When Pedestrians Ruled the Streets

Cuando peatones dominaban las calles

The driverless car may take a while to catch onjust as
El coche sin conductor puede tomar un tiempo para ponerse en-al igual

the automobile did a century ago

que el automvil hizo hace un siglo
if you visit Mountain View, California, and if youre lucky, you might see the
strangest vehicle in America: a small bubble-shaped car. Peer inside as it rolls
by, and youll find that the people inside arent drivingbecause they cant. Its
a car with no steering wheel, no brakes and no gas pedal.
si usted visita Mountain View, California, y si tienes suerte, puede que vea el
vehculo extrao en Amrica: un coche con forma de burbuja pequea. Peer
interior a medida que rueda por, y usted encontrar que la gente dentro, no
estn conduciendo, porque ellos no pueden. Es un coche sin volante, sin
frenos y sin pedal de gas.
It is one of Googles new self-driving cars, designed to navigate city streets all
by itself. Equipped with an array of sensors that scan nearby traffic and
pedestrians with laserlike precision, a GPS-brokered sense of the road, and a
slew of algorithms frantically working to avoid collisions, these carsGoogle
hopesare the future of driving.
Es uno de los nuevos coches de auto-conduccin de Google, diseado para
navegar por calles de la ciudad por s mismo. Equipado con una serie de
sensores que escanean cerca del trfico y los peatones con una precisin de
rayo lser, un sentido GPS-mediado de la carretera, y un montn de algoritmos
trabajando frenticamente para evitar colisiones, estos coches-Google esperason el futuro de la conduccin.
How would a robotic car transform the way we travel? Theyd certainly change
what youd do during a ride. Passengers could read, nap, watch movies or peck
away on a laptop; new forms of car-sharing might emerge, since a vehicle could
drop you off and then zip itself over a few blocks to pick someone else up. Cars
could be standalone couriers. Indeed, we might see many cars empty of any
humans at all.
Cmo sera un coche robtico transformar la forma en que viajamos?
Ciertamente cambiaran lo que hara durante la marcha. Los pasajeros podan
leer, siesta, ver pelculas o picotear lejos en un ordenador porttil; nuevas
formas de uso compartido de automviles podran surgir, ya que un vehculo
podra dejarte y luego comprimir s en unos pocos bloques para recoger a
alguien ms. Coches podran ser mensajeros independientes. De hecho,
podramos ver muchos coches vacos de cualquier ser humano en absoluto.

Its a prospect straight out of Ray Bradbury, by turns captivating and

goosebump-inducing. And if it comes to pass, itll be the apotheosis of how cars
have utterly remolded the way cities work. Because when automobiles entered
American life a century ago, their first trick was to start a war between humans
and machines: They drove people off the streets.
Es una perspectiva directamente de Ray Bradbury, por turnos cautivantes y piel
de gallina inductores. Y si llega a suceder, va a ser la apoteosis de cmo los
coches han remodelada por completo la forma en que las ciudades funcionen.
Porque cuando los automviles entraron en la vida estadounidense hace un
siglo, su primer truco consista en iniciar una guerra entre humanos y
mquinas: Condujeron la gente fuera de las calles.
When you visit any city in America today, its a sea of cars, with pedestrians dodging
between the speeding autos. Its almost hard to imagine now, but in the late 1890s,
the situation was completely reversed. Pedestrians dominated the roads, and cars
were the rare, tentative interlopers. Horse-drawn carriages and streetcars existed, but
they were comparatively slow.
Al visitar cualquier ciudad de Estados Unidos de hoy, es un mar de coches, con los
peatones esquivando entre los autos por exceso de velocidad. Es casi difcil de
imaginar ahora, pero a finales de 1890, la situacin se revirti completamente. Los
peatones dominaron a los caminos, y los coches eran los raros intrusos, tentativas.
Carruajes y tranvas tirados por caballos existan, pero eran relativamente lento.
So pedestrians ruled. The streets were absolutely black with people, as one observer
described the view in the nations capital. People strolled to and fro down the center
of the avenue, pausing to buy snacks from vendors. Theyd chat with friends or even
manicure your nails, as one chamber of commerce wryly noted. And when they
stepped off a sidewalk, they did it anywhere they pleased.
As peatones gobernados. "Las calles estaban absolutamente negro con la gente",
como dijo un observador describi la vista en la capital del pas. Gente paseaba de aqu
para all por el centro de la avenida, detenindose para comprar bocadillos de los
vendedores. Haban chatear con amigos o incluso "la manicura de las uas", como una
cmara de comercio seal con irona. Y cuando lo bajaron de la acera, lo hicieron en
cualquier lugar que quisiera.
Theyd stride right into the street, casting little more than a glance around
them...anywhere and at any angle, as Peter D. Norton, a historian and author of
Fighting Traffic: The Dawn of the Motor Age in the American City, tells me. Boys of 10,
12 or 14 would be selling newspapers, delivering telegrams and running errands. For
children, streets were playgrounds.
"Haban zancadas a la derecha en la calle, echando poco ms que un vistazo a su
alrededor ... en cualquier lugar y en cualquier ngulo", como Peter D. Norton,
historiador y autor de Lucha Trfico: El amanecer de la Era de motor en el American
City, me dice. "Los chicos de 10, 12 o 14 seran vendiendo peridicos, la entrega de
telegramas y hacer mandados." Para los nios, las calles eran patios de recreo.

