I was surprised to see a remaining Unidor 400, manufactured by McGraw-Edison, on Northern Boulevard and Crocheron Avenue in Flushing. Until 2009, New York had a brimming bounty of lamppost luminaires manufactured by several different companies, with lights dating all the way back to the 1930s. In 2009, however, NYC did a massive purge and replaced nearly every lamppost in town with uniform General Electrics, making for a rather boring lamppost streetscape. There were, though, a couple of lights that escaped the purge, like this one. Perhaps there some lamppost buffs in the work crew?
The Unidor 400, which burns 400 watts of juice in bright yellow, first appeared in NYC around 1972, when they were installed along the entire length of Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn, and they were still numerous there until the 2009 purge.
7/11/14