Last days of a Shipyard: Oral Histories, 2005
In 2004 zoning changes cleared the way for IKEA to create a store on the old Todd Shipyard. The following year IKEA closed the shipyard and the New York Shipyard Company, which had taken over the site from Todd, closed up shop.
In the last days of the shipyard, PortSide taped several oral histories about the shipyard on site.
1 Oral History: Hank Dam, recollections of WWII work at Todd Shipyard. 2005
When interviewed at a vigorous 82 years of age, Hank Dam laughs hard remembering the WWII slogan of Todd Shipyard “the difficult we do every day, the impossible takes a little longer.”
Hank is clearly proud of the ingenuity and hard work of his…
2 Oral History: Gerard Rokosz: Last Dry Dock Manager of New York Shipyard. 2005
Gerard Rokosz is a man deeply in love with his former job as the last dry dock manager at Todd Shipyard. At the time of this 2005 interview, he was working for a marina and nostalgic about the shipyard: "seeing my old office collapsing makes me…
3 Oral History: John Gladsky, marine salvage, the demise of the Todd Shipyard. 2005
John Gladsky is the definition of a colorful old salt. He is a marine salvor and the principal of Gladsky Marine and has an old-time Long Island accent. His oral history expresses nostalgia for the Todd Shipyard and criticism of public policy that…
4 Oral History: Michael Gallagher, Last General Manager of New York Ship Yard Co. / Todd Shipyard. 2005
Michael Gallagher, last General Manager of New York Shipyard, successor to Todd Shipyard, interviewed two weeks before selling the site to IKEA, talks about the shipyard, its history and final days. Gallagher represents the 5th generation of his…