At the turn of the century, motor vehicles were handmade, expensive toys of the rich,
and widely regarded as rare and dangerous. When the first electric car emerged in
Britain in the 19th century, the speed limit was set at four miles an hour so a man
could run ahead with a flag, warning citizens of the oncoming menace, notes Tom
Vanderbilt, author of Traffic: Why We Drive the Way We Do (And What It Says About
Us).
En el cambio de siglo, los vehculos de motor fueron hechas a mano, juguetes caros de
los ricos, y ampliamente considerado como raro y peligroso. Cuando el primer coche
elctrico surgi en Gran Bretaa en el siglo 19, el lmite de velocidad se ampliar a
cuatro kilmetros por hora por lo que un hombre poda correr por delante con una
bandera, advirtiendo a los ciudadanos de la amenaza que se aproxima, seala Tom
Vanderbilt, autor de trfico: Por qu Nosotros conduzca Forma de Hacer (Y lo que
dice sobre nosotros).
Things changed dramatically in 1908 when Henry Ford released the first Model T.
Suddenly a car was affordable, and a fast one, too: The Model T could zoom up to 45
miles an hour. Middle-class families scooped them up, mostly in cities, and as they
began to race through the streets, they ran headlong into pedestrianswith lethal
results. By 1925, auto accidents accounted for two-thirds of the entire death toll in
cities with populations over 25,000.
Las cosas cambiaron dramticamente en 1908, cuando Henry Ford lanz el primer
modelo T. De repente un coche era asequible, y una mala pasada, tambin: El Modelo
T podran zoom de hasta 45 kilmetros por hora. Las familias de clase media los
recogi, en su mayora en las ciudades, y cuando empezaron a correr por las calles,
corrieron cabeza a los peatones, con resultados letales. Para 1925, los accidentes de
auto representaron dos tercios de la totalidad de la cifra de muertos en ciudades con
poblaciones de ms de 25.000.
An outcry arose, aimed squarely at drivers. The public regarded them as murderers.
Walking in the streets? That was normal. Driving? Now that was aberranta crazy new
form of selfish behavior.
Un clamor se levant, dirigidas directamente a los conductores. El pblico los
considera como asesinos. Caminando por las calles? Eso era normal. Conducir? Ahora
que era aberrante, una nueva forma loca de la conducta egosta.
Nation Roused Against Motor Killings read the headline of a typical New York Times
story, decrying the homicidal orgy of the motor car. The editorial went on to quote a
New York City traffic court magistrate, Bruce Cobb, who exhorted, The slaughter
cannot go on. The mangling and crushing cannot continue. Editorial cartoons
routinely showed a car piloted by the grim reaper, mowing down innocents.
"Asesinatos Nacin despert Contra motor", deca el titular de una tpica historia del
New York Times, denunciando "la orga homicida del automvil". El editorial citando a
continuacin a una ciudad de Nueva York magistrado de la corte de trfico, Bruce

Cobb, quien exhort a "la masacre no puede seguir as. El mutilar y trituracin no
pueden continuar. "Caricaturas editoriales mostraron rutinariamente un coche
pilotado por la parca, derribando a los inocentes.
When Milwaukee held a safety week poster competition, citizens sent in lurid
designs of car accident victims. The winner was a drawing of a horrified woman
holding the bloody corpse of her child. Children killed while playing in the streets were
particularly mourned. They constituted one-third of all traffic deaths in 1925; half of
them were killed on their home blocks. During New Yorks 1922 safety week event,
10,000 children marched in the streets, 1,054 of them in a separate group symbolizing
the number killed in accidents the previous year.
Cuando Milwaukee celebr una "seguridad semana" concurso de carteles, los
ciudadanos envan en diseos espeluznantes de las vctimas del accidente de trfico. El
ganador fue un dibujo de una mujer horrorizada sosteniendo el cadver
ensangrentado de su hijo. Los nios asesinados mientras jugaban en las calles estaban
particularmente lament. Constituan un tercio de todas las muertes de trfico en
1925; la mitad de ellos fueron asesinados en sus bloques de casas. Durante 1922
evento "Semana de la Seguridad" de Nueva York, 10.000 nios marcharon por las
calles, 1.054 de ellos en un grupo separado que simboliza el nmero de muertos en
accidentes el ao anterior.
Drivers wrote their own letters to newspapers, pleading to be understood. We are
not a bunch of murderers and cutthroats, one said. Yet they were indeed at the
center of a fight that, clearly, could only have one winner. To whom should the streets
belong?
Drivers escribieron sus propias cartas a los peridicos, suplicando para ser entendido.
"No somos un grupo de asesinos y asesinos", dijo uno. Sin embargo, eran de hecho en
el centro de una lucha que, claramente, slo podra tener un ganador. A quin deben
pertenecer las calles?

***
By the early 1920s, anti-car sentiment was so high that carmakers and driver
associationswho called themselves motordomfeared they would permanently
lose the public.
A principios de la dcada de 1920, el sentimiento anti-coche era tan alta que los
fabricantes de automviles y asociaciones -que conductor llamaban a s mismos
"Motordom" miedo perderan permanentemente el pblico.
You could see the damage in car sales, which slumped by 12 percent between 1923
and 1924, after years of steady increase. Worse, anti-car legislation loomed: Citizens
and politicians were agitating for speed governors to limit how fast cars could go.
Gear them down to fifteen or twenty miles per hour, as one letter-writer urged.

