all rentals Okay, well people rented him, but they were people that had money. They just weren't like robber barons who wanted to live in mansions They were they were sort of the early New York, you know upper class They were people who like were bank presidents and people who like the CEOs of the time, right? Apparently the Adams sisters were heirs to a chewing gum Fortune they live there with it and that flavor tea berry one of the greatest gum flavors of all time. That's a Was it tea berry? Now, are you kidding? Cuz I can't tell no. No, that's for real. It's like a Kind of salmon pink colored Gum, no, no the the wrapper is okay It tastes like salmon too. No, it's a really delicate unique flavor and you could probably find it like Cracker Barrel Don't they have all sorts of old -timey candies or one of those rocket fizz places? I have no idea anywhere that sells candy I'll bet they have tea berry stick gum and it's really worth trying. All right Nice tip there. Thanks. So The Dakota started a trend all of a sudden luxury apartment houses started popping up all over the place Kind of in the same model with like bigger rooms and higher ceilings and stuff like that and the Upper West Side it wasn't right then but around the early 1900s that really started to take off and Really changed the face of New York of New York, you know, they they started building up more after World War one, obviously when New York said they could and Apartments became the way to go. Yeah Eventually, the the Dakota started seeing a different clientele not you know Straights and squares like bank presidents but like stars like Lauren Bacall and Judy Garland Wowie Wow horse Karloff, too That's pretty cool Imagine living next to him and then of course two of the most famous residents John Lennon and Yoko Oh, no Is blamed widely for moving John Lennon to the Dakota and he would have lived had she not done that Do people say that? Probably somebody out there. Okay poking fun at those people. No, I think he loved the Dakota Yeah, it would seem to be his home. They were there for like a dozen years. I think right before he died I'm not sure how long he loved New York City though. It was it was a great scene for both. He and Yoko. Yep You anything else? I got nothing else go check out the Dakota if you're in New York It's a great great looking building.