Forgotten New York is in Association with the Greater Astoria Historical Society, a non-profit organization supported by the Long Island City community.
Former Mayor Ed Koch, who is profiled in a new documentary film coming out the first week in February, has, in a rather unusual move, already installed a tombstone at a burial plot he purchased in uptown Trinity Cemetery, Broadway and West 155th Street. Some have articulated some surprise at this, but I don’t think [...]
Categorized in: Cemeteries One Shots Tagged with: Manhattan Washington Heights
Sometimes, you don’t find something Forgotten — it has to find you. I was idly making my way through Facebook late tonight and I saw this enamel mid-20th Century sign that used to be at Amsterdam Avenue and a certain Croton Street. I had never heard of it. A quick trip to oldstreets.com filled me [...]
Categorized in: One Shots Signs Tagged with: Manhattan Washington Heights
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
Categorized in: One Shots Signs Tagged with: Manhattan Washington Heights
Categorized in: Cemeteries Tagged with: Manhattan Washington Heights
I had missed this one until now — a plaque at the 157th Street station on the 7th Avenue-Broadway line, likely installed as the station opened in 1904, directs visitors to the Morris-Jumel Mansion, a colonial-era private home that George Washington used as a headquarters during the Revolution. From the ForgottenBook: This oldest private home [...]
Categorized in: One Shots Subways & Trains Tagged with: Manhattan Washington Heights
Forgotten NY eyes and ears are everywhere. Joe DeMarco: I walked up the Henry Hudson Parkway to Fort Tryon/Dyckman Street and walked up Broadway and across the George Washington Bridge. I came across a neat old “cyclops” light on the Henry Hudson Parkway right by the Cloisters. The light has not worked for many years, [...]
Categorized in: Forgotten Slices Tagged with: Manhattan Washington Heights
Early 2010 in NYC has featured some crazy weather — three feet of snow in February, which fell in three storms; sunny and very warm in March, accompanied by several rounds of flooding rain; and at this writing on April 7, 85 degrees is expected for a high temperature in the afternoon. Your webmaster took advantage [...]
Categorized in: Forgotten Slices Tagged with: Manhattan Washington Heights
My fascination with the NYC subway’s infrastructure continues unabated and my love affair with the subways remains unrequited. That is made clear every weekend, when the MTA runs most lines completely differently than it does during the week. The subways are now over 105 years old (some lines are, at least) and while the sensible notion [...]
Categorized in: Subways & Trains Tagged with: Borough Hall Broad Channel Bronx Brooklyn Central Park Grand Concourse Inwood Kensington Manhattan Mott Haven Roosevelt Island Wanamaker’s Washington Heights
WHEN SURVEYOR John Randel Jr. drew up the Commissioners’ Plan for the street grid system of Manhattan Island, the furthest north east-west street on the island he planned was 155th Street, and in subsequent maps for the next 50 years, 155th remained Manhattan’s planned northern limit. I decided to walk it, west to east, since its elements are [...]
Categorized in: Street Scenes Tagged with: Manhattan Washington Heights
IT’S ALWAYS FUN when it’s time to do a lamppost page in Forgotten NY, because these vaguely anthropomorphic untility poles are what got me started with this Forgotten NY stuff decades ago. My parents used to take me for bus rides all over Brooklyn, and I could never be seen without a pencil, a spoon, [...]
AS WE celebrate the 100th anniversary of the New York City subway in 2004, just think about what 100 years has meant for the sheer variety of architectural styles that are represented down below. Next time you take the mugger mover, consider that the subways were built by three different companies that were once in [...]
Categorized in: Subways & Trains Tagged with: Brooklyn Bushwick IND IRT Long Island City Manhattan mosaics Park Slope Washington Heights Williamsburg
North of Fourteenth Street, Manhattan is pretty uniform, with only Broadway and Central Park interrupting the gridiron of streets between 14th Street and 110th. Still, there are a few obscure dead ends to be found on the Upper East Side, Upper West Side and Washington Heights. Henderson Place Henderson Place has its very own Landmark [...]
Categorized in: Alleys Cemeteries Tagged with: Harlem Manhattan Upper West Side Washington Heights Yorkville
Quick, what’s the oldest bridge in New York City that connects two boroughs? Most people would say it’s Brooklyn Bridge, which was finished in 1883. Actually, there’s a bridge 200 blocks north of it that’s almost 40 years older. High Bridge, which connects High Bridge Park near West 174th Street, Manhattan, and West170th Street in [...]
Categorized in: Street Scenes Tagged with: Bronx High Bridge Manhattan Washington Heights
New York City has preserved more of the classic Bishop Crook lampposts than any other of the cast-iron designs. In fact, the city has been busy since the 1980s bringing back the bishop crook design in newly installed posts, notably along Sixth Avenue in the Village and as far north as 23rd Street. The [...]
Categorized in: Street Lamps Tagged with: Astoria City Hall Park Financial District Manhattan Queens Riverdale Washington Heights