Charles Hayes, president of the Chicago Motor Club, fretted that cities would impose
unbearable restrictions on cars.
Se poda ver el dao en las ventas de automviles, que se desplom un 12 por ciento
entre 1923 y 1924, despus de aos de constante aumento. Peor an, la legislacin
contra el coche se cerna: Los ciudadanos y los polticos estaban haciendo campaa
para "reguladores de velocidad" para limitar la rapidez coches podra ir. "Ellos tren
abajo a quince o veinte millas por hora", como un escritor de cartas inst. Charles
Hayes, presidente del Motor Club de Chicago, se preocup de que las ciudades podran
imponer "restricciones insoportables" en los coches.
Hayes and his car-company colleagues decided to fight back. It was time to target not
the behavior of carsbut the behavior of pedestrians. Motordom would have to
persuade city people that, as Hayes argued, the streets are made for vehicles to run
uponand not for people to walk. If you got run over, it was your fault, not that of
the motorist. Motordom began to mount a clever and witty public-relations campaign.
Hayes y sus colegas coche por la compaa decidieron contraatacar. Era el momento
de no apuntar el comportamiento de los coches, pero el comportamiento de los
peatones. Motordom tendra que persuadir a la gente de la ciudad que, como Hayes
argument, "se toman las calles para los vehculos que se ejecuten sobre" -y no para
que la gente camine. Si usted fue atropellado, que fue tu culpa, no la del automovilista.
Motordom comenz a montar una campaa de relaciones pblicas inteligente e
ingenioso.
Their most brilliant stratagem: To popularize the term jaywalker. The term derived
from jay, a derisive term for a country bumpkin. In the early 1920s, jaywalker
wasnt very well known. So pro-car forces actively promoted it, producing cards for
Boy Scouts to hand out warning pedestrians to cross only at street corners. At a New
York safety event, a man dressed like a hayseed was jokingly rear-ended over and over
again by a Model T. In the 1922 Detroit safety week parade, the Packard Motor Car
Company produced a huge tombstone floatexcept, as Norton notes, it now blamed
the jaywalker, not the driver: Erected to the Memory of Mr. J. Walker: He Stepped
from the Curb Without Looking.
Su ms brillante estratagema: Para popularizar el trmino "peatn imprudente." El trmino
derivado de "jay", un trmino despectivo para un patn. A principios de la dcada de 1920,
"peatn imprudente" no era muy conocido. As que las fuerzas pro-coches promovieron
activamente, la produccin de tarjetas de Boy Scouts para repartir advirtiendo a los peatones a
cruzar slo en las esquinas. En un evento de seguridad de Nueva York, un hombre vestido
como un palurdo era broma chocado por detrs una y otra vez por un Modelo T. En la semana
del desfile de seguridad de Detroit 1922, la Packard Motor Car Company produjo una enorme
lpida flotador, excepto, como Norton notas, ahora culparon al peatn imprudente, no el
conductor: "Erigido a la memoria del Sr. J. Walker: Dio un paso de la acera sin mirar."

The use of jaywalker was a brilliant psychological ploy. Whats the best way to
convince urbanites not to wander in the streets? Make the behavior seem
unsophisticatedsomething youd expect from hicks fresh off the turnip truck. Car

companies used the self-regarding snobbery of city-dwellers against themselves. And

the campaign worked. Only a few years later, in 1924, jaywalker was so well-known
it appeared in a dictionary: One who crosses a street without observing the traffic
regulations for pedestrians.
El uso de "peatn imprudente" era una tctica psicolgica brillante. Cul es la mejor
manera de convencer a los urbanitas no a vagar por las calles? Hacer que el
comportamiento parece poco sofisticado, algo que se espera de paletos frescas del
camin del nabo. Las empresas de automviles utilizan el esnobismo auto-respecto de
habitantes de las ciudades contra s mismos. Y la campaa funcion. Slo unos pocos
aos despus, en 1924, "peatn imprudente" era tan conocido que apareci en un
diccionario: "Aquel que cruza una calle sin observar las normas de trfico para los
peatones".
Meanwhile, newspapers were shifting allegiance to the automakersin part, Norton
and Vanderbilt argue, because they were profiting heavily from car ads. So they too
began blaming pedestrians for causing accidents.

