WHEN traveling on Northern Boulevard (25A) east of Route 101 (Port Washington Boulevard) one of the abiding mysteries, to me at least, is the presence of these scrolled masts seen every so often; my guess is there are about a dozen. I think Nassau County has stopped servicing the remaining 1950s-era incandescent lamps in the gumball fixtures, most of which have extended glass reflector bowls. Roslyn proper used to have a collection of working antique lamps, including some radial waves, but these have been gradually replaced over the years.
Similar masts can be seen several miles to the south on Merrick Road in Valley Stream, but the fixtures on those have been updated with working LED lamps. Since Northern Boulevard has yellow sodium lamps interspersed with the incandescents, there’s been no great hurry there to remove the old fixtures; I wish NYC’s Department of Transportation took this laissez faire approach. Indeed the street lighting in Nassau seems to be controlled by village or town agency, rather than county or city wide as in NYC.
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8/24/21