The Rockefeller's Last Empire: The Dark Story of the Twin Towers

In the center of Manhattan stood two

towers rising 110 stories above lower

Manhattan.

>> [clears throat]

>> The twin [music] towers of the World

Trade Center.

1,368

ft each.

The tallest buildings in the world.

At least for a few years.

They were called the last great project

of the Rockefeller empire.

A symbol of American capitalism carved

[music] from steel and glass against the

sky.

But beneath this grandeur hid another

story. A story of a destroyed

neighborhood. A story of hundreds of

small businesses erased [music] from the

city map. A story of power that broke

the resistance of ordinary people for a

vision few shared.

This palace was not built on empty

ground. [music]

It rose on the ruins of what no one was

supposed to remember. The war ended in

1945.

American servicemen returned home to

find a nation transformed by industrial

mobilization. And eager to celebrate

peacetime prosperity.

City swelled with returning veterans and

their young families.

The suburbs beckoned with new

construction and affordable mortgages.

For a brief moment, it seemed the urban

core would thrive alongside this

expansion.

Manhattan told a different story.

The financial district that had anchored

American capitalism for generations

began losing what had made it

indispensable.

Corporate headquarters started

relocating to Connecticut and

Westchester County during the late

1940s.

Executives preferred office campuses

with parking lots to cramped buildings

accessed by subway.

Tax advantages sweetened the move.

The exodus accelerated through the

1950s. Companies that had occupied lower

Manhattan office space for decades filed

change of address forms and departed.

Entire buildings stood partially vacant.

Property values declined steadily. The

tax base that funded city services

eroded [music] year by year.

New York faced a crisis without

precedent [music] as the wealthiest city

in the nation watched its economic

foundation crumble.

Lower Manhattan suffered most acutely.

The neighborhood south of Chambers

Street had been constructed for a 19th

century economy.

Narrow streets designed for horse-drawn

carts couldn't accommodate automobile

traffic.

Buildings erected in the 1800s [music]

lacked modern amenities like central air

conditioning and high-speed elevators.

Businesses evaluating renovation costs

decided relocation made better financial

sense.

One neighborhood embodied everything

[music] the post-war era was abandoning.

Radio Row occupied roughly 13 blocks

bounded by Cortlandt Street, Liberty

Street, Church Street, [music] and West

Street.

The area had evolved organically over

five decades into the nation's largest

electronics district.

Hundreds of small shops packed [music]

together creating a marketplace unlike

anything else in America.

The businesses were modest operations

occupying storefronts in aging walk-up

buildings.

Repair shops that fixed radios and

televisions. [music]

Surplus dealers selling military

electronics leftover from wartime

production.

Component suppliers stocking vacuum

tubes, resistors,

>> [music]

>> capacitors, wire of every gauge.

Retailers offering the latest consumer

electronics at competitive prices.

Most operations were family owned.

Many proprietors were immigrants or

first-generation Americans who had built

something substantial from initial

investments measured in hundreds rather

than thousands of dollars.

The physical structures reflected their

utilitarian origins.

Four and five-story [music] buildings

constructed cheaply in earlier decades.

Storefronts with plate glass windows

displayed merchandise crammed onto

shelves. Second floors housed workshops

where technicians performed [music]

intricate repairs.

Upper floors served as storage or modest

apartments. Nothing about the

architecture suggested permanence or

grandeur.

But everything functioned exactly as

needed.

The neighborhood thrived precisely

because of this informal density.

Electronics enthusiasts [music]

from across the northeastern United

States made regular pilgrimages to Radio

Row.

>> [music]

>> You could find obscure vacuum tubes that

manufacturers had discontinued years

earlier.

Shopkeepers possessed deep technical

knowledge accumulated over decades. And

would spend time explaining how circuits

worked.

Students from nearby technical schools

browsed for parts to build [music]

experimental devices.

Engineers from major corporations

stopped by to source materials for

prototype development.

The social fabric proved equally

distinctive.

Proprietors maintained extensive

networks with competitors. [music]

Relationships built on mutual benefit.

They sent customers to shops down the

street when they didn't stock what was

needed. Information flowed freely

between businesses [music] about new

products, reliable suppliers. Market

conditions.

Many current owners had started as

employees in other Radio Row

establishments before saving enough to

open their own stores.

The community was self-sustaining,

self-regulating, and profitable without

requiring outside intervention.

By 1955,

>> [music]

>> Radio Row businesses employed

approximately 30,000 people directly.

That total included shop owners, skilled

technicians, salespeople, delivery

workers, administrative staff.

Annual sales likely reached tens of

millions of dollars though exact figures

were never compiled.

The businesses paid property taxes,

>> [music]

>> sales taxes, and payroll taxes that

contributed to city revenue at a time

when those revenues were declining

elsewhere.

The neighborhood served functions beyond

commerce.

Radio Row was a place where technical

knowledge [music] was preserved and

transmitted between generations through

apprenticeship.

Before electronics engineering programs

became widespread, this neighborhood was

where people learned by doing. A

teenager interested in radio technology

could get hired as a shop assistant and

learn the [music] trade through daily

exposure to repairs and experienced

technicians.

That knowledge would support families

for generations.

None of this impressed the people making

decisions about New York's future.

To urban planners and politicians

evaluating lower Manhattan,

Radio Row represented exactly what

needed to be cleared away. The buildings

were old. The streets were congested.