Mientras tanto, los peridicos estaban cambiando lealtad a los fabricantes de

automviles, en parte, Norton y Vanderbilt argumentan, porque se benefician en gran
medida de los anuncios de coches. As que ellos tambin comenzaron culpar a los
peatones por causar accidentes.
It is impossible for all classes of modern traffic to occupy the same right of way at the
same time in safety, as the Providence Sunday Journal noted in a 1921 article called
The Jay Walker Problem, reprinted from the pro-car Motor magazine.
"Es imposible que todas las clases de trfico moderno para ocupar el mismo derecho
de va, al mismo tiempo en la seguridad", como la Providencia Domingo Journal seal
en un artculo de 1921 llamado "The Jay Walker Problema", reimpreso del Motor procoche revista.
In retrospect, you could have predicted that pedestrians were doomed. They were
politically outmatched. There was a road lobby of asphalt users, but there was no
lobby of pedestrians, Vanderbilt says. And cars were a genuinely useful technology.
As pedestrians, Americans may have feared their dangersbut as drivers, they loved
the mobility.
En retrospectiva, podra haber predicho que los peatones estaban condenados. Fueron
superados polticamente. "Hubo un vestbulo camino de los usuarios de asfalto, pero
no haba ningn grupo de presin de los peatones", dice Vanderbilt. Y los coches eran
una tecnologa realmente til. Como peatones, los estadounidenses pueden haber
temido sus peligros, pero como conductores, les encant la movilidad.
By the early 30s, the war was over. Ever after, the street would be monopolized by
motor vehicles, Norton tells me. Most of the children would be gone; those who

were still there would be on the sidewalks. By the 1960s, cars had become so
dominant that when civil engineers made the first computer models to study how
traffic flowed, they didnt even bother to include pedestrians.
Por los aos 30, la guerra haba terminado. Para siempre ", la calle sera monopolizada
por los vehculos de motor," Norton me dice. "La mayora de los nios se ira; Los que
estaban todava no habra en las aceras. "Por la dcada de 1960, los coches haban
llegado a ser tan dominante que cuando los ingenieros civiles hicieron los primeros
modelos de computadora para estudiar cmo flua el trfico, ni siquiera se molestan
en incluir los peatones.
***
The triumph of the automobile changed the shape of America, as environmentalists
ruefully point out. Cars allowed the suburbs to explode, and big suburbs allowed for
energy-hungry monster homes. Even in midcentury, critics could see this coming too.
When the American people, through their Congress, voted for a twenty-six-billiondollar highway program, the most charitable thing to assume is that they hadnt the
faintest notion of what they were doing, Lewis Mumford wrote sadly in 1958.
El triunfo del automvil ha cambiado la forma de Amrica, como los ecologistas
sealan con pesar. Coches permiti a los suburbios estallar, y grandes suburbios
permitidos para los hogares de monstruos hambrientos de energa. Incluso en
mediados de siglo, los crticos podran vea venir tambin. "Cuando el pueblo
estadounidense, a travs de su Congreso, vot por un programa de carreteras de
veintisis mil millones de dlares, lo ms caritativo que asumir es que no tenan la
menor idea de lo que estaban haciendo", escribi Lewis Mumford tristemente en
1958.
This is precisely what makes modern critics nervous about self-driving cars. Will they,
too, create radically new driving patternsand dangerous changes to society?
Esto es precisamente lo que hace que los crticos modernos nerviosos sobre los coches
de auto-conduccin. Sern ellos, tambin, crear radicalmente nuevos patronesconduccin y cambios peligrosos para la sociedad?
Norton sees two roads forward, one good and one dreadful. If were lucky, self-driving
cars could reduce overall driving by allowing superefficient ride-sharing. Imagine a
system thats half Zipcar and half taxi service, where you buy access to a private fleet
of vehicles that work out sharing on the fly. Stoplights could become obsolete: Some
computer models suggest that self-driving cars could navigate intersections simply by
weaving around each other, reducing emissions from idling. Maybe we could cross the
street wherever we wantedbecause the cars would stop and flow around us.
Norton ve dos caminos hacia adelante, uno bueno y uno terrible. Si tenemos suerte,
los coches de auto-conduccin podran reducir la conduccin general permitiendo el
intercambio de paseo sper eficientes. Imagine un sistema que es la mitad del servicio

de taxi Zipcar y media, donde usted compra el acceso a una flota privada de vehculos
que funcionan a cabo el intercambio sobre la marcha. Semforos podran convertirse
en obsoletos: Algunos modelos informticos sugieren que los coches de autoconduccin podan navegar intersecciones simplemente tejiendo alrededor de la otra,
la reduccin de las emisiones de ralent. Tal vez podramos cruzar la calle donde
queramos, porque los coches se detenan y el flujo que nos rodea.
But theres a dystopian view, too. Self-driving cars, Norton warns, could usher in an
explosion of driving and even more far-flung exurbs. If you can now work on your
laptop while commuting, why not live even farther away? That scares me, he says.
We might pave the whole country that way. But Vanderbilt isnt as worried. The
*computer+ models Ive seen suggest wed drive less, he says, and he suspects most
people have an upper limit on how much time theyre willing to commute, even if
theyre not driving. I dont envision two-hour commutes. Auto deaths would likely
shrink dramatically; Googles prototype self-driving cars have been on the road for five
years, and, Google says, havent had a single accident under computer control.
Pero hay una visin distpica (es aquella sociedad que se considera indeseable, por
algn motivo determinado), tambin. Coches auto-conduccin, Norton advierte,
podra marcar el comienzo de una explosin de la conduccin y zona residencial
fuera de los suburbios de una ciudad an ms remotas de largo. Si ahora puede
trabajar en su computadora porttil mientras viaja, por qu no vive an ms lejos?
"Eso me asusta", dice. "Podramos pavimentar todo el pas de esa manera." Pero
Vanderbilt no es tan preocupado. "Los modelos de computadora [] que he visto
sugieren que habamos conducimos menos", dice, y se sospecha que la mayora de la
gente tiene un lmite superior a la cantidad de tiempo que estn dispuestos a viajar,
incluso si no est conduciendo. "No me imagino trayectos de dos horas." Muertes Auto
probablemente se reducira drsticamente; Prototipos de coches de auto-conduccin
de Google han estado en la carretera durante cinco aos, y, segn Google, no han
tenido un solo accidente bajo control del ordenador.
But when the rare accidents do occur, itll createas with 100 years agoa big public
debate about whos to blame. The passengers (who werent piloting the car)? The
carmaker, who wrote the algorithms? A cloudy day that temporarily occluded the cars
GPS?
Pero cuando ocurren los accidentes raros, que va a crear, como con 100 aos atrs, un
gran debate pblico acerca de quin tiene la culpa. Los pasajeros (que no estaban
pilotando el coche)? El fabricante de automviles, que escribi los algoritmos? Un da
nublado que ocluye temporalmente del GPS del coche?
And carmakers may again need to mount a big public-relations campaignthis time to
convince us to trust the cars. Would you put your faith in a self-driving robot to stop in
time when your children step into the street against the light? The cars may change,
but the dtente between them and us may always be uneasy.

