March 2019 marks Forgotten New York’s 20th anniversary. To mark the occasion, I’ve re-scanned about 150 key images from the early days of FNY from 35MM prints. In the early days, when people including me were accessing FNY with dial-up modems, I had to save photos really small — in some cases, just 4″ across. I couldn’t find all those early photos — I think I foolishly discarded some along the way — but all month, and into April, I’ll be picking out some and showing the newly scanned versions.
Today’s image is Wogan Terrace, a pleasant dead end on 94th Street opposite the south end of Gelston Avenue, just east of 5th Avenue. It’s completely lined with pleasant attached Tudor-style houses. Bay Ridge is peppered with dead ends and one-block streets of this type such as Bay Cliff Terrace, Madeline Court and this one. It appeared fairly early on — it shows up on this 1929 Belcher Hyde atlas.
I must admit, I’m stumped about the origin of the name. It could be a portmanteau or combination word if the site had two developers. On the other hand “Wogan” is a British surname; Terry Wogan had a popular talk show on the British TV network BBC1 in the 1980s.
If anyone has a definite origin, shoot it to me in Comments.
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop, and as always, “comment…as you see fit.”
3/1/19