((PKG)) MANHATTEN SIDEWAYS
((TRT: 04:06))
((Topic Banner: Manhattan’s Hidden Treasures))
((Reporter: Olga Terekhin))
((Camera: Max Avloshenko))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: New York City, New York))
((Main character: 1 female))
((Sub characters: 2 male))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
I'm Betsy Bober Polivy. I've walked 155 streets on the original
Manhattan grid. It took me six years. And I documented every
single place. I took business cards from every single business
that had one.
So, I honestly have over ten thousand business cards and I met
all the owners or whoever was working there at the time.
And every single business, every garden, every school, every
firehouse, police department, tattoo parlor, hair salon is on my
website.
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
It's 2021 and I'm still walking because businesses open and close
on a daily basis. Sadly, right now, a lot of them are closing, but
I'm always trying to keep the website up to date. ((NATS))
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
Oh look, Manhattan Sideways. Who knew? Right here. I wrote a
story and he printed it.
Hi, I’m Betsy and I just saw that you have me in your window
((Barbershop Owner))
That’s you?
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
That’s me.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
My husband called me the Energizer Bunny and I was out there
seven days a week, almost every single week for six years. And
he always joined me on the weekends. And no matter how cold
or how hot it was. On a July 4th, we were out and it was over 100
degrees one year. Today, it's freezing. But we were out there in
the snow.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
I had reached around 130th street. And I had pain in my foot.
That Monday, I went to the orthopedist and I had broken it. And
he said it was purely from walking.
I had to be off it and I said, “Well, that's not happening.”
((Photo Courtesy: sideways.nyc))
He put me in a boot and he gave me crutches and I literally
crutched from 130, whatever street it was, till 155th until I finished.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
Hi, Suzanne. How are you?
((Suzanne))
You found us.
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
Hi! I'm so happy to see you. So happy.
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
I started this as a passion project to promote and give exposure to
small businesses. Having owned my own small business, a
children's bookstore, which I had for 10 years, I truly understood
what it meant.
I was always trying to capture something special about each of
these people, and what their passion was, and what inspired them
to want to start a business.
Many of them, it was their father who owned it, their grandfather
who owned it, their grandmother.
A lot of them worked on Wall Street or in the financial business,
and always loved flowers or always loved making sandwiches.
And they gave up their secure job to follow their dream.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
And I can't tell you how many times people have said to me, “I’ve
lived here all my life and I never knew that was there”, because
we all tend to walk or take the bus or take the subway or whatever
it is commuting to where we're going, be at work or somewhere
else every day, and we go the same way. If you're on 70th
Street, you've never walked on 71st street because you have no
need to.
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
There's this amazing bakery one block over from you. Check it
out.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
So cute.
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
Somebody just last night said to me, “I don't understand what got
you up every day.” She said, you know, a lot of people could say,
“Sure, I'm going to walk 155 streets”, but nobody does it.
Around every corner, every bend, every time I entered a
business, there was something else to discover. There was
something beautiful, something fascinating, something heart-
wrenching, heartwarming.
I never was bored and
((Photo Courtesy: sideways.nyc))
I always said my favorite, favorite part was just the people.
People have contacted me from different parts of the world and
certainly from different cities and asked, “Did I want to come and
do this there?” But I always said, “I need to do Manhattan. I need
to finish Manhattan.” It's forever changing, so I'm never going to
finish Manhattan.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((TRT: 04:06))
((Topic Banner: Manhattan’s Hidden Treasures))
((Reporter: Olga Terekhin))
((Camera: Max Avloshenko))
((Adapted by: Zdenko Novacki))
((Map: New York City, New York))
((Main character: 1 female))
((Sub characters: 2 male))
((MUSIC/NATS))
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
I'm Betsy Bober Polivy. I've walked 155 streets on the original
Manhattan grid. It took me six years. And I documented every
single place. I took business cards from every single business
that had one.
So, I honestly have over ten thousand business cards and I met
all the owners or whoever was working there at the time.
And every single business, every garden, every school, every
firehouse, police department, tattoo parlor, hair salon is on my
website.
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
It's 2021 and I'm still walking because businesses open and close
on a daily basis. Sadly, right now, a lot of them are closing, but
I'm always trying to keep the website up to date. ((NATS))
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
Oh look, Manhattan Sideways. Who knew? Right here. I wrote a
story and he printed it.
Hi, I’m Betsy and I just saw that you have me in your window
((Barbershop Owner))
That’s you?
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
That’s me.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
My husband called me the Energizer Bunny and I was out there
seven days a week, almost every single week for six years. And
he always joined me on the weekends. And no matter how cold
or how hot it was. On a July 4th, we were out and it was over 100
degrees one year. Today, it's freezing. But we were out there in
the snow.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
I had reached around 130th street. And I had pain in my foot.
That Monday, I went to the orthopedist and I had broken it. And
he said it was purely from walking.
I had to be off it and I said, “Well, that's not happening.”
((Photo Courtesy: sideways.nyc))
He put me in a boot and he gave me crutches and I literally
crutched from 130, whatever street it was, till 155th until I finished.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
Hi, Suzanne. How are you?
((Suzanne))
You found us.
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
Hi! I'm so happy to see you. So happy.
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
I started this as a passion project to promote and give exposure to
small businesses. Having owned my own small business, a
children's bookstore, which I had for 10 years, I truly understood
what it meant.
I was always trying to capture something special about each of
these people, and what their passion was, and what inspired them
to want to start a business.
Many of them, it was their father who owned it, their grandfather
who owned it, their grandmother.
A lot of them worked on Wall Street or in the financial business,
and always loved flowers or always loved making sandwiches.
And they gave up their secure job to follow their dream.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
And I can't tell you how many times people have said to me, “I’ve
lived here all my life and I never knew that was there”, because
we all tend to walk or take the bus or take the subway or whatever
it is commuting to where we're going, be at work or somewhere
else every day, and we go the same way. If you're on 70th
Street, you've never walked on 71st street because you have no
need to.
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
There's this amazing bakery one block over from you. Check it
out.
((NATS/MUSIC))
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
So cute.
((Betsy Bober Polivy, Founder, Manhattan Sideways))
Somebody just last night said to me, “I don't understand what got
you up every day.” She said, you know, a lot of people could say,
“Sure, I'm going to walk 155 streets”, but nobody does it.
Around every corner, every bend, every time I entered a
business, there was something else to discover. There was
something beautiful, something fascinating, something heart-
wrenching, heartwarming.
I never was bored and
((Photo Courtesy: sideways.nyc))
I always said my favorite, favorite part was just the people.
People have contacted me from different parts of the world and
certainly from different cities and asked, “Did I want to come and
do this there?” But I always said, “I need to do Manhattan. I need
to finish Manhattan.” It's forever changing, so I'm never going to
finish Manhattan.
((NATS/MUSIC))