Y los fabricantes de automviles pueden ser necesarios otros para montar una gran
campaa de relaciones pblicas, esta vez para convencernos a confiar en los coches.
Te poner su fe en un robot de auto-conduccin de parar a tiempo cuando sus hijos
caminan en la calle en contra de la luz? Los coches pueden cambiar, pero la distensin
entre ellos y nosotros siempre puede ser incmodo.

The Roosevelt Family Built a New York Coffee Chain 50 Years Before
Starbucks

La familia Roosevelt construido una cadena de Nueva York Coffee 50 aos antes de
Starbucks

Teddy Roosevelts children brought fresh-roasted beans and European

coffeehouse culture to Manhattan
Nios de Teddy Roosevelt trajeron frijoles recin asadas y cultura del caf europeo a
Manhattan

Theodore Roosevelt was famously possessed of such formidable natural energy that
he was known at Harvard as a locomotive in human pants. But something else might
have fueled his vigor. As a sickly child, he was given strong cups of coffeealong with
puffs of cigarto ease his terrible asthma attacks. As president, he was so devoted to
the stuff that his huge custom coffee cup was described by one of his sons as more in
nature of a bathtub.
Theodore Roosevelt fue famoso posedo de tal energa natural formidable que era
conocido en Harvard como "locomotora en pantalones humanos." Pero otra cosa
podra haber alimentado su vigor. Como un nio enfermizo, se le dio fuertes tazas de
caf, junto con bocanadas de cigarro para aliviar sus terribles ataques de asma. Como
presidente, l era tan devoto de las cosas que su enorme taza de caf de encargo fue
descrito por uno de sus hijos como "ms en la naturaleza de una baera."
So perhaps its not a jolt to learn that his sons Kermit, Ted and Archie, along with
daughter Ethel, her husband, and TRs cousin Philip, opened a chain of coffeehouses in
New York City. Long before goateed baristas pulled single-origin shots in Brooklyn, and
many decades before Brooklyn native and Starbucks mogul Howard Schultz got the
idea to bring European coffee culture stateside, the Brazilian Coffee House, in
Midtown Manhattan, was intended to bring quality coffee and a sociable public space
to harried New Yorkers.
As que tal vez no es una sacudida al saber que sus hijos Kermit, Ted y Archie, junto con
la hija Ethel, su marido, y el primo de TR Felipe, abrieron una cadena de cafeteras en
la ciudad de Nueva York. Mucho antes de baristas Goateed tiraron tiros de origen
nico en Brooklyn, y muchas dcadas antes de Brooklyn natal y Starbucks magnate
Howard Schultz tuvo la idea de llevar la cultura europea del caf en Estados Unidos, el
Coffee House de Brasil, en el centro de Manhattan, estaba destinado a traer caf de
calidad y un espacio pblico sociable a agobiados neoyorquinos.
The siblings were part of a tight-knit group who had spent their boisterous early years
in the White House. Their 43-year-old father, the youngest president to date, not only
tolerated his six childrens antics but frequently encouraged them. (Although he did
draw the line when a portrait of President Andrew Jackson was decorated with
spitballs.) Upon hearing that his brood was planning an attack on the White House,
he sent the children a message through the War Department advising them to call it
off. Adding to the general chaos were dozens of pets, among them a small bear, a

