The Metro Group MARITIMER FEBRUARY 2008 the NEW YORK issue INsIdER’s guIdE to dOCKsIdE NEW york DINING REMEMBERINg the WHITEHALL CLuB Blurring FRONT office BACK office lines MARITIME ART in PuBLIC PLACEs MARITIMER February 2008 WELCOME photo by Tania Savayan photo by Tania GR OUP MA O R R I T T I M E E METRO GROUP MARITIME 61 BROADWAY New YoRK, NY M www.mgmUS.com (212) 425-7774 The Metro Group FEBRUARY 2008 MARITIMER N E W Y O R K I ss UE The Metro Group MARITIMER 6 THE WHITEHALL CLUB Vol. 2 No. 8 PORTSIDE RESTAURANTS PUBLISHER Marcus L. Arky LUNAR NEW YEAR PREVIEW ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER 11 CARPE Victoria Medeiros Q&A WITH NEW YORK ARTIST TERRENCE MALEY EDITOR IN CHIEF 12 Alia Mansoori RESEARCH EDITOR 14 BLURRING THE LINES BETWEEN FRONT OFFICE AND BACK OFFICE Kemal Kurtulus COPY EDITOR INSider’S GUIDE TO NYC Emily Ballengee 16 ART DIRECTOR PER Courtnay Loch NO OFFSET RULE 19 CONTRIBUTORS Michael Arky 20 MARITIME ART IN PUBLIC PLACES Kate Ballengee Benjamin Kinberg Filip Kwiatkowski NEW MGM CUSTOMIZABLE INTERFACE Tania Savayan 22 DIEM 23 BOOK REVIEW: PETE HAMILL’S NORTH RIVER 6 Broadway Suite 40 16 New York, NY 0006 GR OUP MA O R phone (22) 425-7774 R I T fax (22) 425-803 8 T I M E [email protected] E Please visit www.mgmus.com 12 M Printed in the U.S.A. Copyright © 2008 Metro Group Maritime Publishing to make way for luxury condominiums. The items will be displayed in the 2th Floor corridor of 7 Battery Place where both men still work. The relics, however, do not take the place of their favorite lunchtime haunt. “I used to love watching the ships in the river,” said McNamara wistfully as he recalled his fond- Among its many legacies, downtown Manhattan is In 90 the Whitehall Club opened its doors at est memories of the club. “In 966, when the The counted as being one of the shipping industry’s 7 Battery Place and welcomed distinguished Queen Mary left on her last voyage, she sailed at greatest hubs. Under Lady Liberty’s stoic gaze, New members from the McAllister and Morgan families, noon from up at Pier 90, and there was a big party York Harbor was crowded with passenger and cargo goliaths like John Jacob Astor IV, Jay Gould and at the Whitehall Club celebrating the last trip of ships. Millions of dollars worth of goods floated up John D. Rockefeller, Jr. and other prominent men of the Queen Mary. Now, with all these Battery City Whitehaand down New York’s waterways on any given day. Clubcommerce. Membership grew, and the club became buildings you can no longer see all those wonderful Thirty stories above the harbor and its daily mari- the unofficial clubhouse of the maritime industry. ships that passed in front of our windows.” time parade, members of the shipping industry con- “It was such an elegant place and the people— The industry’s geographic decentralization and gregated in the legendary Whitehall Club. the head of the ILA was there, the head of steam- the near disappearance of large American-based ship companies, people from Cunard liner businesses make the resurrection of the Lines, United States Lines, Holland Whitehall Club or something similar unlikely, says American—to see so many shipping McNamara. THERE WAS NO BEttER PLACE TO WATCH executives in one place was just amaz- “It was a wonderful, wonderful, learning experi- ing,” said Captain James J. McNamara, ence,” said Sappio. “I wish I had been older, joined WHAT WAS HAppENING IN THE HARBOR. president of the National Cargo Bureau, A page from the Whitehall Club’s promotional booklet. the industry sooner, I wish I could have experienced CAptAIN JAMES J MCNAMARA who was first introduced to the club in more of the history of the industry and the White- the 960s while sailing with the States and could see what ships came in or if one was at hall Club and its tremendous camaraderie.” Marine Lines. anchorage waiting to get in,” said Pouch of his real- Don’t we all. “Lower Manhattan was really the nucleus of the Outfitted with coffered ceilings, walnut paneled time status reports. “You could view your operations shipping business,” said Robert Sappio, senior vice walls, stained-glass panes depicting various ship- and see not only what your operation was doing, but – ALIA MANSOORI president of APL, who was introduced to the club ping lines’ smoke stacks, detailed ship models and what your competitors were doing.” right out of college towards the end of the indus- breathtaking views of Lower Manhattan, the club During the club’s early days there was a sepa- try’s height in Lower Manhattan. “The Whitehall was the perfect backdrop for entertaining clients rate dining room for women guests, but according Club was certainly a regular