Joe Macken drives a truck for work, but two decades ago, he stumbled upon a very particular passion — carving New York City buildings out of balsa wood.
Before the days of Google Maps, the 63-year-old Queens-native found street views in library books.   Â
“I just use basic kindergarten stuff”
Raised in Middle Village, Macken settled with his wife and children upstate in Saratoga County. And every night after dinner, the cityscape in his basement workshop grew.
Soon, the buildings became blocks, and the blocks became boroughs, each carved precisely to scale in a miniature Big Apple. Â
“I started at Rockefeller Center,” he said. “Every inch is 160 feet, so the Empire State Building would be 7-3/4 inches tall. That’s how I did it.”Â
Each block in Joe Macken’s miniature New York is carved to scale.Â
CBS News New York
Finally, Macken had 342 panels containing nearly 1 million buildings, big enough to fill half a professional basketball court, as Styrofoam, school glue and hobby paints brought the scene to life.
“People ask me, ‘What kind of stuff do you use?’ I just use basic kindergarten stuff,” he said.
The most meaningful section to recreate was his Middle Village neighborhood.
“I couldn’t wait to get there,” he said. “I didn’t even have to look at the maps. I knew every block.”
10 million views on TikTok
Macken was focused on process not publicity — until Erika, his 22-year-old daughter, had an idea.
“She said, ‘Why don’t you put it on TikTok?’ And I’m like, I don’t even have an account,” Macken said.
Eventually, he made an account, shared a video, closed the app and promptly forgot about it.
Before the days of Google Maps, Joe Macken found street views in library books.
CBS News New York
“When he posted his first video, he said he didn’t even think many people would see it. So he didn’t really realize it was blowing up until I showed it to him,” Erika Macken said.
“It got 10 million views,” her dad said.
Now, many of his roughly 300,000 followers leave comments on his posts, gushing over his dedication and attention to detail.Â
“Sometimes I can’t believe … that I actually built this”
Spectators seemed equally impressed in real life when he laid out the full model at a local fair.
“I was taking pictures with people. I felt like a celebrity,” he said.
Museums are showing interest and Macken hopes to find a place to display his work permanently.
Joe Macken’s mini model of New York City is big enough to fill half a professional basketball court.
CBS News New York
“Sometimes I can’t believe it, that I actually built this,” he said. Â
In the meantime, most of the panels are back in a nearby storage unit.
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