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