So there’s lamppost news this month, and it’s up to you whether it’s good lamppost news. For a very long time…since the 1970s, in my estimation…the “downtown” section of Bell Boulevard in Bayside between Northern Boulevard and 35th Avenue has featured a set of “hybrid” lampposts, that feature a standard-issue octagonal-shafted lamppost that instead of the usual straight or cobra neck masts, instead have a Donald Deskey mast affixed, as here:
This particular combination, no doubt cobbled together from spare parts in the Department of Transportation ordinance yard, is not particularly common around town, though they were featured for a time in my home town, Bay Ridge, on 5th Avenue. Also note the decommissioned fire alarm lamp mounted atop the shaft, rather than its usual place on a J-shaped bracket in the center of the pole.
On a recent Bell Boulevard stroll, though, I noticed that the relatively new retro versions of Triborough Bridge lamps, seen here on Broadway in Astoria and also used on Jamaica Avenue as well as Elton and Hunts Point Avenues in the Bronx, had appeared in two midblocks on Bell Boulevard. I’d have to assume that the Hybrids’ days are numbered on Bell Boulevard and the day of the tribes is upon us! We’ll just have to wait and see.
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5/24/21
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This lamp post and one in the middle with two lights I saw on Merrick Blvd in Laurelton a few weeks ago
In a way it’s sad when an unusual design goes away.