Forgotten New York is a program of the Greater Astoria Historical Society, a non-profit organization supported by the Long Island City community.
City Island resembles a New England seaside town transplanted into the five boroughs. Since it was first settled in 1761 its lifeblood has been the sea, with shipyards, sailmakers and oystermen predominating. It played a large part in New York City’s coastal defense until the early 20th Century. City Island was privately owned, first [...]
Categorized in: Neighborhoods You'd Never Believe You're in NYC Tagged with: Bronx City Island
Gravesend, located in Brooklyn between Bensonhurst and Coney Island, is one of the oldest populated areas on Long Island and in the nation itself. It contains numerous historic homes, and even its street plan is the original one first adopted after the area was first settled in 1643. Unfortunately, some folks disagree with the premise that [...]
Categorized in: Neighborhoods Tagged with: Brooklyn Gravesend
Joe Friedman, who wrote the excellent Inside New York: Discovering the Classic Interiors of New York, describes Brooklyn’s Williamsburgh Savings Bank Building on Ashland and Hanson Place as ‘the tallest and most Priapic commercial building in Brooklyn.’ Pause while I let you look up ‘priapic’. The ‘Willie’ was built by the architectural firm Halsey, McCormack and Helmer [...]
Categorized in: Street Scenes Tagged with: Downtown Brooklyn
When I do most Forgotten New York webpages, there’s usually a ready resource of publications, periodicals and newspapers, both out of print and in, through which I get my information. But when I do pages devoted to alleys–a subject of particular interest for me–I often have to resort to guesses and hunches about the backgrounds [...]
Categorized in: Alleys Neighborhoods Tagged with: Bay Ridge Brooklyn Sunset Park
It’s quite possible that, block for block, the streets above Central Park are the best hunting grounds of all if you’re looking for ancient advertising. Quite possibly that’s because there are a lot of buildings left up there from the early 1900s and late 1800s, and what construction does occur up there tends to reveal [...]
Categorized in: Ads Neighborhoods Tagged with: Macy’s Manhattan Omega Oil
