Film/televsion has become the fastest growing industry in NYC. The city aggressively courts the business; contrary to what one might expect, the city does not charge for filming permits, parking, or police – it’s all free. The jobs and business bring substantial revenue. In 1983, brothers Stuart and Alan Suna converted the former Silvercup Bakery building (circa 1920) into Silvercup Studios, a film and television production facility. The first studio opened in the former “flour silo room.” They preserved the neon sign seen in the photo, adding the word Studios. Silvercup is now the largest independent full-service film and television studio facility in the northeastern United States. Many major films and television have been produced there (The Sopranos, Sex in the City, The Gangs of New York, etc.)

In 2006, Silvercup announced Silvercup West, a $1 billion expansion – a complex with eight soundstages, production and studio support space, offices, stores, 1,000 apartments in high-rise towers, a catering hall, a cultural institution, and waterfront esplanade and plazas. The project, which will also incorporate environmentally sustainable “green building” features, has been described as a “vertical Hollywood.” The architect is Lord Richard Rogers, who designed the Pompidou Center in Paris and the Millennium Dome in London. It is to be built at the edge of the East River in Queens and will be the largest production house on the East Coast. Of course, there is competition – Kaufman-Astoria Studios and the new Steiner Studios in the Brooklyn Navy Yard…

These smokestacks, which are prominent on the NYC skyline, are part of the power-generating facility Ravenswood No. 3, also known as Big Allis (named after the turbine manufacturer Allis-Chalmers Corp.) The power plant sits on the shore of the East River in Queens on Vernon Boulevard, in a neighborhood known as Ravenswood in Long Island City. It was the world’s largest generating facility when it went into service in 1965, capable of producing 1 million kilowatts. It was sold by public utility Con Edison to KeySpan Energy in 1999.

In 2004, the facility was expanded with new state-of-the-art technology amid community concerns over pollution. It is now capable of generating 25% of New York City’s power requirements. A New York Times article referred to the plant as the “Death Valley of New York City” – temperatures can reach 160 degrees Fahrenheit on the floor of the turbine room…

It is easy to forget New York City’s role as an important port and that the waters around NYC are still a working harbor with an enormous amount of maritime freight and traffic (over 12,000 ships per year). In researching for this post, I am always reminded of how much goes on behind those things which most of us know little about. Like tugboats and barges. But there is a world and a history here, even with tugboat buffs and websites.

The tug in the photo navigating the East River, the Brendan J. Bouchard, belongs to the Bouchard Transportation Company of Melville, NY, an oil barging company. Most barges are not self-propelled and need tugboats to move them. And tugboats are highly maneuverable – they help make the sharp turns necessary to negotiate shipping channels and harbors such as that of New York’s. McAllister and Moran virtually dominate the tugboat business in the New York waters. Click here for an interesting story about the recent efforts of tugboats to move the Intrepid to New Jersey for refurbishment – an initial failure followed by success…

The Angelika Film Center has been the theater most associated with independent films in NYC – a cultural landmark. Although there have been others before it and after it (the Quad Cinema, Sunshine Theater, Film Forum, IFC, PS 122, Village East, and Lincoln Plaza uptown), the Angelika is the most well-known. (They now also have three theaters in Texas.)

Established in 1989, this 6-screen, $4 million project was established by Joseph Saleh. The theater occupies the ground floor and basement of the Cable Building on the corner of Houston Street and Mercer in SoHo. (The Cable Building, designed by McKim, Mead & White, was originally used to store Houston Street cable cars.) The “indiplex” features a 7000-square foot lobby with an espresso bar and cafe, open to non-filmgoers as well, which serves as a hangout before and after films.

Of course, there are many naysayers and disgruntled patrons who complain of the seating, layout, rumbling of subways, etc. In spite of this and all the competition, the theater still draws. In typical New York style, it’s the cinema that filmgoers love to hate. But ultimately, it’s the films themselves that really matter to the serious cinephile, and the Angelika delivers…

Today, I thought I would try something different: can you guess the subject and location in Manhattan of this image? This photo is unaltered in any way – straight from the camera, no Photoshop. I imagine some of you NYC aficionados will correctly identify this, so I suggest that you make a guess before reading the comments.

Let’s see how this goes the first time around. I will respond to comments later tonight and/or tomorrow morning. I have no prizes to offer, but maybe down the road I can come up with something…