Communiqué
A whirlwind tour of streets that change the way we get around. “10 Streets That Changed America” – Oct. 1 at 9 pm
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Saturday, October 1 at 9 pm
Discover how streets have connected the nation, divided communities, and changed the way Americans live, work, and shop. Trace Broadway’s 400-year evolution: from Native American trail to Dutch trading route to the home of America’s first public transit service and an electrically-lighted theater district known as the “Great White Way.” This episode reveals how Broadway has become the poster child for the “complete streets” movement, in which automobiles take a back seat to more sustainable forms of transit. Ride from Boston to New York on the Boston Post Road, a dirt “highway” created for the nation’s first mail carriers. Take America’s oldest streetcar line out to some of the nation’s first suburbs in New Orleans, and in Detroit drive a Model T along America’s first mile of concrete-paved road. Explore a car-friendly street created by a 1920s entrepreneur who predicted that Los Angeles would be dominated by the automobile, and take a horse and carriage ride on a Brooklyn parkway built on the proposition that streets should be scenic. Streets featured are:
Broadway, New York, NY – Discover the Native American and Dutch roots of the Great White Way, the first street in America to feature mass transit.
Boston Post Road, Boston, MA to New York, NY – Travel the highway that helped win the American Revolution and served as the nation’s first “information superhighway.”
St. Charles Avenue, New Orleans, LA – Ride the streetcar that helped launch a wave of suburban development across the nation.
The National Road, Cumberland, MD to Vandalia, IL – Learn about the first road ever paid for by the federal government, which paved the way for covered wagons carrying settlers to the West.
Eastern Parkway, Brooklyn, NY – Enjoy a ride on America’s first “parkway,” designed by Frederick Law Olmsted as a tree-lined oasis for city dwellers.
Woodward Avenue, Detroit, MI – Join Geoffrey in the Motor City for a ride in a Model-T on the first concrete-paved modern highway.
Lincoln Highway, New York, NY to San Francisco, CA – This cross-country road, which began as a PR stunt dreamed up by car salesman Max Fisher, laid the groundwork for America’s love affair with the road trip.
Greenwood Avenue, Tulsa, OK – Visit what was once known as the “Black Wall Street” until a violent mob burned it to the ground in 1921.
Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA – Discover the story behind the development of L.A.’s “Miracle Mile,” a revolutionary new shopping district catering to motorists in what was once considered “the suburbs” of the city.
Kalamazoo Mall, Kalamazoo, MI – In the late 50s and 60s, shoppers were abandoning traditional downtowns for suburban malls. See how Kalamazoo turned “Main Street” into a pedestrian mall, a pattern that would play out with mixed results across the nation.