An acclaimed cartoonist presents New York City as you've never seen it before, with a side-splittingly funny illustrated history of the blocks, the buildings, the guts, and the little known charms (and horrors) of the greatest city in the world.
In Tenements, Towers & Trash, Julia Wertz takes us behind, underneath, around, and into the New York that you think you know. Not the tourist's New York (the Statue of Liberty makes a brief appearance and the Empire State Building not at all), but the underbelly of the city that never sleeps. With drawings and comics in her signature style, Wertz regales us with streetscapes "Then and Now" and little-known tales, such as the lost history of Kim's Video, the complicated and unresolved business of Ray's Pizza, the vintage trash and horse bones that litter the shore of Brooklyn's Bottle Beach, the ludicrous pinball prohibition, Staten Island's secret abandoned boatyard, and the hair-raising legend of the infamous abortionist of Fifth Avenue, Madame Restell.
From bars, bakeries, and bookstores to food carts, street cleaners, and apartments both cramped and grand, Tenements, Towers & Trash is a wild ride in a time machine taxi from the present day city to bygone days of yore.
**A New York Times Notable Book of the Year**
About the Author
Julia Wertz is a professional cartoonist, amateur historian, and part-time urban explorer. Her books include Impossible People: A Competley Average Recovery Story,The Fart Party, Museum of Mistakes, Drinking at the Movies, and The Infinite Wait and Other Stories. She does monthly comics and doodles for the New Yorker and the New York Times. After leaving New York City, she settled down in Northern California with Oliver (yes, that Oliver) and their son, Felix.
Praise For…
"Julia Wertz's Tenements, Towers and Trash is nothing short of extraordinary. The meticulously researched histories of the various urban landscapes are fascinating, and Wertz's drawings perfectly capture the visual poetry of the city- the ongoing struggle between past and present, and its unique blend of beauty and ugliness. A must for anyone who loves and appreciates the city, as Wertz so clearly does."—Roz Chast
"A passionate anatomy of the city, a book of dramatic streetscapes and hidden histories - mostly of infamous women, like the 19th-century celebrity abortionist Madame Restell, who catered to socialites and built her Fifth Avenue mansion a block away from a Catholic church, supposedly to taunt the faithful....The city rises majestically in these pages. The crowded panels evoke the jostle of urban life. Your eye doesn't know where to settle; there's so much to absorb."—The New York Times