forgottenfans

John Lennon once wrote...

Many people ask what are the Beatles? Why Beatles? Ugh, Beatles how did the name arrive? So we will tell you. It came in a vision - a man appeared on a flaming pie and said unto them 'From this day on you are Beatles with an A'. 'Thankyou, Mister Man,' they said, thanking him...

from bbc.co.uk

The origins of Forgotten NY are rather more prosaic. When I was a kid, I used to make my own lampposts out of pencils, spoons and flashlight bulbs. I would create my own roads by smoothing out the dirt in the park across the street. My parents would take me for bus rides around Brooklyn and I would take in the scenery (and have forgotten little of it to this day). As I got older, I noticed that books about New York were gradually beginning to squeeze out the other books on the shelf.

Jeff Saltzman of Streetlight Nuts, a direct Forgotten inspiration, with a prize find in Laurelton, Queens

One day in 1998 I sketched out, on scrap paper, the Forgotten NY template. I still have that piece of paper. Forgotten NY is directly inspired by three other websites. We'll discuss them here, and along the way, we'll also show you some people who have been special supporters of Forgotten NY through its history.

In 1997, when I first saw Jeff Saltzman's Streetlight Nuts of America, which despite its name has a distinct New York City emphasis, I was impressed by the then-new World Wide Web's increasing breadth and depth. The internet was the place where subjects apparently not deemed fit for publication, or considered too esoteric, could be explored not just in a cursory, superficial manner, but with some depth. Streetlite Nuts presents the history of NYC street lighting with an affection and an enthusiasm for its topic that is genuinely inspiring. Jeff is presently scoping new lampposts in North Carolina where he moved with his family in January 2006.

Frank Jump

I first started noticing faded, ancient advertising on brick walls a few years ago. Just when I decided to start photographing them, I read a New York Times article about educator, historian and daredevil Frank Jump, who has been known to walk on active el tracks to get a good shot of the ancient advertising he chronicles. Soon I was visiting Frank's website, frankjump.com, and exchanging emails with him. Frank was a supporter of Forgotten NY in its early days and his website is the second of the website trilogy that inspired my own.

Steve Anderson's incredibly detailed nycroads.com is the third Forgotten inspiration. Launched in 1997, it was the first website I had ever seen that dealt with New York City roadways and bridges. It's more minutely researched than any other 'amateur' website on any subject I've ever seen, and is scholarly and serious in tone. Nycroads proved so popular that Steve launched phillyroads.com and bostonroads.com to cover NYC's northern-and southernmost suburbs, as well.

Steve Anderson

What makes Forgotten rewarding is the response it has gotten over the years. Clearly, it helps to fill a niche that the usual NYC guidebooks, which tend to devote 200 pages on Manhattan and maybe 20 on the outer boroughs, tend to leave blank. We've heard from other people and groups that sort of delve into the same subject matter, proving that no Forgottoner is an island.

Julia Solis and associates

Mysterious in tone...slightly menacing in its aspect...not altogether safe...is the realm of darkpassage, a journey into New York City's dark underbelly.

Julia Solis is your conductor and leads you where no one else dare go whether it's the Atlantic Avenue rail tunnel, active subway tracks, abandoned cemeteries or any other place the sane, the balanced and the wholesome dare not approach.

If you dare, revisit the Forgotten NY/darkpassage joint exploration of the deserted Seaview Hospital in Staten Island....

Sharon Seitz, Stuart Miller

Think New York City has only Manhattan, Staten and Long Islands? It has dozens. Sharon and Stuart's 1996 The Other Islands of New York City, yet another Forgotten inspiration, has been adapted for television by PBS and made its debut on August 12, 2002.

The Other Islands of New York City, Sharon Seitz and Stuart Miller, Countryman Press, rev. 2001
BUY this book at Amazon.COM

Gerry Sankner, Gary Jucha and Brian Black have been Forgotten Fans since 1975. That's stretching it, but I have known these guys that long. Gary is an Atlantan now, but don't hold that against him...

Our Forgotten man in the Bronx is Don Gilligan. Don is always providing information and photographs of the Bronx, a borough sadly undercovered in Forgotten though we hope to change that soon.

Don took the striking image of the World Trade Center with the American flag that appears on our WTC Tribute page.

Eric Weaver, Nigey Lennon at the Brooklyn Bridge. Nigey Lennon, a historian, songwriter and rock guitarist/ singer, has written books about Mark Twain, Alfred Jarry and Frank Zappa, whose band she was in back in the 1970s.

Nigey practicing

Don't miss her album, recorded with Eric, John Tabacco and Candy Zappa...

Reinventing the Wheel, Nigey Lennon, 2000 Dinghy Records
BUY this CD at CD BABY
from CDBABY review by Peter Kearns....

