PART ONE: WALL STREET / CITY HALL / LOWER EAST SIDE Hundreds of statues dot the Manhattan landscape, and indeed, in all five boroughs. All but a handful represent idyllic, mythic or allegorical figures, or decorative designs. In the distinct minority are statues depicting actual people. In this ongoing Forgotten NY series, we’ll show you [...]
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Forgotten New York is in Association with the Greater Astoria Historical Society, a non-profit organization supported by the Long Island City community.
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Monthly Archives: May 2013
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WHO ARE THOSE GUYS? Part 1: Lower Manhattan statues
May 28, 2001Categorized in: Street Scenes Tagged with: Financial District Manhattan
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SHEEPSHEAD BAY Hidden alleys between the bungalows.
May 27, 2001
Brooklyn’s Sheepshead Bay, named for the fish that used to be abundant there, has been occupied by Europeans since the 1640s when English noblewoman Lady Deborah Moody planned the village of Gravesend. Some of the first roads in the area, Gravesend Neck Road and Sheepshead Bay Road, still survive today, and roads that became streets like [...]
Categorized in: Alleys Neighborhoods Tagged with: Brooklyn Sheepshead Bay
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NO BUSINESS LIKE OLD BUSINESS
May 26, 2001A walk in the neighborhoods of any of the five boroughs reveals the practical and pragmatic philosophy…’if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.’ You’ll see some signs that have been in place for fifty years or more, serving generations of customers, or some that still serve their now-deceased concerns… College Bakery, Court Street, Cobble Hill, [...]
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RELIQUARIES OF THE RAILS
May 20, 2001Though the MTA is relentlessly diligent when it comes to standardizing the signage of New York’s 468 subway stations, replacing the gorgeous enamel signs of old with standard black and white signs (and even those have substituted the old Akzidenz/Folio fonts they formerly used in favor of the universal Helvetica), seekers of relics of the [...]
Categorized in: Subways & Trains Tagged with: Brooklyn Manhattan Queens
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TURN TO STONE. A comeback for a downtown Manhattan alley
May 9, 2001Unnoticed in the gold-plated greenbacked canyons in the shadow of Wall Street is a short, one-block, curved street called Stone. Remarkably immune to Lower Manhattan’s incredible cycle of renewal in the 20th Century, little Stone Street, which stretches between Coenties Alley and Hanover Square, looks remarkably like it did in the late 19th Century. It’s [...]
Categorized in: Alleys Tagged with: Financial District Manhattan Stone Street
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SADDLES, CORSETS AND DAIRIES. More ancient advertising from The Bronx.
May 8, 2001During a long summer I’ve been unable to visit as many Forgotten scenes as I’d like. To the rescue comes Forgotten Fan Gary Fonville, an MTA bus driver who gets to see many Forgotten corners of the city as yet unvisited by your webmaster. Gary has supplied us on this occasion with a new cache of [...]
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I COVER THE WATERFRONT. Brooklyn’s waterfront railroads
May 5, 2001BROOKLYN’S HARBORSIDE RAILROADS Years ago, the bustling Brooklyn waterfront,notably in Williamsburg, under the Manhattan Bridge, and Sunset Park, was home to a number of railroads that served busy shipping and freight interests. The past couple of decades, however, have seen active railroads dwindle down to only two. We’ll have a look at a pair of [...]
Categorized in: Subways & Trains Tagged with: Brooklyn DUMBO Sunset Park