Postcard Thursday: Rockefeller Center's Lost Opera House

Happy World Radio Day!

In honor of this holiday, here are a couple of pictures of the original "Radio City," Rockefeller Center.

Notice the difference between these two shots? The top postcard depicts Rockefeller Center before it had even been built. The low building in the foreground had originally been designed to be the home of the Metropolitan Opera, the anchor tenant of the center. The building -- known somewhat affectionately as the "hatbox" -- was to have been a state-of-the-art theater, replacing the opera company's outmoded and cramped headquarters on Broadway just south of Times Square. However, internal struggles at the Metropolitan Opera, where the building and the performance company had separate boards of directors, squashed the deal. The Met would not find a new home for another three decades, when its current theater at Lincoln Center went up.

When the deal between the center and the opera company fell apart, John D. Rockefeller, Jr., had to scramble to find a replacement, ultimately choosing RCA, whose broadcasting arm, NBC, is still headquartered there today. This top postcard must have been produced sometime between the time the opera pulled out -- since it is labeled "Radio City," a nod to NBC's primary mode of broadcasting in those days -- but before the hatbox was removed from the plans.

The second postcard depicts the center as actually built. At the front are two of the center's international buildings, La Maison Francaise and the British Empire Building. These two short office towers are one of the topics of our Rockfeller chapter in Footprints in New York.

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Read more about Rockefeller Center in

Inside the Apple

and don't forget our next book

Footprints in New York comes out April 15, 2014, but you can pre-order today.

Richard Tucker -- The Tenor from the Lower East Side

Tonight, January 25, 2010, marks the 65th anniversary of Richard Tucker's debut at the Metropolitan Opera. One of the most popular tenors in the company's history, Tucker had a career that spanned nearly thirty years and took him to stages around the world (as well as appearing on numerous recordings, radio broadcasts, and television shows).

However, Tucker's singing career began not with arias but with prayer -- he was a cantor at Tifereth Israel synagogue on Allen Street.

Born Rivin Ticker in Brooklyn in 1913, Tucker's musical aptitude was apparent from a young age and by the time he was six he was singing under the tutelage of Samuel Weisser at Tifereth Israel. (The synagogue -- now gone -- stood at 128 Allen Street, just north of Delancey.) Within a few years, young "Ruby," as he was then known, was singing solos and was much in demand at weddings and bar mitzvahs. Eventually, he worked his way up to a full-time gig at Temple Adath Israel in the Bronx. (The photo here shows Tucker dressed as a cantor.)

However, in 1936, Tucker married Sara Perelmuth, whose brother was up-and-coming operatic tenor Jan Peerce. Soon Tucker's own musical path had changed and on January 25, 1945, he sang the role of Enzo in La Giocando at the Met to rave reviews.

If you are on the Upper West Side today in the neighborhood of Lincoln Center (maybe going to see Placido Domingo in Simon Boccanegra?) check out Richard Tucker Square, the small triangle of land just south of 66th Street. In it sits a bust of Tucker by Milton Hebald; engraved on the base are the names of the 31 operas in which Tucker performed.

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Read more about the Metropolitan Opera and the creation of Lincoln Center in
Inside the Apple: A Streetwise History of New York City.

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