One of the more mysterious practices that I’ve noticed, and have mulled over in in the back of my head for years, is some banks’ practice of installing their own lampposts on the sidewalks outside their property. I’m not sure they’re maintained any more, as I do not often happen by at night. Year in and year out, the lamps stay in place, as the banks they’re in front of get bought and sold, becoming other banks in the process.
I’d have to surmise that the lamps are there to illuminate the bank exteriors at night to discourage nighttime break-ins, but most bank robberies happen during the day, because robbers need bank personnel to open drawers and safes and such. I’m stumped.
This is one of a pair of leftover bank lamps outside the Astoria Savings Bank, a branch of which is in, of course, Park Slope, at 5th Avenue and 9th Street.
8/7/12