Forgotten New York

WESTINGHOUSE WHITEWAYS, The Hub

THERE”S a lot going on in this scene in The Hub region of the Bronx, looking south on Elton Avenue toward where it meets Third Avenue (in the Bronx, 3rd Avenue is spelled out “Third” on street signs as a rule). Bill Mangahas of the official MTA Subway Calendar fame supplied the picture. We know the photo was shot before 1973, as that year the Third Avenue El ended service running from 149th Street north to the White Plains Road el at Gun Hill Road; it was the last remnant of Manhattan’s Third Avenue El, which had been built in the 1880s for steam engines.

I was quite surprised to learn, relatively recently, that the then-Department of Traffic experimented with Westinghouse Whiteway lamps on the dwarf poles under the Third Avenue El for a few blocks. At this time, mercury bulbs were still relatively dim and crime was ramping up, so the more bulbs the merrier; Whiteways carried 3 or 6 merc bulbs, I forget exactly how many. In Manhattan, Whiteways were used on 3rd and 9th Avenues, as well as the City Hall area and other locales around town. The El also had ancient castirons lurking under there, too.

Last but not least we see an Alexander’s franchise, which was founded by George Farkas in 1928, opening a store on this very same Third Avenue, naming it for his father. At its peak Alexander’s would get to 16 franchisees including the most famed on the Grand Concourse and Fordham Road. The flagship Manhattan location was on 59th Street, competing with the more upscale Bloomingdale’s. Alexander’s foundered in the early 1990s despite the efforts of one Donald Trump, who purchased 20% of the company in 1988.

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10/30/21

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