badger named Josiah, a hyena and Archies Shetland pony, Algonquin, who had free
access to the childrens bedrooms.
Los hermanos eran parte de un grupo muy unido que haba pasado sus bulliciosos
primeros aos en la Casa Blanca. Su 43 aos de edad, padre, el presidente ms joven
hasta la fecha, no slo tolera payasadas sus seis nios, pero con frecuencia les anim.
(A pesar de que hizo trazar la lnea cuando un retrato del presidente Andrew Jackson
estaba decorado con bolitas de papel.) Al enterarse de que su prole estaba planeando
un "ataque" en la Casa Blanca, envi a los nios un mensaje a travs del Departamento
de Guerra aconsejndoles que llamar apagado. Agregando al caos general fueron
decenas de animales domsticos, entre ellos un pequeo oso, un tejn llamado Josas,
una hiena y Shetland pony de Archie, Algonquin, que tena libre acceso a los
dormitorios de los nios.
Meet the Roosevelts (from left): Quentin, TR, Ted, Archie, Alice, Kermit, Edith and
Ethel. (Print Collection, Miriam and Ira D. Wallach Division of Art, Prints and
Photographs / New York Public Library, Astor, Lenox and Tilden Foundations)
Conoc los Roosevelt (desde la izquierda): Quentin, TR, Ted, Archie, Alice, Kermit,
Edith y Ethel. (Print Collection, Miriam e Ira D. Wallach Divisin de Arte, Grabados y
Fotografas / Biblioteca Pblica de Nueva York, Astor, Lenox y Tilden Fundaciones)
So by the time the Roosevelts decided to go into business together, their bond was
firmly established. It was Kermit, then 29, who first pitched the idea to the others, who
ranged in age from 31 to 21. Having spent a few years in South America (exploring the
Amazon Basin of Brazil with his father, managing a bank in Buenos Aires), he became
intrigued by the regions coffeehouses, which not only served up fresh-ground beans
but also had a much more leisurely pace than those in the States did.
As que por el momento los Roosevelt decidi entrar en el negocio conjunto, su vnculo
se estableci firmemente. Fue Kermit, entonces de 29 aos, quien primero lanz la
idea a los dems, con edades de 31 a 21. Despus de haber pasado unos aos en
Amrica del Sur (la exploracin de la cuenca amaznica de Brasil con su padre, la
gestin de un banco en Buenos Aires ), que empez a interesarse por los cafs de la
regin, que no slo sirven encima de los granos de tierra fresca, pero tambin tena un
ritmo mucho ms pausado que los de los Estados hizo.
Coffeehouses were not new to New York City, says Joshua Reyes of the Sagamore Hill
National Historic Site, Theodore Roosevelts former home, but they catered to recent
immigrants, or what was then called more of the foreign element. So I think with
Prohibition, they were thinking, Maybe we can cater to a more mainstream audience.
Cafeteras no eran nuevas para la ciudad de Nueva York, dice Josu Reyes del Sitio
Histrico Sagamore Hill National, la antigua casa de Theodore Roosevelt ", pero que
atendan a los inmigrantes recin llegados, o lo que se llamaba entonces" ms el

elemento extranjero. "As que creo que con Prohibicin, que estaban pensando, tal vez
podamos atender a un pblico ms convencional "
At the time, the idea of encouraging customers to linger was virtually unheard of. Do
the managers really intend to have their patrons stay beyond the conventional period
required to gobble and git? a bemused reporter wrote in the Outlook magazine.
Apparently they do. Using premium, fresh-ground coffee was similarly rare. Most
coffee served in restaurants or at home was preground and came in a can, or, worse,
was instanta habit picked up by soldiers who had been liberally supplied with coffee
powder during World War I.
En ese momento, la idea de alentar a los clientes a persistir era prcticamente
desconocida. "Los gerentes realmente la intencin de tener sus clientes se quedan
ms all del perodo convencional requeridas para 'engullir y git'?" Un periodista
perplejo escribi en la revista Outlook. "Al parecer lo hacen." Uso de la prima, caf
recin molido fue igualmente raro. La mayora del caf se sirve en los restaurantes o
en casa era molido y vino en una lata, o, peor an, fue instantnea-un hbito recogido
por soldados que haban sido suministrados generosamente con polvo de caf durante
la Primera Guerra Mundial
The Roosevelts Brazilian Coffee House opened in November 1919 in a brownstone
building at 108 West 44th Street to great fanfare (Roosevelts Start Coffee House
Chain; Houses Similar to the Ancient Institutions of London to be Established, began a
multitiered New York Times headline), with interior design reportedly handled by Ethel
Roosevelt. The walls, papered with a green and gold print of Brazilian bamboo, were
hung with portraits of celebrated coffee lovers, such as Voltaire (who allegedly
downed 50 cups a day), Shakespeare and the Bull Moose himself.
Los Roosevelt 'brasilea Coffee House abri sus puertas en noviembre de 1919 en un
edificio de piedra rojiza en 108 West 44th Street con gran fanfarria ("Roosevelt Start
Coffee House Cadena; Casas similares a las antiguas instituciones de Londres para ser
establecida", iniciaron una multitiered titular del New York Times ), con un diseo
interior segn los informes manejados por Ethel Roosevelt. Las paredes, empapeladas
con un estampado verde y oro de bamb brasileo, colgaban retratos de los amantes
del caf clebres, como Voltaire (que supuestamente bebi 50 tazas al da),
Shakespeare y el propio Bull Moose.
Thirty small oak tables and chairs were grouped around the room. As an analog
precursor to Starbucks laptop brigade, each table at the Brazilian Coffee House had a
compartment furnished with ink, envelopes and paper (inscribed with Brazilian Coffee
House). Dictionaries and encyclopedias (the free Internet of the day) were kept within
reach. What we desire to do, Philip Roosevelt told a reporter, is to provide a place
for people to come, where they can talk, write letters, eat sandwiches and cake, and
above all, drink real coffee.

Treinta mesas de roble y sillas pequeas se agruparon alrededor de la habitacin.

