THE Brooklyn Veterans Administration Healthcare System hospital, 800 Poly Place near Fort Hamilton, has been a Bay Ridge staple for a long time, but I know little of its history, even when it was built. When I was a kid, we would bundle up used magazines and bring them down there so the soldiers in treatment, many fresh from combat in Vietnam, would have something to read while hospitalized. Years later, when I worked nights, I would come home in the early morning, crossing the Gowanus Expressway on 72nd Street or 7th Avenue. I would look south to see the big red tree in Christmas lights on the hospital in season, and knew I was home.
However, it’s the road in front of it in this photo that had always fascinated me. The paper maps I consulted, from Hagstrom, Geographia and other makes, simply showed this road, which connects 7th Avenue and Poly Place (named for Poly Prep Country Day School at 7th Avenue and 92nd Street) and Cropsey Avenue and 14th Avenue, as unnamed, with no determination of what it was called.
Things changed over a decade ago. The Department of Transportation, on its street signs, now prefers to call the two-lane street running along the south edge of Dyker Beach Golf Course as an eastern extension of Poly Place; the Veterans Hospital’s address is 800 Poly Place. The MTA, though, sticks with “Cropsey Avenue” on its bus stop signs. There was likely ambivelance because, other than the hospital, there are no addresses on the road, which brings traffic between the golf course and Dyker Beach Park.
Believe it or not, during the Easy 80s, I used to be able to bicycle through NYC’s only active military base with minimal security; I wasn’t stopped at the gate. After the Gulf War and subsequent events like 9/11, that kind of access has been impossible; I was told to not even point a camera into the base at the front entrance.
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6/13/23
10 comments
The New York Daily News, on April 11, 1946 (page 28) indicated that just under $11 million had been appropriated for a new VA hospital at Fort Hamilton, and work was being done on surveys and foundation tests. The Yonkers Herald-Statesman, on April 25, 1946 plans had been ordered from Army engineers for the hospital. The Daily News on July 26, 1947 reported the successful bid for the hospital’s construction. As of March 23, 1949, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle was reporting the hospital was still under construction. The August 28, 1949 Daily News showed a picture of the construction, and indicated January, 1950 was the scheduled opening date. The February 7, 1950 Daily Eagle reported the first patients being admitted, and the hospital itself appears to have been dedicated on February 12, 1950, as the February 13, 1950 Daily Eagle reported.
Nice research. I suspected it was constructed about that time. It’s reassuring my amateur architectural skills are improving.
As to the bus stop signs, two things should be noted. First, the MTA has no bus stops of its own, or under its own control. Bus stops, the physical places where buses stop, are regulated by the city’s Department of Transportation (the rules are codified in section 4-10 of the Traffic Rules, and the signs marking those locations are placed and maintained by the Department of Transportation. In turn, the Department of Transportation assigns to the various bus operators–including New York City Transit Authority–the right to use specified city bus stops for the purpose of boarding and alighting buses. (Note that the MTA, itself, does not operate any buses: MTA affiliates, New York City Transit Authority and the Manhattan and Bronx Surface Transit Operating Authority, and MTA subsidiary, MTA Bus Company, are the actual providers of transportation.) In other words, the text on the bus stop signs, including the bus stop location, is controlled by the Department of Transportation, just as the text on street name signs. Any inconsistencies are the responsibility of the Department of Transportation. Second, by looking at Google Maps street views over time, one can observe how the bus stop location portion of at least some bus stop signs has evolved from Cropsey Avenue to Poly Place. This suggests that the Department of Transportation is, over time, changing the bus stop sign location portions from Cropsey Avenue to Poly Place, either as the signs wear out or as otherwise convenient, and that the Department of Transportation does not view it as a priority to change all the signs immediately to be consistent as Poly Place. In any case, the “official” name of streets is within the control of the city council. notwithstanding any identification signs that might have been installed by the Department of Transportation. A thorough review of city council actions might provide the most definitive answer to this question.
Indeed, it is unfortunate, although necessary, for security to have been strengthened over the past years. Back in the day, folks could wander rather freely almost anywhere.
During my youth, on visits to Manhattan, from my native Queens, I would often stop at the Empire State Building to take in the view. That was not from the 86th Floor Observation Deck, or the 102nd Floor, as that cost money I did not have. I would press a button for the regular elevator, and take it to an upper floor which had occupied offices. (I had to act like I knew where I was going, however, as the elevators were manned by attendants then.) I would exit the elevator and walk to the window at the end of the cross hallway to drink it all in. Cheap and easy for a kid with no money except a subway token for the trip home.
When downtown, I always walked into City Hall and wandered around. Stopping into the Governor’s Room, on the second floor was always a treat. Sometimes I rubbed elbows with a Mayor or Councilman.
My grandfather took the SS Leonardo Da Vinci from New York to Italy in 1962. My family went to see him off at the pier. We all went aboard to mingle with the crowds and simply left when they ordered “All Ashore That’s Going Ashore.” No fuss.
Taking someone to the airport was a treat. You walked all the way into the gate and, maybe, went outside to watch the planes land and depart.
I clearly remember trips to Washington DC, where we could simply pop into any one of the many ground level doors to the Capital Building. The uniformed guard at the door would smile as you walked past him – no metal detectors, no bag checks. You walked around anywhere you wanted, except for doors that said “Private”, or at the entry to the Senate or House Galleries. For them you needed tickets from you Senator or Representative. It was the home of democracy and everyone respected it.
I often wish that my children and grandchildren could have the freedom of movement that we all enjoyed and took for granted. It is definitely their loss.
And that part about not being allowed in the galleries at the Capitol Building likely only started after some terrorists fired gunshots in the House in 1954. Five members of Congress were wounded, none fatally.
When it comes to taking photos of military bases, there’s quite a subculture (if that’s the term) around taking pictures of Area 51. Doing so requires traveling 30 miles down a barely passable dirt road and climbing a mountain, all for a view from 26 miles’ distance.
It does not make the least bit of sense to me why anyone would want to photograph a wasteland, but many people find pleasure in these activities.
You actually can get some decent photos of Area 51 from Tikaboo Peak with the right lenses. Not that you’ll see anything sight-sensitive, as all secret test flights occur at night.
Speaking of Fort Hamilton, I remember riding the B8 bus through the base on the way to 95th street to catch the R7 to Staten Island.
Yeah in the 1980s the B8 bus was routed through the base. Innocent days!