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| Forgotten NY is largely a one-man operation. Though the contributions of FNY correspondents Christina and Gary, as well as the folks you see on my ForgottenFans page are substantial, I take about 95% of he photos and about 95% of the photographs used on these pages. FNY can't compete with daily blogs like curbed, gawker or gothamist, which have dozens of correspondents, lots of ad revenue and do about 20 posts daily. (Your webmaster wishes he had the time and resources to do so.)
Since gathering and writing material is such a singular duty I was gratified last winter and into the spring when, after the usual round of promo appearances at local bookstores to flog the ForgottenBook were done, the NYC Parks Department booked me into a number of venues where I met dozens of ForgottenFans. |
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In nearly all the six or seven appearances I did in Parks Department recreation centers around town, the crowds were knowledgeable and enthusiastic about FNY the website and the book. Parks used Mobile Libris to supply books, which sold out quickly wherever I appeared. (Between 10 and 25 books were available at each venue.)
Crowd at the Carmine Street (Tony Dapolito) Recreation Center on 7th Avenue South and St. Lukes Place. At these venues, I did slides shows concentrating on places and objects that have fallen to the wrecking ball or have been hidden since I did pages highlighting them. Some of them even turned up in the ForgottenBook (necessitating a future revision).
This room had access to the roof...
...where on the fly I pointed out to everyone an item I was unaware of before that evening...
...the presence of a lengthy original mural by Keith Haring (1958-1990) on the swimming pool wall with a sea theme. Measuring 18 feet high by 170 feet long and taking its cue from the hues of the pool’s underwater surface, the mural depicts bold, stylized motifs of fish and children as well as abstract shapes in black, white, yellow and blue. NYC Parks
Believe it or not I was unaware it was there, not being a swimmer myself.
James J. Walker Park, named for Jimmy Walker, the colorful, flamboyant NYC mayor from 1925-1932 whose time in office was marred by corruption, was formerly St. John's Cemetery, a burial ground associated with Trinity Church. NYC Parks acquired it in 1895, moving the interred uptown to the uptown Trinity Cemetery in Washington Heights. The only reminder of its former role as a cemetery is an 1834 sarcophagus and memorial to fallen firemen (seen on FNY's 9/11/01 tribute page).
Another reminder of Walker is at his former residence, #6 St. Lukes Place, where you will find a pair of lamps at the entrance steps, a traditional method of marking a mayorla residence.
St. Lukes Place, where it makes a bend in the road between 7th Avenue South and Hudson Street, is called St. Lukes on the north side and Leroy Street on the south side, the only remaining street in NYC with this arrangement.
Though your webmaster is done with Parks for now, I'm always ready to speak to your group if desired. (My most recent appearances were on the Upper West Side with NY Times writer Ben Gibberd and Soho-based artist Miru Kim). Let me know at erpietri@earthlink.net.
Page completed January 11, 2008
erpietri@earthlink.net
©2008