It's almost impossible to talk about composer/guitarist Nigey Lennon without reference to her old ally Frank Zappa. But while many sad cases have attempted a Zappa homage, this album is the closest thing I've heard to the genuine article. "Reinventing the Wheel" is stuffed with references to nearly every Zappa era (excepting the orchestral works) and you could almost swear that Frank himself had overseen the sessions. In a way, he did. The roots of "Reinventing The Wheel" come from the early '70s, when Frank and Nigey commenced collaboration on a proposed album to be called "Nigey Lennon's Greatest Hits", in parallel with a near-inaudible Nigey guest spot on the Mothers' "Over-nite Sensation."...

Mary Beth Henry and Diane Bonder

Diane Bonder is an exhibited photographer, while Mary Beth is my best friend in the world, whom I met July 28, 1992.

Gerry Guadagno is an accomplished art director, a pink hearse-driving mermaid and a full time devil when your webmaster is around.

Gary Fonville has the second greatest number of pictures in Forgotten NY, after Your Webmaster. Gary travels the city as a bus driver with the MTA. His photos can most frequently be found in our old advertising section.

Journalists Martin and Amy Langfield are longtime Forgotten Fans. Visit Amy's much-linked NewYorkology, updated daily!

Andy "Hogger" Hoffer is a veteran urban explorer and has photographed a number of Flushing Airport scenes. Here he is at Fort Totten with compatriot Adrienne. He is building his hogger.com website at present. Photo: Steve Duncan

Linda Mena, the most beautiful woman in Nassau County, has been a close friend for over 15 years. If you think she's a knockout in a little black dress, wait till you see her in a Forgotten NY T-shirt.

Vinny Losinno has been on so many Forgotten explorations with me, I've lost count. Here he is at the closed IRT City Hall station, before Mayor Giuliani declared it off limits in 1998, fearing terrorism. Terrorism? Ha...

Here's Christina Wilkinson, the Queen of Queens, with a feathered friend. She got to Governors Island before your webmaster did. Christina likes FNY so much she's become a Forgotten correspondent. At present, she is saving St. Savior's Church.

Mary Ondrejka of Hoboken, NJ worked with your webmaster at Macys for 4 years and has made Forgotten contributions in Coney Island and Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. Mary is posing in front of her favorite example of MTA artwork, from Lincoln Center-66th Street, in a 2005 exhibit at UBS Art Gallery, 6th Avenue and 51st Street.

Vicki Metzger is one of my favorite ForgottenFans. Here she is at the 20th Street Beach in Manhattan. And you thought Manhattan didn't have beaches.

Dawn Eden is one of the best rock & roll writers I've ever read (mainly because she shares virtually the same taste in music with your webmaster). She has appeared in the NYPress, Mojo, Salon and many other publications, and written liner notes for dozens of artists' CDs. Read her faith-friendly blog Dawn Patrol. To quote a Robyn Hitchcock song title, she is a blonde sometimes.
In 2006 she completed her first book, The Thrill of the Chaste, which has led to op-eds in the National Review and the Sunday Times of London, and speaking engagements worldwide.

Dawn's interview with Kathryn Jean Lopez of National Review

My favorite Dawn Patrol moment

Dawn's book, The Thrill of the Chaste, came out in December 2006 from the W Publishing Group/Thomas Nelson.

Paul Lukas with a forkful of....?

Another indirect Forgotten inspiration is Beer Frame Magazine by Paul Lukas. The "Journal of Inconspicuous Consumption" chronicled such Forgotten products as sauerkraut juice, beekeeping catalogs, and canned chickens. Paul's columns also appeared in New York Press as well as dozens of other publications. Paul is currently restaurant critic for the resurgent New York Sun and UniWatch columnist in ESPN.com.

Sunnysider Melissa Cahill has accompanied your webmaster on only slightly drunken binges to the Ear Inn, Fanelli's and Bohemian Hall and is always ready to provide Forgotten help in her neighborhood, Sunnyside, Queens. Melissa and significant other, Paul, have a home in Mexico but she will never forsake Queens. Melissa is another ForgottenModel.

Julianne Welby

It undoubtedly damaged the ratings for months to come, but your webmaster was interviewed for WFUV-FM, the radio voice of Fordham University, by Forgotten Fan/morning newscaster Julianne Welby.

Forgotten Fans Paul Matus and Doug Diamond. Paul hosts Forgotten NY and is webmaster of the meticulously researched and superiorly designed rapidtransit.net; Doug is a Transit Museum tour leader, Canarsie Line expert and contributor to Paul's site.

Jeannie Siegel is our gal in Staten Island and is always passing along clippings and suggestions. Jeannie is pictured in Fort Wadsworth.

Yvonne Temann of Ozone Park has commented on every new Forgotten NY page for a couple of years now and when I need to know the translations of Ten Eyck Street and Vleigh Place, well, Yvonne is the one.

The biggest Forgotten fan of them all was my father Kevin (1918-2003).

...and there's Doug Douglass, Sergio Kadinsky, David Cole, Bernard Ente, Sam Berliner, Laura Goggin, Steve Molaro, Jon Halabi, Mark Rifkin of New York Resident, and EVERYONE who has made a contribution or commented on Forgotten NY negatively or positively.

E me at erpietri@earthlink.net