In the early days of Forgotten NY, there were still a few two-light stoplights in NYC, missing the center yellow or “amber” warning lamp, which, of course, flashes for a couple of seconds before the red stop signal is turned on. As “Starman” Jeff Bridges says, yellow means “go very fast.”
In 1999, there were still holdout areas, mostly out of the way, using two lights; one was Shore Front Parkway, shown above with the former Rockaway spokeswhale Whaleamina. Several street corners in Far Rockaway, a few miles east, also had two-lampers.
Several of the Shore Front Parkway two-lampers were mounted on still-extant 1920s-era “olive” posts, which formerly featured Ruleta stoplights.
Before the light changed to red, two lamps shone simultaneously to stand in for the missing yellow light.
Finally, in 1999 I also noticed a brace of two-lampers on Liberty Avenue in Ozone Park, both on “olives” and on cylindrical poles. These were all replaced by the middle of the first decade of the 21st Century.
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3/20/17