Como precursor analgico a brigada porttil de Starbucks, cada mesa en el Coffee
House brasileo tuvo un compartimiento amueblado con tinta, sobres y papel (con
inscripciones de "Brazilian Coffee House"). Diccionarios y enciclopedias (el internet
gratis del da) se mantuvieron a su alcance. "Lo que queremos hacer", Philip Roosevelt
dijo a un reportero, "es ofrecer un lugar para que la gente venga, donde pueden
hablar, escribir cartas, comer sndwiches y pasteles, y sobre todo, beben caf de
verdad."
Coffee beans were roasted on the premises, then prepared at a large counter in the
center of the room. The stores manager, A.M. Salazar, a young Brazilian, was an
ahead-of-his-time coffee snob. He sniffed that Americans dont really know how to
appreciate good coffee and killed the taste by boiling it too long.
Los granos de caf se tostaban en las instalaciones, despus se prepar en un gran
contador en el centro de la habitacin. El gerente de la tienda, A. M. Salazar, un joven
brasileo, era un snob de caf delante-de-su-tiempo. Oli que los estadounidenses "no
se sabe muy bien cmo apreciar un buen caf" y mataron al gusto hirvindola
demasiado tiempo.
Salazar schooled customers on proper preparation with elaborate demonstrations in
which he ground the coffee while they waited and poured water over a specially
prepared strainer. Like the exacting, if at times insufferable, baristas of the 21st
century, he lectured them on proper temperature and roasting. Salazar also counseled
against adding milk or cream, which he felt caused indigestion, but he surrendered if
customers asked.
Salazar educado clientes en la preparacin adecuada con elaboradas manifestaciones
en las que se conecte a tierra el caf mientras esperaban y vierte el agua sobre un
"colador especialmente preparado." Al igual que el exigente, si a veces insufribles,
baristas del siglo 21, les dio una conferencia en la temperatura adecuada y asar.
Salazar tambin aconsej en contra de aadir leche o crema, que sinti la indigestin
causada, pero se rindi si los clientes pidieron.
The timing for the Roosevelts venture was ideal: Prohibition hit two months after
opening day, and coffeehouses filled the vacuum left by shuttered bars. New York has
to thank Prohibition for one blessing, opined a writer at
the Janesville (Wisconsin) Daily Gazette, and that is the establishment of a modern
coffee house, where it is possible to obtain a cup of coffee that is coffee and not tannic
acid soup. It also has to thank the Roosevelt family...[for its] new and picturesque
enterprise.
El momento para la empresa de Roosevelt era ideal: Prohibicin bate dos meses
despus de la primera jornada, y cafs llen el vaco dejado por las barras cerradas.
"Nueva York tiene que agradecer a la prohibicin para una bendicin", opin un
escritor en el Janesville (Wisconsin) Gaceta Diaria ", y que es el establecimiento de una

cafetera moderna, donde es posible obtener una taza de caf que es caf y no sopa de
cido tnico. Tambin tiene que agradecer a la familia Roosevelt ... [por su] nuevo y
pintoresco de la empresa ".
The Brazilian Coffee House was forced to change its name in 1921. Salazar, it turned
out, had once owned a Brazilian Coffee House on Pearl Street, and when he sold it, the
new owners retained the name and served legal notice to the Roosevelts. Eager to
avoid litigation, they settled instead on the Double R Coffee House, for Roosevelt and
TRs nephew Monroe Douglas Robinson, who had also joined the venture.
El Coffee House brasileo se vio obligado a cambiar su nombre en 1921. Salazar,
result que, una vez que haba sido dueo de un caf brasileo en Pearl Street, y
cuando lo vendi, los nuevos propietarios conserv el nombre y sirvi aviso legal a los
Roosevelt. Deseoso de evitar el pleito, se instalaron en cambio, en la doble R Coffee
House, de Roosevelt y el sobrino de TR Monroe Douglas Robinson, quien tambin se
haba unido a la empresa.
The Double R eventually grew to four locations in New York City, all named after South
American regions: the original Brazilian branch, which moved a few doors up 44th
Street, and survived a fire (TRs widow, Edith, happened to be there, and calmly sipped
her coffee as it was brought under control); an Argentine outpost; a Colombian (where
thieves once tried to steal an oil portrait of TR); and an Amazon. The siblings planned
on taking their chain nationalArchie scouted sites in Chicago and planned similar
trips to Boston and Philadelphia.
El Double R lleg a contar cuatro lugares en la ciudad de Nueva York, todas con
nombres de las regiones de Amrica del Sur: la filial brasilea original, que se traslad
a pocas puertas calle 44, y sobrevivi a un incendio (la viuda de TR, Edith, que pas a
estar all, y calma bebi un sorbo de caf, ya que se logr controlar); un puesto de
avanzada de Argentina; un colombiano (donde los ladrones una vez trataron de robar
un retrato al leo de TR); y una amazona. Los hermanos previstas en la consideracin
de su cadena nacional-Archie exploraron sitios en Chicago y planificaron viajes
similares a Boston y Filadelfia.
They ended up staying local, but the coffeehouses did achieve Philips wish of bringing
different people together. The Brazilian location, in the theater district, was a favorite
gathering place for actors, artists, newspapermen and musicians. Among its patrons
was the then little-known purveyor of pulpy American gothic fiction, H.P. Lovecraft; his
circle of friends, known as the Kalem Club, was known to frequent the Double R.
Lovecraft even wrote a fevered ode, On the Double R Coffee House.
Ellos terminaron quedndose local, pero los cafs hicieron alcanzar el deseo de llevar a
diferentes personas en conjunto de Felipe. La ubicacin de Brasil, en el distrito de los
teatros, era un lugar de reunin favorito de actores, artistas, periodistas y msicos.
Entre sus clientes era el proveedor entonces poco conocido de pulposa literatura
gtica americana, HP Lovecraft; su crculo de amigos, conocido como el Club Kalem,

