Meandering mindlessly in Bushwick a couple of years ago, I walked down the dead-end section of Central Avenue under the Long Island Rail Road elevated tracks. Here can be found entrances to two cemeteries: one to Most Holy Trinity Cemetery, which is located entirely in Brooklyn, and at the end, an adjutant entrance to Evergreens Cemetery, which is split between Brooklyn and Queens, with the slight majority in Queens. There’s also a dead-end section of Pilling Street where vehicles seized by US Marshals are impounded. Needless to say, it’s something of a forlorn, forgotten-about area.
And that’s probably why there’s a magnificent stretch of Belgian blocks preserved here. At some time in the past, concrete was poured into the interstices, likely to flatten things out somewhat. As late as the 1960s, vast swatches of New York City streets were paved like this — even well-traveled thoroughfares. To liven things up, this one has a vertical row of bricks that acts as a divider between differently-oriented traffic.
As with any other NYC oddity this paving’s days are likely numbered.
11/11/14
2 comments
As a child of the ’50’s I remember East Tremont Avenue in the Parkchester section of The Bronx paved this way from west of White Plains Rd. to Westchester Square. When bias ply tires were the norm before radials this was a challenging stretch for drivers & passengers.
I have been to this forgotten area. Your description is accurate.
The reason Ever green cemetery is so large is precisely because it is in two counties. There was once a law that said a cemetery in a county may only be so large . Evergreen got around that rule by being in two different counties.
Most Holy Trinity was once part of Evergreen Cemetery and sold to Most Holy Trinity parish. MHT did not permit stone monuments and only allowed metal. Manyof those are now gone, through either vandalism or being sold by thieves for scrap.