haunt for many of the from out of town or settling situations in an amicable to Pouch, who served a stint as director of the club, managers and executives of the shipping industry manner. women were allowed their own membership in the downtown.” “People were able to talk to each other in an 970s and held their own among the well-seasoned “A busy day, in the old days, starting at noon- unofficial setting about things that were troubling major maritime players. time, maybe even earlier, the bar would be three them or problems they had and sometimes prob- “When the club became co-ed a lot of distin- people deep,” said Robert H. Pouch, director of lems would get solved because there was a jury of guished women in business, politics and the law the Board of Commissioners of Pilots of the State executives and management people who had a po- were invited to become members,” said Pouch. of New York from his office, located just 8 floors lite interest in each other’s business,” said Pouch. “Congresswoman Helen Bentley, Elaine Chao, who below the famed lunch club, overlooking Pier A in Formal yet friendly, the club’s atmosphere lent was deputy secretary at the U.S. Department of New York Harbor. “You would go in and there would itself to conversation where even “your archest com- Transportation and is now secretary of labor…all of be a roar coming out of the room.” petitors in the business” became friends and busi- the women who were going into business and mov- The roars would ness issues could be discussed and resolved in a ing into the senior ranks were all engrafted into the soon give way to cordial manner, according to Pouch. But sometimes club.” the growls of hun- matters were settled in a more simplistic manner. With changes in the shipping industry including gry stomachs as “As some rumors go, there were times that con- electronic customs filings, taxation, regulation, and patrons would put tracts were signed based on which guy could out rent hikes many steamship lines moved out of lower down their cock- drink the other,” said Edward J. Kelly, executive Manhattan in the mid-90s and left what was once tails and finalize director of the Maritime Association of the Port of the nucleus of the maritime industry with only rel- their games of New York and New Jersey. ics of a bygone era. dice on the high- While the bar was the stage in which anecdotes The Whitehall Club, a not-for-profit establish- hat tables sur- were exchanged and deals made through clouds of ment, was forced to file for bankruptcy in 995. rounding the ele- cigar smoke and the sound of ice rattling in a shak- “The Whitehall Club shuttered because its mem- gant bar and head er, its windows gave some of the best insight into bership base aged and its corporate base went away,” into one of three what was going on in the business. said Pouch who, along with McNamara, salvaged dining rooms to “When I went up to the bar, I could look right items from the club such as menus, seals, photos, A page from the Whitehall Club menu, December 6, 994 (left) and a detail of the An interior view of The Whitehall Club dining room. have lunch. down on top of the two piers we rented in Brooklyn and postcards before wrecking crews demolished it menu cover (right). 6 MARITIMER MARITIMER 7 February 2008 February 2008 Portside Restaurants A GUIDE TO DINING ON THE DOCKS IN NY & NJ Alma 187 Columbia Street Brooklyn, NY (718) 643-5400 BROOKLYN BY ALIA MANSOORI Alma blazed a culinary trail when it opened over five years ago on an industrial stretch of the Carroll Gar- dens waterfront. Today, that street is home to doz- Hope and Anchor ens of restaurants, cafes and boutiques. 347 Van Brunt Street, Brooklyn, NY Porthole windows dot the two-story brick façade (718) 237-0276 and give the Mexican restaurant a nautical touch Sautéed veal liver in an orange garlic rosemary re- that is heightened by the breathtaking views of New duction and hot wings seem like unlikely items to York Harbor and the Manhattan skyline that can be see on the same menu (not to mention a diner’s seen from the rooftop, al fresco, dining patio. ALMA menu), but Brooklyn’s Hope and Anchor is not your While sweeping vistas are difficult to compete typical diner. with, Alma’s crispy pork empanadas, jumbo shrimp F In a once dodgy part of Red Hook, within earshot ilip Kwiatkowski coated in shredded coconut and fajitas made with of the Brooklyn-Port Authority Marine Terminal, the grilled, marinated, black angus steak or chipotle diner, outfitted in red vinyl and blackF ormica, serves chicken breast more than hold their own against F up gourmet creations and classic diner delights to a FERDINANDO’S FOCACCERIA Gotham’s grandeur.