Friday, November 23, 2007

QuickTime VR: Tanahey Park

Updated 6/1/08 with full featured vr tools that show zoom and pan and hot spots
A Quicktime VR Movie of Tanahey Park (western section)

After Thanksgiving my family took a trip to Boston. My daughter was visiting a camp friend who lives in Quincy. I was inspired by the geeky surroundings of the Hotel@MIT in Cambridge (run by Hilton and about 25% less than a Boston Hotel) That last proviso was for my father in case he was "listening" and I figured out the code to embed a vr movie. Actually I just copied it from another site and made adjustments. Probably any 16 year old kid here could do it blindfolded. Anyway it allows me to post many of the vr movies I've made that I had put on this site. The only problem is that the hot spots don't appear. The hot spots allow you to link to other vr movies. Good enough for now.
Tanahey didn't look like this 50 years ago and there was no hockey rink. Instead there were shuffleboard courts. I don't know why but I remember ringelevio home bases originating here. I was a lousy ringelevio player since I was pretty slow. I do recall, however, that I was a decent base runner by judging well where a ball was hit. I would also introduce the element of surprise by sliding on games played on concrete. I still have some scars.
As for fleet afoot Marty B and Marvin Kuperstein were among our fastest runners. Marvin was not only the fastest of us Jews, but he could beat any of the Italians and Irish and even the few black kids in the neighborhood.

Tanahey playground was named for local civic and political leader Martin F. Tanahey (1874-1930). Born and raised in this Lower East Side neighborhood, Tanahey held various public offices over 22 years. He served as chief clerk in the Labor Department of the State of New York and later became assistant appraiser of the Port of New York, the busiest port in the world for the first half of the 20th century. He also was an assistant government appraiser in President Woodrow Wilson's administration. In 1922, Tanahey was elected to the Board of Alderman from District 1, which includes the Lower East Side, and remained an alderman the rest of his life. Tanahey was a chief lieutenant of Democratic Party leader Thomas F. Foley (1852-1925), a saloonkeeper and politician associated with Tammany Hall for whom nearby Foley Square is named. Martin F. Tanahey died of pneumonia at his home at 177 Cherry Street in 1930.

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