sola frecuentar la Doble R. Lovecraft incluso escribi una oda febril, "On the Double R
Coffee House."
Here may free souls forget the grind
Of busy hour and bustling crowd
And sparkling brightly mind to mind
Display their inmost dreams aloud
Aqu pueden almas libres olvidar la rutina
De hora concurrida y animada multitud
Y la mente brillante chispeante a la mente
Visualizar su ntimo suea en voz alta
Despite the chains success, by the end of the 20s, the Roosevelts attention shifted
elsewhere. In 1928, Ted Jr. and Kermit were making complicated plans for the most
Rooseveltian of expeditions, sponsored by Chicagos Field Museum: a lengthy
exploration of Indochina to collect plant and animal specimens, among them the
elusive giant panda, one of which they shot (the skin endures in a museum diorama).
And in the late 20s Ted Jr.s political career started to take off, Reyes points out. So
that may also be why he wa Aqu pueden almas libres olvidar la rutina
A pesar del xito de la cadena, a finales de los aos 20, los Roosevelt 'la atencin se
desplaz a otra parte. En 1928, Ted Jr. y Kermit estaban haciendo planes complicados
para la mayora de Roosevelt de expediciones, patrocinado por el Museo Field de
Chicago: una larga exploracin de Indochina para recoger especmenes de plantas y
animales, entre ellos el panda gigante evasivo, uno de los cuales le dispararon (la piel
perdura en un diorama del museo). "Y en los 20s 'la carrera poltica de Ted Jr. comenz
a despegar", seala Reyes. "As que tambin puede ser la razn que quera deshacerse
de l."nted to dump it.
One potential buyer was the Maxwell House company, which, according to a
memorandum in Kermits papers at the Library of Congress, made inquiries in 1927.
The company had maintained a Roosevelt affiliation for years, claiming that when T.R.,
as president, visited Andrew Jacksons estate near Nashville, on October 21, 1907, he
took a sip of Maxwell House and declared it good to the last drop. Teddy Roosevelt
Gave Popular Slogan to Maxwell House Coffee, the company boasted in what reads
like sponsored content in the Southwestern Railway Journal in 1921.
Un potencial comprador fue la empresa Maxwell House, que, de acuerdo con un
memorndum en los papeles de Kermit en la Biblioteca del Congreso, hizo
averiguaciones en 1927. La compaa haba mantenido una afiliacin Roosevelt
durante aos, alegando que cuando TR, como presidente, visit Andrew Jackson finca

cerca de Nashville, el 21 de octubre de 1907, tom un sorbo de Maxwell House y lo

declar "bueno hasta la ltima gota." "Teddy Roosevelt dio lema popular de caf
Maxwell House," la empresa se jactaba en lo que se lee como contenido patrocinado
en del sudoeste Railway Journal en 1921.
Probably not, says Heather Cole, curator of the Theodore Roosevelt Collection
at Harvards Houghton Library. T.R. did stop in Nashville in October 1907, and
was a notoriously big coffee drinker, she says. But unfortunately, there is no
reliable evidence that he did utter the phrase good to the last drop.
(Nonetheless, the website of Kraft Foods, current owner of the Maxwell House
brand, cites the legend in its list of fun facts about the coffee.)
Probablemente no, dice Heather Cole, curador de la Coleccin Theodore
Roosevelt en la Biblioteca Houghton de Harvard. "T.R. impidi en Nashville en
octubre de 1907, y era un gran bebedor de caf notoriamente ", dice ella.
"Pero, por desgracia, no hay evidencia confiable de que lo hizo pronunciar la
frase" bueno hasta la ltima gota. '"(Sin embargo, el sitio web de Kraft Foods,
actual propietaria de la marca Maxwell House, cita la" leyenda "en su lista de
"datos curiosos" sobre el caf.)
In the end Maxwell House did not take over the Double R. It was bought in 1928
by a couple whose romance had begun there five years earlier.
Al final Maxwell House no asumi la R. Doble Fue comprada en 1928 por una
pareja cuyo romance se haba iniciado all cinco aos antes.
Unlike T.R., whose likeness would be featured in Maxwell House ads through
mid-century, his relatives moved on from the coffee business. New Yorkers
would have to endure nearly a century of mostly mediocre coffee before that
guy from Brooklyn had the new-again idea of serving good fresh-ground beans
in a relaxed atmosphere.
A diferencia de TR, cuya imagen se apareci en anuncios Maxwell House a
travs de mediados de siglo, sus familiares se trasladaron desde el negocio del
caf. Los neoyorquinos tienen que soportar casi un siglo de caf en su mayora
mediocre antes de ese chico de Brooklyn tuvo la idea nueva de nuevo de servir
buenos frijoles fresco-tierra en un ambiente relajado.