Forgotten New York is in Association with the Greater Astoria Historical Society, a non-profit organization supported by the Long Island City community.
On June 24, 2012 the Newtown Historical Society walked Ditmars Boulevard from the N/Q train terminal to the Art Deco Marine Air Terminal, a landmarked building on the western edge of LaGuardia Airport. Sunny 80-degree weather made for optimum weather conditions for NHS’ second tour of the year. Basically the walk was along Ditmars Boulevard, [...]
Categorized in: Tours
I didn’t get to the annual Coney Island ichthyic extravaganza, the Mermaid Parade, on June 23, 2012, but my Macy’s pal, Tim Skoldberg, did and got several choice photos of this, the 30th such matinee. The parade has come a long way from its modest 1983 debut to become one of Brooklyn’s biggest yearly celebrations. [...]
Categorized in: Street Scenes Tagged with: Brooklyn Coney Island
Spring Street, which runs in Soho from the Bowery west to West and Canal Streets, is named for an actual spring that has been contained in the sewer system for the past couple of centuries. Like the rest of NYC, some interesting signs and buildings can be found along its length. A peculiar attribute [...]
Categorized in: Forgotten Slices Signs Tagged with: Manhattan Soho
In Washington Heights, as part of the George Washington Bridge ramp system, Riverside Drive and Henry Hudson Parkway intertwine and become one. Sounds romantic, no? Anything but. Both roads run right through Fort Washington Park, which is a northern extension of Riverside Park and “faces” the Hudson River. Add the clutter of the railroad tracks [...]
Categorized in: Street Scenes Tagged with: lighthouses Manhattan Washington Heights
I’m in Red Hook about once every 4 years or so. When I lived in Bay Ridge I would sometimes bicycle in, but not that often, because it was ringed by a nearly impenetrable barrier of slums, the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway and the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel entrance. Red Hook, known as South Brooklyn when, in the 1800s, [...]
Categorized in: Neighborhoods Tagged with: Brooklyn Red Hook
On the fifth straight ForgottenTour in 2012 featuring beautiful weather, ForgottenTour 55 met at the William H. Seward statue in Madison Park (honoring Abraham Lincoln’s Secretary of State who engineered the purchase of Alaska from Russia) on Sunday, June 10th and toured Madison Square Park and 5th Avenue between 23rd and 14th Streets. Among the [...]
Categorized in: Tours Tagged with: Madison Square Manhattan
On a gorgeous Saturday, June 2, 2012, ForgottenTour 54 met at Broadway and Wall Street and explored Trinity Cemetery and the entire length of Wall Street, finishing at South Street Seaport. Highlights among the 40 stops on the tour … The first mention of this space as a burial ground was in 1673, over [...]
Categorized in: Tours Tagged with: Financial District Manhattan Wall Street
Though College Point, in northern Queens east of LaGuardia Airport and bordering the East and Flushing Rivers, is served by four bus lines, it’s considered one of Queens’ out-of-the-way outposts, since it’s severed from the rest of the borough by the old Flushing Airport site and the Whitestone Expressway. Only three main roads lead there: [...]
Categorized in: Forgotten Slices Neighborhoods Tagged with: College Point Queens
CONTINUED FROM PART 1 In Part One of my quest to walk between both of Manhattan’s cable-stayed bridges, I meandered from Rockefeller University on the East River just north of the Queensboro (that is the only name I call that bridge) west through the Fifties, passing several unsung landmarks such as the Central Synagogue, DuMont Tower, [...]
Categorized in: Walks Tagged with: Hell's Kitchen Manhattan Times Square
As part of the rehabilitation and restoration of the Hunters Point Avenue #7 train station (which actually stops at 49th Avenue, which was still called Hunters Point Avenue when the station opened) a tiled sign saying “To Astoria and Corona” has been once again uncovered. Why doesn’t it say “To Astoria and Flushing”? That’s where [...]
Categorized in: One Shots Subways & Trains Tagged with: Astoria Corona Queens
Metropolitan Avenue is one of the lengthiest routes between Brooklyn and Queens. It was first built in 1816 as a toll road and was known as the Williamsburg and Jamaica Turnpike until the mid-1800s, when it was bestowed its current name. It runs from the East River to Jamaica Avenue and along the way, marks [...]
Categorized in: Forgotten Slices Tagged with: Brooklyn Williamsburg
I have always had a soft spot for cable-stayed bridges, which resemble suspension bridges but feature towers to which are attached cables that support the traffic-bearing bridge deck. Though cable-stayed bridges were first conceived during the Renaissance period they have only come into their own beginning in the late 1970s. Some of the world’s most [...]
Categorized in: Walks Tagged with: Hell's Kitchen Manhattan Theatre District
